We have already mentioned that Mr. Holwell, having com­manded sometime by interim, Mr. Vansittart came and took the command at Calcutta, where he soon figured as the supreme mover of whatever was transacted in the Council. But some days before, that is, immediately on Colonel Clive’s departure, Mr. Amyatt, with Major Carnac, Mr. Lushington, and some other English rulers, had already repaired to Calcutta, where he had been received as second in command, but where he soon com­menced a chain of dissensions and misintelligences with Mr. Vansittart, whom he was endlessly accusing of ignorance and incapacity in all his letters to Europe; nor was Mr. Vansittart back­ward in retorting the accusation, being forced into this warfare by his very circumstances. Colonel Clive had already, God knows for what reason, quitted the command of the army, and repaired to Europe, and he had been succeeded in his military command by Major Carnac, who was the next in order. Mr. Lushington himself had returned to Azim-abad sometime after Mir-cassem-qhan’s elevation. As I happened, although the last of men, to be so much connected with the English rulers, that the new Viceroy had some time before thought proper to solicit my interest with them, by settling a handsome salary upon me, and even by introducing that request by a sum of money; so those gentlemen, who knew that particular, as well as the neces­sities of my situation, availed themselves of that opportunity, to support my claim to a Djaghir of six hundred thousand dams, in and about the town of Mongher,* close to the castle, which estate had been for ages in the possession of our family, and had been confiscated by Mir-djaafer-qhan, on account of my father’s being so attached to the Emperor. These gentlemen, fully apprised of this, interposed so effectually with Mir-cassem-qhan, that they obtained of him a release of the said estate, and having received a patent of it, signed and sealed by the new Viceroy, as well as by the usual officers, they got it registered in the offices of Azim-abad, and engaged Ram-naráin to deliver it to me with his own hands; after which I sent a Steward thither, who took possession of the land.

The rainy season being over, Major Carnac came out of the city of Azim-abad, at the head of the English troops, fully resolved to put an end to that conflagration, which the Emperor and M8shur Lass,* with Cam-car-qhan, were keeping up throughout the province; and he ordered Radja Ram-naráin and Radja B8ll8b to join him at Djaafer-qhan’s garden, where he was encamped. Although I had no office, and held but a small rank in the world, I thought that the favours I had received of the English required my making the campaign with the Major; but as in consequence of a variety of unfortunate events of many years’ standing, I was destitute of tents, horses, arms, and necessaries, the Major and Mr. Hay joined together in furnish­ing me with arms, horses, a tent, and every necessary for that purpose; so that the poor man passed his time agreeably in the English army, being every day with the Major, and often admitted and consulted in affairs of consequence. But as the army remained encamped there for some time, and the two Gentoos, who were in camp at the head of large bodies of toops, agreed so little together, that what the one had proposed in his usual visit of the morning, never failed to be objected to by the other, in his evening interview, the Major, and the other English rulers lost all patience; and disgusted at such a continual scene of dissension, they joined Mr. Hay in telling me, “That they looked upon me (the poor man) as one attached both to the English, and to Mir-cassem-qhan, whose affairs were likely to be ruined by these two Gentoos, whose dissensions had no end; that as they were both in high credit and authority, both at the head of whole armies, and both acting as servants and deputies of Mir-cassem-qhan, the English could not do anything, nor even come to any final resolution, so long as these men should continue so opposed to each other; for the English were not enabled to dis­tinguish whose opinion they must adhere to. It becomes then convenient,” added they, “that Mir-cassem-qhan, their master, should himself come over; to the end, that after consulting those two servants of his, and hearing their respective opinions, he may take a party for himself; after which we shall have no other trouble than that of following the same, as we shall have then to treat solely with him. Not that we have not several times wrote to him on the subject; but our letters have produced no effect; because, forsooth, the affairs of Bir­bohom are of higher importance than those of Azim-abad; or because the Radja is a more dangerous foe than the Emperor, and M8shur Lass and Cam-car-qhan. Do then repair to Mir-cassem-qhan, and by all means bring him hither.” To this proposal I consented, and having been furnished with letters from the Major for Mir-cassem-qhan, and with other letters for Major York, that he might protect my person, should Mir-cassem attempt to offer me any injury, I departed. I was furnished by the Major with every thing requisite for my journey, and he added to them one of those Imperial badjraws of the navy Djehan-ghir-nugur,* which attended the English army. In descending the river, I met by the way Mr. Macguire, who was going to Azim-abad, as Chief of the factory there; and as we were both travelling in haste, I only found an opportunity of making my bow to him from afar, and of sending him my compliments. Mir-cassem-qhan being not at M8rsh8d-abad, I repaired to his camp at B8dgam, where I explained my errand. The Navvab objected to his going to Azim-abad; but as to the rest, he shewed me the utmost kindness and attention. He ordered a tent to be pitched for me, sent me tables full of victuals twice a day, and conversed familiarly with me; he also sent some of those delicate stuffs, such as turbants and fine malmalls, which are manufactured at Djehanghir-nugur;* and these kindnesses lasted until Ram-naráin, by the channel of Djagut-seat’s agent, who was likewise a pensioner of his, found means to convey a letter to the Navvab, by which he informed him, that being myself exceedingly attached to the English, whilst, on the other hand, my father cut so capital a figure in the Emperor’s camp, I had come as a spy, on the part of both the English and the Emperor. Those malignant insinuations were introduced by Djagut-seat himself, through the channel of his own agents; and as Mir-cassem-qhan was naturally of a suspicious disposition, he ceased to shew me so much regard as he had done; and this change of behaviour impressed me with much concern, and some fears; but as Major York was not in the army, I was at a loss where to take shelter, and how to manage. To ask my leave of the Navvab, and to be gone, might have increased his suspicions; and, on the other hand, to remain in camp, without that assistance on his part, which my want of equipage had rendered necessary, became impracticable. Never­theless, two or three days being elapsed since my disgrace, I availed myself of it, to ask leave to return to M8rsh8d-abad. You will go to Azim-abad, I believe, answered he, with a severe cast of features, and you may. I answered, that I had business at M8rsh8d-abad; and he dismissed me, with an air of severity, and without presenting me, as is the custom, with any thing for the charges of my journey. After making my way to M8rsh8d-abad, with some difficulty, I landed in the house of an acquaintance, where, some time after my arrival, he thought proper to send me a small sum of money, through the hands of Qhadja-Ashref, the Cashmirian, who was a nephew to the Prince of Merchants, Qhadja-vadjed, a favourite of the Navvab’s.*

After some interval, intelligence came “That Major Carnac having attacked the Emperor about Azim-abad, had given him a defeat, and obliged him to retreat; that M8shur Lass having, in compliance with some custom established between the English Major Car­nac beats the Shah-zada totally, and takes M8shur Lass prisoner. and French nations, surrendered himself prisoner, had been treated with honour and distinction, and that some time after the Major, by sending some messages to the Emperor, had engaged him to listen to terms of pacification; after which he had paid his respects to that Monarch, and brought him with him to Azim-abad, where he had lodged him in the city.” Mir-cassem-qhan, on hearing this news, hastened his march through the hills, and advanced to Azim-abad. I resolved on my side to repair thither also; but as I was preparing to set out, I heard that T8rab-aaly-qhan, Deputy to the Navvab in Bengal, had ordered that no letters should be delivered to the Hindostanies whether coming to, or going out of, M8rsh8d-abad, and that no, one of them should quit the city without his leave. I was surprised and confounded at the prohibition, but at last I obtained his permission by the interposition of the Chief of Cassimbazar, and quitting Bengal, I journeyed to Azim-abad. And now we must revert to the thread of our history, that the reader may not wonder at our leaving unfinished the narrative of the manner in which matters were brought to a conclusion at Azim-abad.