As to the army, it took the road of Azim-abad, where it made a long stay; and it was there that Ram-naráin’s troops, now in the Bengal army, returned to their owner. The com­mand of the rest of Miren’s troops devolved on Radj-b8ll8b, a Bengali, who had been Divan to Nevazish-mahmed-qhan, and was now Divan to Miren himself.

Whether this death made any alteration in Colonel Clive’s notions, we cannot affirm; but this much is certain, that this renowned Commander, who so long as he remained in India, had been always acknowledged as supreme Commander of the army, as well as Chief of the settlement of Calcutta, now took suddenly the resolution of returning home. But as he thought that the affairs of the English, hitherto confined to factory business, had become much more important now by stretching their influence all over the three provinces of Bengal, Bahar, O8ressa; and he conceived that they required the management of quite another man than Mr. Aymatt, whom he did not think equal to an office Colonel Clive, for reasons of his own, quits India. of so much consequence, he determined to send for Mr. Henry Vansittart, Shem-sed-döulah* Chief of Mendradj.* The other Councellors of Calcutta, on seeing his determination, assented to his choice; and it was settled, that for the present, and after the Colonel’s departure, Mr. Holwell should command at Calcutta, but only until Mr. Vansittart might arrive; to whom the supreme command, with the power of binding and loosing, in the whole circle of affairs of state, was to devolve. As such a disposi­tion was contrary to the established custom of the service, and to the respected rights of seniority, and Mr. Amyatt was reputed worthy of that high office, which it was his turn to enjoy, he no sooner heard at Azim-abad of the dispositions that had been acquiesced to in Calcutta, than he strongly objected to them by letters. Not satisfied with that, he delivered his office of Azim-abad to his second, and went to Calcutta himself to make vigor­ous objections to Mr. Holwell’s sitting in the chair. But as the Colonel was already gone some days ago, and his dispositions had already taken place, it is probable that his representation answered no purpose; possibly also some mismanagement had been laid to Mr. Amyatt’s charge, since the Colonel’s dispositions were submitted to so easily. Be it as it may, the intelligence of Miren’s death had already occasioned as great alterations in M8rsh8d-abad, where Mir-djaafer-qhan, who at no time had been in his right senses, now lost the little reason that remained to him; so that the affairs of the army, as well as of Government being entirely abandoned to chance, fell into a confusion not to be described. But he had a son-in-law.

For his daughter had been married to a nobleman named Mir-cassem-qhan, son to Séyd-arizy-qhan, and grandson to Imtiaz-qhan, the poet, which latter was a Persian of distinction, who had enjoyed the office of Imperial Divan in the province of Azim-abad; this Mir-cassem-qhan was therefore nearly allied to the old Navvab. But there subsisted no cordiality between him and his son-in-law, and they lived upon ill terms together. Nor was Miren wanting in doing every thing in his power to augment the disunion and mutual discontent; but independently of that, Mir-djaafer-qhan did not like his son-in-law at all. Nevertheless, after the loss he had just suffered, it became expedient to shew some more regard to so near a relation; and he gave him the Government of P8rania, over and above that of Rangp8r, which he enjoyed already; and as he had a particular point to carry at Calcutta, he thought no man so proper to be sent upon that errand, as Mir-cassem-qhan was in experience and in the art of managing with men, greatly superior to any one in the Navvab’s family, and indeed to any one of his con­temporaries. No wonder then, if the son-in-law in that short voyage, found means to ingratiate himself so far with the members of the council, that they adjudged him to be fitter for govern­ment and command than either the Navvab, or his late son. On the other hand, Mir-cassem had performed so well the busi­ness for which he had been dispatched, that on his return home he seemed to have acquired some of the old man’s good will; and as the latter had no children, but such as were under age, and of course, utterly unable to manage their father’s concerns, the son-in-law of course became the centre of all business, and the person that served to dispatch the public service, or to appease the turbulence of the military, a sort of men at all times ill paid, but whose arrears had now fallen back consider­ably on acconnt of Miren’s death, and of the indolence and confusion that were the consequences of it. They had become exceedingly clamorous, and so unruly, that more than once they had passed from importunities to action; had besieged the old Navvab in his palace, and had spoke with the utmost violence. In one of these dangerous scenes, Mir-cassem-qhan interposed; and after having quelled the sedition by his personal authority, he took upon himself part of the arrears due to the army. But some further emergencies having happened at this time, it became necessary that he should repair to Calcutta again; and although the father-in-law was not much satisfied with the necessity of this second voyage, and seemed irresolute, never­theless he at last granted him permission, and the latter departed. It was just at a time when Mr. Henry Vansittart, better known under the appellation of Nassir-el-mulk-shems-ed-döulah-bahadyr*, was already arrived at Calcutta, and had assumed, Vansittart, Governor of Calcutta. what is called, the chiefship of the factory, but which in fact was no less than the government of a city which seemed to be the head of an Empire. In appearance, Mir-cassem-qhan’s views seemed concentred in his going to take possession of his Govern­ment of P8rania; but under such a veil he concealed a variety of high designs; and he had left his friend, Aaly-hibrahim-qhan-bahadyr, at M8rsh8d-abad, with secret orders to inlist as many men for his pretended journey as he could procure. He was instructed likewise to gain the hearts of the ancient officers of the army, and to conciliate the minds of the Ministers of the old Court, as well as some other persons of consequence that had served under the old administration. This nobleman is the same person of whose merit and valuable qualifications we have made a cursory mention in our account of Aaly-verdy-qhan, and in our relation of the engagement against Shemshir-qhan, the Afghan. We spoke succinctly of his genius and penetration, as if our business had been to shew one unity out of a thousand, and a handful out of a heap. Mir-cassem-qhan, having left at the city so zealous a friend and so able a manager, proceeded to Calcutta. But as we have interrupted our narrative of the Emperor’s expedition, we must necessarily, to give some consistency to our history, revert to that subject and to Cam-car-qhan, as well as to some other events relative to Azim-abad.

Miren having been made to feel the vengeance of the Supreme Avenger, the command of his army devolved on Radja B8ll8b, who had been his Divan; and who led it back to Azim-abad, which province was yet in prey to the incursions of the Emperor and of Cam-car-qnan. It became necessary therefore to return Ram-naráin’s troops to their master, who stationed them about the city of which he was Governor. The English army likewise took up its abode there; and all these troops were forced by the rains, which now drowned the whole country, to remain in their quarters to the end of the season. This inaction left the Emperor at full liberty to act as he liked; he was eternally hunting or travelling, or visiting the country in that tract of ground that extends from the environs of Da8d-nagur, to the environs of Bahar. The reason of such a wandering life was, that having nothing to subsist upon, but what he found in the fields and amongst the farmers of the flat country, both himself, and his cavalry and cattle would have been exceedingly distressed, had he sojourned for any length of time in one place; in such a case he would have suffered for want of straw, grain, and for The Shah-zada, or Emperor, puts the whole of Bahar under con­tribution. every thing requisite for an army. His authority was not acknowledged in the province; and he was obliged to live by rapine and plunder, just as if he had been in the country of some stranger; nor did a single district suffice to all his wants; nor had Pahluvan-sing, no more than Radja B8niad-sing, nephew to Radja Sunder-sing, thought proper to join the Imperial troops to this day; being both unwilling to submit to Cam-car-qhan, his General, whom they looked upon to be only their equal; and Cam-car-qhan, on the other hand, who bore a cordial enmity to Sunder-sing and his family, being loth to put an end to a sojourn that ruined the lands of his personal enemy, and spared his own; so that this was one of the reasons why the Emperor and his troops were so fond of hunting and travelling throughout B8niad-sing’s country. It happened one day, that the latter had set out from the fortress of Ticary, his residence, to repair to the castle of C8rva, where he kept his family; but intelligence of this having been brought to Cam-car-qhan, he ordered a thousand Moghul horse, of those in the Emperor’s service, to waylay and seize him. The Moghuls having made a forced march, seized on the Radja, and brought him to camp, where he remained some days in confinement. From thence he wrote several petitions to my father, requesting “interest his with the Emperor, and offering to bring to camp a good body of troops, and to render more services than Cam-car-qhan had ever done, should His Majesty condescend to forgive the errors of his past behaviour. He added, that Cam-car-qhan himself on seeing his efforts, would be fired with emulation; and that His Majesty’s service would reap the benefit of the concurrence. My brother, Fateh-sing,” said he, in his petitions, “commands a body of troops amongst those of Mir-djaafer-qhan’s, in Bengal, where he shall gain over all the Commanders of that army; after which he will come with them to the foot of the Imperial throne. All this, I promise, shall come to pass; but if His Majesty, out of regard to Cam-car-qhan, should choose to enter into a negotia­tion with us through that Radja’s channel only, in such a case, as the latter’s interference would redound to our discredit, we would be disabled from doing the Emperor any service.”