in the midst of a dense fog, Clive beat up his quarters.  Though Clive had to retire when the whole army was roused, the slaughter amongst the enemy had been immense; and though he mockingly informed the Nawab that he had been careful to “injure none but those who got in his way,” the Nawab himself narrowly escaped capture.  The action, however, was in no sense decisive.  Most of the Nawab’s military leaders were eager to avenge their disgrace, but some of the chief nobles, notably his Hindu advisers, exaggerated the loss already incurred and the future danger, and advised him to make peace.  In fact, the cruelty and folly of the Nawab had turned his Court into a nest of traitors.  With one or two exceptions there was not a man of note upon whom he could rely, and he had not the wit to distinguish the faithful from the unfaithful.  Accordingly he granted the English everything they asked for—­the full restoration of all their privileges, and restitution of all they had lost in the sack of Calcutta.  As the English valued their losses at several hundreds of thousands, and the Nawab had found only some L5000 in the treasury of Fort William, it is clear that the wealth of Calcutta was either sunk in the Ganges or had fallen as booty into the hands of the Moorish soldiers.

Siraj-ud-daula, though he did not yet know it, was a ruined man when he returned to his capital.  His only chance of safety lay in one of two courses—­either a loyal acceptance of the conditions imposed by the English or a loyal alliance with the French against the English.  From the Dutch he could hope for nothing.  They were as friendly to the English as commercial rivals could be.  They had always declared they were mere traders and would not fight, and they kept their word.  After the capture of Calcutta the Nawab had exacted heavy contributions from both the French and Dutch; but France and England were now at war, and he thought it might be possible that in these circumstances the restoration of their money to the French and the promise of future privileges might win them to his side.  He could not, however, decide finally on either course, and the French were not eager to meet him.  They detested his character, and they preferred, if the English would agree, to preserve the old neutrality and to trade in peace.  Further, they had received no supplies of men or money for a long time; the fortifications of Chandernagore, i.e. of Fort d’Orleans, were practically in ruins, and the lesser Factories in the interior were helpless.  Their military force, for attack, was next to nothing:  all they could offer was wise counsel and brave leaders.  They were loth to offer these to a man like the Nawab against Europeans, and he and his Court were as loth to accept them.  Unluckily for the French, deserters from Chandernagore had served the Nawab’s artillery when he took Calcutta, and it was even asserted that the French had supplied the Nawab with gunpowder; and so when