to impress the Nawab, and so they sent a small force to Hugli, which
lies above Chandernagore and Chinsurah, stormed the Muhammadan fort,
burnt the town, and destroyed the magazines, which would have
supplied the Nawab's army in an attack on Calcutta. The inhabitants
of the country had never known anything so terrible as the big guns
of the ships, and the Nawab actually believed the men-of-war could
ascend the river and bombard him in his palace at Murshidabad.
Calling on the French and Dutch for aid, which they refused, he
determined to try his fortune a second time at Calcutta. At first,
everything seemed the same as on the former occasion: the native
merchants and artisans disappeared from the town; but it was not as
he thought, out of fear, but because the English wished to have them
out of the way, and so expelled them. Except for the military camp
to the north of the city, where Clive was stationed with his little
army, the town lay open to his attack. Envoys from Calcutta soon
appeared asking for terms, and the Nawab pretended to be willing to
negotiate in order to gain time while he outflanked Clive and seized
the town. Seeing through this pretence Watson and Clive thought it
was time to give him a lesson, and, on the morning of the 5th of
February, 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