CHAPTER III

M. LAW, CHIEF OF COSSIMBAZAR


A few miles out of Murshidabad, capital of the Nawabs of Bengal
since 1704, when Murshid Kuli Khan transferred his residence from
Dacca to the ancient town of Muxadabad and renamed it after himself,
lay a group of European Factories in the village or suburb of
Cossimbazar.[65] Of these, one only, the English, was fortified; the
others, i.e. the French and Dutch, were merely large houses lying in
enclosures, the walls of which might keep out cattle and wild
animals and even thieves, but were useless as fortifications. In
1756 the Chief of the English Factory, as we have already seen, was
the Worshipful Mr. William Watts; the Dutch factory was under M.
Vernet,[66] and the French under M. Jean Law. The last mentioned was
the elder son of William Law, brother of John Law the financier,
who settled in France, and placed his sons in the French service.
French writers[67] on genealogy have hopelessly mixed up
the two brothers, Jean and Jacques François. Both came to
India, both distinguished themselves, both rose to the rank of
colonel, one by his services to the French East India Company, and
one by the usual promotion of an officer in the King's army. The
only proof that the elder was the Chief of Cossimbazar is to be
found in a few letters, mostly copies, in which his name is given as
Jean or John. As a usual rule he signed himself in the French manner
by his surname only, or as Law of Lauriston.