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Three Frenchmen in Bengal - The Commercial Ruin of the French Settlements in 1757 by S. C. (Samuel Charles) Hill
page 79 of 198 (39%)
between the Nawab and the English, an article should be inserted
providing for the neutrality of the Ganges; but the French, at
present, were needlessly alarmed. The English had no intention of
creeping quietly back into the country. Watson and Clive addressed
haughty letters to the Nawab, demanding reparation for the wrongs
inflicted on the English; and the Admiral and the Council declared
war in the name of the King and the Company. This possibly amused
the Nawab, who took no notice of their letters; but it was a
different matter when a small English force sailed up the Hugli,
passed Chandernagore unopposed by the French, captured the fort of
Hugli, burnt Hugli[83] and Bandel towns, and ravaged both banks of
the river down to Calcutta. The French were in an awkward position.
The English had passed Chandernagore without a salute, which was an
unfriendly, if not a hostile act; whilst the Nawab thought that, as
the French had not fired on them, they must be in alliance with
them. Law had to bear the brunt of this suspicion. His common sense
told him that the English would never consent to a neutrality, and
he wrote to Renault that it was absolutely necessary to join the
Moors.

"The neutrality was by no means obligatory, as no treaty
existed. In fact, what confidence could we have in a forced
neutrality, which had been observed so long only out of
fear of the Nawab, who for the general good of the country
was unwilling to allow any act of hostility to be committed
by the Europeans? Much more so when the English were
at war with the Nawab himself. If they managed to get
the better of him, what would become of this fear, the sole
foundation of the neutrality?"

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