Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/290

returned from Guyah, and by this time the Nabob had taken the resolution of going to pay his devotions likewise, at a famous, durgar, or tomb of a saint, near the town of Bahar, which is situated 40 miles to the south-east of Patna: by this journey he said no time would be lost, as it would require ten days to adjust some affairs and accounts in dispute between his brother Meer Cossim and Ramnarain: he hoped in this interval that the English troops would have been far advanced on their way, and Clive have joined them, in which case he intended to return to Patna, and remove Ramnarain. But Clive resolved not to separate himself from Ramnarain until he saw him out of danger, and advised Roydoolub likewise, although in the field, to keep at hand. A momentary instant of general satisfaction and compliments occurred on the 14th by the arrival of messengers from Delhi, with the authentic patents of the honorary titles conferred on the Nabob, his relations, and Clive: they likewise brought sunnuds, or the commission for the Nabobship, but deficient in some essential formalities, which were withheld until the Nabob should have remitted a sum of money to Delhi: the sunnuds were, nevertheless, proclaimed as fully valid, and few knew the contrary. The next day, the Nabob proceeded to Bahar; and, seeing that Clive still remained at Patna, instructed his brother Meer Cossim to dissemble, who accordingly pretended to be perfectly satisfied with the adjustment of his affairs with Ramnarain, and promised to leave Patna and come to Muxidavad as soon as he had settled his more private concerns; and the Nabob himself, instead of returning as he had intended from Bahar to Patna, proceeded from thence on the 24th straight across the country to Bahar on the bank of the Ganges, about 35 miles below Patna, where the main body of his army and their fleet of boats were assembled; on which Clive left the city, carrying Ramnarain with him, to take leave of the Nabob. On the 30th, the Nabob, Roydoolub, and Ramnarain, met by appointment on board of Clive's budgerow. The Nabob expressed perfect satisfaction in Ramnarain's integrity and fidelity, assured him of being continued in the government, and permitted him to set out the same day on his