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I said I would not listen to him, that I did not recognize him as having any authority, and that I had no business at all with him. Thereupon the Arzbegi went back to the Nawab and told him I would not listen to reason, and that I demanded to speak to him. 'Well, let him come, said the Nawab, 'but he must come alone. At the same time he asked Mr. Watts to withdraw and wait for him in a cabinet.
All the great men stand fronting him; and the Arzbegi stands between, in readiness to represent whatever he is desired, and everybody has his cause decided at once: bribery is not so much as known here. He has particular information given him of every thing that passes; all criminals, great and small, rich and poor, meet with immediate death.
We arrived at the Nawab's palace about midday. He had retired to his harem. We were taken into the Audience Hall, where they brought us a very bad dinner. The Nawab, they said, would soon come. However, 5 o'clock had struck and he had not yet dressed. During this wearisome interval I was visited by some of the Diwans, among others by the Arzbegi. I asked him why the Nawab had called me.
"From that moment I saw clearly that the air of the Court was not healthy for us. It was, however, necessary to put a good face on matters. The Arzbegi and some others, taking me aside, begged me to consider what I was doing in refusing Mr. Watts's propositions, and said that as the Nawab was determined to have a good understanding with the English, he would force me to accept them.
Disappointed at not seeing me appear, they had advanced to the very gates of the palace. The Arzbegi, not knowing what would be the result of this affair, and wishing to get out of the scrape and to throw the burden of it on to the Seths' agent, said to him, 'Do you speak, then; this affair concerns you more than us. The Seths' agent wished to speak, but I did not give him time.
I demanded to be presented to him. 'The Nawab, they said, 'does not wish to see you. I replied, 'It was he who summoned me; I will not go away till I have seen him. The Arzbegi saw I had no intention of giving way, and that I was well supported, for at this very moment word was brought of the arrival of our grenadiers, who had been ordered to come and meet me.
"Fire or six minutes after Mr. Watts had gone to the Nawab, the Arzbegi, accompanied by some officers and the agents of the Seths and the English, came and told me aloud, in the presence of some fifty persons of rank, that the Nawab ordered me to submit myself entirely to what Mr. Watts demanded. I told him I would not, and that it was impossible for the Nawab to have given such an order.
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