towns of Hugli and Bandel, ravaged the banks of the river, and
retired to Calcutta. Up to this the Nawab had not condescended to
notice the English; now, in a moment of timidity, he asked the
intervention of the French as mediators.[30] Renault eagerly
complied, for had his mediation been accepted, he would have
inserted in the treaty a clause enforcing peace amongst the
Europeans in Bengal; but the English refused to treat through the
French. This could have only one meaning. Renault felt that his
course was now clear, and was on the point of offering the alliance
which the Nawab had so long sought for, when he received orders from
M. de Leyrit forbidding him to attack the English by land. As M. Law
writes, if Renault had been free to join the Nawab with 500
Europeans, either Clive would not have ventured a night attack on
the Nawab's camp, or, had he done so, the event would probably have
been very different. Under the circumstances, all that Renault could
do was to continue his fortifications. It was now that he first
realized that Admiral Watson would take part in the attack.

"As the ships of war were what we had most to fear
from, we constructed on the river bank a battery of 6 guns,
four of which covered the approach to the Fort. From the foot
of the battery a bank twenty-two feet high stretching to
the Fort, was begun, so as to protect the curtain on this side
from the fire of the ships, _but it was not finished_. We had
also to attend to the inhabited portion of the town; it was
impossible to do more, but we determined to protect it from
a surprise, and so ditches were dug across the streets and
outposts established."[31]

It was this waste of valuable time upon the defence of the town that