he got speech of the Nawáb, who readily allowed the officer of Hastings' escort to go and search for deserters in Monghyr. The troops which had been sent thither returned quietly to Patná.
Mír Kásim also agreed to a plan propounded by Vansittart's envoy for abating the mischiefs caused by the conflict of rival powers and interests in Bengal. 'Nothing,' wrote Hastings, 'will ever reach the root of those evils, till some certain boundary be fixed between the Nabob's authority and our privileges.' But the plan which sought to define that boundary was disallowed by Vansittart's colleagues as an insult to the English name and a fraud upon the Company. At the end of three months, Hastings returned to Calcutta, conscious of the failure for which he was not to blame.
In November, 1762, Hastings went up again to Monghyr, in company with Vansittart, who still hoped to avert the war which some of his Council seemed bent on provoking. Kásim gave them a cordial welcome. After some discussion it was agreed on both sides that the inland trade of the Company's servants should be liable only to an ad valorem duty of nine per cent, on the cost of their goods at the place of purchase. In making this small concession to a perfectly just demand, Vansittart had reckoned without the majority of his Council. They were furious at the thought of surrendering a fraction of their own privileges for the general good. The new agreement was annulled with a storm of jeers.
