Note 141 — CHAP. V.
Reading edition
The evidence of Mr. Sykes, as taken before a Committee of the House of Commons, fully corroborates all that Mr. Watts represented regarding the substance and manner of Omichund's demand, as well as the threat by which it was accompanied. Mr. Sykes stated, "That in the year 1757 he was stationed at the subordinate factory called Cossimbazar, in council; that he does not know particularly the terms demanded by Omichund; but that, being on a visit to Mr. Watts, he found him under great anxiety; that he took him aside, and told him that Omichund had been threatening to betray them to Suraj-u-Dowlah, and would have them all murdered that night, unless he would give some assurances that the sum promised him (by Mr. Watts) should be made good; that, upon the visit to Mr. Watts, he further said that he was under the greatest anxiety how to counteract the designs of Omichund."—Parliamentary Reports, vol. iii. p. 145.