 But with war, though as yet undeclared, being waged between the two nations in Europe, officials at Calcutta and Chandrnagore decided that their long-neglected defenses needed to be strengthened in case hostilities erupted in Bengal.When the newly enthroned nawab learned of the new fortifications, he immediately ordered them to halt their work and to raze any new construction, promising to protect both foreign enclaves from attack as his grandfather had before him.The French, realizing just how tenuous their position in Bengal really was, meekly replied that they were not building foreign fortifications, merely repairing their existing structures.