Resuming the narrative of events at Serampore, the first occurrence of interest was the establishment of a mission at Sirdhana. In consequence of a difference with the commandant at Agra, Mr Chamberlain had been sent back to Serampore, with a guard of sepoys on his boat; but before he left the station, he received an earnest invitation from Colonel Dyce to take up his residence at Sirdhana and superintend the education of his children. That town was the capital of a small principality, eleven miles north-west of Delhi, which had been carved out for himself, during the confusion of the times, by Sumroo, the French adventurer, who ordered the massacre of a hundred and fifty European officers and soldiers, the prisoners of the Nabob, Cossim Ali, at Patna, in 1764. He bequeathed this domain to his widow, a Persian lady, and she had succeeded, by her tact and resolution, in maintaining her independence in the midst of perpetual revolutions. The territory was twenty-five miles in length and twelve in breadth. Twelve years before this period, an East Indian of the name of Dyce, proceeding through the north-west in search of employ, was led to visit Sirdhana, and was immediately taken into the service of the Begum Sumroo, and rapidly rose in her confidence, and received her granddaughter in marriage. Out of deference to her deceased husband's wishes, she had made a profession of the Roman Catholic religion, but Colonel Dyce, who had been entrusted with the management of her affairs, and the command of her little army, was anxious that his children should be educated in the Protestant faith, and invited Mr Chamberlain to undertake their tuition.