^^\s: .^-^c ^^^<^^-<^- :^^ 3 1 1 1 4 I 4 1 6- 0: 1 2 £¥J^ %^^^ VV^*^' ^\t>^ ^.['fr'^^^h '7 '• 7./^ e^x;r|^''P 7Jh ^\^-^^^ ^ ].<^ 7^^ .: ''^^y. ^.f. i;^ ^'%"'- u: ^\ , . W^m m^'mvm 'y 1 (. #^^^<^ xC;L.*C^'.iik^-r\f ji^M ^ AS. \ta. CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED History of India. I!Y JAMES GRANT, Author of "British Batiks on Land and Sea," d-v. Vol. I, CASSELL FETTER & GALPIN LONDON, PARIS AND NEW YORK. Q76c V. 1 CONTENTS. Introduction .............. 2 Chapter I. — A Brief Glance at Ancient India and tlie Formation of the East India Company . . '3 II. — Foundation of Calcutta and Fall of tlie Mogul Empire.— Angria tlie rirate, &c. . . ,8 III. — The Sieges of Madras, Fort St. David, and Fondicherry. . . . . . • '3 IV. — The Tanjore Campaign. — Robert Clive ......... 20 V. — Progress of the War in tlie Carnatic, &c. .... . ... 23 VI. — Capture of Arcot. — Defence of it by Clive. — Cauverypaulv . . . . . .28 VII. — Of the Sepoys. — Siege of Trichinopoly. — Battles of the Golden .and Sugar-Loaf Rocks, &c. . . 36 VIII.—Geriah Reduced.— Calcutta T.aken.— The Black Hole ....... 41 IX. — "Clive the Avenger." — Calcutta Retaken. — Hooghley and Chandernagore Reduced . . .49 X. — Battle of Plassey.— Defeat, Flight, and Dethronement of the Nabob of Bengal by Colonel Clive . 56 XI. — Assassination of Surajah Dowlah. — Coote's E.\pedition. — Trichinopoly Attacked again . . 59 XII. — Count dc Lally. — His " Instructions."— Sea Battle. — Surrender of Fort St. David. — Count d'Ache's Instructions. —Tanjore Attacked ......... 63 XII I. — Progress of the British and French Campaign in India. — Siege of Madras and Capture of Conjeveram . 70 XIV. — Sea-Fight off Fort St. David. — Affair off Wandiwash. — Defeat of Conllans by Colonel Forde. — I Masulipatam Stormed. — Surat Taken ........ 74 ' XV. — The Dutch in Bengal. — ^Battle of Wandiwash. — The Country Ravaged. — Chitapctt Reduced . . So ) 1 XVI. — Capture of Arcot and Reduction of Pondicherr)-. — Fate of the Count dc Lally. — Fall of the French Power in India ........... 8^ ' XVII. — Clive Returns to India for the Last Time ........ go XVIII. — The Revolution in Bengal. — Meer Jaffier Deposed. — Meer Cossim Made Nabob. — His Quarrel with the Company . . . . . . , . . . .94 XI.X. — Meer Cossim Deposed. — Defeated by Major Adams. — Massacre of the Europeans at I'atna. — Battles of Buxar and Korah ........... 99 XX.— Clive Dictator in India. — St.ate of the Country. — Discontents in the Bengal Army. — Reforms Continued 106 XXI. — Conquest of the Philippine Isles. — Affairs of the Carnatic. — Ilyder Ali, 177 179 1S6 190 194 19S 201 207 212 218 221 226 230 237 243 249 254 25S 263 268 277 2S3 290 292 CONTENTS. vii LIX. — The Rajah of Coorg. — The Bad Feeling in Britain. — Review of tlie Army, and Final Advance upon Seringapatam ........... 297 LX. — Tippoo's Camp Attacked. — Seringapatam Blociied up. — Tippoo Attempts to Xcgociate . . . 302 LXI. — Tippoo Humbled. — Sues for Peace. — .Surrender of the Hostages. — Close of the War with Mysore . 305 LXn. — Sir John Sliore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth. — Sea-Fight with French Cruisers. ^Mahadajee Scindia Dies. — Invasion of the Deccan by tlie Mahrattas. — Battle of Beder. — Rebellions in the Deccan, &c. 310 LXni. — Defeat of Gholaum Mohammed Khan. — Marriage of Vizier AH. — The Dutch Settlements Reduced. — Discontent in the Army, &c. — End of Lord Teignmoutli's Administration . . . .317 LXIV. — Earl of Momington in Office. — Intrigues between the French and Tippoo Sultan . . . 323 LXV. — Preparations for the Final War with Tippoo. — The Battle of Malavelly ..... 329 L.XVI. — Character, &c., of Tippoo. — Last Siege of Seringapatam, and Death of the Sultan . . . 33.^ LXVH. — The Fight in Balasore Roads. — Partition of Mysore. — Restoration of the Ancient Hindoo Dynasty . 345 LXVIIL— "The King of the Two Worlds "Defeated and Slain . . . . . . .348 LXIX, — Acquisitions in the Camatic, Oude, and Ferruckabad. — The' Army of Egypt. — Annexation of Sural . 352 LXX. — A New Mahratta War. — The Battle of Assaye. — Truce with Scindia ..... 359 LXXI. — The Provinces of Goojerat and Cutt.ack Reduced. — Allyghur Stormed. — Battleof Delhi.— The Great Gun of Agra. — Battleof Laswaree .......... 369 LXXII. — Conquest of Bundelcund. — Battle of Argaon. — Storming of Gawilghur, .and End of the War . . 376 LXXIII. — Sea-Fight off Pulo Aor. — The House of Holkar. — War. — Monson's Disastrous Retreat . . . 3S1 LXXIV. — The War with Holkar. — Ochterlony's Defence of Delhi. — Our Victories at Fernickabad and Decg . 3S9 LXXV. — The Four Fatal Assauhs on Bhurtpore. — Ameer Khan. — End of the Block.-ide .... 394 LXXVI. — Comwallis again Governor-General. — His Death and Tomb ...... 401 LXXVII. — Treaty with Scindia. —Pursuit of Holkar. — Tr.-igic End of Sirjee Rao. — The Mutiny at \'clIore . . 405 LXXVIII. — The Karl of Minto Governor-General. — Tragic Story of Lakshman the Robber. — Comonah Expedition. — Ameer Khan and other Robber Chiefs , , . . . . . .411 LX.KIX. — Naval .\ffairs in the Indian .Seas, 1807 to 1809 . . . . . . . .417 LXXX.— Capture of Kallinger.— "The Irish R.ajah." — Treaty with Runjeet Sing.— The Embassy to Cabul . 422 LXXXI. — The Embassies to Persia and Scinde, 1809. — Fighting in Travancore ..... 42S LXXXII.— The Dissensions at Madras. — Mutiny of the Army. — Its Causes and Conclusion . . . .431 LXX.XIII. — Capture of Goa, Macao, Isle of France. — The Moluccas ....... 436 LXXXIV.— Conquest of Java and its Dependencies ......... 440 LXXXV. — The Mughs. — The Nepaulese and Ghoorkas. — Death of the ICarl of Minto .... 447 I.XXXVI. — The Earl of Moira Governor-General. — The Nepaulese War . . . . . . . 450 LXXXVII.— War with the Ghoorka.s.— V.ilour and Success of Ochterlony.— Operations of General Wood.— Conquest of Kumaon and Gunvhal, &c. . . . ...... 456 LXXXVIII.— TIic Heights of M.iloun Captured.- The Second Campaign in Nepaul, under Ochterlony.- Its Victorious Conclusion . . . . . . . . . .461 LXXXIX.— Intrigues of the Ghoorkas.— Cutch Subdued.— Opposition of the Hindoos to Ta.\ation.— The Siege of Hatrass, and Flight of Dyar.im ......... 470 XC— The Pindarees, and what Led to a War with 1 hem . , . „ , o • 47^ Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XCI. — Detail of the Armies of Hindostan and tlie Deccan. — Scindia's Treaty and Contingent. — Mountstuart Elphinstone and the Peishwa, \c. ........ XCII. — The Battle of Kirkee. — Revolt of Apa Sahib. — The Battles of the Seetabuldee Hills and Nagporc. — Combat of Jubulpore, &c. ......... XCIII. — B.attle of Maheidpore. — Cholera Morbus. — Legend Concerning It. — Progress of the Pindaree War XCIV. — The Battle of Koreigaum. — Continued Flight of the Peishwa, &c . . . . XCV. — Capture of Chanda and Riaghur. — The Killedar of Talnere ..... XCVI. — Operations in Candeish. — Fall of Malligaura. — Apa Sahib made Prisoner, but Escapes. — Surrender of the Last Peishwa of the Mahrattas, &c. ....... XCVn. — Of the Bheels and Gonds, &c. — Apa Sahib again in Arms. — Ilis Flight XCVIIL — Preparations against Aseerghiir. — Its Siege and Capture. — Close of the War and Its Results XCIX. — British Rule in Central India. — The Kandyan War and Conquest of Ceylon C. — The Affairs of Cutch. — Quarrel with the Ameers of Scinde. — Insurrection in Goojerat. — AflFairs of Oude and the Deccan. — Case of Palmer and Co. ...... CI. — The Pirates of the Gulf — Their Origin and Progress. — End of Lord Hastings' Administration . CII. — George Canning, Appointed Governor-General, Resigns ; Lord Amherst Appointed. — Mr. John Adams, in the Interim, Conducts the Administration, &c. ...... CHI. — The First Burmese War. — Capture of Rangoon. — The European Prisoners.— Mortality among the Troops, &c. ........... CIV, — The War with Burmah. — Attack on the Great Pagoda at Rangoon. — Operations in Assam, Arracan, &c. 4S2 4SS 49S S06 514 520 527 S3I 537 S44 550 557 564 572 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Scene in Delhi : The Cross-Roads, Chandni Chowk, the Principal Business Thoroughfare . Frontispiece Illustrated Front Page i The Old East India House. ..... 6 East India Company's Ships leaving Woolwich . . 7 River View in Rajpootana 10 View near Cape Comorin 12 View near Pondicherry . . . . . .13 Great Entrance to the Pagoda of Tanjore . . .18 Sketch Map of India ...... 19 Native of Madras 24 Sacred Pool near Trichinopoly .... 25 Entrance to the Pagoda of Conjeveram ... 30 Clive leading his Men up to Conjeveram ... 31 Elephant equipped for Battle, with Armour, Howdah, &c 36 Arrival of Major Lawrence at Coilady ... 37 Lord Clive . 42 Scene on the Banks of the Ganges .... 43 Obelisk erected in Memory of the Sufferers at the Black Hole 47 Territory of Calcutta when attacked by Surajah Dowlah, 1756 48 View of Government House, Calcutta ... 49 View in Moorshedabad . . . . . . 54 Clive at Plassey 55 Map of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa .... 60 View near Trichinopoly, the Mosque of Nuthur . . 61 Map of the Presidency of Madras .... 66 Naval Action between the British and the French in Pondicherry Roads 67 View of Madras from the Sea 73 Captain Yorke leading the Forlorn Hope at Masuli- palam 79 View of Chandcmagorc ...... 84 View of a Pagoda at Pondicherry Hindoos of the Deccan The French Commissioners coming to treat for the Surrender of Pondicherry Bas-Relief from an Indian Temple Idol from an Indian Temple View of Benares ..... Map of Oude and the Nortli-West Provinces The Sepoys at Buxar Clive departing from India View of Manilla Hyder Ali ...... The Rout at Eroor Defeat of Hyder Ali in the Pass of .Singarpetta Bird's-eye View of the Pagoda of the Eagle's Nest, Chingleput .... Escape of Lieutenant Goreham . Hindoo Girl .... Religious Mendicant . Fletcher's Defence of the Redoubt at The Palace of Tanjore Arrest of Lord Pigot . Jaut Zemindars and Peasants Warren Hastings Mussulman School at Allahabad . Indian Fakir .... Camel Jingall . ' . Map of the Presidency of Bombay The Town Hall of Bomb.ay The Battle of Arass : the Grenadiers at European Residence in Calcutta . Sir Eyre Cootc .... Duel between Warren Haftings and !• Native Hut .at Honib.ay View of the Citadel of Pooiiah . Tanjore Bay 85 90 9« 95 96 97 102 103 109 114 "S 120 126 127 132 133 139 144 M5 «5i 156 '57 1C2 "63 169 174 ■75 181 1S6 1S7 192 193 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. General Goddaixl entering Sural Low Caste Hindoo Women of Bombay Gwalior . . Sepoys, 1757 Group of Brahmins .... Ilyder Ali and the Missionary . Ruined Temple of Chillambaram Lieutenant Flint's Deed of Daring View of the Palace of Vellore . Cingalese of the Coast Women of Ceylon .... Map of Ceylon ..... Sea-Fight off Trincomalee Plan of the Northern Suburbs of Cuddalo Tippoo Sahib ..... Religious Festival at Benares Rescue of Cheyte Sing : Attack on the Sepoys Nepaulese Pagoda at Benares Hindoo Bankers of the North- West Provinces Warren Hastings reviewing Pear-e's Column Lord Cornwallis .... The Esplanade, Calcutta . Tippoo Sahib at the Lines of Travancore Madras Sepoys, 1791 Entrance to the Temple of Seringham Aire leading the Attack at Bangalore View of Seringapatam Group of Brinjarries .... The Indian Bison (Bos Caitrus) Engagement between English and French Cruisei Plan of the Attack on Seringapatam . Charge of the Highlanders at Seringapatam View of llie Great Mosque on the Hooghley. Calcutta The Goddess Kali, the Favourite Divinity of th People of Calcutta .... View of Diamond Harbour at the Embouchure Hooghley Lord Teignmouth ..... Low-Caste Bengal Natives Natives of Hyderabad .... The Earl of Mornington, a(ler\vards Marquis of Wellcsley View at Malabar Hill, near Bombay . The Elephant of India Perspective Plan of Seringapatam, indicating severally the British Positions in 1792 ard 1799 Tippoo's Ilumma, or Peacock . Tippoo's Toy Tiger of the I'AGE 199 204 205 210 211 216 217 223 22S 229 229 240 241 247 252 253 264 265 271 276 277 2S3 2SS 2S9 294 295 300 301 307 3>2 3'3 318 319 324 325 337 342 342 Lieutenant Graham planting the Standard Coolie of the Matheran Range, Western Ghauts Bas-Relief from an Indian Temple Window of the Man Munder, Benares Boats and Boatmen of the Ganges Peasants of the Doab .... Hindoo Temples in Poonah ... Plan of the Battle of Assaye A'iew of Baroda ..... The Car of Juggernaut .... Sir David Ochterlony (From a Miniatnrt:) Plan of the Battle of Laswaree . Group of Rajpoots View of Jeypore ..... View in the Gardens of the Mogul's Palace, Delhi View of Muttra ..... Indian Dancing Girl : the Egg Dance Colonel ?ilaitland at Bhurtpore . Group of Indian Weapons of War An Encampment at Secundra View of the Mausoleum cf Akbar, at Secundra View of the Indus, near Attock View in Calcutta ..... Indian Travelling W.igons Mussulman Woman of Bhopal . The Attack on St. Paul's, Bourbon . View of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Houmayoun in the Plain of Delhi .... Mountaineers of Afghanistan Merchants crossing the Indus The Sacred Cow of India .... Attack of the Blue- Jackets on Port Jacotel Type of Malay ...... Type of Javanese ..... Javanese Dancing Girls — Fete Day in the Forest View off Singapore — Chinese Junk lying Anchor ....... A Burmese Paddy (Rice or Country) Cart. From an Original Skclc/i ...... View in the Himalayas ... Runjeet Sing (From a Portrait by a Native) Death of RoUo Gillespie A Sikh Soldier Map of Nepaul ....... View of a Monastery in the Himalayas Sir David Ochterlony and the Ghoorka Messenger View of the " House of Fakirs," B.aroda . View of the North .Side of the Island of Salsette, Bombay ........ at 474 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Religious Mendicants at Benares .... 475 View of a Pavilion in the Palace of Jeypore . . 4S0 View of the Gate of the Garden of Secuncira . . 4S1 Dancing Girls of Bombay 4S6 Portrait of the Marquis of Hastings .... 4S7 Plan of the Defence of .Seetabuldee Ilill . . . 492 Fitzgerald's Charge 493 View of the Mausoleum of Mohammed Ghose, Gwalior 498 Group of Mahrattas, iSiS 499 View of the Lake of Burdi Talao, near Oodeypore . 504 Panther and Wild Boar 505 Plan of British Positions at the First Attack on Korei- gauni 510 Plan of the Advance on Koreigaum . . . -SI' Plan of the Attack on Sholapore . . . .516 View of the "Duke's Nose" in the Ghauts, near Khandallah 517 Natives Working in a Factoiy near Allahabad . . 522 TACE View of the Sacred Isle of Devinath, on the Ganges . 523 View of the Thakour's Castle at Tintoni, in the Bhecl Country . r^g Group of Gonds or Gounds c^q View of the Cavern of Tirthankars, near Gwalior . 535 Burghers of Ceylon ....... 540 Moorish Cloth-Seller of Ceylon 540 Maldive Islanders . . . . . . .541 Buddhist Priests of Ceylon 5^1 Bombay Bunder Boat 546 Nautch Girl of Baroda 547 View of a Hindoo Temple, Bombay .... 552 Death of the Arab Pirate 553 View of a Street in Mazagon, in Bombay . . . 55S Portrait of the Right Hon. George Canning . . 559 View of Rangoon . . . . . . .565 Group of Burmese Nobles . . . . . . 5 70 A Burmese Band 571 CASSELUS ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. INTRODUCTION. We propose in these pages to write the history of that vast empire which is bounded by the snowy Himalayas, the Indus, and the sea ; which contains a i)opukition of more than 1 50,000,000 souls, and covers a mighty tract— estimated at 1,500,000 square miles— extending from the cyclopean gates and sombre passes which shut in Hindostan on the north, to the sandy Cape of Comorin on the south— 1,880 miles distant— the wondrous acqui- sition of an originally small company of merchants, founded by Queen Elizabeth, and who went forth to seek it, as has been felicitously said, with the sword in one hand and a ledger in the other. From the origin of that infant corporation, we purpose to trace the story of our gradual acquisitions and conciuests, down through the time when Madras became a presidency, in the reign of Charles II., to the days when Clivc, the first and greatest of our warriors in the East, laid the solid foundations of our present supremacy there, and rent, by his sword, the power of France ; thence to the days when, under Warren Hasting- Sir Eyre Coote defeated Hyder; when Cornwallis swept Mysore and dictated terms to the ferocious Tippoo in his own proud stronghold of Scringapatam : when Wellesley won Assayc ; and to the wars and CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. treaties of more recent years, when, in succession, Hardinge, Dalhousie, and Canning annexed and consolidated under our sway four esitensive king- doms — the Punjaub and Pegu, Oude and Nagpore, with all their cities and fortresses ; and down to the horrors of the Mutiny, when the pious and heroic Havelock, Neill, Campbell, and Outram — " the Bayard of India," as he was named by the lion-hearted conqueror of Scinde — so terribly avenged the destruction of our people, and when, eventually, the title of the Queen of the British Isles, as Empress of India, was proclaimed in the Palace of Delhi by the heroic Vv'ilson and his soldiers, after the two last descendants of the Great ]\Iogul had perished under Hodson's hand in the Tomb of Hoomaion. Nor shall we forget, in the course of our history, those other brave men, who in remote and perilous times have traversed Hindostan, and whose " king- dom was not of the sword " — the courageous mis- sionaries of many lands and creeds ; for there St. Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have perished at Meliapore, and St. Francis Xavier, "the Aposde of the Indies," led the van of those preachers who, in later years, came from Britain, Holland, and Denmark, facing peril and toil, and in many instances cruel martyrdom. Apart from the political progress of the East India Company, the moral and material advance- ment of India (so signally shown when Lord Dalhousie introduced cheap postage, railways, and the telegraph) shall all be traced, together with that commerce which every year assumes vaster ])roportions, and is capable of almost indefinite extension ; for now the rich natural productions of Hindostan are being more fully developed, under the appliances of Western civilisation ; and thus, while wool comes from Afghanistan, and 24,000,000 acres of land are already under cotton cultivation, and 1,000,000 acres under indigo, the silver blossoms and tender leaves of the tea-plant are beginning to cover the slopes of the Himalayas and the hill-districts of the North- Western Provinces; rice is being growTi in the south, and thousands of logs of teak are now furnished yearly by the forests of Tenasserim, of Marlaban, and Malabar. .Ml the vast means there for accumulating wealth are being more and more developed by the introduction of those railways, some of the bridges and viaducts of which are the most magnificent in the world ; and when the ten great contemplated lines are finally complete, we .shall have a grand total *^^ 5)^59 niiles. Then, indeed, will the mineral wealth of India, its mines of coal, copper, and iron, plumbago and lead, gold, silver, and precious stones, be more fully developed, and European enterprise rewarded. In these pages we also propose to refer occa- sionally, in their place, to the past historical events of India, without wearying the reader by much of barbarous dynastic record ; and also to the wonderful vegetable productions of that teeming land, and the marvels of its native architecture, the remains of its mosques and tombs, and rock-hewn tempks, from the vast fabrics of the Patans, who, as Bishop Heber says, built like giants but finished their work like jewellers, to the more elegant and luxurious red-and-white marble palaces of the Moguls, and other princes. Our vital interests in India are great beyond all doubt, as it affords — and for ages, let us hope, may continue to do so — the most ample arena for that exertion, honest enterprise, and hardy valour, which, when combined, make a character so essentially British. We do not, as yet, possess the whole of India, as two other nations still retain some places of but small value — the French at Pondicherry and Carical on the east coast, at Mahe on the south- west, and at Chandernagore on the Hooghley, above Calcutta ; the Portuguese at Goa, on the west coast, and at Diu, on the north, between the Gulfs of Cambay and Cutch ; while the Looshais, and the Bhotanese on the southern slopes of the Himalaya range, are fast coming under our sway. A subject so attractive and of such importance as India, has caused the production of several works, by distinguished soldiers and statesmen, many of whom bore important parts in the events they describe. Yet, with all this interest in our Indian possessions, which in extent are equal to all Europe without Russia, we have much to learn yet, by a general and comprehensive history. " Every schoolboy knows who imprisoned Mon- tezuma, and strangled Atahualpa," says Macaulay, in his Essay on Lord Clive ; " but we doubt whether one in ten, even among English gentlemen of highly-cultivated minds, can tell who won the battle of Buxar, who perpetrated the massacre of Patna, whether Surajah 'Dow-lah ruled in Oude of in Travancore, or whether Holkar was a Hindoo or a Mussulman. The people of India, when we subdued them, were ten times as numerous as the Americans whom the Spaniards vanquished, and were at the same time quite as highly civilised as the Spaniards. They had reared cities larger and fairer than Saragossa or Toledo, and buildings more beautifiil and costly than the Cathedral of Seville. They could show bankers richer than the richest finns of Barcelona or Cadiz ; viceroys ANCIENT INDIA. whose splendour far surpassed that of Ferdinand i history, would be curious to know hou- a handful the Catholic, myriads of cavalry, and trains of I of his countrymen, separated from their home by artillery, which would have astonished the Great i an unmense ocean, subjugated, in the course of Captain ; so it might be expected that every | a few v^ars one of the greatest empires in the Englishman who takes any interest in any part of | world." CHAPTER I. A BRIEF GLANCE AT ANXIENT INDIA AND THE KORMATICiX OF THE EA.ST INDIA COMPANY. Long before the invasion of India by Alexander the Great, the Greeks had travelled there in search of knowledge ; for there, more than two thousand four hundred years ago, says Voltaire, " the cele- brated Pilpay wrote his Moral Fables, that have since been translated into almost all languages. All subjects whatever have been treated by way of fable or allegory by the Orientals, and particularly the Indians." Hence it is that Pythagoras, who studied among them, and Pachimerus, a Greek of the thirteenth century, expressed themselves in the spirit of Indian parables. India, on this side of the Ganges, had long been subject to the Persians, and Alexander, the avenger of Greece and the conqueror of Darius, led his army into that part of India which had been tribu- tary to his enemy. Though his soldiers were averse to penetrate into a region so remote and unknown, Alexander had read in the ancient fables of Macedonia that Bacchus and Hercules, each a son of Jupiter, as he believed himself to be, had marched as far, so he determined not to be outdone by them, and thus the year B.C. 327 saw his legions entering India by what is now called the Candahar route, the common track of the ancient caravans from Northern India to Agra and Ispahan. En- countering incredible difficulties, and surmounting innumerable dangers, he marched across " the Land of the Five Waters," now named the Punjaub, to the banks of the Hydaspes (a tributary of the Indus) and the Hyphasis. " No country," says Robertson in his "Historical Disqui-sitions," "he had hitherto visited, was so populous and well cultivated, or abounded in so many valuable pro- ductions of nature and of art, as that part of India through which he led his army ; but when he was informed in every place, and probably with exagge- rated description, how much the Indus was inferior to the Ganges, and how far all that he had hitherto beheld, was surpassed in the happy regions through which that great river flows, it is not wonderful that his eagerness to view and take possession of them should have prompted him to assemble his soldiers, and propose that they should resume .heir march towards that quarter where wealth, dominion, ann fame awaited them." But after the erection of twelve stupendous altars on the bank of the river, he found himself by the pressure of circumstances compelled to issue orders for retiring back to Persia. Collecting a numerous fleet of galleys, built of pines, firs, and cedars, he descended to the mouth of the Indus, where his army and fleet parted company. He marched with the troops by land, while Nearchus. who wrote an account of the voyage, sailed with the galleys through an ocean till then unknown. He went by the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates, while Alexander was traversing the deserts of Gedrosia, now called Beloochistan. By this expedition of the adventurous Greeks, r sudden light was thrown upon the vast nations of the East, though the accounts given by Nearchus of all he -saw — the serpents, the banian-tree, the birds that spoke like men (unless he meant the parrots) — were greatly exaggerated. Alexander left behind some of his hardiest Mace- donians to keep possession of the con(iuered countrj- on the banks of the Indus, but his death, which hapiiened shortly after his retreat, hastened the downfall of the Persian power in Hindostan, though it was not quite annihilated. Seleucus, the holder of Upper Asia, on the death of his warlike master, marched into those countries which had been sub- dued, partly to establish his own authority and partly to curb the King of Maghada, with whom eventually he concluded an amicable treaty by giving him his daughter in marriage on receiving fifty elephants ; and from this time till nearly two hundred years after, we hear no more of Indian affairs. With all the exaggerations of early writers, if, says Kljihin- stone in his history, " we discard the fables derived from Grecian mythology, and those that are con- trary to the course of nature, we shall find more reason to admire the accuracy of these early writers. CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORV OF INDIA. [a.d. 1553. than to wonder at the mistakes into which they fell, in a country so new and different from their own, and where they had everything to learn by means of interpreters, generally through the medium of more languages than one." Strabo and others refer to the Indian sects of philosophers, and the peculiar lives led by the Brahmins, together with the feats of those half- crazed ascetics called "fakirs;" of the self-immola- tion named the "suttee," and those magnificent and wonderful faks, festivals, and gatherings for religious purposes, which successive foreign conquests, and the mingling of foreign blood, have all left to-day un- changed, as when the trumpets of the Macedonians proclaimed the fall of Porus. During those dark ages that followed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the Oriental trade ^nth Europe, small though it was, became greatly diminished, but some of the productions of the East had become necessary for, and consecrated to, the services of the Church. " Even in our remote islandof Great Britain,and inthepoorsemi-barbarous Saxon period, the venerable Bede had collected in his bleak northern monastery at Jarrow some of the spices and scented woods of the East. At the dawn of our civilisation under Alfred the Great, English missionaries are said to have found their way to the coast of Malabar." There, in the sixth century, a merchant of Syria settled with his family and left his religion, which was Nestorian, and as these Eastern sectaries multiplied, they called themselves Christians of St. Thomas. Vasco de Gama's discovery of tlie way to India by the Cape of Good Hope in 1498, where, accord- ing to Camocns, he saw the Spirit of the Mountain and the Storm, led to a great commercial revolu- tion ; the Eastern trade, which hitherto had its em- poriums at Constantinople, Venice, and Amalfi, and whither goods were conveyed from India, Persia, and Asia Minor, or by the way of the Red Sea, was turned into the Deccan and a new channel. Hence tlie most valuable part of that important trade was placed in the hands of the Portuguese merchants and conquerors, who, by holding the Straits of Malacca, secured the commerce of the Indian Archipelago, and monopolised it for all Europe during the sixteentli century, till on the English, Dutch, and French beginning to find their way round the dreaded " Cape of Storms," and to ap- ])ear on the shores of India, the Portuguese lost their influence as rapidly as they won it. In i5>SiS, the year of the Armada, one of the bravest navigators of the Elizabethan age, Captain Thomas Cavendish, returned after a two vears' exploration of the Molucca Isles, where he had been kindly treated by the natives, who assured him that they were quite as willing to trade with the English as with the Portuguese. He and others applied for a small squadron for India, but the Enghsh Government did not think the subject de- serving of consideration. The first genuine English expedition to India partook more of the warlike and piratical than the commercial element, and was rather a species of cruise against the Portuguese. It was fitted out in 1591, under Captains George Raymond and James Lancaster, and consisted of three large ships, the Penelope, Merchant-Royal, and Edward-Bonaventure, which sailed from Plymouth on the loth of April.* Storms and tempests, ship- WTeck and other disasters, attended this expedition, which never saw India, and after more than three years of perilous wandering in unknown seas, Lan- caster, almost the sole surviver, landed at Rye on the 20th of May, 1694, a ruined man. As another example of the danger and uncertainty of voyaging by unexplored seas and shores in those days, when navigation was in its infancy, and super- stition invested unknown lands with more than material perils, we may mention the expedition of Captain Wood, who sailed from London for the East Indies in 1591 with three vessels, the Bear, Bear's-ivhelp, and Benjamin. He was bearer of a letter from Queen Elizabeth vaguely addressed to the Emperor of China. Every species of disaster attended his little squadron, which, instead of finding the East Indies, was driven to the West, where the last survivor was heard of at Puerto Rico, in 1601. It was not until the great Sir Francis Drake captured five large Portuguese caravels, laden with the rich products of India, belonging to certain merchants of Turkey and the Levant, and brought from Bengal, Agra, Lahore, Pegu and Malacca — and undoubted intelligence of the wealth of the country had begun to flow in through other channels — that any anxiety was manifested by the English to participate in the riches of the East ; and on the departure of the first Dutch expedition in 1595, under Cornelius Hootman, their national pride and rivalry were thoroughly roused. In one of those five caravels taken at the Azores, named the St. Philip, there were found many papers and documents, from which the English fully learned the vast value of Indian merchandise, and also the method of trading in the Eastern world, t Accordingly a company was suggested for that * C.imden and Hakliiyt. + Camden. l6l3.] ORIGIN OF THE COMPANY. purpose, in September, 1599, the petitioners being ijir J ohn Hart, Sir John Spencer, knights of London ; Sir Kdward Mitchcllson, William Candish, Esq., Paul Banning, Robert Lee, Leonard Holiday, John ^Vatts, John More, Edward Holmden, Robert Hampson, Thomas Smith, and Thomas Cambell, citizens and aldermen of London ; and upwards of two hundred more, being tliose " of suchc persons as have written with there owne handes, to venter in the pretended voiage to the Easte Indias (the whiche it male please the Lorde to prosper), and the somes they will adventure : xxij Septumber, 1599." Such was the origin of that wonderful commercial body of merchants, who in time to come were to carry the British colours to the slopes of the Hima- layas, to Burmah, Ava, Java, and through the gates of Pekin. The sum subscribed amounted to ^30,133 6s. 8d., and a committee of fifteen was deputed to manage it. They were formed into " a body cor- porate and politic " by the title of " the Oovernor and Company of Merchants of London, trading into the East Indies." On the 1 6th of October, the queen having signi- fied her approbation of their views, the committee began to exert themselves to procure armed vessels for the expedition, when suddenly — Spain having be- come desirous of peace — the whole afiair was nearly crushed by the queen's approval being withdrawn, as she feared the voyage might give umbrage to Spain. Eventually, on the 31st of December, a Royal Charter of Privileges was given to the com- pany of merchant adventurers, but conditionally for fifteen years only.* Thomas Smith, alderman of the city of London, was named the first governor, with twenty-four members as a committee ; and the space over which they were empowerud to trade was of mighty extent, as it included Asia, Africa, and even America, with all cities and ports therein, and beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan. The spring of 1601 saw the expedition in readi- ness at Woolwich, under the command of Captain James Lancaster, the unfortunate survivor of that squadron which left Plymouth in 1591. It consisted of only four vessels ; the Red Dragon, of 600 tons ; the Hector, of 300 tons ; the Swan, of the same tonnage ; and the Guest, a victualling ship of 130 tons. They had on board in all 550 men, well furnished with arms, ammunition, and food, and had with them money and goods to the value of ;^2o,ooo as a trading stock. The Woolwich of that day was little more than a • It is given at great length by Purchas at page 139, vol. i. hamlet with a church, having a square tower and double aisles, on a bare green eminence, northward of which lay an old dock built by Henry VIII., and its inhabitants were chietly fishermen ; but we may easily imagine the excitement with which the gathered crowds on shore, and in craft on the river, must have watched the departure of Lancaster and his shipmates, when, on that eventful 15111 of May, 1 60 1, these four little vessels dropped down the Thames on their voyage to that distant land of which the people had scarcely the least idea, but which they regarded with something of awe and mystery. " It is curious, " says Macaulay, " to consider how little the two countries, destined to be one day so closely connected, were then known to each other. The most enlightened Englishmen looked on I'ndia with ignorant admiration. The most enlightened natives of India were scarcely aware that England existed. Our ancestors had a dim notion of endless bazaars, swarml-ng with buyers and sellers, and blazing with cloth of gold, with variegated silks, and with precious stones : cj" treasuries where diamonds were piled in heaps, and sequins in mountains, of palaces compared witli which Whitehall and Hampton Court were hovels, and of armies ten times as numerous as that which they had seen assembled at Tilbury to repel the Armada." With such-visions in their mind, and full of high hopes and aspirations, after a brief detention at Torbay, Lancaster's crews saw the white clifis fade into the sea, and the 20th of June found them two degrees north of the line. The first place they visited was the island of Sumatra, where they met a welcome reception. In the Malacca Straits, Lancaster captured a large Portuguese vessel having on board calico and spices sufficient to load all his ships, and on being thus suddenly enriched, he bore away for Bantam, in Java, where he left some agents — the first founders of the Company's factories, and sailing from thence for England, came safely to anchor in the Downs in September, 1603. James of Scotland had been crowned King of Great Britain three months before. As three generations p;i5sed away before events seemed to indicate that the P'ast India Company would ever become a great military and commer- cial power in Asia, a brief glance at its history will bring us to the reign of Charles II. In 1609, the Company obtained a renewal of its charter for an undefined period, subject to its dissolution by government on a three years' notice ; but before 1612, when a firman of the Mogul em- peror confirmed the Company in certain privileges 6 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1623. in the isles of the Indian Ocean, and on the con- tinent of Hindostan, their ships had each made eight voyages to the East, realising enormous profits. " Few great things have had a smaller beginning than I'.iat stupendous anomaly, the British Empire in Indin," says a historian. " It was in the course of 161 2, in the reign of James, that the agents of the Company timidly established their first little factory at Surat. ... At this period the of the Company for three years, he found all his diplomacy baffled by the intrigues of the Portu- guese; he obtained some new privileges, however, and some petty territorial grants. The Dutch, whose power in the Indian Seas far exceeded ours, were quite as jealous, and in their resolution to secure the lucrative trade in the Spice Islands, perpetrated a detestable outrage at Am- boyna, a fertile isle in the Molucca group, where we had a little factory at Cambello, occupied by I HE 01 U i:.\ST INDIA IlOl'SE. nominal sovereigns of the whole of Imlia, and the real masters and tyrants of a good part of it, were the Mohamraedanised Mogul Tartars, a people widely different in origin, manners, laws, and religion from the Hindoos, the aboriginal, or ancient inhabitants of the country." At the solicitation of the Company, yet in its infancy, King James sent as ambassador to Delhi Sir Thomas Roe, in 161 5. Landing at Surat with eighty English men-at-arms in their full panoply of steel, with trumpeters, banners, and considerable pomp, he marched across the country to Ajmere, where, on the 23rd of December, the Mogul em- peror received him with unwonted ceremony ; but though he remained as ambassador in the interests eighteen defenceless Englishmen. These were invited, in a most friendly manner, one evening in 1622, to visit the governor of a Dutch castle which was garrisoned by 200 soldiers. He suddenly closed the gates, accused them of a design to sur- prise his petty fortress, pi;t them to the most dreadful tortures, and finally rut off the heads of ten. A Portuguese and nine Japanese were de- capitated as accomplices of the English, and this massacre was, according to the Abbe Raynal, neither resented nor punished until the time of Cromwell ; so our trade in the Spice Isles was abandoned, and the affairs of the Company began to decline, though in 1623, on the 4th of February, ■SjJ.) TEMPORARY DECLENSION IN THE COMPANY'S AFFAIRS. CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1688. another royal grant was made to them at West- minster.* At this crisis, through the favour in which a Dr. Boughton stood with the Shah Jehan, they were authorised to make a new settlement on the Hooghley, and the ground on which Fort St. George and Madras now stand was obtained from a native prince. Thereon Mr. Francis Day instantly erected the fortress, and soon around it there sprang the town, to which the natives always resorted as the best place for trading; and therein they placed the money they acquired, to protect it from their native lords and princes. During the great Civil War and the suspension of all trade, the East India Company sank into comparative obscurity; but in 1652, Cromwell re- confirmed its jjrivileges, and to their peculiarity must be ascribed the growth of its political power in Hindostan. Upon payment of a very incon- siderable sum, they obtained from the native government of Bengal an unlimited right of trading throughout that province, without the payment of any duty. On the 3rd of April, 1661, they obtained a new charter from Charles II., giving them authority to make peace or war with any jjrince or people " not being Christians ; " and seven years subsequently, the isle of Bombay, which had been ceded by Portugal, as part of the marriage portion of the Princess Katharine, was granted to the Company " in free and common soccage, as of the manor of East Greenwich, at an annual rent of ^10 in gold on the 30th of September in each year." Soon after, the king granted the Company the isle of St. Helena, as a resting-place. In 1687, the Company, lured by the defensible nature of Bombay, trans- ferred (says Bruce in his "Annals of the East India Company") the presidency over all their settle- ments thence, from Surat ; and from that time the city, with its magnificent port, began to spread and increase steadily. The Company did not get possession of the "island of Bombaim," as Mr. Pepys calls it, with- out some trouble, as the Portuguese, according to Dr. Fryar, refused to surrender it, until five Englisli ships of war, under James Ley, Earl of Marl- borough (who was killed in battle with the Dutch in 1665), appeared before it, and "landed 500 stout men, commanded by Sir Abraham Sliipman, who was appointed generalissimo for the King of England on the Indian coast." Our Indian trade was liable to frequent inter- ruptions by the fierce wars among the natives, fermented in many instances by the Dutch and Portuguese ; and these insane strifes, by weakening the Mogul empire, encouraged the English to re- linquish the merely standing on their defence, and to become aggressive. CHAPTER II. FOUNDATION OF CALCUTT.\ AND FALL OF THE MOflUL EMPIRE. — ANGRIA THE PIRATE, ETC. In this spirit, in the year 1686, a Captain Nichol- son, with ten armed vessels of from twelve to seventy guns each, having on board only six com- panies of infantry, 1,000 strong, proceeded up the Ganges, with orders to levy war against the Mogul emjieror, the descendant of the mighty Tamerlane, the Nabob of Bengal ! This force was ridiculously small to be employed for either warlike or political purposes ; but the totally undisciplined state of the Bengalese was fully considered. Nicholson's orders were to seize vipon Chittagong, which had been the great empo- rium in the time of Ackbar, and was now held by the Rajah of Arracan. The interior is moun- tainous and still covered with jungle ; but between the ranges are well-cultivated valleys, covered with olive, mango, orange and plantain trees. • Rymer's " Foedera." On being joined by the Company's fleet, Nichol- son found him.self at the head of nineteen sail ; but he managed matters so badly that he was beaten off by the cannon of Chittagong; on whicli the nabob, inflamed with fury, destroyed the English factories at Patna and Cossimbazar. Upon this, the Com- pany sent out a large ship called the Defence, with a frigate, under Captain Heath, who had no better success than his predecessor. He arrived in Bengal in October, 1688, and came to anclior in Balasore Roads. The members of our fvctory there had been seized and imprisoned. Captain Heath opened a negociation for their release with the native gover-nor, but was too impatient to await the result of it. He landed at the head of 160 soldiers, captured a tliirty-gun battery, and plundered the town ; but the result of these pro- ceedings was, that the English prisoners were carried i«9"J CALCUTTA FOUNDED. into the interior, where they perished in hopeless captivity. From Balasore, Heath now sailed to Chittagong, and after some fruitless negociations there, he went to Arracan, and finally arrived at Madras in March, 1689, with fifteen ships, on board of which was all that now remained to the Company of their once flourishing factories in Bengal. The irritated nabob vowed to expel the English everj'^vhere from his dominions. Our factory at Sural was seized ; the island of Bombay was environed by an Indian fleet ; the factories at Masulipatam and Vizagapatam were captured, and in the latter many of the Company's servants were put to cruel and lingering deaths ; but, according to the histories of Mill and others, the treasurj' of the nabob began to sink low, and he and his ministers believing that, from their recent failures, the Company could never become sufficiently strong to be formidable, became open to friendly negociations. Surat was restored with all that had been taken ; but during our contests with the natives, our power- ful enemies, the French, had won a footing in India, and established themselves at Pondicherry, on the Coromandel coast, where they obtained a slip of land, five miles in length, from the King of Beja- pore, and at once proceeded to fortify it, while sedulously cultivating the friendship of such native princes as were inimical to the English, who now saw the stern necessity for obtaining, by gold or steel, an extension of territory to render them independent of all native princes. " The truth is," says Sir John Malcolm, " that from the day on which the Company's troops marched one mile from their factories, the increase of their territories and their armies became a prin- ciple of self-preservation ; and at the end of every one of those numerous contests in which they were involved by the jealousy, avarice, or ambition of their neighljours, or the rapacity or ambition of their servants, they were forced to adopt measures for improving their strength, which soon appeared to be the only mode by which they could avert the occurrence of similar danger." While Pondicherry was growing in strength, so far were the Company from being able to attempt its destruction, that they were unable to hold the sea against a French squadron of four ships, armed with twenty, forty, sixty, and sixty-six guns respec- tively, which hovered on the western coast of India, and captured one of their large ships within forty miles of Bombay. About this lime Tegna- palam, a town and port not far from Pondicherry, was acquired by purchase from a native prince, and thereon the Company built a stronghold called Fort St. David. " It is rather curious," says Beveridge, " that while the French, with whom we were at war, allowed the Company quietly to fortify them- selves in their immediate vicinity, the Dutch, our allies, manifested the utmost jealousy, and refused to recognise the right which the Company claimed, in virtue of their purchase, to levy harbour dues and customs." About nine years later, more important acquisi- tions were made by the Company. Aurungzebe, the Mogul emperor, had made his son Assim Ooshaun, Viceroy of Bengal, and as the latter aspired to dethrone his father, as Aurungzebe had dethroned his, money was requisite for the scheme. Thus, for a good round sum he sold to the East India Company the zemindarships of Govindpore, Chutanutty, and Calcutta. The word zemindar, according to Grant's "Inquiry into the Nature of Zemindary Tenures" (1791), signifies a possessor or holder of land, without ascertaining the particular mode of tenure, or the interest in the lands holden. But in 1707, nine years after these territories were acquired. Fort AVilliam (so called in honour of the late reigning king) was finished, a town rose under its protection — the future "City of Palaces" — and the Company made Calcutta its presidency, and it rapidly rose to the dignity of being capital of British India. The actual founder of our settlement at Calcutta was Mr. Job Charnock, one of the first Englishmen who made a conspicuous figure in the political theatre of India, and who, it may literally be said, laid the first stone of the mighty fabric of our Eastern P3mpire ; and his tombstone was long visible in the old cemetery of Calcutta. The Com- pany had now a footing in Bengal, similar to that it already possessed at Madras and Bombay. In 1693, King William had granted a new charter to the Company, under which it was re(]uired to augment its capital stock, then amounting to ;^756,ooo, to ^1,500,000, and to export in every year British produce to the value of ^100,000. But the power of the Crown to grant such a monopoly was questioned by the Commons, who passed a resolution declaring, " that it is the right of all Englishmen to trade to the East Indies, or to any part of the world, unless ])rohibited by Act of Parliament." In this situation the aflairs of tlie Company remained until 1698, when, to obtain a charter conferring an exclusive right of trading to India, ^2,000,000, at eight per cent, were offered to Government by a number of subscribers uncon- nected with the old Company, which, to maintain its privileges, had previously offered ^700,000 at four per cent. CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. ['70S. Thus were two East India Companies erected \ in the same kingdom, which could not but be very prejudicial to each other. A few private traders now began to speculate on their own risk, thus establishing a kind of third company. In 1702, these corporations were in a measure united by an indenture tripartite, to which the queen was the third party, and six years later saw them perfectly consoHdated by Act of the first British Parliament, by their later name of the " United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies." From this period, the Company has occupied a station of vast importance in the commercial infuriated mob, on a gibbet within the high-water mark.* Before the Consolidating Bill had passed the Commons, the Great Mogul, Auiungzebe, a man whose heart never felt a generous sentiment or inspired that feeling in the heart of another — died, and fierce wars followed his death. His son Azim, or Assim, was proclaimed emperor in Hindostan ; his son Bahadur Shah seized the remote throne of Cabul, and marching down to Agra, at the head of the hardy Afghans, the ferocious Kyberees, and other tribes, defeated his rival in a severe battle, in which Azim and his two grown-up sons were slain, and his youngest, an infant, was captured. I RIVER VIEW IN RAJPOOTANA. interests of this country ; and an account of the various legislative provisions which have been made for its support and regulation may be found in- corporated in most of the histories of England. At this period English and Scottish ships seem at times to have fought each other in Indian waters, as some of those sent from Edinburgh by the Darien Company were, after the ruin of that colony by the artifices of William III., attacked, and their crews trcxited as pirates. For acting thus, an English captain named Green, was seized in 1705, when in command of the JVorcester, East Indiaman, in Burntisland harbour, together with thirteen of his crew, who were alleged to have been concerned in the murder of an entire Scottish crew in the Indian Seas. For this, after a due trial, Green and two of his crew were conducted to Leith, and there hanged, amid the execrations of an Scarcely was the sword sheathed, when a prince named Cambakah unfurled the standard of revolt in that spacious district named the Deccan, or "the South," a term applied by Hindoo writers to all that portion of Hindostan which lies to the south of the Nerbudda river ; but in advancing, he was defeated and slain near Hyderabad. Every event subsequent to this, by weakening the Mogul, tended to strengthen the Company's prospects of territorial aggrandisement ; for though thus victorious, he was compelled to make a truce that was humbling and dishonourable with the plundering Mahrattas, and to stoop to a compromise with the Rajpoots. These were barely accom- plished, when the fierce and fanatic Sikhs burst into his territories and ravaged them as far as I.ahcre on the one side, and the gates of Delhi on the othir. • Burton's " Trials." »7l8.] PREPARATIONS AGAINST THE PIRATES. tt In the towns captured, they massacred, with wan- ton barbarity, men, women, and children, and even dug up the bodies of the dead, that they might become food for birds and beasts of prey. They were led by a chief called Bandu, who had been bred a religious ascetic, and who combined with bold and daring counsels a sanguinary nature. Bahadur Shah had to march against them in person, and compelled them to retire to the mountains, where Bandu took refuge in a fort, which, though surrounded, was too strong to be stormed. The Sikhs cut a passage through at the point of the sword, and a man was taken, who gave himself up as Bandu, that the latter might escape. The emperor, though sufficiently struck by the prisoner's noble self-devotion to spare his life, yet was ungenerous enough to send him in an iron cage to Delhi.* Bahadur died soon after, in February, 1712, and left four sons to contend for the throne. Zehander Shah, who triumphed over his brothers, after put- ting to death every prince of the blood he could lay hands on, by having their eyes torn out of the sockets, was in a few months dethroned by his nephew Farokshir, though already the Hindoos were beginning to feel, that for the vast majority of the population of India, any form of government would be better than this, and these convictions made the coming reign of the Company easier. Farokshir had been seven years on his bloody throne, when again the Mahrattas, and the Sikhs under Bandu, invaded him. The latter was made prisoner, and conveyed to Delhi with a hundred and forty others, all of whom were beheaded, while their unfortunate leader was tortured to death. The emperor soon after was assassinated, and succeeded by a young prince of the blood, who died in three months, to be succeeded by another youth, who died — most probably by poison — within a shorter period. I-ong ere this, the Maliratta drum had been heard in every part of the empire, and wherever it was beaten, carnage, ravage, and plunder ensued. Mohammed Shah was now set upon the throne, and under him, the empire of the Great Mogul crumbled away. The Hindoos and Mohammedans began to fight constantly, even in Delhi ; and the Shiahs and Soonees, the two rival Moslem sects, slaughtered each other. Under the rule of the Nizam-ul-Mulk, the Deccan was rent from the empire ; the Rohillas seized upon the northern jirovinces, and in 1739, all went still more to wreck and ruin, when the Persians, under the great Nadir • Bohn's " India ;" " Hisl. of tlic Punjaul)," &c. Shah, 80,000 strong, laid siege to Candahar, and pushing on, crossed the Indus by a bridge of boats, and advanced into the Punjaub, massacring alike Hindoos and Mohammedans. Delhi was taken and sacked. From sunrise to sunset that magnificent city was given up to the fur)^ of 20,000 soldiers ; and slaughter, rapine, and outrage reigned in their most horrible forms. Nadir's sole object was plunder. He seized the imperial treasures and the jewels of the famous " peacock throne " — a mass of priceless gems. He plundered all the Omrahs of the empire, and the common inhabitants, employing every species of the most inhuman torture to extort contributions. Many died under these cruelties, and many slew themselves to escape them. After a residence of fifty-eight days, he marched from Delhi, carrying off with him treasure, in money, plate, and jewels, to the value of ^30,000,000 sterling. The Mogul had escaped with his life only. He preserved his liberty, but was so stupefied by his humiliation and defeat, that a kind of lethargy, born of despair, seized him. His capital was a ruin ; his treasury empty ; his army destroyed ; the sources of revenue gone ; the Mahrattas threatened him on the south, while the Afghans hung like a thundercloud on the mountains of the north-west ; and now it was that, amidst this dissolution and dismemberment of his own mighty empire, the British began to lay the sure and solid foundation of theirs. About this time Angria the pirate greatly infested the Indian seas, his flotilla being always recruited by the military and other stores captured from British ships. An expedition was fitted out against him in 1737. Among those commanding the Company's troops were William Mackenzie, son of the I'^arl of Cromartie, formerly of the Scots Brigade ; and among the Company's sea officers Patrick, son of James, Lord Torphichen. But the whole force perished in a tempest; and Angria and his brother, also a pirate, held the seas against all comers, till naval operations were taken against them by Com- modore Bagwell. After long watching for Angria, on the 22nd of December, 1738, he at last descried this ferocious wretch, who was for so long the terror of the Eastern seas, issuing with nine grabs and thirteon gallivals from the strong port of Gheriah, which opens in a point of land tliat juts out into the ocean 170 miles southward of Bombay, and forms a good land- locketl harbour. The fortress here was the abode and stronghokl of Angria. Grabs were three- masted, square-rigged vessels of about 200 tons, 12 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY Of INDIA. t'738. armed usually with nine and twelve-pounders ; these were handsome vessels of barque rig. Galli- vats were craft of seventy tons, each carrying from 200 to 300 men. The commodore bore down upon them, and though their force was greatly superior to his, tliey fled from his cannon, and took shelter in Rajah- pore. Their swift sailing rendered them successful in flight ; and though they suffered from Bagwell's broadsides, they contrived to elude him, and in complaint at Bombay; and Captain Inchbird was compelled to make prizes of his grabs, gallivats, nnd fishing boats. Nevertheless Menajee seized upon the isle of Elephanta, so celebrated for its wonderful cave and mythological sculptures, which have been so often described, and which lies only seven miles south-west of Bombay. When at last reduced to misfortune by the neglect of his brother, he became the sycophant of the British, and hum- bled himself to beg their aid — but for a time only. .II.U NKAR LAI'i-, spite of his vigilance, while he pursued them, some of their ships captured certain British merchant- men. Soon after this craven flight from Bagwell's little squadron, four large East Indiamen were attacked by a powerful flotilla belonging to the same pirate chief. A single ship of the commercial squadron beat them off with severe loss ; though the British in their sea encounters with these pirates were deficient in promptitude, their physical strength, however, caused them to be greatly dreaded, while their capacity to handle large ships inspired wholesome fear. The other Angria, named Menajee, by his vio- lence, insolence, and daring spirit, alternated by strange cowardice, was a source of perpetual The union of the clashing interests of the rival Indian companies, the tranquillity and commercial prosperity, all contributed to increase the value of our growing possessions in the East, and to en- courage the Company to seek their extension. " Every year some branch in India was lopped off the Mogul tree ; some adventurer succeeded in making an independent sovereign state out of a smaller or larger portion of that empire ; there was a constant destruction and reconstruction, or attempts at it. The mass of the population had now a much stronger aversion to the Mussulmans than to European Christians. They showed a marked preference for our rule and protection ; and at Surat, Bombay, Fort St. David, Calcutta, and .745.] DESIGNS OF THE FRENCH UPON THE BRITISH SETTLEMENTS. •J every establishment where we could protect them, they flocked to trade with us and live with us. Even many of the Mussulmans, when oppressed at home, took refuge in our settlements. The Com- pany were signally indebted, in various stages of their progress, to humble practitioners in medicine. It was in consequence of a cure efiected on the favourite daughter of one Mogul emperor that they had first been allowed a footing in Bengal."* In the year 17 15, a Scottish medical man named I Hamilton, as a reward for curing, at Delhi, the Emperor Farokshir of a dangerous disease, obtained for the Company a grant of three villages near Madras, with the liberty of purchasing in Bengal 1 thirty-seven townsliips, and conveying their goods j through the province duty free ; and about seven years after the death of Farokshir, the Company was allowed to establish a court of justice, consisting of a mayor and nine aldermen, at each of the three presidencies of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. A'^Wli'c^ VIEW NEAR PONDICHKRRV. CHAPTER III. THE SIEGES OF MADRAS, FORT ST. DAVID, AVn PONDICHERRV. The French East India Company, having made Pondicherry a formidable stronghold, now began to e-Kcite the fears and jealousy of the English Company by their increasing influence and extend- ing trade ; and on Sir Robert Walpole losing office at home, the war which broke out in Europe rapidly spread to India ; and many of the most distin- guished officers in the French service repaired to the East, for the express purpose of attacking the • Ntacfarl.ine. British settlements before they were capable of defence. Among these was M. de la Bourdonnais, who from a subaltern rank in the na\y had risen to be Covernor of the Isles of Bourbon and Mauritius, and who prepared a squadron in France for the East. Of this our government was duly informed, and a British naval force, commanded by Commodore Barnet, comprising two ships of sixty guns each, one of fifty, and a frigate of twenty, soon hovered H CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. I1746. in the Eastern seas, and between the Straits of Sunda and Malacca made many valuable French prizes, and one of forty guns was taken into the service and named the Afcdway's Prize. In July, 1745, the commodore was oft' the coast of Coro- mandel, at a time when there was no French fleet there as yet, and when Pondicherry, with all the strength of its fortifications, had a garrison of only 436 Europeans under M. Dupleix. By an agreement made \vith the Nabob of Bengal, Barnet's operations were confined to the sea, and a iitw more prizes were taken prior to his death at Fort St. David, after which Captain Peyton assumed the command, and, when cruising on the morning of the 25th of June, 1746, oft' the coast near Nega- patam, he suddenly sighted the squadron of La Bourdonnais, consisting of nine sail, armed with 294 guns, and carrying 3,300 men, 700 of whom ■were Africans. The flag of La Bourdonnais was on board a seventy-gun ship. Oiu: squadron had not half this number of men ; but they were resolute and better disciplined, and keeping the weather-gauge, bafiled all the mancEuvTes of the French to beat to windward. The indecisive conflict that ensued was maintained by cannon alone, and Peyton, without the consent of his officers, bore away to Trincomalee, leaving the enemy in possession of the ocean. AL de la Bourdonnais, believing that he had nothing further to fear from our naval force, bore up for Pondicherry, where he began to prepare in earnest for the siege of Madraspatam, as it was then called, a prize worth fighting for, and, to all appearance, to be won without much labour. Madras proper consisted of three divisions. Its northern quarter was a vast assemblage of huts ; adjoining this was the Black Town, or Chinna- patam, occupied by Indian and Armenian merchants, and surrounded by a low wall. South of this lay the Wliite Town, or Fort St. George, forming a parallelogram 400 yards long by 100 broad. A very defective wall, strengthened by four bastions, engirt it ; there were no outworks. Within it stood an English and Roman Catholic church, the factory, and some fifty houses for the Europeans, whose number was only 300. Of these, 200 were soldiers. The governor never went abroad without being attended by sixty armed peons, besides his British guard, and with two Union Jacks borne before him. Such was the state of Madras when M. de la Bourdonnais appeared before it on the 14th of September with eleven sail, two of which were bomb- vessels, manned by 3,700 men. The troops, artillery, • "Atlas, Geo.," 1712. ; and stores were landed, and a camp formed while I the Count d'Estaing, captain of artillery, was sent fonvard with a hundred bayonets to reconnoitre a place where defence was never seriously contem- plated, but which was not to be surrendered at the first shot. On the 1 8th, the town was battered by twelve mortars on the land side, and by three of the largest ships of the squadron from the seaward; their fire was so heavy that-the little garrison began to think of negooiations ; and on the 20th, Messrs. Monson and Haliburton came forth as deputies, and urged that as the town was within the territory' of the Mogul, the attack should cease ; but understanding that the views of the French were serious, asked what contribution would induce them to retire. " I do not traffic in honour," replied La Bour- donnais proudly. "The flag of France shall be planted on Madras, or I shall die before its walls!''* Preparations were made for an assault, which there were no means of withstanding ; and to spare the little place the horrors of a storm, on the 21st the town and fort capitulated, all the garrison, &c., were made prisoners of war, but were allowed to go where they pleased, " on condition that they shall not bear arms against France till exchanged. The garrison to be landed at Fort St. David, the sailors to go to Gondeloar, and the Watreguel Gate to be put in possession of the French troops at two in the afternoon— all mines and countermines to be revealfd." La Bourdonnais pledged himself upon his honour to restore Madras to the Company ultimately, on a fixed ransom ; but M. Dupleix, who had previously formed his own schemes for uni- versal conquest, and had a desire for the entire conduct of the war, insisted that the former should break the treaty of capitulation, and at all hazards retain Madras. But La Bourdonnais was averse to a plan which would compromise his honour ; and leaving all authority in the hands of M. Desprti- menil, he hurried to Pondicherry, in October, to remonstrate with the governor. Many quarrels and much coolness ensued, after which La Bourdonnais took his departure to France, in order to answer certain allegations made against him by M. Dupleix and others, and to seek such patronage from the East India Company as might enable him to return and crush them. But on his homeward voyage he was taken prisoner by a British ship of war, and brought to England, where, as he had shown himself alike a man of honour, valour, and humanity, he was received with favour by all ranks. "A director of our East India Company off'ered • Baron Grant. i74<] BRITISH SITUATION ON THE CQROMANDFX COAST. IS to become security for him and his propert",- • but the government desired no security beyond the word of La Bourdonnais, and permitted him to return to France. It would have been better for him if they had kept him in England ; for, upon the representations of the insidious Dupleix, he was arrested without process, and thrown into the Bastille, where he pined for three long years." He died soon after his liberation. " It has been said," says Baron Grant, in his papers (iSoi), "that the interest of his wife alone, who was of the family of Auteuil, preserved him from being sacrificed ; but whether it was from chagrin, or some other cause, he did not long survive. (It has been suspected that he was poisoned.) M. de la Bourdonnais was soon re- venged. M. Duplei.x was, in his turn, obliged to render an account of his conduct, and died in a state of penury.' Our friend, the Nabob of Arcot, sent a body of his native troops, under Maphuze Khan, to drive the French out of Madras ; but they fled at the first discharge of the French cannon ; and now Dupleix publicly broke the treaty we made with La Bourdonnais, and ordered every article of pro- perty, public or private, liritish or native, except the clothes and trinkets of the women, to be con- fiscated — an edict executed without mercy. The governor and some of the principal in- habitants were next carried off to Pondicherry, and triumphantly, but meanly, exhibited there to a mob of 50,000 spectators. Among these captives was a young man named Robert Clive — the Clive who was yet to avenge the insult put upon himself, his companions, and his country ! Dupleix now turned his attention to Fort St. David, and prevailed upon the Nabob of Arcot to quit our cause and join him; but three attempts he made against that place failed signally. After Madras, this place was our most important settlement on tiic Coromandel coast, and upon the capture of the former, became the seat of the presi- dency. The fort, small but strong, stood 100 miles south of Madras, fourteen south of Pondicherry, and formed the nucleus of a considerable territory, within which stood the rising town of Cuddalore, the climate of which is so delightful that it is still one of our principal stations where soldiers are placed who choose to remain in India after having served out their time or become invalided. Dupleix thought that, until he could utterly crush us on the coast of Coromandel, his object was but half accomplished so long as Fort St. David remained in our hands. Recalling from Madras M. Paradis, a Swiss whom he had placed there as governor — a man without humanity or scruple — that officer came on with 300 men ; and on being reinforced from Pondicherry, appeared before Fort St. Da\id with 1,700 Europeans, si.x field-pieces, and six mortars. Ere operations began, the officers, for some reason, refused to serve under him, and the command was assumed by M. de Bury. At daybreak on the 9th of December, 1746, the Pennar, which joins the sea some distance north of the fort was reached, unopposed, save by a few of our sepoys, the white smoke of whose fire spurted out from the green leafy jungles in which they were concealed. A greater resistance had been antici- pated, yet the garrison consisted of only 200 Britons, 100 Topasses, or natives of Portuguese blood, while the whole force for the defence of the territory was only 2,000 peons, with goo muskets among them. The sudden appearance of a body of g,ooo horse and foot, belonging to the nabob, led by his sons Maphuze Khan and Mohammed Ali, burning to avenge their late repulse at Madras, filled the French with consternation, and, abandoning their baggage, they made a rush to cross the river. ' The garrison made a sally, and, joining the Raj troops, pursued them for six miles. Two subsequent attempts were equally unsuc. cessful, though the nabob now threw his whole weight into the French scale, recalled his army from Fort St. David, and sent Maphuze Khan in state to Pondicherry, where a grand rccejition awaited him. Our situation on the Coromandel coast was be- coming desperate now ; our people looked in vain for assistance from home, and had almost ceased to hope for it. On the 2nd March, the French made their third attempt, in strength, and this time under M. Paradis. To their surprise they found the passage of the river was to be contested by a troo]) of volunteer horse with three field-pieces. These were driven in after a three hours' contest, when a squadron of ships was seen coming to anchor in the roads, with the Union Jack flying. On this the P'rench retired in all haste to Pondicherry. The new arrivals proved to be the squadron which had been inactive in Bengal, and was now under the command of .\dmiral Grithn, who had come from Britain with two ships, one of sixty and the other of forty guns. Partly by recruits from Bengal, England, and Bombay, Fort St. David now became so strong that it was beyond the reach of danger, and then the subtle Dupleix began to tremble for Pondicherry itself But the approach of the October monsoon compelled the admiral to bear away for I'rincomalee, on the way burning I6 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [•748. and sinking in Madras Roads the Neptune, a French ship of fifty-four guns. His flag was on board the Princess Mary (sixty guns), and his whole squadron consisted of eleven sail, mounting 560 pieces of cannon. The spring of 174S saw it once more before Fort St. David, while at the same time, Major (afterwards General) Stringer Lawrence, an officer of the highest merit, arrived to take commasid of all the Company's troops in India; but for some , months little of moment occurred, thoush in con- sequence of a rumour that Dupleix was about to make an attempt on Cuddalore, the major formed an intrenched camp near the passage of the Pennar. Dupleix had here recourse to treachery, and tempted by gold 400 sepoys to desert wth their commander on a given opportunity. Fortunately the scheme was discovered. Two suffered death, and the leaders of the sepoys were sent in irons, for life, to St. Helena. About this time Rear-Admiral Griffin received intelligence, on the 9th of June, from Captain Stephens of the Lively, twenty guns, that he had discovered seven French ships of war off the coast, so he resolved to sail at once to attack them. By noon next day they were seen a few leagues to windward of Fort St. David, careening well over, for the wind was blowing half a gale. This had prevented our admiral getting under weigh till eleven at night, when he put to sea, his sailors bursting with impatience to meet the enemy. M. Bouvet, their commander, was an able officer and experienced seaman, and took care to avoid a batde. To deceive Griffin, he kept to windward the whole day, and at night bore away under a press of sail, even to his royals, for Madras, where he anchored on the morning of the nth, having accomplished the object of his voyage, by landing 400 soldiers, and _;^2oo,o»o in silver for M. Dupleix, after which he put to sea, and steered for the Mauritius. In the meantime Admiral Griffin had looked into Pondicherry Roads, and not finding the enemy there, bore away for the rough billowy roads of Madras, where he met with an equal disappointment. Popular clamour now wanted a victim. He was summoned home, tried by a court-martial, and most unjustly dismissed his Majesty's service. He was — when too late — restored, and died in 1771.* The next great event of the Indian war, which hitherto had excited little or no interest in England, was the first attempt to reduce Pondicherry, and, if possible, drive the French out of India. " India," says a leading journal in 1875, "is as remote from • Schombeig, " Naval Chron," this country as though it were situate in another planet, even now that the English occupation has conveyed a sense of identity." The first project of a French East India Com- pany was formed under Henry IV., by Gerard le Roi, a Flemish navigator, who had made voyages to Hindostan in Dutch ships. By letters patent, in 1604, the king granted him an exclusive trade for fifteen years. Five years after, he formed a new association, and obtained letters patent, and March, i5ii. Four years passed without any enterprise being undertaken ; some merchants of Rouen, therefore, solicited the transfer of these privileges to them, and engaged to fit out a certain number of vessels for India in 1615. These Gerard opposed, till the king united both companies by a charter, and July, 1615. Still nothing of enterprise was attempted, and in 1642 a new commercial company was formed, under the great Cardinal Richelieu, called " the Company of Madagascar," where it made some progress, and established a colony of 100 French- men, who built them a fort ; and then, after various changes of fortune, it was abandoned, and factories were established at various places, and lastly at Boudoutscheri, where they erected their principal entrepot of Indian commerce, and named it Pondi- cherry. Fortified by M. Marten, Pondicherry speedily became a place of importance, and the foreign commerce of France attained its zenith in 1742; yet only seven ships were sent to India, witii cargoes to the value of 27,000,000 livTes. At the period to which we have come, " the governor's house was a handsome edifice, and equal to the finest hotels in France. This officer,'' says a co- temporary, "is attended by twelve horse-guards, and 300 foot soldiers, who are called peons. On days of ceremony he is carried by six men in a palanquin, whose canopy and panels are adorned with a rich embroidery, and various ornaments of gold. This pomp is necessary in a country where the power of a nation is determined by the exterior splendour of those who represent it." Occupying a gentle declivity at the south-eastern extremity of a long flat eminence, Pondicherrj' was even then one of the best-built modern cities in India, with an aspect alike pleasing and command- ing. Its strong citadel stood within the town, and, along with it, was enclosed on the three land sides by a ditch, rampart, and wall fianked by bastions. The eastern front, which faced the sea, was de- fended by works armed with 100 guns ; but that number was quadrupled before the place was finally captured. SIEGE OF PONDICHERRY.- J7 A mile distant from these defences, a thick jungly hedge of aloes and other thorny plants, mingled with cocoa-nut and other palms, was carried round for a circuit of five miles from the seashore to the river Ariancoopan, forming an im- penetrable barrier to cavalry, and, without the use of the axe, one equally so to infantry. Each roadway through this hedge that led to the to\vn. was pro- j tected by a redoubt armed with guns; and near where it joined the river was a small but strong work named Fort Ariancoopan. ] The season was far advanced before our be- sieging force commenced operations ; yet instead of capturing one of the petty forts and making a dash at the city, they began operations by wasting their time and strength in attacking the fort by the river. : Through the neglect of the officer commanding at St. David's, no means had been taken, though the fleet had long been expected, to ascertain when the siege would commence. An engineer sent to reconnoitre Ariancoopan reported that it was a place of small strength ; and this was confirmed by a deserter, who stated that it was manned by only 100 sepoys ; whereas the fort, which was triangular, regularly scarped, and surrounded by a deep dry ditch, was garrisoned by loo Europeans and 300 sepoys, under a resolute French officer. This was about the 8th of August, when Admiral Boscawen had arranged everything for the siege, and had off the place his squadron, consisting of fifteen sail, six of which were line-of-battle ships, and carrying in all 662 guns. Entrusting the squadron to Captain Leslie, of the Vigilant (sixty- four), he landed to conduct the operations. The Exeter and Pembroke (sixty guns), and the Chester and Swa/lgw (sloops), were ordered to anchor and sound the roads, prior to the larger ships approach- ' ing to batter. \ On the 1 2th of August, Captain Lloyd, of the Deal Castle (twenty), landed in command of 1,100 seamen who were to co-operate with the troops ; and the 27th of September saw tha line-of-battle ships warped within range of the place. Admiral Boscawen, who had been grossly misled, ordered the instant assault of Fort Ariancoopan; and though made with resolute bravery, the results were most disastrous. Inspired by shame or fury, and with the conviction that they could not be beaten, the gallant stormers persisted m the attack, and did not retire until 150 of them were killed by grape and musketry, and Major Goodere, a most experienced officer of the royal service, had fallen mortally wounded. Though finding that they had been deceived by the strength of this outwork, instead of making an approach to the city from another and weaker point, the siege was postponed till Ariancoopan could be reduced ; and the French were not slow to profit by the blunder, by keeping the attacking force in play for eighteen days, when, on their magazine blowing up, they abandoned it. Passing the formidable hedge, the besiegers opened their first parallel at the distance of 1,500 yards from the place, instead of 800 yards from the covered way. They then found they had broken ground in the wTong direction, and that between their works and the town they had a deepening morass. September was a month for sickness, and the rainy season was fast approaching ; yet very shame prevented our people from retiring, and though many Hves were lost in the process, two batteries of eighteen and twenty-four pounders, and two bomb-batteries were erected ; but their fire never told, and neither did that from the ships, as all were a thousand yards distant, and the breach- ing-guns of the present age had not been conceived. Finding that they were nearly surrounded by water, that the monsoon might dash the ships to pieces, and that they had lost 729 soldiers, and 265 seamen, out of their original strength of 3,720 men, they abandoned the siege. On the 6th October, the troops marched back to Fort St. David, and, to avoid the monsoon, Boscawen sent the squadron to Achin and Trincomalee ; and all felt that nothing had been produced but a series of heartless blunders, over the result of which, the French garrison, originally consisting of x,8oo Europeans and 3,000 sepoys, sang Te Deiim. Dupleix's loss was only 250 men. In November, the commanders received advice that a cessation of arms had taken place between Great Britain and France, prior to the Peace of Aix-la-Chajielle ; and, as possession was to be re- stored in the state, as nearly as might be, to that condition in which it was at the commencement of the war, the Company completely recovered Madras. At this time, the French, by their manners and subtle mode of paying flattering compliments, were supposed by the natives of India to be a people superior in valour to us ; but though M. Dupleix was nothing of a soldier, h« had many brave officers under him. i8 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA ti748. ■■3iiJBiiB:i:!::t, s iSMSiiS M iilili! I :i;ii,aii;BEi:t5ii:::!iiiiaiEi:iaii^ 1748.1 SKETCH MAP OF INDIA. 19 IND I A O C E A &s CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. CHAPTER IV. THE TANJORE CAMPAIGN. — ROBERT CLIVE. f The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was of very brief duration, and failed to secure quiet between the British and French in India, where it seemed but a false truce, and Mill, who is generally severe upon the former, attributes the first act of indirect hostility to our armed intervention in the affairs of Tanjore ; and true it is, that the anarchy prevailing among the native rulers opened a way to easier conquests in the Carnatic, a province of Hindostan on the eastern side of the peninsula, with a coast of 650 miles, and where the altitude of the moun- tains produces the most important effect in the nature of the seasons by preventing the clouds from passing over them.* Dupleix, who hated the British, and made no secret of his hope to drive them out of India, was infuriated by the peace, and by his menaces he prevented them from settling quietly to business and trade ; thus they neither disbanded their native troops nor sent home the slender aid that had come to them from Europe, and the first event which broke the treacherous calm was an alliance between us and Syajee, Prince of Tanjore, an extensive and well-cultivated district in the Carnatic, though in the month of January the whole face of the country is one continuous sheet of paddy-ground, here and there interspersed with villages, the total number of which is about 5,000. Syajee had been deposed by his brother Pretauab Sing — the deposition of one prince by another is a common event in Oriental politics — and asked our aid to recover his throne, offering to give us in return the district and fortress of Devi-Cottah, provided we could take it by the sword. For this purpose an expedition was at once prepared, and on hearing of it, M. Dupleix expressed great horror of the ambitious views of the English, who took means " indirectly to inform him that the place they desired to obtain was of value for trading purposes only, and they were not about to wrest it from its legitimate sovereign, but to conquer it as his ally." The force by which it was expected Syajee would dethrone his usurping kinsman, consisted of only 400 Europeans, and 1,000 sepoys, with four field- pieces, and four mortars. These troops, accom- panied by Syajee, and commanded by Captain Cope, set out in March, 1749, while the battering • Rennell. guns and provisions proceeded by sea in four ships, two of which were of the line. After a march of twenty miles, during which they were much harassed by a species of guerillas, the troops encamped at the banks of the Valaru, near its con- fluence with the sea ; but the wrong season had been chosen, for our leaders were still new to India. The change of the monsoon took place on the very evening of their halt, and a dreadful hurricane ensued, which lasted with such violence till four the next morning, that many of the horses and draught bullocks were killed, the tents torn to rags or swept away, and the stores were destroyed. Meanwhile at sea, a piteous event occurred. H.M.S. Pembroke (sixty guns) was wTecked, only six of her crew escaping. The Lincoln and Winchelsca, East Indiamen, were also wrecked ; and worst of all, the Namur (seventy-foar), one of the finest ships in the navy, was cast away at the mouth of the Valaru, and, save two midshipmen and twenty-four men, every soul on board, to the number of 750, perished. Admiral Boscawen hap- pened fortunately to be on shore. Whether it ^ras owing to these events, or that Captain Cope failed to keep up a due communica- tion with the fleet, which was four miles distant, is scarcely known ; but after throwing several shells into the place, the attack was abandoned, and Pretauab Sing's troops were seen in motion to dis- pute the passage of the Coleroon, while not a single person of rank, or a rlsala of horse, came to the standard of the forlorn Syajee. Captain Cope now fell back to Fort St. David — his whole line of march lying through a thick, dark wood, where he was exposed to the galling match- locks of unseen enemies, while the plains beyond were covered by glittering masses of matchlock- men and troopers with lance and shield — "with nothing better to detail than misfortunes and blunders." Orme * and Mill vary considerably in their de- tails of the two attacks upon Devi-Cottah, before which another expedition appeared, but fitted out with more prudence, as it was led by Major Lawrence, whom Macaulay describes as a sensible man, though devoid of certain soldierly attributes. To escape the dangers of a land march, LawTence • " History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in India." "f49l ATTACKS UPON DEVI-CO'iTAH. I)roceedcd at once by sea, with six ships, three of which were of the line, carrying 800 Europeans, with artillerj- and baggage, while 1,500 sepoys ac- companied them in coast boats. When he came to anchor in the Coleroon, he led the force up an arm of the river direct to Devi-Cottah, and en- camped on the bank opposite to it, for the double reason that the Tanjore army lay under its walls on one side, and a perilous marsh was on the other. Enclosed by a brick wall eighteen feet high, and Hanked by strong tower.s, the fortress was an irregular hexagon. 'J'he attack was made on its ' eastern flank, which in three days was breached by the fire of four twenty-four-pounders, and the gap declared practicable ; but the chief difficulty was to cross the branch of the Coleroon, which was dan- gerously rapid, and had jungly banks, which the enemy were quite prepared to defend. In this dilemma, a brave and skilful ship's carpenter, named John Moor, constructed a raft capable of carrying 400 men, and swam the river in a dark night, when he succeeded in attaching, unseen, to a large tree, a rope, the other end of which was rove through a ])iirchase-block attached to the raft, by means of which the whole troops were safely carried over, and soon cleared the jungle. The enemy had not repaired the breach, but contented t'hemselves by digging an intrench- ment. This presented a serious obstacle to the troops, more especially as before it lay a deep and muddy nullah. The attack, however, was rcs'ilved on, and Lieutenant Robert Clive, who had now completely relinquished the civil for the military service — and of whom more anon — with the rank of lieutenant, bravely volunteered to lead the for- lorn hope. His offer was accepted, and he dashed, sword in hand, across the nullah at the head of thirty-four Europeans and 700 sepoys. This force he had formed into two bodies. It was the design of Lieutenant Clive to take the ipauUmcnt in flank, while the sepoys, pushing on to the front, should keep the garrison in check. Unfortunately, the native troops, overtaken by an unaccountable panic, held back ; and the sequel was most disastrous. Concealed behind the pro- jection of a tower was a body of Tanjore cavalry, who suddenly rushed fortii with lance and tulwar upon the little band of Europeans, all of whom were instantly destro.yed, save Clive and three others. Clive, who was reserved for greater events, escaped the downward stroke of one horseman by nimbly springing aside, and with his three men escaped to the sepoy corps, which, though it failed to advance, yet stood in good order beyond the nullah, where the Tanjoreans, overawed by their steady aspect, did not attempt to attack them. Nothing daunted by this check. Major Lawrence now ordered the whole of the Europeans to the front, placing them, as before, under the orders of Lieutenant Clive. On this occasion all went as could have been wished. The Tanjore cavalry attempted to charge the stormers, who repelled them by a volley and a bayonet charge which tumbled them over in heaps, horse and man ; while the former, animated by the heroic example of their leader, dashed up the rugged breach, and soon made the place their own.* Nor were the future operations of the expedition less fortunate. A detachment of 100 Europeans and 200 sepoys took possession of the Pagoda of Achereran, a strong square edifice five miles south- westward of Devi-Cottah, where they repulsed a iierce attempt, made amid the darkness of the night by an infuriated and yelling horde, to re- capture it. With all this, it was not difficult to perceive that, in the expectations they had been led to form by the statements of Syajee, the British had been deceived. As before, not a single Tan- jorean joined them ; and the chiefs were, in consequence, well pleased to come to an accom- modation whicli, while it secured to our own government the possession of Devi-Cottah with all its dependencies, obtained for the dethroned prince an annual revenue of 9,000 pagodas (about ^350), together with all the expenses of the war. "This last stipulation," says Beveridge justly, "all things considered, was utterly disgraceful to those who exacted it ; but the king was not in a condition to resist, for events had just taken place in Arcot which made him aware that lie might soon be engaged in a deadly struggle with still more formidable enemies." And now the suitable moment has come wherein to relate something of the past life of that Lieu- tenant Clive who has already been brought promi- nently before the reader as a subaltern officer, and who was to be the future conqueror, the really true founder of all our greatness in the East, and with whose name the history of our acquisitions and dominion there is inseparably connected. Robert Clive, the eldest of a family of six sons and seven daughters, was born on the 29th of September, 1725, in the mansion of a small estate calletl Stytche (in the parish of Moreh)\vn-Se:i, Salop), which had been in ])ossession of his family for fully 500 years — a family "which," says Mr. Cilcig, "never aspired to a station of society more • "13iit. .Mil. Com.," vol. iii. CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. t>745- elevated than that of the middling gentry, a rank now unhappily extinct." But it is said that the first establishment of the Clives in Shropshire dates from the reign of Henry II. His father was bred to the law, and practised as an attorney in the little town of Market Drayton, on the Fern. His mother was Rebecca, daughter and co-heiress with her sister of Mr. Gaskell, of Manchester, whose other daughter, Sarah, be- came the wife of Hugh, Lord Semple, who com- manded the king's left wing at Culloden, and was colonel of the Regiment of Edinburgh — the 25th. Many tales are current respecting the youthful extravagances of Robert Clive, and of these we can scarcely here pretend to sketch an outline ; but rather refer the reader to Sir John Malcolm's work. His temper was wayward and reckless ; he was impatient of control and resolute in purpose ; and the former element is shown in the frequency with which he changed his places of abode between his eleventh and eighteenth years. He was first setded in Cheshire, under the tuition of Dr. Los- tock, who, though he failed to manage the boy, foretold that " few names would be greater than his." We next find him at Market Drayton, under the master of the grammar school ; and it was while here that there occurred the singular episode of his sitting astride a gargoyle of the church tower which was carved like a dragon's head. Such acts as this compelled his father to send him to Mer- chant Taylors', London — with little effect, as he was soon transferred to another school in Herts, where his master. Sterling, spoke of him as "' the most unlucky boy that ever entered his establish- ment." It is very probable that his adventurous spirit, his pugilistic encounters, his love of racing, boating, cricket, and all manner of out-door sports, with his wild and daring manner, which made him the terror of ushers, and to be known as " naughty Bob," and deemed, as Macaulay says, " a dunce, if not a reprobate," kept the lad from following, as his father wished, the frigid study of the law, and led him into the ranks of the East India Company's civil service. He had barely completed his eighteenth year when he landed at Madras in 1744, and entered at once upon his official duties. The impatience of control he had shown as a scholar was not the less exhibited when he was a clerk or "writer." He became involved in a dispute with a senior, and was commanded by the governor to ask pardon. He did so, however unwillingly, and the functionary, hoping to smooth over all coldness of feeling, invited young Clive to dinner. "No, sir," replied he, scornfully; "tiic governor commanded me to apologise to you, and I have done so ; but he did not command me to dine with you." With all this, the idle Salopian schoolboy now became a severe student, and devoted his attention to the culture of the native languages. Two years passed thus, when the advent of war between Britain and France opened up a more congenial field for his ability and ambition. He was present at the bombardment of Madras in 1746, and be- came, on parole, the prisoner of La Bourdonnais, and was one of those, as we have said, who were made a public spectacle by Dupleix when he vio- lated the terms of the capitulation. Disguised as a native he made his escape from Pondicherry, and on reaching Fort St. David, became a gentleman volunteer, and in that humble capacity gave proofs of the indomitable courage that inspired him. He once formed one of a party at play, whom two officers by ungentlemanly cheating contrived to fleece. The winners were noted duellists, so the other losers paid their money in silent rage ; but Clive refused to follow their example, and taxed the players with knavery. He was challenged, went out and gave his fire, upon which his adver- sary quitting his ground, put his pistol to Clive's head, desired him to ask his life. Clive did so ; but the bully now required that he should pay the sum he had lost, and retract what he had said. " And if I refuse?" demanded Clive. " Then I fire," replied the other. "Fire, and be hanged !" said Clive coolly. " I still say you cheated ; nor will I ever pay you." The gamester, struck with the bold bearing of his antagonist, called him a madman, and threw away his pistol. We must not finish this anecdote, continues Mr. Gleig, without recording Clive's conduct in the sequel. AVhen complimented by his friends, he observed, — " The man has given me my life, and I have no right in future to mention his behaviour at the card- table ; though I shall certainly never pay him, nor associate with him again." In 1747, he sought and obtained the rank of ensign, still retaining his position in the civil ser- vice, so few were the Europeans then in India. He marched against Pondicherry, was in the attack on Fort Ariancoopan, and the retreat to Fort St. David. During the affair of Pondicherry, it chanced on one occasion, that the ammunition of his picket, when hotly engaged, fell short. Eager to avoid a repulse, he hurried rearward to the depot, and carried up a fresh supply ere his absence was observed by his men. Of this circum.stance a brother-officer took advantage to cast a slur upon itwl DISPUTES OF NATIVE PRINCES IN THE CARNATIC. 23 his character ; but Clivc called the slanderer to such a severe account, that the latter was com- pelled to resign his commission. One strong feature in the somewhat melancholy mind of Robert Clive was an intense love of his own country. " I have not enjoyed a happy day since I left my native country," he wrote to one of his relatives; " I must confess at intervals when I think of my dear native England, it affects me in a very par- ticular manner. ... If I should be so blest as to visit again my own countr)-, but more es- pecially Manchester, the centre of all my wishes, all I could hope or desire for would be presented in one view." In his Essay on Malcolm's " Life of Clive," the latter, says Macaulay, " expressed his feelings more softly and pensively than we should have expected from the waywardness of his boy- hood, and the inflexible sternness of his later years." When lonely and in low spirits, at Madras, he twice attempted to shoot himself through the head ; on each occasion the pistol snapped, and then he received the impression that divine Providence had designed him for some important career by miraculously saving his life. " Such," says Nolan, " was the state of mind of this young man, who was borne a prisoner by the perfidious Dupleix to PondicheiTy, and there paraded about for the sport of a people who were litde better than their infamous governor. It is easy to conceive how the high spirit of Clive chafed under these indignities ; but his resolute will and fertile genius soon found an opportunity to assert themselves. Well had it been for Dupleix and for France, if the wanderer who so well affected the mien and garb of Islam, had been fettered in Pondiche-rry, or if La Bourdonnais' clemency and honour had prevailed, and the young clerk had been left in 'Writers' Buildings' at Madras, until commercial success, dismission, or suicide had prevented him from interfering in the field of war with the governor of Pondicherry, and the genius of French conquest." CHAPTER V. PROGRESS OF THE WAR IN THE CARNATIC, ETC. Though the means by which it was obtained are open to question, the possession of the fortress of Devi-Cottah, with its district, proved of immense importance to the Compan)'. Situated most ad- vantageously on the Coromandel coast, with the channel of the Coleroon immediately under the town walls, ships of the largest burden could approach with ease, though there was a bar at the mouth of the river, and this was of all the greater consequence that from Masulipatam to Comorin there was no harbour that could receive a vessel even of 300 tons burden. In addition to this, the district was fertile, rich and highly cultivated. Though partially baffled, M. Dupleix was in no wise intending to relinquish his schemes for con- quest or for availing himself of local contentions. The British flag had not waved many days on Devi-Cottah ere he was engaged in transactions of great moment, and taking part in a revolution in the Carnatic. A number of princes disputed the succession to the throne of that country — the six sons of Nizam- ul Mulk — and Dupleix, acting precisely upon our own plan in India. Divide et imf^era. resolved to make profit out of the civil war by adhering to the strongest claimant, Chunda Sahib, who had collected a large army, and eagerly courted his assistance, and through whom he hoped to attain a complete ascendency throughout the whole of Southern Hindostan. These ambitious projects are fully admitted by the Abbe Raynal, Voltaire, and Orme. In addition to this war in the Carnatic, fierce disputes were in progress among minor princes for the possession of other dominions bor- dering upon, or connected with it. From Pondicherry Dupleix marched a body of 400 French soldiers, and 2,000 sepoys, many of whom were disciplined Cafiirs, and in the first battle, by a ball fired by one of these, Chunda Sahib's most powerful opponent fell. Mohammed AH, son of the fallen nabob, fled to Trichinopoly, a strong place, while the allied conquerors marched to Arcot, which surrendered on the first summons. Mohammed earnestly implored succour from the British, offering high prices for their aid, but they were few in number, they were without orders from home to justify them for embarking in such new and extensive operations; moreover, peace had been concluded at home, and they were amply occupied in Uxking repossession of Madras, and strengthening 24 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. UU9- it. Meanwhile, Dupleix sent some troops wth Chunda Sahib to plunder the Rajah of Tanjore, for giving up Devi-Cottah to us, and compelled that prince to give to France two lacs of rupees, and eighty-one villages belonging to Carical, which the latter, whom he now kept loaded with chains and carried him thus in his train wherever he went. Nazir Jung and Prince Anwar-ud-Deen. who claimed the sovereignty of the Camatic, having united their forces, and drawn into their service NATIVE OF MADRAS. the French had seized in fort there.* In the adjacent regions of the Deccan — that great and powerful country which formerly domi- nated over the whole of the Camatic— the succes- sion to the late Nizam-ul-Mulk had been bitterly disputed between his son Nazir Jung and his grand- son Muzuffer Jung ; but the former prevailed over • MaJcolm'.-i " Life of Clive," Jtc 73C, and had built a nearly all the Mogul troops, advanced suddenly to the frontier of that country at the head of an im- mense army, including 30,000 Mahrattas to act as light cavalry. On their approach, Chunda Sahib and his French friends retreated towards Pondicherry, where Dupleix, by incredible exertions, increased his contingent to 2,000 men, and added a column I of well-trained sepoys, with an excellent park of i artillery. >749) OPERATIONS AGAINST TRICHINOPOI.Y. In the meantime, to sustain Mohammed Ali, we had contrived to send a few slender detachments to Trichinopoly, a fortified city on the southern bank of the Cauvery, long the capital of the Naik of panics had also been sent to aid the Rajah of Tanjore; and Major Lawrence, on joining these with a few more, found himself enabled to aid the army of the Nazir Jung with 600 British soldiers. •-KAR TKUlllNcil . Madura. It is famous for its magnificent temples and mosques, and is surrounded by a double loop- holed wall ; and in its centre the citadel crowns a smgular isolated and stupendous rock, of almost sugar-loaf form, 350 feet in height, on the little ]>lateau of which are now the arsenal and military hospital. While garrisoning this place, a few com- 3 Though that officer had obtained the orders of his civil superiors for this armed co-operation, he had jjainful doubts as to whether he was justified in fighting French troops in time of peace, without distinct orders from London ; while "the presideucw having satisfied themselves that the man who could muster an army of 300,000 men must be CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [■749- the real soubahdar, had got rid of all their doubts and scruples on the subject of his title, and magnanimously resolved to share his fortunes." As he advanced with the showy and glittering army of Nazir Jung, the French and their allies strongly intrenched themselves, and, confident of victory, quietly waited the attack. Their position was so admirable, that Major Lawrence advised Nazir against the risk of an attack; but the haughty Indian prince replied, that " it became not the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk to retreat before any enemy !" The guns opened the strife, and the infantry were put in motion for a closer attack, with matchlock and gingal, but at this crisis the French troops became utterly disorganised. Numerous as was the mighty host of Nazir Jung, the only really formidable portion of it was Lawrence's handful of Britons with their old " brown Besses " and socket- bayonets ; hence M. d'Auteuil sought to bribe it into inactivity, by sending a secret messenger to acquaint the major that, "though their troops were arrayed on opposite sides, it was his wish that no European blood should be spilled, and therefore desired to know in what part of Nazir's army the British were posted, in order that none of his fire might go that way." Estimating this remarkable communication at its true worth, Major Lawrence replied, — " The British colours are carried on the flag-gun of our artillery, and though I, too, am anxious to spare European blood, I shall certainly return any shot that may be sent me." But M. d'Auteuil, in proposing this absurd neutrality, had not given the true reason, which was that his men were in open mutiny, and that thirteen of his officers had resigned their commissions in front of the enemy. This was to revenge them- selves on Dupleix, with whom they had a fierce dispute, before leaving Pondicherry. Whatever the cause by which these men courted death by the articles of war, matters not ; one account says they were enraged at not sharing the booty of Tanjore, but, however that may be, M. d'Auteuil ordered his whole contingent to quit the field, and march home. Chunda Sahib, who saw his own troops now deserting fast, thought he could not do better than follow M. d'Auteuil ; so the whole position was abandoned without another blow, and for a time the triumph of the British and their allies seemed quite secure, though Chunda, at the head of his cavalry, repeatedly charged the ALihrattas, who, led by Morari Rao, hung like a cloud upon the flanks and rear of the flying column, the arrival of which in wretched plight at Pondicherry, threw all that place into consternation. The refusal of Nazir Jung, with true Indian cunning and rapacity, to grant to Britain a territory near Madras as the reward of her co-operation, so irritated Major Lawrence, that he instantly marched his 600 men back to Fort St. David. On the other hand, Dupleix had not lost heart ; by various arts he pacified the mutinous officers, infused a new spirit into their soldiers, and opened a secret cor- respondence with some disaffected chiefs of the Patan troops in the army of his antagonist, Nazir. These were ferocious and warlike mercenaries, who were divided into clans or tribes, like those of the Scottish Highlands ; and they engaged to perform various services, even to the murder of Nazir, if wished. D'Auteuil again took the field, and one of his officers, at the head of 300 bayonets, was allowed by the Patan guards to penetrate into the heart of Nazir's camp in a dark and cloudy night, and slay a thousand men in cold blood, with the loss of only three ; while at the same time, a small French detachment sailed for Masulipatam (a seaport having a great trade with Bassorah on the Persian Gulf), which was escaladed and taken by Colonel Forde in 1739. Landing in the night, they as- sailed its fort — a great oblong work close by the sea — and stormed it with trivial loss, while another detachment seized the Pagoda of Travadi, within fifteen miles west of Fort St. David. These troops were under " the French Clive," the Marquis de Bussy, who, continuing his rapid career, next stormed the famous hill-fort of Gingee, which towers above six other conical mountains on the summit of a mighty rock, and is impregnable to ordinary modes of attack. Built by the ancient kings of the Chola dynasty, strengthened by the Naik of Tanjore in 1442, and successively by the Moham- medan kings of Bejapore, the Mahrattas, and the Mogul, it was deemed a maiden fortress, and its capture struck awe into the hearts of the Indians, and filled all Europeans with astonishment.* Impressed by this event, Nazir Jung opened a secret correspondence with Dupleix, who replied to his letters in a friendly spirit, and drew up a treaty of peace, while at the same time arranging for a treacherous revolt in the camp of Nazir, against whom he posted 4,000 men unseen under the great rocky hill of Gingee, with ten field-pieces, to await the summons of the Patan traitors. The secret signal was given, and 800 Europeans, with 3,200 sepoys, burst into the camp of Nazir, • who, on the first alarm, mounted his battle-elephant, and was hastening to the lines, when two musket- balls entered the howdah and shot him through the • Oime. II '75"] CAPTALV COPE'S FORCES BEFORE MADURA. 27 heart. He fell out, dead, at the feet of the savage traitors, who slashed off his head, and bore it through the lines upon the spear. The tragedy caused a sudden revolution. The chains were struck from the limbs of his nephew, Muzuffer Jung, who was instantly proclaimed Soubahdar of the Deccan, and set out in military and Indo-barbaric triumph for Pondicherry, where, to reward the French, he gave them a great part of the fallen prince's treasures, appointing Duplei.x governor of all the Mogul dominions on the Coromandel coast, from the mouth of the Kistna to Cape Comorin, while Chunda Sahib obtained the government of Arcot. But neither the new soubahdar nor Dupleix could satisfy the avarice of the Patan chiefs, who marched off to their native mountains full of rancour and revenge, sentiments to which they had an opportunity of giving full sway in the spring of 1751. In that year it became necessary for Dupleix to turn his attention to certain revolts which broke out in the Carnatic — as he shrewdly suspected, not without encouragement from the Company or its native allies, and the new soubahdar took the field at the head of the Raj, or state troops, accompanied by a French force under the Manjuis de Bussy. On this march into the interior, a mutiny burst forth in a portion of their army, and it was discovered that a savage pass in the territory of Kurpa {en route to Golconda) was in possession of the ferocious Patans, armed with their long juzails or rifles, matchlocks, and gingals, together with arrows and other missiles. Bussy ordered up his light guns to sweep the pass with round shot and grape. The Patans fled, but one, by a Parthian shot, sent an arrow through the brain of the new soubahdar, and slew him on the spot. Another account says he was slain by the javelin of the Nabob of Kurnool. Re that as it may, the native army packed up their lotahs and rice-kettles to retire, when the energetic Bussy pro- claimed a third soubahdar, in the person of Salabut Jung, the infant child of Muzuffer, a tiny black youngling, who was now borne aloft in triumph through the ranks. It is worthy of remark that to the succession of children no respect is ever shown in India, where hereditary right has no fixed rule of successions, and hence the domestic dissensions by which, from first to last, we have ever profited. The army continued its march to Hyderabad, where it was given out that ere long France would make the Creat Mogul to tremble on his throne at Delhi. The sudtlen ascendency of the wily Dupleix filled the Council of the East India Com])any with something more than genuine consternation, and I they endeavoured to induce Mohammed AH to break off those negociations whereby Trichinopoly was ultimately to be surrendered to France ; but Mohammed All declared that he would hold out Trichinopoly to the last gasp, whereupon we pledged ourselves to aid him with men, money, and ships. Yet for all this, in his first faintness of heart, he might have joined Dupleix. To en- courage him, the presidency at Fort St. David twice sent him succour ; but the results were far from satisfactory, and in one instance we had a positive defeat, owing to the smallness of the force at our disposal, and as Major Lawrence had re- turned to England, the Council were at a loss to whom to give the command of the first expedition. Lieutenant Robert Clive was too junior in rank and years, so they gave the command to Captain Cope, who, says a writer, " might have been of the same stock as Sir John Cope, the hero of Preston- pans." With a mixed force of 6po men, he advanced to Madura, a town situated in a wild and hilly district, then as now in some parts swampv, in others cultivated with paddy-wheat, sugar, and tobacco, and having savage^ districts where elephants, tigers, chetahs, antelopes, and hogs roam untamed. Its fortifications were then rectangular and extensive, and consisted of a ditch and wall, round which mephitic miasma and fever are yet exhaled from the stagnant basins of the fort. This unsavoury place still adhered to Mohammed Ah, though a garrison, led by a soldier of lortunc, held it against him. Captain Cope had with him only three field- pieces, and two cohorns, with 150 Europeans, and 600 native horse, with which to invest a city two miles in extent. He was joined, however, by 5,000 of Mohammed's men, but his whole power of breaching depended on an antique Indian gun, tlie shot for which was so soon expended that it failed to enlarge some ancient gaps in the outer wall; yet to one of these the stormers advanced with the bayonet, to find it held, among others, by three stalwart champions, one ol whom, a bulky man, was clad " in complete armour," i.e., chain mail, and these defenders cut down many of the stormers ere they perished. In the interim, a storm of balls, arrows, and stones was poured from the rampart above, and on gaining the parapet, the little handful of Britons saw there a sight which was sufficiently appalling "On each side of the breach was a mound of earth, with trees laid horizontally upon it (an abatis ?), yet leaving openings through which the enemy thrust their pikes, while at the bottom of the rampart a strong entrenchment had been thrown up, and Ironi three to four thousand GASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA, tmt. men stood ready to defend it. The assault, in which it would have been madness to persist, was abandoned, and on the following day, Captain Cope, after blowing his old gun to pieces because he had not the means to carry it away, returned crestfallen to Trichinopoly." He had not retired a moment too soon, for 3,500 of his allies went instantly over to the enemy. All this only serves to show that the means at the disposal of our officers were too small to achieve much as yet, in a region so warlike and popu- lous. On the faUing back of Cope, Trichinopoly, a place of vital importance, was immediately besieged by the French and the forces under Chunda Sahib. As it was the only place in the Carnatic which now remained in the hands of our ally, and as the French were showing what we might expect by planting white Bourbon flags in every field around our boundaries,_and in some instances insolendy within our limits, the presidency at Fort St. David became roused to greater exertions. There were mustered 500 Europeans, 100 Caffirs, and 1,000 sepoys, and eight guns, and these, with Captain Gingen, a somewhat weak and wavering officer, marched to raise the siege. 'With him went the famous Clive, but unluckily merely in the posi- tion of a commissary. According to Cambridge's " War in India," a spirit of jealousy and division existed among our officers which could not fail to be prejudicial to the work in hand. Captain Gingen marched in April, 1 75 1, and at the same time Chunda Sahib began his movement to meet him at the head of 12,000 horse, 5,000 infantry, and a strong battalion of French. The opposing forces met near the great fort of Volconda, which is fifty miles north-west of Trichinopoly, barring the way from that city to Arcot, and the chief defence of which is a rock 200 feet high, a mile in circuit, and moated round by the Valani. On this rock vere three walls, one at the bottom hewn out of die living stone, another near it, and the tliird at the summit. The governor was summoned by both parties, but, looking down from his perch complacently on those below, replied that he would wait the issue of a battle. The forces that opposed ours were no doubt overwhelming ; but the British troops behaved in such a manner as British troops never behaved before or since. They fled at the first shot ! Clive, the young subaltern, strove in vain to rally them, while Abdul Wahab Khan, Mohammed All's brother, riding up to them upbraided them for their cowardice ; but the Caflirs and sepoys fought for some time with undoubted valour. Another ac- count, which we would rather believe, says : — " It is but just to the English nation to say that only a few in that detachment were English; they consisted for the most part of Germans, Swiss, Dutch, French, and Portuguese deserters ; all these, except the Dutch, were in awe of the French, whose reputation for discipline and military science, together with the late splendid victories of themselves and their allies, had spread an impression among all nations in India, save the EngHsh, that they were invincible." Gingen, who was calling councils of war, and de- bating when he ought to have been fighting, was hurled from position to position, till, by changing his line of march, and literally stealing away under cloud of night, he contrived to reach Trichinopoly, after an eighteen hours' march without refreshment, in the hottest season of the year. Chunda Sahib was close on his rear, and the siege was renewed with more vigour than ever. Lieutenant Clive contrived to make his way to Fort St. David, where he stormed at, and execrated, the conduct of our officers, and solicited some em- ployment more suited to his abilities. In a lucky hour he was promoted to the rank of cajitain, and the Council adopted a plan which his bravery and genius had formed, and entnisted the boy-captain — for in years he was little more — with the execution of his own daring project. This was nothing less than to relieve Trichi- nopoly by making a sudden and furious attack upon Arcot, the capital of the whole Carnatic. CHAPTER VI. CAPTURE OF ARCOT. — DEFENCE OF IT BY CLIVE. — CAUVERVPAUK. For this perilous and important service, the attack upon Arcot, the whole force of Captain Clive amounted to only 200 Europeans, and 300 sejMys ; he had only eight ofticers, six of whom had never been under fire, and four were younger than himself, and had just left the Company's civil service. His artillery consisted of three light field-pieces — -pro- bably si.\-pounders. On the 26th August he marched i '7S<-] CLIVE IN ARCOT. 29 from Madras full of confidence in the success to come, for with him there " was no such word as fail." Proceeding south-east, he reached Conjeveram on the 29th, and there learned that the fort of Arcot was garrisoned by 1,1 00 men, nearly thrice his force, and on the 31st, a march due west from the bank of the Paliar, brought him witliin ten miles of Arcot- He now sent back to Madras for two eighteen- pounders, to be sent after him without delay. The country people, or the scouts employed by the enemy, now preceded him with tidings that the}' had seen the British marching with the greatest unconcern, amid a dreadful storm of thunder, light- ning, and rain, which was actually the case. This was considered a fearful omen by the native garri- son, who instantly abandoned the fort, and a few hours after their departure saw Clive marching, amid tens of thousands of wondering spectators, through the streets of Arcot, the capital of an e.xtensive maritime district, a large, but unwalled town, surrounding a large and strong fort. After the capture of Gingee by the Mogul armies, they were forced to remove in consecjuence of the unhealthiness of the plains of Arcot, and this led to the erection of the city in 17 16. Anwar-ud- Deen, the nabob, having been slain in battle in 1749, the town was taken by Chunda Sahib, sup- ported by the French, and was now in turn taken by Clive, who found in the fort eight pieces of cannon and great abundance of munition of w-ar. As he scrupulously respected all property, and permitted about 4,000 persons who had dwellings within the fort to remain there, together with ;/^5o,ooo worth of goods which had been deposited therein for security, this won him many friends among the natives, who cared little for either of the parties who were contending for the lordship of their native land. As a siege was soon to be expected, says Dr. Taylor, he exerted his utmost diligence to supply the fort, and made frequent sallies to prevent the fugitive garrison who hovered round, from regaining their courage. He made a search at the head of the greater jiart of his slender force, with three field-guns, and found a body of the enemy, on the 4th of September, posted near the fort of Timery, but after discharging a field-piece a few times, they fled to the hills before they could be brought within musket-shot. Two days after, he sallied forth a^in, and found, as before, the enemy 2,000 strong posted near Timery, in a grove, covered by a ditch and bank, and having, about fifty yards in their front, a large alligator tank, almost drj', and choked by luxuriant weeds. As he advanced, the enemy opened with two field- guns, and killed three Europeans. On this, Clive led up his troops rapidly, but the enemy found shelter in the tank, as behind a breastwork, where they were so well sheltered, that they could inflict severe loss, yet sustain none. Clive now sent two subdivisions to take the tank on each flank by opening a cross and enfilading fire. On this, they fled, and Clive won the village under the walls of the fort, the holders of which, perceiving that he was without a breaching gun, refused to surrender, and he, knowing that the enemy's cavalry were hovering about, fell back on Arcot, where he spent the next ten days in strengthening the works. Meanwhile, the enemy increased to 3,000 men, collected from various parts of the Carnatic, and encamped within three miles of the fort, prior to besieging it, for which puqjose they were making preparations; but on the night of the 14th, when their camp was buried in sleep, Clive, the inde- fatigable, burst into it, sword in hand, swept through it from end to end at the point of the bayonet, slaying and wounding right and left, with- out the loss of a man, while the enemy fled on all sides with shrieks and confusion, and, when day broke, none remained there but the dying and the dead. The two eighteen-pounders with some stores, were meanwhile on their way, under a sepoy escort, and, in the hope of intercepting them, a body of the enemy occupied the great Pagoda of Conjeveram, "the City of Gold," the Orissa of Southern India, and headquarters of heathenism, situated amid the most lovely scenery, where the roadsides are planted with palm-trees ; but Clive had tidings of their plan, and sent thirty Europeans and fifty sepoys to attack the great pagoda, from whence they ex- pelled the enemy, who retired to a neighbouring fort. Then their numbers began daily to augment, and Clive, anxious for the safety of his convoy, sent all his force against them, save eighty men. On this, the enemy most dexterously became the attacking force, and, quitting the pagoda, reached Arcot by a de'tour and environed the fort in the dark with horse and foot. As day broke, they opened a musketry fire upon the ramparts from some house-tops that commanded them. As this produced no effect, a body of horse and foot, oddly mingled together, with shouts, yells, and war- like music, made a furious rush at the great gate ; but a well-directed shower of hand-grenades scared the horses, which scoured about in all direc- tions, trampling down the foot. Clive then opened on them with musketry, and they fled ai viasse. An hour later, they suddenly renewed the attack, to be quite as rajiidly repulsed, and between night and morning, dive's main body from the CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [■7S>- pagoda, "with the sepoys and the two precious battering cannon from Madras, appeared on the skirts of the town," and Clive tjuietly opened his gates to receive them. As he had fully calculated, Chunda Sahib with- drew a great ])ortion of his force from the siege of Trichinopoly, and sent his son Rajah Sahib with 4,000 native horse and foot, and 150 Frenchmen, trom Pondicherry to Arcot, where they suddenly took possession of the palace on the 23rd of Sep- tember. Clive, naturally impetuous, was somewhat unwilling to be cribbed and confined to the fort, and resolved, by a vigorous eftbrt, to rid himself of the enemy utterly. " Facing the north-west g.nte of On wheeling eastward, Clive found the white- coated French infantry, with four field-pieces, drawn up at the palace, from whence they opened fire at thirty yards' range, but were speedily driven in-doors. Meanwhile the rajah's troops fired from the houses, and shot down fourteen men who were sent to drag off the French guns; and, after a severe fight, Clive fell back to the fort, to which Glass's detachment returned about the same time, the enemy's strength rendering the attempt to dis- lodge them a failure. In addition to the killed, Clive had sixteen disabled, one mortally, including Lieutenant Revel of the .Artillery and Lieutenant Trenwith, who, by pulling Cli\e aside when he ^ I ^MJi, ENTRANCE TO THE PAGOD.\ OF CONJEVEKA.M. the lort was a street, which, after running north for seventy yards, turned east to the nabob's palace, where Rajah Sahib had fixed his headquarters. From the palace another street ran south, and was continued along the east side of the fort. The space thus bounded by streets on the west, north, and east, and by the north wall of the fort on the south, formed a square occupied by buildings and enclosures." To avail himself of these thoroughfares, so as to put the enemy between a cross fire, was now the plan of Clive. With four field-pieces, and the greatest part of his petty force, he sallied from the north-west gate, and advanced along the street that led north and east, while Ensign Glass had orders to proceed from the east gate up the street leading north to the palace, the common point at which both detachments were to meet. saw a sepoy taking deliberate aim at him, lost his life, as the sepoy changed the aim, and shot Trenwith in the body. Next day Rajah Sahib was reinforced by 2,000 men from Vellore, under Mortiz Ali, and oth&r troops were coming on. Clive was now more than ever cooped up within the narrow limits of an old fortress, the walls of which in many places were crumbling into ruin. The French tirailleurs picked otT many of his garrison, and another night sortie left him with only four oflScers fit for duty. To spare his pro- visions, he was now reluctantly compelled to put forth all the natives, save a few artificers. His garrison now consisted of 120 Europeans and 200 sepoys, to oppose a besieging force of ten thousand men — viz., 150 Europeans, 2,000 sepoys, 5,000 peons, and 3,000 cavalry. Every avenue was blocked up, and for fourteen days the enemy I «7S'-1 CI.IVFAS nEFENCE OF ARCOT. 31 L HiW 32 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. ['751. pressed the siege with musketry from the house- top^; while a bombardment from four mortars was incessant. Many of our people were killed, and more wounded, and Clive had many escapes, three orderly sergeants who attended him singly, when visiting the works, being killed by his side. On the 24th of October there came in from Pondicherry two eighteen-pounders and seven smaller pieces, which were at once got into posi- tion ; and in si.x days these had beaten down all the wall between two of the towers, making a practicable breach fifty feet wide ; but while this was in process, Clive was cutting a deep trench, erecting palisades and an earthwork in rear of it, and to enfilade the approach he planted a field- piece on one of the towers, with muzzle depressed, and two other guns on the flat roof of a building within the fort and facing the breach ; but the besiegers, aware of these skilful preparations, de- clined to attempt an escalade until another breach was effected at the back of the fort. Within that precinct Clive had found one of those enormous bombards, or cannon, for the manufacture of which the Orientals have always been celebrated. Local tradition averred that this gigantic gun had been sent from Delhi by the Emperor Aurungzebe, and that it had been drawn to Arcot by 1,000 bullocks. Though in Dow's translation of " Ferishta," guns are mentioned, it has been supposed that the proper term should have been naphtlm, as no cannon were used in India before the time of the invasion of Baber (the founder of a line of kings under whom India rose to the greatest prosperity) in 1537, but mention is made of arrows tipped with naphtha and shot against opposing troops, so early as the ninth century. Clive raised a mound of earth high enough to command the palace of the rajah, and on that mound he placed the monster cannon. He found some of the iron balls belonging to it, each weighing seventy-six pounds, and requiring a charge of thirty pounds of powder. The first of these tore like a whirlwind through the palace, making a clean breach in the walls on both sides, to the terror of the rajah and his attendants. Clive ordered it to be fired once daily, but on the fourth discharge it burst with a terrible crash. The perilous condition of the little band in Arcot being known at the presidency, there were sent from Madras 100 Europeans and 200 sepoys, under Lieutenant Innes, to assist Clive ; but after a considerable portion of the route was accom- plished, they were nearly surrounded by 2,000 native troops with some French artillery, and compelled to fall back on Fort Ponamalee, fifteen miles from Madras. Clive and liis "' handful " were thus left to their fate ; but the valour of their defence produced a deep moral impression on the native mind. Clive now opened a communication with Morari Rao, a Mahratta chief who lay encamped with 6,000 men among the mountains thirty miles west- ward of Arcot. He had come there as hired ally of Mohammed Ali, but on seeing the desperation of his affairs remained aloof The charm of Clive's name was being felt now, so Morari replied that he " would not lose a moment in coming to the assistance of such valiant men as the defenders of Arcot, whose behaviour had now convinced him that the Enghsh could fight." Tidings of this unexpected alliance alarmed Rajah Sahib, who suddenly sent a flag of truce, offering honourable terms to the survivors of the garrison and a large sum of money to Clive, threatening, if his off'ers were not accepted, to put every man in the fort to the sword ; but Clive disdained the proffered bribe, and laughed the threat to scorn. Yet all the Mahrattas did was to plunder the town and gallop away. The French guns had eff'ected a new breach, which Clive had counterworked as he did the first ; but on the 14th of November, the great religious festival held in commemoration of the murder of the holy brothers, Hassan and Hussein, when the Moslems of Hindostan inflame their fanaticism by the belief that all who fall in battle on that day, go straight to the joys of Paradise, and resort to the maddening use of bhang and hempseed to deaden their sense of danger. Rajah Sahib's forces assailed both breaches with the utmost fury. Elephants with large plates of iron fixed to their heads were driven against the gates at other points ; and in rear of these enormous living battering-rams scrambled a yelling multitude, their eyes flashing like their swords, with the drugs they had swallowed and the wild devotion of the hour. Wounded by musketry, the elephants rushed madly to and fro, and after trampling many of the rabble-rout to death, trotted away, trumpeting, with their probosces in the air. The work at the breaches was more serious ; but the enemy were repulsed at both, by two o'clock in the afternoon, with the loss of 400 men, whom Clive gave them two hours' leave to carry away. So many were disabled now by wounds and sickness, that the strength of the garrison now was no more than eighty British, officers included, and 120 sepoys; and these served five pieces of cannon and ex- pended 12,000 cartridges in repelling the attack. fn»i ACTION AT CAUVERYPAUK, a At four o'clock the fire again reopened from the town, nor did it close until two next morning, when suddenly the flashes ceased, and a dead silence ensued. When day broke, Clive learned, to his joy and astonishment, that the whole army of Rajah Sahib had abandoned Arcot in haste and disorder, leaving their guns and much ammunition behind them. " During the fifty days the siege went on," says Macaulay in his Essay on Lord Clive, " the young captain maintained the defence with a firmness, vigilance, and ability that would have done honour to the oldest marshals of France. The garrison began to feel the pressure of hunger. Under such circumstances, any troops so scantily provided with officers might have been expected to show signs of insubordination ; and the danger ^ was peculiarly great in a force composed of men \ differing widely from each other in extraction, \ colour, language, manners, and religion. But the devotion of the little band to its chief surpassed j anything that is related of the Tenth Legion of, Caesar, or the Old Guard of Napoleon. The j sepoys came to Clive, not to complain of their scanty fare, but to propose that all the grain should be given to the Europeans, who required more nourishment than the natives of Asia. The thin gruel, they said, which was strained away from the rice would suffice for themselves. History contains no more touching instance of military fidelity, or of the influence of a commanding mind." A detachment from Madras, under the command of Captain Kilpatrick, arrived safely at Arcot on ^ the evening of that day on which the siege was abandoned. Leaving a slender garrison under the I captain to hold the fort, Clive departed on the 1 9th of November, to follow up the fast retreating foe, with 200 Europeans, 700 sepoys, and three guns ; after being joined by a small body of Mahratta j horse sent by Morari Rao, he overtook the enemy near Arnee — a strong fort fourteen miles south of Arcot. They mustered 300 French, with 4,500 native horse and foot. Aware of their great superiority in force, they faced about to offer battle. Clive placed the Mahrattas in a palm tope on his left ; the sepoys held a village on the right ; the Europeans, the centre, or open ground between these points. In front lay swampy rice - fields, with a causeway through them, leading to the village. Most spirited was the action that ensued. The Mahrattas made five distinct charges, but were always repulsed. The enemy attempted to advance by the causeway, but the fire of our artillery drove them to flounder in the rice-fields, and a general alarm soon produced a flight and total rout. The darkness of the night that camo suddenly on, alone saved the French from total destruction ; but the Mahrattas captured 400 horse- men withChunda Sahib's military chest, containing 100,000 rupees, and so great was the disgust of the enemy's sepoys, that 600 deserted to Clive with all their arms and accoutrements. Still pressing on, Clive, a pursuer now, captured the strong Pagoda of Conjeveram, strengthened the garrison he had left in Arcot, and returned to Fort St. David, to report that triumphant cam- paign which covered him and his comrades with glory. But his labours were not yet over, for — though Mohammed Ali, instead of being besieged in Trichinopoly, saw the whole country open to him, and a great part of the Carnatic submissive to his will — the enemy soon reassembled, and 4,500 natives, with 400 French and a train of guns, began to ravage the territories of the Company. In February, 1752, Clive was ordered to drive them back, with a force consisting of only 380 Europeans, 1,300 sepoys, and six field-pieces, while the enemy mustered 400 Frenchmen, and 4,500 natives, with a large train of artillery, yet they did not venture to risk an encounter, so great was now their terror of the conquering Clive, at whose approach they fell back to Vandaloor, and in- trenched with equal strength and speed. As he approached again, they retreated from position to posi-tion ; but Clive, by lengthening and quickening his marches, came suddenly upon them at Cauverypauk — a town some sixty miles from Madras, chiefly remarkable for its tank, which is the most magnificent structure of its kind in Southern India, as it is no less than eight miles in length by three in breadth, and is enclosed by an embankment planted with beautiful palmyra trees. Here they took post and opened a fire with nine guns at 250 yards from a wooded bank, while their whole force lay in a species of ambuscade ; but Clive's plans were made coolly though time pressed. Posting his infantry in a nullah immediate ly on his left, and sending the baggage rearward half a mile under a guard, he dispatched a detachment with two field-pieces against Rajah Sahib's horse, who were spreading over the plain, and employed his re- maining force to answer the fire from the bank. Advancing along the nullah, or watercourse, the French came on in columns of sections, six men abreast, but were met by the British bayonets in the same order ; yet no charge ensued, doubtless from the peculiarity of their formation, though, under the brilliant moonlight, a sputtering fire of musketry was kept up for two hours. The rajah's 34 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDL\. ['753- horse, who failed in many attempts upon the baggage, were kept completely at bay. So many of Clive's gunners were killed and wounded, that he found the fire of his three field- pieces overborne by the French now, and no alternative was left him but to storm the batter)-, or retreat. He chose the former, and on an in- telligent sergeant, whom he had sent forward to reco'inoitre, reporting that the enemy's rear was quite uncovered, he dispatched a strong party to approach it, unseen, by a detour. He accompanied this party half-way, and returned only in time to find his front about to fall back. Rallying them, sword in hand, he was renewing the fight, when, all at once, the enemy's cannon ceased firing; then he knew that the rear attack had proved completely successful. Reaching the bai.k unperceived, the detachment poured in their fire at thirty yards, thus turning the position and taking the guns. Instantaneous was the panic, and, without firing another shot, the foe fled, leaving fifty French and 300 sepoys dead upon the field. Many of the French, who had crowded into a choultry, surrendered as prisoners. Nine field- pieces, and three cohorns were taken. The fort of Cauverypauk at once surrendered. Clive's loss in killed was forty British soldiers and thirty sepoys. The surviving Frenchmen made a rush to the usual place of shelter, Pondicherry, while Chunda Sahib's troops dispersed and fled to their homes in all directions. Just when the presidency at Fort St. David were about to dispatch Clive to Trichinopoly, Major Lawrence returned from England, and took the command as superior officer. From that im- petuosity and impatience of control which charac- terised Clive in the camp, as of old at school and in the counting-house, it might have been expected that after such brilliant achievements, he might dis- like to act with zeal in a subordinate capacity; but it was not so with the self-taught soldier of India. " He cheerfully placed himself under the orders of his old friend," says Macaulay, " and exerted himself as strenuously in the second part, as he could have done in the first. Lawrence well knew the value of such assistance. Though himself gifted with no intellectual faculty higher than plain good sense, he fully appreciated the powers of his brilliant coadjutor. Though he made a methodical .study of military tactics, and, like all men thoroughly bred to a profession, was disposed to look with disdain on interlopers, he had yet liber- ality enough to acknowledge that Clive was an exception to common rules."* * Ess,i)-s. Taking Clive with him, the major set out for Trichinopoly, with 400 British, 1,100 sepoys, and eight guns. As now 20,000 Mysoreans, and 6,000 of the warlike Mahrattas were ready to co-operate with him, the troops of Chunda Sahib, and the French who had mustered in and about Trichin- opoly, broke up in something more than despair. The latter retired to the isle of Seringham, which is formed by the junction of the Coleroon and Cauvery. There they took possession of the most cele- brated of its Hindoo temples, the great pagoda/near its western extremity, an edifice surrounded by seven enclosures of massive brick, at the distance of 350 feet from each other, the outer being nearly four miles in circumference. Dupleix sent M. d'Auteuil to reinforce them here, but he was driven into an old fort on the way, and compelled to capitulate. This was followed by the surrender of those in the great pagoda on the isle, as they were in a state of starvation ; so Chunda Sahib, finding himself deserted by the last of his forces, surren- dered to the leader of the Tanjore army, who promised him protection, but put him in chains. This ended, for a time, the operations in and about Trichinopoly, the sieges and blockades of which lasted fully a year, and the most ample details of them will be found in the thick quarto volumes of Orme ; but now a violent dispute ensued between Mohammed Ali, the Mahratta chiefs, the Rajah of Mysore, and the Tanjoreans, who each and all claimed the person of the prisoner Chunda Sahib. To end the growing quarrel. Major Lawrence proposed that the fallen prince should be surrendered to Britain ; but the Tanjoreans solved the difficulty in true Indian fashion, by cutting off Chunda's head and sending it to his now for- tunate rival, Mohammed Ali, who, with savage exultation displayed it on a spear before his army. " Lawrence and Clive have both been blamed for suffering this foul assassination; but it will appear on candid examination of the facts, that neither they nor their allies had any foreknowledge or antici- pations of the deed, which sprung from the jealousy and ferocity of the Tanjore chief, over whom they had no control." In detailing these affairs, the London Gazette of the 6th January, 1753, has the following : — " M. Dupleix at the desire of Salabad Jing, has solicited for a peace, which the nabob is willing to consent to, provided it is made to our satisfaction, . as he owns himself much obliged to us." Then we have a report of Major Lawrence, dated Trichinopoly, 12th June. 1752, detailing certain operations : — «753-] CLIVE RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 35 " \Ve have killed and taken prisoners an army much more numerous than our own, with all their artillery, which amounts to about forty pieces, and ten mortars. We found among tlie prisoners about thirty French officers, about si.\ killed, and about Soo private men. They were acting as allies to the rebels, that have almost destroyed this country, and we gave our assistance to the lawful prince, who is so sensible of his obligation to the English that I have great hopes our Company will be able to carry on their trade here to more advantage than any other European nation. I am going to begin my march through the Arcot country, to settle the tranquillity of it, and am above loo miles from the seaside." The troops of Mysore and some of the Mahrattas occupied Trichinopoly ; those of Tanjore marched home, so the British vnth their sepoys marched against Gingee, a strong place which was held by a brave French garrison. The attacking force con- sisted of 200 Europeans, 1,500 sepoys, and 600 black cavalry, all under Major Kinnear, an officer just arrived from home, who was repulsed, and had to fall back with considerable loss. Elated by this success, Dupleix reinforced the victors, who were mustering 450 French, 1,500 sepoys, and 500 native horse, and took post near the northern boundary of Fort St. David, while the Company's troops held a position at a redoubt in the boundary hedge three miles westward of the fort. There they remained inactive, awaiting the coming of 200 S\viss, who had arrived at Madras from England. To avoid delay, 100 of them were embarked in the light boats of the country, and sailed for Fort St. David. It was assumed that on the sea Dupleix would not venture to violate the British flag ; but as soon as they were seen from Pondicherry, a ship was sent out to make them all prisoners. " The capture was loudly complained of, as a violation of the peace subsisting between Great Britain and France ; but Dupleix thought he hac^a sufficient precedent in the capture of French troops at Seringham." The other Swiss company reached Fort St. David safely.and on the 7th August, 1752, Major Lawrence took command of the whole force, consisting of 400 Europeans, 1,700 sepoys, and 4,000 of the nabob's troops. The enemy now took post at Bahoor, where I^wrence attacked with equal skill and vigour. The French and British met in a charge, and the clasli of steel was heard as the bayonets crossed ; but short was the struggle. Two platoons of our grenadiers, by main strength of arm, broke the enemy's centre, on which their whole line gave way, and had tlie nabob's horse, instead of turning their energies to plunder, used lance and sabre well, not a man should have escaped. Morari Rao, who had been won over by Dupleix, was on his way to join the French with 3,000 Mahrattas, when he met some of the fugitives. So, with that treachery which is so perfectly Oriental, he made his appearance in the camp of the nabob, " complimenting him on the victory, and lamenting his misfortune in not having been able to join him in sufficient time to share it." Clive was now detached to Coulong, a town of the Carnatic, twenty-four miles from Madras. The forces he took with him are represented as being 500 newly-raised sepoys, and 200 recruits who had come from London, and who are represented as being gaol-birds, "and the worst and lowest wretches that the Company's crimps could pick up in the flash houses." Yet Clive made soldiers of this singular rabble, though they fled at the first shot, and one hid himself at the bottom of a well ; but Clive kept them to their duty, "and by the time the fort surrendered, they were heroes." Cutting up, or taking prisoners, some detachments that were marching from Chingleput (a day too late) to relieve Coulong, Clive, by a rapid march of forty miles to the former place, compelled the French commander to surrender it on the 31st of October, permitting him to march out with the honours of war, and proceed to Pondicherry. Chingleput was a strong fort, 400 yards long by 320 broad, situated at the base of two mountains, close to the left bank of the Paliar. Clive now returned to Madras, and finding his health, which had never been very robust, greatly impaired by all he had undergone, he returned on leave to England, wlicre he was greatly /iViVz' after his landing at Plymouth, on the loth of September, 1753,* and was presented with a diamond-hiked sword by the East India Company, which, with rare delicacy, he declined to receive unless a similar gift was presented to his brother-officer, Lawrence. His departure was deplored by the ;:nny, and his absence was soon felt along the whole coast of Coromandel. • Giiilliiiiaii' s Afii^aziiie. 36 CASSELUS ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. ['yJi- CHAPTER VII. OF THE SEPOYS.- SIEGE OF TRICHINOPULV. -LAITLES OF THE GOLDEN .XND SUG.^RLO.^F ROCKS, ETC. I "Sepoy," says Colonel James briefly, in his "Mili- tary Dictionary," " derived from sephaye, natives of India who have enlisted themselves into the service sulky fanatic, who was instantly hacked to pieces by his comrades. Halibiirton's memory was long revered by the Madras sepoys. ELEPHANT EQUIPPED FOR KATTLK, WITH ARMOUK, H(iWIi\", KTC. of tlie East India Company." The first sepoys seen in India were a body of 200 natives, mingled with a few Portuguese soldiers, in 1594, under the Moguls. The French had raised a body of them before we began the practice, and it would appear that our first sepoys were trained in 1746, during La Bourdonnais' siege of Madras. Some British ofticers were then attached to certain irregular native infantr>'. whom they began to drill and discipline. The system was first introduced into the Madras army by Lieutenant Haliburton, a Scotsman, who. like Clive, had quitted the civil for the military service, but was shot, in 174S, by a "The aborigines of the Carnatic," says Geweral Briggs, "were the sepoys of Clive and Coote. A few companies of the same stock joined the former great captain from Bombay, and fought the battle of Plassey in Bengal, which laid the foundation of our Indian empire. They have since distinguished themselves in the corps of pioneers and engineers, not only in India but in Ava, Afghanistan, and tlie celebrated siege of Jelalabad. An unjust prejudice a"ainst them has grown up in the armies of Madras and Bombay, produced by the feeling of contempt for them existing among the Hindoo and Moham- medan sepoys. They have no prejudices them- selves, are always ready to serve abroad, and I>S3l NATIVE SOLDIERY. il r«itJ JL»J^« J 38 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IKDIA. ['753- embark on board ship, and I believe no instance of mutiny has occurred among them. It is to be regretted that separate regiments of this race are not more generally enlisted." Among the earUest and most brilhant service of the Madras sepoys was the defence of Arcot. At first they appear to have been either Mohammedans or high-class Brahmins, and soon became remark- able for the reverence of their military oath, their attachment to their officers, and their entire devo- tion to the British flag — by their good conduct in cantonments, and their bravery in battle ; but all this was long before the dark days of the Mutiny. We have said that, before the death of Hali- burlon, sepoys were first disciplined at Fort St. George, in 1748. At that period they were chiefly under the command of native ofiicers ; and one of their soubahdars, or captains — Mohammed Esof — seems to have been a heroic soldier, whose name frequently appears in the pages of Orme. The first regular regiment of Bengal native infantry (st)'led Gillis-ka-Pultan), in scarlet with white facings, was not raised till 1757. And so it was that, British pluck apart, by turning the Indians against themselves, we have been able, as a WTiter has it, to conquer "a most singular people, who were well fed and well clad, who had a >vritten language and composed metaphysical treatises when the forefathers of the race that now bears sway over 2,000,000 of them were still wandering in the woods of Britain and Germany, all of them savages, and some perhaps cannibals ! " During the progress of the war in the Camatic, the talent possessed by M. Dupleix for intrigue and diplomacy won him many successes, for he had emissaries everywhere, and the native princes, omrahs, and zemindars were as subtle as they were false. In his intrigues he had an able assistant in Madame Dupleix, who had been born in India, and knew alike the languages and the character of the Indians : moreover, she was inspired by greater ambition than the governor himself. To such intriguing it was, that the Mysorean ruler broke with us and joined him, and that his pernicious example was followed by Morari Rao, the Mahratta, and the Moslem governor of Vellore. On being joined by these faithless allies of ours, the French once more blocked up Trichinopoly, into which, on the 6th of May, 1753, Major La\\Tence threw himself, with the resolution of re- sisting, even as the absent Clive would have done. As soon as the major became certain of the j defection of the Mahrattas — a people trained to war from their earliest years, and taught to regard learning as better adapted to Brahmins than 1 warriors — he ordered an attack upon that portion of their troops that was yet within his reach. Under cover of night, the attack was led by Captain Dalton, who hurled out of the city, at the same time, a number of Mysoreans who were still pretending to be allies, but were mistrusted. Shortly after, the Mahrattas made a furious attack upon one of our advanced posts, and cut to pieces seventy British and 300 sepoys. Neither they nor the Mysoreans had any idea of attempting to reduce the fort by storm, though they hoped to do so by famine. To this end, they blocked up every avenue, and kept patrols of horse scouring the country to intercept supplies of every kind, and cut oft' the noses and ears of all whom they found infringing their orders. In Trichinopoly the maga- zines had been entrusted to the care of a brother of Mohammed Ali; but v.hen Captain Dalton in- spected the stores, he found that this man had sold the contents, and there remained only fifteen da)'s' provisions for those in the place. On the 7th May — the very day after Major La-rtTence threw himself into Trichinopoly, a de- tachment of 200 French, and 500 sepoys, with four field-pieces, sent by Dupleix, arrived at Sering- ham, and joined the whole Mysoreans, while the entire force that Lawrence could muster amounted to only 500 British, 2,000 sepoys, and 3,000 of the nabob's horse. AVith the infantry only — as the horsemen, like the Smss of old, refused to marcii because their pay was in arrear — he crossed over to the island, and was immediately assailed by the troops of Mysore in heavy strength. He drove back their infantrj', but their cavalrj', headed by the fiery Mahrattas, fought valiantly, yet were driven in. The brunt of the conflict then fell on the French infantry and artillery, who held their ground, and kept up a cannonade till evening, when Major Lawrence deemed it prudent once more to cross the Cauveiy. The resistance of that day had convinced him that M. Astruc would prove a more formidable opponent than the former holder of Seringham, the Scoto-Frenchman, James Francis Law (of Lau- riston, near Edinburgh), nephew of the Comptroller of France, who was created Count de Tancarville for his many great services in India. So Lawrence found that, instead of attempting to dislodge Astruc from the pagoda and isle, it would be wiser to endeavour to replenish the magazines in the city with provisions, a diflicult task, that kept him otherwise inactive for five weeks. Meanwhile Dupleix, fully aware of the importance of the post, poured reinforcements into Seringham. until the whole force there amounted to 450 French, 1,500- «7S3^] MAJOR LAWRENCE'S DESPATCH. 39 sepoys, 3,500 Mahrattas, 8,000 Mysorean horse, and 16,000 Mysorean infantry; and, to oppose all these, LawTence could oppose but 500 British, and 2,000 sepoys, of whom 700 were constantly employed in escorting provisions. When provisions for fifty days had been jiro- cured, the major determined to march into the Tanjore country, with the double purpose of meeting a reinforcement he expected from the pre- sidency, and of inducing the king to furnish him with a cavalry force of which he stood much in need, for escort, patrol, and other duties, but the troops of Tanjore were clamorous for pay, and declared the nabob should not (juit the city till they were satisfied. This the king foiled to achieve, "and the singular spectacle was seen of 200 Europeans, with fi.\ed bayonets, escorting the nabob, in whose cause the Company had already expended much blood and treasure, because his own troops, so far from escorting him, were bent on committing outrage on his person." A few days after his departure, they threatened to join the enemy, so, glad to be rid of them on any terms. Captain Dalton let them march oft" at noonday without firing a shot at them. The whole country around Trichinopoly was now in possession of the foe ; the city alone remained to be contested for, and arrangements were made accordingly. As starvation threatened the inhabitants, they quitted their homes, and in less than a month 400,000 of them disappeared, and there remained behind only a garrison, which, including soldiers, and every description of artificer, did not exceed 2,000 men. 'J'he burden of defence lay upon 200 Europeans, and 600 sepoys, stationed at long intervals upon tile walls. The former held the gates, and were day and night under arms, but their spirit, if it ever flagged, rose when the approach of Major Lawrence became certain. On being reinforced from Fort St. David, and accompanied by 3,000 Tanjore horse and 2,000 nuitchlockmen, under the command of Mo!iajee, on the 7th of August, he arrived at a place called Dallaway's Choultry (/.<•., Caravanserai) on the south bank of the Cauvery, five miles eastward of Trichinopoly. The swam])y plain that intervened was so Hooded by recent rains, that it was necessary to strike southwards. The convoy consisted of 4,000 bullocks, supposed to be laden with pro- visions, though most of them were in reality appro- l)riated by the nabob and Itis officers, " selfishly lor the transport of baggage and trumpery." "Since my letter of the 14th instant," reported the major to the directors, in a de.'spatch dated at the camp near Trichinopoly, " Captain Riilge joined me w'ith a detachment of above 200 Europeans. This addition made me resolve to attack the enemy, as the monsoon approached, and their situation was such, that they cut off our [provisions, which must have ended in the loss of Trichinopoly. Accordingly, on the 19th (September) I made a motion in the night, towards the left of the enemy's camp ; for they had possession of two large rocks, about a mile distant from each other, and I found it necessary to gain one of them. " The whole day of the 20th was spent in can- nonading ; and, the better to conceal our design, I had ordered out an eighteen-pounder from the fort, that they might think we had no other means than that of disturbing them in their camj) with our shot. This lulled them into security ; but at four o'clock in the morning of the 21st, our Europeans being disposed in tiiree lines, with the seapoys («V) on our flanks, and the horse in our rear, we attacked the rock on the left, called the Golden Rock, and gained it without any loss, the enemy retiring after a faint resistance, and leaving behind them two pieces of cannon. " This earnest of success encouraged our men greatly, and determined me to push on to the main body ; so, that no time might be lost, we advanced towards the Sugar-loaf Rock just as day began to break. The enemy were drawn up close to the rock, and had fortified themselves with breastworks, so it was necessary to gain their Hlack Camp, that we might fall upon them in the rear. This was effected with little trouble, and our soldiers marched through a constant fire from nine pieces of cannon, attacked a line of men which greatly outnumbered themselves, and in ten or twelve minutes drove the enemy out of their lines. They, however, rallied and made some faint resistance, afterwards supported by the Moratlas, who rode up very desperately ; but as these could not sustain a galling fire which fell upon them from all quarters, they at length ran away, and left us comijlete masters of the field of battle, their whole camp, baggage, ammunition, and ten pieces of cannon. " The remains of their army retreated ; some towards Altoora and .Seringham, some towards Tandamou's colintry, and some towards Tanjour. The I'oiligars and seapoys bring in ]irisoners every minute. The action lasted two hours. We took eight ofticers, 100 soldiers, besides the killed, about sixty more. The Morattas saved the rest, and prevented a pursuit, as they were vastly superior to Monage, our Tanjour friend." ^\'e had many men killed and wounded. Among the latter were six officers, including Lawrence, 40 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1754- who received a musket-ball in the arm, and Captain Kilpatrick severely. Among the French officers taken here was M. Astruc, undoubtedly one of the best in their service. Major Lawrence now, after reinforcing the gar- rison in the city, so as to make it, as he thought, sufficiently strong, with ordinary vigilance, to resist any attempt made upon it, marched to Coilady, on the frontiers of Tanjore, where supplies were abun- dant, while Captain Dalton sailed for England, and Captain Kilpatrick, on whom the command had devolved, was confined to bed with his wounds. It was about this time, the 28th of November, that a secret assault was made upon the city, around the walls of which the Mahrattas and Mysoreans were distributed in detachments, making feints before the ditch to divert the attention of the guards and inlying pickets from a French battalion, which was to make the real attack at a point called Dalton's Battery. At three p.m. this battalion, 600 strong, was to commence the escalade, sup- ported by 20b more and a body of sepoys. The battery was guarded against them by only fifty sepoys and a few European matrosses. All were on the alert when the rounds passed at midnight, but the event proved that, worn out with fatigue, all were asleep wheVi, without an alarm being heard, the escalade began to cross the ditch and plant their ladders against the wall. The bayonet soon dis- posed of the sleepers, and the assailants began to move along the wall in strict silence ; but within the battery was a pit thirty feet deep, into which many of them fell, and then their screams of pain and the explosion of their muskets broke the silence of the early morning. Finding all concealment at an end now, the French on the wall turned the battery guns and fired upon the towTi, with a random volley of musketry, while shouting " Vive le Roi 1 " with all their drummers beating the pas-de-charge, to strike terror, as they hoped. Unable to leave his bed, Captain Kilpatrick gave the necessary instructions to Lieutenant Harrison, the ne.xt officer in seniority, and a fire was kept up on the passage leading to a gate in the inner wall, but two men who were attempting to blow it open by a petard were killed. Those who had got into the narrow way between the two walls rushed back to the battery to escape ; many missed the ladders and took a leap of eighteen feet into the wet ditch and perished miserably. " By daybreak," says the report, " those who did not choose to venture their necks by jumping off the battery to save themselves, called out for quarter, which was given them. There were taken on the battery 297 European prisoners, besides sixty-five wounded, forty-two killed in the ditch, and nine officers. The rest of their loss was not kno\vn, but it was believed that it must have been pretty considerable. In this action the garri- son had scarcely any loss." ^Ve are told that the noise of the firing was heard at Coilady, on which Major Lawrence rein- forced the garrison, and soon after marched in with all his forces. On the 13th of February, 1754, after much fight- ing, and after the country had been so devastated around Trichinopoly that no firewood could be procured within six miles of it, one of our convoys was attacked and severely cut up by 1 2,000 of the enemy's horse, led by Morari Rao, and another whose name was to become famous in the annals of the future — Hyder Ali. Besides the whole of the provisions and miHtary stores, ;^7,ooo fell into the hands of the enemy, who would have made a massacre of all the prisoners, but for the timely arrival and honourable intervention of the French. To detail all the various events connected with the siege of Trichinopoly would be foreign to our work ; suffice it that, soon after the last-mentioned encounter, there was a complete suspension of arms in this part of the Carnatic ; but while the war there drained the exchequer of Pondicherry, Dupleix and his compatriot, Bussy, took care, by their interest at the court of the Deccan, to acquire territory, and receive far more than sufficient to compensate any such drain ; while the Carnatic itself was, in the prospective policy of the former, soon to belong to France, and Britain, utterly vanquished, would be compelled to withdraw from Madras and the coast of Coromandel. While these events which we have been narrating were in progress, the Marquis de Bussy had taken his departure for Hyderabad, more than a year before, to establish Salabut Jung on the throne of the Deccan. With his troops he penetrated further into the country than any European had ever done before, and, to all appearance, had consolidated the authority of his ally ; when Uddeen, a prince of the Mogul's choice, suddenly came against Salabut, at the head of 100,000 horse, but, just as he was entering Golconda, he was carried off by poison. LTpon this, many of his vast host returned to their homes ; but not so the Mahrattas. Eager for the spoil of a rich and hitherto unwasted province, they continued to advance, and encountered the troops of Salabut and Bussy in several places. " Bussy, who had the genius of Clive, defeated them repeatedly, and once or twice, with so much slaughter, that the »r54-l THE FALL OF ]\L DUPLEIX. 41 Mahrattas were anxious for peace. Salabut Jung then purchased their retreat, by ceding to them some districts near Berar and Berhampore, and they gladly withdrew from the murderous execution of Buss/s quick musketry and artillery." Taking advantage of a temporary absence of the marquis, the ungrateful Salabut withheld the pay of the French troops who had saved him from destruction, and he sought to attain their ruin by separating them into small and remote detachments, which were influenced by his courtiers, who ex- pressed their disgust to see a handful of white men swaying the whole affairs of the Deccan. So, on discovering this state of affairs, the restless and warlike Mahrattas began to sharpen their sabres, and prepare for a new strife in the Deccan. Then Salabut Jung implored Bussy to save him again, and he did save him, but at an enormous price; for, before the end of 1753, he had obtained the cession of fi\e important provinces. These were Ellore, renowned for its sugar-canes, and then also for a diamond mine ; Rajahmundry, a province consisting of 4,690 square miles, prized for its fertility and the excellence of its tobacco ; Cicacole, through which the Gundwana flows to the sea; Kondapilla and Guntoor, having an area of 4,690 square miles, well adapted for growing rice in the plains. This acquisition, called the Northern Circars, made France mistress of the sea-coast of Coromandel and Orissa, for an uninterrupted line of 600 miles, affording her thus a vast revenue, and every means for pouring provisions, men, and money into Pondicherry and the Mauritius. But the grandeur of the projects of Bussy and Dupleix was as yet unseen alike by the court of Versailles and the French India Company ; and intrigues against the governor procured his recall to France, where he found himself " obliged to dispute the miserable remains of his once splendid fortune with the French East India Company, to dance humble attendance on ministers and their satellites, and solicit audiences in the ante-chambers of his judges." He sunk into indigence, and was soon for- gotten in France, though he was long remembered in India. His successor was M. A. M. Godlieu, who proceeded at once to negociate peace between the the French and the British and their allies in India, and on the 26th December, 1754, the pro- visional treaty was signed at Madras by him, and Mr. Sanders, our president there. The French stipulated to withdraw their troops from the Car- natic, and to intrigue no more with the native princes there, thus leaving Mohammed Ali, the ally or puppet of Britain, nominally undisputed nabob of the province. They also agreed that the territorial acquisitions of the French and British should be settled and defined on the prin- ciple of equality, thus virtually resigning nearly all that Bussy and Dupleix had acquired by their wars and poUcy. Meanwliile, the adventurous marquis was left unmolested in Golconda, where he lived in the pomp and splendour of an emperor, and controlled the whole of the Deccan ; but the Mysoreans, alleging that the French had no authority to bind them "by their paper agreements," which they failed to comprehend, seemed disposed still to block up Trichinopoly, and hovered in its neigh- bourhood, till scared away by a rumour that the Mahrattas were on the march to attack them. Their departure finally closed that siege which had lasted so long, and certainly developed in our troops no small amount of skill, valour, and steadiness. Scarcely, however, was peace made in the remote East, when Britain and France became involved in fresh disputes : the French complaining that we kept our troops with Mohammed Ali, to aid. him in the collection of his revenue and the reduction of subjects who were refractory ; while we justified our conduct by pointing to Bussy and his troops in the Deccan. Hence the old bitterness grew, and it soon became evident that neither peace nor truce would endure long on the shores of Coromandel, and an expedition for the East began to be prepared at home CHAPTER VIIL GERIAH REDUCED. — CALCUTTA TAKEN. — THIi HLACK HOLE. Reinforcements were now sent out to the Frencli at Pondicherry, chiefly Irishmen, under the Count de Lally, son of Cajitain I.ally, of Tullach-na-Daly, one of those who left Ireland after the Treaty of Limerick. He had witli him his own regiment of the Irish Brigade, ro9th of the Frencli line, and 600 hussars under the command of Fitschcr, a partisan oflicer of high reputation. Like the rest 42 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [«7S6- of the Irish Brigade, the uniform of Count de Lally's Regiment is thus described in the " Liste Historique des Troupes de France" (1753): — " Son unifomie est : Habit rouge, paremens d'un vert clair doubhire blanche, boutons jaunes, poches en travers garnies de trois boutons, culotte blanche, douze boutons sur le devant de I'habit the rest of the squadron, consisting of the Kent and Salisbury (each of seventy guns), the Bridgewater (fifty), and the AV//g'7fj-/'^r(sloop), under the command of Rear-Admiral Charles Watson (to whose memory a monument was afterwards erected in Westminster), sailed from Ireland, having on board Colonel J. Aldercron's regiment, the 39th (now called "The LORD CLIVn. et trois sur la manrhe, veste verte garnle de chacque cotd de douze boutons, chapcau horde d'or"(vol. iii.). On the other hand, we were not slow in sending succours to the East. On the 12th of ^Larch, 1754, a squadron sailed, having on board a company of artillery, several cannon, and warlike stores. In going round by Cork for more troops, the Eagle and Bristol were driven ashore, so the Tiger and Cumberland sailed in their place. On the 24th, Dorsetshire "), which, as the first British regiment that ever unfurled its colours in Hindostan, bears the proud motto : " Primus in Indis." A squadron of the Company's shijjs, with other troops, artillery and stores, sailed about the same lime from Plymouth; and Aldercron, who had a long inter- view with the Duke of Cumberland before leavinc London, was appointed "Commander-in-chief of His Britannic Majesty's forces, and those of the British East India Company in that quarter." «75«.I THE PIRATES OF GERIAH. 43 As there was no immediate work for the squadron to do on its arrival in Indian waters, it was resolved to send some of the ships to destroy the haunts of certain pirates who, for more than fifty years, had been committing the most horrid depredations and outrages along the coast of Malabar, and against whom several somewhat futile expeditions had been fitted out from time to time. Clive, who tory was round where washed by the sea, and formed a continuous precipice about fifty feet high. Above this rose the fortifications, consisting of a double wall, flanked with towers. The sandy isthmus contained the docks where the grabs were built and repaired ; and immediately beyond, on tlie north, was the harbour, partly formed by the mouth of a stream which descended from the Ghauts." SCENE ON THE BANKS OF THE GANGES. had arrived with the troojis, and, with the rank of colonel, was now commandant of Fort .St. David, urged that no time should be lost in carrying the attack into effect, with a united Britisli and Mahratta force. The chief nest of the pirates, the harbour and fort of Gcriali, was the point selected for attack. This jjlace was i6o miles distant from Bombay, and was reported by the admiral, in his survey made in 1755, to be, "though undoubtedly strong, very far from being im|)regnable. Its site was a rocky promontory (on the Malabar coast), connected with the mainland by a narrow belt of sand, stretching south-east, about a mile in length by a quarter in breadth. The face of the promon- The naval portion of the expedition, under Admiral Watson, consisted of sixteen sail, carrying, irrespective of the five bomb-ketches, 242 guns, with 2,885 seamen, a battalion of 800 Europeans, and 1,000 sepoys on board. All the preparations having been completed, the fleet sailed on the 7th of February, 1756, from Bombay, .after some un- pleasant disputes concei ning the distribution of prize-money had been adjusted. The Mahratta army, under Ramajee Punt, had previously .ad- vanced from Choal, a seaport twenty-three miles south of Bombay. On the appearance of the fleet as it ran along the palm-covered coast of Malabar, Tool.ajee Angria, the chief of the pirates, in high 44 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1756. alarm, left the defence of the fort to his brother, and, hastening to the camp of the Mahrattas, endeavoured to avert his coming fate by effecting an accommodation; and had he succeeded, the Mahrattas, on gaining possession, would have compensated themselves for that share of the plunder of which the British commanders had secretly resolved to deprive them. On the nth, our squadron was within gunshot of Geriah. Admiral Watson summoned the fort, and without receiving any answer, gave orders to clear away for action. The fleet was formed in two parallel divisions, with the admiral's flag on board the Kent (seventy), and that of Rear-.Admiral Pococke on board the Cuinbciiand (sixty-six). The guns opened on the fort at only fifty yards, while the lighter portion of the squadron, under Captain H. Smith, of the Kingfisher (sixteen-gun brig), attacked the fleet and dockyard. In ten minutes one of the three-masted grabs which crowded the harbour was set on fire by a shell, and in a few minutes more the entire piratical fleet, which for so many years had been the terror of the Malabar coast — and, indeed, of the Indian Sea — including eight fine grabs and three ships of forty guns each, was one mass of devouring flame. Long after the last of the shipping in the docks and harbour liad perished, the cannonade against the batteries continued, and by lialf-past six the fire of the enemy was totally silenced. Clive — though no surrender had been intimated — now landed at the head of the troops, and took post between the walls of the pirate town and the Mahratta army, who, if they had entered, would have left nothing but bare walls behind them. The pirates, in whom savage ferocity had too long been mistaken for courage, made but a feeble resistance. Angria fled- from the fort soon after the attack began, taking with him part of his treasure, but abandoning his two wives and children, who were made prisoners by the admiral, and treated with the greatest humanity.* There were found in the fort 250 pieces of cannon with six brass mortars, and four elephants, together with a great quantity of ammunition and stores. About ^100,000 sterling in rupees, and ;^30,ooo more in valuable plunder, were taken ; and .\dmiral ^V'atson (who had only twenty killed and wounded) after leaving a sufficient number of troops and a naval force to keep the place, anchored in the roads of Fort St. David on the 14th of May. Prior to this, after excluding the Mahrattas from all share in the plunder taken, our officers disagreed • Schombcrjj, "Naval Chron." as to their own. Those of the na\y, as bearing the king's commission, claimed a greater portion than those of the Company ; and they decreed that Clive, though he commanded the entire land force, should only share with a post-captain. On this delicate and unpleasant subject some warm corre- spondence ensued ; but it was productive of no evil consequence, and failed to interrupt the mutual esteem that subsisted between Admiral AVatsoa and Colonel Clive, who, after being for a time at Bombay with the artillery, entered upon his duties at Fort St. David, by somewhat of a coincidence, on the 20th of June, 1756, the very day on which Calcutta fell into the hands of Surajah Dowlah, Nabob of Bengal, an event which must now engage our attention. That branch of the Company which had been settled at Calcutta had risen rapidly under the quiet rule of Aliverdy Khan, a prince alike wise, liberal, and humane ; hence our factors and their numerous native agents travelled through every part of his dominions in perfect safety and without molestation. In April, 1756, Aliverdy died, and was succeeded by his grandson, Surajah Dowlah, a cruel and rapacious, weak and effeminate youth, who, from infancy, had hated the British. " It was his whim to do so," says Macaulay, " and his wliims were never opposed." He had seen the coffers of his grandfather filled, directly or indirectly, by the trade of the British, and he had been led to imagine that the wealth and treasures of these intruders and unbelievers amassed within the walls of Calcutta were fabulous in amount, and were tangible. Pretexts for a quarrel were never wanting in India, and the result of several disputes was, that the passionate and imperious young nabob ordered the British to destroy their fortifications at Calcutta, and on their refusing to do so, he gave way to a paroxysm of rage, and threatened to behead, or impale, Mr. \Vatts, our resident at his court of Moorshedabad. At the latter place he collected his whole army, and sent a detachment of 3,000 men to invest the factory and petty fort which we possessed at Cos- simbazar, in the sandy tract formed by certain branches of the Ganges. In four days the crumb- ling old gates of the fort were thrown open to the besiegers, who exulted over and shamefully insulted the little garrison, which consisted of only twenty- two Europeans and twenty Topasses, under an ensign named Elliott, who, to escape their brutal indignities, put a pistol to his head and blew out his brains. Striking his tents, Surajah Dowlah now began his hostile march upon Calcutta, which, at this crisis, '756.] CALCUTTA ATTACKED. 45 had a garrison of only 264 regulars, with a militia force of 250 raised among the inhabitants, and 1,500 Bucksaries, or native matchlockmen, on whose arms, discipline, or faith there was no relying. Of the garrison only 170 were British; the rest being Portuguese, Topasses, and Armenians, and, to make the case more hopeless, says Orme, not ten of them had ever seen any actual military service, while but small engineering skill had been displayed upon Fort William. It stood near the Hooghley, and formed nearly a parallelogram, of which th.e longest sides, the east and west, were two hundred yards in length ; the breadth on the south was one hundred and thirty yards ; on the north only one hundred. The walls were four feet thick, and, forming the outer side of apartments, were perforated for windows ; and the roofs of these formed the platform of the ramparts. At each of the four angles was a bastion mounted with ten guns ; but two of those on the south were rendered ineffective by the erection of a line of warehouses, on the roofs of which were several three-pounders. The east gateway was amied with five guns, and a battery of heavy pieces, run through embrasures of solid masonry, was outside on the brink of the Hooghley, near the western wall. On the 15th of June the terrible nabob, after coming on with such haste that his troops perished daily of fatigue and sunstroke, reached the river, and transported his great army to the Calcutta side by means of an immense flotilla of boats. The drums beat ; the regulars and militia got under arms ; the natives fled with bales of rice on their heads, and 2,000 Portuguese, as Christians, were received into the fort, the outworks of which required a great force to defend, more than the garrison could spare. At noon the van of the nabob's army was within the bounds of the Company, and in a few minutes the firing commenced, and was continued till night- fall, when a young English ensign, who had served under Clive in the Carnatic, made a sortie, at the head of a mere platoon, drove the Bengalees like chaff" before him, and spiked four pieces of cannon. On the following day the attack from the north was relinquished, and a mighty force of the besiegers poured into the town on the east side, where no defences existed. Conceiving that the fort could not be defended, but rather the approaches thereto, the garrison now, with equal haste and precipitation, threw up three successive batteries, armed with two eightecn- pounders and field-pieces, at about 300 yards from Uie gates. Elsewhere trenches were dug and breastworks thrown up, but on the 1 9th of June all these works were stormed in succession by the yelling hordes that attacked them. Without hope of aid or succour, the litde handful of Britons defended them with stern valour, if without skill, and in the general consternation that followed their sudden capture, the Indian matchlockmen vanished, to- gether with all the timid Armenians and Topasses, who worked the guns, and then our people gave themselves up to despair. As soon as darkness fell, nearly the whole of the European women were safely conveyed out of the fort, and embarked in certain craft that lay in the river to convey away persons and property. At midnight the besiegers advanced to the assault, but the mere roll of our drums scared them back. On the 2oth, they rushed again to the attack, aided by artillery, and then it was resolved to abandon the place, as incapable of defence ; but the greater part of the native boatmen had gone off, and the matter of embarkation, which would have been easy before, became a task of peril and difficulty now. The madness of great fear and total want of order prevailed. !Men, women, and children, we are told, rushed with piteous cries to the water's edge, imploring to be embarked. The boats became crowded by more than they could carry. Many were overset or swamped, and their occupants drowned. If any reached the shore, they perished under the matchlock-balls and fire-arrows of the nabob's people. Among those who rushed from the fort to the river, were Mr. Drake, the governor, Minchin, the captain-commandant, and a Captain Grant, who escaped in the last boat, and thus were left, Mr. Holwell, one Englishwoman, and 190 men, chiefly British soldiers, to shift for themselves. Seeing two or three boats, after a time, returning, Mr. Holwell, whom those now remaining elected governor, in place of him who had deserted them, locked the water-gate of the fort, and carried off the keys to prevent further flight : a ship was still seen lying off" the creek, where a work called Perring's Redoubt stood, and an officer went to her, in a boat, with orders to bring her down instantly to the fort, with a view that, at a projier moment, the whole garrison might embark and escape at once; but she struck upon a sandbank, and was abandoned by her crew. So, as tliis last hope departed, the wretched remnant of the toil-worn garrison found themselves attacked with greater vigour ; but such is the valour that is sometimes born of the most des])erate cir- cumstances, iliat they rj sisted successfully all that 46 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [■756. day, and all the subsequent night. By order of Mr. Hohvell, signals were constantly made by day with flags, and by night with fires, to recall the shipping from Govindpore back to the fort; but no other atten- tion was paid to them, save when a native boatman was sent down the river to observe what was occurring. Nothing but imbeciUty on the part of commanders can account for this conduct in British seamen. " Never," says Orme, with reference to the subsequent horrors, "was such an opportunity of performing a heroic action so ignominiously neglected ! for a single sloop with fifteen brave men on board, might, in spite of all the efforts of tlie enemy, have carried away all who suffered in the dungeon." On the following day, the attack was pressed with still greater vigour. Then, some of our soldiers, perceiving how the effect of one well-directed dose of grape scattered the Indians by thousands, began to take heart anew, and urged a steady perseverance in the defence, but others, less sanguine, recommended an instant surrender to Surajah Dowlah, forgetting how little likely he was to yield them mercy. By letter, Mr. Hohvell made an attempt to obtain a capitu- lation ; but the attack still went furiously on. Covered by a fire of matchlocks that blazed from the walls of the adjacent houses, a strong column of the enemy began to escalade the northern cur- tain of the fort ; but were hurled back with terrible loss, though twenty-five of the little garrison were killed, and fully fifty, more or less, wounded in the effort. It was at tliis time, when under the blazing sun of an Indian summer, the whole place was filled with dust, gunpowder smoke, and ringing with moans, groans, and shrieks of anguish from those who writhed under undressed wounds in which the flies were battening, that some of the survivors broke open the arrack store-room, and swallowing the ardent spirit as if it were water, became fatuousl)' stupid or raving mad. At two in the afternoon, a flag of truce came towards the fort, and, while Mr. Holwell was conferring with the bearer, the nabob's troops came storming and swarming against it on every side, over the palisades and weaker points by ladders, firing at every one they saw. A gentleman fell wounded by the side of Mr. Holwell, who endeavoured to collect the men on the ramparts to sell their lives as dearly as possible. But those who were sober could not be got up in time, and those who were drunk burst open the water-gate, hoping to escape by the river. As they opened it, a mass of Indians who were lurking close beneath the walls, rushed in like a living flood, while thousands poured in over tJie undefended curtain. and advancing into the heart of the fort, met those who had come in by the gate. About twenty of the garrison threw themselves in despair over the walls, to escape death by mutilation and torture ; while the miserable remnant piled the arms they had wielded so well, and sur- rendered, with prayers for mercy. At five in the evening, the cowardly tyrant, Surajah Dowlah, who had kept at a comfortable distance, so long as there was the least chance of peril to his precious person, now entered the fort with all the air of a conqueror, and seating himself in the principal hall of the factory, summoned Mr. Holwell before him. In all the copiousness which the native language afforded for abuse, he reviled that unfortunate gentleman for daring to oppose his will and defend the fort, and fiercely and bitterly complained of the small amount of treasure, only ^5,000 sterling, when his avaricious imagination had fancied there must be millions. Dismissing Mr. Hohvell, he recalled him to ask " if there was no more money," and then dismissed him again. About seven in the evening he sum- moned the sturdy Briton to his presence once more, and gave him his word as " a soldier that he should suffer no harm." Perhaps the nabob was beginning to consider that he had gone a little too far, and Mr. Holwell seems to have thought that the tyrant did not mean to violate his promise, but merely gave general instructions that the prisoners " should, for the night, be secured." On returning to his comrades in misfortune, he found them surrounded by a strong escort, gazing upon a terrible conflagration that reddened all the sky, and which, whether by accident or design is unknown, had been kindled outside the fort. A\'ithout having the least suspicion of the awful fate that was impending over them, they asked where they were to be lodged for the night ; and then they were marched to a verandah, or open gallery, near the eastern gate of the fort, and, about eight o'clock, the principal officer who had charge commanded them all to go into a room in rear of the gallery. This room, says Mr. Holwell, in his Personal Narrative, was " at the southern end of the barracks, commonly called the Black Hole Prison ; whilst others from the Court of Guard, with clubs and drawn scimitars pressed upon those of us next to them. This stroke was so sudden, so unexpected, and the throng and pressure so great upon us, that next the door of the Black Hole Prison, there was no resisting it ; but, like one agitated wave impelling another, the rest followed us like a torrent ; " in short, to avoid being cut to pieces. I75&] THE BLACK HOLK CATASTROPHE. 47 The door was then instantly shut and locked upon them. Even for a single European prisoner the chamber in which these unfortunate creatures now found themselves would have been by far too small, in such a climate, at the height of the Indian summer. 'l"he dungeon was only twenty feet square. "It was the summer solstice, when the fierce heat of Bengal can scarcely be rendered tolerable to natives of England by lofty halls and the constant wa\'ing of fans. The number of the prisoners was 146." The chamber had only two small windows, and these were deprived or obstructed froni air, by two projecting verandahs. " Nothing in history or fiction," says the 'eloquent Macaulay, "not even the story which Ugolino told in the sea of everlasting ice, when he wiped his bloody lips on the scalp of his murderer, approaches the horrors that were recounted by the few survivors of that night. They cried for mercy. They strove to burst the 'door. Hohvell, who, even in that extremity, re- tained some presence of mind, offered large bribes to the gaolers. But the answer was, that nothing could be done without the nabob's orders ; that the nabob was asleep, and that he would be angry if any one awoke him. Then the prisoners went mad ODELISK BRSCTED IN MEMORY OF TJIB St'FKERKRS AT THE DI.ACK MOI.B. the murderers mocked their agonies, raved, prayed, blasphemed, and implored the guards to fire on them. The gaolers in fhe meantime held lights to the bars, and shouted with laughter at the frantic stniggles of their victims. At length the tumult died away in low gaspings and meanings. The nabob slept olT his debauch and permitted the door to be opened ; but it was some time before the soldiers could make a lane for the survivors, by piling up, on each side, the heaps of corpses, on which the burning climate had already begun its loathsome work. When at length a passage was made, twenty-three ghastly figures, such as their mothers would not have known, staggered one by one out of the charnel- house. A pit was dug. The dead bodies, 123 in number, were Hung into it promiscuousl}', and covered up." The details of this event, as given by Mr. Holwell, are most harrowing. One ofiicer saved his life by sucking the perspiration from his shirt, as several others strove to do ; while the steam that rose alike from the living and the dead w-as appalling ; " it was," he says, " as if we were forcibly held with our heads over a bowl full of strong volatile spirit of hartshorn until suffocated. . . . . I felt a stupor coming on apace, and laid myself down by that gallant old man, the Rev. Mr. Jervas Bellamy, who lay dead with his son, the lieutenant, near the southernmost wall of the prison." Many died on their feet, and remained so stand- ing, the press around not permitting the corpses to fall. " But these things," continues Macaulay, " which, after the lapse of more than eighty years, cannot be told or read without horror, awakened neither remorse nor pity in the bosom of the savage nabob. He inflicted no punishment on the mur- derers. He showed no tenderness to the survivors. Some of them, indeed, from whom nothing was to be got, were suffered to depart, but those from whom it was thought anything could be e.xtorted were treated with execrable cruelty. Holwell, unable to walk, was carried before the tyrant, who rci)roached him, threatened him, and sent him up the country in irons, with some otiier gentlemen who were suspected of knowing more than they chose to tell about the treasures of the Company. These persons, still bowed down by the sufferings of that great agony, were lodged in miserable sheds, and fed only with grain with despair. They trampled each other down, and water, till at length the intercessions of the fought for places at the wimlows, fought for the female relations of the nabob jjrocured tlieir rc- pittancc of water with which the cruel mercy of | lease. One Englishwoman had survived that night. 48 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [>756. She was placed in the harem of the prince at Moorshedabad." This lady, who was possessed of considerable attra^-tions, was the wife of Captain Carey, an officer of the Company's sea service, who perished in that awful night. The following is the " List of persons smothered in the Black Hole Prison," as given by Mr. Hohvell (exclusive of si.\ty-nine non- commissioned officers and soldiers, whose names he did not know), "making on the whole 123 persons." Of the Coiindl: E. E)rc and ^\'m. Laillie, Esq., and the Rev. Mr. Bellamy. Stephenson, Guy, Porter, Parker, Caulker, Bendall, Atkinson, and Leech. Mr. Holwell — whom the nabob frequently threat- ened to blow from a gun unless he would reveal where treasures that had no existence, save in his own imagination, lay — erected at Calcutta an obelisk to the memory of those who perished in that catas- trophe, which he survived for more than forty years. He died in 179S at the age of eighty-seven. The brutal nabob informed his nominal master, then seated on his crumbling throne at Delhi, that he had utterly e-xpelled the British from Bengal, and forbidden them for ever to dwell within its Batteries . . '^* Scale 100 200 300 400 VJs. I 1 I I .,1 « TERRnORY OF CALCUTTA WHEN ATTACKED BY SURAJAH DOWLAH, 1 756. 0/ the Civil Scn'ice: Messrs. Revely, Law, Jenks, Coles, Valicourt, Jebb, Torriano, E. Page, S. Page, Gnib, Harod, Streat, P. Johnston, Ballard, N. Drake, Casse, Knapton, Gosling, Byng, Dod. and Dalrj'niple. Army Captains : Clayton, Buchanan, and Wither- ington. Lieutenants: Bishop, Hays, Blagg, Simson, and Bellamy. Ensigns: Paccard, Scott, Hastings, C. Wedder- burn, and Dumbleton. Sea Captains: Hunt, Osbunie, Purnell, Carey, precincts ; and that, having completely purged Calcutta of the infidels, to commemorate the great event, he had ordered that, in all future time, it should be called by a new name — .Minagore, or " the Port of God." On the 2nd of July he col- lected his army, and, after leaving behind him 3,000 men in Fort William, made a triumphant departure from the place. His barges were deco- rated with banners and streamers, and the air was filled with the clangour of Indian drums and barbaric music, as he proceeded to fall upon his neighbour and near kinsman, the ruler of Purneah. j:\fediiion against SLRAJAH dowi.am. 49 CHAPTER IX. "tl.lVE THE AVENGER." — CALCUTTA RETAKEN.— HOOGHl.KY AND CHANDERNAGORE REDUCE!}. The dreadful news of the event at Calcutta reached resentment he felt at the recent events at Cal- Madras early in August, and e.xcited the keenest cutta, and the pleasure and satisfaction with which resentment. he accepted that command whicli ■ - though he From the whole settlement there rose one I knew it not — was destined to crow n him with fame VIEW OF GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAICUll. universal cry for vengeance. If ever ISiitain had a cause for war, slic had it now against the monstrous Surajah Dowlali, and her peojile would have been unworthy of an empire had they failed to punish the author of crimes so terril^le. So great was the ardour in Madras, tliat within forty- eight hours an expedition up the Hooghley was determined upon, and it was the universal desire of the Council that the command of tiie troops, only 2,400 in all, should be given to Clive, "to punish a prince " who, as Maciulay says in his Essay, ''had more subjects than Lo'dis XV., or the Empress Maria Thcr'esa." On the nth of Octolier, 1756, Ciivc wrote to the dir>.ciors, expressing the great horror, grief, and and glory, and to win him tlie name of "■ (Jli\e the Avenger " — " Clive the Daring in AVar." Five days subsequently, the expedition sailed from Madras Roads. The squadron consisted of the Kent (sixty-four guns), bearing the flag of Admiral Watson ; the Cumberland (seventy), with that of Rear- Admiral Pococke; the Ti^a- (sixty); Salisl'itry (fifty) ; the Biiif^acafer (sloop, twentj) ; the Company's ships, and two transports. The land force consistK:d of 900 luiropeans, 250 of whom bclonsed to H.M. 39th Regiment, and 1,500 sepoys. "The weather proved so extremely tempestuous," .says Captain Schombcrg, " attended with other disa.slers, that tlie admiral did not ivach Balasore Roads before the 5th of Dcecmbcr. CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. 50 . The Cumberland, Salisbury, and Blaze (fireship) parted company in great distress." The first was under the necessity of putting into Vizagapatam ; the second rejoined the admiral some days after his arrival in the river; but the Blaze never reached Bengal. All tliis caused a loss of 250 bayonets from the original strength, together with the heavy artillery on board of the Cumbcrlarul. As the river pilots refused to take charge of large sliips over the shoals, Captain Speke, who had been frequently in Bengal, undertook to do so, having no doubt of its being practicable ; and by his skill and judgment they were all brought to anchor in safety, on die 15th of December, oft" Fulta, a town on the eastern bank of tiie swampy and jungly Hooghley, where the anchorage is quiet and protected from the sea, and lies twenty-five miles below Calcutta. Here tlie admiral made the necessary arrange- ments for an attack on the enemy's batteries. A vessel was procured, converted into a bomb-ketch, and the command of lier given to Lieutenant riiomas Warwick, first, of the Ken/. At Madras, letters had been procured from Mr. Pigot, the governor, jNIohammed Ali, Nabob of Arcot, and Salabut J ung, Soubahdar of the Deccan, exhorting Surajah Dowlah to redress the wrongs he had done at Calcutta ; and these missives, with others written by Admiral Watson and Lieutenant- Colonel Clivc, were sent open to Monichund, now governor of Calcutta, who replied that he dared not send such menacing documents to his im- perious master ; and on this, it was resolved to bring matters to the issue of the cannon at once. On the 27th, the squadron moved up the river, and two days after was brought abreast of Fort Euz- Buzia, otherwise Budge-budge, on which a heavy cannonade was opened, and maintained till evening, by which time the enemy's guns were silenced ; but there was no indication of a surrender, as when darkness fell tliey kept up a smart fusillade, and volleys of fire arrows, wliich streaked the gloom with arcs of red liglit. On board the Kent a council of war was held, r^nd it was resolved to carry the fort by storm ne.\t morning ; and in order to strcngtlien tlie troops, a detachment of seamen was landed, under Captain King. R.X., wliile Clivc took on shore 500 bayonets, and proceeded, under the direction of Indian guides, to make a dchur across a country full of swamps and intersected by numerous rivulets, for the purpose of taking the garrison prisoners if atteiiipting to escape. As there were no drauglit bullocks, his infantry had to sling their fifclocks, and ' draj; two ficld- pie'c'esand a limber. '-The men suffered hardships [»756. not to be described," says Clive in his despatch. On reaching a point in rear of the redoubt, the detachment, now weary, halted, some in a deep hollow, others apart in a grove, and the artillerj- men beside their guns, which were pointed to command the road by which any fugitives from the fort might be expected to come. "It is difficult," says his biographer, "to account for the absence of common vigilance which both Clive and his brother-officers displayed on this occasion. Not a picket nor a sentry appears to have been planted ; while tiie men, weary with their march, were permitted to go to sleep without orders, and at a distance from their arms." Monichund, the nabob's governor, if not a hero, but rather the reverse, was both wary and cautious. His spies had tracked Clive throughout the whole of this movement, and beheld its rather unsoldier- like conclusion ; and lie at once took his plans. Issuing out of Buz-Buzia, to which he had come the day before, at die head of 2,000 foot and 1,500 horse, he came upon the slumbering bivouac, into which he poured a volley of matchlock-balls and arrows. Clive amply redeemed his error by the coolness and promptitude with which he repelled the danger. Not a soldier was permitted to quit liis ground, and though the line was formed without much order, it stood firm under the fire, wliich it was not permitted to return. Two parties from the fianks were thrown forward in double-quick time, to take in reverse the assailants, who had now crowded into a village, where they were attacked with that unfailing British argument, the bayonet, which gave the artillerymen time to rush into the hollow and bring up the guns, with which they opened a fire that soon quelled the enemy; and on Moni- chund receiving a musket-ball through his turban, he thought only of flight ; and Orme is correct in surmising that, " had the cavalry advanced and charged the troops in the hollow at the same time that the infantry began to fire upon the village, it is not improbable that the war would have been concluded on the very first trial of hostilities.' The instant that ^Monichund fled, the troops marched to the village adjoining the fort, and found the AV///. which had outsailed them, anchored abreast of it. The assault was defertcd until next day, when to assist in it, 250 seamen were landed. One of these, a Scotsman named Strachan, "having just received his allowance of grog, found his spirits too much elated to think of sleeping," and straggling close to tlie fort, scrambled over the ramparjt, and seeing no one tlicre, hallooed to the advanced guard that he had " taken the fort :' It % '757-1 CLIVES PREPARATIONS AGAIXST THE NABOB. 5« was found to be evacuated. On being repri- manded by Admiral Watson, Strachan swore that he would never take ivwther fort as long as he lived. He was afterwards wounded in one of the actions under Admiral Pococke, and became a pensioner of the Chest at Chatham. Ciive now marclied along by land, while Admiral Watson sailed up the river. On the 2nd January, 1757, the armament was oft" Calcutta, and a few broadsides from the fleet expelled the garrison, and sent them flying after their fugitive general, Monichund, while, without the loss of a life, the place was retaken, the somewhat unworthy Mr. Drake was reinstated in his office of governor, and all the merchandise was found in the condition in which it had been left when the Council fled, as the viceroy had ordered it to be reserved for him- self; but every private dwelling had been sacked and wrecked. Within a week and a day after, Clive, impetuous and rapid in all his movements, was before the important fortress and town of Hooghley, the bat- teries of which bristled with heavy guns, and were manned by 3,000 of Surajah Dowlah's Bengalese, wlio fled almost at the first cannon-shot, and so complete now was the panic existing among the forces of the nabob, that Major Coote. with 150 Europeans and sepoys, was able, witli ease, to scour the country for miles, and destroy or capture, rs suited him, vast stores of rice and other pro- visions, including ^"15.000 taken at Hooghley. The sepoys were left to garrison Hoogliley, while the Europeans returneil to Calcutta, with spoil to the value of a lac and a half of rupees. This was on the 19th January. Surajah iJowlah, having by this time massed another enormous host at Moorshedabad, .and believing Clive's army — if it deserved the nattie — to be smaller than it was, began his march for Calcutta full of vengeance and ferocity, and uttering the most terrible menaces. (live was ]jre]).ired k)i' him, and, resolved not lo be hemmed up in the miserable fortress, he erected a fortified camp northward of the town, and at the distance of a mile and a half from the 1 looghley, thus eflcctuatly providing that no enemy fiom the northward should be able to violate the Company's territory, widiout at least develoiiing liis designs. This done, and a garrison being thrown into a redoubt or castle at Perring's Point, Clive established his outposts, and waited with all jiatience the turn events might take.'' Luckily Clive was furnished with artillery and stores from the Afar/boroug/t, before the 30th of • Glcig. January, when the nabob crossed the river about ten miles above Hooghley, and as he continued his march, the country people who had supplied the '' Unbelievers " with provisions, concealed their property and fled. On many occasions Clive felt severely the want of that most necessary arm in war — cavalry. Thus, on the 50th he wrote to the nabob a con- ciliatory letter, proposing peace ; Surajah Dowlah, it is said, returned a courteous answer ; but con- tinued the march of his swarthy hordes, whom he knew Clive could only confront by a literal " hand- ful." Lord Macaulay alleges that the overtures were made by Surajah Dowlah, and that he offered to restore to the British their settlements with com- pensation for the injuries done; while Admiral \Vatson was opposed to peace or truce being either made or accepted by Great Britain. His idea was simply this : that as to places previously in our possession, we had captured them ; as to compen- sation, we could take it with cold steel. On the whole, the sturdy admiral felt that till .Surajah Dowlah found his viceroyalty o\'cr liengal in danger, and, after losses and defeats, was com- pelled to sue for peace, he would ever remain a treacherous, though flexible enemy, and one ever ready for war, if it could be made with the hope of success ; and, by striking a bold and decisive blow, .\dmiral Watson believed that a permanent jieace might be secured. The French at Chandemagore — a station which thcyhad obtained on tlie west bank of the Hooglile\', sixteen miles distant from Calcutta, so lar back as 1676 — declined joining the Indian army, and dis- gusted, perhaps as l'airoi)eans, by recent events at Calcutta, made ])roposals to the Briti.sh for a constant truce between them and Bengal, notwith- standing any war between the two crowns in Europe, or any other part of the world. By the 3rd February, all the villages north-east- ward of Calcutta were seen in flames, indicating thus, by rapine, the march of the nabob's army. Reluctant to take any step which might render the p.acification to which he looked forward impractic- able, Clive beheld, without opposition, this swarm of semi-barbarous warriors take possession of a great road which, stretching north and south, con- ducted to a stone bridge ; and about noon some of their pillagers penetrated into a suburb of Calcutta occupied by the humbler natives ; but a sally from Perring's Retloubt repulsed them with loss, after which the nabob's army intrenclied itself in a large garden, a mile soutli-eastward of the British cam]). About an hour before night came on — there is no twilight in India — Colonel Clive, with the 52 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. greatest part of his forces and six field-guns, issued from his camp, and attempted to drive them from their post ; but they threw out cavalry wlio pressed upon his flanks, and replied to his fire by nine guns of heavier calibre, and after a small loss, he was compelled to fall back. Meanwhile the cowardly nabob still remained some miles distant, and, pretending to negociate, requested the attendance of certain deputies at a village near Calcutta, to arrange the terms of peace. After some trouble, two who went — Messrs. Walsh and Scrafton — found him close to the city, in a house actually within the Mahratta Ditch ; and, after an angry jfiltercation about delivering up their swords, which they resolutely refused to do, they were admitted to an audience. Surajah Dowlah, stern and stately, surrounded by all the terrors of utter despotism, was seated on the musnud, and had about him "the principal of his officers, and the tallest and grimmest of his attendants, who, to impress them, and to look more stout and truculent, had dressed themselves in wadded garments, and put enormous turbans on their heads. During the conference these fellows sat scowling at the two Englishmen, as if they only waited the nabob's nod to murder them." Uninfluenced by this, they stoutly retnonstrated with the nabob for thus violating the territory of the Company, and delivered to him a paper con- taining the terms on which Clive alone would make peace. Without deigning to reply, the haughty nabob abruptly broke up the meeting, and as Walsh and Scrafton left the apartment, Omichund, a Hindoo to whom the house belonged, whispered them in the ear, to " have a care for their lives ! " Thus, instead of going to tiie tent of the nabob's minister, as they had intended to do, the deputies carefully ordered their attendants to extinguish their torches, and through the darkness and con- fusion, fled back to tiie camp of Clive, who resolved to bring matters to a stern issue next morning. Having ascertained that the greater portion of the Indian artillery was still in the rear, on being strengthened by 600 seamen from the fleet, armed with firelocks, about an hour before daybreak he moved from his camp in silence, and formed his forces, consisting of 650 Europeans of the line, 100 artillerymen, 600 seamen under Captain Warwick, R.N., and 800 se])oys, "in a single column of threes in front, facing towards the south." The 39th Regiment took post in rear of a wing of sepoys, the other wing succeeding them ; in continuation of these came the six field-pieces, drawn partly by seamen and partly by lascars, who carried the spare ammunition. Clive, like all the rest of the officers, was on foot, and, at a given signal, the whole ad\anccd, covered by a few patrols. " About three in the morning," he reports in his letter to the secret committee, " I marched out nearly my whole force, leaving only a few Europeans with 200 new-raised Bucksarces to guard our camp. About six, we entered the enemy's camp in a thick fog, and crossed it in about two hours with con- siderable exertion. Had the fog cleared up, as it usually does, about eight o'clock, when we were entire masters of the camp without the ditch, the action must have been decisive, instead of which it thickened, and occasioned our mistaking the way.''* ^^■hile it was yet dark, the head of the column would seem to have fallen upon an outpost of the enemy, which, after the discharge of a few match- locks and rockets, retreated, though not until one of their missiles made a sepoy's cartridge-box to i explode, thus causing some disorder in our ranks ; but the columns still pressed on, till they came near the quarters of the nabob, and then for the first time since their advance did they become aware of an impending attack. The clank of hoofs was heard coming rapidly from the direction of the Mahratta Ditch. The fog parted like a curtain for an instant, and a well-mounted line of glittering Persian cavalry was seen within twenty yards of their flank. The troops halte(', and poured in a volley with such terrible eflfect, that the enemy was swept away before it, " as dust is swept aside by the breath of the whirlwind." Once more the onward march was resumed over Ihc dead and dying Persians, but slowly, the infantry firing random platoons into the fog, and the artillery discharging balls obliquely to clear the direction of the column, and yet protect its progress. After surmounting a causeway which was raised several feet above the adjacent district, the troops became entangled in deep and muddy fields, over which, though intersected by innu- merable ditches and watercourses, it was necessary to drag the guns. By nine o'clock the fog rose, and the awkward position of our troops became distinctly a isiblc. Then the enemy's horse made repeated attempts to charge them both in front and rear, but were repulsed on every occasion by the well- directed fire of this handful of brave fellows, who were outnumbered beyond all calculation. The enemy's guns bore on them severely, wliile they had to abandon two of their own, which were hope- * Mnlcolm. i: 1-57.1 ACTION' AT CHANDERXACJORE. 5.5 Ijssly sunk in the mud. Nevertheless, with the dogged obstinacy of genuine Britons, the column wheeled again to its right, and, bearing down all opposition, passed the Mahratta IJitch in triumph. Ere Clive drew off, he lost in this affair twenty- seven Europeans of the line, twelve seamen, and eighteen sepoys, in all fifty-seven, while his total wounded amounted to 117 of all ranks. Bat tlie carnage committed by his soldiers, who were mad for revenge on the perpetrators of the Black Hole massacre, caused a universal panic in the Indian army, the losses of which were twenty-two officers of distinction, 600 men, 500 horses, four elephants, and a vast number of camels and bullocks. Smollett says the nabob's loss was 1,000 men — killed, wounded, and prisoners. Clive was not disappointed as to the elfect to be produced on the feeble mind of the nabob by that morning's work; for next day Surajah Dowlah quitted Calcutta, and encamped on a plain si.\; miles distant, where Clive was preparing to give him battle again, when he received a humble note, in which the nabob prayed for peace. He was not only to restore the Company's factories, and all plunder, but to permit the complete fortification of Calcutta, and to confirm all privileges granted to the British on their first coniini^ to the country, including the presidency over thirty-eight adjacent villages, conformable to a disputed grant from the Great Mogul.* Only three days after this treaty was concluded, he proposed an alliance offensive and defensive against all enemies, and this Clive ratified. This treaty gave but slender satisfaction to parties at Calcutta, and Admiral Watson, with sailor-like bluntness, said while it was pending, — " Till he is well thrashed, don't flatter yourself he will be inclined to peace. Let us, therefore, not be over-reached by his politics, but make use of our arms, whicli will be much more persuasive than any treaties or negociations." Many openly expressed extreme anger at the terms of this sudden treaty, as they had suffered keenly by bereavement and loss at the hands of Surajah Dowlah, whose name inspired every Briton with hate and horror, as did that of the terrible Nana of later times; but Clive fully justi- fied himself to Mr. Payne, in a long letter printed in Sir John Malcolm's work. The treaty was no sooner concluded, than the faithless nabob began to intrigue against the British. War having broken outbetwcenBritainandFrancc at home, it was apparent to all that there could be no permanent security for Calctitta while the French • Ormo ; Lortjon Gasctli, 20lh Sept., J757, &c. were in possession of Chandernagore, whicli Clive and Admiral Watson at once made preparations to attack, the former previously instructing our agent, Mr. Watts, at the court of Moorshedabad, that he was extremely reluctant to march without the consent and assistance of the nabob ; but all dijiloniacy failed to get him to act. Admiral Watson ordered the captains of the Kent, Tiger, and Salisbiirj, to land all heavy and superfluous stores at Calcutta, while the Biidi^,-- 'watcr and KiiigfisJier were to escort the militar\- stores u]) tlie river, in order to accelerate the march of the troops under Clive, and on the iQdi of March, the three first-named vessels came to anchor off the fort which commands the neat little town oi Chandernagore, the territory of which extends two miles along the Hooghley, and one nule inland- The garrison, under M. Renault, was goo strong, 600 being Frenchmen of the line and militia, the rest seamen and sepoys. Smollett says there ware 1,200 sepoys in the place, and that it was armed with 123 guns, and three mortars. Clive had been before the fort by the isth, and in one short day's work, drove in the French out- posts, and forced them to spike and abandon all the guns on one of their outworks. On the 16th he got his heavy guns into position, and for three subseciuent days threw in shells from a coliorn and mortar; but it was not until the 23rd, that, after removing certain obstructions in the bed of the stream, our three large men-of-war opened their broadsides on the fort, when a dreadful battering by land and water ensued. The French fought with their usual valour, and seemed likely to have the best of the conflict, till the guns of the Tigtr blew one of their ravelins literally to atoms. Admiral Watson's ship, the Kent, fought closer to the works than was intended, and as she was allowed to pay out her cable, and fall into a disadvantageous position, she suffered severely in shifting iier ground. On both sides every shot told, while the land batteries delivered a cross fire. By nine o'clock next morning the enemy's gtms were silenced, and a flag of truce was flying on their works. Tlien Captain Coote went on shore to arrange the terms, and found that tlie works presented a dreadful sight, one of their batteries had ticen twice cleared, and forty men lay dead witliin anotlier. While terms were pending, many men witli their officers stole out of the fort and escaped. By three o'clock the rest capitulated. In the last de- cisive attack Clive had only one man killed, and ten wounded ; but before the ships came into action, he had fifty casualties. The Kent had nineteen 54 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. ['757. men killed, and forty-nine wounded ; the Tiger thirteen killed, and fifty wounded. Mr. Perrean, the first lieutenant, and Mr. Rawlins Hay, third of the Kent, were among the slain. Mr. Staunton, fourth, was wounded, as were also Cajjtain Spekc and his son, by the .same shot. The master of the Tiger was killed, and the Rear-Admiral (Pococke) slightly wounded. The ships suffered great damage in their masts, hulls, and rigging ; the Ktiit alone had si.v guns dismounted, and 138 shot in her hull."* his advance was useless, as Chandcrnagore must fall ere he could reach it. The nabob was un- stable as water, and Macaulay thus sums up his character : — " The nabob had feared and hated the English even while he was still able to oppose to them their French rivals. The French were now van- quished ; and he began to regaril the Englisii ^^ ith still greater fear and still greater hatred. One day, he sent a huge sum to Calcutta, as part of the VIKW IX MOORSIIEDABAD. \oung Speke, a genuine hero, died soon after having his leg amputated ; but his father, who mourned him deeply, survived, to distinguish him- self tmder Sir Edward Hawke, at lielleisle. though \ he never perfectly recovered from his wound. [ The keys were delivered to Captain Latham of the Tiger. The Jesuits were permitted to retain all their church vessels, and the natives full posses- sion of their civil rights.t During the siege, our new ally, the nabob, sent several imperious letters ordering our commanders to desist, and even sent a division of his army, under RoyduUab, to attack Clive, but the latter was ] luckily met by a messenger, who assured him that j • " Naval Chron." •(■ Smollett. compensation due for the wrongs he had committed. The next day he sent a present of jewels to I?uss\-, exhorting tiiat distinguished officer to protet t Bengal 'ngainst Clive the Daring in War, on whom says his highness, 'may all bad fortune attend.' He ordered his army to march against the British. He countermanded his orders. He tore Clive's letters. He ordered Watts out of his presence, and threatened to impale him. He sent for Watts, and begged pardon for the insult. In the mean- time, his wretched maladministration, his dissolute manners and love of the lowest company, had dis- gusted all classes of his subjects, soldiers, traders, civil functionaries, the ostentatious Mohammedans, the timid, supple, and parsimonious Hindoos. A I7":7-1 THE CHARACTER OF THE NABOB. 55 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IXDIA. Jf' forniidable conspiracy was fonned against him, in which were included Roydullab, the minister of finance, Meer Jaftier, the principal commander of the troops, and Jugget Beit, the richest banker in India. The plot was confided to tlie English agents, and a communication was opened between the malcontents at Moorshedabad and the com- mittee at Calcutta." [■757- While this conspiracy was maturing in his capital, camp, and court, he was again collecting a great army for the purpose of falling upon Clive, under the chief conspirator, Meer Jaftier Khan, a Mo- hammedan soldier of fortune, who had been raised to the highest dignity by the late Nabob Aliverdy Khan, who had given him liis daughter in CHAPTER X. BATTLE OF PI.AS5F.V.— DEFEAT, FI.ICIIT, AXD DETHRONEMENT OF THE NABrtR OF nEN'OAI. EV COLONEL CLIVE. Os the 1 6th of August, the service suftered a severe loss by the death of Admiral Charles Wat- son, who fell a victim to the Indian climate, to the great regret of all. A monument in Westminster Abbey was erected to his memory by the East India Company, and the king was pleased to create his son a baronet of the United Kingdom. Exactly two montiis prior to this event, Clive began to move his little army towards Plassey, where Meer Jaffier was assembling an army, and it was calculated that half of the force would implicitly obey his orders. Clive sent before him a letter full of reproaches to Surajah Dowlah, for his duplicity and numerous breaches of faith, and calling upon him to choose between submission to the demands of Britain, or instant war. On the i6th of June, he halted at Patlee, and sent Major Coote to reduce the mud fort of Cutwah, near the junction of the Hadjee and Dliagaruttee rivers. A letter now came, but of a most unsatisfactory nature, from Meer Jaffier, for instead of announcing an approach to form a junction, it spoke in somewhat ambiguous terms of the reconciliation with the nabob, and an oath by which he had bound himself not to take part against him. " Meer Jaffier, of course, declared that the whole was, on his part, a trick by which he hoped to lure the nabob to his ruin ; but when, on the 19th, another letter arrived, in which he gave only the vague intelligence that his tent would be either on the right or the left of the army, and excused himself for not being more explicit, because guards were stationed on all the roads to intercept messages, Clive's suspicions became thoroughly roused. Meer Jaffier meant to deceive him, or had miscalculated his strength. On either supposi- tion, further advance was perilous in the extreme." The situation of Clive was now one of painful anxiety, as he could confide neither iu the courage nor the sincerity of his confederate ; and whatever confidence he had in his own skill and the valour of his troops, he could not fail to see the rashness of attempting to engage an army outnumbering his force by "twenty to one. Before him rolled a river, over which to advance was easy ; but if defeat followed, not a man of his little band would ever return alive ; and now for the first, perhaps the last time, he shrunk from the deep responsibility oi private decision. He summoned a council of war, at which the majority pronounced against fighting, and he almost instantly concurred with them. " Long afterwards," we are told, " he said he had never called but one council of war, and that if he had taken the advice of that council, the British would never have been masters of Bengal." After they separated, he re- tired into a grove of mango-trees, and passed nearly an hour there in deep thought. He then came forth, resolved to put all to the issue of the sword, and gave orders for the passage of the river on the morrow. The morrow saw the river — the Cossimbazar — in his rear, and, at the close of a weary day's march, long after the sun had set, the toil-worn army halted in a mango tope near Plassey, wiihin a mile of the enemy, who had reached that place twelve hours before them. During the whole night Clive was unable to sleep ; throughout the stillness and the darkness, he heard the incessant sound of drums and cymbals from the mighty camp of the nabob ; and his licart quailed at times, as he thought of the vast prize for which he was, in a few hours, to contend against odds so mighty. " Nor was the rest of Surajah Dowlah more »75;-j DISPOSITION OF FORCES Al' PLASbKY. 57 peaceful. His mind, at once weak and stormy, was distracted by wild and horrible apprehensions. Appalled by the greatness and nearness of the crisis, distrusting his captains, dreading every one who approached him, dreading to be left alone, he sat gloomily in his tent, haunted, a Greek poet would have said, by the furies of those who had cursed him wiiii their last breath in the Black Hole." On the other hand, our soldiers, " few but undismayed," if not confident of victory, were resolute to deserve it ; and wistfully on that morning must they have watched the reddening east, as the dawn of the battle-day of Plassey — tiie day that was to decide the fate of India — came ()uickly in ! The nabob was at the head of 50,000 infantry and 20,000 horse, with fil'ty pieces of cannon, directed chiefly by forty French officers and deserters. Clive had only 1,000 Europeans, 2,000 sepoys, and eight pieces of cannon. Among the former were the small remains of three regiments, H.M. 39th, the 1st Bengal Fusiliers, and the ist Bombay Fusiliers, now numbered respectively as the loist and 103rd of the British line. He had also 150 gunners and seamen. The grove in which this little force lay at Plassey was 800 yards long by 300 deep, and consisted entirely of mango-trees, planted in regular rows. Around it were a slight embankment and a ditch choked up with weeds. Its northern angle was within fifty yards of the river. A hunting-seat belonging to the nabob, which stood upon the bank of the latter, with its walled garden and other enclosures, covered one of Clive's flanks, and soon became useful as a hospital. Meanwhile the enemy occupied an intrenched camp about a mile distant in his front, which, commencing at the neck of a peninsula formed by an acute bend of the -stream, ran directly inland for 200 yards, after which it formed an obtuse angle, and ran away for nearly three miles in a nortli-easterly direction. A redoubt armed with cannon stood in the acute angle. Three hundred yards beyond it was an eminence covered with beautiful trees, while a couple of large water-tanks, surrounded by mounds of green sward, offered peculiar ailvantages, either in advancing or retreating ; and all these features of the position were seen by Clive, who, wlien day dawned, climbed to the roof of the hunting seat. and with his telescope began to examine tlie camp of the nabob. Suddenly there was a great stir within it ; and ere long the heads of the glittering cohnnns, attired ' in costumes of many brilliant colours, began to j move into the green plain, where the vast multi- tude began to form m order of battle, in aspect I most striking and picturesque. There came the 50,000 infantry of Surajah Dowlah, variously armed with spears, swords, daggers, and rockets ; others had tiie matchlocks of the Cromwellian days, but beautifully inlaid. "The bowmen formed their lines as those of Cressy or Poitiers ; but the turbaned heads and flowing drajjery of these Eastern archers were far more picturesque. The musketeers carried their dusky weapons with less propriety and grace, and as men less skilful with their arms." There were the 20,000 cavalry, and from amid them many a line of crooked tulwars, of brass-orbed shields, ond tasselled lances displayed alike the pomp and reality of war, as they flashed in the morning sun. The mode in which the fitty cannon were moved formed not the least remarkable feature in this vast army, which came in the shape of a semicircle, as if to enclose the little force that seemed to lurk, rather than defiantly form, in the grove of mango-trees. They were all of hea\y metal, and drawn by beautiful white oxen, whose movements were far more active and graceful than Europeans would think likely in such animals, traced to field artillery. Each gun was placed on a large wooden stage, six feet above the ground ; and, to aid in the advance of these cumbrous platforms, which bore also the gunners and ammunition, behind each was an elephant pushing with his head. Apart from all these were four pestilent light tield-pieces, worked alone by Frenciup.en, who posted them in one of the tanks near the edge of the grove. Clive, whose whole artillery, as we have said, consisted of only eight field-pieces, with two mortars, drew up his slender force in one line, the three European regiments, each with a front of only about 150 files, in the centre, and just beyond the skirts of the grove. He posted three cannon on each flank, and the remaining two, with the howitzers, under cover of two brick-kilns, to protect his left. He then passed the order along the line to keep steady, and neitiier advance nor retire without being commanded to do so, after which he again took himself to his post of observation on the housetop. The enemy, instead of continuing to advance, halted, and at eight in the morning commenced a general cannonade, the signal for which was a shot from th; French artillerists at the tank. Clive's guns pniuiptly responded, and with excellent 58 CASSELLS ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. effect, disabling many of the enemy's cannon, by killing or alarming the oxen and eleijliants, and tlirowing the native g/ioiaiiiiazccs into confusion ; hut it was to silence the efficiently-handled pieces ( .' the French that the fire was chietly directed. By nine o'clock, Clive, finding that several of liis men were falling under those dreadful wounds niHicted by cannon-shot, ordered the whole line to take shelter within the tope. Upon this movement taking place, the enemy, conceiving it was a sudden night, with fierce, exultant, and tumultuous yells, pushed on their artillery, all thirty-two and twenty- four-pounders, and fired with increased ardour; but as the Kuropeans and sepoys crouched behind the trees, they received no damage from the storm of iron that swept over their heads and tore the mango grove to splinters ; while their lighter field- guns made dreadful lanes tlirough the dense masses of horse and foot that covered the open plain, piling, in torn and dismembered heaps, the corpses over each other. The day passed thus till noon came, when a heavy shower of rain fell, and, by wetting their ammunition, caused the fire of the enemy to slacken. Amid this long cannonade, Meer Meden, a general upon whom the nabob placed the greatest reliance, received a mortal wound from a cannon- ball. He was borne to the tent of his highness, and while the faithful ofticer was in the act of explaining certain arrangements which might ensure victory, he expired. Surajah Dowlah, frantic with rage and despair, now summoned Meer Jaffier, whose great column of troops had hitherto remained inactive, or in a species of armed neutrality, on one flank of the line. The nabob, taking off his turban — the most abject act of humility to which a Mussulman can stoop — implored him to avenge the fall of the loyal Meer Meden, " and to rescue from the perils that beset him, the grandson of that Aliverdy by whose royal favour he — Jaffier — had grown so great." Jaffier bowed, (juiited the tent, and sent a secret letter to Clive, wlio never received it till the battle was over. It was a request to push on to victory. I'nmoved by the agony of spirit in which he left his master, the traitor suggested a retreat to their entrenchments. .Another oflicer high in rank, named .Mohun l.all, pointed out the certain de- stniction which must ensue if such advice were taken ; but the lielpless nabob gave the fatal order. Accordingly, white to the astonishment and joy of Clive and his troop.s, one portion of the Indian army, with all its lumbering platforms, elephants, and teams of oxen, some forty or so to a gun, began a retrograde nio\ement, th:n wing commanded by i Meer Jaffier remained stationary. Clive now saw the precise state of matters, and ordered the whole line^led by the 39th Regiment — to advance. Dull though he was, the nabob now understood the inaction of Jaffier, and, mounting a swift dromedary, at the head of 2,000 of his best cavalry, forsook the field, while his traitor general drew oft" his troops from the line of batde. The rest flung away their arms, and betook them to instant flight. With a bravery worthy of a better cause, the few Frenchmen in the field strove in vain to rally and reform the panic- sticken horde ; " but, as the alarm and the rout of their allies increased they were swept from the plain, as the mountain rock borne down by the avalanche ; and these brave men were merged in the crowd whose mad flight bore everything before it." Meer Jaffier's column was the last to give way, though it scarcely fired a shot. " Push on — push on — forward ! " w-ere now the shouts of our advancing line, and at the point of the bayonet, the camp was entered without any other opposition than that occasioned by the abandoned cannon, the overturned platforms, the herds of o.xen, killed and wounded men, and elephants, pyramids of baggage, the same debris that covered all the plain. " Being liberally promised prize-money, tlie troops remained steady in their ranks, though sur- rounded by the gorgeous plunder of an Oriental camp. After a brief halt, which enabled the com- missaries to collect as many bullocks and horses as were requisite for the transport of the cannon, the troops advanced in the highest spirits as far as Daudpoor, towards \\hich the ad\anced gaiard had been pushed for the purpose of observing the enemy's rear, and then the lists of the day's losses were made up." Clive's casualties were singularly i\here a palace was assigned him for his residence, surrounded by a garden so spacious, that witiiin it he encamped his troops, and the ceremony of installing Meer Jatner was instantly performed. The soldier of fortune who was now Nabob of Bengal was led by Clive to the seat of honour, who placing him upon it, according to a custom immemorial in the East, made him an offering in gold, and turning to the assembled natives, con- gratulated them on the good fortune that had freed them from the worst of tyrants ; after which, the new sovereign was called upon to fulfil certain engagements into which he had entered with his new allies. Meer Jaffier now, however, declared that there was not money enough in the treasury of Surajah Dowlah to pay what the British demanded according to the treaty witli them. On this the nabob-maker suggested that they should repair together to the residence of the great Hindoo banker who had been concerned in the conspiracy against their late ' ruler. Jaflicr consented, on wliidi they went forth- with, followed by Omichund, of Calcutta, who had been much mixed up in nil their intrigue'?, and thought the time v,-as at hand wlien he too should bo paid. On arriving at the saYs or banker's, however, Omichimd was not invited to scat himself on the carpet with the other Plindoo capitalists ; and, dis- m.iycd by this unexpected slight, he seated himself among his servants in the o'nter part of tl-.e hall ; and on finding that he was to receive nothing, fi.ll almost immediately into a state of imbecility, and died in that condition eighteen months after. The treaty between Clive and Jaffier, as written in Persian and English, v,-as then read, and after much con- sultation it was agreed that one-half the sum promised the British troops should be jiaid imme- diately in coin, plate, and jewels taken out of the treasury, and the other half should be dis- charged in three years by equal instalments. Two days after this, came tidings of the capture of Surajah Dowlah, who had been taken at Rajali- mahal, where his boatmen, worn out by excessive exertions, were permitted to pass the night in their craft, while the disguised nabob and his two attendants sought shelter ashore in a deserted garden. Now it chanced that at break of day he was recognised there by one who had but too good reason to remember him, the t3-rant having shorn him of his ears about thirteen months before. The person whom he thus maltreated was either a dervish or a fakir, and by a strange coincidence the fiillen nabob sought the cell of this devotee, who received him with apparent hospiLilitj-, hut, inspired at once by revenge and the liopc of reward, he made the circumstance known to Meer Cossim, Jaffier's son-in-law, who then commanded in Rajahmahal. Snrajah Dowlah was instnnlly cnptuieJ, and after being subjected to every possible indignii\, was brought back, as a felon, to his own palace, and dragged before his siippl .nter at iridnight. He crawled in the dust to the new nabob's feet, weeping, and pr-iying for mercy. It is said tliat Mccr Jafn'cr, moVed alike by pity and contempt, was inclined to spare his miserable life; but that 6o CASSELL'S ILl.UblRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [■757. Mceran, liis son, a wretch as vile and ferocious as even Siirajah Dowlah, iirge, ■ '^^ " /' t; I .1 L M.M' Ol- IIF.NT.AI., IlIiUAR, A\l> >.UI^SA. slayer entered, he saw his dreadful purpose in his eyes, and begged for a few minutes' respite for ablution and prayer : but this was denied him. A few home stabs of the poniard soon dispatched him ; and in the morniu':? his bloody remains were exposed through the city on an elephant, after which they were thrown into the grave of his maternal grandfather, Aliverdy Khan. He was only in the twentieth year of his age. '• In this act the English bore no part ; and Meer Jaftier understood so much of their feelings that he thought it necessary to apologise to them ;^i6o,ooo, out of which he granted an annuity of ;^3oo to his old brotherofhcer, Lawrence, who had grown old in the service, and was poor. This treasure altogether filled 700 chests, and was embarked in too boats, which, escorted by soldiers and all the boats of the British squadron, proceeded along the river to Fort William, with banners flying and music playing — "a scene of triumph and joy; and a remarkable contrast to the scene of the preceding )'ear, when Surajah Dowlah had ascended the same stream from the conquest and plunder of Calcutta. ' • M.1C.-IU1.1V. >7S7] THE RIGHTS OF THE COMPANY. 6i In August the Company received in cash and there was no Hmit to his acquisitions but his treasure 3,255,095 rupees, with a right to estabHsh own moderation. The treasury of Bengal was a mint of their own at Calcutta, achieved the expul- thrown open to him. There were piled up, after sion for ever of the French, and obtained the entire \ the usage of Indian prmces, immense masses of right of all properly within the .Mahratt 1 Dit' h, with 600 yards round it, and all the land in the neighbour- hood of Calcutta between the river, the lake, and Culpee, in rental Irom the nabob, with a right of free trade throughout the provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, save in salt and betel. " Trade revived, and signs of affluence appeared in every Enghsh house," says tiie great Essayist. "As to Clive, 6 niE M0Si1t;E Ol- NUniL'K. coin, among which might not seldom be delected the florins and byzants with which, before any European ship had turned the Cape of Good Hope, the Venetians purchased the stuffs and spices of the East. Clive walked between heaps of gold and silver, crowned with rubies and diamonds, and was at liberty to help himself." The new nabob lived and moved untlor British 62 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORV OF INDL\. f.;5 control ; the Council at Calcutta reigned, and he administered ; and in London the India C®mpany purchased for him, as presents, a tine musical clock, some rich watches and rings, to be taken to Moorshedabad by Clive or some other otiticial. James Francis Law was now in the tield, at the head of a French force, said by some accounts to have been 2,000 strong, including those troops which escaped from Chandernagore. He had been hasten- ing to theaidof Surajah Dowlah, who had requested his presence for the defence of Bengal ; but when tidings reached him of the battle of Plassey, where he might have turned the fortune of the field, he wisely halted. " Had he proceeded twenty miles further," says Orme, " he would have met and saved Surajali Dowlah, and an order of e\-ents very different from those we have to relate would have ensued." From other sources he soon learned how com- pletely all was lost, with the death of the wretched nabob ; so he began his retreat with all speed into Behar, intending to offer his military services to Ramnarrain, the governor of that province, who was inclined to assume independence. Clive, therefore, resolved to make the French prisoners, if possible, before they reached Patna. For this purpose he sent in pursuit of Law a detachment of 230 Europeans, 300 sepoys, and fifty lascars, with two field-guns, under 2\Lajor Coote, of the 39th Regiment, while the baggage and stores, in forty boats, went up the river ; but so many were the unavoidable delays, that by the 6th of July, when the little column began its march. Law was half-way to Patna. On the loth of July, Coote was at Rajahmahal, and on the following day the baggage boats came in. Meer Jaffier's kinsman, who, as we have said, commanded in that district, would not yield the least assistance; thus it was the i8th before Coote reached Boglipur, on the Ganges, in a district then covered with forests and thicket.s, amid the remains of which the wild elephants roam to this day. Continuing to advance, with slender hope of over- taking his Scottish antagonist, who was already -jeported to be beyond Patna, Coote, an inde- fatigable soldier, on the 21st reached Monghyr, a group of villages and marketplaces covering a great e.\tent of ground. Here our troops, who expected to be received as friends, found the whole native garrison — who occupied the strong fortress on a peninsula, which is also a precipitous rock — standing to their guns with port-fires lit, so they had to make a detour and aNoitl the place, which was long famous as a source of contention between the ancient kings of Behar and Bengal, and which, in 15S0, had been the headquarters of Todermall, the general of the great Ackbar. On the 23rd, Coote was at Burhai, where his European troops, worn out and harassed, broke into open muiin}-. To shame them, he ordered them all into the boats, and, at head of the sepoys alone, pushed on to Behar, the boats being towed by natives. On the ist of August, Coote reached a small town at the confluence of the Sona with the Ganges. Three days were spent in crossing the stream, and when Coote reached Chupra, a long narrow town in a marshy district by the Ganges, he found that the ubiquitous Law had reached Benares, and was 140 miles off I Further pursuit was hopeless. He was now on the frontier of Oude with a small force, utterly ex- hausted, and by the sinking of several boats, almost destitute of the material of war. If he fliiled to overtake Law, he succeeded, however, in striking terror into Ramnarrain and other native princes, and compelled them by such oaths as they held sacred — on the Koran, the waters of the Ganges, and so forth — to be true and obedient to the puppet of the Company, the new nabob, Meer Jaffier. Coote's detachment on returning, was quartered at Cossimbazar ; the rest of the victors of Plassey were sent down the river, and cantoned at Chan- dernagore, then considered a more healthy place than Calcutta, where Clive was received \\ith e\-ery acclamation and honour. While these stirring events had been occurring in Bengal, our people had been idle in Coromandel, and endeavoured to preserve a truce with the French in Pondicherry. Though weakened by absence of the troops and ships they had sent to act u])on the Ganges, the presidency of Madras dispatched Captain Cailhud to make an attempt upon Madura, a town on the right bank of the Vighey. Its fortifications were then very extensive though now much dilapidated ; but its narrow, dirt)-, and irregular streets are still surrounded by a ditch and wall. Of old, it was chiclly celebrated for its temple dedicated to the divinity Killayadah. The captain proceeded against this place from Trichinopoly, while sending a detachment against Vellore, a town 100 miles westward of Madras. On reaching Madura, though greatly distressed by want of money to pay his men, he made an unsuc- cessful assault, and ere he could repeat it, had to fall back on Trichinopoly, where the l^rench were beginning to show themselves. Abandoning tents, baggage, and artillery, he hurried bark to defend Trichinopoly, which he had left garrisoned by only 1 65 Europeans, 700 sepoys, ■753] 'IHE COUNT DE LALLV. 63 and I, coo otUer natives, furnished chiefly by ; iMoliammed Ah, and a Hindoo chief of Tanjore. W'ltliin the walls were no less than 500 French prisoners, and these had found means to com- municate with their countrymen outside. Before Caillaud received the letter which desired his return, the latter had commenced operations with ■ 1,000 European infantr)-, 150 European horse, and 3,000 sepoys, supported by guns, tlie whole being led by M. d'Auteuil, who threw shot and shell into the town for four days, and summoned it to sur- render ; but the officer in command was resolved to defend it to the last. Ere M. d'Auteuil could attempt to take the place by storm, Caillaud, with splendid rapidity and skill, though so exhausted by the fatigues he had undergone that he could neither stand nor walk, marched his whole force bettvccn the besiegers and i Trichinopoly, which they entered under a salute of , twenty-one guns. This turn of affairs so startled ' and disgusted M. d'Auteuil, that he withdrew linallv to Pondicherry, and in the Carnatic the war now languished till the French suddenly captured the great British factory at Vizagapat.im. i In the month of .September, there suddenly ' a|)peareil off Fort .'^t. David, a squadron of twelve French ships, conminnded by an officer of great reputation, M. Bou\et. He had on board the old Regiment of Lonaine, 30th of the line. They were 1,000 strong, with fifty artillerymen, and sixty volunteers, the whole under Major-General the Marquis de Soupires. They passed on to Pondi- cherry. and landed tliere, and the British com- manders became much perplexed as to wiiat the object of this expedition was. Bouvet, as soon as he was rid of the troops, fearing that our admiral would bring against him a heavier force than his own, quitted the coast, but in such haste, that he took away with him most of the heavy artillery, and all the ammunition he had brought. " Crowding all his canvas, he bore away for the Mauritius — flying from Admiral AVatson, who had been nearly a month in his winding-sheet, and whose fleet, under the command of Rear- Admiral Pococke, was still in the Flooghley.' By a new expedition from Trichinopoly, about the time of Bouvet's departure. Captain Caillaud took i\Iadura ; 170,000 rupees was the sum ])aid by him to the chief of that place tor its surrender, and its possession became of the greatest impor- tance to the British now, on the Coromandel coast. But a stronger expedition than France had yet sent out, and under an officer secotid only to Clive in energy, though not ([uite in military talent, was coming to the shores of Hindostan. CIIAI'TF.R XII. COU.NT Di; LALLV. -HIS " I.NSTRUCTIONS. — SE.\ B VITI.E. — SL'RRENDEk OF I'ORT ST. DAVID.-- COUNT D'aCH^'s instructions. — TANJORE ATTACKED. As soon as the war had fairly commenced in Europe, the ministry of Louis XV. prepared a formidable expedition to the East, and the arrival of it was daily looked forward to at Pondicherry. It was not, however, uiuil the 2Sth .\pril, 175X, that a scjuadron of twelve ships reached the coast. This squadron was commanded by Count d'.A.che, and had on board two regiments of infantry 1,100 strong, a cor|)s of artillery, and a great many officers of the highest di.ilinction, the whole under the command of Count de Lally, an officer who had been since his boyhood in the service of France, and had fought at I'onleno)', where he had taken several ICnglish officers prisoners witii his own hanrl. .\ very ail urate account of this leader, whose ii.niie was soon to become so famous in the East, is to be found auuiug the papers of P.aron Cir.uU, Covcrnor i)f Uir M.uiritius, privatciv piinfed in iSor. " The Count de Lally,'' says the baron, " was the son of a captain in the Regiment of Dillon (in the Irish Brigade) who passed into France after the capitulation of Limerick, and a French lady of distinction. Soon after his birth, which was in 1697, he was entered, as was the custom in the French army, a private soldier in his company. He made a considerable i)rogress in tiiose sciences which formed a ])rinci]xil part of the education of the French nobility. Being the son of an officer of distinguished merit, it was natural for him to make military acciuaintances ; and being, by his mother's side, allied to some of the first families of France, he had more favourable opportunities than the generality of his companions, to form connec- tions of the first rank. These advantages, added to a fine pers'.Mi. advanced young Lally. at the age of liineleen \ ears, to a coiaiLUu in the Irish Hiigade." ' 64 . CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IXDiA. [■758 At the age of twenty-five, the young soldier of fortune was sent by the court of France to nc- gociate affairs in Russia, where his handsome face, address, and manner won him the favour of the czarina, and soon after his return he was promoted to the colonelcy of a regiment in the brigade. In 1745, when Prince Charles Edward landed in Scotland, Colonel Lally came to England on pretence of looking after some Irish property, but in reality to serve the Jacobite cause. His pre- sence was discovered by the Duke of Cumberland, who ordered his arrest ; but by the interposition of one in power — said to have been the Prince of Wales — he was preserved from a prison, and permitted to return to France; and from tliat time, till the appointment of Lally to tlie rank of lieutenant- general in the East, his life offers little that merits attention. At this time, so high did he stand with the court of Versailles, that he received the most extraordi- nary powers over all the French possessions and establishments in India ; and it was confidently anticipated, that when his troops were added to those of tiie Marquis de Soupires, the French supremacy in the Carnatic would be completely restored. Lally liad with him a chest containing two millions of livres, when he landed at Pondicherry on the 28th April, and tiie following were the " instructions '' issued to him by the French East India Company : — • "The Sieur de Lally is authorised to destroy the fortifications of all maritime settlements wliicii may be taken from the English ; it may, however, be proper to e.^cept ^'izagapatanl, in consequence of its being so nearly situated to Bimlipatam (a Dutch factory), which in that case would be enriched by the ruin of Vizagapatam, but, as to that, as well as the demolishing of all places 'whatsoever, the Sieur de Lally is to consult the governor and superior council of Pondicherry, and to have their opinion in writing ; but, notwithstanding, he is to destroy such places as he shall think proper, unless strong and sufficient arguments are made use of to the contrary, such, for examjjle, as the Company's being ai)i)rehensive for some of their settlements, and that it would then be thought prudent and necessary to reserve the ])ower of exchange in case any of them should be lost. " Nevertheless, if the Sieur de Lally should think it too hazardous to keep a place, or that he thought he could not do it without too much dividing or weakening his army, His Majesty then leaves it in his ])ower to act as he may think proper for the good of the ser\ ice. " The Sieur de Lally is to allow of no Englisli settlement being ransomed ; as we may well re- member, that after the taking of Madras, last war, the English Company in their Council of the i4tii July, 1747, determined that all ransoms made in India should be annulled. In regard to the Britisii troops, the officers and writers belonging to the Company, and to the inhabitants of that nation, tiie Sieur de Lally is to [jerrait none of them to remain on the coast of Coromandel ; he may, if he pleases, permit the inhabitants to go to England, and order them to be conducted in armed vessels to the island of St. Helena. But as to the officers and writers belonging to the East India Company, as well as soldiers and sailors, he is to order them to be conducted, as soon as possible, to fhe island of Bourbon, to work for the inhabitants of that place, according to mutual agreement; though the sending of them to the French islands is to be avoided as much as jjossible, to prevent them becoming acquainted with the coast, as well as the interior i)art of the islands. " If the exchange of prisoners slioukl be by chance settled at home, between the two nations, of which proper notice will be given to the Sieur de Lally, and that the islands of France and Bourbon should liave more prisoners than it \vould be convenient to provide for ; in that case it will be permitted to send a certain number to England, in a ves.sel armed for that purpose. "No British officers, soldiers, &:c., are to be per- mitted to remain in a i)lace after it is taken ; neither are they to be suffered to retire to any other part of the settlements. The Sieur de Lally is not in the least to deviate from the above instructions, unless there should be a capitulation which stij)u- lates the contrary ; in which case the Sieur de Lally is faithfully and honestly to adhere to the capitulation. "The whole of what has before been said, con- cerns only the natives of Britain ; but as they liave in their settlements merchants from all nations, such as Moors, Armenians, Jews, Pattaners, &c., the Sieur de Lally is ordered to treat them with humanity, and to endeavour, by fair means, to engage them to retire to Pondicherry, or any other of the Com- pany's acquisitions, assuring them at the same time that they will be protected, and that the same liberty and privileges which they possessed before among the English will be granted them. " Among the regiments furnished to complete the Regiments of Lorraine and Berry (71st of the French line) there are 300 men from Fitscher's recruits, lately raised, and, as it is feared there will be considerable desertions among these new ■735: THK. INVESTMENT OF FORT ST. DAVID. recniits, the Sieur de Lally may, if he pleases, leave them on the Isle of France, wliere they will be safe from desertion, and replace them from the troops of the island." Such were the instructions given to the count, and their whole tenor fully displays the high and perfect confidence of conquest entertained by the ministr)' and Ii;ist India Company of France. But Lally, says Nolan, was not destined to be so fortunate as when at Fontenoy, and he writes of him with perhaps too great severity when lie adds, that " England, whom in his remorseless bigotr)' he hated, was destined to triumph over him on a distant field, and cause the sun of his glory to set soon and for ever. I^Uy was not so skilful as he was bra\'c, althougli he possessed many of the finest intellectual qualities of a good soldier. He was rash, vehement, impatient, and tyrannical ; he chafed at obstacles which might have been patiently surmounted had he preserved his temper. A furious religious animosity towards the English, as the chief Protestant nation, blinded his judgment as to present means and probable results, and threw him into acts of precipitancy, from which even his great valour and resources in danger could not extricate him." His orders had reference, in the first place, to the immediate reduction of Fort St. David, and great was his indignation when he found that no preparations had been made for the trans- port of provisions, stores, or cannon. In this state of affairs, prudence would have suggested some delay ; but his resolution was formed, and obstacles only made him more obstinate to proceed. On the very evening of his arrival in Pondicherry Roads, he learned that the Count d'Estaing, with 2,000 Europeans and sepoys, was on the march for Fort St. David already, witiiout even ascertaining the correct route, or bringing with him provisions. The result was, the troops lost their way, and arrived in the morning worn out by fatigue and hunger ; and next day, when other troops were dispatched, with cannon, stores, and baggage, still greater errors occurred, for Lally, in utter violation of the religious prejudices of the natives with regard to caste and rank, compelled them, without distinction, to supply the place of bullocks, and to become hewers of wood and drawers of water. He was thus regarded by them witii such abhor- rence that they deserted from him on every avail- able occasion ; and while he was erring thus in policy, the fate of his whole armament was trembling in the balance. CJn tlie appearance of D'Ach«5's squadron off Fort St. Da\id, two of our frigates there, the only ships on the station, the Triton and Briifgt- water, commanded respectively by Captains Townly and Smith, were run on shore, and, to save them from the enemy, were burned by their crews, who retired, willi tiieir arms, into the fort. On the J4th of March, Admiral Fococke had been joined by a reinforcement from home under Commodore Stevens. On the 17th of April he was cruising to windward of Fort St. David in order to intercept D'Ache, and on the 29111 he got sight of the enemy at anchor in the roads, and our two frigates, still smoking where they had been beached the night before. Immediately on our fleet coming in sight, that of France weighed and put to sea, on which Pococke threw out the wel- come signal foi a " general chase ; " but, soon after, perceiving that the Count d'Ache' formed line with a disposition to engage, he signalled to draw into line of battle ahead. The captains of the CumbcrlaniJ (fifty-six guns), Newcastle (fifty guns), and Weymouth (sixty guns), mistook the signal, and delayed the admiral from coming to close quarters till four in the afternoon, when the battle began. Our fleet consisted of eight sail, four of them being of the line, armed with 424 pieces of cannon ; that of the enemy consisted of nine sail, four of which were of the line, armed with 492 pieces of cannon. The conflict was nmintained with great spirit until after dark, when M. d'Ache, on being joined by the Comtc de rrovence (seventy-four guns), Captain de la Cliaire, and a frigate from Pondicherry, and finding his ships much shattered and disabled, hauled his wind and bore away. At niglit he came to anchor off Alamparva, where the Bien Aimee (fifty-eight guns) was totally lost. As was frequently the case in battles with the French, our fleet was too crippled aloft to follow, so the admiral contented himself with keep- ing the weather-gauge of them. Our total losses in this indecisive action were 1 18 killed and wounded ; those of the enemy were 562, so crowded were their ships with men. And now the investment of Fort St. David was pressed with vigour. Its garrison consisted of 619 Europeans, of whom only 286 were eflectivcs; 250 seamen from tlie two frigates, and 1,600 sepoys, topasses, and lascars. The oflicer commanding — after the siege operations were fairly commenced by the erection of a breaching battery — indulged in a reckless waste of ammunition, by permitting his garrison, according to Orme, to blaze away day and nigiit " on evorydiing they heard, saw, or sus- pectetl." In tliis useless process they disabled twenty of their own guns. 66 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. r>758. By the 30th May, the parallels were advanced to within 200 yards of the glacis, and an incessant tire was poured in from thirty-four guns and mortars. It was now evident to Major I'olier, the officei been 2,500 Europeans, exclusive of otiicers, and the same number of sepoys. Pococke saw the French fleet lying in Pondi- cherry Roads, safe under the batteries ; but Count PRESIDENCY or MADRAS. MAP OF THE PRF.SinENCV OF MADRAS. commanding, that if not relieved, the place must soon have to be surrendered. He was not with- out hope of relief, as he knew that Pococke was off the coast, and he knew that officer would not permit Fort St. David to fall, if he could help it. Orme states Lally's force before the place to ha\c d'.Ach^'s courage had been cooled by the recent encounter, and lie only quitted the protection of tlie shore on getting from Lally a reinforcement of 400 Europeans, and as many sepoys, for small-arm service. On tliis he steered at once for Fort St. David, while Pococke was unable to pursue. One of his ships, the Cumberland (fifty-six), Captain I 1758.1 OPERATIONS AT FORT ST. DAVID. 67 illll r 68 CASSELLS ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. r.758. ALirtin, sailed so slowly as to be a drag upon tin.' others; hence the squadron got lee-way, lost ground, and came to anchor at Alamparva. This decided the fate of Fort St. David. Seeing the futility of further resistance, on the 2nd June, Major Policr replaced the L'^nion Jack by a white flag of truce. In the evening a company of French grenadiers was admitted into the fort ; with drums beating and colours flying, the garrison marched to the foot of the glacis, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war to the French, ^\■ho were drawn up in line to receive them, and they were transmitted with all speed to Pondicherr}-, to await exchange with an equal number of French, while Lally, who rejected the proposal that Fott St. David should not be de- molished, immediately ordered the fortifications — in obedience to instructions from France — to be razed to the ground.* The fall of Devi-Cottah followed. 'I'hat little place was held by only thirty British soldiers, and 600 sepoys, wlio retired to Trichinopoly on hearing that D'Estaing was dispatched against them with a considerable force, while Lally marched back to Pondicherry, and a Tc Daim was sung for his successes. The instructions given in France to the Count d'Achc' su[)plemented those given to the Count de Lally. In the fourth article of diese, it was ordered " that should the operations on the Bengal river be attended with success, the conquered places may either be kept, or the fortifications, civil buildings, and warehouses utterly destroyed. Should the latter plan be resolved on, not a factory ought to remain, nor an English inhabitant (even those born in the country) suffered to reside in the province. This resolution, they observe, is the most effectual means to establish their [the French] reputation on the Ganges. But they seem to recommend only the destruction of the ne\v fort, and the preservation of old Calcutta, on condition of a ransom, and the observance of a strict neutrality in Bengal for the future. " This the French seem most desirous of, but insist on ready money for the ransom, and hostages for the payment of agreements, since the English have i)ublicly declared they will abide by no treaty of ransom. His Mo^t Christian I\Lajesty, in a letter of the 25th January, 1757, to Count d'Ache', instructs him not to kaTe an EiigHihman in any place that shall be taken, but to send in cartel ships to St. Helena, or sufler to pass to England all free merchants and inhabitants not in the Company's service ; but to keep prisoners all ci\il • Orme. servants, officers, and soldiers, and not set any at liberty, unless exchanged against those of equal rank. As to the prisoners, they are all to be sent to the island of Bourbon, and there kept in deposit, till it may be thought proper -to send them to France. '* The weakness of Poller's defence at Fort St. David had ins]jired Lally with a contemptuous opinion of British troops, and this somewhat strengthened his recollections of their rout before the Irish bayonets at Fontenoy, and led hitti to anticipate easy and brilliant conquests over them in India ; and now it chanced that there was dis- covered about this time, in the nearly empty treasury of Pondicherry, a bond for 5,600,000 rupees, which had been given by the R.ajah of Tanjore to Chunda Sahib, and by the latter to the French, in satisfac- tion for various claims they had upon him. Lally wanted money sorel)-, and here was a means of pressure whereby to obtain it. " The French had found in Fort St. Da\id a prisoner of greater importance than they expected," says Orme ; " his name was Gatica, uncle to the dejjosed King of Tanjore, whose pretensions the English asserted in 1749, when they entered that country and took Devi-Cottah. The king then and now reigning, \\-hen he ceded that place to them in proprietary, stipulated by a secret article that they should prevent this pretender from giving any molestation in future, to insure which it was necessary to secure his person ; . . . . and Gatica was now produced at Pondicherry witli much ostentation and ceremony, in order to excite the apprehensions of the king that the pretender himself would appear and accompany the French army." Taking with him this personage, who had pre- tensions to the throne of Tanjore, Lally at the head of his horse and foot, began the long march towards that kingdom, leaving 600 Irishmen of his own regiment and 200 sepo)'s, as a corps of obser- vation, between Pondicherry at Alamparva. His short Indian experiences had as yet taught Lally nothing. On this suddenly conceived expedition, his troops were without transport for stores, were destitute consequently of food, and subjected to the greatest ]M-ivations, in traversing a country full of local difficulties. Before reaching Carical, to which the baggage and heavy guns had been sent by sea, the troops crossed no less than sixteen rivers, many of which they had to ford girdle-deep, after wading to them through extensive flats of mud or soft sand. He next proceeded to Nagpore (everj'where the wildest * Baron Grant. i758.] RETREAT OF LALLY. 69 excitement being produced by the insults offered by the French to women and Brahmins), where he lioped to levy a contribution ; but, being warned in time, the native merchants, having carried off all their money and jewels, offered so little for the redemption of their houses, that Lally let his hussars loose in the place, \\hich was given up to l)illage. A somewhat peremptory application procured him from the Dutch at Negapatam 20,000 pounds of powder ; and, under tlie same influence, from the little Danish settlement on the coast, 10,000 pounds more, with six field-pieces. In his line of march, he found the great Pagoda of Kivalore, whicii stands five miles westward of Negapatam. Halting there, he ransacked the houses of the Brahmins, and, by dragging the tanks, got possession of a number of hideous and use- less idols, which, instead of being gold, were base metal, hence he incurred the most horrible odium, without the smallest profit. At the next pagoda he passed, Lally acted still more rashly ; for, on the accusation of being spies, he blew six Brahmin priests from the mouths of his guns. And now Tanjorc was before him. The king had little confidence in the army he had mustered to oppose the invader ; and the British, who should Iiave been his principal supporters, only tantalised liim, by sending 500 sepoys, under Captain (after- wards Colonel) Caillaud, from Trichinopoly, together with ten European gunners and 300 peons. Unable to cope with Lally in the open field, the king in his desperation had recourse to diplomacy, and opened negociations which had no issue, thougli they pro- cured a respite. Lally sent into the city a Jesuit f;ither, named Ksteban, and a French captain, who demanded liayment of the old bond in full. The king offered 300,000 rupees. Lally then said he would take ^1,000,000 in money, with 600 bullocks and 10,000 pounds of gunpowder, but Monajee, who was still the king's general, scouted the proposals, and was quite disposed to fight. Lally's guns were now opened on the gilded roofs of the temples and tall pagodas that towered above the walls of Tanjore, while his horse swept the country and sent drove after drove of oxen to Carical and Poixli- cherry. The king now made overtures to gain time, and even sent 50,000 rupees to Lally as an earnest of his good intentions ; but the latter, on hearing of Caillaud's approach, broke off all nego- ciations, and pocketing the rupees, swore that he would send the king and all his family slaves to the Mauritius. By the 2nd of .\ugust two breaching batteries were opened within .joo yards of the south wall, but so slight was their effect, that a five days' can- nonade made only a six-foot breach, and by that time only 150 rounds remained in the magazine. The country people, now thoroughly infuriated, everywhere destroyed his stragglers, and great bodies of Tanjore cavalry threw themselves between Lally and those places from whence he could alone procure supplies. Rumours then came of a naval engagement in which the squadron under Count d'Ache had been discomfited by the fleet of Admiral Pococke. Somewhat disheartened now, Lally summoned a council of war, at which ten of his officers urged a retreat, and two an immediate assault and storm at the [Joint of the bayonet. Under an escort of 150 Europeans, he now sent all his sick and wounded to the rear, and in the course of that night, Caillaud's sepoys entered the city, and joined the Tanjoreans in a sortie made by dawn next day on the French camp, while the savage coolies from the hills, and hordes of armed country ])eople assailed the rear. Lally's Irish soldiers fought with all the inherent valour of their race, and he, in the conllict, had more than one hair-breadth escajie. In one instance he was nearly blown up by the explosion of a limber ; in another, he was so nearly cut down and sabred, that he was trampled under the hoofs of the king's cavalry. Then three of his guns were taken, and many of his soldiers perished in the first onslaught ; but when the French — we shoulc) rather say Irish, as being the most numerous — recovered their presence of mind, they began their retreat in good order, and retook the guns after nightfall ; but they had previously spiked their heavy ordnance, thrown the shot into wells, and burned most of their baggage. Galled on every hand by the armed jicasantry and swarms of 'I'anjore horse, half famished, and perishing with thirst, the unfortunate soldiers of Lally continued a most dis:istrous retreat until they reached Trivitorc, and ultimately Carical, on the Coromandel coast, where the first and most un- welcome sight that greeted them was the British fleet under Admiral Pococke, riding at anchor near the mouth of the Cauvery. In the two naval encounters that had taken place, Pococke's force had been inferior, yet D'Ache, after his recent experiences, had no desire even to wait for reinforcements which might have given him superiority in a third encounter. Hearing that he was about to leave the coast, Lally rode with ail speed to Pondicherry, summoned a council on the 28th August, with a view of stopping the ^SELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORV OF INDLV. r-Tss. count, l)ut the latter declared that his ships required ] weighed, and, under a press of sail great refitting, that sickness and battle had reduced ' tlie Mauritius. his crews, and, in defiance of all Lally's wishes, he | This was on the 2nd Scj)tcnib9r, bore a\va\' for '/jc CHAPTER Xin. rKl>OI!K.;S OF THE URITISH .\ND TRENCH CAMPAK-.X IN' INDIA. — SIEGE OF MADRAS AND CAPTL RE OK CONJEVERAM. To i)roi ure the sinews of war, the Count de Lallj' now projected the reduction of Madras and tlie invasion of Arcot, which was held only by a few of our sepoys and the cavalry of Mohammed Ali. To make assurance doubly sure, by means of a son of the late Chunda Sahib, he made a secret bargain with the commander of these cavalry to deli\'er up the place for 13,000 rupees, and certain military employment under the King of France; and hoping now to relieve the pressure of those pecuniary wants which the disastrous expedition to Tanjore had occasioned, he began his march for Arcot. This expedition he conducred with great energy, dispatch, and success. En route he captured several forts. His Irish soldiers performed prodigies of valour, and Lnlly himself was always seen sword in hand wlicre danger was greatest ; yet military strategists affirm that he failed to cut off our sup- plies in Madras, which should have been part of his scheme. Be this as it may, the 4th of October, 1758, saw Laily, as Mill has it, "on the terms of a pretended < apitulation, amid the thunder of cannon, make his entrance into Arcot," the capital of an extensive maritime district, surrounding a large fort. He entered amid great pomp, and that parade of which he was so fond, and wasted much of that which he could ill spare — gunpowder ; but the wealthy bankers and merchants had all departed at his ap])roach, and the poorer people concealed all their most valuable possessions. " His late acqui- sitions had not hitherto reimbursed the expenses of the field,' .says Orme, '' nor established his credit to borrow ; so that his treasury could barely supply the pay of the scldiers, and could not jjrovide the other means of putting his army in motion, and all the government of I'ondirherry could iiiinu(liak-l\- fiiinisli was 10,000 rujiees.'' 'i'he chief crrcir of Lally's rami/.iis:n was his omitting to take -as he mi;:ht lune dune 1)\ a t:oi//> de OTi7/«--the important British fort at Chingle- put or .Singhalapetta, situated in a pleasant valley on a small tributary of the Palar. As this strong- hold covered the conveyance of supplies to Madras, he ought at once to have seized it ; but as soon as the British recovered from the temporary panic caused by the rapid progress of Lally, they strengthened the place by every means in their [lower ; and " while the French, or Irish com- mander, as he may with more strict ])ropriety be called, spread like a fiery meteor over the country," there came from Britain a naval reinforcenicnt, having on board the old 79th Regiment, 850 strong, under Colonel Sir \\"illiam Draper, the same officer who is mentioned by ■'Junius." At the same time the wise and gallant Caillaud, with his iMiropeans, was recalled from 'I'richinopoly, and thus ( 'hincc'ieiHU was powerfully strengthened. While declaring that he had never lost sight of that jilace, but fidly comprised its reduction among his general ])lans, Lally wrote from .Xrcot to Pondi- chtrry for money to pay the troops, .and to find transport for conveying them against it ; but as the council had none to serd, he was compelled to put his men in cantonments, and proceed to Pondi- cherry in person. Lally's ambitious spirit hatl led liim to desire that he should be the sole hero lor France in India ; thus, the instant he had reduced Fort St. David, he recalled from the Deccan M. de Bussy, of whose exploits he openly spoke in slighting terms, though he gave him the Cordon Roii^e by order of the king. "Bussy," .says a writer, "had hitherto been left by the French court with the mere rank of lieutenant-colonel, so that not only Lally and Sou[jires, but also six or seven otlicr ofticers recently arrived horn !■' ranee, ignorant ot India and its concerns, and in oilier essentials his inferiors, were above him in r.mk, and he was liable to be put nniler the ordcis t)l any ^jwi of if.oin.' ■755. J THE FRENCH BEFORE .MADRAS. 71 But these French officers were not animated by : gallant officers in the French army, e.xclaimed at the rivalry of the Count de Lidly. "The colonels, sensible of the advantages that might be derived from his abilities,' says Orme, "and his experience and reputation in the country, and how much these opportunities would be pre- cluded by the present inferiority of his rank, signed a declaration requesting, on these considerations, that he might be appointed a brigadier-general, in bupercession to themsehes, which would place him ne.xt in command to ^^. de Soupires. The public zeal which dictated this request, conferred the council of war, — " Better to die under the walls of Madras, than of hunger in Pondicherry ! " Thus, as there were but two ijrospects— starva- tion or fighting, it was resolved to adopt the latter, as Lally hoped to pillage the Black Town, ar.d coop up the British in Fort St. George. Trior to marching, there are twoaccounts of how some money was procured. Orme says, "The arrival of a ship at Pondicherry on the 18th from Mauritius, which brought treasure, together with 100,000 rupees. as much honour on those who made it, as their i brought by M. Morasin from Tripetta, enabled testimony on M. de Bussy.' The names of the officers who signed this chi- valrous and remarkable paper were among the noblest in FVance, and included those of the Count d'Estaing, De la Faire, Breteuil, ^"erdiere, and Crillon. Lally somewhat resentfully and rashly attributed this interest in Bussy to the wealth of that officer, who was too much of a Frenchman not to retort with scorn ; and so this ill-matched i)air were to co-operate in the reduc- tion of Madras, to which lack of money was the chief obstacle. An officer of reputed ability, M. Morasin, whom Lally had appointed governor of Masulipatam, now joined them in conference. Lally, who believed that Bussy had realised a mighty fortune in Golconda, now desired him and Morasin to raise funds on their personal credit, which his own conduct had rendered impossible. Bussy urged that " the consolidation of conquest, and the exercise of French power at the court of the Dcccan, was much more important than the influence of the British at the inferior and sub- sidiary court of the Carnalic." Reasons tiie most convincing were offered in vain ; Lally had but one object in life — the removal of the English, whom he detested with hereditary hate, from all India, and his views were most popular with his Irish soldiers. Lally to put the French troops in motion again." Elsewhere we are told that he advanced his own money, 60,000 rupees, and prevailed upon various Frenchmen in Pondicherry to advance more, which barely exceeded half of his own contributions. He was thus enabled to equip a little force of 7,000 men, of whom 2,700 were Irish and French, to proceed against Madras. He was ready to march in the fust week of November, but the weather detained him longer, and his resources were being so rapidly consumed, that he had barely a week's subsistence left when he began, as Smollett states, to cross the plain of Choultry, on the X2th December, in three divisions, intent on fulfilling the boast he had made on taking Fort St. David, " that he would yet dine in Madras and sup in Calcutta." Our people in Madras had made a good use of their time in preparing for his recejition. Admiral Pococke, who had stood off to sea to avoid the monsoon, sent 100 marines to join the garrison, which was commanded by Colonel Lawrence, Clive's old superior, who had in the service a large force of native cavalry, under a brave and active partisan officer, \\ho patrolled and scoured the countr)', kept open the road to Trichinopoly, and rendered insecure e\er)- avenue by which the French could hope for supplies or reinforcements. The total force under l^awrence within the walls In a letter to Bussy, written after the capture of amounted to 1,758 Europeans, 2,220 sepoys, and Fort St. Da\ id, he wrote thus : — " It is the whole " 200 of Mohammed Ali's cavalry— these last being of British India which it now remains for us to scarcely worth their rations." attack. I do not conceal from you that, having | "On the 12th of December," says the I.oinLvi (once ?) taken Madras, it is my resolution to repair Gazette, " the French army moved from the Mount immediately, by land or by sea, to the banks of and Mamalon towards Madras; ours cannonaded the Ganges, where your talents and experience will them for about an hour as they crossed Choultry Plain, and killed forty without any loss on our side, as the French had little arlillcrj', and ill- served. 'I'hey marched in three divisions, one directly towards our peojile, one towards Egmore, and the nlher down St. 'I'hoine RinmI." On that d;iy the outposts of Luwrciiec veic be of the greatest importance to me." The council at Pondicherry declared themselves unable to support the army. The military men urged the instant capture of Madras, while Lally ]iliil the total w.mt of means to attempt it. Then the Count dLitain'% undoubtedlv one of liie most ?2 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. h7 driven in, as Lally, witli JNI. de Crillon at the head of his regiment, pressed upon them with impetuosity, and they retired into the fort. All day on the 13th the count reconnoitred the place, and on the 14th he entered the Black Town, which was open and defenceless ; and then a scene of reckless pillage began, while his Irish soldiers became intoxicated. On this being known in the fort, Colonel Draper and Major Brereton, at the head of 600 men, with two field-pieces, rushed out and made a sortie upon them. Unfortunately, the drammer-boys struck up " the Cirenadiers' March " too soon. This gave a warn- ing to the French, and the Regiment of Lorraine, more orderly than its Irish comrades, got under arms ; yet they were somewhat taken by surprise, and a furious struggle ensued. They took post at a point where the narrow streets crossed each other at right angles. Had the Marquis de Bussy. who was near, made one of his usual bold and decisive movements, such as he was wont to do when acting on liis own responsibilit)', he might have taken our troops in the rear, and cut them off to a man. But he remained inactive, and after- wards pled that he had no orders to move, and was without cannon. It has been suggested that the want of cordiality been him and Lally occa- sioned this coolness; but it may lie that the feeling extended to Bussy s comrailes ; for at .'\ughrim, Fontenoy, and other fields where they fouglit side by side, the French evinced considerable jealousy of their daring Irish comrades. There is something grotesque in the account of tliis aftliir, as given by the LonJo/t Gaiettc, which sa\s : " Colonel Draper made sue Ii a push as would astonish all who do not know him ; and if he had been briskly fol- lowed by his two platoons of grenadiers, he would have brought in eleven officers and fifty men ; but tlicy did not do justice to their leader, who received the whole force of two platoons to himself. He had several balls through his coat, but was not touched. So had Captain Beaver." At the head of a few Irish, Lally came on to support the Regiment of Lorraine, and Draper's sortie was driven into the fort, with the loss of his field-pieces, and 200 men killed, wounded, and prisoners. Among the slain were Captains Bill- hook and Hume. On the side of the enemy, according to Lally's own account, there were seven ofiicers with 400 men killed and wounded ; and the Count d'Estaing was taken prisoner. Here fell the unfortunate Major Poller, who, unable to bear the severe reflections which had been cast upon him for his unsoldiedike defence of St David, threw away hif '. : fe, to pro\e that he was a man of courage. The close contest was maintained for a time with terrible rancour. From the stieets, it had extended into the interior of some of the houses. In one, about twenty British soldiers were found lying dead, covered with bayonet wounds, with their French or Irish antagonists beside them in the same condition. An Armenian merchant, residing in the Black Town, gave Lally 80,000 livres to save his house from pillage; a Hindoo partisan gave hira 12,000 more, and on procuring certain provisions and stores with this mone)', he began to throw up his batteries. His heavy artillery were still at sea, and his only thirteen-inch mortar was captured, en route, by some of our sepoys. On the 6th of January, 1759, he opened against Madras with his field-pieces, and kept up a con- tinual shower of shot and shell till the 26th, by which time twenty-nine cannon and mortars were disabled on the works, though the latter remained uninjured. By the accounts given by deserters, their loss in officers and men in the advanced batteries was very severe, and after they were com- pelled to quit them, their fire gradually decreased to six i)ieces of cannon. However, they pushed their sap along the seaside so far as to embrace the north-east angle of the covered way, from whence their musketry compelled the besieged to retire, and in this situation matters remained for several days, till Lally sprung a mine ; but so injudiciously that he could make no use of it.* Dissensions were daily increasing in his camp and councils, and when he had been two months and four da)s before Madras, his condition became almost desperate, when, on the 16th February, Admiral Pococke returned to the coast, with two frigates, having on board 600 more men of Colonel Draper's regiment. These were nearly all landed at once from the jffrtw/t;? and H.M.S. Qucenborough, commanded by Captain (afterwards the unfortunate Admiral) Kempenfeldt. By this time, all Lally's money, including 1,000,000 livres from Pondichcrr)', and all his provisions, were utterly exhausted. Three weeks before, his last bomb had been exploded, and nearly all his gunpowder expended ; and, pouring out invectives, and blaming every one but himself, he raised the siege, and on the night of the 17th, silently and expeditiously, after abandon- ing his stores, began his retreat towards Arcot. In making this movement, " he was greatly distressed by the want of money and provisions ; the natives, knowing his habits, removed or con-, cealcd as much of their rice and cattle as was possible ; and occasionally he had to feel in van • Gaztttt Extraordinary . >75»J MORTIFICATION OF LALLV. 73 and rear, and in straggling or foraging parties, the sharp execution of the tlying columns of native horse, and tiie deadly animosity of the coolies and Colleries, who glided like ghosts round his camp, and stabbed in the dark." The bitter chagrin and mortitication of Lally are well depicted in the following letter, \\Titten to M. de Leyrit (and intercepted) some days before the night on which he left his camp at Madras : — the company's officers, I would break hiin like glass, as well as some others of them. " I reckon we shall, on our return to Pondicherr)-, endeavour to learn some other trade, for this of war requires too much patience. "Of 1,700 sepoys which attended our army, I reckon nearly 800 are employed on the road to I'ondicherry, laden with sugar, pepper, and other goods, and as for the coolies, they are all employed VIEW OK MADRAS FROM THE SEA. '• A good blow might be struck here : there is a ship of twenty guns in the roads, laden with all the riches of Madras, which, it is said, will remain there until the 20th. The Expcditiott is just arrived ; but M. Oerlin is not a man to attack her, as she has made him run away once before. The Bristol, on the other hand, did but just make her appearance before St. Thomas, and on the vague report of thirteen ships coming from Porto Novo, she took fright, and after landing the provisions with which she was laden, she would not stay long enough to take on board twelve of her own guns which she had lent us for the siege ! " If I were the judge of the i>oint of hoiiuur of i for the same purpose, from the first day we came here. " I am taking my measures from this day to set fire to the Black Town, and blow up the ])owder- mills. Voii will never imagine that fifty French deserters and 100 Swiss, are actually stopi)ing the progress of 2,000 men of the king's and conii^any's troops, which arc still here existing, notwithstand- ing the exaggerated accounts, that every one makes here according to his own fancy, of the slaughter that has been made of them ; and you will be still more surprised when I tell you, that were it not for the combats and four battles we sustained — and for the batteries whii h failed, or. to speak more 74 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. C'759. properly, were improperly made — we should not have lost fifty men, from the commencement of the siege to this day. I have written to M. de Larche, that if he persists in not coming here, let who will raise money on the Polygars for me, I will not do it. And 1 renounce, as I told you a month ago, meddling directly or indirectly with anything whatever that may have to do with your administration, whetlier civil or military. For I had rather go and com- mand the CafRrs of Madagascar, than remain in this Sodom, which it is impossible but the fire of the English must destroy sooner or later, even though that from heaven should not. " I have the honour, &c. &c., " L.\LLV. " P.S. — I think it necessary to apprise you that, as M. de Soupires has refused to take upon him the command of this army, which I have offered him, and which he is empowered to accept, by having received from the court a duplicate of my commission, you must of necessity, together with the council, take it upon you. For my part, I tmdertake only to bring it back either to Arcotte or Sadroste. Send, therefore, your orders, or come yourself to command it, for I shall ijuit it on my arrival there." So great was the discontent prior to the retreat to Arcot, that it is supposed that but for the strong attachment his Irish soldiers had to his person, the French would have seized him and given the command to Bussy. The tidings of his misfortunes, many of which were due to his own faults of temper, preceded his arrival at Pondicherry, and were hailed with undisguised satisfaction by French and natives alike, notwithstanding his undoubted talent and bravery as a soldier. The remonstrances sent by Lally to France, at this time, says Baron Grant, evince the horror and distraction of iiis mind, and the kind of intelligence that prevailed between him and those he commanded, while the British gained every advantage over him. The Madras treasury was almost empty by this time, in consequence of the heavy drains made upon it during the last six months, and as several of the chiefs at Madras and elsewhere were discovering symptoms of dissatisfaction, so far from following Lally's retreat, our troops did not take the field till the 6th of March. The nominal Nabob of the Carnatic, and//v/4'^of Britain, Mohammed Ali, had proved a rather costly auxiliary. His two brothers, who had been instigated by the French, and had so often sought French aid, now, in tlie lime of Lally's adversity, betrayed them. One savagely murdered all the French officers in his service, except one. The native princes and chiefs were destitute alike of principle, faith, or honour, of mercy, hospitality, or justice j so, as our officers were anxious to recover complete influence in the province, at the date given, a force consisting of 1,156 Europeans, 1,520 sepoys, and 1,120 Colleries (regularly drilled troops also), were equipped for a campaign under Colonel Lawrence. He commenced his march for Conjeveram, where Lally had concentrated his forces, and was search- ing in vain for those unfortunates whom he had entrusted to the treacherous brother of Mohammed Ali, who was anxious now — as the star of France seemed on the wane — to renew his allegiance with the nabob, and his friendship with us ; but for twenty-two days the troops remained within sight of each other without firing a shot, or nearly so ; when suddenly ours wheeled oft" to Wandiwash, and began to break ground before the town and fortress. On the French hastening to defend that place, our troops under Major Brereton evaded them, and by a skilful de'tour hurried back, and took the much more important fortress of Conjeveram. After this, on the 28th of May, both Colonel Lawrence and the Count de Lally put their troops into cantonments, as the rainy season was at hand. CHAPTER XIV. SF.A-FIGHT OFF FORT ST. DAVID. — AFFAIR OFF WANDIWASH. — DFFEAT OF CONFLANS BY COLONEL FORDE. — MASULIPATAM .STOR.MFD. — SUR.\T TAKEN. During the occurrence of these events on shore, three of the Company's ships reached Madras with the fleets were not idle, .'\dmiral Pococke arrived 100 recruits, and tidings that the gallant Coote from the western coast of India, and cruised about , was coming with 1,000 of the king's troops ; but, at in search of French shii)s in .April. A little later, I the same time, it was announced tlwt no treasure '759) THE MARCH OF BRERETOX. 75 could arrive till 1760, dispiriting tidings which the j taken out of a British East Indiaman some time Council did not permit to transpire beyond their ' before. chamber. At the end of July, the first division of As soon as Pococke had our fleet in fighting the promised troops arrived at Negapatam, where I order, he came otf Pondicherry on the 27th of Pococke's squadron lay, and on the 20th of August September ; but while his fleet was still hull down, he bore away for Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon, Count d'Ach^ got under weigh, antl with a press of where he came in sight of the enemy's fleet, which sail bore away for Mauritius ; so Pococke returned had been reinforced by three new ships from France. ' to the roads of Madras. The whole inhabitants of On the loth of September the weather allowed the ships to operate, and the British squadron having, as usual in those old days of genuine sea- manship, the weather-gauge, came down abreast, while the French lay to in line of battle oflf Fort St. David on the main land. Admiral Pococke had nine sail all of the line, carrying 638 guns, and 3,025 men ; the French Pondicherry, civil and military, signed a protest against this measure of D'.\chd, but he was deaf to remonstrance, and pleading that his orders were to save his ships, he would do nothing more for the settlement than leave behind him 500 Europeans and 400 Caffirs, whom he had serving on board. He had with him General Lally, and several other ofticers ; " thus leaving," says .Smollett, '' the British admiral, Count d'Ach^, had eleven sail of the line masters of the Indian coast, a superiority still more and two frigates, carrying 896 guns, and 4,980 confirmed by the arrival from England of Rear- men. As our ships came on, the Elizabeth (sixty- Admiral, afterwards Sir Samuel, Cornish (who subse- four guns). Captain Richard Tiddiman, had orders ' {[uently served at the conquest of Manilla) with four to lead with the starboard, and the Weymouth I ships of the line, with which he joined Admiral (sixty guns). Captain Sir William Baird, Bart., of 1 Pococke at Madras on the iSth of October. Saughton Hall, with the larboard tacks on board ; 1 Prior to these naval matters, and to the departure the Qiteenborough (twenty guns), Captain Kirk, to of Count de Lally, occurrences of great importance repeat signals. At eleven o'clock Rear- Admiral I took place on land. Stevens, who led in the Grafton (seventy guns), Before the arrival at Pondicherry of the treasure began the battle, which was maintained on both and diamonds, the troops of Lally had been reduced sides with undoubted bravery till four in the after- to the direst distress. Even his faithful Irish Rcgi- noon, when some of the French ships began to ' ment mutinied, and he had to erect gibbets round give way, and the British, much crippled aloft, the city to deter deserters from leaving it. When were unable to follow them ([uickly. ! the Irish mutinied, the whole French force became M. d'Ache having received a wound which demoralised. The Regiment de Lally had been rendered him insensible, and Captain Gotho being regarded in India with the prestige of glory it had killed, and the Chevalier de Monteuil, his second won in France and Flanders ; but they simply captain on board Le Zodiaque (seventy-four guns), mutinied under the pressure of hunger, thus their having wore the ship to join those which had disobedience shook the loyalty of the Regiments run to leeward, the rest mistook the mana-uvre ' of Lorraine, Berry, and all the other troops. for flight, and bore away under all the sail they ' The British, who had taken by surprise the Fort could crowd. ' of Cauverypauk in July, were now tempted by the Admiral Pococke pursued them as well as he disorder that reigned among the troops of Lally, could till darkness closed on the sea, when, order- to make an attempt upon Wandiwash. Accord- ing the Rrcen^e to keep them in sight, he hove to ingly, on the 26th of September, our entire force, for the repair of damages. Our losses in this battle under Colonel Brercton, marched from Conjeverain were 118 killed and 451 wounded, si.xty-eight of for this purpose, on being joined by 300 men of whom were mortally injured. Among the former Colonel Coote's battalion under Major Gordon. were five officers of various ranks, and among the , This made up his whole strength to 400 Europeans, latter two captains. i 7,000 sepoys, seventy Euroi)ean and 300 black Count d'Ach(5, who had all his topmasts stand- , horse, with fourteen guns, ing, got safely into Pondicherry, which was his ' On the march he invested and took the fort of real object, when the Council of the French India Trivitar, from whence he proceeded to Wandiwasli, Company were on the verge of despair. He ' where the French were i)osted 1,000 strong under brought them only 180 soldiers, but he brought I the walls of the fort, which was commanded by a them that which they required much more, money rajah, and armed with twenty guns, under ;i to the amount of ^16,000, and a quantity of French cannoneer, with a company of native ^/w- diamonds worth £\'^fioo more, which had \,ii75?-3 CAPTURE OF MASULIPATA.M. 77 our troops, who had been concealed by a tall crop of Indian com, and who routed them with consider- j able loss, by eleven o'clock. Under Captain Knox, the conduct of our sepoys was most resokite. Conflans fell back upon his camp under a fire of l heavy artillery ; but he was soon hurled I'rom it b)- Colonel l-"orde. Some of the French threw down their arms and cried for quarter; but the greater portion took wildly to flight. Contlans had the precaution to send off, early in the day, his treasure on two camels ; but the spoil captured by Forde was considerable, and included thirty guns, mostly brass, fifty tumbrils laden with ammunition, seven mortars, i,ooo draught bullocks, and all the tents and military stores. This victory cost him only forty-four Europeans killed and wounded, including five officers, while the French lost thrice that number, but a great many sepoys perisheil on both sides. Mounted on a fine horse, the marquis rode from the field and never drew bridle till night, when he reached the town of Rajah- mundry, forty miles distant. When the rout of the French began, Colonel Forde naturally ordered the rajah's horse to advance in pursuit, but ordered in vain, for these dusky warriors, as well as their infantry, with Anunderauz in the very heart of them, had all taken shelter, comfortably and conveniently, in a deep dry tank, where they cowered during the whole action, and refused to move while balls were flying about.* If Anunderau/. was reluctant to fight, according to stipulation, he was still more reluctant to pay ; already Forde had spent all that was in his military chest, and his situation became critical, though the French were still retreating. Raiahmundry, which they abandoned, was seized by Captain Knox with a detachment, that he jjlaced in the fort, which was on the north side of the Oodaver)', and was alike the key and barrier to the whole country of ^'izaga- patam. It was, however, given up to the rajah on his paying the expenses of our ex]>edition ; but soon after, the French retook it, and found therein a considerable quantity of prize-money, baggage, and efl'ects belonging to Forde's officers. The marquis had now established his head- quarters in Masulipatam, from whence he urged Salabut Jung to send him instant assistance, lest the British, if unopposed, should make them- selves masters of the entire Deccan. Col- lecting troops from Hyderabad and Golconda, the pu]ii)et nabob put his force in motion; but Colonel Forde, by marching through EUore, where several native chiefs joined him, on the 6th of March, 1759 — the day on which he had the gratifying • Ormc. intelligence that Lally had been compelled to raise the siege of Madras— he appeared in front of Conflans' abiding-place, Masulipatam, one of the most considerable seaport towns in Hindostan, and the strongest and most important place possessed by the French upon the coast. It occupied a rising ground between two morasses, and was separated from the sea by some narrow sand-hills. It was at once invested, and much adverse cannonading took rlace. By the 7 th of April, the ammunition of the besiegers, who were much fewer in number than the besieged, Mas nearly expended ; but as two breaches had been made, Forde resolved on an immediate assault, as his situation was again critical. He had only two d.ays' powder left for the guns in battery ; Salabut Jung was at hand with the army of the Deccan, and Conflans was hourly expecting succours from Pondiclierry. The assault was made on three points, at night. Cap- tain Yorke led the chief forlorn hope. Under cover of the starless gloom, the storming parties arrived softly and unseen to the very edge of the ditch, before they were discovered. Then over the walls, flashing redly through the dark, there came a terrible discharge of musketry and grape ; but at the point of the bayonet the breaches were entered, and with shouts and cheers, our troops carried bastion after bastion, driving the foe like sheep before them. At last an officer came from the marquis to obtain (juarter for the fast-perishing garrison, and it was granted as soon as he ordered his soldiers to cease firing. Thus, with only 340 Europeans, a few British sea- men, said to be thirty men from the Ilardnotckc. and 700 sepoys, did Colonel Forde capture by assauit the strong city of Masulipatam, though garrisoned by 522 Europeans, 2.039 Caffirs, Topasses, anicke (twenty-six guns), Captain Sampson. The Dutch armament was armed with 302 guns, so the contest seemed most unequal. The decks of our ships were " lined with saltpetre bags to screen the men from shot, and each took on board two additional twelve-pounders." * On dropping down the river, the three Indiamen found the enemy in order of battle, and ready to give them a hot reception. The Duke of Dorset being the first within range, began the conflict by a broadside of thirteen guns, which was promptly returned ; and as a dead calm unluckily intervened, this single ship was, for a time, exposed to the whole fire of the enemy's squadron. On a little breeze springing up, the Calcutta and Hardiuicke came down to her assistance, and a heavy fire was • Royal Mag., 1760. ,76o,] DEFEAT OF THE DUTCH. 8i now maintained on both sides, till two of the Dutch ships cut their cables and bore away, and a third was driven on shore. Finding his force thus reduced to four, the commodore, after a few more broad- sides, struck his colours to Captain Wilson, and the other two captains followed his example. Singularly enough, this victory was won without the loss of even one British seaman, while the decks of the Dutch presented a dreadful scene of carnage. Out of one ship no less than thirty coqoses were flung to the alligators in the river. The prisoners were sent to Calcutta. The seventh ship attempt- ing to make her escape, was captured by the Orford and Royal George, which had just come from Europe. The i,ioo troops were not more fortunate in their progress. Clive no sooner learned that they were actually in full march to Chinsurah, than he dispatched Forde after them, with only 500 men from Calcutta, with orders to stop them at the French Gardens. Proceeding northward, that officer entered the town of Chandernagore, where he was fired upon by a party of Dutch sent out from Chinsurah to meet the coming reinforcement, but were routed and dispersed. Colonel Forde ])ushing on, in the morning of the 25th November found the enemy prepared to f;ice him on a plain near Chinsurah, where, after a brief but bitter contest, he totally defeated them, and slew many. All wlio survived were taken prisoners. During this contest, the nabob's son, Meeran, at the head of a strong army, maintained a suspicious neutrality, and there is little doubt that he would have declared for the Dutch had they been vic- torious. As the event proved, he now offered to reduce Chinsurah ; but the affair was soon after adjusted. The Dutch on the payment of j{j^ioo,ooo for damages, received back their ships and all tlie prisoners, save 300 who took service under the Company. The articles of agreement between them and the Dutch were ratified on the 5th day of December, 1759, and "the affixing of his signature to that deed was the last act of authority which Clive performed, for his health having again given way to the ravages of the climate, he set sail early in February for England." • There he remained five years, and in December, 1761, as a reward for his many brilliant services in India, was raised to the peerage as Lord Clive of Plassey, K.B., a title now mcrgL'd in the Earldom of Powis. He left behind him in In unsuccessful and brilliant, but stormy, career of the most important place on the coast nvxt to the funnus Count de 1. ally. Pondicherry, was blocked up by an armament from Madras ; the garrison made a wretched defence, and surrendered on the 6th of .^pril ere Lally could attempt to relieve it ; and the captures of Chillam- baram, Valdore, and Cuddalore, rapidly followed. All the petty forts round Pondicherry were speedily reduced ; the whole surroundint; country fell into the h.nnds of the British, wlio, by tin- ist of M:iy, Jl.A ,M PON'DICHF.RRV. The approat h of the rainy season, together with his well-known skill and resolute character, caused a regular siege to be deemed impracticable for a time ; but ultimately it was resolved to block up the fortress by sea and lantl. Lally had with him only 1,500 French troojis (100 of them being horse), the remnants of nine battalions of the king's and com- pany's service. The cavalv)-, artillcr)-, and In\alides 86 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1760. of the latter ; the Creole volunteers of the Isle of Bourbon ; the Artillerie du Roi ; the Regiments de jMarine, de Lorraine, d'Inde, and his own, the 119th of the line. He had 900 sepoys. There were at this time three corps in the French service named from the ancient province of Lorraine — Les Gardes Lorraines, or 30th Foot ; 69th Regiment de Lorraine, and 104th Royal Lorraine. It was long since the French had received the slightest succour from their impoverished mother country, against which we were now waging a des- perate war in America, the West Indies — in ever)- quarter of the globe where she had possessions, ships, or colonies. Hemmed up in the strong town with faint and fading hopes, Lally could but long for the arrival of some squadron, that would bring him men, money, or provisions, from Bourbon, the Mauritius, or some other quarter. But he would be a bold and skilful French seaman who could now escape the keen-eyed vigilance of the British sailors of those days ; for Admiral Cornish blocked up the Coromandel coast with six sail of the line, and Admiral Stevens, who had succeeded Admiral Pococke, now appeared with five ships of the line, on board of one of which came three companies of the Royal Artillery. The entire fleet of Cornish was a very powerful one, and consisted of nineteen sail, twelve of which were of the line, armed with 668 pieces of cannon. In his dire extremity Lally turned his eyes to- wards Mysore, where Hyder Ali — whose terrible name was to find an echo in future history — had established his authority by force of arms. To bring Hyder on Coote's rear, and compel him to raise the siege, Lally offered him present posses- sion of what it was scarcely in his power to give, the fortress of Thiagur, on a mountain which was fifty-two miles from Pondicherry, and commanded two passes into the Carnatic, with the future pos- session of Tinevelly and Madura — after dispossess- ing the British, no easy task for even Hyder. A treaty, however, was concluded, and that personage agreed to send cattle to feed the starving French, and troops to fight their besiegers. Coote sent a detachment to cut off their march. This was done effectually ; the Mysorean force was small, and on meeting a repulse, and discovering fully the deplorable state to which Lally was re- duced, they fell back with the cattle to their own country. Shortly before this, six of the Company's ships arrived at Madras and there landed 600 men. More and more troops continued to pour in, but still not a ship, not a man, or a barrel of beef for Lally ; " and in October a picturesque regiment of kilted men from the bleak Highlands of Scodand were disembarked to try their mettle, and their power of enduring heat in the lowlands of Hin- dostan." The corps thus referred to was the 89th Highland Regiment, which had been raised in the preceding year among the clan Gordon by Colonel S. Long Morris, who had married the Duchess Dowager of Gordon, and the men almost all of them bore the Gordon surname. But at first only a detachment of it served at Pondicherry. Lally, on the 17th of March, had fallen back on the fortress, bravely dispudng every foot of ground, until in front of Pondicherry, where he formed his famous lines, which for twelve weeks he defended with such valour and skill, till he began still more to lose heart after Hyder Ali failed him. Colonel Coote was aware that the fortress was so strong by art and nature, that he could hope to reduce it by famine only, especially when held by such a soldier as Lally, who had a vast store of ammunition and cannon, including 700 pieces of all kinds, many millions of ball-cartridge, and had planted on the thirteen great bastions, the six gates, and the walls, which were five miles in circumference, 508 brass and iron guns, independent of mortars. Lally led a fierce sortie on the night of the 2nd of September against Coote's advanced posts, but was repulsed with the loss of many men and seven- teen guns. Of this affair an ofticer of the S9th wrote thus : "After a volley from our pieces, these we threw down — off with our bonnets, out with our swords, gave tliem [the French] three huzzas, and rushed in full speed to the muzzles of their guns, of which they left us in full possession, though not without loss on our side, for the guns were filled almost to the mouth with bars of iron six inches long, and lesser pieces of jagged iron," Sac* Eight days subsequendy the last work of the fortified lines was carried, and the French were completely en- closed in Pondicherry. Coote had 1 1 o men killed, including Major Monson, whose leg was carried away by a cannon-ball. In tliis affair the High- landers, who were only fifty in number, and com- manded by Captain George Morrison, in their fierce eagerness to get at the enemy burst from the rear through the grenadiers of the 79th Regiment. Count d'Ache, the naval comander, having by his sailing elsewhere, completely abandoned Lally to his fate, a fifty-four gun ship, -a frigate of thirty-six, and four French Indiamen, were hopelessly shut up in the roadstead. In the month of October, only five sail of the line, under Captain Robert Haldane, were required to block up Pondicherry from the * Letter iii Edinburgh Couraut, 1761. 1701 ] NEGOCIATIONS FOR THE SURRENDER OF PONDICHERRY. 87 seaward, while Coote pushed on the investment by land, and on the i6th November, after the arrival of a ship from Madras, with the necessary stores, it was resolved to turn the investment into a close siege. Scarcity of provisions compelled Lally to expel a vast number of natives from the town ; but as Coote drove them back, many perished under the fire of the guns, which were in full operation. Many of our people died of fatigue in the trenches. Among these was Sir Charles Chalmers, of Cults, a Scottish baronet who served in the artillery, though his estates had been forfeited after Culloden. On the 26th of October, Coote's forces were 3,500 Europeans and 7,000 sepoys. The rains abated on the 26th, and Colonel Coote directed the engineers to select proper places for the erection of the batteries, and they all opened together on the Sth December, at midnight. Though formed at a considerable distance, they had a serious effect, but the besieged returned the fire with great vigour. This mutual cannonading continued until Christmas Day, when the engineers formed a new battery, and effected a breach in the north-west counterguard and curtain. Though the approaches were retarded for some days by a violent storm, which almost ruined our works, the damage was soon repaired, and a considerable post, the Redoubt of San Thome, was taken from the enemy in assault, by the iigth Highlanders, but was afterwards recaptured by 300 French grenadiers from the sepoys who occupied it. By this time the scarcity of ])rovisions in the city was so great, that the soldiers had ta subsist on tlie flesh of elephants, camels, horses, and dogs. The latter sold, says Baron Grant, for twenty-four rupees each. By the 15th of January, 1761, another battery, armed with ten guns and three mortars, was opened against the skirt of the Bleaching Town, and another wa'; formed at only 150 yards from the walls. It proved unnecessary, as on the evening of the 15th, just as the red sunshine was fading on the great bastions of Pondicherry, a white flag was seen coming from thence to the trenches. The bearers of it were Father Lavacer, " suptf- ricur g(indral des Jesuites Franrais dans les Indes," Colonel Durrc, of the Artillerie du Roi, and MM. Moracin and Courtin, members of the council. They bore also two memorials, one signed by Lally, and the other by the governor and council. The former was very characteristic of the count, from its ])roud and petulant style, .^s if he hnd been about to dictate terms, instead of recei\iiig them, he began by an irrelevant preamble, that "the British had taken Chandernagore, against the faith of the treaties of neutrality which had always subsisted between the European nations in Bengal, and especially between the British and French ;" also, " that the government of Madras had refused to fulfil the conditions of a cartel between the two crowns." In consequence of this, it was impossible for him to propose a capitulation for the city of Pondi- cherry ; but, that " the troops of the king and company surrender themselves, for want of pro- visions, prisoners of war to his Britannic Majesty, conformably to the terms of the cartel; " adding that Colonel Coote might take possession of the Ville- nore Gate on the morrow. " I demand," wrote Lally, " from a principle of justice and humanity, that the mother and sisters of Raza Sahib (then in the city) may be permitted to seek an asylum where they please, or that they may remain prisoners among the English, and not oe delivered into the hands of Mohammed .\li Khan, which are red with the blood of the husband and father, to the shame of those who gave up Chunda Sahib to him."* To all this. Colonel Coote replied thus : — " The particulars of the capture of Chanderna- gore having been long since transmitted to His I Britannic Majesty by the ofhcer to whom the I place surrendered, Colonel Coote cannot take cog- I nisance of what passed on that occasion, nor can I he admit the same as in any way relative to the I surrender of Pondicherry. '• The dis|iutes which have arisen concerning the cartel concluded between their Britannic and Mo.-)! Christian Majesties being as yet undecided. Colonel Coote has it not in his power to admit that the troops of His Most Christian Majesty, and of the French East India Company, shall be deemed prisoners of war to His Britannic Majesty ; but requires that they shall surrender themselves prisoners of war, to be used as he shall think con- sistent with the interest of the king, his master ; and Colonel Coote will show all such indulgences as are consistent with humanity. " Colonel Coote will send the grenadiers of his regiment, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock to-morrow morning, to take possession ol the Ville- nore Gate ; and the next morning, between the same hours, he will take possession of the gate of Fort St. Lewis. " The mother and sisters of Raza Sahib shall be escorted to Madras, where proper care shall be taken for their safety, and they shall not on any • I.i»iJi>>i Ctiztllt, 1 70 1. 88 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [i7«l. account be delivered into the hands of the Nabob Mohammed Ally Cawn (sic-). " Given at the headquarters, in the camp before Pondicherry, the 15th day of January, 1761. (Signed) " Eyre Coote. "To Arthur Lally, Esq., Lieut.-General of H.jM.C. Majesty's forces in India, &:c. &c." Coote declined any reply to the question of respecting the churches and permitting the free e.xercise of the Roman Catholic religion. According to stipulation, at the hours named, the grenadiers of the S4th took over the Villenore Gate from the Irish soldiers of Lally, mutually presenting arms; and the 79th Regiment took possession of the citadel. So fell the capital of the French Indies, 3fter a siege which the skill of Lally, together with his obstinate valour, had protracted, amid innumerable difficulties, against forces far e.xceeding his famished garrison in numbers. On the 17th, he marched out at their head, exposed to many insults, as his long resistance had maddened his soldiers. On that day, there came forth with him, officers included : — Artillerie du Roi, 83 ; the Regiment de Lorraine, 237 ; the Regiment de Lally, 230; the Regiment du Marine, 295 ; Artillery of the French East India Company, 94 ; Cavalry and Volontaires de Bourbon, 55; Bataillon dTnde and Invalides, 316 of all ranks. To cut to pieces their commissary was one of the first acts of these prisoners of war, and Lally would have shared the same fate had he not taken shelter in the British camp. The munition of war found in Pondicherry was enormous, and the mere Hst thereof would fill many pages. There were taken 671 guns and mortars, 14,400 muskets and pistols, 4,895 swords, 1,200 poleaxes, 84,041 cannon-balls, with gun- powder in proportion, 22,500 shells and hand- grenades, 12,000 iron ramrods, 20 hogsheads of ^ flints, and so forth. The whole plunder was valued at ;^2, 000,000 sterling. The fortifications were ordered to be blown u]\ and the Gordon Highlanders formed the new garrison, and on the same day tliat Lally surren- dered, his Scottish comrade. Law de Lauriston, on whose assistance he had long relied, was totally defeated by Major Carnac, and taken prisoner, together with sixty French officers, and the young Mogul, whom he had persuaded to advance against Coote with a vast host. On the 3rd of February, the nabob made his entry into Pondicherry, accompanied by his brother; both were seated in a magnificent how- dah, on the back of a gigantic elephant ; six more elephants followed, two and two, bearing chiefs ; next came his twelve wives in a covered wagon drawn by buffaloes, and then followed his troops, armed witli bows and arrows, shields and tulwars, matchlocks, lances, and daggers. Miserable indeed was the fate that befell Lally after all his wounds, services, and exertions in the cause of France. By the contemptible court of Louis he was made a special victim to popular clamour. After being detained for nearly four years in a close prison, and being most barbarously and infamously tortured again and again, he was condemned to be executed, accord- ing to the following Report among the papers printed in the scarce " History of the Mauritius," by the Vicomte de Vaux. " In consequence of the very weighty conclusions which the procureur-ge'ndral had given against the Count de Lally, he was removed during the night of Sunday, 4th May (1763), from the Bastille to the prison of the Conciergerie, which communicates by several staircases with the different apartments belonging to the Court of Parliament. Though it was but one o'clock in the morning when he arrived at the Conciergerie, he refused to go to bed, and about seven he appeared before tlie judges. They ordered him to be divested of his red riband and cross, to which he submitted with the most perfect indifference ; and he was then placed on the stool to undergo a course of inter- rogation. .\t this moment, clasping his hands and lifting up his eyes, he e.xclaimed, ' Is this the reward of forty years' faithful service ?' The inquiry lasted six hours. At three in the afternoon it re- commenced, and the Marquis de Bussy and Count d'Ache were successively confronted with him. . . . The sitting lasted till ten at night, when the count was taken back to the Bastille, surrounded by guards and several companies of the city watch. " The following day, at six in the morning, the judges began to give their opinions, and they were not concluded till four in the afternoon, when they pronounced an anr/ which contained only a simple recital of the proceedings against him and other per- sons accused of abuses and crimes in the P'ast Indies, v.'ith their acquittal or condemnation, but without stating the facts or reasons on which they were re- spectively founded. Tine sentence stated that lie had been accused and convicted of having betrayed the interests of the king and the East India Company ; of abusing his authority, and of exactions, &c., from the subjects of His Majesty, as well as the foreigners resident in Pondicherry ; for tlie repara- tion of which, and other crimes, it was declared that he should be deprived of all his titles, honours, «76l.J WAR ON THE iMALABAR COAST. 89 and dignities, and have his head separated from his body in the Place de Grove.' Sacrificed to tlie mob, as La Bourdonnais and Dupleix had been, this brave Irish soldier of fortune was accordingly drawn on a hurdle to the Place de Gr^ve, on the 9th of May, with a gag in his mouth to prevent him addressing the people, and there he was hurriedly, almost privately, be- headed in the dusk of the morning — " a murder,' says Orme, "committed with the sword of justice," — and almost in sight of his son, the famous Count Lally de Tollendal of a future era. At the reduction of Pondicherry, no regiment suffered so much as that of Sir AVilliam Draper, who raised a beautiful cenotaph near his own house on Clifton Downs, surmounted by an urn, and inscribed as, " Sacred to those departed warriors of the 79th Regiment, by whose valour, discipline, and perseverance, the French land forces were first withstood and repulsed, the commerce of Britain preserved, and her settlements rescued from im- pending destruction." It also bore the names of two majors, ten captains, and twenty-one subalterns, who fell in the war in Asia. The white banner of France still waved on the hill-fort of Thiagur, fifty miles in the interior — the same place which Lally had promised to Hyder Ali, and over the triple stronghold on the hill of Gingee, about thirty-five miles westward of Pondi- cherry ; but both places were totally isolated, and destitute of all hope of relief, and they, with the little settlement of Mahe on the coast of Malabar, were yet to be reduced, ere the conquest of French India could be quite complete — yet we had only four battalions of the line, at that time, in the country. In January, 1761, some shipping from England had landed troops at Tellicherry to be employed in the reduction of Mahe; but, as it lay within the boundaries of the Bombay Presidency, authority to attack it did not arrive till the beginning of the subsequent month, and an alliance with some of the neighbouring chiefs was diligently formed mean- while by the French governor, who had only with him 100 P^uropeans, while the attacking force under Major Hector Munro of the old Gordon High- landers (who died a general in 1S06), consisted of 900 British, and 700 native troops. Though the chiefs promised liberally, when the major and Admiral Cornish appeared off the coast on the loth Februar)', not a man of them was forthcoming ; and the governor deemed himself fortunate, wiicn, instead of being compelled to surrender at discre- tion, he was permitted to march out with the honours of war, and was sent under cartel to the isle of Bourbon. Tims was this district, so rich in pepper, cardamom, cacao, arak, sandal, and other odoriferous woods, added to our possessions, till it was given back in 1783. Prior to this, Gingee had been invested by Captain Stephen Smith, with eight companies of sepoy«. It was commanded by a Scotsman, in the F'rench service, named MacGregor, whose garrison consisted of only 150 Europeans, 600 sepoys, and 1,000 Colleries, or hill-men. Con- ceiving the hill-forts to be impregnable, he was somewhat surprised to find that one was taken by starm. The two most powerful yet remained, and a deadly climate added to their strength, so on being summoned, MacGregor stoutly replied that he could defend himself for three years against 100,000 men. Ultimately he demanded terms, which, though somewhat extravagant, were acceded to, and on the 5th of April, he marched out with the honours of war. Thiagur, which had been returned to the French, after their treaty with the Rajah of Mysore was broken up, shared the fate of Gingee. After being blockaded and bombarded by Major Preston for sixty-five days, the governor, though he had still two months' provisions in store, surrendered on the same terms as those which were accorded to Lally, and then the PVench had not so much as a single military post in all India. Some castles or forts, named Motally, Nellea- saroon, and Veremala, which were subordinate to Mahe, after being suddenly evacuated by the French, on the fall of that place, were promptly occupied by some Nairs, under a chief with the lofty title of " Kapoo, King of Cherical and nephew of Badenkalamkur, King Regent of Colastry." Without delaying an hour on hearing of the move- ments of this mysterious personage. Major (after- w.ards Sir Hector) Munro, with 380 Gordon Highlanders — who but a year before had been shepherds, ploughmen, and gillies in Scotland — some of the Company's troops, a twelve and nine- pounder, marched against him. Captain Nelson, lately engineer of tlie Frencii garrison at Mahe, and several French oflicers, burning for revenge on their faithless black allies, accompanied him as volunteers ; the forts were taken, and with them fell the last fragments of the French ])ower in India. " It was on the Malabar coast," says a writer, "that the first contentions began ; and when the nunble of warlike jireparations was hushed, and the tap of the I'Vench drum was silent along the shores of Coromandel and in the Deccan, the din of batde was heard, and the mournful parade of 90 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [i-6t. \anquished and disarmed captains was seen on tlie coast of Malabar." The smallness of the British forces in India in these wars seems strange, when we fmd by Millan's Lists in 1762 that the number of men employed in that year for the service auiounted to 328,127. HINDOOS OF THE PECCW. CHAPTER XVn. CLIVE RFTURNS TO INDIA FOR THE LAST TIME. Wf. have already related how Clive had been honoured in England, and raised to an Irish peerage ; but serious changes took place in the British government on the death of George II., the accession of George III., and the formation of a cabinet under the Earl of Bute, in place of Clive's friend and patron, the great Chatham. The fortune Cliv.e had accumulated by his thrift, and the chances of successful warfare in the East, without reckoning the jaghire that had been conferred on him, amounted to ^300,000, and the latter was valued at about ^30,000 more. He was deemed to be far richer than he really was, and Macaulay rates his fortune very high. " The wealth of Clive was such as enabled him to vie with the first grandees of England," says the great Essayist. " There remains proof that he remitted more than ;^SSo,ooo through the Dutch East India Company, and more than ^{^40,000 through the English Company. The amount which he also sent home through private houses was consider- able. He invested great sums in jewels, then a very common mode of remittance from India. His purchases of diamonds at Madras alone amounted to ;^25,ooo. Besides a great mass of money, he had an Indian estate valued by himself at ^27,000 a year. His whole annual income, in the opinion of Sir John Malcolm, who is desirous to state it as low as possible, exceeded ^40,000 ; and incomes of 3^740,000, at the accession of George III., were at least as r.are as incomes of _j{['i 00,000 now. We may safelv affirm that no Englishman who started with nothing has ever, in any line of life, created such a fortune at the early age of thirty-four." On his own friends and relations he spent the sum of ^50,000. All parties courted him, for his wealth could command many votes in the House. His admira- tion for Pitt was great, .nnd he steadily adhered to him, till the Great Commoner lost office I itSi-I CIIVF. IN ENGLAND. 91 ^mij^^- y.c. 92 CASSELUS ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1701, by the preponderating influence of Lord Bute ; thus when the latter made overtures to him, Chve rejected them; and when the unpoi)ular minister — unpopular chiefly through the provincial spirit of the age — carried on his negociations for a peace with France, he most naturally avoided Clive on M questions touching the condition and affairs of India. Though he had dmwn this neglect upon himself, the fiery conqueror of Bengal became in- censed, all the more that he knew that the French ministry were in constant communication with the Manjuis de Eussy on the same matters. After his capture at the battle of ^Vandiwash, Bussy had instantly been liberated on his parole by Colonel Coote, who sincerely respected him as a man and a soldier ; and when the hero of Gol- conda arrived in Paris he experienced a reception very ditiferent from those accorded to Lally or Dupleix. Some time before he left India he had remitted from the Circars and the Deccan a vast fortune to France, where he married a niece of the Due de Choiseul, and was shown the highest favour and consideration at the court of Louis XV. As the negociations for the treaty of peace went on, Clive joined Pitt and the Opposition in con- demning and denouncing it. He foresaw what would follow — the restoration of Pondicherry and other places to France — and warmly urged that the French should be limited as to the number of men they were to maintain on the coast of Coromandel, and that — save as merchants — they should never be admitted into Bengal. The Earl of Bute thanked him for his memorial on these matters, and though impatient to carry out the treaty, which was far indeed from satisfying Clive, the terms of it proved less unfavourable to our interests in India than they might have been ; but the eleventh article nearly undid all that Clive, Coote, and others had done. It ran thus : — ■" In the East Indies, Great Britain shall restore to France, in the condition they are now in, the different factories which that crown possessed, as wefl on the coast of Coromandel and Orixa as on that of Malabar, as also in Bengal, at the beginning of the year 1749. His Most Christian Majesty sliall restore on his side all that he may have conquered from Great Britain in the East Indies during the present war ; and will expressly cause Nattal and Tapanoully, in the island of Sumatra (given to the Dutch by the Count d'Estaing) to be restored : he engages further not to erect fortifica- tions, or keep troops in any part of the dominions of the Soubah of Bengal. And in order to preserve future peace on the coast of Coromandel and Orixa, the English and p-rcnch shall acknowledge 1 Mohammed Ally Khan for lawful Nabob of the Carnatic, and Salabut Jung for lawful Soubah of the Deccan ; and both parties shall renounce all demands and pretensions of satisfaction with which they might charge each other or their Indian allies for the depredations or pillage committed on either side during the war." * Finding themselves quite unable to win over Clive to their interests, the Bute ministry began to league themselves with a Mr. Sullivan, and certain other directors of the Company, who openly hated him, and were forming jjlans to diminish alike his wealth and reputation. Nothing was said as yet about his conduct towards Surajah Dowlah, or against his acceptance of treasure from Meer Jaftier after the battle of Plassey ; but that which Sulhvan, and those who leagued in jealousy and hate, called criminal, " was Clive's acceptance of the jaghire, and his insisting on payment of those quit-rents from the Company." The best lawyers of the day maintained that tlie grant of rent which Clive had obtained was valid, and made exactly on the same terms as those by which the Company held their possessions in Bengal; they had acquiesced in the grant for two years, and in making any attempt to prove that Meer Jaffier was without the power to confer on Clive the estate in dispute, they must equally show that the nabob had no right to confer what he had done on the Company. It was alike unwise and indelicate to scrutinise too closely any of those rights acquired in India ; yet the directors, ,in their hostility and their avaricious desire to appropriate ;^30,ooo per annum, which they were bound to pay to the nabob before his transfer of rent, and in their narrow-minded hatred of Clive, persevered in tlieir plans, and actually confiscated the estate by stopping payment of the rents, which they put in their own pockets. Lord Clive, equally impetuous and indignant, without the delay of a day, filed a bill in Chancery against the Court of Directors, who, under the guidance and influence of Sullivan, endeavoured to protract the judgment of Chancery by those stratagems or delays which- the chicanery of the law so readily permits ; but it is alleged that, damped by the firm opinions delivered by Mr. Philip Yorke, who died Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain in 1770, and of Sir Fletcher Norton, afterwards first Lord Grantly, who died in 1789, and of other eciually eminent lawyers, they became hopeless of obtaining a decision in their favour. Clive, determined to carry war into the enemy's • Cormick's History, vol. i. 1 76s. J THE VOW OF CLIVE. 93 camp, had ordered his agents in Calcutta to insti- tute proceedings against the Company there, and to transmit an exact account of them, that the same course might be adopted in Britain. But while this internal strife was going on, and the Company were seeking to crush the man who had buttressed up their crumbling power, and won for them provinces equal to empires, came the startling tidings that the garrison and all the British residents at Patna had been destroyed by the sword ; that political move- ments undertaken by the feeble Council at Calcutta had proved wretched failures; and tiiatall in Bengal was going to confusion, and worse than confusion. Even the most bitter of the enemies of the hero of Plassey, of " Clive the Daring in War," saw that he, and he alone, could remedy these fatal evils, and overtures were made for his speedy return to India ; and a meeting was summoned by the proprietors of stock, who were resolved that their present prosperity and hope of future profit should not suffer through the piques and party spirit of liiiose directors whom they elected ; and at a very full and general Court of the East India Company, Lord Clive was earnestly solicited to return and re- sume the management of affairs. At the sMiie time the immediate restitution of the jaghire was proposed. On this, Clive, who was present, not conceiving it right to take advantage of the present burst of feeling and sense of emergency, requested that this motion should not be put to the vote, addfng, however, " that from a sense of the impropriety of going to India while so valuable a part of his property remained in dispute, he would make certain proposals for a compromise to the Court of Directors, whicli would, he tnisted, lead to an amicable adjustment of the affair." He also declared emphatically that he must decline to undertake the management of Indian affairs until the removal of Mr. Sullivan from his influential post of chairman, as he could never act as governor and commander-in-chief wiiilc his movements and measures in India were liable to be cavilled at, and condemned by, officials at home, especially by one who was ignorant of all Indian affairs, and was, moreover, his avowed and invete- rate enemy. A tumult so loud followed this an- nouncement that Mr. Sullivan could scarcely obtain a liearing ; but as an overwhelming majority of those who were present declared that Clive, and Clive alone, could save Bengal, after Sullivan had wished to try the matter by ballot Clive was ulti- mately nominated " Governor and Commander-in- chief in India, with the express understanding that no ofticer, of whatever rank, should have the power of interfering with his command there." Still he declined to accept the nomination until the next annual election of directors should become known. Accordingly, on the 25th of April, 1764, an obstinate contest ended in tiie triumpli of Clive, while Sullivan's election as a director was carried by only one vote ; and in his subsequent contest for the chair he was totally defeated, and two staunch friends of Clive, Messrs. Rous and Boulton, were elected respectively chairman and depuly- chairman. The affair of the jaghire was next taken into consideration, and the court agreed to the proposals made by Clive. "They confirmed his right to the full amount of the jaghire rents for ten years, if he shouki live so long, and provided the Company should continue during that period in possession of the lands round Calcutta charged with those rents." So ended this unseemly dispute ; and for the third and last time Clive sailed again for India, taking — as usual then and until recently — the long way round the Cape to Calcutta, which he reached on the 3rd of Maj', 1765. He found the confiision and disorganisation more fearful than he could have anticipated, and tliat Warren Hastings had been correct when surmising that the excesses and follies of the Europeans were as mischievous as the in- trigues and crimes of the native rulers Though the functionaries in India had long since received orders from Leadenhall Street that tliey were not to accept those presents which the native princes weie so prone to give, eager for gain, and respecting but little the orders of negligent and far-distant masters, they had again set up for sale the ^^■retched and thorny throne of Bengal. The sum of ^^140,000 sterling had been distributed among nine of the most powerful — perhaps the most corrupt — ser- vants of the Company, and in consideration of this bribe an infant son of the deceased nabob had been placed on the musnud of his father ; and the news of this degrading bargain was tiie first thing that Clive heard on his landing at Calcutta. " Ala.s ! " he wrote to a friend, "how is the Isnglish name sunk ! I could not avoid paying the tribute of a few tears to the departed and lost fame of the British nation — irrecoverably so, I fear. However, I do declare by that great Being who is the Searcher of all hearts, and to whom we must be accountable if there be a hereafter, that I am come out with a mind superior to all corruption, and that 1 am determined to destroy these great and growing evils, or perish in the attempt ! " He summoned the Council, and told them his resolution to ha\e a thorough reform, and to use to the fullest extent the civil and military powers 94 CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF INDIA. [1766. with which he had been vested. Then Mr. John- stone, orne of the boldest and most corrupt men present, made some sliow of opposition, until Clive interrupted him, and haughtily demanded, with knitted brow and raised voice, whether "he meant to question the authority of the new government;" and Johnstone quailed before him, saying that he never had the least intention of doing such a thing ; " upon which," wrote Clive, on the 6th of May, to his friend Major Carnac, "there was an appearance of very long and pale countenances, but not one of the Council uttered another syllable." CHAPTER XVIII. THE REVOLUTION ^N BENGAL. — MEER JAFFIER DEPOSED. — MEER COSSIM MADE NABOB. — HIS QUARREL WITH THE COMPANV. Clive fully redeemed his pledge ; but ere we pro- ceed to show how he did so, we must go back some five years in our narrative of Indian affairs. Before Clive left India in Februar)', 1760, he had secured the appointment of Mr. Henry Vansittart (who ten years after was drowned in the Aurora frigate) as his successor in the government, and of Colonel Caillaud as commander of the forces. The latter appointment took immediate effect, but the former, as Mr. Vansittart had been previously attached to the Madras Presidency, for a time was deferred, and, by virtue of seniority, the office was temporarily conferred on Mr. Holwell, the survivor of the Black Hole catastrophe, the .son of Zephaniah Holwell, a timber merchant and citizen of London. During the brief tenure of his office, Mr. Holwell, by hard labour, had succeeded in convincing his colleagues that another revolution in Bengal was necessary, and when Mr. Vansittart arrived to assume office in July, the whole scheme was laid before him. The Nabob Meer Jaffier was to be cajoled or coerced into a resignation, and to rest satisfied with a merely nominal sovereignty, while the reality would be vested in Meer Cossim, his son-in-law. As a stranger to the local politics, Mr. Vansittart was naturally disposed to be guided by what he deemed the experience of the Council, and on their representations rather than on convictions of his own, he concurred in the proposed revolu- tion ; but prior to relating its results, it will be necessary to mention some important military operations. About the time that Clive took his departure from India, it had been nnnoured that Shah Zada had reappeared on the frontier, had collected an army, and was advancing upon Patna and Moor- shedabad. The vizier, Ghazi-ud-Deen, at Delhi, against whonj the Shah Zada alleged in the first I instance he had taken up arms, murdered the im- becile Mogul Emperor, Alumgeer II., in a fit of desperation, and consequently the Shah Zada was said to have become the legal claimant of the vacant throne. Accordingly he took upon him the state and title of emperor, calling himself Shah Alum, or "King of the World," and conferred the office of vizier upon Sujah Dowlah, the powerful ruler of Oude, who had shown but scanty interest in his fortunes when, in the year before, he was flying before the sword of Clive. With the assist- ance of this Oude nabob, Shah Alum collected a greater army, and appeared before Patna, where the native governor, Ramnarrain, had only in garrison seventy European soldiers and a slender battalion of our sepoys, and was, moreover, sus- pected in his fidelity to Meer Jaffier. Patna must have fallen, had not Colonel Caillaud come suddenly on it at the head of 350 Europeans, 1,000 sepoys, under Colonel Cochrane, and six guns, together with 15,000 horse and twenty-six guns, with which he had been joined, when en route, under Meeran, the son of the Nabob Meer Jaffier. With these troops the colonel completely routed the " King of the World," and compelled him to retire from before Patna ; but as Meeran, thinking, perhaps, that enough had been done, de- clined to pursue with his cavalry, and as a strong Mahratta force had joined the enemy, the new emperor, instead of retiring to Benares, suddenly took the route to Moorshedabad, and at the same time was joined by the erratic Scottish adventurer, James Francis Law, and a small body of French- men who followed his fortunes, and, like him, had previously fought against Clive and Lawrence in the Carnatic. On being followed up. Shah Alum left his camp in flames, and fled to Oude; but he was encouraged on TREATY TO DETHRONE MEER JAFFIER. being joined with some fresh forces, under the sub- governor of Purneah, Khadem-Hussein, who, after many intrigues, threw off the mask of loyalty, and joined the invader's army. Shah Alum, doubling on his pursuers, got back to Patna, which had been left almost without troops, but a Scottish surgeon named Fullarton undertook to defend the place with all who would adhere to him, while to Law was assigned the task of attacking it. Two assaults were gallantly repulsed by Fullar- ton and a few stout-hearted Britons belonging to the factory ; part of the wall was breached and the rampart scaled by Law and his Frenchmen, who were hurled back ; but a renewed attack, with greater numbers, was e.vpected, and hope was abandoning Fullarton and his followers, when suddenly Captam Knox, who, in the hottest sea- son of the year, had marched with singular rapidity from Moorshedabad, at the head of 200 Europeans, a battalion of sepoys, 300 horse, and five guns, broke through the besiegers, and leading the light troops of his force, drove them from their works. During these conflicts, on the issue of which their lives depended, the people of Patna crowded the walls, with their minds full of alternate hope and fear ; and while watching the ebb and flow of battle, were equally ready to welcome any one who could save their goods and existence. This gallant officer (Captain Knox) had hoped to surprise the enemy's camp by night, but missed his way, and when day dawned, he found himself face to face with 12,000 men. To escape was im- possible ; there was nothing for it but to fight the enemy under Khadem-Hussein, whom he com- pletely routed, and drove with all speed towards the north, whither he was followed by Colonel Caillaud and Meeran, who crossed the Ganges with his sable cavalry, and moved all the more actively and rapidly, from a belief that the traitor naib liad with him all the treasure of Purneah. The latter, finding himself hotly pressed, put the treasure of that extensive province ujwn camels and elephants, and, to give these animals some miles' start, he faced about and opened fire on his pursuers. After skirmishing for some time, he quitted the field with all speed, abandoning his baggage and cannon to the enemy. On the 2nd of July, the fourth day of the pur- suit, a tremendous storm necessitated a halt, during which a thunder-bolt struck the gilded tent of Meeran, killing him on the instant, and at the same time a professional story-teller, and a slave \vho was chafing his feet. Six round holes were found in the back of his head, the blade of the scimitar that lay on his pillow was partially melted, and the tent-pole was charred. The Frencli raised a rumour that he had beeen assassinated, and Edmund Burke alluded to it in his speech, when opening his charge against Warren Hastings. Meeran, who by his dreadful crimes merited this awful end, left none to regret him, and after this evil omen his troops became totally unmanageable, and Colonel Caillaud had to fall back on Patna. Meanwhile, the troops of Meeran marched to Moorshedabad, where the treasury was totally empty, and where they threatened to slay their ruler, Meer Jaffier, if they did not receive their arrears of pay. Other bodies of malcontents now rose in arms against him, and the irruption of sue cessive hordes of predatory Mahrattas seemed about to consummate the ruin of the old and weak nabob. Henry Vansittart, the new governor at Calcutta, on the other hand, found his exchajuer empty, and all the troops, European and native alike, half mutinous for want of pay. In desperation, he was thus compelled to join in a plot for dethroning Meer Jaftier, and crowning anew Nabob of Bengal. Thus, on the 27th September, 1760, Meer Cossim Ali, his son-in-law, and general of his army (which he had attached to himself by settling the arrears of pay), engaged, by secret treaty, that when placed on the throne, he should make o\er to the half- bankrupt Company the fruitful provinces of Chitta- gong, Burdwan, and Midnapore, for the main- tenance of an efficient force in Bengal, and that five lacs of rupees should be given as douceur for the war in the Carnatic. That pretexts for this remarkable treaty might not be wanting, they alleged the detestation and contempt which Meer Jaffier had evoked by his misgovernment, his inability to contend with sur- rounding difficulties, and that the desperate state of the Company's exchequer made it an absolute necessity that their claims existing against him should be liquidated, and that those which were certain to be contracted in the future should be secured by some certain guarantee ; but notwith- standing all these vague allegations, the gross injustice of the new revolution was but too ap- parent. A gentle and somewhat formal man, Mr. Van- sittart, in a somewhat conventional spirit, went personally to Moorshedabad, with the racier odd intention of persuading Meer Jaffier that he was e(iually unfitted for, and unwoitiiy of, the throne, which he ought to resign, or abdicate, in favour of his son-in-law. On hearing this, the old nabob, we are told, stared with bewilderment, and chafed with natural wralii ; "but the