the whole army thrown into extreme confusion. It was fortunate that at such a juncture the inundation proved so great as to prevent the enemy from taking any advantage of the calamity. With infinite labour, therefore, the batteries were reconstructed, and approaches being dug, and parallels drawn, the guns fired with much effect in breach. Such was the state of things when, on the 14th of January, a deputation came out from the place to propose a capitulation. It was high time that some such step should be taken, for there remained not in store provisions enough for two days' consumption; nevertheless the French, with their habitual effrontery, strove to obtain terms as favourable as if the siege were only now about to commence. But Colonel Coote was not to be duped by their sophistry: he insisted upon an unconditional surrender, and the enemy, seeing that he could not be moved, submitted.

The prisoners, which amounted in all to upwards of two thousand, were no sooner secured, and the English flag hoisted, under a salute of a thousand guns, than Coote hastened to complete his task by the capture of the last of the strongholds which remained in the Carnatic. Theagur and Gingee were both attacked, and both surrendered, after a feeble resistance; and Mahe, with its dependencies, having been reduced some weeks previously, the French empire on the continent of India ceased to exist. Thus ended a war which, at its commencement, promised to lead to widely different results. It inflamed to the highest pitch the alreadyirritated feelings of the French company, who, as a matter of course, cast the whole blame of failure

upon Lally; whilst a feeble and corrupt government readily espoused the cause of numbers against a single brave man, who had nothing to urge in his own defence except the truth. Lally returned home to suffer a fate which stamps with indelible disgrace the character of his judges. He was cast into prison, tried, condemned, and executed with an indecent haste, of which it may with truth be asserted that none except the Parisians could be guilty.

With respect, again, to the English, they were so much astonished at their own success, that they seemed for a while incapable of determining to what use it ought to be turned. Colonel Coote, with the officers of the king's troops, claimed Pondicherry for the crown, Mr. Pigot, the governor of Madras, asserted that the Company alone were entitled to it; and the dispute ran at one moment so high, that serious consequences were to be apprehended. But Mr. Pigot persisting in his demands, and refusing to advance money for the payment of the troops, Colonel Coote, with his council of officers, judged it prudent to give way. After solemnly protesting against the measure, he yielded up the fortress, which was immediately taken possession of in the names of the Directors, and the works, in obedience to instructions long ago received from home, were levelled with the earth.

CHAPTER VI.

Affairs of Bengal-Meer Jaffier's intrigues- Expedition to the Northern Circars-Capture of Masulipatam—Bengal invaded by the Prince (afterwards Shah Alum)— The Dutch defeated near Calcutta-Clive returns homeSecond invasion of Shah Alum—His attempt to surprise Moorshedabad-Repulsed from Patna-Death of Jaffier's son, Meerum.

WHILE these important operations were in progress in the southern provinces of India, the affairs of Bengal were conducted with a degree of management and skill which alone could have carried them triumphantly through the difficulties with which they were beset. Meer Jaffier, who, like other Indian usurpers, had promised much more than he found it either convenient or practicable to perform, soon began, after the usage of his nation, to aim at an infraction of the treaty. He tried the measure, which is for the most part irresistible in the east, he offered private bribes, as a means of defeating public arrangements; but finding that, in this instance, his confederates were proof against his wiles, he began to meditate some convenient method of obtaining a deliverance from their alliance. Not daring to break with the English at once, he directed his first efforts against certain native functionaries, who had taken

a prominent part in the late revolution; with the view of depriving them of their offices and fortunes, and so acquitting himself of some part of the obligations under which he laboured. These were Dooloob Ram, the Dewan, or principal officer of finance; Ramramsing, the governor of Bednapore, and brother to the Rajah of that district; and Ramnorain, the viceroy of Berar, a man of great influence, and very considerable talent. It is worthy of remark, that the whole of these persons were Hindoos by religion and lineage. They had been brought into public life by Allaverdi Khan, who found the patient and faithful worshippers of Brahma infinitely preferable, as public servants, to the turbulent followers of the Prophet, and who, greatly to the annoyance of the professors of the true faith, took every opportunity of advancing them to high

stations.

It was not to the interest of the Company or their servants that these Hindoos should be crushed, and Clive judiciously interfered to avert the ca tastrophe. How this was done, it would far exceed the limits of this work to explain; but we may state, that it needed all Clive's temper and all his skill in controlling the passions of others, to preserve for a season the appearance of friendship where none really existed. Between Ramramsing and the Soubahdar a formal reconciliation took place; Dooloob Ram was likewise restored to favour; and though Berar was entered with a numerous army, Clive leading a British contingent along with it, good care was taken that no act of positive hostility should be committed. Nor was this able politician satisfied with keeping

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in places of power those whom he knew to be well disposed to the interests of his country. He extorted from the Soubahdar a lease, at the highest ostensible rent which had ever been paid, of the districts on the bank of the Ganges, near Patna, where saltpetre was manufactured; and though the Dutch remonstrated against this arrangement, he nevertheless maintained sufficient influence over Meer Jaffier to cause their protest to be treated with neglect.

These matters were transacted during the autumn and winter of 1757, and on the 15th of May, 1758, Clive returned to Moorshedabad. He received the same day information of the investment of Fort St. David's, with accounts of the first naval action fought on the Coromandel coast; and after publicly giving out that the latter had ended decisively against the French, he departed, on the 24th, for Calcutta. The intelligence which met him here was not so much to his mind. By what motives actuated it is hard, in these times, to say, but the Directors had sent out a commission, which appointed ten individuals to be members of council, and nominated four, among whom Clive was not enumerated, to fill the office of governor in rotation. No arrangement could be less adapted to the state of the country. Under any circumstances, the appointment of four rivals in authority, each of whom was to enjoy power during a few months in rotation, would have been ridiculous, if not mischievous; as the province of Bengal was situated, the whole plan demonstrated only the ignorance or excessive shortsightedness of those with whom it originated. To the honour of the