1751. Book IV. exertions of their virtue, "a fatal spirit of division," says Major Laurence, “had unhappily crept in among our officers, so that many opportunities and advanOperations of tages were lost, which gave the country alliance but an indifferent opinion of the English. our conduct."* The French, however, made but feeble efforts for the reduction of the place; and the English were too much impressed with an opinion of their own weakness to hazard any enterprise to dislodge them. † Clive. While the war thus lingered at Trichinopoly, Clive, who had been made a captain to supply some of the removals occasioned by the recent discontents, persuaded the Presidency to create a diversion, by sending him to attack Arcot, the capital of Chunda Saheb, left with a very slender defence. This young man was the son of a gentleman of small fortune in Shropshire. From the untractableness of his own disposition, or the unsteadiness of his father's, he was moved from one to another through a great variety of schools. At school he was daring, impetuous, averse to application, and impatient of control. At the age of nineteen he was appointed a writer in the service of the East India Company, and sent to Madras. There his turbulence, though he was not ill-natured, engaged him in quarrels with his equals; his dislike of application and control prevented his acquiring the benevolence of his superiors. When the capitulation with Madras was violated, Clive made his escape in a Mahomedan dress, to Fort St. David, and when the siege of Pondicherry was undertaken, he was allowed to enter into the military service, with the rank of an ensign. At the * Laurence's Narrative in Cambridge's War in India, p. 28. "In the middle of July," says Orme, i. 182," the discontent which prevailed among the officers made it necessary to remove several of them at a time when there were very few fit to succeed to their posts." + Law, the commander of the French forces, whom I am much more inclined to believe than Dupleix, one of the most audacious contemners of truth that ever engaged in crooked politics, asserts his want of strength for any efficient operation; as Dupleix, who had entered into a correspondence with Mahomed Ali, and relied upon his promise to open to the French the gates of Trichinopoly, sent him not to attack Trichinopoly, but to receive possession of it; he adds, that when they were surprised by Mahomed Ali's firing upon them from the walls, they had not a single piece of battering or heavy cannon in the camp; that it was three months before they were supplied with any; that at first the whole army consisted of 11,860, but after the detachment sent for the recovery of Arcot, it consisted only of 6,680, of whom 600 only were Europeans. See Plainte du Chevalier Law contre le Sieur Dupleix, p. 21-23. Dupleix, on the other hand (Memoire, p. 74), speaking in round numbers, says, that the natives, who had joined Chunda Saheb, raised the army to 30,000 men, So widely asunder are the statements of these two men, at the head of the departments, civil and military. See a panegyrical life of him, for which his family furnished materials, in Kippis's Biographia Britannica, vol. iii. art. Clive. 1751. siege of Pondicherry, and the enterprise against Devi-Cotah, he rendered him- CHAp. II. self conspicuous by courting posts of danger, and exhibiting in them a daring intrepidity. The discerning, however, along with his rashness, perceived a coolness and presence of mind, with a readiness of resource in the midst of danger, which made Laurence, at an early period, point him out as a man of promise. Upon the conclusion of the affair at Devi-Cotah, Clive returned to his civil occupation; but no sooner did his countrymen resume the sword, than his own disposition, and the scarcity of officers, again involved him in operations, far better suited to his restless, daring, and contentious mind. He had accompanied the troops sent for the defence of Trichinopoly, till after the affair at Volcondah, and had been employed by the Presidency in conducting the several reinforcements which they had attempted to forward. He was now furnished with 200 Europeans, and 300 Sepoys: and to spare even these, Fort St. David and Madras were left, for their defence, the one with 100, the other with fifty men. To command them he had eight officers, of whom six had never been in action, and four were young men in the mercantile service of the Company, whom his own example had inflamed. For artillery they had three field-pieces; and two eighteen-pounders were sent after him. The enemy, who He obtains possession of remained in garrison at Arcot, which was an open town, defended by a fort, Arcot. abandoned the place, and gave him possession without resistance. Expecting a siege, he exerted his utmost diligence to supply the fort; and that he might prevent the fugitive garrison, who hovered around, from resuming their courage; he made frequent sallies, beat up their camp in the middle of the night, defended himself with vigour when assailed; and harassed them by incessant and daring attacks. In the mean time Chunda Saheb detached 4,000 men from his army at Trichinopoly, which were joined by his son with 150 Europeans from Pondicherry; and, together with the troops already collected in the neighbourhood, to the number of 3,000, entered the city. Clive immediately resolved upon a violent attempt to dislodge them. Going out with almost the whole of the garrison, he forced the enemy with his artillery to leave the street in which they had posted themselves; but filling the houses they fired upon his men, and obliged him to withdraw to the fort. In warring against the people of Hindustan, a few men so often gain unaccountable victories over a host, that on a disproportion of numbers solely no enterprise can be safely condemned as rash; in this, however, Clive run the greatest risk, with but a feeble prospect of success. He lost fifteen of his Europeans, and among them a lieutenant; and his only artillery officer, with sixteen other men, was disabled. Book IV. 1752. Defends it Other enterprises. Next day the enemy were reinforced with 2,000 men from Velore. The fort was more than a mile in circumference; the walls in many places ruinous; the towers inconvenient and decayed; and every thing unfavourable to defence: successfully. Yet Clive found the means of making an effectual resistance. When the enemy attempted to storm at two breaches, one of fifty and one of ninety feet, he repulsed them with but eighty Europeans and 120 Sepoys fit for duty; so effectually did he avail himself of his feeble resources; and to such a pitch of fortitude had he exalted the spirits of those under his command. During the following night the enemy abandoned the town with precipitation, after they had maintained the siege for fifty days. A reinforcement from Madras joined him on the following day; and, leaving a small garrison in Arcot, he set out to pursue the enemy. With the assistance of a small body of Mahrattas, who joined him in hopes of plunder, he gave the enemy, now greatly reduced by the dropping away of the auxiliaries, a defeat at Arni, and recovered Conjeveram, into which the French had thrown a garrison, and where they had behaved with barbarity to some English prisoners; among the rest, two wounded officers whom they seized returning from Arcot to Madras, and threatened to expose on the rampart, if the English attacked them. After these important transactions, Clive returned to Fort St. David about the end of December. The enemy no sooner found him out of the field than they re-assembled, and marched to ravage the Company's territory. Reinforced by some troops which had arrived from Bengal, he went out to meet them in the end of February. They abandoned their camp upon his approach; but with intent to surprise Arcot, from which the principal part of the garrison had marched to the reinforcement of Clive. They expected the gates to be opened by two officers of the English Sepoys, whom they had corrupted; but the plot being discovered, and their signals not answered, they did not venture to make an attack, and suddenly withdrew. Though informed of their retreat, Clive was still hastening his march to Arcot, when at sun-set his van was unexpectedly fired upon by the enemy's artillery; and a hot engagement ensued. The superior force of the enemy afforded them great advantages, and seemed likely to decide the contest, unless by some expedient their cannon could be seized. At ten at night Clive detached a party, who, favoured by the darkness, came upon it unexpectedly in the rear; defeated the troops who were placed for its defence; and succeeded completely in that important enterprise. After this disaster, the enemy dispersed; and before Clive could undertake any new exploit, he was ordered to the presidency; where it was determined to send him, with all the troops under his 1752. command, to Trichinopoly. It was fortunate that the enemy, dispirited by the CHAP. II. last, in addition to so many former disappointments and defeats, disbanded themselves at the same moment; the country troops departing to their homes, and the French being recalled to Pondicherry. Mysore. While these active operations were performing in the province of Arcot, Mahomed Ali, by promises, Mahomed Ali, though he appeared to have little to dread from the attacks of obtains assistthe French upon Trichinopoly, began to have every thing to dread from the ance from deficiency of his funds. The English, whom he engaged to maintain out of his own treasury, were now obliged to be maintained at the cost of the Presidency. His own troops were without pay, and there was no prospect of keeping them long from mutiny or dispersion. He had applied for assistance to the government of Mysore, a considerable Hindu kingdom, which had risen out of the wreck of the empire of Beejanuggur, and viewed with dread the elevation of Chunda Saheb, who had formerly aimed at its subjugation. Mahomed Ali renewed his importunities; and, by promising to the Mysoreans whatever they chose to ask, prevailed upon them to march to his assistance. They arrived at Trichinopoly about the middle of February, 20,000 strong, including 6000 Mahrattas, who had entered into their pay, and of whom a part were the same with those who had assisted Clive after the siege of Arcot. Their arrival determined the King of Tanjore, who till then had remained neutral, to send 5000 men. A few days after Clive was recalled to Fort St. David, he was again prepared to take the field; but on the 26th of March Major Laurence returned from England, and put himself at the head of the reinforcement, which consisted of 400 Europeans and 1100 Sepoys, with eight field pieces, and a large quantity of military stores. Both parties had their eyes fixed upon the reinforcement, and Dupleix sent repeated orders that it might be intercepted at all events. The efforts, however, of the enemy, proved unavailing; and Laurence in safety joined the camp. * Dupleix accuses Law with great violence, for not intercepting this convoy, and the English writers have very readily joined with him. But if the facts asserted by Law are true, it was from want of means, not of capacity or inclination, that he failed. He says that the whole army, even after it was joined by the remains of the detachment sent to Arcot, and by the body under Aulum Khan, did not amount to 15,000, while the enemy were three times the number: That the cavalry of Chunda Saheb, who had long been without pay, refused to act; and were joined by several other corps of the native army: That from the importunate commands of Dupleix to blockade and starve Trichinopoly, he had extended his posts much beyond what the smallness of his means rendered adviseable; and was weak at every point: That he made every effort to intercept the convoy at a distance; but the cavalry of Chunda Saheb refused to act; Book IV. 1752. The French It was now determined to attack the enemy in their camp. This attack the French had not the resolution, or the means, to withstand, and formed the determination of passing over to the island of Seringham. Chunda Saheb, it is attempt upon said, remonstrated, but without avail. In the hurry of their retreat, the enemy Trichinopoly baffled. were able to carry over only a part of their baggage, and burned what they were unable to remove of the provisions which they had collected in their magazines.* As delay was dangerous to the English, from the circumstances of their allies, it was their policy to reduce the enemy to extremities within the shortest possible time. With this view Clive advised them to detach a part of the army to the other side of the Coleroon, for the purpose of intercepting the enemy's supplies. Though there was hazard in this plan; for an enterprising enemy, by attacking one of the divisions, might gain a decisive advantage before the other could arrive, Laurence accepted the advice; and Clive was detached for the performance of the service. It was executed with his usual activity, spirit, and success. Dupleix made the strongest exertions to reinforce and supply his army; but was baffled in every attempt. D'Auteuil, at the head of a large convoy, was first compelled to suspend his march; was afterwards attacked in the fort to which he had retired; and at last taken prisoner. The enemy were soon in distress for provisions; their camp was cannonaded by the English; the troops of Chunda Saheb left his service; and he himself, looking round for the means of personal safety, chose at last to trust to the generosity of the King of Tanjore, and delivered himself, under promise of protection, and Aulum Khan, after promising to support the detachment, failed, on the pretext that there was not a farthing to give him. See the details as stated by Law, Plainte, p. 23-28. The Company, in their reply to Dupleix, defend the conduct of Law. Mem. contre Dupleix, p. 74. * This movement has been violently condemned, and Dupleix ascribes to it the defeat of his schemes; but Major Laurence (Narrative, p. 31) says that "they, (the English officers) reckoned it a prudent measure at the time." From the weakness of the French a retreat was unavoidable. Law asserts that had they permitted the English to take possession of Seringham, they were taken in Caudine forks. He asserts also that they were already suffering for want of provisions; and that between abandoning Trichinopoly altogether, and the resolution which he adopted, there was no middle course. The wise course would have been, no doubt, to abandon Trichinopoly ; and of this, Law says, he was abundantly aware. But this the reiterated and pressing commands of Dupleix absolutely forbad. I confess the defence of Law seems to me satisfactory. Plainte du Chev. Law, p. 29-31. Orme says that the enemy burned a great store of provisions, when they passed over into Seringham; but what Law says is much more probable, that the army was already beginning to be in want. |