# A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan/Volume 2/Book 7

BOOK VII.
1756 WE shall now relate the progress and operations of the armament sent for the recovery of the settlements in Bengal.
The fleet sailing on the 10th of October, met the currents setting so strongly from the north, that they were driven in the first twelve days after their departure, six degress of latitude to the south of Madrass; and by this time the northern monsoon, during which the wind blows from the N. w. had gathered strength. In this season the only way to get Bengal, is to steer across the bay to the shore of Tannasery and Arracan, along which the currents slacken, and sometimes even tend to the northward; and milder weather than in the middle of the bay enables the vessel to gain the latitude of the sands at the eastern mouths of the Ganges; from whence tides help across to the road of Ballasore, and from hence assure the entrance into the river Hughley. Attempting this passage with much adverse weather, Admiral Watson, on the 10th of November, ordered the allowances of provisions and water to be retrenched. Two days after, the fire-ship, unable to stem the violence of the monsoon, bore away to Ceylon; and the Marlborough, one of the company's, sailing very heavily, was left on the 16th by the rest of the fleet, which arrived in the soundings off Point Palmeiras on the first of December. But the Cumberland and Salisbury not having kept the wind so well as the others, struck on the dangerous sand which extends several miles from that point out to sea: both, however, floated again; but the Cumberland bore away to Vizagapatam. ​The Kent and Tiger gained the road of Ballasore, where they waited for the spring tides until the 9th, when they proceeded under the conduct of English pilots into the river, and arrived on the 15th at Fulta. Here they were joined, on the 20th, by all the other vessels, excepting the Cumberland and the Marlborough, the absence of which greatly impaired the force of the armament: for the Cumberland was not only the largest ship in the squadron, but had likewise on board 250 of the European troops; and the greatest part of the field artillery had been imprudently shipped on board of the Marlborough.
The detachment with Major Kilpatrick had arrived at Fulta on the second of August, but were not deemed a force sufficient to risque hostilities; and the vessels before assembled there being too much crowded to receive them on board, they were obliged to encamp in the swampy grounds near the town, where sickness prevailed amongst them so much, that of the whole detachment, which was 230 when sent, one half were dead, and of the remainder not more than thirty men were able to do duty when Admiral Watson arrived.
The rainy season, which began whilst the Nabob was before Calcutta, prevented him after his return to Muxadavad from reassuming his former intention of attacking his relation the Phousdar of Purneah until the month of October. He then marched to that country: when the two armies encamped in sight of each other, the Phousdar, a headstrong youth, saw the general Meer Jaffier with a party reconnoitring, and mistaking his ensigns for the Nabob's hastened with the foremost of his cavalry to attack him, and was killed in the onset. The country of Purneah submitted immediately after his death, and the Nabob returned in triumph to his capital: where, ruminating on the excess and apparent security of his fortunes he continued to imagine, that the English would never venture hostilities in his dominions; to which presumption his ignorance did not a little contribute; for he was often heard to say, that he did not believe there were ten thousand men in all Europe. His ministers, however, had convinced him, that his revenues would be ​much diminished by the loss of the English trade: which had determined him to permit their return; but under the same restrictions as they were subject to in the reign of Jaffier, before their embassy to Delhi. On hearing of the arrival of the armament, he ordered his whole army to assemble at Muxadavad, and prepared to march to Calcutta. The governor of this place, Monickchund, having foreseen the war, had been diligent in improving his garrison, had fortified Buz-buzia, and had begun to erect a fort, which he called Aligur, on the bank of the river opposite to Tannah; but only part of the rampart commanding the river was finished. The Phousdar of Hughley purchased two ships, which he loaded with bricks, intending to sink them in the narrow pass of the river between Tannah and Aligur.
Before the arrival of the armament, letters from the court of directors in England, had appointed Mr. Drake, with three other members of the council, to act as a select committee, in the conduct of all political and military affairs. They had already associated Major Kilpatrick, and as soon as the fleet arrived at Fulta, they added Mr. Watson and Colonel Clive to their board. The letters which Clive had brought from Madrass, accompanied by one from himself and another from Mr. Watson, full of threats, were sent open to Monickchund, the governor of Calcutta, in order to be forwarded to the Nabob. Monickchund replied that he dared not send letters written in such menacing terms: and on receiving this answer, it was determined to commence hostilities. The absence of the troops on board the Cumberland was in some measure supplied by the recovering men of Kilpatrick's detachment, and by a company of seventy volunteers, who embodied themselves at Fulta.
All the ships and vessels, as well-those which were just arrived, as those which before were assembled at Fulta, left this place on the 27th of December, and the next afternoon anchored at Mayapore, a town ten miles below the fort of Buz-buzia. This fort Mr. Watson determined to attack the next day; and, as it was supposed that the garrison would defend it but a very little while, it was resolved to lay an ambuscade, in order to intercept their retreat towards ​Calcutta. All the men of Adlercron's regiment who were arrived, being 120, remained on board the ships of war. The rest of the battalion, 500, with all the Sepoys, and two field-pieces, landed, and at sun-set marched from Mayapore, under the command of Colonel Clive, and under the conduct of Indian guides. The field-pieces, with a tumbril of ammunition, were drawn by the troops: for the council at Fulta, through dread of the Nabob's resentment, had not ventured to provide any bullocks either of draught or burthen. The guides, in order to prevent discovery, led the troops at a distance from the river, through a part of the country, which was uninhabited indeed, but full of swamps, and continually intersected by deep rivulets, which rendered the draught and transportation of the three carriages so tedious and laborious, that the troops did not arrive until an hour after sun-rise at the place of ambuscade. This was a large hollow, which in the rains might be a lake, sinking about ten feet below the level of the plain: it lay about a mile from the river, a mile and a half north-east of Buz-buzia, and half a mile to the east of a high road leading from this place to Calcutta. The eastern, and part of the southern bank of the hollow, were skirted by the huts and enclosures of a village, which seemed to have been abandoned' some days before. The grenadiers and 300 Sepoys were detached from the hollow, to take possession of another village on the bank of the river adjoining to the northern wall of the fort of Buzbuzia; where, it was supposed, that their appearance would induce the garrison to mistake them for the whole of the English troops on shore; and that in consequence of this notion they would retreat along the high road, instead of the bank of the river. The company of volunteers were detached, and posted themselves in some thickets near the high road, but on the farther side from the hollow, towards which it was intended that their fire should drive the fugitive garrison. The rest of the troops remained with Colonel Clive, and concealed themselves, some in the hollow, and others in the adjoining village, and the two field-pieces were placed on the north side of the village. The troops being excessively fatigued, were permitted ​to quit their arms, in order to get rest; every man laid himself down where he thought best, some in the village, others in the hollow; and from a security which no superiority or appearances in war could justify, the common precaution of stationing centinels was neglected. In a few minutes they were all asleep. It happened that Monickchund, the governor of Calcutta, had come the day before to Buz-buzia, with 1500 horse and 2000 foot. This officer had no courage, but much circumspection; and some of his spies had followed the English from Mayapore, and had observed all their motions in the morning.
About an hour after the troops had lain down to sleep, they were awakened by the fire of small arms on the eastern side of the village into which, at the same time, a multitude of matchlock men were discovered advancing with resolution. All the soldiers, wheresoever scattered, hurried on the alarm into the hollow, in which their arms were grounded, about 60 yards from the enclosures on the eastern bank; here they formed the line as fast as they could; but, unfortunately, the artillery-men, instead of repairing to the two field-pieces, which would have protected the whole, ran to seek protection themselves from the line. During this confusion, the enemy, meeting no resistance, advanced and took possession of the eastern bank; from whence, under the shelter of various covers, they kept up a continual, though irregular fire, wounding several, and killing an ensign. Colonel Clive, apprehensive of a panic, should he order the troops to march out of the reach of the enemy's fire, commanded the line to stand firm, and detached two platoons, one from the right, the other from the center, opposite to which the enemy's fire was strongest. Of the platoon from the center eight men were killed by one volley before they gained the bank; the rest nevertheless returned the fire, and then forced their way with their bayonets into the village; where they were joined by the other platoon, which had succeeded with the loss of only three men. This intrepidity quelled the enemy's courage, who no longer appeared in bodies but shifted in small parties from shelter to shelter, firing rarely, and with little effect; however, some officers on horseback exposed themselves ​selves with much resolution, endeavouring to rally their men, but in vain. In 'the mean time, the company of volunteers, as soon as they heard the firing, marched back from the high road, and rescued the field-pieces, of which some of the enemy had taken possession, but did not know how to use them. Upon this, the artillery-men returned from the line to the field-pieces, and immediately began to fire them into the village, which soon drove all the enemy out of it, who fled as fast as they could to join a large body of horse, which was now discovered advancing from the south towards the hollow: but, on perceiving the fugitives coming from the village, this cavalry halted at the distance of half a mile. On this the English troops, with the field-pieces, formed regularly on the plain, and advanced towards the enemy, who were commanded by Monickchund. They stood several shot from the field-pieces, until one chanced to pass very near the turban of Monickchund, who immediately gave the signal of retreat by turning his elephant, and the whole body marched away to the north-east and returned to Calcutta. 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.
As soon as the enemy retreated, the troops marched to the village on the bank of the river, from whence the detachment posted there was advancing to join them. By this time the Kent, having outsailed the other ships, anchored before Buz-buzia, and alone silenced the cannon of that fort; but the troops having already undergone so much fatigue, it was determined to defer the assault until the next morning. They passed the rest of the day in the village, without giving or receiving any molestation, and in the evening were joined by 250 sailors from the squadron. One of these having got drunk, straggled, at eight in the evening, to the ditch of the fort, which he crossed, and scrambled up the rampart; where, finding no centinels he hallooed to the advanced guards in the village that he had taken the fort; on which they quitted their post, and joined him on the rampart, when they found the place evacuated ​the enemy having abandoned it as soon as it grew dark enough to conceal their retreat. Several guards of Sepoys proceeded immediately to post centinels round the walls; and whilst this was doing, some other sailors, who were likewise very drunk and had got into the fort, supposed some of the Sepoys to be some of the enemy's men who had not escaped; and in this notion fired their pistols, and killed Captain Campbell, an officer of the company's troops.
The operations of the morning at the hollow, irregular and imperfect as they were, changed the, contemptible opinion which Monickchund and his soldiery had conceived of English troops, from their own success at the taking of Calcutta; and on his return from Buz-buzia to that place, he remained there only a few hours and leaving 500 men to defend the fort, went away with the rest of his command to Hughley, where having likewise communicated his own terrors, he proceeded to carry them to the Nabob at Muxadavad. On the other hand, the resolution and activity with which the enemy's matchlock men began their assault on the village, impressed most of the English officers, and many of the common men, with a much higher opinion of the troops of Bengal than they deserved.
The sloop of war had been sent forward some days before, and anchored in sight of the forts of Tannah and Aligur, where her appearance had deterred the governor of Hughley from sending the ships laden with bricks, which he had intended to sink in the pass. The fleet left Buz-buzia on the 30th of December, and anchored on the 1st of January between those forts, which the enemy abandoned without firing a shot, leaving on the platforms 50 pieces of cannon, which they had brought from Calcutta, many of which however were not mounted. The next morning, Colonel Clive, with the greatest part of the Europeans and Sepoys, landed and marched along the high road from Aligur to Calcutta; and at nine o'clock the Kent and Tiger anchored before the English fort: but for want of wind could not immediately present their broadsides; during which disadvantage the enemy cannonaded them briskly from the line of guns on the brink of the river, killing nine men in the ​Kent, and seven in the Tiger; but their fire slackened as that from the ships increased; and before eleven they deserted the fort, and soon after the town; when a detachment sent from the ships, under the command of Captain Coote, hoisted the English colours in the fort; for the troops with Colonel Clive were not yet arrived. The next day Admiral Watson put Mr. Drake, and the former members of the council, in possession of the government.
The greatest part of the merchandizes belonging to the company, which were in the fort when taken, were found remaining without detriment; for this part of the plunder had been reserved for the Nabob; but every thing of value belonging to the inhabitants had been removed out of the settlement: some of the best houses had been demolished, and others damaged by fire: in the middle of the fort a mosque was erected with the materials of several buildings which had been pulled down to make room for it; but no alterations had been made in the fortification. About 50,000 of the Indian inhabitants had returned to their dwellings during the government of Monickchund; they were indeed mostly of the lower ranks of people; for his rapacity had deterred such as were known to have property from trusting themselves within his reach.
Whatsoever joy the English inhabitants might feel at their restoration to the town, it was soon allayed by the contemplation of the ruined state of their habitations, and of the poverty to which they were reduced, having no means to procure themselves subsistence, but their usual allowances from the company.
Mr. Drake, notwithstanding his adversities, had retained some correspondents, and the company's money some spies, from whom he received intelligence as soon as he arrived at Calcutta, that the town of Hughley was in great consternation, and that it would be some time before the Nabob's army would march from Muxadavad; upon which the committee resolved to attack Hughley without delay. The twenty-gun ship, the sloop of war, and three other vessels, were appointed to this service; and on board of them embarked 150 Europeans, being those of Adlercron's regiment, with 200 Sepoys; they sailed on the 4th of January, and hoped to reach Hughley in one ​tide; but the twenty-gun ship struck upon a sand-bank, which stopped their progress for five days. On the 10th they arrived at Hughley.
This town lieth about 23 miles above Calcutta, adjoining to the north part of the Dutch settlement of Chinchura, from whence it extends three miles on the bank of the river: at the northern extremity of the town is a fort, which was at this time garrisoned by 2000 men: 3000 more had been sent from Muxadavad to guard the town, but these retreated as soon as the English troops landed; remaining however within a few miles. The vessels battered the fort until night; and although the breach was scarcely practicable, it was determined to storm it before break of day. A false attack was made at the main gate, whilst Captain Coote with the other division, accompanied by some sailors, mounted the breach before they were discovered by the garrison, who no sooner saw the English on the ramparts, than all of them quitted their posts, and fled out of the lesser gate. Three Europeans and ten Sepoys were killed in the attack. On the 12th Captain Coote, with 50 Europeans, and 100 Sepoys, marched to the Bandell, a large village three miles north of the fort, where they destroyed several granaries of rice, and in their return were surrounded in the village by the fugitive garrison, and the troops which had been sent from Muxadavad, from whom they disengaged themselves without losing a man. On the 16th a party proceeded in boats some miles to the northward, and destroyed several more granaries on each side of the river, and on the 19th the Europeans, with the smaller vessels, returned to Calcutta.
During this expedition to Hughley, news arrived from Aleppo, that war had been declared between Great Britain and France in the preceding month of May. There were 300 Europeans, and a train of field artillery at Chandernagore: and the select committee of Calcutta expected that they would immediately join the Nabob, with whom, it was thought, that the English force, great as it was, would then be unable to cope, and in this persuasion they determined to treat with him. Accordingly Colonel Clive wrote, a letter to the Seats at Muxadavad, requesting them to act as mediators; but news ​of the attack upon Hugliley arriving at the same time, exasperated the Nabob and all his officers so much, that he immediately began his march, and the Seats were afraid to appear as friends to the English; they however deputed their ablest agent Rungeet Roy to attend the Nabob, and ordered him to correspond with Colonel Clive. The merchant Omichund likewise accompanied the Nabob's army. This man, anxious to recover his shattered fortunes, had followed him from Calcutta to Muxadavad, where ingratiating himself with Moonloll, who although no public minister, had more influence than all of them together, he soon acquired a degree of confidence and intimacy with the Nabob himself; who nevertheless restored with a very sparing hand his effects which had been seized in the general plunder and confiscation of the English property. Omichund being likewise proprietor of most of the best houses, and having many other interests in Calcutta, was solicitous to regain his former influence amongst the English, by promoting the pacification.
In the mean time the English had not been negligent in making prepartions to oppose the Nabob's approach to Calcutta, for they had fortified a camp with several outposts around it about a mile to the northward of the town, and half a mile from the bank of the river. The situation was well chosen; for a large lake, which commenceth about two miles to the eastward of the Morattoe ditch, and adjoins to marshes which extend to the sea, rendered it impossible for an enemy coming from the northward to enter the company's territory without passing in sight of the camp; and at the end of the month the field artillery of the army was completed by the arrival of the Marlborough, which had the greatest part on board. On the 30th, the Nabob's army began to cross the river, about 10 miles above Hughley. Their approach immediately deterred the villagers from bringing any more provisions either to the town or camp, and all the natives who had been hired for the services of the army, deserted. The want of bullocks still continued, and there was but one horse either in the camp or town, and this had been brought from Madrass. However, the apprehensions of the French joining the Nabob, were in a great measure removed; for they, instead of this resolution, ​which it was certainly their interest to have taken without delay, refused him their assistance, and proposed to the English, that the two nations should engage by treaty not to commit hostilities against each other in Bengal during the continuance of the war in Europe. Nevertheless, Colonel Clive despaired of victory over the Nabob, although unassisted by the French force; and yielding to the advice of Rungeet Roy, wrote a letter to the Nabob on the 30th of January proposing peace. The Nabob answered with expressions of cordiality; but continued his march. As he approached, an Armenian, named Petrus, brought and carried several messages; and on the 2d of February, the Nabob desired to confer with deputies, and promised to send passports for them in the evening; but no passports came; and the next morning at day-break, the villages to the north-east were seen in flames, and soon after the van of his army appeared advancing in full march towards Calcutta. Their way was along a high road, which runs for a mile north and south, until it reaches the head of the lake, where was a bridge of masonry, from whence the road turns and continues in the direction of east and west, almost in a strait line for two miles until it joins the N. E. part of the Morattoe ditch: so that if the bridge had been retrenched, and a detachment with two field-pieces posted there, the enemy must have passed between this post and the camp: but Colonel Clive, perhaps not imprudently, unwilling to divide his force, and equally so to break off the negotiation with the Nabob, suffered the troops in sight to pass unmolested; who spread themselves without the Morattoe ditch, and a body of their Louchees, or plunderers, who are armed with clubs, passed into the company's territory about noon, and attacked the houses of the natives in the northern part of the town; but a detachment which had been posted at Pemng's redoubt, sallied, and, killing some of them, returned with 50 prisoners; which deterred the enemy from making any more incursions during the rest of the day. In the plain, troops after troops, in different intervals, followed the first that appeared; and in the afternoon a large body, with cannon and coolies, began to intrench themselves in a large garden on the right hand of the road, midway ​between the bridge and the Morattoe ditch, and about a mile and a half to the south-east of the English camp. On this insult, Colonel Clive immediately marched with the greatest part of his troops, and six field-pieces; as they approached, the enemy fired upon them from nine pieces of cannon, and several bodies of their cavalry drew up on each side of the garden, of which the attack appeared so hazardous, that Clive restrained the action to a cannonade, which continued only an hour, that the troops might regain the camp before dark: three Sepoys and two artillery men were killed, and about ten of the enemy's horse.
The next morning, the main body of the enemy's army appeared advancing in the same road as the van had passed, and a letter was received from the Nabob, desiring that the deputies would come to Nabob-gunge, a village six miles to the north of the camp: on which Mr. Walsh and Mr. Scrafton were immediately sent; who when they arrived at Nabob-gunge, found that the Nabob had quitted it some hours before: on which they followed in the track of the army, and in the evening arrived at his quarters, which he had taken up in a garden belonging to Omichund, situated in the north-east part of the company's territory, within the Morattoe ditch. Here they were introduced by Rungeet Roy to the prime minister Boydoolub, who suspecting that they intended to assassinate the Nabob, desired to examine whether they had pistols concealed, and then insisted that they should quit their swords: but finding that they would not submit to this humiliation, he conducted them to the Durbar, where the Nabob was sitting in full state, accompanied by all his principal officers: many others of inferior degree, such as were of the largest stature, and bore the greatest marks of ferocity in their countenances, had likewise been selected to attend on this occasion; who, to appear still more terrible, were dressed in thick stuffed garments, with enormous turbans, and during the audience sat scowling at the deputies, as if they only waited the signal to murder them. The deputies began by expostulating with the Nabob for entering the company's limits, whilst he was amusing Colonel Clive with offers of peace, after which they delivered a paper containing ​their proposals, which the Nabob read, and having whispered to some of his officers, desired the deputies to confer with the Duan, and dismissed the assembly. As the deputies were going out, Omichund, who had been present at the audience, advised them to take care of themselves; adding, with a very significant look, that the Nabob's cannon was not yet come up. The deputies suspecting that the Nabob intended to detain them prisoners, ordered their attendants to extinguish their lights; and instead of going to the tent of the Duan, hastened along the high road within the Morattoe ditch to Perring's redoubt, and from thence to the camp. Their report determined Colonel Clive to attack the Nabob's camp in the morning. At midnight 600 sailors armed with firelocks were landed from the ships of war; the battalion of Europeans were 650, the artillery-men 100, the Sepoys 800, the field-pieces 6 sixpounders. The order of march was a line advancing in half-files, that is three men abreast: half the Sepoys marched before, and half behind the battalion of Europeans; in the rear were the field-pieces with the artillery-men and Lascars, and all the sailors. To lessen the incumbrance of carriages, there being no bullocks to draw them, the Lascars carried the ammunition of the field-pieces on their heads; and to deter them from flinging away their loads and taking flight, they were guarded on all sides by a part of the sailors; other sailors were allotted to draw the field-pieces, and the rest of them marched as they could, immediately behind the rear division of Sepoys; Colonel Clive kept in the middle of the battalion. Of the Nabob's army a part, with the general Meer Jaffier, were within the Morattoe ditch; and most of these encamped near Omichund's garden, as a protection to the Nabob, who lay there; but much the greatest part encamped between this ditch and the lake, overspreading all the ground between, without method or order. A little before the dawn of day, the English line came upon their advanced guards, stationed in the ditches of that part of the high road which leads from the bridge at the head of the lake, to the Morattoe ditch. These guards, after firing their matchlocks, and discharging some rockets, ran away: but one of the rockets striking the cartouch-box of one of the Sepoys, ​set fire to the charges, which blowing up, communicated the mischief to several others, and the dread of catching this fire threw the whole division into confusion: fortunately none of the enemy were at hand to take advantage of it, and Captain Coote, who marched at the head of the grenadiers, immediately in the rear of the Sepoys, rallied them, and restored the line of march. By this time it was daylight, when a very thick fog, peculiar to the mornings of this season of the year in Bengal, began to overspread the ground. The line proceeded without farther interruption, until they came opposite to Omichund's garden, when they heard the sound of horse coming upon them on the full gallop from the right; on which they halted. This cavalry was a body of Persians excellently mounted, and stationed as an outguard to the Nabob, under that part of the Morattoe ditch, which encloses Omichund's garden: they were suffered to come within thirty yards before the line gave fire, which fell heavy, and killing many of them, the rest instantly dispersed in great confusion. The line then proceeded slowly, platoons constantly firing on either hand; whilst the field-pieces in the rear fired single balls forward, but obliquely outward, on each side of the line; but all without any immediate object; for the fog prevented any man from seeing beyond the ground on which he trod. About a mile to the south of the garden is a narrow causeway, raised several feet above the level of the country, with a ditch on each side; it leads from the east to the Morattoe ditch, and across it into the company's territory. The enemy had barricaded the passage; which it was intended to force, and from thence to proceed, as it were, back again, along the high road adjoining to and on the inside of the rampart, in order to attack the Nabob's quarters at the garden: but as soon as the first division of Sepoys changed their former direction and began to march along the causeway, the field-pieces in the rear, on the right of the line, continuing to fire forward, killed several of them: upon which the whole division sought their safety in the ditch on the other side of the causeway, and the troops who succeeded them crossed it likewise, not knowing what to do. As soon as this was reported to Colonel Clive, he ordered the whole line to continue crossing the ​causeway but to halt immediately after they had passed it, intending to form them into some disposition, proper to storm the pass; this brought the whole together into one irregular heap, and whilst Colonel Clive was waiting for the return of two or three officers, whom he had sent to examine the barricade, the troops were unexectedly assailed by a discharge from two pieces of heavy cannon, loaded with langrain, and mounted within 200 yards, upon a small bastion of the Morattoe ditch, to the right of the barricade, which killed and disabled 22 Europeans; another discharge soon followed, with less, but however with some effect. This annoyance instantly overset the resolution of storming the pass; and the line immediately began to extend itself again, as well to present the fewest bodies to the cannonade, as to gain without delay a broad high road, which, bout half a mile to the south of the causeway, crosses the Morattoe ditch into the company's territory, and then joins the avenue leading to the fort of Calcutta. But their progress was now continually retarded by the excessive labour and difficulty of transporting the field-pieces; for the ground between the causeway and the road was laid out in small rice fields, each of which was enclosed by a separate bank, so that the field-pieces could only be drawn along the ditches between the banks, and were therefore at every field in a different direction: sometimes, likewise, it was necessary to raise them over the banks into the field, in order to repulse the enemy's cavalry; who after nine o'clock, when the fog cleared, were discovered threatening to the left; ever and anon advancing so near, that it was necessary to detach platoons from the line to repulse them. In the mean time the fire of the enemy's two pieces of cannon continued, and a quarter of a mile to the south of these two other pieces began likewise to annoy the line from the same rampart. At ten, after much fatigue and action, the troops, having abandoned two of the field-pieces, which had broken down, arrived, and formed in the high-road leading to the avenue, where a body of horse and foot were posted in front to defend the passage across the Morattoe ditch. Several very large bodies of cavalry likewise assembled in the rear, acting with more courage than those in ​front, and pressed hard upon one of the field-pieces, Which was gallantly rescued by Ensign Yorke, with a platoon of Adlercron's regiment. The fire of a few other platoons dispersed the enemy in front; and the troops being now within the company's territory, might have proceeded along the road on the inside of the ditch, quite up to Omichund's garden, where the Nabob still remained, surrounded by a large body of cavalry; but Colonel Clive thinking that they had already endured too much fatigue, continued marching straight along the avenue to the fort, where they arrived about noon. Twenty-seven of the battalion, 12 sailors, and 18 Sepoys, were killed, and 70 of the battalion, with 12 sailors, and 35 Sepoys, were wounded; two captains of the company's troops, Pye and Bridges, and Mr. Belcher, the secretary of Colonel Clive, were killed; Mr. Ellis, a factor, who with several other young men in the mercantile service of the company, served as a volunteer, lost his leg by a cannon ball. The greatest part of this mischief was done by the four pieces of cannon from the rampart of the Morattoe ditch. In the evening the troops returned to their camp, passing through the town along the streets nearest to the river, and part of the way within a quarter of a mile of the stations of the enemy, who did not molest, them.
The troops, officers as well as common men, dispirited by the loss which had been sustained, and the risques to which they had been exposed, as they thought, to very little purpose, blamed their commander, and called the attempt rash, and ill-concerted. It was nevertheless necessary, as well to convince the enemy that their former inactivity did not proceed from fear, as because the difficulty of obtaining provisions increased every hour whilst the Nabob remained so near Calcutta. But it was ill-concerted; for the troops ought to have assembled at Perring's redoubt, which is not half a mile from Omichund's garden, to which they might have marched from the redoubt, in a spacious road, capable of admitting 12 or 15 men a-breast, on the left exposed indeed to the annoyance of matchlocks from some enclosures, where, however, cavalry could not act; but their right would have been defended by the ​rampart of the Morattoe ditch, contiguous to which the road lies; and their only danger would have been in front, from onsets of cavalry, and the discharge of what pieces of cannon the enemy had got near the garden.
The Nabob's army was much more disheartened than the English. They had lost 22 officers of distinction, 600 common men, four elephants, 500 horses, some camels, and a great number of bullocks. The Nabob himself having never before been so near the tumult of a battle, regarded the attack of his camp as an effort of uncommon intrepidity, accused all his own officers of cowardice, and would have immediately retreated out of the company's territory, had they not promised to be better prepared in future. Accordingly his whole army passed the succeeding night on the watch, firing cannon and musketry until day-light, in order to encourage themselves, and to deter the English from attacking them again.
The next morning Rungeet Roy, by the Nabob's order, wrote a letter to Colonel Clive, complaining of the hostilities which he had committed; but making proposals of peace. To which Colonel Clive, in a letter to the Nabob himself, replied, that he had marched through his camp with no other intention than to convince him of what the English troops were capable, who, he said, had cautiously hurt none, excepting such as had opposed them; but that he was willing to renew the negotiation. The Nabob, instead of resenting the scoff, ordered Rungeet Roy to continue the correspondence; and under the pretence of acting consistently with his professions of peace, moved his whole army, and encamped about three miles to the north-east of the lake, they passed in sight of the English camp and were again suffered to proceed without molestation.
Messages of negotiation continued, brought and carried by Omichund and Rungeet Roy; and, on the 9th of February, a treaty was concluded of the following purport: "The Nabob agreed to restore the Company's factories, but only such of the plundered effects and monies as had been regularly brought to account in the books of his government. He permitted the English to fortify Calcutta in whatsoever manner they should think expedient; allowed them ​to coin gold and silver in a mint of their own; exempted all merchandizes passing with their dustucks or passports, from tax, fee, or imposition; permitted them to take possession of the thirtyeight villages, of which the grant had been obtained by the embassy in 1717, from the Emperor Furrukshir; and in general confirmed all the privileges which had been granted to them by former emperors ever since their first arrival in the province." The oaths of the Nabob, MeerJaffier and Roy doolub, were the only pledges or security for the execution of the treaty.
On the 11th the Nabob removed a few miles farther to the north, and the next day sent the usual serpaws or presents of dresses to Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive, by Rungeet Roy and Omichund, and proposed an alliance offensive and defensive against all enemies. This proposal was accepted without hesitation, and the article ratified was sent back the same day by Omichund, who was likewise intrusted by Colonel Clive to sound if the Nabob would permit the English to attack the French settlement of Chandernagore; for there was time before the setting in of the southern monsoon. The Nabob detested the idea; but, dreading an immediate renewal of hostilities, temporized; and pretending that Mr. Bussy from the Decan, and a squadron from Pondicherry, were coming to Bengal, he requested that the English would prevent them from entering his dominions; and, as a farther disguise, he requested 20 English gunners to serve in his own artillery; he likewise recommended, that Mr. Watts might be appointed the company's representative at his court; choosing him from a persuasion that he was a meek man, without guile. The next day he continued his march to Muxadavad, and Colonel Clive having received no positive injunction to the contrary from the Nabob, determined to prosecute the enterprize against Chandernagore. Accordingly, on the 18th, the English troops crossed the river a few miles above Calcutta, and encamped on the opposite shore; but before this time the French had taken the alarm, and by repeated letters called on the Nabob, as he valued his own safety, to protect their settlement; their messengers found him just arrived at Augadeep, 40 miles south of Muxadavad, where he halted, ​and immediately wrote a letter, peremptorily commanding the English to desist from their intention.
In the mean time Mr. Watts set out for Muxadavad, and with him were sent the artillery-men requested by the Nabob; he was likewise accompanied by Omichund, whose conduct in the late negotiation had effaced the impression of former imputations, insomuch that Mr. Watts was permitted to consult and employ him without reserve on all occasions. They stopped on the 18th near Hughley, where Omichund discovered that a messenger from the Nabob had arrived the day before with a present of 100,000 rupees to the government of Chandernagore; that the governor of Hughley, Nuncomar, had received orders to assist £he French, in case the English should attack them; and that a detachment of the Nabob's army was marching from Augadeep to reinforce the troops at Hughley; on which Omichund visited Nuncomar, and by pompous representations of the English force, by assurances of their protection and favour, and the promise of 12,000 rupees to be paid as soon as Chandernagore should be taken, won him over to their interests; a striking instance of the extreme venality which prevails even amongst the highest ranks in Indostan; for the annual emoluments of the Phousdar amounted to 250,000 rupees. On the 21st, Watts and Omichund arrived at Augadeep, when the Nabob immediately sent for Omichund, and expressing much indignation at the intention of the English to attack Chandernagore, commanded him to answer strictly whether they intended to maintain, or to break the treaty. Omichund told him that the English were famous throughout the world for their good faith; insomuch that a man in England, who on any occasion told a lie, was utterly disgraced, and never after admitted to the society of his former friends and acquaintance: then calling in a Bramin, who chanced to be attending near the tent, he put his hand on the Bramin's foot, a form of oath among the Gentoos, and swore that the English would never break the treaty. The Nabob something appeased by this solemn declaration, said he would revoke the orders he had given to Meer Jaffier, to march with half the army to Chandernagore; and instructed Omichund to assure Colonel ​Colonel Clive, that the troops which had marched two days before, were not intended to assist the French. The next day he received a letter from Colonel Clive, assuring him that he would not commit hostilities against the French without his consent; on which he continued his march to Muxadavad.
Nevertheless, Mr. Watts and Omichund did not despair of obtaining his permission; and on there arrival at Muxadavad, practised with such of the favourites and ministers as could promote the success of their applications. Their solicitations created much anxiety and agitation in the court, where the French, from various causes, had many friends. Monickchund, and several other officers of note, had shaded largely in the spoil of Calcutta, and being convinced that nothing would render the English so formidable to the Nabob, as the reduction of Chandernagore, expected to be called upon to refund their plunder as soon as that event should happen: Coja Wazeed managed the greatest part of the French trade in Bengal with great profit to himself; and, to the Seats Mootabray and Roopchund, the government of Chandernagore was indebted a million and a half of Rupees. These various interests concurred in counteracting the practices and petitions of Mr. Watts and Omichund, and the remonstrances of Colonel Clive. The Nabob encouraged all the intrigues which were employed on both sides; and even often expressed himself to Mr. Watts and Omichund in terms which implied permission; but every letter which he wrote to Colonel Clive, and scarce a day passed without one, positively forbade the attack. With these contradictions he kept the English councils in suspence until the end of February, when he received intelligence that an army of Pitans had taken Delhi, and intended to conquer the eastern provinces of the empire. This news struck him with so much consternation, that he immediately dispatched a letter to Colonel Clive, requesting his assistance against this imaginary invasion of his own dominions, and offered to allow a hundred thousand rupees a month for the expences of the English troops.
The government of Chandernagore, at the same time that they were soliciting the protection of the Nabob, prosecuted their ​negotiation with the English at Calcutta, where the select committee, having little hopes of obtaining the Nabob's consent to attack them, consented to a treaty of neutrality and pacification in Bengal, and agreed that it should be guaranteed by the Nabob: but when all points seemed to be adjusted, Mr. Watson refused his concurrence, because the act of Chandernagore was not obligatory on Pondicherry; whereas Calcutta treated without reference to a superior power. Colonel Clive was at this time become more anxious than any one to conclude the treaty, and insisted, that. Admiral Watson should either ratify it, or proceed immediately against Chandernagore, without waiting for the Nabob's consent. The Admiral rejecting the alternative, altercations ensued, which delayed the execution of the treaty, until Clive received the Nabob's invitation to march to his assistance against the Pitans. On the same day a boat from Ingelee brought intelligence of the arrival of three ships from Bombay, under the command of Commodore James, which had on board three companies of infantry, and one of artillery, and that the Cumberland, of 74 guns, which had parted from the fleet in the passage from Madrass was arrived in the road of Ballasore. With such additions the English force was deemed capable of taking Chandernagore, although protected by the Nabob's army: Colonel Clive therefore immediately dismissed the French deputies, who were then with him, waiting to sign the treaty, which was even written out fair, and which they supposed had been intirely concluded: he at the same time wrote to the Nabob, that he would join him as soon as the news concerning the approach of the Pitans should be verified, and that he should in the mean time proceed as far as Chandernagore. Accordingly the troops quitted their encampment opposite to Calcutta on the 7th of March, while the artillery proceeded in boats, advancing slowly, that the Bombay detachment might have time to come up the river, before they entered the French limits. In the interval the Nabob was kept quiet by his dread of the Pitans, and the representations of Nuncomar, who constantly assured him that the English had no hostile intentions. Nevertheless, Admiral Watson refused to attack the French until the consent of the Nabob was obtained; to whom, ​however, he represented, that the government of Chandernagore little deserved his favour, since they had made use of his name to sanctify a treaty which they had no power to conclude; and complained at the same time, with some menaces, that he had neither made any restitution, nor accomplished any other part of his treaty with the English. The Nabob, perplexed with the angry style of Mr. Watson's letter, made use of these words in his answer: "If an enemy comes to you and implores your mercy with a clear heart, his life should be spared; but if you mistrust his sincerity, act according to the time and occasion." This letter was scarcely dispatched before his favourites made him change his mind, and write others positively forbidding the attack; but Mr. Watson, considering this contradiction as an indignity, ordered the ships to move.
The settlement of Chandernagore. like that of Calcutta, consisted of a territory, a town inhabited by the natives, another by the French and a fort. The territory, beginning from the southern limits of the Dutch settlement of Chinchura, extended two miles along the bank of the river, and about one and a half inland. The fort was situated nearly at an equal distance, between the north and south extremity of this territory, and about 30 yards from the river. It was a square of about 130 yards, with four bastions, each mounting 10 guns; several more were mounted in different parts of the ramparts, and eight upon a ravelin, which stood on the margin of the river, before the gateway of the western curtain: all these were heavy cannon, from twenty-four to thirty-two pounders; and six of smaller calibre were planted on the terrace of a church within the fort, which overlooked the walls. The French, after they received intelligence of the declaration of war, had begun to dig a ditch, had demolished all the buildings which stood within 100 yards of the walls, and used the ruins to form a glacis; but neither the ditch nor the glacis were completed: to supply these defects, they had erected several batteries without the verge of the glacis; one of three guns before the gate leading to Chinchura; another of four, in a high road leading from the westward to the north face of the fort; to the ​southward they had four batteries, three of which were in the principal streets leading to the fort; and the other close to the river, about 150 yards south of the fort commanded a narrow part of the channel, in which several ships had been sunk, in order to stop the passage of the men of war. The garrison consisted of 600 Europeans, and 300 Sepoys; but only 300 of the Europeans were regular troops, the rest being inhabitants of the town and sailors they likewise expected the assistance of the troops belonging to Hughley, of which a part were already stationed within their bounds; but Nuncomar fulfilled his promise to Omichund, and recalled these troops as soon as the English appeared in sight, alleging to the Nabob, that he had withdrawn them in order to preserve the standard of the province from the disgrace to which it would inevitably have been exposed, by assisting the French against so superior a force as that which was come to attack them.
The detachment from Bombay having joined, Colonel Clive commenced hostilities on the 14th of March. In order to avoid the opposition of the batteries in the southern part of the town, the troops entered the French limits from the westward, along the high road leading to the north face of the fort; detachments from the garrison were placed in the thickets on either hand, who skirmished until three in the afternoon, and then retired to the battery in the road, which lay under command of the north-west bastion. The English from several houses near continued to fire upon the battery with their small arms until night, when the enemy spiked up the cannon and retreated into the fort. The desertion of this battery rendered the other four to the south, excepting that on the bank of the river, of no use, and exposed them all to be taken in the rear, when the retreat of their guards to the fort would be cut off: to prevent which their guns and men were recalled early the next morning, before the English troops were in motion to intercept them. At noon the English army took possession of the houses nearest to the southern esplanade, and under their shelter suffered very little from the fire of the garrison. The 16th was employed in bringing up the artillery and stores, and the next day they began to fire musketry from ​the tops of the houses, and to throw shells from some cohorns, and a thirteen-inch mortar; this annoyance continued on the 18th: the next day a battery was begun behind some ruins, opposite the south face of the s. E. bastion, and, at the same time, were mounted three pieces of cannon on the enemy's battery close to the river, turning them against the south flank and face of the north-east bastion: this day the ships Kent, Tiger, and Salisbury, arrived from Calcutta, and anchored about a mile below the fort. The navigation had been extremely difficult, but conducted with extreme precaution and skill by Captain Speke, who commanded the Kent. On the 20th the fire from the fort silenced the three guns on the battery close to the river, and on the 21st they beat down a house near the other, the ruins of which buried some men, none of whom, however, were mortally hurt. The next day this battery was completed, and the other repaired: not more than 20 men, Europeans and Sepoys, had been killed and wounded in all these operations. In the mean time the narrow channel between the ships and the fort had been deligently sounded, and it was found that the vessels which were intended to obstruct their passage, had not been sunk in the proper place. Every thing being ready on shore, it was determined to attack with the ships the next day; and, indeed, no time was to be lost; for the Nabob finding himself deceived, had continually dispatched messengers, of whom six arrived in one day, with letters commanding the English in very imperious and menacing terms to discontinue the attack; he had likewise sent forward a part of his army under the command of Roydoolub, who having advanced within twenty miles of Hughley, halted in consequence of the representations of Nuncomar, assuring him that the French would surrender before he could arrive to their assistance.
During this interval, the Cumberland, in which Admiral Pocock hoisted his flag, arrived at Ingelee. After striking on the sand off Point Palmyras, she plied ten days against the wind and currents in vain to get round, when the great number of sick on board, amounting to 266, determined Mr. Pocock to bear away for refreshment to Vizagapatam, where he found the settlement in fears, not ill ​founded, of being attacked by M. Bussy; and landed ninety of the Company's troops, to reinforce their garrison. From hence as the currents still continued strong from the Norward, he sailed for intelligence to Madrass, where, at the request of the presidency, he landed the rest, one hundred more, and received the same number of sailors belonging to the squadron, which had recovered in the hospital. There still remained on board 90 rank and file, who were of Adlereron's regiment, and they returned with the ship to Ingelee, where the report from Calcutta signified, that the three other men of war with Admiral Watson were proceeding from thence to Chandernagore, of which the attack might be expected every day. There was no time to carry the ship up the river; for the pilotage at this season requires several; nor were any boats sent down to convey the troops with their accoutrements; on which Mr. Pocock, with a spirit worthy of an English admiral, took the Cumberland's barge, and rowing night and day, joined Mr. Watson a few hours before the morning of the attack, and immediately hoisted his flag in the Tiger.
This ship was appointed to attack the N. E. bastion of the fort, the Kent against the ravelin before the middle of the curtain, the Salisbury against the s. E. bastion. At sun-rise the two batteries on shore began to fire, the one against the S. E. bastion with twenty-four pounders, the other against the N. E. with three: to which the, enemy's fire was much superior until seven o'clock; when the Tiger coming opposite to the ravelin, before the gateway, her first broadside obliged the enemy to abandon that defence; after which she proceeded, and anchored at the distance of 50 yards, directly opposite to the N. E. bastion. The Kent soon after let go her anchor opposite to the ravelin, but in this instant, the fire from the fort killed and wounded several of the sailors appointed to manage the ship, and a shot unfortunately disabled the commander, Captain Speke; who not being able to continue the directions he intended to give, so much confusion ensued, that the cable, not stopped in time, ran out to its end; and the ship, instead of anchoring opposite to the ravelin, fell back so far, that her poop appeared beyond the S. E. bastion, exposed ​likewise to a flank of the bastion on the s. w. The energy, elated with this advantage, kept up so hot a fire, that Admiral Watson instead of attempting to recover his intended station, determined to decide the contest where his ship lay, which occupying the post intended for the Salisbury, this ship anchored 150 yards lower down the river, and remained out of the action, which was maintained entirely by the Kent and Tiger. The cannonade was fierce, every shot on both sides took place; and, at the same time, the two batteries on shore assailed with a cross fire the two bastions of the fort, against which the ships directed their broadsides. At nine o'clock, the fort shewed a flag of truce, and Mr. Watson, not to let the enemy see the condition of his ship, sent Captain Coote, of the King's regiment ashore to receive their proposals; and whilst messages were passing concerning the terms of surrender, 50 of, the best soldiers of the garrison, with 20 Topasses, and several officers, quitted the fort, and marched to the northward. At three in the afternoon the capitulation was concluded.
During this action, the Salisbury received only some straggling shot, which did little damage, and the fort received as little from her fire. In the Tiger, the master and 14 others were killed, and 56 wounded: the Kent received six shot in her masts, and 142 in her hull; the first lieutenant Mr. Perrot, and 18 of the crew, were killed, and 72 wounded. Amidst this slaughter, it was a general consolation that the wound of Captain Speke was not mortal, whose enterprizing spirit, and nautical abilities, had eminently contributed to the successes of this squadron in India; the same ball, which struck the calf of his leg, carried off the thigh of his son, a youth of promising hopes, who died of this disaster. Of the English troops on shore, only one man was killed, and 10 wounded, during this last attack; but the fire of their batteries, and of their musketry from the tops of the houses, hastened the surrender of the fort, in which 40 men were killed and 70 wounded. The defence was gallant, more especially as none of the garrison, excepting a few of the officers, had ever before been in services of danger: Mr. Devignes, a Captain of one of the French company's ships, commanded the bastions, ​bastions, and inspired his own activity and courage into all who served under him. The immediate reduction of the fort was owing to the ships, and of them, only to the two in which the two Admirals hoisted their flags, whose fire did as much execution in three hours, as the batteries on shore would have done in several days; during which the whole of the Nabob's army might have arrived, when the siege must have been raised: otherwise the troops alone were sufficient to accomplish the success.
At the same time that the Nabob heard of the surrender of Chandernagore, he received more positive, but still false, intelligence from Patna, that the army, of Pitans, against whom he had asked the assistance of the English troops, were in full march to invade the province of Behar, and that they had engaged Balagerow, the general of the Morattoes, to invade Bengal. Frightened by this intelligence he wrote letters of congratulation to Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive, expressing the strongest desire to remain in friendship and alliance with them, and offered the territory of Chandernagore to the English on the same terms as it had been held by the French Company; but he ordered the division of his army, which had marched with Roydulub, to continue at Plassy on the Island of Cossimbuzar, 30 miles to the South of Muxadavad. This guard did not accord with his professions; and it was determined to try the sincerity of them by requesting him to give up all the other French factories and subjects remaining in his dominions. Nothing could be more repugnant to his intentions; for he had ordered his officers to protect the soldiers of chandernagore, who had left the fort during the attack; and by this assistance they had escaped an English detachment sent in pursuit of them, and were arrived safe at Cossimbuzar: however, he answered Colonel Clive with much civility, though with inconsistent excuses; alleging, that as a prince he could not persecute the distressed, and as a feudatory of the great Mogul he could not contribute to the destruction of Europeans, who were established in the province by the permission of so many Emperors; as if the same reasons ought not to have prevented him ​from destroying Calcutta. But lest these evasions should create susPicions, he began to restore part of the English effects, and paid 450,000 rupees in money.
In the mean time, the captors collected the plunder of Chandernagore, which amounted to 100,0001. sterling. The ships returned to Calcutta, where the Kent, infirm before, was condemned as unfit for future service. The season was by this time so far advanced, that the other ships could not get out to sea before the southern monsoon set in. The troops might indeed have been sent to the coast of Coromandel, if they had been embarked, immediately after Chandernagore was taken, on several vessels, which were ready to sail at that time. But Colonel Clive determined, contrary to the orders of Madrass, to remain in Bengal with the whole army until the month of September; being convinced that the Nabob would never fulfil the terms of the treaty of February, unless constrained by fear. He therefore, instead of leading the army back to Calcutta, encamped on the plain to the north of Hughley, where it was better situated either to awe or act against the Nabob.
In this interval Mr, Law, the chief of the French factory at Cossimbuzar, had persuaded the Nabob that a fleet of 40 French ships were attacking Bombay. The Nabob elated by this supposition returned to his former equivocations concerning the treaty. On which Colonel Clive wrote to him, that nothing but his permission to attack the French at Cossimbuzar could convince the English that he bore the good will of an ally towards them, and that his dignity might be preserved by assisting neither side. This letter provoked him to excess, and amongst other extravagancies, he said publicly, he would put Mr. Watts to death. But soon recollecting the imprudence of this threat; and being as anxious to prevent the English troops from advancing towards his capital, as he was solicitous to preserve the French for future contingencies, he furnished Mr. Law with money, arms, and ammunition, and ordered him to march with all his men, as if proceeding to the western frontiers of Behar; but in expectation of being soon recalled to Muxadavad. Accordingly this body of adventurers, consisting of 100 Europeans, and ​60 Coronundel Sepoys, with 30 small carriages, and four elephants, passed through the city in military array on the 16th of April, and having crossed the river, proceeded towards Behar. This evasion however deceived nobody. And Colonel Clive prepared to send a detachment in pursuit of them.
The report of the detachment renewed the indignation of the Nabob; he immediately ordered the English Vacqueel to quit his presence, and to appear no more at the palace, and sent two of his officers to Mr. Watts, proposing this alternative; "either that he should immediately return to Calcutta; or give an assurance under his hand, that the English should make no further attempts to molest the French." Mr. Watts refused either to retire, or to give the assurance, and obtained leave to consult the presidency, who ordered him to send what treasure and effects he had collected to Calcutta, as opportunities might offer, but without seeming either to fear or to intend mischief: Colonel Clive also detached 40 Europeans to protect the factory, and sent in several boats a supply of ammunition concealed under rice.
By this time the mutual suspicions between the Nabob and the English were so much increased, that Colonel Clive thought a rupture inevitable, and even necessary. He therefore persisted in his resolution of sending a detachment in pursuit of Mr. Law; and having received information that Meer Jaffier, the general of the army, was offended against the Nabob, he advised Mr. Watts to cultivate his friendship.
The spirit of rebellion had for some time been lurking in the court of Surajah Dowlah; he had imprisoned Monickchund, and upon releasing, had obliged him to pay a million of rupees as a fine for the effects he had plundered in Calcutta. The Duan Roydoolub, although the first civil officer in the state, found his conduct subject to the controul of the favourite Moonlol. To the Seats, the Nabob behaved with civility; but they, accustomed to the confidence and good sense of Allaverdy, trembled for their wealth, under the caprices of his successor; and they had long been connected with ​Meer Jaffier, who, although he despised the wretched character of Surajah Dowlah, dreaded the excesses of it.
Mr. Watts communicated with Omichund on the state of tempers and resentments; and they admitted Mr. Scrafton to their councils, who came at this time to Muxadavad in his way to Dacca, and was instructed by Colonel Clive to observe, whilst he remained there. Omichund with his usual bustle attended every day at the Durbar, and was as assiduous in his visits to the principal officers of the government.
On the 23d of April an officer named Yar Khan Latty, by a private message, requested to confer with Mr. Watts in secrecy. This man commanded 2000 horse in the Nabob's service, but received a stipend from the Seats to defend them upon any occasion of danger even against the Nabob himself. It is therefore probable that he was now employed by the Seats to discover the real intentions of the English towards the Nabob. Mr. Watts sent Omichund, whom Latty informed, "That the Nabob would very soon march with the greatest part of his forces towards Patna, against the Pitans; and that he intended to temporize with the English until his return to Muxadavad; when he had determined to extirpate them out of his dominions, into which he had sworn that they should never return; that most of his officers held him in utter detestation, and were ready to join the first leader of distinction who should take arms; that the English army might, during his absence, take possession of Muxadavad; and that he, Latty, with his own troops would join them in the attempt; when if they would proclaim him Nabob, he should be supported by Roydoolub, and the Seats; he offered in return to enter into any engagements which the English should stipulate for the advantage of their own affairs."
Mr. Watts approved the scheme, and communicated it to Colonel Clive, who approving it likewise, immediately countermanded the detachment which was ready to march in pursuit of Mr. Law, and wrote a very civil letter to the Nabob.
The day after the conference between Omichund and Latty, Petrus the Armenian, who had been employed between the Nabob and the ​English in February, came to Mr. Watts with the same proposals from Meer Jaffier as had been made by Latty. Meer Jaffier declared, that self-defence obliged him to arm, being in danger of assassination every time he went to the Durbar; that the Duan Roydoolub, the Seats, and several officers of the first rank in the army, whom he named, had engaged to join, if the English would assist in dethroning the Nabob: if the scheme were accepted, he desired that the terms of the confederacy might be settled without delay, and requested that Colonel Olive would immediately break up his camp, and sooth the Nabob with every appearance of peace until hostilities should commence."
The superior importance of Jaffier gave him the preference over every other pretender who might offer; and as soon as Clive received intelligence of his overtures, he went from the camp to Calcutta, and communicated them to the select committee, of which he was himself a member. The committee accepted the alliance as the most fortunate event which could happen, and instructed Mr. Watts what terms to stipulate: they where all very advantageous, but one eminently so, demanding a restitution in money adequate to all the losses which had been sustained by the Company and individuals by the capture of Calcutta. This council was held on the first of May. The next day Colonel Clive returned to the camp, which, in compliance with the request of Meer Jaffier, he immediately broke up; sending one half of the troops to Calcutta, and the rest into the fort of Chandernagore. He then requested the Nabob to give the same proof of amicable intentions by withdrawing the large division of his army, which still lay encamped at Plassy, under the command of Roydoolub.
But in this interval the Nabob had been relieved from his fears of the Pitans by intelligence of their retreat from Delhi, which made him less solicitous to temporize with the English, and Roydoolub had stopped at Cutwah the detachment of 40 Europeans going to Cossimbuzar; the spy, Mooteram, who had been sent under pretence of some compliment to Colonel Clive, gave information, that half the English army had been privately detached in small parties from the ​camp, and were at this very time secreted in the factory at Cossimbuzar. The Nabob believing this intelligence, sent a mob of servants and troops to examine the factory, where they found only eight Topasses and 40 Europeans, of which some were French deserters, and the rest were the English gunners whom he had borrowed for the service of his own artillery, and had lately returned. Nevertheless his suspicions that the English intended to move towards Muxadavad continued, and induced him to reconcile himself with Meer Jaffier, whom he ordered to proceed immediately with 15,000 men, to reinforce Roydoolub at Plassy. Believing, likewise, that the English ships of war could proceed up the great arm of the Ganges to the northern point of the island of Cossimbuzar, and then come down the Cossimbuzar river to Muxadavad, he commanded large piles to be fixed across the river at Sootey, about 20 miles above the city. Such was his extreme ignorance. He at the same time instructed Mr. Law to remain with his men at Boglipore, half way between the pass of Tacriagully and Patna, and his officers in Behar to supply all their wants.
In this conjuncture Meer Jaffier, fearing that by a refusal to proceed to Plassy, he should turn the Nabob's suspicions upon himself, obeyed with appearance of alacrity, and marched from the city on the 29th of April, but left his agent to carry on the correspondence with Mr. Watts, who, to remove as much as possible all suspicious appearances, ordered the detachment which had been stopped at Cutwah to return to Calcutta; he at the same time dispatched Mr. Scrafton to the select committee, and on the 6th of May received their resolutions concerning the treaty with Jaffier, when, in concert with Jaffier's agent, whom we suppose to be still the Armenian Petrus, they established positive sums to the articles stipulating monies. The rains detained the agent in the city till the 12th, when he went to Plassy, and returned on the 14th, with assurances, that Meer Jaffier had consented freely to all the articles; but requested that the confederacy might be kept secret from Omichund, whom he regarded as an intriguing Gentoo without fortitude or honesty.
​This opinion was probably suggested to him by the Seats, who knew the abilities of Omichund, and might apprehend that his influence with the English would interfere with their own, if he should have a leading part in the intended revolution. This restraint very much perplexed Mr. Watts: for Omichund had already been trusted too far, to be now treated with diffidence, without much risque to the scheme, i£ he should by other means discover the real cause, why no farther attention was had to the proposals of Yar Khan Latty. Mr. Watts soon found, that such evasions as men in his situation generally employed, could not elude his sagacity, and therefore told him the confederacy with Jaffier; but had delayed this confidence so long, that Omichund saw it was extorted by fear and necessity. From this hour implacable hatred arose between them, although they co-operated in the conduct of the confederacy.
From his own experience of the practices of Indostan, Omichund had no doubt that Mr. Watts would be amply rewarded by Jaffier, if the revolution succeeded. At the same time he found that no advantage was intended for himself more than restitution in common with the other Gentoo merchants of Calcutta, but that he should run the same risque of his person as Mr. Watts, which to both were great indeed; and more of his fortune, as being much greater than Mr. Watt's: he therefore claimed a commission of five in the hundred on all the Nabob's treasures in money, and a fourth part of his jewels. The common people, to whom numbers give no distinct ideas, rated them at 45 millions of pounds sterling, which nothing but idiotism could believe; but better enquirers supposed them to be four millions and a half; on which Omichund's share would have been 675,000 pounds sterling. The audacity of the pretension implied malignant art; but it is said he threatened to reveal the conspiracy to the Nabob, if not complied with. If so, the boldest iniquity could not go farther. Mr. Watts in his letter on this subject intimates, that he had some apprehensions of such a consequence if Omichund were not satisfied. However, in their conference he evaded a positive ​answer, and Omichund was contented by the promise of referring his claim to the select committee.
On the 14th he sent the articles of the treaty, as finally settled by himself, and accepted by Meer Jaffier, and communicated two other instances of Omichund's improbity. The one was, "that soothed by the seeming acquiescence of Mr. Watts to his claim of commission and a share of the jewels, he had been led to declare that he intended to secrete as much as he could of the Nabob's treasures from the knowledge of Meer Jaffier, and to divide this booty with Roydoolub." The other accusation came from Rungeet Roy, the agent of the Seats. "When the Nabob concluded the treaty of the 6th of February, he empowered Omichund and Rungeet Roy to offer 30 thousand gold mohurs, a coin equivalent to 29 shillings, as a present to the English commanders, and promised moreover 200,000 rupees to be disposed of as Omichund should think proper; who advised Rungeet Roy to make no mention of the present at that time, and promised to divide the 200,000 rupees with him. Rungeet Roy, impatient to receive his share, had frequently pressed the Nabob to send the present to the English commanders, and to issue the other money to Omichund. But the Nabob irritated by the late proceedings of the English, and safe in his capital, was no longer inclined to confer so costly a favour, in every respect to his own detriment. Omichund observed this repugnance, and turned it to his own advantage, by telling the Nabob, that he would be obliged to make the present, if he suffered Rungeet Roy to interfere any longer in the English affairs; but that he might save it, by disgracing him. The Nabob accordingly withheld himself from any farther communication with Rungeet Roy, but rewarded Omichund, with orders for the delivery of many of his confiscated effects. Mr. Watts, desirous to put the truth of these informations to the test, asked Omichund if he should demand the 30,000 gold rupees from the Nabob; to which Omichund replied, that such a request would be very improper at this time, but that he would himself consider of means to get it."
​A stranger, named Govindroy, came on the 3d of May to Calcutta, with a letter as from Ballajerow, the general of the Morattoes, dated from Hyderabad, the capital of Golcondah. In this letter Ballajerow offered to invade Bengal with a hundred and twenty thousand men, within six weeks after he should receive the invitation of the English governor. No mutual interests of great importance subsisting at this time between the English and the Morattoes, the letter and the bearer were suspected of imposture. The man was questioned, but none in the settlement had sufficient criterions to distinguish whether his answers were pertinent Mr. Watts was consulted, and regarded the letter as an artifice invented by the Nabob to try the real disposition of the English towards himself, by their answer to Ballajerow. Clive, with his usual facility of finding expedients in difficulties, advised the committee to communicate the letter to the Nabob with the semblance of believing its authenticity; whereby, should he have invented it, the artifice would be turned against himself; and if he had not, no better means could be employed to deceive the suspicions which he entertained of their evil intentions.
This resolution was taken on the 17th of May, and at the same consultation the committee deliberated on the final terms they should require of Meer Jaffier, and on the conduct they should hold towards Omichund; having before them the treaty as modelled by Mr. Watts, and his letters concerning Omichund. The terms which Mr. Watts, had stipulated for restitution were, to the Company 10 millions of rupees, to the English and other European inhabitants three millions, to the Gentoos three, to the Armenians one: in all 17 millions of rupees. Three millions were likewise mentioned for Omichund; of which we suppose Mr. Watts had informed him.
The committee really believed the wealth of Surajah Dowlah much greater than it possibly could be, even if the whole life of the late Nabob Alliverdy had not been spent in defending his own dominions against the invasions of ruinous enemies; and even if Surajah Dowlah himself had reigned many, instead of only one year. In this persuasion they increased the restitution to Europeans from ​three to five millions of rupees; but allotted only two instead of three millions to the Gentoos, and only 700,000 instead of one million to the Armenians. But these alterations added only 700,000 rupees to the total of the sums stipulated by Mr. Watts for restitution. It was then agreed to ask a donation of 2,500,000 rupees to the squadron, and the same sum to the army. A member then proposed that it should be recommended to Mr. Watts, to ask a donation from Meer Jaffier to each of the members of the committee; and this likewise was resolved.
They then took into consideration what conduct they should hold towards Omichund; they were astonished at the enormity of his demands, and still more exasperated at the imputed atrocity of his intentions in case of disappointment; and determined that he should get nothing by the revolution more than restitution in common with the other Gentoo merchants of Calcutta; but at the same time they designed to make him believe that they intended to reward his services. The expedient was suggested by Colonel Clive. It was, to send two treaties, both signed by Admiral Watson and the members of the committee, and in the treaty which was to be delivered to Meer Jaffier, to omit any stipulation for Omichund; but, in the fictitious treaty which was to be shewn to Omichund, to insert an article stipulating for him a present of two millions of rupees.
These resolutions being taken, it became necessary that some person deputed from the committee should confer with Meer Jaffier; but, as he lay encamped at Plassy, it was difficult to effect this without raising suspicions in the Nabob. It was therefore resolved that Colonel Clive should write to the Nabob, that he had sent Mr. Scrafton in order to communicate a matter of great secrecy and importance, which was the Morattoe letter brought by Govindroy. Mr. Scrafton was instructed to stop at Plassy, and to make a visit, as of ceremony, to Meer Jaffier, whom he was to inform of the purport of the treaty, and of the other requests, and to obtain his assent to them; he was likewise to explain to him the manner in which the committee were acting towards Omichund; and ​finally to adjust a plan of operations for the subsequent conduct of the revolution.
Colonel Clive undertook to get the treaties prepared with due secrecy. The fictitious was transcribed upon red paper. But the agent of Meer Jaffier having insisted that the King's Admiral should sign, as well as the company's representatives; and Omichund knowing this, it was necessary to the scheme of deceiving him, that Mr. Watson should sign both. He signed the real, but refused to sign the fictitious treaty: on which his signature was counterfeited.
On the 19th of May, Clive dispatched the treaties by a private messenger of the country; but, in this short interval, either some intelligence from Muxadavad, or his own reflections, changed his notions of the vastness of Surajah Dowlah's treasures: and he instructed Mr. Watts, that if Meer Jaffier should disapprove of the great amount of the stipulations for money, the restitution allotted for the company might be reduced from ten to five millions of rupees.
Mr. Scrafton was stopped near Plassy by the advanced guards of the camp; he requested to be conducted to the quarters of Meer Jaffier; but some of the Nabob's spies being present, they interfered, and insisted that he should take the direct road to the capital, where he arrived on the 24th. In the interval between Mr. Watts's letters of the 6th, and Mr. Scrafton's return to Muxadavad, the crafty Omichund had practised another trick on the credulity of the Nabob; for, perceiving by his questions that his suspicions of the English increased, although he had discovered nothing of their project, Omichund, after much artificial hesitation, informed him, as a discovery by which he risqued all his pretensions to the favours of the English, that they had lately sent deputies to Mr. Bussy in the Decan, inviting him to march into Bengal, and proposing that both armies should join in dethroning him, when the spoil was to be equally divided between them. A little knowledge and understanding would have convinced the Nabob, that such an union was im​practicable during the war between the two nations, and that it would at any time be incompatible with the interest of the English: nevertheless his timidity prompted him to give intire credit to the tale, and he rewarded Omichund for the intelligence, by ordering the sum of 400,000 rupees, which had been taken from his house at Calcutta, to be immediately restored to him, together with all his effects, wheresoever confiscated in the province: he moreover gave him a mandate, ordering the Rajah of Burdawan to repay 450,000 rupees, which Omichund had lent the Rajah some years before. At this time Omichund was not certain what provision might be made for himself in the treaty, and was endeavouring to get all he could from the Nabob clandestinely, but without any positive intention of undermining the confederacy; for nothing was more likely than his fallacy concerning Bussy to divert the Nabob from any suspicions of the real designs and connexions in which the English were engaged; but nothing, at the same time, was more likely to prevent him from removing his army from Plassy, which was deemed absolutely necessary to their success.
As soon as Mr. Scrafton arrived at Muxadavad, Mr. Watts went with him to the Nabob, to whom Mr. Scrafton delivered a letter from Colonel Clive, which, amongst others, had the following subtle expressions. "I have sent Mr. Scrafton to communicate a matter of the greatest importance. Notwithstanding all that the English have suffered from you, I give you this last proof of my desire to live in peace with you. Why do you keep your army in the field? They distress all the merchants, and prevent us from renewing our trade. The English cannot stay in Bengal without freedom of trade. Do not reduce us to suspect that you intend to destroy us whensoever you have an opportunity." Mr. Scrafton then communicated the Morattoe letter, at which the Nabob seemed much pleased; for he had heard of the arrival, and suspected the business of the messenger, who really came from Ballajerow. After some pause, ruminating on the variety of informations on which he was to form his opinion, he pretended to be convinced that he had suspected ​the good faith of the English without cause: and dismissed Mr. Watts and Scrafton with an assurance that he would immediately recall the troops under the command of Meer Jaffier into the city, but would leave those with Roydoolub in the field, in readiness to join the English on the approach of the Morattoes: who he said would probably invade his dominions. This unexpected resolution would have marred the scheme, since Meer Jaffier would have been as cautious of concluding any thing decisive, whilst one half, as whilst the whole of the army remained in the field. At the next conference Mr. Scrafton represented to him, that the English could not, with common prudence, rely on any of his professions, whilst such a part of his forces were encamped towards Calcutta. The Nabob meditated some time on this argument, and then starting, as a man agitated by suspicion and dismay, said eagerly, "But should the Colonel deceive me." But Scrafton removed his terrors by assurances, and prevailed on him to issue orders recalling his whole army to Muxadavad.
The nearer the confederacy approached to the event, the more did Mr. Watts's apprehensions of the treachery of Omichund increase. Mr. Scrafton therefore undertook to get him away to Calcutta, and under the pretext of solicitude for his safety, proposed that Omichund should accompany him thither without delay, alleging, that his age and the habits of his life would not permit him to make his escape on horseback in the hour of confusion and danger, when the flight of Mr. Watts would convince the Nabob that the English intended war, and when his utmost vengeance would be excited against all their adherents. But avarice is the most inflexible of the vices; and Omichund, not having received more than half of his plundered money from the treasury, requested Mr. Scrafton to wait until he had got the whole. Mr. Watts imputed this delay to another motive, thinking that he wanted to remain in the city until Roydoolub should return from Plassy, that they might settle between them the scheme of purloining as much as possible of the Nabob's treasures. To counteract his repugnance, whatsoever might be the cause, Mr. Scrafton assured him, that Colonel Clive intended to employ him as ​the principal agent of the English in their affairs with the future government after the revolution; and that the emoluments of this office would amply compensate, whatsoever he might relinquish or lose by his immediate departure. At length he consented to go, but it was necessary, and seemed difficult to obtain the Nabob's consent, as he relied principally upon Omichund for intelligence concerning the proceedings and views of the English. But Omichund himself solved the difficulty, by advising Mr. Scrafton to demand of the Nabob the present which he had intended to give to the English commanders at the conclusion of the peace in February; in consequence of which, the Nabob suspecting the secret had been disclosed by Omichund, would immediately hold him in as much detestation, as he had hitherto regarded him with favour. Accordingly this scene was acted. The Nabob denied the promise. Omichund pretended to be terrified; and the Nabob being really irritated, told Mr. Scrafton that he might carry him wheresoever he pleased.
Mr. Scrafton remained three days longer in the city in. expectation of the return of Meer Jaffier from Plassy. Meer Jaffier arrived on the 30th, and visited the Nabob, who, having no further need of his immediate service, treated him with insolence. The frown of despotism is always dreadful; and Meer Jaffier returned to his palace, convinced of impending danger, insomuch that he was afraid of conferring in private with Mr. Scrafton, who visited him in the afternoon, but received him in the hall of public audience; on which Scrafton left the city that evening.
He was accompanied by Omichund. They proceeded in palanquins; but when Scrafton arrived at Cossimbuzar, he missed his companion; on which he stopped and dispatched messengers to the city, who found the old man sitting at midnight in the Nabob's treasury, soliciting Moonloll for some more of the money which the Nabob had ordered to be restored to him in reward for his story concerning Bussy; but finding that Moonloll would give him nothing but promises, and pressed by the messengers, he returned with them and rejoined Mr. Scrafton at two in the morning. Continuing their journey, Mr. Scrafton fell asleep, and waking at day-break, missed his ​companion again; and not knowing where to seek him, stopped and waited on the high road until three in the afternoon, when Omichund rejoined him again. He had been to visit Roydoolub at the camp at Plassey, who had told him that no stipulation had been made for him in the agreements with Meer Jaffier. Omichund therefore questioned Mr. Scrafton with much sharpness and suspicion; but now the truth itself served to deceive him; for Mr. Scrafton told him, that Roydoolub could not know any thing of that stipulation, since Mr. Watts had not yet communicated the treaty ultimately adjusted by the select committee even to Meer Jaffier himself. This appeased his anxieties, and they continued the rest of their journey without interruption. On the 8th they arrived at Calcutta, where Omichund was received by Colonel Clive, and the other members of the select committee, with much dissembled cordiality, which, however, could not entirely efface the impression which the words of Roydoolub had made in his mind; in consequence of which he bribed the Persian scribe of the council, to inform him if any deceit to his detriment should appear in the treaty, when ratified by Meer Jaffier in the Persian language.
The palace in which Meer Jaffier resided, is situated on the southern extremity of Muxadavad, on the island of Cossimbuzar. The Nabob resided in a palace called Heraut-Jeel, in the middle of the city, on the other side of the river. Both palaces stand on the bank of the river, are fortified with towers, and were provided with cannon. Meer Jaffier, at his return from the Nabob, had requested all the officers on whose attachment he relied, to keep their troops in readiness to defend his palace. In the same evening he sent a trusty messenger to Mr. Watts, to whom Mr. Watts delivered the two treaties, real and fictitious, together with the separate article of donation to the squadron, army, and committee, and explained the intention of deceiving Omichund by the fictitious treaty; requesting, that all the three papers might be ratified, and returned to him without delay. But Meer Jaffier having promised Roydoolub to conclude nothing without his participation, deferred the ratification until his return from Plassy; which was, however, only a delay ​of two days; for Roydoolub came to the city on the third of June. He being informed of the stipulations, objected that all the money in the Nabob's treasury was not sufficient to answer them, and proposed as a just compromise, that whatsoever might be found should be equally divided between the Nabob and the English. Mr. Watts nevertheless would not recede from any of the sums which had been stipulated, and represented to him, that if an equal division was established, the English could not allow the usual commission of five in the hundred to the officer who should be appointed to manage the business of the treasury; but proffered this office with that emolument to him, provided he would consent to all their demands. This argument prevailed: Roydoolub relinquished his objections, and Meer Jaffier signed the treaties on the fourth of June. On the same day the Nabob, not from any suspicion of the confederacy, but from his pre-conceived aversion to Meer Jaffier, ordered him to resign the command of the army to an officer named Coja Haddee.
It still remained necessary that Meer Jaffier should take an oath to observe the treaties. Mr. Watts therefore proposed an interview; which Jaffier wished likewise; but objected, that they could not meet without great risque of discovery, since his palace was strictly watched by the spies of the Nabob. However, Mr. Watts, relying on the fidelity of his own domestics, and on the manners of the country, went in the afternoon from his own house in a covered palankin, such as carry women of distinction, and passed without interruption to Jaffier's palace; who, with his son Meerum, received him in one of the apartments of his seraglio, into which the bearers carried the palanquin. Here they conferred without the risk of observation. Meer Jaffier confessed that the number of troops on whose service he could entirely rely, did not exceed 3000 horse; but expected that several other commanders, whom he knew to be dissatisfied with the Nabob, would turn against him in the day of battle. At all events, he desired that the English troops would immediately take the field, promising, that if the Nabob should determine to defend the city, he would attack his palace as soon as they appeared in sight: if the contest was to be decided by a battle on the plain, he would regulate ​his conduct according to the station which he should chance to occupy; if in the van, he would, on the approach of the English, beat his great drum, display his standard, march off with all the troops under his command, and join them on the right; if on either of the wings, or in the rear, he would display a white flag, charge the main body of the Nabob's army as soon as the English began the attack, and endeavour to take the Nabob prisoner. After these explanations, he gave his full assent to the terms of the real treaty, and to whatsoever other donations had been stipulated; then placing the Koran on his own head, and his hand on the head of his son, whilst Mr. Watts held the papers open before him, he swore with great solemnity, that he would faithfully perform all he had promised. They then resolved, that Omar-beg, one of his officers who had lately carried several messages between Jaffier and Mr. Watts, should immediately proceed with the treaties to Calcutta; and Mr. Watts returned as he came, undiscovered. Having brought this dangerous negotiation to a conclusion, no other affairs required his presence at Muxadavad; but as his retreat would leave the Nabob without a doubt of the hostile intentions of the English, he determined to remain seemingly in his power until the last extremity, and, in the mean time, to make such preparations as would secure his flight.
The public treaty as written in Persic, and signed by Meer Jaffier, is thus translated: "I swear by God, and the Prophet of God, to abide by the terms of this treaty whilst I have life." These words were written by Meer Jaffier in his own hand, and undersigned by him with his name. The following were as usual in the hand of a scribe. "Treaty made with Admiral Watson, Colonel Clive, and the other counsellors, Mr. Drake and Mr. Watts. — Article I. Whatever articles were agreed to in the time of peace with the Nabob Surajah Dowlah, I agree to comply with. — II. The enemies of the English are my enemies, whether they be Indians or Europeans. — III. All the effects and factories belonging to the French in the province of Bengal, the paradise of nations, and Bahar, and Orixa, shall remain in the possession of the English, ​nor will I ever allow them any more to settle in the three provinces. — IV. In consideration of the losses which the English company have sustained by the capture and plunder of Calcutta by the Nabob, and the charges occasioned by the maintenance of the forces, I will give them one crore of rupees. — V. For the effects plundered from the English inhabitants at Calcutta, I agree to give fifty lacks of rupees. — VI. For the effects plundered from the Gentoos, Moors, and other inhabitants of Calcutta, twenty lacks of rupees shall be given. — VII. For the effects plundered from the Armenian inhabitants of Calcutta, I will give the sum of seven lacks of rupees. The distribution of the sums allotted to the English, Gentoo, Moor, and other inhabitants of Calcutta, shall be left to Admiral Watson, Colonel Clive, Roger Drake, William Watts, James Kilpatrick, and Richard Becher, Esquires, to be disposed of by them, to whom they think proper. — VIII. Within the ditch, which surrounds the borders of Calcutta, are tracts of land belonging to several Zemindars: besides these, I will grant to the English company 600 yards without the ditch. — IX. All the land lying south of Calcutta, as far as Culpee, shall be under the Zemindary of the English company; and all the officers of these parts shall be under their jurisdiction. The revenues to be paid by the company in the same manner as other Zemindars. — X. Whenever I demand the assistance of the English, I will be at the charge of the maintenance of their troops. — XI. I will not erect any new fortifications near the river Ganges, below Hughley. — XII. As soon as I am established in the three provinces, the aforesaid sums shall be faithfully paid. Dated the 15th of the month of Ramazan in the fourth year of the present reign." The treaty, written and signed by the English, contained the sense of all these articles, but not expressed in the same words; and it likewise had one more of the following tenor: — "XIII. On condition Meer Jaffier Cawn Bahadar solemnly ratifies and swears to fulfil the above articles, We the underwritten do, for and in the behalf of the honourable East India company, declare on the holy evangelists, and before God, that we will assist Meer Jaffier ​Cawa Bahadar with our whole utmost force, to obtain the Subahship of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orixa, and further that we will assist him to the utmost against all his enemies whatever, whensoever he calls upon us for that purpose, provided that when he becomes the Nabob, he fulfils the above articles." This treaty was signed by Admiral Watson, Mr. Drake, the governor, of Calcutta, Colonel Clive, Mr. Watts, Major Kilpatrick, and Mr. Becher. The donations to the army, squadron, and committee, were written, in another treaty.
Omarbeg with the treaties arrived at Calcutta on the 10th, and explained the intentions of Jaffier to the select committee, in the same manner as Jaffier had explained them to Mr. Watts. The troops of Jaffier, without the assistance of others who might join him, were deemed fully sufficient to assure the success of the enterprize, provided they acted with vigour. But he had hitherto behaved with so much irresolution, that Clive began to suspect he would fail still more in the hour of danger. However, it was necessary either to proceed to immediate action, or entirely relinquish the confederacy; for the secret had inadvertently been revealed, and began to be the public talk even of the common soldiers at Calcutta and Chandernagore. It was therefore determined to commence hostilities without delay. Omichund was on the watch to learn the resolutions of this council, and the real purport of the treaties; but the governor having entertained some suspicions of the scribe whom Omichund had bribed, only entrusted him with the fictitious treaty, in which the stipulation in favour of Omichund was inserted; who being satisfied with the report of the scribe, resolved to proceed with the army to Muxadavad.
On the 12th, the troops which were at Calcutta, with 150 sailors from the squadron, proceeded and joined that part of the army which was quartered at Chandernagore. All the necessary preparations had been made, and the whole army began their march from Chandernagore on tho next day, leaving 100 of the sailors to garrison this fort, that every soldier might serve in the field. The Europeans with the field pieces, stores and ammunition, proceeded in 200 boats, ​which were towed by the Indian rowers against the stream; for the tide flows no farther than Hughley. The Sepoys marched in sight of the boats along the high road made by the Mogul government, and continuing from Hughley to Patna. The Nabob entertaining suspicions of Nuncomar, had lately sent a new governor to Hughley, who threatened to oppose the passage of the boats; but the twenty-gun ship coming up and anchoring before his fort, and a menacing letter from Colonel Clive, deterred him from that resolution. As soon as the army left Chandernagore, Colonel Clive sent away two of the Nabob's messengers, who were in his camp, with a letter of the following purport: "That the Nabob had used every subterfuge to evade the accomplishment of the treaty of February; that he had in four months restored only a fifth part of the effects he had plundered from the English; that he had scarcely made peace, before he invited Mr. Bussy to come from the Decan, and assist him in extirpating them once more out of his dominions; that the party of French troops, with Mr. Law, were at this very time maintained at his expence within 100 miles of his capital: that he had, on groundless suspicions, insulted the English honour; at one time sending troops to examine their factory at Cossimbuzar; at another, driving their Vacqueel with disgrace out of his presence: that he had promised a sum of gold rupees; then denied that promise; and then sent Omichund from the city, under pretence that it was he who had deceived the English commanders in that business. On the other hand, the English bore all these injuries patiently, and had even taken the field assist him when alarmed by the approach of the Pitans; but at length seeing no other remedy, their army was now marching to Muxadavad, where they intended to refer their complaints to the decision of the principal officers of his government, namely Meer Jaffier, Roydoolub, the Seats, Meer Murdeen, and Moonloll; to which arbitration it was hoped that he would acquiesce, and spare the effusion of blood."
Monickchund, the late governor of Calcutta, having received some hints of the confederacy from Omichund, had proffered his alliance ​to Meer Jaffier. The Seats had secured Yar Khan Lattey, and several other commanders had promised their assistance in the hour of need, although they still appeared dutiful to the Nabob. All these, whether Gentoos or Mahometans, confirmed their professions by the usufal oaths of their religions. The Nabob, receiving some confused intelligence of these practices, prepared to attack the palace of Jaffier. Messages of threat and defiance passed between them from the 8th to the 11th, when letters from Calcutta spread a report in the city, that the English were confederated with Jaffier; to which, however, the Nabob did not seem to give credit; but Jaffier concluding that he must believe what was so true, sent a message to Mr. Watts, on the 11th, advising him to make his escape without delay. Mr. Watts was prepared, and all the English property and soldiers had been sent away from the factory at Cossimbuzar. Nevertheless he determined to wait still longer, in expectation of a letter from Clive authorizing his departure. He, however, immediately sent away the Armenian Petrus, who had been the most confidential of his agents in the conspiracy, and Jaffier sent one of his own domestics with Petrus; both were instructed to press Colonel Clive to begin his march. Notwithstanding several other warnings, Mr. Watts persevered until the 13th, when Jaffier informed him there was no longer any safety, since the Nabob's artillery would begin to fire upon his palace the next morning: upon this Mr. Watts immediately left his house in the city, travelling in his palankin towards the English factory at Cossimbuzar, where he had lately been several times on pretence of business. There remained Mr. Collet, Mr. Sykes, and a surgeon, who were to make their escape with him, and they had resided for some time at a country-house called Maudipore, about two miles to the south of Cossimbuzar.
Mr. Watts, stopping at the factory of Cossimbuzar, ordered the domestics to prepare a supper, telling them, that he should return in the evening with those at Maudipore, to which he then proceeded. There was in his retinue an Usbeg Tartar, named Mirza Shah Buzbeg, who had served many years in different armies, was an excellent horseman, and on all occasions void of fear: he had attached him​self with much fidelity to Mr. Watts, in return for some services which Mr. Watts had rendered him eight years before at Patna, and now accompanied his flight. The four Englishmen and the Tartar, armed with pistols, mounted their horses at Maudipore about an hour before sunset: they were accompanied by some dog-keepers leading greyhounds, and each horseman was, likewise, attended by his groom on foot. This servant in India is, by habit, capable of keeping pace for several hours with the horse, although going at a great rate. Having proceeded at a gentle pace on the plain, until they were about six miles to the south, they sent back the dog-keepers, saying, that they themselves would return leisurely another way. Immediately after this they met two Cossids, or messengers, dispatched by Colonel Clive, with a letter to Mr. Watts, permitting him to leave Muxadavad, if nothing more required his stay. It being now dark they quitted the road, and struck to the left, where the country at some distance was uninhabited, and covered with thickets, along the skirt of which they proceeded to the south, as fast as they could, until they thought themselves 30 miles from Cossimbuzar. They then turned to the west, and about midnight came to the village of Aguadeep, situated on the bank of the river. At the entrance of the village was a party of the Nabob's horse, picketed on each side of the road in the open air; but this guard was, as usual at this season of the night, so fast asleep, that not one of them arose to enquire who were come amongst them. Having passed to the southern extremity of the village, they discovered two small boats, which were only capable of containing the riders. The Tartar, unwilling to lose his own horse, undertook to save those of his companions, who, leaving them with him, immediately went into the boats, and rowed down the stream about eight miles, to the point where the Cossimbuzar and Jelingeer rivers unite: here they found a party of soldiers, with some boats, dispatched to escort them to the army. Having thus escaped out of the reach of danger, they took some refreshment, and continued their way before day-break, in the boats with the soldiers; and the next day, at three in the afternoon, joined the army at Culnah, a town about 15 ​miles to the north of Hughley. Mr. Watts, immediately on his arrival, sent back one of his own messengers, who chanced to be in the camp, to Muxadavad, with intelligence of his own safety, and of the approach of the army. The Armenian Petrus, with the messenger from Meer Jaffier arrived the same day. The Tartar, with the grooms, soon found a boat in which they embarked, and holding the hordes with the bridles, lengthened, swam them all safely across the river; they joined the army the day after Mr. Watts.
Intelligence of their flight was carried to the Nabob early in the morning after their departure, just as he was about to commence hostilities against Meer Jaffier. The information overwhelmed him with astonishment and terror; for it convinced him at once of what he had hitherto disbelieved, that the English were confederated with Jaffier: and seeing now the whole extent of his danger, magnified by his own timidity, he determined, if possible, to separate their union; and immediately revoking the orders to attack Jaffier, he employed emissaries to treat with him. At the same time several of the Nabob's officers, on whose friendship Jaffier relied, were exhorting him to a reconciliation; to which he seemingly agreed, but, either through suspicion or scorn, refused to visit the Nabob. Such an objection at any other season would have excluded all further intercourse; but the Nabob, relinquishing his state, went to the palace of Jaffier with a retinue not sufficient to give umbrage. This visit produced an agreement, sanctified, as usual, by mutual oaths on the Koran. Jaffier promised neither to join or give assistance to the English in the impending contest; the Nabob to permit him as soon as peace should be restored, to retire unmolested out of the province with his family and treasures. This interview was on the 15th, and precarious as the reconciliation was, it elated the Nabob so much, that he immediately wrote in terms of defiance to colonel Clive, although he had not received the manifesto fraught with accusations, which Clive had dispatched to him on leaving Chandernagore. "He reproached the English, in the sharpest invectives, with the flight of Mr. Watts. Suspicion," he said, "that some trick was intended, had been the real cause which had induced ​him to keep his army so long at Plassy; but God and the Prophet would punish those by whom the treaty was violated." He at the same time ordered his whole army, in which were now included the troops of Jaffier, to assemble with the utmost diligence at their former encampments at Plassy, and sent orders to Mr. Law, who was waiting with his party at Boglipore, to come to his assistance with the utmost expedition.
The English army arrived and halted on the 16th at Patlee, a town on the western shore of the river of Cossimbuzar, about six miles above the junction of this with the Jelingeer river. Twelve miles above Patlee, on the same shore, is the fort of Cutwah; the walls of which were only of mud; but it commanded the passage of the river. The governor of this fort had promised to surrender after a little pretended resistance, and Major Coote was sent forward on the 17th with 200 Europeans, 500 Sepoys, one field-piece, and a small mortar, to summon the place. The town of Cutwah lies about 300 yards south of the fort, and is separated from it by the Agey, a river which takes rise in the high lands of Berbohin. The detachment landed at midnight, and found the town abandoned; but not being able to make use either of the field-piece or mortar because some of their appurtenances had been left behind, remained quiet until day-break, when Major Coote went to the bank of the river, and waved a white flag, which for some time was answered only by shot. However, the governor at length came down to the opposite bank, but instead of compliance, defied the attack. As soon as he was returned into the fort, the Sepoys crossed the river, and, under shelter of a ridge, fired upon the ramparts, whilst the Europeans marched to the left, in order to ford at some distance from the fort. As soon as the garrison saw them entering the river, they set fire to a shed of matts, which had been raised to protect the walls from the sun and rain, and as soon as all parts were in a blaze, they made their escape to the northward. Within the fort, and in several granaries in the neighbourhood, was found as much rice as would sustain 10,000 men for a year. The main body of the army arrived at Cutwah in the evening, and encamped on the plain; ​but the next day the rainy season began with such violence, that they were obliged to strike their tents, and shelter themselves in the huts and houses of the town.
The Nabob's troops seeing in the impending warfare no prospect of plunder, as in the sacking of Calcutta, and much more danger, clamorously refused to quit the city, until the arrears of their pay were discharged: this tumult lasted three days, nor was it appeased until they had obtained a large distribution of money. Colonel Clive had dispatched a letter every day since he left Chandernagore, informing Meer Jaffier of his progress and stations, but he had hitherto received only one letter from Jaffier, which arrived on the 17th, and was dated the day before. In this Jaffier acknowledged his. seeming reconciliation with the Nabob, and his oath not to assist the English against him; but said, nevertheless, that the purport of his covenant with them must be carried into execution. This ambiguous communication, at so decisive a time, made Colonel Clive suspect that he might betray the English, by leaguing with the Nabob, and determined him not to cross the river into the island of Cossimbuzar until this doubt should be removed. The two next days passed in disappointed expectations of farther intelligence; but, on the 20th returned the messenger whom Mr. Watts had dispatched to Muxadavad on his arrival at Culnah. He reported, that he had been introduced to Meer Jaffier and his son Meirum, in a private court of their palace, into which, as soon as they began to question him, came some other persons, whom he supposed to belong to the Nabob; for as soon as they appeared, Meirum threatened to cut off his head as a spy, and the heads of all the English, if they should dare to cross the river into the island. From this report no consequences could be drawn; but in the evening arrived two letters from Meer Jaffier, dated on the 19th, one written to his agent Omarbeg, who was in the English camp, and the other to Colonel Clive. This only mentioned that he should begin his march that day from the city, and that his tent would be either on the left or the right of the army, from whence he promised to send more frequent and explicit intelligence; having hitherto been deterred by the fear of discovery, as guards were stationed on all the roads to intercept all messengers. His letter ​to Omarbeg contained several particulars of the reconciliation between himself and the Nabob, and gave some account of the state of the army. But neither letter explained his own designs in the field, or proposed any plan of operations for the English army. This communication, therefore, although it abated Colonel Clive's suspicions of Jaffier's treachery, did not confirm him in any reliance upon his resolution or assistance: and much confounded by this perplexity, as well as by the danger of coming to action without horse, of which the English had none, he wrote the same day to the Rajah of Burdawan, who was discontented with the Nabob, inviting him to join them with his cavalry, even were they only a thousand. But, recollecting that the princes of Indostan, never join the standard which doubts of success, his anxieties increased by the dread of those imputations, to which he foresaw the present caution of his conduct would be exposed, if, after having engaged the public welfare in a project of such importance and risque, he should recede from the attempt in the very hour of event. He, therefore, determined to consult his officers, and assembled them the next day in council. They were 20, and he proposed to their consideration, "Whether the army should immediately cross into the island of Cossimbuzar, and at all risques attack the Nabob? or whether, availing themselves of the great quantity of rice which they had taken at Cutwah, they should maintain themselves there during the rainy season, and in the mean time invite the Morattoes to enter the province and join them?" Contrary to the forms usually practised in councils of war, of taking the voice of the youngest officer first, and ascending from this to the opinion of the president, Colonel Clive gave his own opinion first, which was, "to remain at Cutwah;" and then descended to the lowest according o the succession of rank. The Majors Kilpatrick and Grant were of the same opinion as himself, but Major Coote reasoned otherwise. He said, that the common soldiers were at present confident of success; that a stop so near the enemy would naturally quell this ardour, which it would be difficult to restore; that the arrival of the French troops with Mr. Law would add strength to the Nabob's force and vigour to his councils; that they would surround the ​English army, and cut off its communication with Calcutta, when distresses not yet foreseen might ruin it as effectually as the loss of a battle. He therefore advised, that they should either advance and decide the contest immediately, or immediately return to Calcutta." It is very rare that a council of war decides for battle; for as the commander never consults his officers in this authentic form, but when great difficulties are to be surmounted, the general communication increases the sense of risque and danger which every one brings with him to the consultation. Thirteen officers were against, and only seven voted for immediate action. The sanction of this council in no wise alleviated the anxieties of Clive; for, as soon as it broke up, he retired alone into the adjoining grove, where he remained near an hour in deep meditation, which convinced him of the absurdity of stopping where he was; and acting now entirely from himself, he gave orders, on his return to his quarters, that the army should cross the river the next morning.
The sick were lodged in the fort of Cutwah, and at sun-rise, on the 22d, the army began to pass: all were landed on the opposite shore by four in the afternoon, at which time another messenger arrived with a letter from Jaffier, which had likewise been dispatched on the 19th, but had taken bye-roads, and was delayed by other precautions. The purport was, "That the Nabob had halted at Muncara, a village six miles to the south of Cossimbuzar, and intended to entrench and wait the event at that place, where Jaffier proposed that the English shold attack him by surprize, marching round by the inland part of the island. Colonel Clive immediately sent back the messenger with this answer, "That he should march to Plassy without delay, and would the next morning advance six miles farther to the village of Daudpoor; but if Meer Jaffier did not join him there, he would make peace with the Nabob." Accordingly the troops proceeded before sun-set, conforming their march to the progress of the boats, which, as before, were towed against the stream; and having, by unceasing toil, advanced fifteen miles in eight hours, arrived at one in the morning at Plassy. The army immediately took possession of the adjoining ​grove, when, to their great surprize, the continual sound of drums, clarions, and cymbals, which always accompany the night watches of an Indian camp, convinced them that they were within a mile of the Nabob's army. His intention to remain at Muncarra, had arisen from a supposition that the English would advance immediately after they had taken Cutwah, and would arrive at Plassy before his own could get there; but as soon as he found that they were not so active, he continued his march, and arrived at the camp of Plassy twelve hours before them.
The guards and centinels being stationed, the rest of the troops were permitted to take rest. The soldier slept; but few of the officers, and least of all the commander. On the other hand, the despondency of the Nabob increased as the hour of danger approached. Sitting in his tent in the evening of his arrival at the camp, it chanced that his attendants quitted him one after another in order to say their usual prayers at sun-set, until they left him quite alone; when a common fellow, either through ignorance, or with an intention to steal, entered the tent unperceived, until he was discovered by the Nabob; who starting from the gloomy reflections in which he was absorbed, hastily recalled his attendants with this emphatic exclamation, "Sure they see me dead."
The grove of Plassy extended north and south about 800 yards in length, and 300 in breadth, and was planted with mango-trees, in regular rows. It was inclosed by a slight bank and ditch, but the ditch was choaked with coarse weeds and brambles. The angle to the south-west was 200 yards from the river, but that to the north-west not more than 50. A little to the north of the grove, and on the bank of the river, stood a hunting-house of the Nabob's, encompassed by a garden-wall. The river, a mile before it reaches this house, curves to the south-west nearly in the shape of an horse-shoe, including a peninsula about three miles in circumference, of which the neck, from the stream to the stream again, is not more than a quarter of a mile across. About 300 yards to the south of the peninsula, began an entrenchment, which Roydoolub had thrown up to secure his camp: the southern face, fronting the grove of Plassy, ​extended nearly in a straight line, about 200 yards inland from the
bank of the river; and then turning to the north-east by an obtuse
angle, continued nearly in this direction about three miles. Within this entrenchment encamped the whole army, of which a part likewise occupied the peninsula. In the angle was raised a redoubt, on which cannon were mounted. About 300 yards to the east of this redoubt, but without The camp, was a hillock covered with trees; and 800 yards to the south of this hillock and the redoubt, was a small tank or pond; and 100 yards farther to the south was another, but much larger tank: both, as all such public reservoirs of water in Bengal, were surrounded by a large mound of earth at the distance of some yards from the margin of the water.
At day-break, the enemy's army issuing from many different openings of the camp, began to advance towards the grove; 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse, and 50 pieces of cannon. The greatest part of the foot were armed with matchlocks, the rest with various arms, pikes, swords, arrows, rockets. The cavalry, both men and horses, drawn from the northern regions, were much stouter than any which serve in the armies of Coromandel. The cannon were mostly of the largest calibres, 24 and 32 pounders; and these were mounted on the middle of a large stage, raised six feet from the ground, carrying besides the cannon, all the ammunition belonging to it, and the gunners themselves who managed the cannon, on the stage itself. These machines were drawn by 40 or 50 yoke of white oxen, of the largest size, bred in the country of Purnea; and behind each cannon walked an elephant, trained to assist at difficult tugs, by shoving with his forehead against the hinder part of the carriage. The infantry and cavalry marched in many separate and compact bodies. Forty vagabond Frenchmen under the command of one Sinfray, appeared at the larger tank, that nearest the grove, with four pieces of light cannon. Two larger pieces advanced and halted on a line with this tank, close to the bank of the river. Behind these posts 5000 horse and 7000 foot took their station under the command of Meer Murdeen, and the son of Moonlol. The rest of the army in large, columns of horse and foot extended in a curve from the ​left of the hillock near their camp, to the ground about 800 yards east of the southern angle of the grove of Plassy; and in this part were the troops of Meer Jaffier, Roydoolub, and Latty. In all the openings between the columns were interspersed the artillery, two, three, and four pieces together.
Colonel Clive, viewing the enemy's array from the top of the hunting-house, was surprized at their numbers, as well as the splendor and confidence of their array: but judging, that if his own troops remained in the grove, the enemy would impute the caution to fear, and grow bolder, he drew them up in a line with the hunting-house, and facing to the nearest tank. They were 900 Europeans, of whom 100 were artillery-men, and 50 were sailors; 100 Topasses, and 2100 Sepoys; the artillery were eight field-pieces, all six-pounders, and two howitz: the Topasses were blended in the battalion with the Europeans, the sailors assisted the artillery-men. The battalion with three field-pieces on the right, and the same number on their left, were in the centre; on the right and left of which extended the Sepoys in two equal divisions. The other two field-pieces and the howitzes were advanced 200 yards in front of the left division of Sepoys, and posted behind two brick-kilns. This line extended 600 yards beyond the right of the grove; but the distance of the enemy in this quarter, prevented any danger of their falling upon the flank before whatsoever troops were ordered could fall back, and range along the east side of the grove. The first shot was fired by the enemy, at eight o'clock, from the tank; it killed one, and wounded another of the grenadier company, which was posted on the right of the battalion. This, as a signal, was followed by the continual fire of the rest of the Nabob's artillery on the plain. But most of their shot flew too high. The two advanced field-pieces answered the fire from the tank, and those with the battalion acted against the different divisions of heavy artillery on the plain; but firing out of the reach of point-blank shot, hit none of the enemy's guns; nevertheless, every shot took place, either in one or other of the bodies of infantry or cavalry. But ten for one killed, was no advantage in such a disparity of numbers, and in half an hour the ​English lost 10 Europeans and 20 Sepoys, on which Colonel Clive ordered the whole army to retire into the grove. The enemy elated by this retreat, advanced their heavy artillery nearer, and fired with greater vivacity than before; but their shot only struck the trees; for the troops were ordered to sit down, whilst the field-pieces alone answered the enemy's cannon from behind the bank. Explosions of powder were frequently observed amongst their artillery. At eleven o'clock Colonel Clive consulted his officers at the drum head; and it was resolved to maintain the cannonade during the day, but at midnight to attack the Nabob's camp. About noon a very heavy shower covered the plain, and very soon damaged the enemy's powder so much, that their fire slackened continually; but the English amunition served on. The Nabob had remained in his tent out of the reach of danger, continually flattered by his attendants and officers, of whom one half were traitors, with assurances of victory; but about noon he was informed, that Meer Murdeen, the best and most faithful of his generals, was mortally wounded by a cannon-ball. The misfortune disturbed him to excess; he immediately sent for Meer Jaffier; and as soon as he entered the tent, flung his turban on the ground, saying, "Jaffier, that turban you must defend." The other bowed, and with his hands on his breast, promised his utmost services; and returning to his troops and associates, immediately dispatched a letter to Colonel Clive, informing him of what had passed, and advising him either to push forward in the instant, or at all events, to attack the Nabob's camp at three the next morning; but the messenger was afraid to proceed whilst the firing continued. In the mean time, the terrors of the Nabob increased continually: Roydoolub taking advantage of them, counselled him to return to his capital: his advice prevailed, and the Nabob ordered the army to retreat into the intrenchments.
Accordingly, about two o'clock, the enemy ceased the cannonade, and were perceived yoking the trains of oxen to their artillery, and as soon as these were in motion, their whole army turned and proceeded slowly towards the camp. But Sinfray with his party and field-pieces still maintained his post at the tank. This was a good ​station to cannonade the enemy from, during their retreat; and Major Kilpatrick impatient to seize the opportunity, advanced from the grove with two companies of the battalion, and two field-pieces, marching fast towards the tank, and sent information of his intention, and the reason of it, to his commander, who chanced at this time to be lying down in the hunting-house. Some say he was asleep; which is not improbable, considering how little rest he had had for so many hours before; but this is no imputation either against his courage or conduct. Starting up, he ran immediately to the detachment, reprimanded Kilpatrick sharply for making such a motion without his orders, commanded him to return to the grove, and bring up the rest of the army; and then proceeded himself with the detachment to the tank, which Sinfray, seeing his party left without support, abandoned; and retreated to the redoubt of the intrenchment, where he planted his field-pieces ready to act again.
As the main body of the English troops were advancing to the tank, that part of the Nabob's army, which in the beginning of the action had formed opposite to the south-east angle of the grove of Plassy, lingered in the retreat behind the rest, and when they had passed the parallel of the grove, halted, faced, and advanced towards the north-east angle. These were the troops of Meer Jaffier; but their signals not being understood, it was supposed that they intended to fall upon the baggage and boats at the grove, whilst the English army were engaged at the tank. Three platoons of the line, whilst in march, and a field-piece, were detached to oppose them, under the command of Captain Grant and Lieutenant Rumbold; and Mr. John Johnstone, a volunteer, managed the field-piece, the fire of which soon stopped the approach of the supposed enemy. Meanwhile the army being arrived at the tank, got all their field-pieces upon the mound, and from thence began to cannonade into the Nabob's camp; on which many of the troops came again out of the intrenchment, and several pieces of their artillery were likewise preparing to return; on this, Colonel Clive advanced nearer, and posted half his troops and artillery at the lesser tank, and the other half at a rising ground about 200 yards to the left of it. From these stations the cannonade ​was renewed with more efficacy than before, and killed many of the oxen which were drawing the artillery, which threw all the trains that were approaching into disorder. On the other hand, the Frenchmen with Sinfray plyed their field-pieces from the redoubt; and matchlocks from the intrenchments, from ditches, hollows, and every hole or shelter, as also from the bushes on the hillock east of the redoubt, kept up a constant although irregular fire, whilst the cavalry advanced several times threatening to charge sword in hand, but were always stopped and repulsed by the quick firing of the English field-pieces. Nevertheless, the English suffered as much in this, as they had during all the former operations of the day. At length the troops of Jaffier appeared moving away from the field of battle, without joining the rest of the Nabob's army; which convincing Colonel Clive who they were, he determined to make one vigorous effort for victory by attacking at once Sin fray's redoubt, and the eminence to the eastward of it, in the cover of which an ambuscade was suspected. Two divisions' of the army were appointed to the two attacks, and the main body advanced in the centre ready to support both, and to act, as occasion should offer, of itself. The division on the right gained the eminence without firing or receiving a single shot. At the same time the left marched up to the redoubt, which Sinfray, finding himself again deserted by his allies, quitted without farther resistance, and without carrying off his field-pieces. Thus the whole of the English army entered the camp at five o'clock, without other obstacle than what they met from tents, artillery, baggage, and stores, dispersed around them, and abandoned by an army which out-numbered them ten to one, and were flying before them on all sides in the utmost confusion.
The cause of this sudden panic was the flight of the Nabob, who hearing that Meer Jaffier remained inactive on the plain, and that the English were advancing to storm his camp, mounted a camel, and fled at the utmost pace of the animal, accompanied by about 2000 horsemen. The victory was decided, and was confirmed by the arrival of the messenger with the letter sent by Meer Jaffier at ​noon; soon after came another, whom Colonel Clive immediately returned with a note, requesting Meer Jaffier to meet him the next morning at Daudpore.
The English soldiers being told, that they should receive a donation of money, received the orders to march on to Daudpore with acclamations, nor shewed any desire to stop for the plunder which lay spread around them. They halted, however, until the commissaries had taken possession of as many oxen as sufficed for all the artillery and carriages of the army; their own being much inferior to the Nabob's. A detachment was sent forward, under Major Coote, to pursue, or rather to observe if the enemy rallied; and the whole army arrived at eight o'clock, and rested at Daudpore. This important victory was gained with little loss. Only 16 Sepoys were killed, and 36 wounded, many of whom slightly: and of the Europeans about 20 were killed and wounded; of which number, six of the killed, and ten of the wounded, were of the artillery, as were likewise the only two officers who were wounded during the different operations of the day.
In the morning, Colonel Clive deputed Mr. Scrafton and Omarbeg to conduct Meer Jaffier to Daudpore, who received them with reserve, and an air of anxiety, as if he apprehended that the English refented his conduct, in not having joined them, conformably to his promises; he, however, immediately proceeded with them to Daudpore, accompanied by his son, Meirum, and his usual retinue. On entering the English camp, he alighted from his elephant, and the guard drew out, and rested their arms, to receive him with the usual honours. Not knowing the meaning of this compliment, he started back, as if he thought it a preparation to his destruction; but Colonel Clive advancing hastily, embraced, and saluted him Nabob of Bengal, Behar, and Orixa, which removed his fears. They conferred about an hour, he making some apologies, and the Colonel no reproaches; but advised him to proceed immediately to the city, and not to suffer Surajah Dowlah to escape, nor his treasures to be plundered. Meer Jaffier returning to his troops, hastened with them to Muxadavad, and arrived there in the evening, that is, of ​the 24th. Colonel Clive then dispatched letters to Roydoolub, Latty, and Monickchund, and to Monickchund he promised that no enquiry should be made concerning the plunder of Calcutta. The army proceeded in the afternoon, and halted six miles beyond Daudpore.
Surajah Dowlah got to the city before the midnight after the battle; and not a few of his principal officers arrived there almost as soon as himself. These he assembled in council. Some advised him to deliver himself up to the English, which he imputed to treachery; others proposed, that he should encourage the army by the offer of great rewards, and appear again at their head in the morning. This he seemed to approve, and, having ordered an immediate distribution of three months pay to the troops, dismissed the council, and retired into the seraglio, where, left to his own reflections and his women, his terrors returned.
The next morning, the 24th, he sent away his women, with 50 elephants laden with their furniture and necessaries, and with them a great part of his own jewels, and some gold rupees: and determined to escape himself in the night; but, having lost all confidence in every officer of distinction, whose fortunes either he himself or his grandfather had made, he intrusted his intentions only to the eunuch who governed his seraglio. The arrival of Meer Jaffier in the evening, although he attempted nothing immediately, hastened the Nabob's departure. Having disguised himself in a mean dress, he went secretly at ten o'clock at night out of a window, carrying a casket of his most valuable jewels, and attended only by his favourite concubine and the eunuch. They got undiscovered into a boat, which the eunuch had prepared at the wharf of the palace: it immediately rowed away to the northward. It was his intention to escape to Mr. Law, and with him to Patna, the governor of which province was a faithful adherent to his family. At midnight, Meer Jaffier was informed of his flight, and immediately sent several parties in pursuit of him. In the morning, the whole city was in confusion, no one knowing what was become of their late Nabob, and not perceiving his station occupied by any other. Moonlol, and several others of the Nabob's familiars, were taken in the forenoon, endeavouring to ​make their escape; and the next day the women, with the elephants belonging to the seraglio, which the Nabob had sent away previous to his own departure, were stopped by some of Meer Jaffier's troops at Bogwangolah, a town on the great arm of the Ganges, 15 miles to the N.E. of Muxadavad.
The English army arrived at noon, the 25th, and halted at Maudipoor, from whence Colonel Clive sent forward Mr. Watts and Mr. Walsh, attended by 100 Sepoys: they arrived at three in the afternoon in the city, and visited Meer Jaffier, who then dispatched more parties in pursuit of Surajah Dowlah. Their visit convinced the inhabitants whom they were to look up to as their future lord, and their exhortations, seconded by the vicinity of the English army, encouraged Meer Jaffier to proclaim himself Nabob.
The next day, the 26th, Watts and Walsh visited the Seats, where they met Meer Jaffier and Roydoolub, and conferred concerning the payment of the stipulated monies, but Roydoolub insisted pertinaciously that the whole amount of Surajah Dowlah's treasures was not sufficient to supply it. The restitution, with the donations to the squadron, the army, and the committee, amounted to 22,000,000 of Secca rupees, equal to 2,750,000 pounds. But other donations were promised, which have since been the foundation of several fortunes although not then publicly avowed.
Mr. Watts proposed, that the Seats should supply the deficiency, and repay themselves out of the future revenues. Roydoolub replied, that the Seats could not advance crores of rupees; a crore is 10,000,000. His objections raised as unfavourable prejudices of his character, as were entertained of Omichund; but the next day, the 27th, the deputies had real cause to think evil of him; for the Seats sent Rungeet Roy to inform them, that a consultation had been held in the night, between Roydoolub, Meerum the son of Meer Jaffier, and Cuddum Hussain Cawn, an officer of distinction, in which it was proposed to assassinate Colonel Clive, who intended to have gone to the city that day; but changed his resolution on this notice, and waited all the next at Cossimbuzar for farther information concerning this plot; during which, his apprehensions ​were removed, but by what intelligence we do not known. On the 29th in the morning, he entered the city, escorted by 200 of the battalion and 300 Sepoys, and proceeded to the habitation allotted for him. It was a palace and a garden, called Moraudbaug, and spacious enough to accommodate all the troops which accompanied him. Here he was immediately visited by Meerum, with whom he went to the palace of the late Nabob, where Meer Jaffier with all the great officers in the city were waiting for him. In the hall of audience was fixed the Musnud or throne, in which Surajah Dowlah used to appear in pulflic. Jaffier, after the first salutation at the entrance, returned towards the inner part of the hall with Colonel Clive, and seemed desirous to avoid the Musnud, which Clive perceiving, led him to it, and having placed him on it, made obeisance to him, as Nabob of the provinces, in the usual forms, and presented a plate with gold rupees; he then, by an interpreter, exhorted the great men to be joyful that fortune had given them so good a prince, in exchange for such a tyrant as Surajah Dowlah; on which they likewise paid homage, and presented gold. The next morning Jaffier visited Clive, and conferred with him on the state of the treasury, alleging, as Roydoolub had done, that there was not sufficient to answer all his engagements to the English, but that he was nevertheless ready to agree to any reasonable accommodation. Clive proposed, and Jaffier agreed, to refer the matter to the Seats; and, in order to extinguish as soon as possible this brand of contention, they proceeded immediately to the house of the Seats, accompanied by Watts, Scrafton, Meerum, and Roydoolub. Omichund, who was attending, followed, thinking himself, at this very time, in as high a degree of estimation with Clive, as any one who had contributed to the evolution; but, on his arrival at the Seats, finding that he was not invited to the carpet where the others were in conference, he sat down at a distance near the outward part of the hall.
The treaties, as written in Persic and English, were read, explained, and acknowledged. After much conversation, Roydoolub insisting always on the scantiness of the treasury, it was agreed that one half ​of the money stipulations should be paid immediately; two thirds of this half in coin, and one third in jewels, plate, and effects, at a valuation; but the other half should be discharged in three years at three equal payments; Roydoolub was allowed a commission of five in the hundred on the sums for restitution, which amounted to 17,700,000 rupees, and this was one of the gratuities which had been held out to Omichund. The conference being ended, Clive and Scrafton went towards Omichund, who was waiting in full assurance of hearing the glad tidings of his good fortune; when Clive said, "It is now time to undeceive Omichund:" on which, Scrafton said to him in the Indostan language, "Omichund, the red paper is a trick; you are to have nothing." These words overpowered him like a blast of sulphur; he sunk back, fainting, and would have fallen to the ground, had not one of his attendants caught him in his arms; they carried him to his palankin, in which they conveyed him to his house, where he remained many hours in stupid melancholy, and began to shew some symptoms of insanity. Some days after, he visited Colonel Clive, who advised him to make a pilgrimage to some pagoda; which he accordingly did soon after, to a famous one near Maulda: he went, and returned insane, his mind every day more and more approaching to idiotism; and, contrary to the usual manners of old age in Indostan, still more to the former excellence of his understanding, he delighted in being continually dressed in the richest garments, and ornamented with the most costly jewels. In this state of imbecility, he died about a year and a half after the shock of his disappointment. Grounded on his importance, by knowing the secret, he held out the terror of betraying it, to secure his own advantages. Whether he would have betrayed it, if refused, is uncertain: for part of his fortune was in the power of the English, and he had the utmost vengeance of Jaffier and his confederates to fear. However, the experiment was not to be tried. But, on the other hand, as his tales and artifices prevented Surajah Dowlah from believing the representations of his most trusty servants, who early suspected, and at length were convinced, that the English were confederated with Jaffier; the 2,000,000 of ​rupees he expected should have been paid to him, and he left to enjoy them in oblivion and contempt.
On the 2d of July, two days after the conference at the Seats, news came to the city that Surajah Dowlah was taken, and the report excited murmurs amongst a great party of the army encamped around. The rowers of his boat, fatigued with excessive toil, stopped in the night at Rajah Mahal, and the Nabob, with his concubine, took shelter in a deserted garden; where he was discovered at break of day by a man of mean condition, whose ears he had caused to be cut off, when at this place about thirteen months before he took the fatal and furious resolution of returning from his intended expedition against Purneah, to the destruction of Calcutta. The injured man revealed him to the brother of Meer Jaffier, residing in the town, and he to the soldiers who were seeking him. They hurried him back to Muxadavad with the eager diligence of men who knew the value of their prize; and to recommend themselves still more to their employers, treated him with every kind of insolence and indignity compatible with the preservation of his life. In this manner they brought him, about midnight, as a common felon, into the presence of Meer Jaffier, in the very palace which a few days before had been the seat of his own residence and despotic authority. It is said that Jaffier seemed to be moved with compassion; and well he might, for he owed all his former fortunes to the generosity and favour of Allaverdy, who died in firm reliance, that Jaffier would repay his bounties by attachment and fidelity to this his darling adoption; who, himself, to Jaffier at least, was no criminal. Surajah Dowlah prostrated himself, and with excessive tremor and tears implored for life alone. But Meerum, the son of Jaffier, a youth not seventeen, fierce, barbarous, and in his nature cruel as Surajah Dowlah himself, insisted on instant death, Jaffier ordered the prisoner to be removed, and the soldiers who had taken led him into a distant chamber, one of the vilest of the palace, which they guarded in expectation of farther orders. Most of the principal men in the government were at this time in the palace, some to testify their respects, others to transact the affairs of ​their offices. All these Jaffier consulted. Some, although they had before trembled at the frown of Surajah Dowlah, now despised the meanness of his nature, more than they had dreaded the malignancy of his disposition: others, for their own sakes, did not chuse to encourage their new sovereign in despotic acts of blood shed: some were actuated by veneration for the memory of Allaverdy: others wished to preserve Surajah Dowlah, either as a resource to themselves, or as a restraint upon Jaffier; all these proposed a strict but mild imprisonment. But the rest, who were more subtle courtiers, seconded the opinion of Meerum, representing the risques of revolt and revolution to which the government of Jaffier would continually be exposed, whilst Surajah Dowlah lived. Jaffier himself gave no opinion; and Meerum seeing his unwillingness to pronounce, advised him to go to rest; and he himself would take care of the prisoner. Jaffier, pretending to understand these words as if they meant to violence, dismissed the assembly, and retired into the inward apartments of the palace; when Meerum privately sent one of his own menial servants, in whom he most confided, to the guard, with the fatal mandate; which they received with the ruthless alacrity of ruffians who murder for reward. Their boisterous intrusion into the chamber convinced Surajah Dowlah of their purpose, and the instant terrors of death threw him into a strong agony of bitter lamentation. At length he recovered sufficiently to ask leave to make his ablutions, and to say his prayers. A pot of water chanced to be near, which the executioners, impatient to perform their work, hastily threw over his head. The servant then struck with his poignard, and the others finished the massacre with their swords. His mangled remains were exposed, in the morning, through the city, upon an elephant, and then carried to the tomb of Allaverdy, where they were buried. The populace beheld the procession with awe and consternation; and the soldiery, having no longer the option of two lords, accepted the promises of Jaffier, and refrained from tumult.
​Thus perished Surajah Dowlah, in the 20th year of his age, and the 15th month of his reign, by the hands of violence, as his father and grandfather had perished before him, and by means not unlike those which were employed by both his grandfathers to destroy the heir of their benefactor, by whom they, as Jaffier by them, had been promoted from obscurity to the highest ranks of the state. There were found with his secretary copies of the letters he had written to Mr. Bussy in Chicacole, and to Mr. Law in Behar. In one to Mr. Bussy, dated a few days after he had sworn to the peace concluded with the English on the 6th of February, he presseth him to send 2000 men under the command of trusty officers, and in another invites him to march himself with his whole force into Bengal. To Mr. Law he writes soon after his departure into Behar, and before the confederacy against himself began to move, that he is determined to attack the English, and orders him to return immediately with his party to Muxadavad. Tyrant as he was, if he had respected the advice of his grandfather Allaverdy, and not have excited the detestation of the Gentoos, at the same time that he was rendering himself dreadful to the principal Mahomedan officers of his court, the English would have found no alliance sufficient to have ventured the risque of dethroning him: but it is probable that the same iniquity of character, which urged him to the destruction of Calcutta, would soon have called forth other avengers of other atrocious deeds.
The party of Frenchmen, with Mr. Law, advanced from Boglipore as soon as they received the last summons of Surajah Dowlah, but so late, that they had not passed Tacriagully, when they heard some confused reports of the battle of Plassy, on which Mr. Law halted, waiting for more certain information. Had he immediately proceeded 20 miles farther, he would the next day have met and saved Surajah Dowlah, and an order of events, very different from those which we have to relate, would in all probability have ensued. After waiting two days at Tacriagully, Mr. Law received intelligence that he was taken; on which he immediately marched back into Behar, intending to offer his service to Ramnarain, the vice-nabob of the province.
​Of all the Gentoos whom Allaverdy had raised to high appointments, Ramnarain seems to have been the only one, whose gratitude had not been estranged by the despotic caprices of Surajah Dowlah. But they were connected by the same resentments: for, whilst Surajah Dowlah was harbouring grudge against Meer Jaffier at Muxadavad, Ramnarain was at variance with a brother, and a brother-in-law of Meer Jaffier, who held considerable employments at Patna. The knowledge of this animosity had deterred Roydoolub, although connected with Ramnarain by religion as well as business, from attempting to gain his concurrence to the confederacy; nor does it appear that Ramnarain knew any thing of it until it was brought to the point of decision. In the mean while, he regarded the party with Mr. Law as an important resource to Surajah Dowlah, in case hostilities should be renewed with the English, and had accordingly supplied them, although secretly, with the means of subsistence ever since they had retreated into his province. The new regency at Muxadavad had, therefore, no reason to expect his willing acquiscence to the revolution, or not to suspect that he would not entertain the party with Mr. Law, and even strengthen himself still more by alliances with the neighbouring powers to the westward. The best means of averting these consequences consisted in sending a detachment expedite and strong enough to destroy the French party before they reached Patna, or a force sufficient to deter Ramnarain from taking them into his pay when they should arrive there.
Meer Jaffier, notwithstanding the seeming acquiescence of the soldiery to his accession, was afraid to trust any considerable body of them at a distance, and especially in the precarious province of Behar; but was ashamed to acknowledge his mistrust, which Clive penetrated, and determined to undertake the expedition with the English troops alone. The detachment consisted of 230 Europeans, three companies each of 100 Sepoys, 50 Lascars, and two field-pieces, both six-pounders, and Major Coote was appointed to the command. The baggage, stores, carriages, ammunition, and provisions, were laden in 40 boats, all of which were very ill equipt, whether with ​rowers or tackle; and, nevertheless, were not ready before the 6th of July, when they left Muxadavad; by which time the French party had got half-way to Patna.
The news of the battle of Plassy was brought to Calcutta on the 25th of June in a letter from Colonel Clive to Mr. Drake, the governor, who immediately communicated it to the council. The victory was deemed decisive; and all restraints of secrecy being now removed, the purport of the treaties were revealed by the members of the council to all they met. In a few minutes all the inhabitants of the town, impatient to hear or tell, were in the streets. The restitution of public and private property; the donations to the squadron, the army, and individuals; the grants to the company; the privileges to the English commerce; the comparison of the prosperity of this day with the calamities in which the colony was overwhelmed at this very season in the preceding year: in a word, this sudden reverse and profusion of good fortune intoxicated the steadiest minds, and hurried every one into the excesses of intemperate joy; even envy and hatred forgot their energies, and were reconciled, at least for a while, to familiarity and good-will; for every one saw that his own portion of advantages was intimately and inseparably blended with that of every other person in the settlement.
The Presidency immediately prepared a vessel to carry these welcome tidings to England. Mr. Maningham, who had been deputed from Fulta to Madrass, chancing to return at this time to Calcutta, was sent to Muxadavad, where Colonel Clive, Mr. Watts, and himself, were appointed to act as a committee in the management of all public affairs. Their first care was to get the money stipulated by the treaties. Roydoolub persisted in his assertions of the scantiness of Surajah Dowlah's treasury, and endeavoured to prove them by facts which were not true. At length, after a variety of discussions and equivocations, the committee by the 6th of July received, in coined silver, 7,271,666 rupees. This treasure was packed up in 700 chests, and laden in 100 boats, which proceeded under the care of soldiers to Nudiah; from whence they ​were escorted by all the boats of the squadron and many others, proceeding with banners displayed and musick sounding, as a triumphal procession, to contrast that in which the inhabitants of the Ganges had seen Surajah Dowlah returning the year before from the destruction of Calcutta. Never before did the English nation at one time obtain such a prize in solid money; for it amounted (in the mint) to 800,000 pounds sterling. From real or pretended difficulties, no more money was received until the 9th of August, when Roydoolub paid 1,655,358 rupees; and on the 30th of the same month he delivered gold, jewels, and cash, amounting to 1,599,737 rupees: the three payments amounted to 10,765,737 rupees. The whole sum agreed to be paid, as one half of the stipulations of the treaty, was 11,350,000 rupees: the deficiency, 584,905, was still delayed; but the commission which had been promised was paid to Roydoolub.
During the receipts of the money the committee had likewise attended to the other articles of the treaty. A mint was established at Calcutta, and the first rupees were coined there on the 19th of August. Agents were sent to re-establish the subordinate factories. Mandates from the Nabob were issued for the freedom of the English trade throughout the province, but permitting it only under the usual passport of the company's dustuck, and without exemption from the former prohibitions of dealing in any commodities, excepting such as were imported, or were purchased to be exported to sea. It, was difficult to define the limits of the lands ceded to the company, souths of Calcutta, for they had never been surveyed by the government: and great quantities of salt being manufactured in the districts nearest the sea, the tenants, and renters who gained much by this commodity, were averse to the introduction of new masters, who, as merchants, might wish to appropriate this trade to themselves; their patrons, resenting the loss of those presents and advantages, which they received for their protection, suggested every obstacle to prevent the Nabob from giving these districts to the English; and prevailed so far, that it was agreed the company should ​not exercise any authority in them, until all the lands had been surveyed, and every man's possession ascertained.
All the prosperities which had been imagined on the news of the battle of Plassy were now realized in Calcutta. A committee of the most respectable inhabitants were appointed to distribute the money received for the restitution of the losses of individuals, and executed the office with much discretion and equity. Commerce revived throughout the settlement, and affluence began to spread in every house; but as it is the nature of man to err with great changes of fortune, many, not content with the undisputed advantages accruing from the revolution, immediately began to trade in salt and other articles, which had hitherto been prohibited to all Europeans; and Meer Jaffier complained of these encroachments within a month after his accession, which, although checked for the present, were afterwards renewed, and at last produced much more mischief than even disinterested sagacity could have foreseen.
Admiral Watson barely lived to see the effects of those successes, to which his conduct had so much contributed: he died on the 16th of August, after five days illness, of the malignant fever peculiar at this season of the year to the lower climate of Bengal. The frankness and integrity of his nature, and his zeal for the honour of his nation, had endeared him to all ranks of his countrymen, wheresoever he appeared in India.
In this interval continual advices had been received from Major Coote of the progress of his detachment, which had met with even more interruptions than might have been expected from the insufficiencies of the outset. The boats, for want of rowers, could not be towed as fast as the troops marched on shore, which obliged him, before they arrived at the head of the island of Cossimbuzar, to press 87 men out of three large trading boats which were coming down the river. On the 10th of July, which was the 4th day after their departure from Muxadavad, the troops, and on the 11th the boats, arrived at Rajahmahal, 40 miles beyond Muxadavad, where a brother of Meer Jaffier commanded; he had sent 120 horse to meet the detachment on the road, and promised every other kind of assistance, ​but afforded none. However, after five days delay, the boats were repaired, but the horsemen refused to proceed without two months pay, which Major Coote had neither money or orders to furnish: he therefore continued his march without them on the 13th, and on the 18th arrived at Boglipore, which is 65 miles from Rajahmahal. Here he received intelligence, that Mr. Law's party had four days before passed the city of Patna, which is 55 miles beyond Boglipore. Major Coote left this place on the 19th, and was followed the next day by 60 horsemen, sent by the governor under the command of his son. On the 21st, the horsemen, troops, and boats, arrived at Mongheir, which by the road is 35 miles farther. The garrison, on the appearance of the detachment, who expected to have been admitted into the fort, manned the ramparts, and shewed their lighted matches, which obliged the troops to march round the walls. On the 23d they arrived at Burhia, 30 miles farther on. By this time so many mischances had happened to the fleet of boats, several having been lost, others stranded, and some continually breaking from the towing lines, that Major Coote landed the field-pieces and ammunition at Burhia, and the same evening proceeded six miles farther to Darriapore. At two in the afternoon of the next flay the troops arrived at Panarack, 11 miles farther. During this march all the European soldiers were holding mutinous language in complaints of their hardships and fatigues. Major Coote, impatient to reach Patna, resolved to reserve their chastisement until he arrived there, but, as an immediate disgrace, put them all into the boats, and the same evening marched himself at the head of the Sepoys 5 miles farther to the town of Bhar. Proceeding with them the next day, which was the 25th, whilst the Europeans were following at leisure, he arrived at night at Futwah, which is 26 miles from Bhar, and only seven from Patna. During this day's march he received two letters, and they were the first, from Ramnaraim, apologizing for the escape of the French party, and imputing it to the want of timely notice from Meer Jaffier. Soon after a deputation of his principal officers arrived at Futwah, under the pretence of compliment, but in reality to observe the force, and discover the ​intentions of Major Coote. They informed him that Ramnarain had returned only two days before from an expedition against two disobedient chiefs of Moy and Sader, whose districts lay about 30 miles south-east of Patna; that immediately on his return he had proclaimed Meer Jaffier Nabob of Bengal, Behar, and Orixa; that he had sent forward 2000 of his troops, horse and foot, in pursuit of Mr. Law, and that he had disbanded the greatest part of the rest. The next day, the 26th, at ten in the forenoon, the whole detachment, as well as the boats, arrived at the English factory, which is a spacious building situated on the bank of the river, just without the western wall of the city. Major Coote immediately prepared to visit Ramnarain, but was prevented by a Message, desiring him to take some repose, and to defer his visit until the next day: in the afternoon three Europeans and some Sepoys, who were leading some cattle to the factory, were, without provocation, assaulted and wounded by a number of Peons belonging to the garrison. Complaint was immediately made to Ramnarain, who shewed no inclination to redress the outrage; and moreover desired Major Coote not to visit him, as was intended, the next day, lest the ceremonial should give occasion to quarrels betwixt their respective attendants. An English officer, likewise, walking in the town, overheard two men of condition, who did not suppose him to understand their language, talking of a design to massacre the English detachment. In the night many of the Europeans got drunk, and 30 of the most disorderly, who had likewise been foremost in the mutiny on the road, were selected, and confined for punishment.
The next day Major Coote conferred with Mahmud Amy, the brother, and Meer Cossum, the brother-in-law, of Meer Jaffier. They informed him that the French party might easily have been stopped, if Ramnarain had so willed; that, on hearing of the death of Surajah Dowlah, he had sent to Sujah Dowlah, the neighbouring and powerful subah of Oude, proposing to render himself independent of Bengal, if Sujah Dowlah would assist him with his forces, and requesting him to protect the French party on the frontiers, until it, might be necessary to recal them to Patna; that ​Sujah Dowlah encouraged his views, but was prevented by events, which more immediately concerned himself, from marching with his army into Bahar. They likewise asserted that Ramnarain had consulted his confidents on the means of destroying the English detachment. This information determined the Major to proceed with all expedition to the frontiers of Oude.
The next day the 30 mutineers were tried and flogged; this punishment was judged adequate to their offence, because of the great fatigues they had endured: for they had marched from Rajamahol to Patna in eleven days and a half, without the intermission of one day's halt, and the distance, measured by a perambulator, is 201 miles.
A day passed in making preparations for the outset; but all the attendants of the camp, and many of the boatmen, finding they were to go farther, took fright and ran away; and it was impossible to collect others without the assistance of the government, which Ramnarain promised, but did not supply half the requisite number. However in this and the succeeding day all the boats, as well as the troops, assembled at Bankipore, a garden belonging to the company about five miles from the city, and on the same side of the river. The next day the detachment moved six miles farther to Dinapore, and August, the day after, which was the first of August, joined the troops which Ramnarain pretended to have sent forward in pursuit of Mr. Law, with whom they halted at Moneah, a considerable town fifteen miles from Dinapore, situated at the confluence of the river Soan with the Ganges, where Hybutjung, their commander, refused to proceed any farther. The troops of the detachment, with their ammunition, crossed the Ganges, and marched on the other side, whilst the bullocks, baggage, and attendants, crossed the Soan, and proceeded along the southern side of the Ganges until they came opposite to Chuprah, when it took three days to ferry them over; for the bed of the river is in this part three miles broad, and the officer of the district failed to furnish the boats and other assistances he had promised. At Chuprah the company have a house established to collect saltpetre, of which great quantities are made in this, and some ​of the neighbouring districts. Here intelligence was obtained, that the several chiefs in this part of Behar had enlisted forces to assist Ramnarain; and spies reported that they had left Mr. Law's party at Benarez, which is by the road at least 140 miles beyond Chuprah, and that they were supplied there by Bulwansing, the Rajah of the district, who was dependant on Sujah Dowlah the subah of Oude. Farther pursuit was evidently vain, but certain of producing immediate hostilities with Sujah Dowlah, whose territory commenceth at the river Dewah, which disembogues into the Ganges 18 miles to the west of Chuprah. The Major, therefore, resolved to wait here for farther orders, and on the 12th received a letter from Colonel Clive, instructing him, as a scheme of Meer Jaffier's, to return to Patna, and endeavour, in concert with Mahmud Amy Cawn, to wrest the government from Ramnarain. The troops, leaving the baggage to follow, embarked early the next morning; and such is the strength of the stream at this season of the year, that they arrived at Patna by noon, although the distance along the course of the river is 44 miles. It appeared to the Major that the only means of executing his instructions would be to assault the citadel, in which Ramnarain always resided, and at this time only with 2000 men; but Mahmud Amy represented that there force was not sufficient to invest it so closely as to prevent Ramnarain from escaping by some of the secret passages, and proposed to defer the attempt until he himself should be joined by 1500 of Ramnarain's troops, whom he had engaged to desert.
But by this time Ramnarain had taken the alarm, probably by information from his friends at Muxadavad of the orders sent to Major Coote and Mahmud Amy, which, confirmed by the hasty return of the detachment from Chuprah, frightened him so much, that he now spared no attentions to the Major, and received his visit with much affectation of complacence. Two days after, the Major received a letter from Meer Jaffier, fraught with suspicions that Mahmud Amy had borne false witness against Ramnarain, as a pretext for levying forces, with the intention of seizing the government for himself. Enough has not been discovered of the secrets ​of Jaffier to account for this abrupt change and contradiction of an opinion, which had hitherto been the greatest anxiety of his mind. His letter, however, precluded all farther intentions of hostility; and on the 22d a conference was held by appointment in the citadel, to discuss and reconcile all differences. Major Coote and the two brothers, Mahmud Amy and Meer Cossim, came each with strong escorts, and Ramnarain was attended by all his principal officers. The two brothers, with the calmness peculiar to the manners of Indostan, accused him of a design to assassinate them, which indeed had been reported in the city; then of his intention to rebel against Meer Jaffier, in proof of which they urged his connivance at the passage of the French troops through Behar, the oaths he had taken from the officers of his army, his correspondence and proposals to Sujah Dowlah. Ramnarain solemnly denied all these accusations, and produced a letter he had just received from Sujah Dowlah, which indicated no such intentions as were imputed to their correspondence: he then said, it was true, that he had been attached to the late Nabob, because his fortunes had been raised by the princes of his family; but now that Surajah Dowlah was no more, and none of his family remaining worthy or capable of the government, on whom should he so naturally wish to depend as on Meer Jaffier, whom their common patron, Allaverdy, had raised so near his own person and dignity. He then called a bramin, and, in the presence of his officers, and a crowd of attendants, solemnly swore allegiance and fidelity to Meer Jaffier, and friendship and goodwill to Meer Cossim and Mahmud Amy. The two brothers returned the compliment, by taking an oath on the koran that their heart was clear of all ill-will to Ramnarain, and should continue so. They then embraced him, and all the three Major Coote, as the mediator of this reconciliation. Nevertheless, neither side believed the other, but each wished to gain time, and to wait events: for Ramnarain knew that the orders from Muxadavad would prevent Major Coote and the brothers of Meer Jaffier from acting against him at present; and they knew that he, disappointed of the assistance ​of Sujah Dowlah, would be submissive until he was better prepared to assert independence.
Before this conference Meer Jaffier had determined to recall the detachment; but Major Coote did not receive the orders to return until the beginning of September, and in the interval the troops remained, uninterrupted by any alarms, in the company's factory adjoining to the city. All proceeded in the boats, which left Patna on the 7th of September, and arrived in seven days at Muxadavad, although the distance is 300 miles.
The confederacies of ambition are as liable to be broken by success as disappointment. Meer Jaffier had many relations; and not only they, but all others who were his adherents or dependants before his accession to the Nabobship, thought they had the best right to partake of the change of his fortunes; and those, who without previous connexion had acquiesced to the revolution, thought their title better. Rut the donations to the English had exhausted the treasury, and none of the officers of the government could be removed without infringing the declarations by which Jaffier had obtained the general submission to his sovereignty, and which Clive had ratified. Some money had been distributed amongst the army of the government, but much less than they expected; and their discontent acquired presumption by the complaints of the whole populace of Muxadavad, who had beheld with detestation the gold and silver of the capital ostentatiously carried away by foreigners. A large sum still remained due of the first half of the treaty-monies, and the term of the first payment of the second half was approaching, for it fell in October; and the committee at Muxadavad were continually, pressing the treasury for the balance already due.
There is no prince in Indostan, who does not try every means to avoid the payment of money, stipulated at a distant period; and Meer Jaffier imagined his liberalities to individuals, who were the heads of the English nation, would relax their strictness in the public terms. But Colonel Clive had neither asked nor stipulated for the presents he tad received; and having refused every other offer from the various interests which composed the government, thought their ​obligations mutual, and maintained the independency of his command. Neither Jaffier nor his son had suspected this sternness in his character. He not only insisted on the payments of the treaty-monies, as they became due, but, when tampered with to approve changes in the army and administration, which Jaffier wished to make in order to gratify his own favourites, Clive let him understand, that he would permit none, as deeming them dangerous to the public tranquillity, and contrary to declarations, sanctified by his own. Jaffier felt these restraints with abomination, which turned his head to notions of emancipating himself from the ascendance of the English; but, warned by the experience of the confederacy which had raised him to the sovereignty, saw the necessity of first breaking the power of the Gentoos, in whom the English would find the same resources against himself as he with the English had derived from them against Surajah Dowlab. Roydoolub, as the head of the Gentoo line, was first to be destroyed; but, dreading the sagacity of Clive, Jaffier determined to set nothing in motion which might awaken his suspicions, whilst he remained at Muxadavad; and in the interval, both he and his son Meerum carried themselves to him with every appearance of openness and confidence, and Clive often partook of the familiarity of their private amusements.
On the 14th of September, the day after the detachment from Patna arrived at Muxadavad, Clive went away to Calcutta, leaving Watts, Maningham, and Scrafton, to transact the company's affairs with the Nabob and his ministers. The detachment from Patna was stationed in the factory at Cossimbuzar; the rest of the troops, which had served at Plassy, were sent down the river, and quartered at Chandernagore, as a more healthy situation than Calcutta.
We shall now return to the affairs of Coromandel and the Decan.
End of the Seventh Book.