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[1758 A.D.]

presence of Lally. The works of the siege were now vigorously pushed forward; a part in them all being urged by compulsion on the reluctant and scrupulous natives.

"In India," says Orme, "even the lower castes have their distinction, insomuch that the coolie, who carries a burden on his head, will not carry it on his shoulder. Distinctions likewise prevail amongst the soldiery, for the man who rides will not cut the grass that is to feed his horse; nor at this time would the sepoy dig the trench which was to protect him from a cannon-ball." Such prejudices were now derided and set at nought by Lally. Thus he carried his immediate object, but thus also he forfeited forever all claim to the attachment and regard of the native population. According to Mill," the consternation created by such an act was greater than if he had set fire to the town, and butchered every man whom it contained."

At this juncture Fort St. David was the strongest that the East India Company possessed, and it held a sufficient garrison; but the commanding officer was far from able, and part of the men are represented as drunken and disorderly. So early as the 2nd of June terms of surrender, by no means honourable to themselves, were proposed by the besieged, and on the evening of the same day were accepted by the besiegers. Lally, in pursuance of the instructions which he had brought from France, immediately rased the fortifications to the ground, nor have they ever been rebuilt. Thus the name of Fort St. David-up to that time so conspicuous in the annals of the comhenceforth no longer appears. pany

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Elated with this conquest, Lally pursued his warfare; he failed in an expedition against Tanjore, but succeeded in an expedition against Arcot. His aspiring views extended to the siege of Madras, and to the extinction of the British name in the Carnatic. For this great object he mustered every man at his disposal, even recalling Bussy from the Deccan, which had so long been the scene of that officer's active and able exertions. His want of money was no small obstacle in the way of his designs; to supply it he again offended the natives by plundering a pagoda of its wealth; and in a more praiseworthy spirit subscribed largely from his own private funds, exhorting his subordinates to follow his example. But he had already made nearly all of them his personal enemies by his haughty reproaches and his bitter jests. Thus, for example, when he found his council less alert than they might have been in providing the beasts of burden he required, he exclaimed that he could not do better than harness to his waggons the members of council themselves! All his letters at this period were filled with invectives of no common asperity.

In December, 1758, Lally appeared before Madras, at the head of twentyseven hundred European and four thousand native troops. The English had already, in expectation of a siege, called in nearly all their garrisons and outposts, and could muster within their walls four thousand soldiers, of whom 1,800 were of European race. The French had no difficulty in making themselves masters of the Black Town; but this, from the large stores of arrack it contained, proved rather an obstacle to their further progress, as augmenting the insubordination of the men. On the other hand, the English steadily continued the defence of Fort St. George. When, after nearly two months' investment, a breach had been effected by Lally's batteries, his principal officers declared that it was not accessible, adding their opinion that a prolongation of the siege would be merely a wanton waste of human lives. The sepoys had deserted in great numbers, and some of the Europeans threatened to follow their example.

[1759-1760 A.D.]

ENGLISH NAVAL SUCCESSES

On the 16th of February 1759, Admiral Pocock and his squadron, which had sailed to Bombay several months before, returned with some fresh troops on board. The French, apprehensive of a combined attack upon them, commenced that very night their march to Arcot, leaving behind their sick and wounded, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and a hundred and fifty barrels of gunpowder.

After this great reverse to the French arms, and the return of their chief to Pondicherry, hostilities languished for some time between the rival nations. But in the autumn there ensued another naval engagement, from another voyage of D'Aché to this coast. On the 2nd of September his squadron was encountered by Pocock's; the English having nine ships of the line and the French eleven, with a great superiority both in guns and men. The result, however, as on the two last occasions, was by no means decisive; the loss of men was nearly equal on both sides, and the English suffered the most damage in their ships. D'Aché immediately proceeded to disembark a few men and a little money at Pondicherry, and then, notwithstanding the vehement remonstrances of the governor and council, returned with his squadron to the islands.

At nearly the same period the English at Madras were cheered with the tidings that Eyre Coote had been promoted in England to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was coming over at the head of the king's 84th regiment and other reinforcements. Major Brereton, who meanwhile commanded in the field, appears to have been desirous of distinguishing himself before the arrival of his chief. Thus he attempted to reduce the fort of Wandewash by three divisions in a night-attack, but signally failed, with the loss of two hundred men. So indignant was Brereton himself at his repulse that, on seeing the crowd of English fugitives, he drew his sword and ran the first man he met through the body! Ormef adds: "Unfortunately the man was one of the bravest in the army, so that this example carried little influence."

Colonel Eyre Coote, with the last division of his force, landed at Madras on the 27th of October, 1759. Born in 1726, Coote was now in the prime of life, with none of those infirmities of body or mind which clouded over his later years, and obscured the lustre of his fame. One of his earliest measures on reaching the Carnatic was to retrieve the recent check to the British arms, by a more regular and skilful attack on Wandewash. In this enterprise Major Brereton did good service at the head of a division, and the fort was carried with little loss on the last day of November.

At this news Lally took the field. His dissensions with the civil service still continued, and his want of money to pay the troops had already produced more than one mutiny among them. He had, however, obtained as auxiliaries a body of Mahrattas, and he had under his command the sagacious and experienced Bussy, but, unhappily for himself, was jealous of his influence and distrustful of his counsels. Bussy strongly urged the imprudence of attempting to recover Wandewash, in the face of the English army. Lally, however, thought the honour of his arms at stake, and persevered in the design.

At nearly the commencement of the battle, January 22nd, 1760, the French horse, led on by Lally in person, was thrown into disorder by two English pieces of artillery, and was driven back to the encampment. Lally hastened to put himself at the head of the foot soldiers, and cheered them on to the charge. The battle now became general, and fiercely contested among the Europeans, but ere long began to declare in favour of Coote - a result hastened by the accidental explosion of a tumbril in the French ranks.

H. W.-VOL. XXII. F

[1760-1761 A.D.] Bussy, attempting to rally the fugitives, and fighting with undaunted spirit at the head of a handful of men that still adhered to him, was surrounded and made prisoner sword in hand. The day was now decided. The French, notwithstanding the efforts of Lally, gave way in all directions from the field. In the battle or pursuit their loss was estimated at nearly six hundred men; the English had one hundred and ninety killed and wounded. It deserves notice that the brunt of the conflict had fallen entirely on the Europeans of both armies, the native troops taking no part in it since the first cannonade.

The joy this day at Madras, says a contemporary, could only be compared to that at Calcutta on the news of Plassey. In truth, as the one victory gained Bengal for the British, so did the other the Carnatic. It is remarkable, however, in all these operations by or against Lally, how little weight the native powers threw into either scale. Arcot, Trincomalee, Devicota, Cuddalore, and several other places fell successively into Coote's hands.

END OF THE FRENCH POWER IN INDIA

The net was now closing round Pondicherry itself. Through the boundary hedge of thorns and prickly plants, which, as in many other Indian towns, encompassed its outer defences, the inhabitants could discern the hostile army encamped, and ready for the siege. The departure of D'Aché's squadron had left the English undisputed masters of the sea, and scarce any further supplies, either by land or water, could reach the beleaguered city. The French valour, the rainy season, and a most violent storm in the roads, interposed, however, considerable obstacles in the way of Coote. Nor was discord, which raged so fiercely within the walls of Pondicherry, altogether absent from the English camp. In consequence of orders from home, given in ignorance of the late events, a dispute as to the chief command arose between Colonel Coote and Colonel Monson. At one period Coote had already relinquished his post, and was preparing to embark for Bengal; but Monson receiving a severe wound, and becoming for a time disabled, the leadership happily reverted to the victor of Wandewash.

In the night between the 8th and 9th of December four English batteries opened against the walls of Pondicherry. The besieged were firm and resolute in their defence, fighting every foot of ground, and making more than one successful sally. Before the middle of January, there only remained sufficient provisions for two days. In this extremity Lally and his council sent deputies to capitulate, and failing to obtain more favourable terms, were compelled to surrender at discretion. Accordingly, on the 16th of January, 1761, the English marched into the place. Great civilities passed between the chiefs; Coote dining that day at Lally's table; but Lally and his French, still amounting to above two thousand, remained prisoners of war. "All," says Orme,f wore the face of famine, fatigue, or disease."

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Almost immediately after the surrender a dispute arose among the victors for the possession of the place. Coote and his officers claimed it for the king; Pigot and the other civilians from Madras claimed it for the company. The quarrel grew high, until at length Pigot declared, that unless his pretensions were admitted he should refuse to supply funds for the subsistence of the troops. This threat barred all further argument. In return for the destruction of Fort St. David, and in pursuance of orders from home, Pigot took measures for rasing to the ground the fortifications of Pondicherry, nay, even all the buildings that stood within them.

Thus ended the French power in India. For although Pondicherry was

[1763 A.D.] restored to them by the peace of 1763, and although the stipulation in that peace against their raising fortresses or maintaining troops applies only to Bengal, yet even in the Carnatic they could never again attain their former influence nor recover their lost ground; and the extinction of their East India Company speedily ensued.

THE FATE OF LALLY

This result, however mortifying to French ambition, has been acknowledged by French writers as a just retribution on that company, and on the government of Louis XV, for their cruel oppression of almost every great commander who had served them faithfully in India. The closing scenes of La Bourdonnais and of Dupleix have been already described; there remains to tell the still more tragic fate of Lally. On arriving a prisoner in England and hearing of the charges brought against him in France, he wrote to Pitt, soliciting that he might return on his parole, and confront his accusers, and with this request the British minister complied. But no sooner was Lally at Paris than he was thrown into the Bastille, where he remained fifteen months without even a preliminary examination. When at length his trial did come on before the parliament of Paris, it was pressed with the utmost acrimony, both by the crown and East India Company; and a legal quibble on the term "high treason" enabled his judges to sentence him to death. When informed of their decision, "Is this," he passionately cried, "the reward of forty-five years' service!" and snatching up a compass with which he had been drawing maps during his imprisonment, he struck it at his breast. His hand, however, was held back by some person near him; and that same afternoon, the 9th of May, 1766, he was dragged along to public execution in a dung-cart, with a gag between his lips, and beheaded on the Place de Grève. Such was the end of a veteran, who had fought and bled for his adopted country, seldom, indeed, with prudence and discretion, but always with courage and honour.

ENGLISH CONFLICTS WITH THE NATIVES

By the downfall of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and, above all, the French power in India, a wide and still-extending scope was left to that of England. The best chance of supremacy to the native states had lain in resisting Europeans by Europeans-in setting the skill and energy of one northern race against another. Single-handed they fell one by one-some dropping from their own rottenness, like fruit from a tree, others resisting fiercely, but with

out avail.

The British had struck down their European rivals at Pondicherry, at Chandarnagar, and at Chinsura. They had shot high above their titular liege-lords in the Deccan and Bengal. Of Bengal, indeed, they were in truth the masters, since Mir Jafar, as their tool and instrument, sat enthroned on the masnad of that province. On the other hand they had no longer a chief of genius and of energy to guide them. The principal authority since the departure of Clive had devolved on Henry Vansittart, a man of good intentions, but of moderate capacity. Thus the discipline of the victors was relaxed by their own successes. Thus their rapine ceased to be checked by a strong hand. Almost every Englishman in Bengal began to look upon speedy enrichment as his right, and upon the subservient natives as his prey.

Nor was it long ere a growing difference sprung up between them and

[1763 A.D.] their new nawab. So early as the autumn of 1760, Mir Jafar was found to engage in cabals against the company. He was surounded in his palace at the dead of night, compelled to resign the government, and then, at his own request, permitted to retire to Fort William, under the protection of the British flag; while his son-in-law, Mir Kasim, was in his stead proclaimed the viceroy of Bengal.

According to a compact made beforehand with the English, Mir Kasim forthwith yielded to them, as the price of their assistance, both an amount of treasure and an increase of territory. But his temper, which was bold and active, and by no means scrupulous, chafed at these sacrifices. Still less could he brook the oft-repeated acts of insolence and rapine of the gomastahs — the native factors or agents in the British pay. Ere long, therefore, he took some measures to shake off his subjection. He removed his court from Murshidabad to Monghyr, two hundred miles further from Calcutta. He increased and disciplined his troops. He imprisoned or disgraced every man of note in his dominions who had ever shown attachment to the English. He began to enforce against the private traders the revenue laws, from which they claimed exemption.

Angry disputes arose above all with the numerous English factory at Patna. Vansittart repaired to Monghyr in the hope to avert hostilities. He concluded a treaty, agreeing that his countrymen should pay the inland duties to the amount of 9 per cent.; and not refusing on that occasion a present to himself of seven lacs of rupees from Mir Kasim. But the council of Calcutta voted the terms dishonourable. As a last effort to avert hostilities, another deputation was sent from Calcutta to Monghyr. At its head was Amyatt, one of the principal members of the council. Not only, however, did these gentlemen wholly fail in their mission, but while passing the city of Murshidabad on their way back, they were inhumanly murdered by a body of Kasim's own troops. After such an outrage, peace was no longer possible. Thus, in the summer of 1763, war again commenced, the council of Calcutta resolving to depose Mir Kasim, and proclaiming the restoration of Mir Jafar.

MASSACRE OF PATNA

The British forces that took the field in this campaign amounted at first to scarcely more than six hundred Europeans, and twelve hundred sepoys. With these, however, their commander, Major Adams, obtained rapid and great successes. He drove the enemy from their strongholds, entered Murshidabad, gained a battle on the plains of Geriah, and, after a nine days' siege, reduced Monghyr. Nothing was left to Mir Kasim but Patna, and even Patna he perceived that he should not be able to maintain. Accordingly, he prepared for flight to the dominions of his powerful neighbour, Sujah-udDaula, the nawab of Oudh.

But first he wreaked his vengeance on the English by an act of savage barbarity, second in its horrors only to those of the Black Hole. His prisoners of the factory at Patna exceeded one hundred and fifty persons. They were comprised of many peaceful traders and one infant. All these the tyrant indiscriminately doomed to death- the massacre of Patna, as it has ever since been termed. For his purpose Mir Kasim found a congenial instrument in one Sombre, otherwise Sumroo, a Frenchman by birth, and a deserter from the European service. This wretch gave his victims a significant though trivial token of their coming doom by sending, in the first place, to seize and

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