OPERATIONS IN THE DECCAN.

117

Rajah Anunderaz, dissatisfied with the conditions on which Bussy had invested him with power, on the departure of this officer attacked and captured the French settlement of Vizigapatam, and made an offer to the Madras government to surrender his capture, provided a body of troops were furnished him to aid in subjugating the Circars. The executive of Madras being apprehensive of Lally's progress, declined a distant enterprise; and the rajah addressed himself to Clive, who, in opposition to the entire council, concluded a treaty with Anunderaz, and despatched Colonel Forde with a large force to aid him.

Forde's operations were retarded both by want of money and supplies; but being joined by the rajah, he advanced against the French under M. Conflans, who with superior force held a strong position at Rajamundri. Forde ordered an immediate attack; and although deserted by Anunderaz, defeated the French, captured their camp, and drove them from Rajamundri. The rajah's penuriousness prevented Forde from taking immediate advantage of his success; and when the English, after a vexatious delay, began to advance, M. Conflans retired into the fort of Masulipatam. Forde upon reaching it summoned the garrison to surrender, but was treated with ridicule, the defenders being more numerous than the besiegers, with an army of observation in the field; while Salabat Jing was on his march to support them with the army of the Deccan, and a reinforcement expected from Pondicherry. Though his troops were in a mutiny for their pay, and his ammunition short, Forde commenced a siege on the 25th of March, and maintained it vigorously until the 6th of April, 1759, when his engineers reported but two days' ammunition in store; at the same time intelligence reached him that the army of observation was effecting a junction with the advancing forces of the Deccan; whereon he resolved to storm the fort. As hot a fire as possible was ordered during the day, and the troops to be under arms at ten at night. Forde divided his little army into three divisions, and at midnight led them under the walls. The assailants gained the palisades of the ditch without discovery, when a heavy fire was opened on them; but they advanced determinedly until the ramparts were possessed, when separating to the right and left, they stormed with success bastion after bastion; surprised, terrified, and panic-struck, the firing coming from every direction, the French force surrendered at discretion as morning broke upon the scene.

The effect of this gallant achievement was great and immediate. Salabat Jing entered into a treaty with Forde, ceding Masulipatam to the English, and consenting to banish the French from his dominions

for ever.

The Pondicherry reinforcement arrived too late to be of any service, and returned after enduring great privations.

Bengal was threatened at this time with a fresh danger. Alumgir II., dissatisfied with Mir Jaffier, invested his son with the government of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and the prince collected an army to assume his rights. Ramnarain, the ruler of Berar, joining Mir Jaffier and the English, closed the gates of Patna upon the prince, who besieged the place; upon which Clive hastened to its assistance: but before his arrival, the prince's allies had quarrelled with one another, reducing him to so much distress, that he wrote to Clive requesting money for his subsistence, and promising to withdraw from the province. The terms were acceded to, and the danger removed. Mir Jaffier was so grateful for his deliverance, that he made Clive a chief Omrah of the empire, and bestowed upon him a jaghire or estate round Calcutta worth thirty thousand pounds a year.

Clive, upon returning to Calcutta, was joined by Forde in time for another emergency. Though peace existed between England and Holland, the Dutch, jealous of the English progress in Bengal, fitted out a fleet at Batavia to counterpoise the English in that province, consisting of seven ships manned by 700 Europeans and 800 Malays. Entering the Hooghly, they landed their forces a few miles from Calcutta, to march to their settlement at Chinsura. Forde was ordered to intercept their progress, which he did with so much success that fourteen only reached their destination, the remainder being either slain or captured. The seven Dutch ships surrendered to the company's vessels; and the Dutch, in order to avoid being totally expelled from Bengal, were compelled to pay the expenses of the war.

In the Madras Presidency the tide of fortune flowed still in favour of the British. The French had retreated to Pondicherry, where, in May 1760, they found themselves completely hemmed in by the English. After sustaining a siege of eight months, the fort and town capitulated, upon which their remaining settlements fell an easy prey to the victors.

From this date the destiny of the French in India was sealed. Bussy had been killed some time previously in an engagement. Lally returned to Europe, and on his arrival in France was put on his trial for treason by the French parliament. Defence was in vain; he was condemned, and put to death by the hands of the common hangman. With him expired the French East India Company; and though some few isolated attempts were afterwards made to resuscitate that body, they never again took any part in Indian affairs.

SUPREMACY OF THE BRITISH.

119

The disappearance of the French, the impotency of the Dutch, and the subjugation or disunion of the native powers, promised to secure to the English undisturbed possession of India. Clive, having placed matters on a firm basis, took the opportunity of this political calm once more to visit his native country, full of honours and years, leaving the British power both feared and respected throughout those vast dominions.1

The authorities consulted in this and the following chapters of the historical section have been Mill's History, Aubir's Rise and Progress of the British Empire in the East, and files of the Bombay Times, Calcutta Englishman, and Friend of India.

CHAPTER II.

FROM THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT OF THE BRITISH IN INDIA TO THE DEATH OF HYDER ALI.

THE

of

the army

THE departure of Clive for England left the command of the army to Colonel Calliaud, who, though not wanting in energy and ability, had neither the prestige nor the military genius of Clive.

The emperor's son again made an attempt upon the power of Mir Jaffier, and thus kept Calliaud and his forces on the alert. Before long, however, another revolution took place at Delhi. The emperor was murdered, and his son invested with the dangerous title, under the name of Shah Alum.

The supremacy which orientals ever attach to the royal name, added to the direct influence of his vizier, the nabob of Oude, soon added large and seasonable reinforcements to his army, so that he found himself in a formidable position for warlike operations, and accordingly marched with his large army upon Patna.

Arrived before that important town, Ramnarain, in opposition to his counsellors, attacked him, but was signally defeated, and the detachment of English stationed there were cut to pieces. Calliaud immediately advanced to save Patna, and upon coming up with the imperialists, attacked them and gained a complete victory. The emperor having been reinforced by M. Law and his body of French troops, subsequently stormed Patna a second time, and was repulsed with great difficulty. A third assault was anticipated, but fortunately a strong reinforcement reached Patna under Captain Knox, who, upon finding how affairs stood, without allowing his troop time for refreshment, ordered an attack upon the imperial camp during the hour of the afternoon's repose, when he surprised and drove his enemies from their position, to which they never returned.

This gallant affair was speedily followed by the advance of the Naib of Poorania with 12,000 men and 30 pieces of cannon upon Patna.

DEPOSITION OF MIR JAFFIER.

121

Knox, whose forces amounted only to 200 Europeans, one battalion of sepoys, 300 irregular horse, and 5 pieces of ordnance, determined to cross the river and encounter the Naib, in which he was supported by a friendly rajah with 300 men. His intent was a night surprise of the enemy's camp; but through a mistake of his guide this was frustrated. In the morning, the Naib's army advanced and literally surrounded Knox, who, however, defeated him in every quarter, drove him from the field, and followed him with destruction until incapacitated by fatigue, when Calliaud took the retreating Naib off his hand, and pursued him vigorously for several days.

Upon Clive's departure for England the Court of Directors appointed Mr. Vansittart to the head of the executive, a proceeding alike injurious to the government and offensive to the remainder of the council; it having been the usage to nominate the senior member of the council for the appointment, such a deviation, even in favour of a talented individual, would necessarily engender much unfriendly feeling, but in the case of Vansittart, whose only statesmanlike recommendation was a grave demeanour, it was highly offensive, and produced very violent dissensions in the Calcutta council, which often terminated most disgracefully. Vansittart found the treasury empty, the troops at Patna in mutiny for pay, Mir Jaffier's allowance to his auxiliaries in arrear, with little prospect of his paying either that or his large balance to the Company.

Instead of advising with his council, he arranged his plans with a secret committee, and determined to depose Mir Jaffier, and substitute in his stead his son-in-law Mir Casim, for which purpose he proceeded with some troops to Moorshedabad. Mir Jaffier naturally opposed this unjust arrangement as long as a probable chance of success remained, when, scorning an empty title, he retired to Calcutta on a pension.

Mir Casim's elevation was for a stipulated payment, the English undertaking to supply him with troops for the collection of his revenues. These payments, with the expenses of subduing some rebellious chiefs aided by the Mahrattas, exhausted his finances, which he determined to recruit by plundering Ramnarain the Hindoo governor of Berar; and to forward his views, charged the governor, who had been a faithful ally of the English, with various offences, which Mr. Vansittart, in defiance of the caution afforded him both by Major Carnac and Colonel Coote, listened to. The result is easily foreseen: Ramnarain was seized by Mir Casim, plundered, and eventually put to death with great barbarity.

Vansittart's government daily diminished in popularity; and all