He began his march on the 12th of June; but he had not proceeded far, when a letter from Mr. Baldwin, our consul at Grand Cairo, brought to Calcutta the news that war had been declared at London and Paris; news which so much alarmed the Council lest Calcutta should be attacked, that they insisted on the recall of the Bombay expedition; but Hastings, still resolute in purpose, insisted

nine new battalions of sepoys, and a strong force of native artillery; and, being thus confident and at ease in his own quarter, he turned all his attention to the march of the army westward, and to the progress of affairs at Poonah and in Bombay.

Before the march of Leslie began, Hastings, with great and wise forethought, had sent letters and presents to those native princes through whose territories the colonel would have to pass. More

that it should proceed, as the river Hooghly, Calcutta, and Bengal could be defended without it; and the energetic Clive himself could not have overborne obstacles more resolutely than the Governor-General did on this trying occasion.

He seized Chandernagore, which the French had omitted to fortify, and sent orders to the presidency of Madras instantly to occupy Pondicherry, the walls and works of which had been repaired and so strengthened (an infraction of the former treaty of peace) that it could not be taken without a desperate siege.

He then ordered the formation of some strong lines of works to defend the approaches to Calcutta; and collecting shipping of all sorts and sizes, he

over, he had nearly settled the preliminaries of an alliance with Moodajee Bhonsla, the Mahratta Rajah of Berar, whose states were most extensive, situated about midway between the Bay of Bengal and the western coast, and whose power and influence were fully equal to those of any Mahratta prince of the period.

Colonel Leslie's orders were to push on with all rapidity, so that he might leave the Nerbudda in his rear before the rainy season set in; but, instead of doing this, he permitted himself to be retarded by some petty Rajpoot chiefs, whom the Poonah Mahrattas had instigated to obstruct him; and in a desultory warfare with them, he wasted the time he should have spent in advancing, according to

one account. According to another, as he marched through Bundelcund, his troops were frequently harassed by the young rajah of that district-so celebrated for its scorching heat, called "the deathblast of Bundelcund," and also by a young Mahratta chief, called Ballarjee. Leslie's supplies were frequently cut off; but a spirited and successful attack upon a position the rajah and the chief had taken up not far from Chatterpore, amid the most beautiful and romantic scenery of the

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"The rest of the march will be easy and creditable, if Colonel Leslie does not entangle himself in the domestic discontents of the two brothers, to which his inducements are strong and his provocations great. He was, on the 30th of July, at Chatterpore, where he had for some time been detained for the repair of his carriages. He writes that he was then on the point of leaving it. I wish he had.” Leslie, however, was not in such haste as his leader desired; for, on reaching Rajahghur, in

Bundelcund, completely disconcerted them both, and compelled them to keep at a more respectful distance.

After this affair, the colonel was joined by the elder brother of the rajah, who laid claim to his throne, and by several other chiefs of Bundelcund; "for, go where they would, the British found factions, disputed successions, and other mad contentions to tempt their ambition, and furnish means for its gratification." But Hastings' whole desire was, that the expedition should reach the great point for action, without becoming involved in petty wars by the way. Thus he wrote on the 18th of August, 1778, to Sullivan :

:

"the Country of Diamonds," on the 17th of August, he made a long halt to negotiate with the pretender, and other lords of the district; but this delay was in part attributable to the indecision of the Bombay Council, under whose orders he had been desired to place himself the moment he left the Jumna in his rear.

Incidents that were undoubtedly somewhat embarrassing, had occurred in the meanwhile at Poonah, where the treaty with Ragobah, and his cause generally, were not proving so successful as the Council at Bombay had anticipated, and their conduct became what has justly been termed the nearest approach to absurdity.

To Colonel Leslie they sent an order to halt en route, alleging as a reason, their dread of the expense and risk, and the dissent of two members of Council from the original scheme, a plea which excited the profound contempt of Hastings. Three days after the first order, the Bombay politicians sent Leslie a second order rescinding the first, and desiring him to press on with all speed. Leslie, though brave, was by nature irresolute, perhaps inactive, so he remained where he was; and justified himself for doing so, by showing that an army which he expected from Bombay to make a junction with him had not yet begun its march; and that the presidency had failed to avail themselves properly of the dissensions at Poonah, or to pave the way for his progress through districts that were dangerous.

On the other hand, the Council at Bombay excused their apathy, by alleging that the members of their secret party in Poonah, from whom they expected active and armed assistance, had been cast into dungeons, and that it was vain now to prognosticate what might be the chances of Ragobah becoming either peishwa or regent. As matters stood, Hastings thought it necessary to recall Colonel Leslie, and confide the command

of the expeditionary army to an officer of more activity and enterprise.

He accordingly ordered him to be superseded by the second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel Goddard. By the same courier, he wrote to the Rajah of Bundelcund and the competitors there, disavowing all the tactics and transactions of Colonel Leslie, and declaring all that officer's treaties and agreements invalid.

It has been thought not improbable that the loitering commander might have been made to answer at Calcutta, for the mode in which he had handled his army, before a court-martial or court of inquiry; but he was summoned before a higher tribunal.

Before the order of supercession reached him, he died of fever at Rajahghur (or Rajeghur), on the 3rd of October, 1778. Goddard was raised to the rank of full colonel; and, freed from all the trammels that beset his predecessor-especially the authority of the wavering magnates at Bombay—forthwith quitted the land of Bundelcund, and taking the route to Malwa, continued his march for a long time in ease, peace, and plenty, without experiencing or expecting any of the many impediments which had beset the less fortunate Leslie.

We have said that Pondicherry could not be reduced without some obstinate work. The task of recapturing that place, which the French had no right to fortify again, was assigned to MajorGeneral Sir Hector Munro, who, on the 17th of October, 1778, took the town and fort by capitulation, after a siege of two months and ten days, at the head of the East India Company's forces, and those of the nabob.*

On the 8th of August, part of the troops intended for the siege encamped on the Redhill, four miles distant from Pondicherry, the French troops in which were commanded by Major-General de Bellecombe and Brigadier Law, of Lauriston. On the 21st, our troops took possession of the remarkable boundary hedge described in an earlier chapter. On the 6th and 7th of September we London Gazette, 1778.

broke ground before it on the north and south sides, Sir Hector being resolved to push on two attacks at once. On the 18th, the batteries, armed with twenty-eight battering guns and twenty-seven mortars, opened with a terrible fury, to which those of the enemy responded from day-dawn till evening, when their fire began to slacken, while ours was redoubled.

"The approaches," says Sir Hector, in his despatch to Viscount Weymouth, the Secretary of State, "were continued with the utmost expedition; but the obstinate defence of the garrison made it necessary to act with caution, and the violent rains that fell retarded the works. A gallery being carried into the ditch to the southward, a breach made in the bastion called L'Hospital, and the faces of the adjacent bastions being also destroyed, it was resolved to pass the ditch by a bridge of

boats made for the purpose, and to assault the place; while, on the north attack, our batteries had ruined the whole face of the north-west bastion, and a float was prepared to pass the troops over the ditch, where they had stockades running into the water. This was intended to have been put in execution on the 15th of October, before daylight; but in the forenoon of the 14th the water of the ditch to the southward was so raised by the rains for two or three days before, that it forced itself into the gallery, broke it down, and damaged the boats intended for the bridge.

"It required two days to repair the damage done, and everything being ready for the assault, it would have taken place on the 17th; but on the 16th, M. Bellecombe sent in a letter by his aide-de-camp, M. de Villette, relative to a capitulation, which was signed by both parties next day. The gallant defence made by M. Bellecombe will ever do him honour; and I beg leave, in justice to the troops I had the honour to command, to assure your lordship that they acted with the most determined resolution on every occasion."

Thus Bellecombe had no better fortune in Pondicherry than the Count de Lally a few years before. Admiral Sir Edward Vernon, who gave great assistance during the siege, landed the marines of his squadron, with 200 seamen, to act as a naval brigade, if required, in the assault.

The lists, terms of the capitulation, and the colours taken at Pondicherry, Sir Hector sent home in charge of his aide-de-camp, Ensign Rumbold, of the 6th Regiment (son of the Governor of Madras), then serving as a volunteer in the war in India.

The terms of the capitulation demanded by the French included that the garrison, after giving over the old Villenore Gate, should "retire by the seaport, with arms and baggage, colours flying, drums beating, lighted matches, with six cannon, two mortars each piece to have six charges, and each soldier fifteen cartouches;" but it was answered that, in consequence of their bravery, "the garrison are to march out of the Villenore Gate with the honours of war; they will, on the glacis, pile their arms by order of their own officers, where they will leave them with their drums, the cannon, and mortars. The officers to keep their arms, and the Regiment of Pondicherry, at General Bellecombe's particular request, to keep their colours."

The colonel of this corps, M. Auvergne, Brigadier Law de Lauriston, Colonel Russell, and other officers of rank, were permitted to take away their baggage unsearched; and there fell into our hands 391 guns and mortars, thirty-two of which were unserviceable, 6,295 stand of various arms, 1,000 swords and

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The

pistols, and great stores of everything. garrison consisted of about 3,000 men, 900 of whom were Europeans; the total loss in killed and wounded was 680. The besieging force was 10,500, of whom 1,500 were Europeans. Our losses were 224 killed, and 693 wounded.*

So thus fell Pondicherry into our hands for the third time.

During the time of the investment, a sharp engagement took place at sea between our squadron, under Sir Edward Vernon, and the French, under M. Tranjollie. On the same day our troops broke ground before the town of Pondicherry. Vernon, when (with five sail, one of which was the Rippon, 60) chasing a frigate into the roadstead, descried six sail of the enemy to the south-westward; but the wind was so light that it was impossible to come within range of them till the morning of the 10th of August, when they bore down on our fleet in a steady line abreast. After some manoeuvring, Vernon won the weather gauge, and signalled to bear down on the enemy, who had formed on the starboard tack.

"I intended," reported Sir Edward, "forming our line on the larboard tack, till the leading ship had stretched abreast of their rear, then to have tacked and formed opposite the enemy's ships; but having so little wind, and the uncertainty of a continuance, I thought it necessary to bring them to action, which, at three-quarters past two, became general."

After close fighting for two hours, the enemy stood away to the south-west, leaving our vessels sorely crippled aloft; but the admiral hoped to encounter them again next day, so the whole night was spent "in reeving, splicing, and knotting the rigging, getting up a maintopsail yard, and foretop mast, the others being destroyed." But the enemy bore away out of sight, which enabled Vernon to steer into the roads of Pondicherry, and take part with Munro in the reduction of that place. His total loss in the engagement was eleven killed, and fifty-three wounded.

Colonel Goddard, as we have related, continuing his march, crossed the Nerbudda and reached the city of Nagpore, which Hastings, with a prospective glance, declared should be the proper centre for all our possessions and connections in India, though it is situated in a low, swampy plain, watered by a river called the Nag, or serpent, from its numerous windings. It was but a small place, and was but a village when, in 1740, Ragoji Bhonsla fixed there the seat of the Mahratta Government, and made it the capital of Berar.

*London Gazette, 1778.