Commencement of the Campaign.

73

was well thrashed he could not be depended on," and the result proved he was more than right.

At this juncture Clive was most anxious to prevent the Nabob from making any coalition with the French, which, indeed, the treaty clearly prevented him from attempting; but as the untrustworthy nature of Dowlah was well known to Clive, he determined to strike a decisive blow against the French before they could be strengthened by new arrivals from South India or Europe. Clive crossed the river on February 18th, at the head of his troops, with the intention of marching on Chándernagore. No sooner did his design become evident to the French, than they claimed the Nabob's protection. For some time he hesitated between the two. On the one hand were the English flushed with victory, but, as he considered, in no great strength; on the other, the French at Chándernagore appeared to be strong enough to hold the place until reinforced by Bussy, who was then at the head of a powerful army in the Northern Circars. He therefore sent them money, forbade the English to advance, and prepared to send a large body of troops to defend Chándernagore.

This caused some delay, and negotiations were carried on with the French by means of Omichund, the wealthy merchant; but the French commissioners admitting that they had no power to override the decision of the chief authorities at Pondicherry, the negotiations broke down. Clive and Watson, being fully aware of the possible junction of Bussy's forces with those of the Nabob, determined to make the attack at all risks, though Admiral Watson wrote to

Dowlah in plain terms that the capture of Chándernagore was the only course left for them to pursue, unless he adhered firmly to the English, adding in reply to an evasive letter which the Nabob had sent him, that "such a war would be kindled in his country as all the waters of the Ganges would not be able to extinguish."

The garrison at Chándernagore had not meanwhile been idle. The defences had been strengthened, and some vessels had been sunk in the channel of the river which flowed past the town, though with less effect than a similar deed of the Russians a century later, when they barred the entrance of the British fleet into the harbour of Sebastopol; for when, on the 14th of March, Clive invested the fort of Chándernagore by land, and the siege operations were carried on for the next ten days, Admiral Watson's fleet was enabled to move up by means of a new channel shown to him by a deserter from the enemy. After two hours' bombardment the garrison held out a flag of truce, and by the afternoon of the same day the terms of capitulation were finally settled. The fort, the garrison, consisting of nearly five hundred European troops, together with all the military stores, fell into the hands of the English, and their triumph was complete.

Dowlah had hated the English while he was still able to oppose to them their French rivals. The French were now vanquished, and he began to hate the English more fiercely than ever. His unprincipled mind oscillated between servility and insolence. One day he sent money to Calcutta as compensation for the horrible crime he had committed; the next

Conspiracy against the Nabob.

75

day he sent a present of jewels to Bussy to induce that officer to come to his help against Clive," the daring in war," as the Nabob termed him, adding, "on whom may all bad fortune attend." He ordered his army to march against the English; then he countermanded his orders. He tore up Clive's letters one moment; the next he addressed him in language of Oriental servility. He ordered Watts, the English Commissioner, then at Moorshedabad, out of his presence, and threatened to impale him alive; he again sent for Watts, and begged pardon for the insult.

The infatuated Nabob was perpetrating such acts of cruelty amongst his own subjects, that at length a conspiracy was formed against him, in which Roydullub, his chancellor of the exchequer, Meer Jaffier, the commander of his troops, and Jugget Seit, the richest banker in India, were implicated, to drive the monster off his throne. The plot was confided to the English, and a communication was opened between the conspirators at Moorshedabad and the committee at Calcutta. In the committee there was at first much hesitation, until Clive gave his voice in favour of the plot; and his firmness bore down all opposition. It was determined that the English should lend their powerful assistance to depose Suráj-ood-Dowlah, and to place Mcer Jaffier in his stead on the throne of Bengal. That the English were fully justified in so acting, when we remember the past actions of Dowlah, and regard the insecurity of the English in the future, there cannot be two opinions, though the dissimulation

*The name of Sabut-Jung, or "The Daring in War," was the one by which the brave Clive was best known to the natives of India.

practised by Clive is considered by some to have cast a stain on his moral character.

It should not, however, be forgotten the character of the men with whom Clive had to deal. He knew that the standard of morality among the natives of India differed widely from that established in England. He knew he had to deal with men destitute of every idea of what is honourable and right and fair; with men who would give any promise without hesitation, and break it without shame; with men who would unscrupulously employ corruption, perjury, and forgery without stint, in order to accomplish their ends. His letters show that the great difference between Asiatic and European morality was ever in his thoughts. And Clive was no sooner matched against an Indian intriguer, than he determined to beat him with his own weapons, and descended without scruple to words and deeds which his nature would otherwise have led him to scorn.

Hence, while giving his sanction to the conspiracy which was to dethrone the Nabob, he thought it necessary to write a "soothing letter" to him, in order to disarm all suspicion, while his messenger at the same time carried a letter to Mr. Watts, the Commissioner at Moorshedabad, with these words, "Tell Meer Jaffier to fear nothing. I will join him with five thousand men who have never turned their backs to the foe. I will march day and night to his assistance, and stand by him as long as I have a man left."

The treaty with Meer Jaffier having been signed, and all being now ready for action, Mr. Watts fled secretly from Moorshedabad, and Clive at once began

Clive's Letter to the Nabob.

77

to put his troops in motion, while he addressed a letter to the Nabob, of a very different character from that of his previous communications. He set forth all the intolerable wrongs which the English had suffered, offered to submit the points in dispute. to the arbitration of Meer Jaffier, and concluded by announcing that, as the rains were about to set in, he and his army would take the earliest opportunity of waiting on the Nabob for an answer.

Clive summoned the troops he had dispatched to Calcutta, and set out from Chándernagore at the head of three thousand men, one thousand of whom were British, conspicuous among whom were the men of the 39th regiment of foot, which still bears on its colours, amidst many honourable additions won under Wellington, the name of PLASSEY, as well as the proud motto, Primus in India. Clive might have called the Mahrattas to his aid, for the Péshwah offered him higher terms of compensation than the treaty with Meer Jaffier contained; but he well knew that the price of such aid meant the plunder of Bengal, and nobly declined it. What was to be done must be by British troops and Sepoys commanded by British officers, or not at all.

Suráj-ood-Dowlah instantly assembled his army, and marched to encounter the English. It had been agreed that Meer Jaffier should separate himself from the Nabob, and carry over a part of the army on which he could depend to Clive. But as the decisive moment approached, the fears of the conspirator overpowered his ambition, and he remained like Stanley at Bosworth Field, three centuries before, to see who would win the day, Clive had advanced to