supply £5,000 a month for the expense of the English army.

The allied forces set forth in November, 1758, and advanced as far as Peddajoar, where they encountered M. Conflans, who had been left by Bussy in command of a force of exactly the same number as that which Forde commanded, viz., five hundred French soldiers and two thousand Sepoys. After a smart action the French were thoroughly defeated by the English and the Sepoys in their employ alone. Conflans had the forethought to send off his military treasure on fleet camels; but the spoils were considerable: thirty pieces of cannon, fifty ammunition tumbrils, seven large mortars, with a large provision of shells, a thousand draught bullocks, and all the tents of the French army, graced the victor's spoils. When the rout of the French began, Forde, thinking that the cavalry of his ally might be of some use, called upon the Rajah to order them to charge; but he might as well have attempted to call spirits from the vasty deep;" for these Indian cavaliers, and all their infantry besides, with their noble commander in the midst of them, had conveniently taken up their quarters in the bed of a river, then completely dry, where they remained in perfect shelter during the action, and from which they refused to move so long as fighting was going on. Moreover, the Rajah would no more pay than fight; so that Forde, who had spent all the little money he had brought with him, for several weeks was utterly unable to move. In the beginning of March, 1759, Forde, after having obtained a small sum from the niggardly Rajah, marched upon Musilipatam, the strongest fortress

Warren Hastings at Moorshedabad.

89

which the French possessed on that coast, and after a brilliant siege of twelve days' duration, assaulted it at three points, when Conflans surrendered at discretion.

In the meanwhile, Meer Jaffier, in his sovereignty of Bengal, fulfilled to the letter the saying of our great dramatist—

"Uneasy sits the head that wears a crown;"

for not only had many native chiefs, far and near, rebelled against him, but he was surrounded by foes, all eager for his throne, or for a slice of his rich territory. Several Rajahs had united with Shujahood-Dowlah, the Nabob of Oude, against Meer Jaffier, and their cause was subsequently aided by Shah Zada, the eldest son of the Great Mogul, who had established himself in Rohilcund, and had a considerable army of Rohillas, half soldiers, half robbers by profession, but a braver race than any in the lower parts of Hindostan. Before long Shah Zada commenced his march against the Nabob of Bengal with a mixed army of 50,000 Rohillas, Mahrattas, and Afghans. Meer Jaffier felt that he had no hope but in Clive; so he daily besieged with urgent entreaties the new English president at Moorshedabad, whom Clive had sent there as the Company's representative, and who proved to be none other than the future GovernorGeneral of India, the illustrious WARREN HASTINGS. He had before called Clive's attention to the incessant intrigues and broils which were daily taking place at the court, and predicted that, unless Clive interfered, the whole fabric of government would fall to pieces, and that the provinces of Orissa and Bahar would be severed from Bengal even before the arrival of Shah Zada and his army. Although Clive at the time.

could only count upon having 400 British soldiers and 2,500 Sepoys, in consequence of the expedition under Col. Forde, and by having sent out other detachments to Madras, he nevertheless resolved to meet the mighty confederacy which threatened Meer Jaffier; but he ordered Forde to continue his conquests in the Northern Circars, and to proceed, if his assistance was needed, to Madras. Clive began his march late in February, and in a few days reached Moorshedabad, writing to the secret committee at Calcutta that he hoped soon to give a good account of Shah Zada, who was then shortly expected to besiege Patna, the capital of Bahar, where it was reported that Ramnarain, the Governor, had betrayed his trust, and gone over to the foe. This happily proved false; but not to trust too much to Hindoo valour, Clive hurried forward a detachment of Sepoys under the command of Ensign Mathews, to assist in the defence. But this was unnecessary: the dread of Clive's name was sufficient to disperse the invading army; and on the 5th of April, the day before Mathews could reach Patna, Shah Zada, then heirapparent to the Great Mogul, at the head of an army of 50,000 men, raised the siege, and retreated before an ensign's detachment of British soldiers, marching under the prestige of Clive's great fame and name! Nothing probably equal to this can be found in the annals of the history of the world.

The "Daring in War" and "Protector of the Great," as Clive was justly termed by the natives, entered Patna without any parade or triumph; and it was acknowledged by all who saw him there, that he was in reality lord of all that part of India,