With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an Empire

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 21: The Battle Outside Calcutta.

  After the defeat of the enemy, who had surprised and so nearlyannihilated him, Clive marched at once towards the fort of Baj-baj. Onthe way he met Major Kilpatrick, who was advancing, with a force whichhad been landed from the ships when the sound of firing was heard, tohis assistance.

  The fleet had, at daybreak, opened a heavy fire upon the ramparts; andby the afternoon effected a breach. As his men were greatly fatigued,and had had but an hour's sleep, Clive determined upon delaying theattack until the morning; and a party of two hundred and fiftysailors, with two guns, were landed to take part in the storming.

  Many of these sailors had drunk freely before landing, and as nightfell, some of them strolled towards the fort. One of the number, namedStrahan, moved along, unobserved by the enemy, to the foot of thebreach, climbed up it, and came suddenly upon a party of its defenderssitting round a fire, smoking. Strahan immediately fired his pistolamong them, with a shout of, "The fort is mine!" and then gave threerousing cheers.

  The enemy leaped to their feet and ran off for a little way. Then,seeing Strahan was alone, they rushed back and attacked him, firing asthey came. Strahan, drawing his cutlass, defended himself vigorouslyfor some time; but his weapon broke off at the hilt, just as a numberof Sepoys and men of the 39th, who had been awakened from their sleepby the shouting and firing, came running up. Reinforcements of thegarrison also joined their friends, but these were dispirited by thesudden and unexpected attack; and, as the troops continued to streamup the breach, the garrison were pressed; and, losing heart, fledthrough the opposite gate of the fort.

  The only casualty on the British side was that Captain Campbell,marching up at the head of the Sepoys, was mistaken for an enemy bythe sailors, and shot dead. Strahan was, in the morning, severelyreprimanded by the admiral for his breach of discipline; and, retiringfrom the cabin, said to his comrades:

  "Well, if I am flogged for this here action, I will never take anotherfort, by myself, as long as I live."

  Manak Chand was so alarmed at the fighting powers shown by the Englishin these two affairs, that, leaving only a garrison of five hundredmen at Calcutta, he retired with his army to join the nabob atMoorshedabad. When the fleet arrived before the town, the enemysurrendered the fort at the first shot, and it was again takenpossession of by the English.

  Major Kilpatrick was at once sent up, with five ships and a fewhundred men, to capture the town of Hoogly, twenty miles farther up.The defences of the place were strong. It was held by two thousandmen, and three thousand horsemen lay around it. The ships, however, atonce opened a cannonade upon it, and effected a breach before night,and at daybreak the place was taken by storm.

  Two days after the capture of Calcutta, the news arrived that war hadagain been declared between England and France. It was fortunate thatthis was not known a little earlier; for had the French forces beenjoined to those under Manak Chand, the reconquest of Calcutta wouldnot have been so easily achieved.

  The nabob, furious at the loss of Calcutta, and the capture and sackof Hoogly, at once despatched a messenger to the governor of theFrench colony of Chandranagore, to join him in crushing the English.The governor, however, had received orders that, in the event of warbeing declared between England and France, he was, if possible, toarrange with the English that neutrality should be observed betweenthem. He therefore refused the nabob's request, and then sentmessengers to Calcutta, to treat.

  The nabob had gathered an army of ten thousand foot and fifteenthousand horse, and advanced against Calcutta, arriving before thetown on the 2nd February, 1757. Clive's force had now, owing to thearrival of some reinforcements from Europe, and the enlisting of freshSepoys, been raised to seven hundred European infantry, a hundredartillerymen, and fifteen hundred Sepoys, with fourteen light fieldpieces.

  The whole of the town of Calcutta was surrounded by a deep cut, with abank behind, called the Mahratta Ditch. A mile beyond this was a largesaltwater lake, so that an enemy advancing from the north would haveto pass within a short distance of Clive's intrenched position outsidethe town, affording him great opportunities for a flank attack. On theday of their arrival Clive marched out, but the enemy opened a heavyfire, and he retired.

  Clive determined to attack the enemy, next morning. Admiral Watson, athis request, at once landed five hundred and sixty sailors, under thecommand of Captain Warwick of the Thunderer. A considerable portion ofthe enemy had crossed the Mahratta Ditch, and encamped within it. Thenabob himself pitched his tent in the garden of Omichund (a nativeCalcutta merchant who, though in the nabob's camp from motives ofpolicy, sympathized entirely with the English), which occupied anadvanced bastion within the Mahratta Ditch. The rest of the army wereencamped between the ditch and the saltwater lake.

  Clive's intentions were to march first against the battery which hadplayed on him so effectually the day before; and, having carried this,to march directly against the garden in which the nabob was encamped.The force with which he started, at three o'clock in the morning ofthe 3rd, consisted of the five hundred and sixty sailors, who drewwith them six guns, six hundred and fifty European infantry, a hundredEuropean artillery, and eight hundred Sepoys. Half the Sepoys led theadvance, the remainder covered the rear.

  Soon after daybreak, the Sepoys came in contact with the enemy'sadvanced guard, placed in ditches along a road leading from the headof the lake to the Mahratta Ditch. These discharged their muskets, andsome rockets, and took to flight. One of the rockets caused a seriousdisaster. The Sepoys had their ammunition pouches open, and thecontents of one of these was fired by the rocket. The flash of theflame communicated the fire to the pouch of the next Sepoy, and so theflame ran along the line, killing, wounding, and scorching many, andcausing the greatest confusion. Fortunately the enemy were not near,and Captain Eyre Coote, who led the British infantry behind them,aided Charlie, who led the advance, in restoring order, and theforward movement again went on.

  A new obstacle had, however, arisen. With the morning a dense fog hadset in, rendering it impossible for the troops to see even a few yardsin advance of them. Still they pushed on and, unopposed, reached apoint opposite Omichund's garden, but divided from it by the MahrattaDitch.

  Presently they heard the thunder of a great body of approachingcavalry. They waited quietly until the unseen horse had approachedwithin a few yards of them, and then poured a mighty volley into thefog. The noise ceased abruptly, and was followed by that of theenemy's cavalry in retreat.

  The fog was now so dense that it was impossible even to judge of thedirections in which the troops were moving. Clive knew, however, thatthe Mahratta Ditch was on his right and, moving a portion of histroops till they touched this, he again advanced, his object being togain a causeway which, raised several feet above the country, led fromCalcutta, across the Mahratta Ditch, into the country beyond. Towardsthis Clive now advanced, his troops firing, as they marched, into thefog ahead of them, and the guns firing from the flanks, obliquely, tothe right and left.

  Without experiencing any opposition Clive reached the causeway, andthe Sepoys, turning to their right, advanced along this towards theditch. As they crossed this, however, they came in the line of fire oftheir own guns, the officer commanding them being ignorant of what wastaking place in front, and unable to see a foot before him. Charlie,closely accompanied always by Tim, was at the head of his troops whenthe iron hail of the English guns struck the head of the column,mowing down numbers of men. A panic ensued, and the Sepoys, terrorstricken at this discharge, from a direction in which they consideredthemselves secure, leaped from the causeway into the dry ditch andsheltered themselves there. Charlie and his companion were saved bythe fact that they were a few paces ahead of the column.

  "Run back, Tim," Charlie said. "Find Colonel Clive, and tell him thatwe are being mowed down by our own artillery. If you can't find him,hurry back to the guns, and tell the officer what he is doing."

  Charlie then leaped down into the ditch
, and endeavoured to rally theSepoys. A few minutes later Clive himself arrived, and the Sepoys wereinduced to leave the ditch, and to form again by the side of thecauseway, along which the British troops were now marching.

  Suddenly, however, from the fog burst out the discharge of two heavyguns, which the enemy had mounted on a bastion flanking the ditch. Theshouts of the officers, and the firing of the men, indicated preciselythe position of the column. The grapeshot tore through it, andtwenty-two of the English troops fell dead and wounded. Immediatelyafterwards another discharge followed, and the column, broken andconfused, bewildered by the dense fog, and dismayed by the fire ofthese unseen guns, fell back.

  Clive now determined to push on to the main road, which he knewcrossed the fields half a mile in front of him. The country was,however, here laid out in rice fields, each inclosed by banks andditches. Over these banks it was impossible to drag the guns, and thesailors could only get them along by descending into the ditches, andusing these as roads. The labour was prodigious, and the men, fatiguedand harassed by this battle in darkness, and by the fire from theunseen guns which the enemy continued to pour in their direction fromeither flank, began to lose heart.

  Happily, however, the fog began to lift. The flanks of the columnswere covered by bodies of troops, thrown out on either side, and aftermore than an hour's hard work, and abandoning two of the guns whichhad broken down, Clive reached the main road, again formed his men incolumn, and advanced towards the city.

  The odds were overwhelmingly against him. There were guns, infantry,and cavalry, both in front and behind them. The column pressed on, inspite of the heavy fire, crossed the ditch, and attacked a strong bodyof the enemy drawn up on the opposite side. While it did so, a greatforce of the nabob's cavalry swept down on the rear, and for a momentcaptured the guns. Ensign Yorke, of the 39th Foot, faced the rearcompany about, and made a gallant charge upon the horsemen, drove themback, and recaptured the guns.

  Clive's whole army was now across the ditch, and it was open to himeither to carry out his original plan of attacking Omichund's garden,or of marching forward into the fort of Calcutta. Seeing that his menwere fatigued, and worn out with six hours of labour and marchingunder the most difficult circumstances, he took the latteralternative, entered Calcutta, and then, following the stream, marchedback to the camp he had left in the morning.

  His loss amounted to thirty-nine Europeans killed, and eighteenSepoys; eighty-two Europeans wounded, and thirty-five Sepoys; thecasualties being caused almost entirely by the enemy's cannon.

  The expedition, from a military point of view, had been an entirefailure. He had carried neither the battery nor Omichund's garden. Hadit not been for the fog he might have succeeded in both these objects;but, upon the other hand, the enemy were as much disconcerted by thefog as he was, and were unable to use their forces with any effect.Military critics have decided that the whole operation was a mistake;but although a mistake and a failure, its consequences were no lessdecisive.

  The nabob, struck with astonishment at the daring and dash of theEnglish, in venturing with so small a force to attack him, and tomarch through the very heart of his camp, was seized with terror. Hehad lost thirteen hundred men in the fight, among whom weretwenty-four rajahs and lesser chiefs, and the next morning he sent ina proposal for peace.

  A less determined man than Clive would, no doubt, have accepted theproposal. Calcutta was still besieged by a vastly superior force,supplies of all kinds were running short, the attack of the previousday had been a failure. He knew, however, the character of Asiatics,and determined to play the game of bounce. The very offer of the nabobshowed him that the latter was alarmed. He therefore wrote to him,saying that he had simply marched his troops through his highness'camp to show him of what British soldiers were capable; but that hehad been careful to avoid hurting anyone, except those who actuallyopposed his progress. He concluded by expressing his willingness toaccede to the nabob's proposal, and to negotiate.

  The nabob took it all in. If all this destruction and confusion hadbeen wrought by a simple march through his camp, what would be theresult if Clive were to take into his head to attack him in earnest?He therefore at once withdrew his army three miles to the rear, andopened negotiations. He granted all that the English asked: that allthe property and privileges of the Company should be restored, thatall their goods should pass into the country free of tax, that all theCompany's factories, and all moneys and properties belonging to it orits servants, should be restored or made good, and that permissionshould be given to them to fortify Calcutta as they pleased.

  Having agreed to these conditions, the nabob, upon the 11th ofFebruary, retired with his army to his capital; leaving Omichund witha commission to propose to the English a treaty of alliance, offensiveand defensive, against all enemies. This proposal was a mostacceptable one, and Clive determined to seize the opportunity to crushthe French. His previous experiences, around Madras, had taught himthat the French were the most formidable rivals of England in India.He knew that large reinforcements were on their way to Pondicherry,and he feared that the nabob, when he recovered from his panic, mightregret the conditions which he had granted, and might ally himselfwith the French in an effort, again, to expel the English.

  He therefore determined at once to attack the French. The deputiessent by Monsieur Renault, the governor of Chandranagore, had been keptwaiting from day to day, under one pretence or another; and they nowwrote to the governor that they believed that there was no realintention, on the part of the English, to sign an agreement ofneutrality with him; and that they would be the next objects ofattack. Monsieur Renault immediately sent messengers to the nabob,urging upon him that, if the English were allowed to annihilate theFrench, they would be more dangerous enemies than ever; andSuraja-u-Dowlah, having now recovered from his terror, wrote at onceto Calcutta, peremptorily forbidding any hostilities against theFrench.

  To show his determination, he despatched fifteen hundred men toHoogly, which the English had abandoned after capturing it, withinstructions to help the French if attacked; and he sent a lac ofrupees to Monsieur Renault, to aid him in preparing for his defence.

  Clive, unwilling to face a coalition between the French and the nabob,was in favour of acceding to the nabob's orders. The treaty ofneutrality with the French was drawn up, and would have been signed,had it not been for the obstinate refusal of Admiral Watson to agreeto it. Between that officer and Clive there had never been any cordialfeeling, and from the time of their first connection, at the siege ofGheriah, differences of opinion, frequently leading to angry disputes,had taken place between them. Nor was it strange that this should beso. Both were brave and gallant men; but while Watson had thepunctilious sense of honor which naturally belongs to an Englishgentleman, Clive was wholly unscrupulous as to the means which heemployed to gain his ends.

  Between two such men, it is not singular that disagreements arose.Admiral Watson, impelled by feelings of personal dislike to Clive,often allowed himself to be carried to unwarrantable lengths. On theoccasion of the capture of Calcutta, he ordered Captain Eyre Coote,who first entered it, to hold it in the king's name, and to disobeyClive's orders, although the latter had been granted a commission inthe royal army as lieutenant colonel, and was, moreover, the chiefauthority of the Company in all affairs on land. Upon Clive'sasserting himself, Admiral Watson absolutely threatened to open fireupon his troops. Apparently from a sheer feeling of opposition, he nowopposed the signing of the treaty with the French, and several dayswere spent in stormy altercations.

  Circumstances occurred, during this time, which strengthened the viewhe took, and changed those of Clive and his colleagues of the council.Just then, the news reached Suraja-u-Dowlah that Delhi had beencaptured by the Afghans; and, terrified at the thought that thevictorious northern enemy might next turn their arms against him, hewrote to Clive, begging him to march to his assistance, and offering alac of rupees a month towards the expense of his army.

  On the
same day that Clive received the letter, he heard thatCommodore James and three ships, with reinforcements from Bombay, hadarrived at the mouth of the Hoogly; and that the Cumberland, withthree hundred troops, which had grounded on her way from Madras, wasnow coming up the river.

  Almost at the same moment he heard, from Omichund, who had accompaniedthe nabob to Moorshedabad, that he had bribed the governor of Hooglyto offer no opposition to the passage of the troops up the river.

  Clive was now ready to agree to Admiral Watson's views, and to advanceat once against Chandranagore; but the admiral again veered round, andrefused to agree to the measure, unless the consent of the nabob wasobtained. He wrote, however, himself, a threatening, and indeedviolent letter to the nabob, ordering him to give his consent. Thenabob, still under the influence of his fears from the Afghans,replied in terms which amounted to consent, but the very next day,having received news which calmed his fears as to the Afghans, hewrote peremptorily, forbidding the expedition against the French. Thisletter, however, was disregarded, and the expedition prepared tostart.

  It consisted of seven hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred nativeinfantry, who started by land; a hundred and fifty artilleryproceeding in boats, escorted by three ships of war and severalsmaller vessels, under Admiral Watson.

  The French garrison consisted only of a hundred and forty-six French,and three hundred Sepoys. Besides these were three hundred of theEuropean population, and sailors of the merchant ships in port, whohad been hastily formed into a militia.

  The governor, indignant at the duplicity with which he had beentreated, had worked vigorously at his defences. The settlementextended along the river banks for two miles. In the centre stood thefort, which was a hundred and twenty yards square, mounting tenthirty-two pounder guns on each of its four bastions. Twentyfour-pounder guns were placed on the ramparts, facing the river on thesouth. On an outlying work commanding the watergate eight thirty-twopounders were mounted. Monsieur Renault set to work to demolish allthe houses within a hundred yards of the fort, and to erect batteriescommanding the approaches. He ordered an officer to sink several shipsin the only navigable channel, about a hundred and fifty yards to thesouth of the fort, at a point commanded by the guns of one of thebatteries.

  The officer was a traitor. He purposely sank the ships in such aposition as to leave a channel, through which the English ships mightpass; and then, seizing his opportunity, deserted to them.

  On approaching the town Clive, knowing that Charlie could speak thenative language fluently, asked him whether he would undertake toreconnoitre the position of the enemy, with which he was entirelyunacquainted. Charlie willingly agreed. When, on the night of the 13thof March, the army halted a few miles from the town, Charlie,disguising himself in a native dress and accompanied by Hossein, leftthe camp and made his way to the town. This he had no difficulty inentering. It extended a mile and a half back from the river, andconsisted of houses standing in large gardens and inclosures. Thewhole of the Europeans were labouring at the erection of thebatteries, and the destruction of the houses surrounding them; andCharlie and his companion, approaching closely to one of these, werepounced upon by the French officer in command of a working party, andset to work, with a number of natives, in demolishing the houses.

  Charlie, with his usual energy, threw himself into the work, and wouldspeedily have called attention to himself, by the strength andactivity which he displayed, had not Hossein begged him to moderatehis efforts.

  "Native man never work like that, sahib. Not when he's paid ever somuch. Work still less, no pay. The French would soon notice the sahib,if he laboured like that."

  Thus admonished, Charlie adapted his actions to those of hiscompanions and, after working until dawn approached, he managed, withHossein, to evade the attention of the officer; and, drawing off,hurried away to rejoin Clive. The latter was moving from the west, bya road leading to the northern face of the fort. It was at the batterywhich Renault was erecting upon this road that Charlie had beenlabouring. The latter informed Clive of the exact position of thework, and also, that although strong by itself, it was commanded bymany adjoining houses; which the French, in spite of their efforts,had not time to destroy.

  This news decided Clive to advance immediately, without giving theenemy further time to complete their operations.