No More Learning



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DEFEAT OF THE DUTCH
155
at Negapatam for a month, during which the English had time to
assemble their men to repulse the threatened invasion. Even when
at the beginning of October the Dutch reached the entrance to the
river, they still had not made up their minds what they would do.
They were confronted with a prohibition, in the name of the nawab,
of introducing troops into Bengal. They were simple enough to
attempt to induce the nawab to withdraw his orders, which were,
indeed, the orders of Clive. They evidently did not understand that,
as in the days before Plassey, Mir Ja'far could not be expected to
show his hand till he saw how things were going. More than a month
was thus wasted; and then the Dutch resolved to force their way in.
They seized various small English craft near the mouth of the river,
thus giving their enemies a better casus belli than they could have
hoped for; and finally made their attempt, landing the troops on the
night of 21-22 November. But they met with complete failure. On
the 24th their vessels were all captured by three Company's ships
that Clive had equipped for the purpose of defending the river. On
the same day Forde, who had returned from Masulipatam in the nick
of time, but who, had the Dutch been less supine, would have been
too late, routed a party of 400 men marching from Chinsura to meet
the new troops; and on the next day he met and completely overthrew
the latter body. It is curious to note that the Malay troops were
armed with the old plug-bayonets which had been disused in Europe
for some sixty years. "
These repeated disasters brought the Dutch to their knees. Indeed
they had no choice. Their garrison had been destroyed, and now that
the issue had been decided Miran had suddenly appeared before
Chinsura with a large body of horse, eager to punish them for having
lured him on with the hope of changing one master for another. The
Dutch acknowledged that they had begun the hostilities, submitted
to a demand that the forces they maintained in Bengal should be
limited, and promised to pay ten lakhs damages. Thus Clive, taking
warning by the events of the Carnatic, had a second 'ime, by his
prompt action, crushed the danger of war in Bengal with another
European power. The province was not to be fought over, and its
revenues destroyed, as had happened in the Carnatic.
He had thus been singularly successful in establishing the English
in a position of predominance and had skilfully avoided for three
years the various dangers that arose to threaten their position. But
he had only done so by virtue of his astounding mastery over weaker
minds and his promptitude in crushing each enemy as he arose. But
the general position was still uncertain. The English had no moral
position in the province. Their power was a matter of personal
influence and military force. Clive's dexterity might maintain the
1 Klerk de Reuss, op. cit. ; Malcolm, Clive, a, 74-90; Price to Pocock, 25
December, 1759 (P. R. O. Adm. I-161).


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156
CLIVE IN BENGAL, 1756-60
balance; had he continued governor of Fort William, he might have
continued to maintain it; but it was unlikely that any lesser man
would succeed in doing so. Leaving matters in this uncertain position,
though no external danger was at the moment to be feared, Clive
delivered over the chair to Holwell, and embarked for England on
25 February, 1760.
NOTE ON THE BLACK HOLE. In Bengal Past and Present, July, 1915, and
January, 1916, will be found an attempt to discredit the accepted version of the
Black Hole tragedy by Mr. J. H. Little. His principal arguments are (1) that
Holwell's narrative contains numerous demonstrable errors; (2) that it lacks
contemporary corroboration. He concludes that Holwell, Cooke, and the other
persons who vouch for the event concocted the story, and that those who are
supposed to have perished in the Black Hole really were killed in the storm of
the place. At a later stage in the controversy he even asserted that there was
no evidence for the existence of the monument in memory of the Black Hole
which Holwell erected. Everyone who has studied the records of the time must
have come to the conclusion that Holwell was not a virtuous man; it is even
likely that he touched up his story so as to make the part he played as conspi-
cuous as possible. But even when we have made all allowance for this sort of
thing, the main outlines of the story still remain. The small divergences which
distinguish the story of Cooke from that of Holwell, for instance, are such as
constantly occur in the independent accounts of contemporary witnesses; and,
so far from throwing suspicion on the whole story, suggest that Cooke and
Holwell did not combine to foist a false version of events on the public. Mr.
Little labours to prove that there could not have been so many survivors in the
fort as Holwell says were shut up in the Black Hole; but the truth is that we
have not the material to decide what may have been the exact number of
persons remaining after the capitulation. His first argument thus casts doubt
over certain details only. As regards the silence of contemporaries, he is in
more than one respect entirely mistaken. It was natural that the Calcutta
Council should avoid mention of the Black Hole which threw such a lurid light
over the circumstances of their desertion of the place. It is not the fact that
neither Clive, nor Watson, nor Pigot, refers to the Black Hole. Clive does so
in some of his published correspondence; Watson does in his declaration of
war; Pigot does so in a letter dated 18 September following. But, says Mr.
Little, the acceptance of the story by uncritical contemporaries proves nothing.
However, Holwell's contemporaries were exceedingly critical. Watts, for
instance, who disliked Holwell so much, and criticised his assertions so sharply,
makes no attack upon this. Drake and the other fugitive councillors could
have cast off a load of obloquy had they proved Holwell's story of the Black
Hole to be the imposture Mr. Little supposes it to have been. Altogether the
controversy seems to have arisen from the perplexities of a student unaccus-
tomed to the conflicts of evidence which the historian has perpetually to
encounter; and his negative arguments do not seem to me capable of bearing
the weight he would lay upon them.


## p. 157 (#185) ############################################

CHAPTER VIII
THE SEVEN YEARS WAR
DURING the negotiations in Europe which finally resulted in
the conclusion of Godeheu's provisional treaty with Saunders, Admiral
Watson had been sent out to the Coromandel Coast with a smail
squadron and Adlercron's regiment of foot, in case the French should
refuse to come to terms; and in the next year, 1755, Clive returned
to India, after a two years' rest at home, with additional troops and
rank as lieutenant-colonel in the king's service. His dispatch was
connected with a project that had been formed in London in case, as
was shrewdly suspected, the French refused to evacuate the Deccan.
This project contemplated an alliance with Balaji Rao and an attack
on Bussy's position either from Bombay or from some point on the
east coast. But this scheme fell through, partly because the dispatches
to Madras were delayed by the loss of the Doddington conveying the
originals, partly because the Bombay Presidency was reluctant to
co-operate. ” The result was that the naval and military forces assem-
bled at Bombay early in 1756 were employed on an affair of mere
local interest—the capture, in co-operation with the forces of Balaji
Rao, of the pirate stronghold of Gheriah, after which the English
and Marathas fell out over the division of the plunder. Clive pro-
ceeded to take up his post as deputy-governor of Fort St David, and
then, as we have seen, sailed with all the forces that could be spared
at Madras for the recovery of Calcutta.
The new war that was opening in 1756 differed much from the
preceding struggle. The successes of Dupleix and Bussy had been
obtained during an interval of peace between France and Great
Britain, that is to say at a time when the French in India did not have
to trouble about their sea-communications with Europe, and when
there was no possibility of hostile interference with the arrival of
munitions and reinforcements. But that favourable situation had
disappeared; and success now meant the control of two elements
instead of one. Further it was fought out almost exclusively in the
Carnatic. First Madras was besieged, and then Pondichery. The only
extension of the war into Bengal consisted of Clive's seizure of Chan-
dernagore early in 1757. So that all the advantages which the English
had secured by Clive's extraordinary successes remained unimpaired.
When funds ran short at Madras, Calcutta could supply the needl.
In this sense the Seven Years' War may be considered as the attack
1 Military dispatches to Madras and Bombạy, 26 March, 1755.
2 Madras Record Office, Military Sundry, No. 9. Private Committees.


## p. 158 (#186) ############################################

168
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR
2
and defence of the outworks of Bengal. Had Lally conquered the
Carnatic, ne would speedily have appeared before Fort William. It
was exceedingly lucky for the English that the war should have been
fought out in an area of minor financial importance. They stood to
gain everything and to lose little.
For the first eighteen months after the news of war had been
received in November, 1756, the only outstanding event was the
capture of Chandernagore, which has already been described. The
English squadron was still lying in the Hugli, and Madras and Pon-
dichery were both too bare of troops to attempt hostilities. Leyrit,
governor of Pondichery, had sent all the troops he could spare to
assist Bussy at Hyderabad; Pigot, governor of Madras, had sent the
major part of the English forces to recover Calcutta. It had, however,
been definitely understood that on the outbreak of war Clive was to
return to the south with the Madras troops; and as no one in Fort
St George knew what momentous designs he was revolving, much
annoyance was felt and expressed at his failure to carry out his
promises. The French were the first to receive reinforcements. In
September, 1757, a squadron of ten vessels arrived under the command
of Bouvet, who had made a fugitive appearance on the coast nine
years before; and he brought a battalion of the régiment de Lorraine
under the Chevalier de Soupire. But the season was too advanced
for active operations. Within a month or so the north-east monsoon
might be expected to set in with the storms which made the harbour-
less coast so dangerous to ships at that season, and deluges of rain
that rendered all military movements impossible. Bouvet therefore
made haste to return to Mauritius whence he had come, and Soupire
did little except send some troops against Trichinopoly and seize the
little fort of Chetpattu.
Operations really began in 1758. In February Pocock, who had
succeeded to the naval command on the death of Watson in 1757,
sailed from the Hugli and assembled his whole squadron of seven
ships of the line at Madras. He then cruised down the coast in order
to intercept any fleet that might be making for Pondichery. On
28 April he sighted a French fleet of nine ships of the line a little to
the northward of Pondichery. After an action lasting from 3 to 5 in
the afternoon, the French bore away, and the English were too
crippled to pursue; but the former had lost 400 killed and wounded
as against 118 among the English.
This fleet had convoyed the second portion of the French rein-
forcements, with its leader, Lally. He brought with him his own
regiment, and had been invested with the fullest civil and military
powers. He was syndic for the company, commissary for the king,
and commandant-general of the French settlements in India; and he
1 Madras (Military) to the Company, 28 June, 1759.
2 Madras Military Consultations, 28 April, 1757.


## p. 159 (#187) ############################################

CAPTURE OF FORT ST DAVID
169
unarged with the two-fold task of reforming the French admi-
nistration and driving the English out of India. However, the control
of the squadron was reserved for the commander d'Aché, so that Lally
might find himself unexpectedly deprived of its co-operation.
The instant his troops were brought ashore, he hurried them off
to besiege Fort St David. He was naturally and properly anxious to
lose nothing by delay. Accordingly all the available troops were
dispatched and the siege formed on 1 May. After some delay, while
the material was being collected, Lally was able to break ground on
the 17th. The same day he carried the outworks of the place by
storm. On the 27th he began to batter in breach; and on 2 June the
place capitulated. This was a disagreeable surprise for the English,
who had expected it to hold out much longer. But the place was not
really strong. Its extensive outworks demanded more men for their
defence than the place could accommodate; there was no bomb-proof
shelter for the men off duty; above all the commandant, Major Polier,
distrusted and was distrusted by his men. But though the issue
was not flattering to English hopes, there were ugly omens on the
French side too. Lally had shown great vigour and resolution, but
it was something of that vis consilii expers which does not lead to
victory. When the mortars or fascines were delayed beyond expecta-
tion, he would hasten to Pondichery and tell off Leyrit and the coun-
cillors, who retained their offices, much as he would tell off a private
who appeared dirty on parade. 2
Fort St David taken, Lally desired to proceed at once against
Madras. But d'Aché refused to sail against Pocock; and without his
assistance the siege was impossible until the approach of the north-
east monsoon should have driven the English squadron off the coast.
Meanwhile, therefore, Lally resolved, mainly on the advice of the
Jesuit, Père Lavaur, to raise money by attacking Tanjore. In 1749
the raja, when besieged by Chanda Sahib and the French, had given
them his bond for seventy lakhs of rupees on condition of their raising
the siege. Later developments had relieved him of the need of paying
any part of it; Lally decided to demand payment of the bond, sword
in hand, and he might doubtless have secured a considerable sum of
money had he gone to work a little less ferociously, and with a little
more forethought. But he displayed the same inconsiderate haste
with which he had marched against Fort St David. He marched his
men off down the coast without adequate arrangements for feeding
them, and without sufficient quantities of military stores. On entering
Tanjore, he seized the seaport of Nagur and sold the plunder of the
place to his colonel of hussars. Then turning inland he reached
Tiruvalur, a place with a temple famous for its sanctity. Here Lally
expected to find great plunder, but got nothing and displayed such
1 Dodwell, Dupleix and Clive, p. 162.
2 Cf. Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, XI, 278.


## p. 160 (#188) ############################################

160
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR
severity, executing six of the temple Brahmans whom he took for
spies, that, when he marched on the inhabitants abandoned the
country through which he passed. When he arrived before the city
of Tanjore (18 July), he could not begin the siege for want of powder
and shot. He therefore opened negotiations, in the hope that with
the assistance of the raja he might be able to attack the English force
at Trichinopoly. The raja sat comfortably behind his walls, content
to negotiate till famine drove away the enemy. At last Lally grew
tired of fruitless discussions. He improvised batteries and opened
an attack upon the place. Then on 8 August he heard that Pocock had
beaten d'Aché off Karikal; he lacked material to carry through his
attack; and at midnight 10-11 August he raised the siege and marched
for the coast, having dispirited his men by useless hardships and
inflicted a deep wound on his own reputation. "
The action at sea, too, had serious consequences. After the first
battle d'Aché had been prevented with difficulty from sailing back
to the French islands, and only remained on the coast in consequence
of the urgent demands of Lally and every other Frenchman in Pon-
dichery. He lay there till 27 July, and then put to sea on the news of
Pocock's approach. An action followed on 3 August, which lasted
for about an hour, during which the French squadron lost over 500
men while the English did not lose 200. This time d'Aché refused to
remain longer on the coast or again to encounter the English ships.
After embittered discussions in a council consisting of the chief naval,
military, and civil officers, d'Aché called another council consisting
of his naval officers only, who resolved with one accord that the
squadron could not remain longer upon the coast. Having landed
a body of seamen under the Chevalier de Poëte to reinforce Lally's
land forces, he set sail from Pondichery on 3 September, and did not
reappear for a twelvemonth all but a day. 2
All that Lally could do for the moment was to wait until the
change in the season should compel Pocock likewise to depart, when
he might, if the rains were favourable, have a couple of months free
in which to besiege Madras. He was still very superior to the English
in numbers. The latter were still waiting for their reinforcements,
and had received only a detachment of Draper's regiment, together
with its commander, an amiable and not unskilful soldier, whose main
claim to memory, however, is his courage in venturing to cross pens
with Junius. But though their numbers were few, a different spirit
reigned in the place from that which had so meekly submitted to
La Bourdonnais. The governor, George Pigot, was irascible but
resolute; he had the old veteran Colonel Lawrence to command the
forces; he had John Call as engineer. The works had been entirely
new-drawn; and though they were but earth, faced with turf, and
1 Cf. Duteil, Une famille militaire, pp. 131 sqq,
Dodwell, op. cit. p. 168.


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SIEGE OF MADRAS
161
needed constant repair, they were skilfully designed to frustrate
attack. Ever since Lally's arrival Pigot had been busy gathering
great stores of munitions and food; and orders had come from the
Company that, if ever an enemy sat down before the place, the council
was to deliver its authority over to the governor and the four principal
military officers. Moreover, they were united, whereas Lally and the
French council hated each other worse than they hated the English.
Early in October the French marched to take possession of various
posts lying between Pondichery and Madras. This was successfully
carried out, with the exception of Chingleput, which remained in
English hands. For the moment that place, Madras, and Trichinopoly
were the only spots in the Carnatic left to them. Then, when the
rains were over, the French advanced and formed the siege (14
December). No attempt was made to defend the Black Town, which
was at once occupied, though an unsuccessful sally was made on the
news that the besiegers had got drunk on stores of arrack which they
found there on their arrival. After this the siege dragged on with
few incidents. As usual Lally had been unable to co-ordinate his
efforts. The preparation of stores for the attack and their transport
to Madras took longer than he had expected; and he was not able to
open fire until 2 January, 1759. After a month's steady fire a breach
was made, but the fire of the place was still unsubdued, and the breach
itself so steep and so commanded by the fire of the neighbouring
works that it was deemed impracticable. Neither had the besiegers
been able to carry on their work unmolested. While all the French
forces were lying before Madras, a detachment of the English had
marched up from Trichinopoly to join the Chingleput garrison, and
these troops had harassed the besiegers, threatening their convoys and
posting themselves near St Thomas Mount, until Lally, had been
obliged to send out strong detachments against them. The French
army was worn out between its work in the trenches and the pursuit
of this elusive enemy. Lally hesitated, but did not venture to attempt
a storm. Finally, on 16 February, a squadron of ships hove in sight.
It proved to be English; and Lally at once quitted his trenches and
abandane the siege. This was the second great blow to his reputation
and a proportionate encouragement to the English. Indced their
defence had been gallant. The whole of the garrison off duty as well
as on had been exposed, for want of bomb-proof shelter, to the enemy's
shell which he threw perpetually into the fort, and many were thus
killed in their sleep; but in spite of everything they held on with
admirable determination. Indeed their failure would have imperilled
Clive's work in Bengal.
This severe check to the French arms was speedily followed by
another. Clive, w:ll aware of the importance of keeping the French
1 The official narrative of the siege is Madras Public Sundry, no. 13. -_Diary
of the siege of Fort St George, 1758-59 (Records of Fort St George, 1915).
11


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162
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR
at a distance, and yet having no troops that could be permanently
spared, decided to help Madras by sending a detachment under
Colonel Forde against the French in the Northern Sarkars. Lally,
as has been said in a previous chapter, had resolved to recall Bussy
and his troops from the Deccan. But he had not fully carried out his
first intention. He had insisted on the return of Bussy and Moracin;
but he had allowed a body of troops to continue under other and
incapable commanders. Lally had urged with great truth the need
of drawing together the whole force of the French; and there he had
been right. But he had not persisted in his purpose. Bussy joined
him without a man of his northern troops, who had been left behind
to guard what were probably private interests. The French troops
were still separated, and the Deccan detachment was now in
incompetent hands. Forde had landed, at Vizagapatam early in
October, 1758, and was joined by Ananda Razu, the important zamindar
of Vizianagram. After a pause spent in collecting provisions and
coming to exact terms with his ally, Forde marched south, and
completely defeated the French under Conflans at Kondur, a little to
the north of Rajahmundry, the capital of the province (7 December).
That place was occupied, and there a long delay occurred, owing to
the difficulty of getting the promised funds from. Ananda Razu,
without which the men would not advance. In February, 1759, Forde
renewed his march and appeared (6 March) before Masulipatam.
There he lay for a month, distressed by news of the approach of
Salabat Jang, by shortage of gunpowder, and by a mutiny of his
Europeans. But on the night of 7-8 April he carried the place by
escalade, capturing a greater number of regular troops than he had
under his own command. 2 On 14 May a treaty was signed with
Salabat Jang, and Forde remained in undisturbed possession till the
following October, when he returned to Bengal just in time to meet
and defeat Roussel and his Dutchmen.
The siege of Madras and the capture of Masulipatam marked the
turning-point in the war. In the Carnatic the English took the field,
although they still could only bring 1000 Europeans against Lally's
2000; nor had they at first a leader able to carry them to victory.
Draper went home for reasons of health; Lawrence was too old and
worn to take the field, so that the command fell to Major Cholmondely
Brereton, who had never had any experience of war as a subaltern. 3
He made a rash attack on Conjeeveram in September, where he was
beaten off with considerable loss; but the French were unable to use
their strength to press this advantage home because their men were
thoroughly discontented with the lack of pay, and in the next month
1 Forde to Madras, 19 March, 1759, ap. Madras Military Consultations,
28 March, 1759. .
2 Forde to Madras, 10 April, 1759, loc. cit. 20 April, 1759.
3 Call to Speke, 30 October, 1759 (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS, 35917, ff. 40 sqq. )


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DEFEAT OF D'ACHE
163
their discontent broke out into a very alarming mutiny, which com-
pelled the principal people of Pondichery to part with their plate in
order to provide a proportion of the arrears.
Shortly before these events took place d'Aché had reappeared for
the last time in Indian waters. He had not been able to revictual his
ships at Mauritius, which, with its sister island, Bourbon, did not
produce enough food for their joint consumption; and consequently
he had been obliged to send to the Cape, where he had to pay heavily,
thus using up a large part of the funds that had arrived from France
for the use of Lally. When at last d'Aché made the Coromandel
Coast (2 September), he fell in at once with Pocock who was on the
watch for him. Several days were spent in maneuvres. But on the
10th a stubborn battle was joined. D’Aché managed to catch the
English at a moment when their ships were widely strung out, so that
two of them could take little or no part. For two hours the squadrons
continued their action within musket shot. The English suffered
severely. Two ships had all their sail shot away, and over 500 men
were killed or wounded. But at last the French rear gave way and
broke the line, then the flagship was put about by her pilot at the
moment when d'Aché himself fell wounded, and the French took
refuge under the guns of Pondichery. They had lost nearly 900 men
and, though their feet was still intact, it had been too severely handled
to encounter the English again. In that way the action had been
decisive. D'Aché lay for a fortnight off Pondichery, patching up his
vessels, then on 1 October he sailed never to return. Nothing more
would break the blockade of the English squadron before Pondichery.
Meanwhile, at the end of October, Coote had arrived with his
regiment, which, even when a detachment had been sent up to Bengal,
made up the English forces to 1700 men. With these he took the field
as soon as the rains were over, and began reducing the numerous
little forts which studded the Carnatic. But his great object was to
bring Lally to an action. With this in view, he looked on while Lally
invested the fort of Wandiwash which the French had lately lost; and
then, when Lally was fairly committed to the siege, Coote advanced
swiftly on him. The result was a battle (22 January, 1760) as decisive
on land as Pocock's late action had been at sea. Lally was routed,
and it was the last pitched battle of the war. The remaining posts in
the Carnatic were soon reduced, and in the course of March the
French were reduced to Pondichery, Jinji, and Karikal, of which the
last surrendered on 5 April.
There remained the reduction of Pondichery. For the moment
Coote judged his forces too few to enable him to form the siege of
the place. Meanwhile Lally attempted to retrieve his position by
means of help from Hyder 'Ali, the rising general in the service of
Mysore. A treaty was made by which Hyder was promised certain
1 Dodwell, Dupleix and Clive, p. 182, and references there cited.


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164
THE SEVEN YEARS WAR
forts, French assistance to conquer territories to the southward . as
soon as the English had been beaten, and two lakhs of rupees a month.
On this Hyder sent his brother-in-law with a detachment to Pondi-
chery; but he brought no provisions, he suggested no feasible plans
for the destruction of Coote and his army, and after a month's hesita-
tion he departed, giving up the fort which had been delivered to him.
Meanwhile Coote had captured the fort of Villiyanallur, and induced
the admiral to land a body of marines to reinforce his troops. With
them he prepared to drive the French within their bound-hedge.
At this moment the command changed hands. Dispatches arrived
with a commission giving Monson rank over Coote who till then had
been the senior alike in service and in position. The latter therefore
retired to Madras, and prepared to proceed with his regiment to
Bengal, whither indeed he had been ordered. That would have meant
the abandonment of the siege of Pondichery. Monson offered to leave
the army till the place had been captured, and Coote then agreed to
leave his regiment behind. Monson drove the French within the
bound-hedge, but was severely wounded in the operation, and Coote
then resumed the command on the understanding that the other
should not rejoin the army before the fall of Pondichery. This was
on 20 September.
Pondichery had now been blockaded for several months, and the
condition within the place was miserable. Lally and the Company's
servants were on the worst possible terms. No money was to be had.
Attempts to wring money out of either the European or the Indian
inhabitants of the place had proved singularly fruitless; and endeav-
ours to fetch up supplies from the neutral settlements on the coast
had been frustrated by the vigilance of the blockading ships. The
enemy without pressed nearer and nearer. In December they opened
fire on the defences, in the first days of January a storm scattered
the English squadron lying in the roads, and for an instant the way
lay open for supplies, but before advantage could be taken of this
the men-of-war were back at their old posts; the position of the town
was hopeless; and on 16 January, 1761, it surrendered at discretion.
Jinji surrendered after some weeks of blockade; Mahé, on the west
coast, surrendered to an overpowering force which sat down before
it, and French were left without a foot of ground in India.
The principal cause which had contributed to this complete victory
was certainly the relentless pressure of sea-power. . Although the
French fleet was never destroyed, yet the cumulative effect of the
three actions which were fought established an irresistible superiority,
such as later in 1783 Suffren had just established when the news of
peace robbed him of the fruits of victory. While the English received
supplies of food and money from Bengal, recruits of men from Europe,
and grain from their northern settlements, the French could receive
1 Dodwell, op. cit. pp. 186-7; and references there cited.
1


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LALLY'S DIFFICULTIES
165
nothing but what came to them laboriously by land. The first were
constantly strengthened, the second was constantly weakened. And
this enabled Coote to establish his military superiority over Lally
in the field and to hem him in within the walls of Pondichery. And
in this connection we may doubt whether the possession of Mauritius
was an unmixed blessing to the French. It possessed an excellent
harbour where their squadrons could refit; but it was remote from
the decisive area of the war, and was a constant temptation to a
faltering commander to abandon the coast to the enemy.
Next to the pressure of sea-power we must set the influence of
superior finance. From first to last Lally was embarrassed for means
of paying his troops; of obtaining material; of paying work-people.
He came out with scanty supplies, nor could the war-ravaged Carnatic
make good this crushing disadvantage. But here the control of the
Bengal nawab, established in 1757, was a strong help to the English.
At more than one critical moment, when our men were on the point
of mutiny, Bengal serrt down supplies which enabled Madras to carry
on. The one good thing which can be said for the revolution of 1760
is that it enabled the siege of Pondichery to be continued to its con-
clusion. It has been said that had Lally retained Bussy in the Deccan
he might have been able to secure funds thence; but I cannot accept
that view. The Deccan had never been able to remit money to the
south. Whatever had been got there, or from the Sarkars which had
been ceded to Bussy, had always been eaten up by the establishments
which were maintained there, and, except the lakh and a half of
rupees which Bussy sent to Lally in 1758, the place had never provided
any resources for the public treasury of the French.
Thirdly, we must place the personal character of Lally among the
causes of the French failure. His hastiness, his violent temper, his
uncontrolled and cutting speech, his habit of threatening without
punishing, were all strong obstacles in his way. Nor was his task
made easier by the orders which he received to carry into execution
a reform of the Pondichery administration in a time of war. The two
things were incompatible. Against such difficulties and such defects
his personal gallantry fought in vain.
>


## p. 166 (#194) ############################################

CHAPTER IX
1
BENGAL, 1760-72
WHEN Clive quitted Bengal early in 1760, the position of affairs
was still very unsettled. 'Ali Gauhar was still lingering on the borders
of Bihar, financial relations with Mir Ja'far were still unsatisfactory,
and the share which the nawab had taken in the recent attempts of
the Dutch, though as yet unknown in detail, was strongly suspected.
Moreover, Clive's successor, Holwell, was a man of greater talent
than character; he only held his office temporarily and by accident
till Clive's permanent successor arrived; and he was not capable of
imposing his will, as Clive had done, either on the Company's servants
or on the nawab. Consequently the unstable political situation, which
had grown up in the last three years as the result of the military
power of the Company and the personal character of Clive, was not
likely to remain unshaken when the control passed into weaker hands.
The command of the troops had fallen to Caillaud, who had been
brought up from Madras at the particular request of Clive. He was
a skilful soldier, and under his command the English forces were not
likely to undergo defeat; but, like Holwell, he was not a man of any
moral vigour or capable of making good the deficiencies of the tem-
porary governor. At the moment he was on campaign against the
shahzada, with a battalion of Europeans and another of sepoys, to-
gether with a large body of cavalry under the nawab's son, Miran.
He succeeded by the action of Sirpur (22 February) in relieving
Patna, which had been attacked by the shahzada, but Miran's men
did not follow up their success, mainly, Caillaud thought, owing to
the inertness of their leader; and then for a week Miran insisted on
nursing some slight wounds he had received, while the shahzada,
having collected his scattered troops, raided into the province of
Bengal. Caillaud followed him so closely that he had little opportu-
nity of doing anything effectual, and again withdrew; but the nawab's
horse had again proved unserviceable, and the nawab entered into
correspondence with the shahzada, declaring, it was believed, that
his resistance was solely due to the insistence of the English. However,
when Caillaud had once again relieved Patna, the shahzada finally
retired from Bihar. 1 Caillaud and Miran then set out to chastise the
zamindars who had afforded him help during his raid into Bengal.
But in the course of these operations, on 3 July, Miran perished,
probably killed by lightning 2
The death of Miran was in itself no'great loss. From the Indian
1
1 Caillaud's Journal, ap. Orme MSS, India, vi.
2 India Office, Home Miscellaneous, 456 D.


## p. 167 (#195) ############################################

HOLWELL'S PROJECTS
167
historians we gather a conception of his character much resembling
that which they attribute to Siraj-ud-daula. But the event at once
brought up the question of succession, and placed in a position of
great prominence a man of consummate political skill, connected
with the nawab by marriage, and generally well-reputed among the
English. This was Mir Kasim. He sought at once to obtain a promise
of being named either the diwan or the successor of Mir Ja'far; and
for the moment Mir Ja'far seems to have acquiesced in his plans.
But for some time before this occurrence Holwell and Caillaud had
been discussing the political future of the provinces. Holwell had
taken up an attitude strongly opposed to the maintenance of the
present nawab. He argued that he had betrayed the English both
with the Dutch and with the shahzada, that he had failed to make
the payments that he had promised the Company, that the country
was going to ruin under his government, and that the sooner he was
removed the better for the English and for the country. Caillaud, to
whom these views were communicated, did not agree with them.
He thought the Company was bound to support the nawab and that
a revolution would be fraught with ill consequences. Hastings held
the same ideas,
"Mr Holwell's censures on the Nabob's conduct,” he wrote, "are but too just;
but I dread the consequences he seems to draw from them. Let the Nabob be
ever so bad, we are bound if not in justice, in honour and policy to support him
through these troubles, now we are so far engaged. I do not suppose he is
grown a worse man since the commencement of this war. That he is a
usurper is certain, and one of our making.
Caillaud replied with a long letter traversing Holwell's arguments.
The latter rejoined :
Had it ever been my wish or intention to have taken our support from the
present Nabob and transfer it to any other, your arguments in that case would
have all the weight with me they so greatly merit. . . . But my views for the
Company went much higher. That the country will never be in a settled
peaceful state whilst this family is at the head of it, is a position I lay down
as incontestable, and that until the country enjoys that state the Company's
affairs must be daily approaching to certain ruin : I therefore judge we could
never be possessed of a more just or favourable opportunity to carry into
execution what must be done, I plainly see, one time or other, if the Company
have ever a secure footing in the provinces, to wit, take this country into their
own hands. . . . The situation of the Prince at present is such that I am sure
he would readily and thankfully hearken to an overture from us, and without
hesitation grant a phirmaund appointing the Company perpetual subas of the
province. . . . 8
Holwell already knew that his term of office was limited, and in those
circumstances he could not press views which he knew found little
support with his councillors. *
» 2
1 Jami-ut-tawarikh, ap. Elliott and Dowson, vm, 429.
2 Hastings to Caillaud, 4 June, 1760.
3 Holwell to Caillaud, 14 June, 1760.
4 The correspondence between Holwell and Caillaud will be found in Hol-
well's India Tracts and Vindication, and in the Orme MSS, India, XII.


## p. 168 (#196) ############################################

168
BENGAL, 1760-72
On 27 July arrived the new governor, Henry Vansittart. He was
a Madras servant of some fourteen years' standing. He possessed a
good knowledge of Persian, and had transacted with success the
business between the Madras Council and Nawab Muhammad 'Ali;
his tact and dexterity had won him very favourable notice at Madras,
and Clive had urged his appointment on the Company in the strongest
terms. It proved, however, to be singularly unfortunate. He encoun-
tered the sharp jealousy of all the Bengal servants whom he had
superseded; and though always well-intentioned, the policy which
he adopted proved to be the source of many misfortunes. He was
one of that large body of men who can execute the orders of their
superiors much better than they can frame a policy of their own. In
the present case he adopted the policy suggested to him by Holwell,
who by this time had abandoned his original plan in favour of
appointing Mir Kasim heir-apparent. It is more likely that Holwell
yielded to the material arguments of Mir Kasim than to the reasons
which Caillaud and others had produced against the establishment
of the Company as subahdar. 1. After prolonged discussions Mir
Kasim was invited down to Calcutta. The negotiations with him were
confided to Holwell in person; and on 27 September an agreement
was reached by which Mir Kasim was to receive the office of deputy
subahdar, with a guarantee of succession to the subahdari, while the
English were to receive the three districts of Burdwan, Midnapur,
and Chittagong for the maintenance of their troops. Mir Kasim also
agreed to pay off the outstanding debts of Mir Ja'far to the Company -
He then returned to Murshidabad. Vansittart and Caillaud
reached the same place in order to carry the agreement into effect
on 14 October. But they then found that Mir Ja'far refused absolutely
to place his person and government in the hands of his kinsman.
After five days' discussion, Caillaud was ordered to occupy the palace
of Motijhil, where the nawab was. In the face of superior force, the
latter at last decided to resign his office, on which Mir Kasim was
immediately seated on the masnad, and the revolution of 1760 was
completed. Mir Ja'far went down to reside at Calcutta under an
English guard which he demanded, and Mir Kasim grudgingly agreed
to allow him 15,000 rupees a month. 3
Thus the matter ended by pulling down one nawab only to set up
another. Nothing was done to reconcile the essentially opposed inte-
rests of the nawab and the English. Nor was the agreement with
Mir Kasim so full and explicit as to exclude future causes of mis-
understanding. In that respect the settlement was most unsatisfactory,
and Vansittart merits the severest criticism for having adopted it. It
was also followed by the grant of presents which cast a sordid air over
1 Dodwell, Dupleix and Clive; p. 205.
2 Bengal Select Committee, 11, 15, 16 and 27 September, 1760.
3 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, 1, 43, 130, 135, 138 and 140.


## p. 169 (#197) ############################################

SHAH ALAM
169
the whole business; but except in the case of Holwell, these do not
seem to have been stipulated beforehand, as had been the case with
the presents that were bestowed after Plassey; nor is it likely that they
formed an element in the motives of Vansittart and his followers.
There were, as Grant said, “many easier avenues to irregular emolu-
ment than the troublesome, hazardous, and public road of a
general revolution". 1
The unstable nature of the settlement quickly manifested itseif
in three principal affairs—the question of the shahzada, the question
of Ramnarayan, and the question of the internal trade. The shahzada,
whose father the emperor 'Alamgir II had been murdered in the
previous year, was still in Bihar, while the nawab's troops in that
region were mutinous for want of pay. In spite of this, Carnac, who
had just arrived as commander of the Company's troops in Bengai,
de ted him (15 January, 1761) on the Son, taking Law and mosi
of the other Frenchmen with him, and on 6 February the shahzada,
who had assumed the title of Shah 'Alam II, was induced to confer
with Carnac at Gaya, and then to accompany him to Patna. Before
Mir Kasim had become subahdar, he and the Select Committee had
agreed on a project to make peace with and assist the shahzada in
marching to Delhi and establishing himself as emperor. ? The design
proves the political imbecility of Vansittart. It mattered nothing to
the English who called himself emperor, and it would have been the
height of folly to dissipate their unconsolidated power in interfering
in the affairs of Upper India. In fact, however, the project came to
,
nothing, because when Mir Kasim had been safely installed, he
offered a persistent, though half-concealed, opposition to the design.
He was clearly obsessed with the fear that the English would obtain
from Shah 'Alam a grant for the provinces on their own account, as
Holwell had at first intended and as Rai Durlabh, who had been
consulted, had advised. There had, indeed, been from the first a
party strongly opposed to Vansittart and therefore to any policy
which he advocated; and the substitution of Carnac for Caillaud had
strengthened this party. When in April Coote arrived from Madras,
and took over the command from Carnac, the change emphasised the
opposition, for Coote entertained as his diwan Nandakumar, whom
Mir Kasim regarded as pledged to the restoration of Mir Ja'far. }
When Mir Kasim went up to Patna, more than one misunderstanding
arose between him and the military commander; Mir Kasim refused
to proclaim Shah 'Alam as emperor till after his departure, and even
then was only brought to do so by Coote's threat of doing it himself
3
1 Grant, Sketch, p. 187.
2 Letter to McGwire and Carnac, ap. Bengal Select Committee, 13 February,
1761; letter to Mir Kasim, 2 February, 1761 (Calendar of Persian Correspond-
ence, I, 63).
3 Vansittart to Mir Kasim, 27 October, 1761 (Calendar of. Persian Cor-
respondence, I, 130).


## p. 170 (#198) ############################################

170
BENGAL, 1760-72
1
2
if Mir Kasim delayed any longer. When the emperor departed in
June, the nawab evidently felt that he had narrowly escaped seeing
power transferred over his head to the English by Shah 'Alam.
Although there was not a shred of truth in the nawab's suspicions,
Vansittart's policy was already beginning to break down under the
stress of circumstances and lack of union among the English.
Ramnarayan's case was to demonstrate this even more clearly. In
Mir Ja'far's time the English had steadily protected him from the
nawab, and his conduct had justified their protection. He had resc-
lutely and at times skilfully resisted the inroads of the shahzada; and
the new governor was resolved to continue the protection which
Clive had given. Coote's instructions, when he was proceeding to
Patna in April, contained a clause directing him to secure Ramnarayan
from injustice and at all events to maintain him in his government. ?
However, the tone of the Calcutta government gradually cooled. On
18 June the committee agreed to Ramnarayan's suspension and
Vansittart wrote to Mir Kasim that he could do what he liked about
the deputy. Coote and Carnac were recalled from Patna. In August
Vansittart approved of the appointment of a new deputy, and in
September he ordered Ramnarayan to be delivered into the nawab's
hands. 3 When as much money as possible had been extracted from
him, he was put to death. In this matter Vansittart had acted in
plain opposition to the policy of Clive. The latter had desired above
everything to strengthen the English position; Vansittart desired to
strengthen that of the nawab. The first had therefore made a point
of protecting the principal Hindu ministers; the second deliberately
desisted from protecting them. He failed to see how far his policy
would lead him and how strong a reaction it would provoke.