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from their torpor. Morari Row de-effect of religious zeal, and the beclared that he had never before be- siegers, drunk with enthusiasm, drunk lieved that Englishmen could fight, with bang, rushed furiously to the attack. but that he would willingly help them Clive had received secret intellisince he saw that they had spirit to gence of the design, had made his help themselves. Rajah Sahib learned arrangements, and, exhausted by fathat the Mahrattas were in motion. tigue, had thrown himself on his bed. It was necessary for him to be expe- He was awakened by the alarm, and ditious. He first tried negotiation. was instantly at his post. The enemy He offered large bribes to Clive, which advanced, driving before them elewere rejected with scorn. He vowed phants whose foreheads were armed that, if his proposals were not accepted, with iron plates. It was expected that he would instantly storm the fort, and the gates would yield to the shock of put every man in it to the sword. these living battering-rams. But the Clive told him in reply, with charac- huge beasts no sooner felt the English teristic haughtiness, that his father musket-balls than they turned round, was an usurper, that his army was a and rushed furiously away, trampling rabble, and that he would do well to on the multitude which had urged think twice before he sent such pol-them forward. A raft was launched troons into a breach defended by English soldiers.

Rajah Sahib determined to storm the fort. The day was well suited to a bold military enterprise. It was the great Mahommedan festival which is sacred to the memory of Hosein, the son of Ali. The history of Islam contains nothing more touching than the event which gave rise to that solemnity. The mournful legend relates how the chief of the Fatimites, when all his brave followers had perished round him, drank his latest draught of water, and uttered his latest prayer, how the assassins carried his head in triumph, how the tyrant smote the lifeless lips with his staff, and how a few old men recollected with tears that they had scen those lips pressed to the lips of the Prophet of God. After the lapse of near twelve centuries, the recurrence of this solemn season excites the fiercest and saddest emotions in the bosoms of the devout Moslem of India. They work themselves up to such agonies of rage and lamentation that some, it is said, have given up the ghost from the mere effect of mental excitement. They believe that whoever, during this festival, falls in arms against the infidels, atones by his death for all the sins of his life, and passes at once to the garden of the Houris. It was at this time that Rajah Sahib determined to assault Arcot. Stimulating drugs were employed to aid the

on the water which filled one part of the ditch. Clive, perceiving that his gunners at that post did not understand their business, took the management of a piece of artillery himself, and cleared the raft in a few minutes. Where the moat was dry the assailants mounted with great boldness; but they were received with a fire so heavy and so well directed, that it soon quelled the courage even of fanaticism and of intoxication. The rear ranks of the English kept the front ranks supplied with a constant succession of loaded muskets, and every shot told on the living mass below. After three desperate onsets, the besiegers retired behind the ditch.

The struggle lasted about an hour. Four hundred of the assailants fell. The garrison lost only five or six men. The besieged passed an anxious night, looking for a renewal of the attack. But when day broke, the enemy were no more to be seen. They had retired, leaving to the English several guns and a large quantity of ammunition.

The news was received at Fort St. George with transports of joy and pride. Clive was justly regarded as a man equal to any command. Two hundred English soldiers and seven hundred sepoys were sent to him, and with this force he instantly commenced offensive operations. He took the fort of Timery, effected a junction with a division of Morari Row's army, and

nastened, by forced marches, to attack | power in Europe, and that the English Rajah Sahib, who was at the head of did not presume to dispute her supreabout five thousand men, of whom macy. No measure could be more three hundred were French. The ac-effectual for the removing of this de ticn was sharp; but Clive gained a lusion than the public and solem complete victory. The military chest demolition of the French trophies. of Rajah Sahib fell into the hands of The government of Madras, enthe conquerors. Six hundred sepoys, couraged by these events, determined who had served in the enemy's army, to send a strong detachment, under came over to Clive's quarters, and Clive, to reinforce the garrison of were taken into the British service. Trichinopoly. But just at this conConjeveram surrendered without a juncture, Major Lawrence arrived from blow. The governor of Arnee de- England, and assumed the chief comserted Chunda Sahib, and recognised mand. From the waywardness and the title of Mahommed Ali. impatience of control which had characterized Clive, both at school and in the counting-house, it might have been expected that he would not, after such achievements, act with zeal and good humour in a subordinate capacity, But Lawrence had early treated him with kindness; and it is bare justice to Clive to say that, proud and overbearing as he was, kindness was never thrown away upon him. He cheerfully placed himself under the orders of his old friend, and exerted himself as strenuously in the second post as he could have done in the first. Lawrence well knew the value of such assistance. Though himself gifted with

Had the entire direction of the war been intrusted to Clive, it would probably have been brought to a speedy close. But the timidity and incapacity which appeared in all the movements of the English, except where he was personally present, protracted the struggle. The Mahrattas muttered that his soldiers were of a different race from the British whom they found elsewhere. The effect of this languor was that in no long time Rajah Sahib, at the head of a considerable army, in which were four hundred French troops, appeared almost under the guns of Fort St. George, and laid waste the villas and gardens of the gentlemen of no intellectual faculty higher than the English settlement. But he was again encountered and defeated by Clive. More than a hundred of the French were killed or taken, a loss more serious than that of thousands of natives. The victorious army marched from the field of battle to Fort St. David. On the road lay the City of the Victory of Dupleix, and the stately monument which was designed to commemorate the triumphs of France in the East. Clive ordered both the city and the monument to be rased to the ground. He was induced, we believe, to take this step, not by personal or national malevolence, but by a just and profound policy. The town and its pompous name, the pillar and its vaunting inscriptions, were among the devices by which Dupleix had laid the public mind of India under a spell. This spell it was Clive's business to break. The natives had been taught that France was confessedly the first

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plain good sense, he fully appreciated the powers of his brilliant coadjutor. Though he had made a methodical study of military tactics, and, like all men regularly bred to a profession, was disposed to look with disdain on interlopers, he had yet liberality enough to acknowledge that Clive was an exception to common rules. "Some people," he wrote, are pleased to term Captain Clive fortunate and lucky; but, in my opinion, from the knowledge I have of the gentleman, he deserved and might expect from his conduct every thing as it fell out;—a man of an undaunted resolution, of a cool temper, and of a presence of mind which never left him in the greatest danger-born a soldier; for, without a military education of any sort, or much conversing with any of the profession, from his judgment and good sense, he led on an army like an experienced officer and a brave soldier,

with a prudence that certainly war- But all was in vain. Slowly, but ranted success." steadily, the power of Britain conThe French had no commander to tinued to increase, and that of France oppose to the two friends. Dupleix, to decline. not inferior in talents for negotiation The health of Clive had never been and intrigue to any European who has good during his residence in India; borne a part in the revolutions of and his constitution was now so much India, was ill qualified to direct in impaired that he determined to return person military operations. He had to England. Before his departure he not been bred a soldier, and had no undertook a service of considerabie inclination to become one. His ene-difficulty, and performed it with his mies accused him of personal cowardice; usual vigour and dexterity. The forts and he defended himself in a strain of Covelong and Chingleput were ocworthy of Captain Bobadil. He kept cupied by French garrisons. It was away from shot, he said, because silence determined to send a force against and tranquillity were propitious to his them. But the only force available for genius, and he found it difficult to this purpose was of such a description pursue his meditations amidst the that no officer but Clive would risk his noise of fire-arms. He was thus under reputation by commanding it. It conthe necessity of intrusting to others sisted of five hundred newly levied the execution of his great warlike de- sepoys, and two hundred recruits who signs; and he bitterly complained that had just landed from England, and he was ill served. He had indeed who were the worst and lowest wretches been assisted by one officer of eminent that the Company's crimps could pick merit, the celebrated Bussy. But Bussy up in the flash-houses of London. had marched northward with the Nizam, Clive, ill and exhausted as he was, and was fully employed in looking undertook to make an army of this after his own interests, and those of undisciplined rabble, and marched with France, at the court of that prince. them to Covelong. A shot from the Among the officers who remained with fort killed one of these extraordinary Dupleix, there was not a single man soldiers; on which all the rest faced of capacity; and many of them were about and ran away, and it was with boys, at whose ignorance and folly the the greatest difficulty that Clive rallied common soldiers laughed. them. On another occasion, the noise The English triumphed everywhere. of a gun terrified the sentinels so much The besiegers of Trichinopoly were that one of them was found, some themselves besieged and compelled to hours later, at the bottom of a well. capitulate. Chunda Sahib fell into the Clive gradually accustomed them to hands of the Mahrattas, and was put danger, and, by exposing himself conto death, at the instigation probably stantly in the most perilous situations, of his competitor, Mahommed Ali. shamed them into courage. He at The spirit of Dupleix, however, was length succeeded in forming a respectunconquerable, and his resources in-able force out of his unpromising maexhaustible. From his employers in terials. Covelong fell. Clive learned Europe he no longer received help or that a strong detachment was marching countenance. They condemned his to relieve it from Chingleput. He policy. They gave him no pecuniary took measures to prevent the enemy assistance. They sent him for troops from learning that they were too late, only the sweepings of the galleys. laid an ambuscade for them on the Yet still he persisted, intrigued, bribed, road, killed a hundred of them with promised, lavished his private fortune, strained his credit, procured new diplomas from Delhi, raised up new enemies to the government of Madras on every side, and found tools even among the allies of the English Company,

one fire, took three hundred prisoners, pursued the fugitives to the gates of Chingleput, laid siege instantly to that fastness, reputed one of the strongest in India, made a breach, and was on the point of storming, when the French

commandant capitulated and retired man heard to growl out that, after all, with his men.

Clive returned to Madras victorious, but in a state of health which rendered it impossible for him to remain there long. He married at this time a young lady of the name of Maskelyne, sister of the eminent mathematician, who long held the post of Astronomer Royal. She is described as handsome and accomplished; and her husband's letters, it is said, contain proofs that he was devotedly attached to her.

Almost immediately after the marriage, Clive embarked with his bride for England. He returned a very different person from the poor slighted boy who had been sent out ten years before to seek his fortune. He was only twenty-seven; yet his country already respected him as one of her first soldiers. There was then general peace in Europe. The Carnatic was the only part of the world where the English and French were in arms against each other. The vast schemes of Dupleix had excited no small uneasiness in the city of London; and the rapid turn of fortune, which was chiefly owing to the courage and talents of Clive, had been hailed with great delight. The young captain was known at the India House by the honourable nickname of General Clive, and was toasted by that appellation at the feasts of the Directors. On his arrival in England, he found himself an object of general interest and admiration. The East India Company thanked him for his services in the warmest terms, and bestowed on him a sword set with diamonds. With rare delicacy, he refused to receive this token of gratitude, unless a similar compliment were paid to his friend and commander, Lawrence.

It may easily be supposed that Clive was most cordially welcomed home by his family, who were delighted by his success, though they seem to have been hardly able to comprehend how their naughty idle Bobby had become so great a man. His father had been singularly hard of belief. Not until the news of the defence of Arcot arrived in England was the old gentle

the booby had something in him. His expressions of approbation became stronger and stronger as news arrived of one brilliant exploit after another; and he was at length immoderately fond and proud of his son.

Clive's relations had very substantial reasons for rejoicing at his return. Considerable sums of prize money had fallen to his share; and he had brought home a moderate fortune, part of which he expended in extricating his father from pecuniary difficulties, and in redeeming the family estate. The remainder he appears to have dissipated in the course of about two years. He lived splendidly, dressed gaily even for those times, kept a carriage and saddle horses, and, not content with these ways of getting rid of his money, resorted to the most speedy and effectual of all modes of evacuation, a contested election followed by a petition.

At the time of the general election of 1754, the government was in a very singular state. There was scarcely any formal opposition. The Jacobites had been cowed by the issue of the last rebellion. The Tory party had fallen into utter contempt. It had been deserted by all the men of talents who had belonged to it, and had scarcely given a symptom of life during some years. The small faction which had been held together by the influence and promises of Prince Frederic, had been dispersed by his death. Almost every public man of distinguished talents in the kingdom, whatever his early connections might have been, was in office, and called himself a Whig. But this extraordinary appearance of concord was quite delusive. The administration itself was distracted by bitter enmities and conflicting pretensions. The chief object of its members was to depress and supplant each other. The prime minister, Newcastle, weak, timid, jealous, and perfidious, was at once detested and despised by some of the most important members of his government, and by none more than by Henry Fox, the Secretary at War. This able, daring, and ambitious man seized

every opportunity of crossing the First | the ablest debater among the Whigs, Lord of the Treasury, from whom he as the steady friend of Walpole, as the well knew that he had little to dread devoted adherent of the Duke of Cumand little to hope; for Newcastle was berland. After wavering till the last through life equally afraid of breaking moment, they determined to vote in a with men of parts and of promoting body with the Prime Minister's friends. them. The consequence was that the House, by a small majority, rescinded the decision of the committee, and Clive was unseated.

Ejected from Parliament, and straitened in his means, he naturally began to look again towards India. The Company and the Government were eager to avail themselves of his services. A treaty favourable to England had indeed been concluded in the Carnatic. Du

Newcastle had set his heart on returning two members for St. Michael, one of those wretched Cornish boroughs which were swept away by the Reform Act in 1832. He was opposed by Lord Sandwich, whose influence had long been paramount there: and Fox exerted himself strenuously in Sandwich's behalf. Clive, who had been introduced to Fox, and very kindly received by him, was brought forward on the Sand-pleix had been superseded, and had wich interest, and was returned. But a petition was presented against the return, and was backed by the whole influence of the Duke of Newcastle.

returned with the wreck of his immense fortune to Europe, where calumny and chicanery soon hunted him to his grave. But many signs indicated that a war The case was heard, according to the between France and Great Britain was usage of that time, before a committee at hand; and it was therefore thought of the whole House. Questions re-desirable to send an able commander to specting elections were then considered the Company's settlements in India. merely as party questions. Judicial The Directors appointed Clive governor impartiality was not even affected. Sir of Fort St. David. The King gave him Robert Walpole was in the habit of the commission of a lieutenant-colonel saying openly that, in election battles, in the British army, and in 1755 he there ought to be no quarter. On the again sailed for Asia. present occasion the excitement was great. The matter really at issue was, not whether Clive had been properly or improperly returned, but whether Newcastle or Fox was to be master of the new House of Commons, and consequently first minister. The contest was long and obstinate, and success seemed to lean sometimes to one side and sometimes to the other. Fox put forth all his rare powers of debate, beat half the lawyers in the House at their own weapons, and carried division after division against the whole influence of the Treasury. The committee decided in Clive's favour. But when the resolution was reported to the House, things took a different course. The remnant of the Tory Opposition, contemptible as it was, had yet sufficient weight to turn the scale between the nicely balanced parties of Newcastle and Fox. Newcastle the Tories could only despise. Fox they hated, as the boldest and most subtle politician and

The first service on which he was employed after his return to the East was the reduction of the stronghold of Gheriah. This fortress, built on a craggy promontory, and almost surrounded by the ocean, was the den of a pirate named Angria, whose barks had long been the terror of the Arabian Gulf. Admiral Watson, who com manded the English squadron in the Eastern seas, burned Angria's fleet, while Clive attacked the fastness by land. The place soon fell, and a booty of a hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling was divided among the conquerors.

After this exploit, Clive proceeded to his government of Fort St. David. Before he had been there two months, he received intelligence which called forth all the energy of his bold and active mind.

Of the provinces which had been subject to the house of Tamerlane, the wealthiest was Bengal No part of

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