Courtin had written to Clive, asking permission to go down to Pondicherry. Clive replied on the 15th of July, 1758, granting permission. His letter concludes:—
"I am at this moment sending an order to the Captain
Commandant of our troops to restore to you your two guns.
I am charmed at this opportunity of showing you my
appreciation of the way in which you have always behaved
to the English, and my own regard for your merit."[166]
Courtin continues:—
"Saved from so many perils and sufficiently fortunate
to have won such sensible marks of distinction from our
enemies, ought not this, my dear wife, to make me hope that
the gentlemen of the French Company will do their utmost
to procure me some military honour, in order to prove to the
English that my nation is as ready as theirs to recognize my
services?[167]
"Now, my dear wife, I must end this letter so that it
may be ready for despatch. For fear of its being lost I will
send in the packet another letter for thee.
"Do not disquiet thyself regarding my health. Thanks
to God I am now actually pretty well. I dare not talk to
thee of the possibility of our meeting. Circumstances are
not favourable for thee to make another voyage to the Indies.
That must depend upon events, thy health, peace, and
wishes, which, in spite of my tender longing for thee, will
always be my guide.
"If the event of war has not been doubly disastrous to
me, thou shouldst have received some small remittances,
which I have sent, and of which I have advised thee in
duplicate and triplicate. If the decrees of the Lord, after
my having endured so many misfortunes and sufferings, have
also ordained my death before I am in a position to provide
what concerns thee, have I not a right to hope that all my
friends will use their influence to induce the Company not
to abandon one who will be the widow of two men who have
served it well, and with all imaginable disinterestedness?
"For the rest I repeat that, thanks to God, I am fairly well.
"I kiss thee, etc., etc."
One would be glad to be assured that Courtin re-established his fortune. If he is, as I suppose, the Jacques Ignace Courtin, who was afterwards Conseiller au Conseil des Indes, we may be satisfied he did so; but French East India Company Records are a hopeless chaos at the present moment, and all that one can extract from the English Records is evidence of still further suffering.
From Murshidabad or Cossimbazar, Courtin went down to Chandernagore, whence the majority of the French inhabitants had already been sent to the Madras Coast. The Fort had been blown up, and the private houses were under sentence of destruction, for the English had determined to destroy the town, partly in revenge for the behaviour of Lally, who, acting under instructions from the French East India Company, had shown great severity to the English in Southern India, partly because they did not think themselves strong enough to garrison Chandernagore as well as Calcutta, and feared the Moors would occupy it if they did not place troops there, and partly because they dreaded its restoration to France—which actually happened—when peace was made. At any rate Courtin found the remnants of his countrymen in despair, and in 1759 he wrote a letter[168] to Clive and the Council of Calcutta, from which I quote one or two paragraphs:—
"With the most bitter grief I have received advice of
the sentence you have passed on the French Settlement
at Chandernagore, by which all the buildings, as well of
the Company as of private persons, are to be utterly
demolished.
"Humane and compassionate as you are, Sirs, you would
be sensibly affected—were your eyes witnesses to it as mine
have been—by the distress to which this order has reduced
the hearts of those unhappy inhabitants who remain in that
unfortunate place, particularly if you knew that there is
nothing left to the majority of them beyond these houses, on
whose destruction you have resolved. If I may believe
what I hear, the motive which incites you is that of reprisal
for what has happened at Cuddalore and Madras: it does
not become me to criticize either the conduct of M. Lally,
our general, who, by all accounts, is a man very much to be
respected by me, or your reasons, which you suppose sufficient.
Granting the latter to be so, permit me, Sirs, to
address myself to your generosity and humanity, and those
admirable qualities, so universally esteemed by mankind,
will encourage me to take the liberty to make certain representations.
"All upbraidings are odious, and nothing is more just
than the French proverb which says, to remind a person of
favours done him cancels the obligation. God forbid, Sirs,
I should be guilty of this to you or your nation by reminding
you for a moment, that these houses, now condemned by
you, served you as an asylum in 1756, and that the owners,
whom you are now reducing to the greatest distress and are
plunging into despair, assisted you to the utmost of their
power, and alleviated your misfortunes as much as they were
able. But what am I saying? Your nation is too polished to
need reminding of what is just. Therefore excuse my saying
that this reason alone is sufficient to cancel the law of
retaliation which you have resolved to execute, and to make
you revoke an order which, I am sure, you could not have
given without much uneasiness of mind. I cast myself at
your feet, imploring, with the most ardent prayers, that
compassion, which I flatter myself I perceive in your hearts,
for these poor creatures, whom you cannot without remorse
render miserable. If you really, Sirs, think I too have had
the happiness to be of some use to you and your nation,
whilst Chief at Dacca, and that I have rendered you some
services, I only beg that you would recollect them for one
moment, and let them induce you to grant the favour I
request for my poor countrymen. I shall then regard it as
the most happy incident in my life, and shall think myself
ten thousand times more indebted to you.
"If, Sirs, you have absolutely imperative reasons for
reprisal, change, if you please, the object of them. I offer
myself a willing victim, if there must be one, and, if blood
were necessary, I should think myself too happy to offer
mine a sacrifice. But as these barbarous methods are not
made use of in nations so civilized as ours, I have one last
offer to make, which is to ransom and buy all the private
houses at Chandernagore, for which I will enter into whatever
engagements you please, and will give you the best
security in my power."
The last words seem to imply that Courtin had recovered his property, at least to a great extent; but his pathetic appeal was useless in face of national necessities, and so far was Chandernagore desolated that, in November of the same year, we read that the English army, under Colonel Forde, was ambushed by the Dutch garrison of Chinsurah "amongst the buildings and ruins of Chandernagore."
From Chandernagore Courtin went to Pondicherry, where he became a member of the Superior Council. He was one of the chiefs of the faction opposed to Lally, who contemptuously mentions a printed "Memorial" of his adventures which Courtin prepared, probably for presentation to the Directors of the French East India Company.[169] When, in January, 1761, Lally determined to capitulate, Courtin was sent to the English commander on the part of the Council. Still later we find his name attached to a petition, dated August 3, 1762, presented to the King against Lally.[170] This shows that Courtin had arrived in France, so that his elevation to the Council of the Company is by no means improbable.
To any one who has lived long in India it seems unnatural that in old days the small colonies of Europeans settled there should have been incited to mutual conflict and mutual ruin, owing to quarrels which originated in far-off Europe, and which were decided without any reference to the wishes or interests of Europeans living in the colonies. The British Settlements alone have successfully survived the struggle. The least we can do is to acknowledge the merits, whilst we commiserate the sufferings, of those other gallant men who strove their best to win the great prize for their own countrymen. Of the French especially it would appear that their writers have noticed only those like Dupleix, Bussy, and Lally, who commanded armies in glorious campaigns that somehow always ended to the advantage of the British, and have utterly forgotten the civilians who really kept the game going, and who would have been twice as formidable to their enemies if the military had been subordinate to them. The curse of the French East India Company was Militarism, whilst fortunately for the English our greatest military hero in India, Lord Clive, was so clear-minded that he could write:—
"I have the liberty of an Englishman so strongly implanted
in my nature, that I would have the Civil all in all,
in all times and in all places, cases of immediate danger
excepted."
How much might have been achieved by men like Renault, Law, and Courtin, if they had had an adequate military force at their disposal! They saw, as clearly as did the English, that Bengal was the heart of India, and they saw the English denude Madras of troops to defend Bengal, whilst they themselves were left by the French commanders in a state of hopeless impotence. On the other hand, owing to the English Company's insistence that military domination should be the exception and not the rule, British civilians and British soldiers have, almost always, worked together harmoniously. It was this union of force which gave us Bengal in the time of which I have been writing, and to the same source of power we owe the gradual building up of the great Empire which now dominates the whole of India.
Notes:
[122: Probably Portuguese half-castes.]
[123: Matchlock men. Consultations of the Dacca Council, 27th June, 1756. Madras Select Committee Proceedings, 9th November, 1756.]
[124: When Courtin was sent by Count Lally with the proposals for the surrender of Pondicherry he had to take an interpreter with him. Memoirs of Lally, p. 105.]
[125: I.e. official order.]
[126: I cannot ascertain where M. Fleurin was at this moment. If at Dacca, then Courtin must have left him behind.]
[127: MSS. Français, Nouvelles Acquisitions, No. 9361. This is unfortunately only a copy, and the dates are somewhat confused. Where possible I have corrected them.]
[128: Calcapur, the site of the Dutch Factory. See note, p. 64.]
[129: From a map by Rennell of the neighbourhood of Dacca it appears that the French Factory was on the River Bourigunga. There are still several plots of ground in Dacca town belonging to the French. One of them, popularly known as Frashdanga, is situated at the mouth of the old bed of the river which forms an island of the southern portion of the town; but I do not think this is the site of the French Factory, as the latter appears to have been situated to the west of the present Nawab's palace.]
[130: Now used in the sense of messengers or office attendants.]
[131: Orme says (bk. viii. p. 285) that Courtin started with 30 Europeans and 100 sepoys. From Law's "Memoir" we see that M. de Carryon took 20 men to Cossimbazar before Law himself left. This accounts for the smallness of Courtin's force.]
[132: Jafar Ali Khan married the sister of Aliverdi Khan, Siraj-ud-daula's grandfather.]
[133: I think he must mean the mouth of the Murshidabad River.]
[134: Courtin means the lower ranges of the Himalayas, inhabited by the Nepaulese, Bhutiyas, etc. His wanderings therefore were in the districts of Rungpore and Dinajpur.]
[135: Sinfray, Secretary to the Council at Chandernagore, was one of the fugitives who, as mentioned above, joined Law at Cossimbazar.]
[136: Assaduzama Muhammad was nephew to Kamgar Khan, the general of Shah Alam. Holwell. Memorial to the Select Committee, 1760.]
[137: Orme MSS. India XI., p. 2859, No. 246.]
[138: Orme says the Fort was on the River Teesta, but Rennell marks it more correctly a little away from the river and about fifteen miles south of Jalpaiguri.]
[139: These guns Courtin calls "pièces à la minute." The proper name should be "canon à la suédoise" or "canon à la minute." They were invented by the Swedes, who used 3-pounders with improved methods for loading and firing, so as to be able to fire as many as ten shots in a minute. The French adopted a 4-pounder gun of this kind in 1743. The above information was given me by Lieut.-Colonel Ottley Perry, on the authority of Colonel Colin, an artillery officer on the French Headquarters Staff.]
[140: This squadron, under the command of Mons. Bouvet, actually did arrive.]
[141: This rebellion was really conducted by Ukil Singh, the Hindoo Diwan of Hazir Ali.]
[142: Mir Jafar, Jafar Ali, Mir Jafar Ali Khan, are all variations of the name of the Nawab whom the English placed on the throne after the death of Siraj-ud-daula.]
[143: Law says that the French soldiers who wandered the country in this way were accustomed to disguise themselves as natives and even as Brahmins, when they wished to avoid notice.]
[144: A kind of native house-boat.]
[145: A heavy gun fired from a rest or stand.]
[146: A ditch or ravine.]
[147: Orme MSS. India XI., p. 2901, No. 374.]
[148: A thick quilt used as a covering when in bed, or sometimes like a blanket to wrap oneself in.]
[149: Orme MSS. India XL, p. 2915, No. 417.]
[150: Bengal Select Com. Consultations, 22nd February, 1758.]
[151: I have not been able to identify this place.]
[152: A boatman.]
[154: Orme MSS. India XI., p. 2923, No. 432.]
[155: Orme MSS. India XL, p. 2926, No. 438.]
[156: This expression is characteristically Indian, and is used when any one, finding himself oppressed, appeals to some great personage for protection.]
[157: The Nawab's flag was the usual Turkish crescent.]
[158: Another Indian expression. The last resource against oppression or injustice in India is to commit suicide by starvation or some violent means, and to lay the blame on the oppressor. This is supposed to bring the curse of murder upon him.]
[159: This means simply that the Raja was not an independent ruler. The sovereign owning all land, land revenue and rent meant the same thing.]
[160: This seems to want explanation. Probably Courtin had got into some sort of house used for religious ceremonies, such as are often found in or close to the market-places of great landowners.]
[161: He probably refers to Mr. Luke Scrafton.]
[162: I.e. from his entrenchments.]
[163: "Courtin and his party arrived here the 10th. They are 6 soldiers, Dutch, German and Swede, such as took service with the French when our Factory at Dacca fell into the hands of Surajeh Dowleit, 4 gentlemen, some Chitagon (sic) fellows and about 20 peons. Courtin, on his way hither, has, by mischance, received a ball through his shoulder. They demanded honneurs de la guerre, which Drake has not understood" (Scrafton to Clive, March 12, 1758).]
[164: According to Orme, Courtin's force was reduct from 30 to 11 Europeans, and from 100 to 30 sepoys.]
[165: The manuscript I translate from contains only the postscript of the 10th of August.]
[166: A translation. Clive generally wrote to French officers in their own language.]
[167: Such honours were not uncommonly granted. Law was made a Colonel, so was another French partisan named Madec. On the other hand, when a French gentleman had the choice, he often put his elder son in the Company's service and the younger in the army. Law's younger brother was in the army. Renault's elder son was in the Company and the younger in the army.]
[168: Appended to "Bengal Public Proceedings," May 31, 1759.]
[169: I do not know whether this "Memorial" still exists, but see "Memoirs of Count Lally," p. 53.]
[170: "Memoirs of Count Lally," p. 367.]