Bussy, with a zeal and temper that do him equal honour, continued to serve under Lally, and to offer his best advice, which was, however, seldom regarded. Basâlut Jung, the brother of the Subah of the Deckan, had evinced an anxiety to preserve the friendship of the French; and Bussy strongly recommended that he should be declared Nabob of the Carnatic, and invited to aid their operations. No measure could have been more likely to support them. But Lally had precipitately proclaimed the son of Chunda Sahib Nabob: a person who had neither influence nor character to be a useful ally; and he was not only reluctant to repeal his own measure, but disinclined to attend to any proposition of Bussy. Overcome, however, by a sense of the urgent necessity of the expedient, he detached that officer with a small body of troops to the camp of Basâlut Jung at Kurpah. The French commander was received with honour; but not being able to comply with the demands made by Basâlut Jung, one of which was the immediate advance of four lacs of rupees, he was compelled to return without being able to conclude an alliance with that prince. He brought back with him, however, a body of four hundred excellent horse, whom he had taken into service; and he was enabled, through the credit he had with some of the native chiefs of the Deckan army, not only to supply this party with money, but also the French detachment by whom he was accompanied, who, like all Lally's troops, were many months in arrear, and almost destitute of clothing, as well as the means of obtaining food.
Bussy was made prisoner at the battle of Wandewash, (January, 1760,) but was instantly released by Colonel Coote, from respect for his character, and as a return for that kindness and consideration which he had invariably shown to English prisoners.[59] Soon after this occurrence, he returned to France, leaving behind him a name as fondly cherished by the natives of India as by his countrymen. That further acquaintance with the true history of remarkable events, which often diminishes the fame of military commanders and statesmen, has hitherto tended only to increase the reputation of Bussy. His courage and conduct as a soldier stood high, before the genius of Dupleix, appreciating his character, sent him into the Deckan.
Acting in that extensive country with a force, which, before he obtained the cession of the northern circars, had only an uncertain and imperfect communication with the coast, he supported, for a series of years, the influence and interests of his country, in a manner which reflects the highest honour on his qualities as a man, and on his talents as a statesman. He thoroughly understood and held in respect the usages of the people among whom he was placed. He united a kindness and consideration for their errors and weaknesses with such a good faith and firmness of purpose in the prosecution of his own objects, as to extort respect even from those to whom he was opposed. This testimony to his character is not wholly taken from the page of history, though all writers agree in doing justice to his memory. The facts stated have been confirmed to the writer of these pages, by many who acted with and against Bussy, whose reputation, though now deservedly high in France, is not, even at this period, so great in that country as it continues to be with natives of the Deckan!
Clive, unless where their conduct compelled him to acts of severity, was kind and liberal in his treatment of French prisoners. This appears from a very voluminous correspondence[60], both official and private, with individuals of that nation; but the wanton outrages of Lally made him deem acts of retaliation indispensably necessary.
In several of his letters from Patna, Clive urged the committee at Calcutta to destroy the buildings at Chandernagore, and transmitted to them letters from Mr. Pigot and Mr. Vansittart, in proof of the wanton outrages committed by Lally at Madras, particularly in levelling with the ground the Company's country-house, and in having, without any object, destroyed the country-houses of several private gentlemen, and among others, that of Colonel Lawrence at St. Thomas's Mount. The Committee could not deny these facts, nor the right of retaliating such injuries; but, hesitating between the desire of attending to Clive, and their alarm at the future consequences of the measure pressed upon their adoption, they proposed to throw the odium of its execution upon the Nabob. Of this Clive wholly disapproved, stating, at the same time, his resolution, when he returned to Calcutta, to take the responsibility of this act exclusively upon himself.
"As to your proposal," he observes in a letter[61] from Patna, "of effecting it through the Nabob, I do not see what end it will answer. Our known interest with him is such, that it will never be questioned we were the advisers; and should an opportunity of retaliation ever offer, (the apprehension of which I presume suggested the proposal to you,) it will avail us little to attribute the fate of Chandernagore to the Nabob. If the French should hereafter have it in their power to destroy Calcutta, it will be matter of small moment whether they do it immediately themselves, or make use of a like evasion, and employ some of the country powers to effect it. So far from endeavouring to conceal our being the authors of the destruction of Chandernagore, we ought to make a merit of publishing it, as a laudable national revenge for the unfortunate treatment we have received from the French. The rules of war established among all civilised nations authorise and applaud reprisals in such cases. I shall, therefore, very readily on my return take the risk upon myself: and the more so, as (if I forget not) last year we received directions from our masters[62] to that purpose."
I shall proceed in the next chapter to detail events which occurred previously to Clive's leaving Calcutta. The material changes in those vested with authority at Madras took place before that period, except the resignation of Colonel Lawrence, who took the field on the siege of Fort St. George being raised, but finding that his age and infirmities disabled him from active service, retired to his native land, to enjoy that repose in private life, which he now required, and to which he was entitled by the active and able fulfilment, during more than twenty years, of the most arduous public duties.
Colonel Lawrence must ever stand high among those officers who have distinguished themselves in India. He neither was, nor pretended to be, a statesman, but he was an excellent officer. He possessed no dazzling qualities, and his acts never displayed that brilliancy which men admire as the accompaniment of genius; but he was, nevertheless, a rare and remarkable man. We trace in all his operations that sound practical knowledge of his profession, which, directed by a clear judgment and firm mind, secured to him an uninterrupted career of success, under circumstances of great difficulty and danger. As one of the chief causes of this success, we may notice the absence of that common but petty jealousy, which renders men afraid lest they should detract from their own fame by advancing that of others, and the influence of which is, consequently, most fatal to the rise of merit. Lawrence early discovered, and fully employed, the talents of those under his orders; and we find him on all occasions much more forward to proclaim their deeds than to blazon his own. To this quality, which is the truest test of a high and liberal spirit, England is principally indebted for all the benefit she has received from the services of Clive. It was the fostering care and the inspiring confidence of his commander that led to the early developement of those talents, which, by the opportunities afforded him, were matured at an age, when most men are only in the rudiments of their military education. Clive continued, through life, fully sensible of the magnitude of his obligations to Lawrence, towards whom he ever cherished the most affectionate gratitude.
When his venerated commander was on the point of retirement, with a very moderate fortune, Clive settled 500l. per annum on him during life.[63] "It gives me great pleasure," he observes to Lawrence on this occasion, "that I have an opportunity given me of showing my gratitude to the man to whom my reputation, and, of course, my fortune is owing." This liberal annuity must have added to the comfort of his old age; but its value was greatly enhanced by the warmth and delicacy of the sentiments which Clive expressed upon this occasion. These expressions of grateful obligation gave the retired veteran a right to associate his own fame with that of the successful pupil to whose progress to fortune and renown he had, by his early notice and encouragement, so greatly contributed.
1. Vide Vol. I. p. 183.
2. The particulars of the storm of Boobilee are narrated, by Orme (vol. ii. p. 254.), with the clearness and a feeling which do honoured to that historian. Such scenes as are here described are but too common in the history of India; where Hindus, of a high tribe, often take the heroic, but barbarous, resolution of not leaving a living being for their enemies to triumph over.
3. The other two remained concealed; but they were bound, by a vow, to murder Vizeram Raz if the first attempt failed.
4. Rangarow, and his tribe, considered themselves of much higher race than the Rajahs of Vizianagur; and their contempt of his family was one cause of the inveteracy of Vizeram Raz.
5. "Bussy promised the English their property; and all they claimed as such was resigned to them, without question or discussion."—Orme, vol. ii. p. 263.
6. The father of Hyder Jung was governor of Masulipatam when Dupleix made himself master of that important fortress, and is believed to have betrayed his trust.
7. The small fortress of Dowlatabad stands at the distance of eight miles to the north-west of Aurungabad. It is defended by walls and bastions: but what renders it impregnable is the solid rock being scarped perpendicular all round; and in no place is the scarp less than one hundred and eighty feet. The entrance is by a long tunnel, in which there are several traverses cut out of the rock. Shahnavaze Khan had obtained possession of this fortress. The manner in which it was seized by Bussy is minutely described by Orme, vol. ii. p. 345. Bussy himself, attended by a number of officers and three hundred men, went on the pretext of seeing the fort and paying a visit to the Killadar (or Governor); and when the garrison were so stationed by the Killadar, through respect for their guest, that they could make no resistance, he was made a willing prisoner by the French general, and such of his followers as made opposition expelled from the fort.
8. The rapidity of his flight was great: he is said to have reached Burhampore in twenty-four hours. The distance is one hundred and fifty miles.
9. A correspondence, between this petty prince and Clive, was opened through the medium of an English merchant named Bristow.
10. Clive's answer to Nizam Ali Khan is dated 27th July, 1758.
11. 17th September, 1758.
12. 7th July, and 17th September.
13. Clive appears to have despatched treasure for this corps the moment he learned that none was likely to be recovered either from Anunderauze or the revenues of the country: but the activity of the French corps of observation prevented, for some period, Colonel Forde from receiving the benefit of this supply.
14. Native Christians, generally the descendants of Portuguese and Indian parents; called Topasses, from their wearing hats (topees) like Europeans, instead of turbans.
15. The killed and wounded were nearly one third of the whole; so that the assailants, probably, hardly exceeded nine hundred, while the prisoners were three thousand and thirty-seven. Arunderauze, with his irregular native forces, was, indeed, at hand.
16. The troops in the ravelin, beyond the main gate, were kept at their post by alarm at the false attack of the Rajah's troops, till the assailants, who entered at the breach, shut the gate on them.
17. Orme, vol. iii. p. 489.
18. Letter received at Calcutta, 17th July, 1759.
19. Mr. Call, the chief engineer at Madras, writing to Clive, under date the 11th October, 1758, observes, "I cannot but say you have added much to your reputation by the detachment (Colonel Forde's) which you have sent to our assistance on the coast. No sooner were your apprehensions for the safety of Bengal somewhat lessened, than you determined to support us."
20. Including prisoners, and the corps under Moracin, at least one thousand Europeans, and nearly three thousand native troops, were subtracted from Lally's force by the effects of Colonel Forde's success.
21. 26th August.
22. Captain Caillaud suffered two repulses before he succeeded in his attack on Madura.
23. This party was commanded by Colonel Forde, then belonging to Adlercron's regiment. The circumstances attending the repulse were such as reflected no imputation on his character.
24. Neazballa.
25. Nazir Mahommed held Chittaput, and a small surrounding district, by a sunnud, or grant, from the Subadar of the Deckan.
26. Mahommed Esoof was best known, in the early part of his career, by the name of "the Nellore Commandant."
27. Vide Vol. I. p. 402.
28. The six colonels who signed this memorial were, D'Estaing, De Landivisan, De la Fuère, Breteuil, Verdière, and Crillon. Their names merit to be recorded. They belonged to the noblest families of their country; and this act shows their patriotic feeling to have been as honourable as their birth.
29. 1st September, 1758.
30. Letter to Mr. Pigot, 14th August.
31. Ibid.
32. 14th August.
33. Nazir Mahommed. I have before adverted to his gallant conduct: vide p. 26.
34. Colonel Lawrence.
35. Almost all communications between Madras and Bengal, at this period, were by sea, which often occasioned a considerable interval between the writing and despatch of a letter.
36. 21st August, 1759.
37. Mr. Orme appears to have embarked for England about six months after the date of this letter, but was obliged to leave the ship at the Cape, being unable, from serious indisposition, to proceed further until his strength was recruited.—(Letters from Mr. Vansittart to Clive, 28th June, and 3d July, 1759.)
38. Letter to Sir G. Pocock, 14th August, 1759. A postscript is added to this letter, of the 26th August; the same date as that to Mr. Orme.
39. This man's name was Gotica; he was uncle to the deposed King of Tanjore, whom the English had supported in 1749.
40. Col. Kennedy was one of the hostages sent to Tanjore.
41. A breach had been made, but it was not deemed practicable. Two of the principal French officers, General Saubinet and Count D'Estaing, strongly advised a storm; deeming the breach, though imperfect, to be assailable.
42. A considerable body, cavalry and infantry, of Tanjore troops, with fifty Europeans, and one thousand English sepoys, were engaged in this attack; which is chiefly remarkable for the attempt made upon the person of the French General. A body of fifty horsemen advanced, at daylight, to the French outposts: they inquired for Lally, saying they wished to take service. They were conducted to the General, who, being informed of their request, came out from a choultry to speak to them: at this moment one of the Tanjore horsemen, supposed to be intoxicated, fired his pistol into a tumbril, which, by its explosion, gave a general alarm. The leader of the party, observing this, rode at Lally, who, however, defended himself with a stick, and the man was shot by an attendant, while the French guard succeeded in repelling a charge made by his comrades.
43. Orme's History, and Clive's MSS.
44. A species of pulse upon which horses are fed in India.
45. The north-east monsoon commences, on the coast of Coromandel, in the end of October; and military operations are difficult, and in some parts almost impracticable, till towards the end of November.
46. Orme, vol. iii. p. 385.
47. Captain Preston's corps was from the garrison of Chingliput.
48. Orme, vol. iii. p. 453.
49. Mr. Vansittart, a member of the Council at Fort St. George, in a private letter to Clive, dated 2d March, 1759, gives a general account of Lally's operations, from which the following is an extract:—
"I am very glad," he observes, "to begin with acquainting you that the siege of Madras is raised. Certainly it was an undertaking too great for M. Lally's force, and it was undoubtedly a want of men that obliged him to confine his approaches to so narrow a front. I will send you a plan of them as soon as I can find one of our engineers at leisure. The trenches are the weakest that ever were seen, and yet they pushed them up close under our nose. Three or four times small detachments sallied, and took possession of the head of their sap almost without resistance. Our people retired after destroying a little of the work, and then the enemy returned and worked on. Their grand battery, the first that they opened, tore our works a good deal, but our men were active, and got them repaired in the night. This continued for a few days, but our fire was not decreased. The enemy then lost all patience, and advanced with all our defences in good order; when they got to the foot of the glacis, they erected a battery against the east face of the north ravelin, but they could never stand there for an hour together, as we had a heavy fire both on their flank and front. In three or four days they abandoned that, but still kept pushing on their sap, and presently got up to the crest of the glacis, where they erected another battery close to the north-east angle of the covered way. This cost them very dear, and they well deserved to suffer; for all our defences were yet perfect, nay, we had more guns than we had at first.
"For six mornings running they opened this battery at daybreak, and were obliged in an hour or two to shut up their embrasures. Their loss there must have been very great; for it was raked from one end to the other by the flank of the royal bastion, had a front fire from the north-east bastion, and was overlooked by the demi-bastion so with musketry, that it was absolutely impossible for a man to live. At the end of six days they gave it up, and at the same time, I believe, gave up all hopes of success. It is true they had opened a narrow passage through the counterscarp of the ditch by a mine, and had beat down so much clay from the face of the demi-bastion, that there was a slope which a nimble man might run up, and that is what M. Lally calls a breach; but his people were wiser than he, if he proposed to assault it, and they refused. That letter of M. Lally's is a most curious piece. I am glad it was intercepted, that he may not say the arrival of the ships obliged him to raise the siege, and that the officers and men of the garrison may have the honour they deserve. Their duty was really severe, and what was yet worse, they had not a safe place to rest in when off duty; for there is not a bomb-proof lodgement in garrison, except the grand magazine, and the casemates under the Nabob's bastion, where the sick and wounded lay. Nevertheless there was a universal cheerfulness from the beginning to the end; and (what M. Lally so much expected) a capitulation never entered, I believe, into the head of any one man in the garrison.
"The enemy retired by the way of Poonamallee, and, by our last advices, were at Arcot. Our army is just now moving after them. We had a difficulty to get coolies and bullocks for a camp, by which many days have been lost. A large body of Mahrattas are upon the borders of the province: we have made them handsome offers. If they join us, it will be difficult for the French army to get to Pondicherry, or if they only stand neuter, Colonel Lawrence will have no objection to a trial of skill with the Lieutenant-general.
"I should not forget to mention that your old friend the Nellow Subhadar was of great service during the siege. He brought a large body of country horse and sepoys from Tanjore and Trichinopoly; and being joined by Captain Preston with about fifty Europeans from Chingleput, and afterwards by Major Caillaud, they occasioned a powerful diversion. The French were obliged four times to send out considerable detachments; but our people always kept their post, till a scarcity of provisions forced them to move further off. The enemy, however, lost many men in these different actions, besides the hinderance it gave to their work."
50. Mr. Vansittart, in his letter to Clive of the 2d March, 1759 (quoted in the last note), observes, "I believe I shall be obliged to apply to you to lay hands upon some of the Chandernagore ladies, in order to exchange against Mrs. Morse, Mrs. Vansittart, and some others, whom we sent away in a boat for Sadras, just at the time that M. Lally borrowed that settlement from the Dutch. They were received by the French officer, and told they were prisoners. They have been kept there ever since; and two days after the siege was raised I wrote to M. Lally, desiring he would let me know his resolutions concerning my family: he sent back the peon without an answer; nor have I got one yet. All this I could excuse if they had but been treated with politeness; but it has been far otherwise, as you will see by a letter I lately received from Mrs. Vansittart, and which I send enclosed. I beg you will let Carnac explain it to the French ladies at Bengal, that they may see, with thankfulness, the different usage they have met with."
51. Mr. Sulivan was Chairman of the Court of Directors.
52. 21st February, 1759.
53. 6th September, 1759.
54. This advice, as appears from Mr. Vansittart's letter, (note, p. 50.) was adopted.
55. "Your defence of Madras," Clive observes, in a letter to Mr. Pigot of the 21st August, 1759, "and your foiling a man of Lally's rank, will certainly gain you much honour at home; but what affords me most pleasure is, the principal part you have acted in this famous siege. I always said my friend would shine whenever an opportunity offered, by what I saw of his behaviour, some years ago, near Verdiachelum woods."
56. Pondicherry surrendered to Colonel Coote in January, 1761. It had been blockaded four months before the active operations of the siege, and there were only two days' provisions for the fighting men when it surrendered. The gallant regiments of Lorraine and Lally were reduced to a small number, and these worn out with famine, disease, and fatigue.—(Orme, vol. iii. p. 722.)
57. Mr. Orme justly remarks, that "if abuse of authority, vexations, and exactions, are not capital in the jurisprudence of France, they ought not to have been inserted, as efficacious, in the sentence of death." The same author informs us that Lally was charged with treason, which deprived him of the aid of counsel. Among other crimes, this unhappy commander was accused of selling Pondicherry to the English; and was believed (so credulous is national vanity) to have betrayed the interests of his country to promote those of a nation that he hated, and whom he treated (on all occasions when he had the power) with a severity hardly consistent with the usage of civilised nations. The haughty spirit of the veteran was unbroken by the persecution of his enemies. His conduct throughout his protracted trial was collected, but proud and indignant. When he heard his sentence he threw up his hands to heaven, and exclaimed, "Is this the reward of forty-five years' service?" and snatching a pair of compasses, which lay with maps on his table, struck it to his breast; but it did not pierce to his heart: he then gave loose to every execration against his judges and accusers. His scaffold was prepared, and his execution appointed for the same afternoon. To prevent him from speaking to the spectators a large gag was put into his mouth before he was taken out of prison, whence he was carried in a common cart, and beheaded on the Grève. He perished in the sixty-fifth year of his age.—(Orme, vol. iii. p. 736.)
58. Voltaire.
59. So high did M. Bussy stand in the public opinion, that when the Nabob Mohammed Ali wrote Mr. Pigot, the governor of Madras, congratulating him on the recent victory, he added, that M. Bussy's being taken prisoner was of itself equal to any victory, and at the same time suggested the propriety of his being sent to him, when he would take good care of him!
Mohammed Ali even then, after some years' acquaintance with the English, was astonished that M. Bussy was allowed to go on his parole to Pondicherry; and as much afterwards, when he heard how well he was received at Madras by every body there, before his departure for Europe. D. H.
60. The letters of Clive's agents, also, mention many sums which he appears to have given and sent to French officers. Mr. Vansittart, writing from Madras, notices several individuals who have received considerable aid (two captains one thousand rupees each); stating that they are grateful, and have every disposition to repay Clive, but no ability; and that he will lose his money.
61. 27th May, 1759.
62. The instructions from the Court of France to Lally had been intercepted, in which he was directed to destroy such of the British settlements as fell into his power: in consequence of which the Court of Directors gave orders to retaliate the same measures upon the French settlements.—(Orme, vol. iii. p. 726.)
63. Extract from Clive's letter to his agents in England, 25th December, 1758:—"Having granted Stringer Lawrence, Esq., an annuity of 500l. per annum during the term of his natural life, I desire you will pay the same yearly to him or his order."