6. Clive made the journey by forced marches through the thunder and lightning and rain of the wet season, and so astounded the garrison of Arcot that they ran without striking a blow. A force of 3000 men soon appeared to drive out the intruders. In the middle of the night on which they arrived, while all of them were fast asleep, Clive—without waiting to be besieged, as he should have done by all the rules of Indian warfare—made a sudden sally, drove them headlong from the place, and returned without losing a single man. Somewhat later a force of 8000 men encircled the city, and for fifty days the young captain foiled all their efforts to take it.
7. During this terrible time, officers and men—European and native alike—were all animated by the same undaunted spirit and by the same devotion to the young captain. When there was nothing left but rice to live and fight on, and very little of that, the Sepoys came to him of their own will to beg that the grain should be reserved for their European comrades and the water in which it was boiled for themselves.
8. At last, the enemy stormed the fort, driving before them elephants whose foreheads were armed with iron plates. It was expected that the gates would yield to the shock of these living battering-rams. But the balls from the fort sent the huge beasts flying in terror into the crowded ranks of their own masters. However, a breach had been made, and the attack went on. Clive had placed his best marksmen in front, and ordered those in the rear to load the muskets for them to fire. Three times the besiegers stormed the breach, and three times they quailed before the leaden-storm that beat upon them. During the night the enemy suddenly decamped, leaving guns and stores to the victors.
9. Clive's success at Arcot may be justly considered the first stone laid in the foundation of our Indian Empire. As the star of Clive rose so that of Dupleix sank. The prince that the latter had set up lost his throne, and Dupleix himself was recalled to France; for the French Government regarded his lofty aims and pretensions as no better than a wild dream. But the wild dream of Dupleix for France was fulfilled by Clive and his successors for Britain. To-day we see that dream realised, and an English King proclaimed Emperor of India.
10. To Clive belongs the honour of having been the first Englishman to impress the people of India with the fighting-powers of our race, the first to inspire them with the idea that Victory rode in a British war-chariot. Nothing is more essential to success in ruling the myriads of India than the conviction that our arms are sure to prevail. Fortunately, the British soldier, ever since the days of Robert Clive, has made his name famous in India; the credit he has gained for valour and victory materially aids him in battle to win the day. The name and renown gained by success and good fortune in the past is what is meant by prestige, and this heritage of ours is one of the secrets of the power that enables a few thousands of our race in India to rule its three hundred million souls.
(8) BEGINNING OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA.
1. Who has not heard of the "Black Hole of Calcutta" and of the miscreant Surajah Dowlah, the nawab, or native governor, of Bengal? This man hated the English, and he resolved to expel them from his province. Marching to Calcutta with a large force, he seized all our countrymen within his reach, and thrust them for the night into a small stifling room. When the door was thrown open in the morning, only 23 out of 146 staggered out alive. All the rest had fallen dead from the intense heat and suffocating air.
2. When the news reached Madras there went up a cry for vengeance, and all eyes turned to Clive as the avenger. A part of the famous 39th regiment, lately arrived from England, formed the backbone of Clive's force. Admiral Watson was also at hand with a small fleet, and sailed with the avenging army to the mouth of the Hooghly (Hugli).
3. On their arrival the work of retribution began. Calcutta soon fell into their hands. The nawab's capital, Moorshedabad, was the next object of attack, Clive boldly advancing against it with his small force of 3000 men. The nawab drew up his army of 50,000 men on the plains of Plassey, a few miles in front of his capital. Whilst Clive could only muster ten light field pieces, his enemy had fifty heavy guns at his command. But there was treachery in his ranks, for Clive had won over Meer Jaffier, the principal commander of his troops, and the nawab himself was hated by his own people.
4. Clive drew up his troops in front of a grove of mangoes, and near it was a hunting-lodge from the roof of which Clive watched the nawab's army take up its position. They came on with all the pomp and panoply of war—the infantry with their banners flying, the cavalry with their drawn swords flashing back the rays of the rising sun, the elephants with their scarlet trappings, and the heavy guns with their unwieldy platforms and struggling teams of white oxen. The battle that followed lasted till noon.