[35] The Patan Nabobs of Kurpa, Karnoul, and Savanore were the chief persons in the conspiracy. They were discontented at the treatment they received from Nasir Jung. They were joined by Shandraz Khan, and other high officers of that prince. These latter are stated to have considered themselves disgraced by the imprisonment of Muzuffer Jung, whose submission they had obtained by the most sacred pledges of his being kindly treated.

[36] Wilks, vol. i. p. 269.

CHAP. II.

(A. D. 1750.) The government of Fort St. David had been assumed by Mr. Saunders, a man of sound sense and unconquerable firmness. Nothing could be more alarming than the situation in which he found the affairs of the Company. He saw immediately, that, unless Mahommed Ali was effectually supported, the Carnatic would fall into the possession of Chunda Sahib, from whom the Company could expect no favour; and the probability of this happening was greater, from the recent success of that chief, in obtaining possession of Madura, which literally confined Mahommed Ali to the single possession of Trichinopoly; almost every other place having acknowledged the authority of his rival. The government of Fort St. David had sent to the aid of Mahommed Ali a body of 600 men under Captain Cope; but the failure of an attempt made by this party to recover Madura depressed still more the spirits of the adherents of their ally, who was soon besieged by the united forces of Chunda Sahib and the French. This desperate state of his fortunes led to the renewal of his efforts to obtain more efficient aid from the English, to whom he not only offered a considerable territory contiguous to Madras, but agreed to pay the expenses of all the troops employed in his support. These offers, and the certain ruin in which the success of Chunda Sahib must involve the Company, would hardly have roused the Committee of Fort St. David, unauthorised as they were by their instructions from England, to depart from their neutrality, had not Dupleix insulted their forbearance by planting white flags, (to denote that they were French property) in almost every field[37] around their boundary, and some even within their limits.

The English troops on the coast were, at this period, much inferior in numbers to the French; and by an inexplicable confidence in the continuance of peace, Colonel Lawrence, whose character and experience constituted a great part of their military strength, had been permitted to return to England on private affairs. Notwithstanding these circumstances, Mr. Saunders determined to make an attempt to relieve Trichinopoly; and a body of 500 Europeans, 100 Caffres, and 1000 sepoys was detached under Captain Gingen, to join the party already in that garrison. Their march was delayed several weeks, to allow them to be joined by a party of Mahommed Ali's troops, the Committee being desirous to avoid appearing as principals in this war; choosing, like the French, rather to have their forces considered as mercenaries in the pay of the native prince whom they supported.

Clive, who had alternately been charged with civil and military duties, as the exigencies of the public service required, had resumed the civil branch of the service, soon after the reduction of Devecotta (A. D. 1749), when the pacification with the Rajah of Tanjore produced a temporary cessation from military operations; and was admitted to the same rank that he would have held, had he never quitted it. By the active friendship of Major Lawrence, he was appointed commissary for supplying the European troops with provisions. He had not been long settled at Madras, when a fever of the nervous kind attacked his constitution, and so much affected his spirits, that the constant presence of an attendant became necessary. For this complaint, which was accompanied with a hard swelling at the pit of his stomach, he went to Bengal during the cold season, and returned with his health much improved; but the hardship and fatigue which he soon after underwent in the field, while his health was yet imperfectly re-established, tended so much to shake his constitution, that, during the remainder of his life, except when his mind was actively engaged, the oppression on his spirits frequently returned.[38] In his official capacity of commissary, he now proceeded with Captain Gingen to Trichinopoly. (A. D. 1751, May.) As he did not then hold any station as a soldier, no share can be attributed to him in the disgraceful affair at Volconda[39], where the British troops were discomfited, more by the irresolution and want of judgment of their officers[40], than by the efforts or ability of their adversaries.

They retreated to Trichinopoly, pursued and harassed by the enemy, of whom there appears to have been such a dread, that they did not even occupy the pagoda of Seringham[41], though the strength of that post, and its vicinity to Trichinopoly, rendered it as tenable as it was important. It was instantly taken possession of by the French, and their ally Chunda Sahib, who thus, under the most favourable auspices, commenced their operations on a scene destined to be that of their ultimate defeat. There were at this period so few English officers of any experience, that the governor was compelled to send one of the members of council (Mr. Pigot), a man of known firmness and judgment, in charge of some recruits and stores to Trichinopoly. Clive, who had returned to Fort St. David, from Volconda, accompanied this party. On their way back from this service, these two gentlemen, who had an escort of but twelve sepoys, were attacked by a body of polygars, who with matchlocks harassed them in their march for some hours, and killed seven of the sepoys; when, the ammunition of the survivors being expended, they were ordered to disperse, and Mr. Pigot and Clive only saved themselves by the fleetness of their horses. Another small reinforcement was sent soon afterwards through Tanjore, in charge of Clive, promoted on this occasion to the rank of captain, which, after a sharp affair with a French detachment, succeeded in reaching Trichinopoly in safety. But Clive, on his return from that place, drew such a picture of the situation of the garrison, that the governor was satisfied the cause of Mahommed Ali could be saved only by efforts more considerable than any that had been yet made. Clive suggested, that, as Chunda Sahib had drawn away almost all his forces to invest Trichinopoly, an attack should be made upon his capital (Arcot). This suggestion was adopted; and he was, at his own request, nominated to the conduct of an enterprise, which, whether we consider the means employed, the obstacles to be surmounted, or the results that were produced, must ever rank high in the list of those achievements, where skill and energy supply the place of numbers; and, mocking every calculation, compel fortune, however reluctant, to pay homage to superior genius. But the capture and defence of Arcot forms too important a feature in the life of Clive to be slightly passed over; and as no man can ever give so clear and so eloquent a relation of this operation as the historian[42], who may almost be called an eye-witness of the actions he so admirably described, no apology is necessary for adopting his narrative; which, in its very minuteness, is as interesting as it is instructive; and, while it conveys a lesson to the mere European soldier, paints in true and vivid colours all that belongs to the character of the yet unimproved system of Asiatic warfare.