As the Governor[82] and commandant[83] of the troops were among the fugitives, those who were left behind chose Mr. Holwell as their chief. Soon finding that resistance was impossible, he desired to surrender; but, before he could obtain an answer, the enemy stormed and made themselves master of the fort. Suraj-u-Dowlah, when Mr. Holwell was carried into his presence with his hands bound, directed them to be untied, and spoke to him in a manner calculated to give him hopes of protection: nothing, at least, indicated the fate that awaited this gentleman and his unfortunate companions; and indeed, as the Nabob had no reason for desiring their death, we cannot suppose that it was by his command they were, on the night of the day they were made prisoners, thrust into that prison emphatically called the Black Hole, from which, of a hundred and forty-six persons, only twenty-three came out alive.
"Some of our company," says Mr. Cooke[84], "expired very soon after being put in: others grew mad, and having lost their senses, died in a high delirium. All we could urge to the guard set over us, could not prevail upon them either to set us at liberty, or separate us into different prisons; which we desired, and offered money to obtain; but to no purpose: and when we were released at eight o'clock the next morning, only twenty-three came out alive."
The indignation excited against Suraj-u-Dowlah in the breast of every Englishman, on account of the murder of these persons, was just; even though he never intended[85] to perpetrate so cruel an action.
Wrapt in proud indifference as to what befel those unfortunate beings, whom fortune had thrown into his power, the tyrant was not to be approached with the tale of their unexampled sufferings, at the moment when they might have been alleviated; and he never showed any sense of remorse when the dreadful catastrophe was narrated to him, nor evinced any resentment against those who had not only driven their captives into the dark and narrow place of destruction, but had turned a deaf ear to the earnest prayers and the dying groans of the unhappy sufferers.
Two fitter instruments than Watson and Clive could not have been chosen to avenge their country, and to re-establish the interests of the Company in Bengal; and their efforts were warmly seconded by Mr. Pigot, Governor of Madras, who gave them all the assistance he could, to promote the success of a service of vital importance to the prosperity, and indeed to the very existence, of the Company in India.
The expedition sailed from Madras the 16th of October, and consisted of five of His Majesty's ships and five of the Company's, having on board nine hundred European infantry, and fifteen hundred sepoys. Five hundred more sepoys were expected from Bombay. (A. D. 1756.) All the fleet, with the exception of two vessels, the "Cumberland"[86] and "Marlborough[87]," on board of which were a considerable proportion of the troops, had reached Fulta[88] by the 22d of December, where they found the fugitives from Calcutta.
Major Kilpatrick, also an officer of high reputation, was at that place. He had, it appears from his letter to Clive of the 5th of August, arrived some weeks after the capture of Calcutta; but did not think it advisable (as he states in the same letter), until supported from Madras, to attempt the recovery of the settlement, having "only a handful" of men, four pieces of artillery, and a very small quantity of ammunition.
Clive appears, from letters to Major Kilpatrick, dated the 23d of December, to have been so unwell as to have committed to that officer the charge of preparations for immediate advance upon the small fort of Budge-Budge[89], the road to which was through a low swampy country, covered with jungle and underwood.
Though two hundred and fifty of his small European force, and four hundred and thirty sepoys, with almost all the artillery, military stores, &c., were on board the two missing ships, Clive nevertheless determined to advance: but it appears from his private letter to Mr. Pigot (dated the 8th of January, 1757), that the march of the small body of troops by land was against his opinion. "You will find," he observes in this letter, "by the return, that our loss in the skirmish near Budge-Budge was greater than could well be spared, if such skirmishes were to be often repeated. You must know, our march from Moidapoor to the northward of Budge-Budge was much against my inclinations. I applied to the Admiral for boats to land us, at the place we arrived at, after sixteen hours' march by land. The men suffered hardships not to be described: it was four in the afternoon when we decamped from Moidapoor, and we did not arrive off Budge-Budge till past eight next morning: at nine, the grenadier company and all the sepoys were despatched to the fort, where I heard Captain Coote[90] was landed with the King's troops. At ten, Monichund, the Governor of Calcutta, attacked us with between two and three thousand horse and foot, and was worsted.[91] The people of the country raise fabulous reports about the killed and wounded; but there is reason to believe, from the smartness of the fire, and the nearness of the enemy, some of whom were within twenty yards, one hundred and fifty might be killed and wounded, and with them four of the principal jemmadars and an elephant. Monichund himself received a shot in his turban. Our two field pieces were of little or no service to us, having neither tubes nor portfires, and wrong carriages sent with them from Fort St. David; indeed we still labour under every disadvantage in the world, for want of the Marlborough. It seems the enemy were encamped within two miles of us, and we ignorant of the matter: so much for the intelligence of the country.
"I cannot take upon me to give my sentiments about our future success against the Nabob in the open field: the little affair above mentioned was attended with every disadvantage on our side: a number of houses, jungles, bushes, &c. served as a cover for the enemy—all our sepoys and the choice of our Europeans absent—our cannon in a manner useless. Indeed I fear we shall labour under many of these disadvantages when attacked by the Nabob, and I take it for granted that he will be down before the Cumberland and Marlborough can arrive. As yet, there appears but little probability of getting draught bullocks, without which we cannot move."