Clive commenced operations by land, and displayed his usual judgment: but the early fall of this settlement must be chiefly ascribed to the daring boldness and admirable skill and intrepidity of Admiral Watson, and to the valour of those under his command.
Few naval achievements have excited more admiration; and even at the present day, when the river is so much better known, the success with which the largest vessels of this fleet were navigated to Chandernagore, and laid alongside the batteries of that settlement, is a subject of wonder. The Kent and Tiger, with the flags of Admirals Watson and Pocock on board, were the only vessels engaged.[107] They were so close, that the musketry from the tops and poop were most annoying to the enemy, who behaved with great gallantry, keeping up a heavy and destructive fire: nor did they offer to capitulate till their batteries were a heap of ruins, and all their guns dismounted.
Though the outworks of Chandernagore had been taken by Clive, no breach had been made on the land side; but, while the battery guns and mortars opened upon the town, the troops were pushed forward, and, from the tops of the houses adjacent to the wall, kept up a galling and destructive fire; which, as it increased the loss of the French, no doubt hastened their surrender.
We cannot give a better account of the immediate causes which led to the attack of Chandernagore, than in the words of Clive in his report to the governor of Fort St. George.
"I acquainted you," he observes, "that the neutrality with the French was not likely to be concluded. I continued encamped on the same ground; and, on the 7th instant, received a letter from the Nabob, desiring me to join against the Affghans, the van of whose army was attempting an irruption into this province. Accordingly, I began my march the next morning; and, thinking it a convenient opportunity to prevail on him to suffer us to take Chandernagore, I wrote him word of our having endeavoured to conclude a neutrality with the French, but that the Director and Council were not vested with proper powers for that purpose; that, whilst we were engaged at a distance assisting him against his enemies, the French, joined by Monsieur Bussy, might make an attempt on Calcutta; and that therefore I should wait off Chandernagore, in hopes of receiving his leave to attack it. Accordingly, on the 12th I encamped at the back of it, within a mile of the fort; and on the 13th the Admiral received a letter from the Nabob, the purport of which was, that we might act as we pleased with respect to the French; and, having intelligence at the same time that the troops he had sent to their assistance were withdrawn, I summoned the place to surrender that night; but, receiving no answer, the next morning I attacked their western battery, which they defended very briskly the whole day, but at night abandoned it. A detachment I sent about noon to the southward took post in a garden near the fort, and within some of their batteries. The loss they had sustained at the western battery, and the apprehension of their retreat being cut off by our detachment, made them likewise desert that night all their works to the southward; among the rest, a strong half-moon on the river side, mounting heavy metal, and a battery of three guns playing down the channel, both which must have annoyed our ships greatly in their passage up. The batteries to the northward were all quitted at the same time.
"On the 19th, the King's ships got to the Prussian gardens, about a mile from the fort; but it was the 23d before they attempted to pass the vessels which had been sunk by the enemy, opposite to the half-moon. They weighed at daybreak, and in less than an hour were abreast of the fort. A thirteen-inch mortar of ours, with several cohorns and royals, had played incessantly the whole night; and when the ships weighed, we opened two batteries very near the walls, one of four pieces of cannon, the other three, all twenty-four-pounders; and kept a continual discharge of musketry from the adjacent houses. In short, the fire from the ships and the shore was so great, that they capitulated in three hours. A copy of the terms granted them is enclosed. You will observe the surrender is made to Admiral Watson; but common report will be just in publishing how great a share the land forces had in this conquest!" Clive, in his evidence before the House of Commons, states, "that Admiral Watson's fleet surmounted difficulties which he believes no other ships could have done, and that it was impossible for him to do the officers of the squadron justice on that occasion."
In a private letter[108] to Mr. Pigot, written upon the same occasion, Clive observes, "I make no doubt but the forces are impatiently expected at Madras. It is a very great blow that has detained them—no less than the attack and taking of Chandernagore; of more consequence to the Company, in my opinion, than the taking of Pondicherry itself. It was a most magnificent and rich colony; the garrison consisted of more than five hundred Europeans and seven hundred blacks, all carrying arms; three hundred and sixty are prisoners, and near one hundred have been suffered to give their parole, consisting of civil, military, and inhabitants. Nearly sixty white ladies are rendered miserable by the loss of this place. However, nothing has been wanting, either on the Admiral's part or mine, to render their condition supportable: their clothes, their linen, and every thing have been suffered to go out.