SHOWING HOW THE FLOOD CAME.
_June ye_ 8_th._
Oh, my dear, Cossimbuzar is fallen without striking a blow, and if all
be true that we hear, Surajah Dowlah is already marching on Calcutta!
Mr Dash came in just after I had finished writing to you this morning,
and related the dreadful history to my papa, as he had heard it from
being in the vicinity of the council-chamber when the letters arrived.
On the 1st of this month, the very day that our rulers despatched
their humiliating _arasdass_ from Calcutta, the Nabob sent three
Jemindars and Radjbullobdass, the father of Kissendasseat, to hold a
parley with Mr Watts, who told them, in spite of the objections of his
own officers, that he would trust himself with them if the Nabob would
send him a beetle. This is with the Indians a sign of ceremony and
friendship, for they wrap this beetle, which is called _pawn_,[11.01]
in some sort of leaves, and chew it. I don’t doubt but my Amelia, on
hearing of this disgusting custom, will unite with me in thinking that
to polite minds it would be more agreeable to dispense with both the
sign and the friendship. However, the beetle was sent on a silver
plate, and Mr Watts, following the meek example of our Council here,
humbled himself so far as to enter the Soubah’s presence with his
hands across and tied round with a _puckery_,[11.02] which is the
strip of stuff that the Moors twist into their turbants. That Surajah
Dowlah was not to be disarmed by this show of humility the poor
gentleman quickly discovered, for he was at once threatened with death
for his offering such a hardy resistance, and was only saved by the
mediation of the son of the _duan_ Huckembeg, who told the Nabob that
Mr Watts was a good sort of a man, that was come at great peril to
embrace his footsteps. Whether ’twas the threats or the mediation I
don’t know, but Mr Watts was so strangely affected that he forthwith
signed a _mulchilca_,[11.03] which is an instrument enforced by a
penalty, by which he not only surrendered his own factory of
Cossimbuzar, but also pledged the Council here to demolish their
fortifications, as well the old as the new, within a fortnight, to
give up those of the Nabob’s subjects they were protecting against
him, and to resign the privileges anciently granted to the Company
with respect to _dussticks_ by making good the losses the Soubah had
sustained through them. Seeing their chief in the enemy’s power, the
garrison of Cossimbuzar felt constrained to fulfil his covenant, and
admitted the Moorish army, who treated the unhappy gentlemen with such
detestable cruelty that Ensign Elliott, who commanded the military,
shot himself in a frenzy of shame. May Heaven pardon the poor man this
rash act! Alas, there may be others that will need the same pardon
before very long.
Momentous though this news be, ’twas not all that Mr Dash had to tell.
Lowering his voice, he asked Mr Freyne with an air of becoming reserve
whether it was true that a gentleman of this place had been detected
in supplying information to the Nabob. To this my papa replied that he
had often heard hints to the effect that some such treachery must be
at work, but he had received no word of its having been brought home
to any one in particular; and the young gentleman went away
disappointed. Shortly after his departure we heard a great beating of
drums from the direction of the Fort, which threw me into a prodigious
fright lest the Soubah’s army should be already approaching the town.
But Mr Freyne sending out one of the servants to ask what might be the
cause of the noise, we learned that the President, who, it appears,
has at length mustered courage to offer a resistance to the demands of
the Nabob, was summoning all the inhabitants to the Esplanade[11.04]
before the Fort, in order to concert measures for defence. Upon this
Mr Freyne ordered his chaise, and while arming himself with sword and
pistols, was so good as to offer to carry me with him to see the
muster, if I chose. My Amelia will guess that I flew to change my gown
at once, for I felt an extraordinary anxiety to see how the Council
would bear themselves in this alarming situation; but fastened to my
pincushion I discovered something that diverted the course of my
thoughts altogether. It was a billet like that I had found on my table
before, but folded smaller, and superscribed “Lewis to Clarissa” in
French. Inside it was wrote, also in French:--
“It is with the most poignant anguish that the unhappy lover quits the
vicinity of the coldest and most charming of women, to whom he has
ventured to offer the incense of his unavailing adoration. When a more
propitious fate shall place him next at the feet of his goddess, it
may be that apprehension for her own safety may serve better to melt
Clarissa’s icy heart than pity for her slave has succeeded in doing,
and that she’ll see fit to grant him those tokens of her favour which
his humble passion has never ceased to entreat.”
The menacing style of this message filled me with alarm, but
remembering that the writer announced his departure, and that ’twas
possible he might never return, I took courage after a moment.
Otherwise, I could not but feel apprehensive in the extreme to
discover that the person whom Mrs Freyne had revealed as the apostate
Sinzaun should still be seeking to enter into communications with me.
This Sinzaun, I must inform my dear girl, is a most notorious renegade
Frenchman, who is not only a trusted leader of the Nabob’s army,
having the management of his train of artillery, but also the vilest
of his boon companions in time of peace. His skill had not been needed
in the Cossimbuzar matter, but now he was questionless returned to
lead his master’s forces against Calcutta. I carried the wretch’s
billet to my papa, who read it with great anger; and I ventured to put
a question that had troubled me more than once since the day before.
“Had you been sensible, dear sir, who the bold enquirer was that
demanded your daughter, and known that he had, as he claimed, the
power to save the factory from the Soubah’s vengeance, would you have
chose to oblige him?”
“I’m afraid,” says my dear papa, “that my Sylvia Freyne believes me
either a coward or a fool. Even had I been base enough to deliver up
my daughter to the ruffian’s demands, what security have I that the
rogue would keep his word, and not take the girl first and the place
afterwards?”
This view of the matter had not occurred to me, and I’ll own that it
relieved me from the apprehension I had felt that it might be my duty
to sacrifice myself for the safety of Calcutta. Not, my dear, that I
had clearly faced the possible necessity of such a shocking act, for I
would not have you think me more heroical than I am, but that the
dreadful notion had crossed my mind and reduced me almost to despair.
Well, my papa and I rode to the Fort, and heard what Mr President had
to say of the unexampled ingratitude and perfidy of the Nabob, and of
the certainty that he and his army would be speedily crushed by the
valour and readiness of the inhabitants of Calcutta. The five captains
of the troops had given it as their opinion in writing that there was
in the place an abundance both of arms, ammunition, and provisions,
and a plan had been drawn out for constructing such additional
defences as might reasonably be completed in a few days. But it was
necessary that there should be men behind the defences, and therefore
his honour trusted that every inhabitant of the place that was fit to
bear arms would enrol himself immediately in the militia, and give
unremitting attention to his drill until he was called upon to
practise in war what he had been taught. This discourse of the
President’s was very well received, though with less of excitement, I
fancy, than he had anticipated; and all of the male sex present,
gentlemen and common persons and Armenians and To-passes alike, made
haste to give their names to those who were about to enrol ’em. It was
now too late to do any more that evening, and after appointing a
meeting of the new-raised militia for this morning, on the green to
the south of the Fort, that they might begin to be instructed in their
weapons, every one returned home.
The ordinary business of the place being quite at a standstill, Mr
Freyne betook himself to-day after the early meal to the Park instead
of his _dufterconna_, and brought home with him to breakfast Captain
Colquhoun and Mr Holwell, who were deputed to ride to Perrins Gardens
and see what might be done to restore the redoubt there, which was so
foolishly dismantled in the panic of last week. Mrs Freyne pleading
indisposition as an excuse for her absence, I was set in her place at
the head of the table, and found that the gentlemen were not in the
highest of spirits.
“I could scarce believe my ears, Captain,” says my papa, “when I heard
that you had signed the assurance given by your comrades of our
sufficiency of munitions.”
“You can’t blame me more than I blame myself, sir,” said the Captain.
“’Twas an unpardonable piece of confidence in me to take Captain
Minchin’s word for the amount of the stores, without regarding their
quality and condition.”
“Then you are satisfied as to the quantities mentioned, Captain?”
“By no means, sir. When my suspicions were first roused after signing
the assurance, and I asked of Captain Minchin how he had prevailed
upon Captain Witherington to make his returns so promptly, he told me
with the greatest coolness in the world that Witherington had failed
to send in any accounts at all, so that he himself had done his best
to estimate what we ought to have in hand, and had assured us of
possessing it.”
“Witherington ought to be hanged!” says Mr Freyne.
“Indeed, sir,” says Mr Holwell, “the poor gentleman is a most
laborious, active creature. It en’t his fault that his intellects are
confused by all these sudden events. With a commander that would keep
an eye on him, and see that he did his duty, we should have in him an
excellent good officer.”
“We don’t possess such a commander in Mr Drake,” said the Captain,
“for Witherington finds all his complaints allowed, and en’t forced to
do anything. Captain Minchin assured me that when he represented to
the President the danger of leaving the whole charge of the Train in
the care of such a man, all the answer he received was that
Witherington was such a strange unaccountable creature that his honour
could do nothing with him.”
“Yet the fellow makes more noise and bustle about doing nothing than
the Council themselves,” said my papa. “So you have examined the
stores, Captain?”
“I have, sir, if indeed they’re worthy to be called stores. There’s
but three hundred and fifty barrels of powder, and the most of that
bad, no bombs nor grenadoes, except a few spoiled shells that will do
more damage to us than the enemy; the grape is all eaten up with
worms, and there’s no cartridges ready.”
“And the guns,” says Mr Holwell, “are still without carriages, and the
embrasures broken down, while any gunner that’s fool enough to try to
work his piece on the Fort walls will go through the roof into the
chambers below.”
“And our army of defence,” says the Captain, “with no disrespect to
either of you, gentlemen, is a fit match for its weapons. With a
garrison of less than two hundred, counting the officers, and of which
not ten of the rank and file have seen any war service, we may be
thankful if we can hold out for a single day.”
“Come,” says my papa, “think of Colonel Clive’s achievements with a
force near as bad, and of your own experience in the Carnatic, sir.”
“Ah, sir, here we lack Colonel Clive. And I am not (though it shame me
to say it) the man to take his place. If the President had broke
Captain Minchin as he had designed doing, and placed Captains Clayton
and Witherington in some such subordinate situation as befits their
lack of military experience and judgment, maybe Captain Grant and your
humble servant might have made shift to show a good front to the
enemy, but with five persons in equal military authority, and his
honour and the Council interfering perpetually in matters which are
none of their province, the thing is hopeless.”
“But sure, sir,” said Mr Holwell, “you have Captain Grant as
adjutant-general, and Captain Minchin made merely commandant of the
Fort, where his lack of military qualities can’t do much harm.”
“Not if we were about to defend the town, sir, but when we are driven
back upon the Fort, as we must very quickly be, he has all the chance
for mischief that he needs. And were Captain Grant twenty
adjutants-general in one, he would still have Mr President for his
commander.”
“Aye,” says my papa, “the Quaker is quaking now in good earnest. But
you seem at present to wish to defend the town, Captain, and I thought
that you scouted the bare notion hitherto.”
“Why, sir, had I been in command, I would have called in the gentlemen
from the other factories, and their garrisons with ’em, a month ago,
and added them to our force here, whereas now they are refuging with
the French and Dutch, or must be snapped up by the Nabob as he
advances, since the summons to ’em only went out yesterday. In the
former case, with the aid of the forced labour of the black
inhabitants, we might have extended the Morattoe-ditch round the town
with some hope of defending the space enclosed in it, but as things
are, I confess indeed that the Fort is our only hope. The plan adopted
by the Council on the advice of the engineer officers, which neither
carries out Colonel Scott’s scheme of defending the whole space of the
town nor contents itself with maintaining the Fort, as should be the
case in our present untoward circumstances, is doomed, I am convinced,
to failure.”
“Sure, sir,” said Mr Freyne, “you would not have took the
responsibility of destroying the church and all the houses near the
Fort, as you pressed upon the gentlemen at the council of war?”
“Aye, sir, that I would, instead of leaving ’em as so many fortresses
for the enemy. But when every gentleman that has a brick or _pucca_
house wants it included in the defences, and none must be destroyed
lest the Company should refuse to pay compensation, how, I ask you, is
this to be managed without frittering away in continual stands and
retreats the best strength of our small garrison?”
“Ah, Captain,” says Mr Holwell, “you should have supported me in the
matter of Tanners. Why, sir, I looked to you as my certain upholder,
and yet there was none but Captain Grant and that gallant lad le
Beaume besides myself to perceive the advantages we should gain in
possessing an abundant store of provisions and a retreat both for the
ships and ourselves, unless the Nabob should divide his forces to
attack us.”
“And what of dividing our own forces, sir?” asked the Captain. “They
are far too small as it is for the extent of our defences, and to send
half of ’em five miles off on t’other side of the river would be
madness. And as for the Nabob, why, Monickchund and the Hoogly
garrison alone could deal with any force we could send to hold Tanners
without our being able even to offer to relieve it.”
“But help may yet reach us, sir, from Madrass or Bombay.”
“Scarcely, sir, unless they have been warned of our plight in a
vision, for now that the sea is shut by the _munsoon_, our letters
despatched yesterday by the country messengers can’t reach even
Madrass in less than a month.”
“But the French and Dutch may yet determine to assist us, Captain.”
“They may, sir; and if they should, I’ll freely allow that the humble
and imploring letters of the President and Council to ’em were
justified. But I fancy they won’t.”
Here I saw Mr Dash come into the compound in haste, as though brimfull
of news, but looking askance at Mr Holwell, against whom, as my Amelia
will recollect, he cherishes some pique. Observing, however, that Mr
Holwell did not remark his presence (for indeed, I doubt if the good
gentleman know more of him than his name), Mr Dash joined himself to
the company, and slipped quietly into a seat close to me.
“The rumour of which I asked Mr Freyne last night is true, madam,” he
said.
“That concerning a treachery on the part of some European, sir?”
“Even so, madam. The thing is fairly proved, and Miss Freyne should be
doubly rejoiced at the discovery, since the traitor is a person that
has often, I believe, disobliged her. ’Tis Mr Menotti.”
“I protest, sir, I don’t see why I should rejoice to find that a
person who had professed esteem for me is a traitor.”
“Why, madam, see how your cold treatment of the fellow is justified!
And there’s another reason for you to triumph. I understand that the
information on which Mr Menotti was captured came from a lady who was
petted[11.05] by his neglect of her for a more youthful
rival--yourself, madam.”
“Indeed, sir,” I said, flirting my fan and looking at him very
complacently, “I don’t see what time the gentleman you mention had to
spare for any other lady, for I should have said that he spent it all
in forcing himself upon me.”
I knew that the young gentleman would set Sylvia Freyne down for a
jealous coquette, but that was better for him than to spread about his
first tale, for what would be said of my stepmother if it became known
that she was the lady who accused him? “Pray, sir,” I went on, “tell
me how the discovery was made.”
“The information was received, madam, on Sunday morning, and spies
were set on Mr Menotti’s house in consequence. During the time of
divine service (he alleging wounds received in an attack made upon him
by footpads in the street the night before as an excuse for remaining
at home), he was observed to steal out in the disguise of a
_deloll_”[11.06] (this is an Indian broker, of a grade higher than a
_pycar_, Amelia), “and was followed as far as Chitpore, where he
passed the rivulet by the bridge, and entered the _top_[11.07] of
trees on t’other side. The _hircaras_ following him discovered a
second person habited as a facquier, who presented certain papers to
Mr Menotti, upon which the two were taken prisoners before they could
separate, the stranger proving to be an emissary of Monickchund, the
Phousdar of Hoogly. Mr Menotti was very earnest with his captors to
believe that he had devised a plot to entrap the Nabob’s agents and
deliver them up to the Council, and offered, in proof of his
sincerity, to guide the party to the lodging of the abandoned renegade
Sinzaun, who, he said, had lain for more than a month in the place.
But the wretch must have received warning in some way, for the lodging
was empty, though the inmate had not long quitted it. This attempt
falling out so badly, the President was not inclined to leniency by
the perusal of Monickchund’s letters, which included a pretty broad
hint to the effect that Mr Drake was an object of the Nabob’s
particular aversion, and had better be removed. Mr Menotti was ordered
to prison, and the President was stirred up to make the affecting and
patriotic speech in which he recanted yesterday from his faith in the
Nabob.”
“And did the wretched Menotti offer no further defence, sir?”
“Why, madam, he declared himself the victim of a conspiracy to ruin
him between the lady I mentioned and her spouse, and hinted also that
old Omy Chund would be found to be concerned in plotting with the
Nabob; but the President, while promising to keep Omy Chund under his
eye, refused to arrest him on such suspicious testimony, and committed
Mr Menotti to the prison in the Fort, where he might remain secure
until the present alarm be past, and prepare to confound his
persecutors when an enquiry is made afterwards.”
“You observe, gentlemen,” said Captain Colquhoun, catching Mr Dash’s
last words as he rose from the table, “that even his honour don’t yet
believe in the reality of the danger that threatens us. I doubt but
the Council won’t perceive until the Fort is in the Nabob’s hands that
they have been sporting on the edge of a volcano.”
_June ye_ 15_th._
Oh, my dear, sure Heaven must have devoted this unhappy place to
destruction, for all that is said and done by way of defence is either
wrong in itself or performed at the wrong time! True, the militia has
been drilled morning and evening since I writ last, and makes a brave
show, divided into two companies under Mr Holwell and Mr Mackett. Nor
is this all, for Mr Manningham is their colonel, and Mr Frankland
lieutenant-colonel, while the Rev. Mr Mapletoft and several gentlemen
are captains. They were so obliging as to offer my papa a commission,
but he refused it, saying that he counted it a greater piece of
distinction to be a private man in this force than an officer, for it
numbers only two hundred and fifty all told, and of these twenty-three
of the Europeans are captains and mates of the shipping in the river,
and must return to their vessels in the event of fighting, while a
considerable number are Armenians, in whose valour so little
confidence is reposed that they are detailed to guard the Fort itself,
under command of Ensign Bellamy, who has just received his commission
as Lieutenant. I’ll assure you, Amelia, the poor young gentleman’s
disgust at his troops and his post is beyond words.
The defences also are well advanced, three principal batteries having
been constructed, one to the north, close to the Saltpetre Godowns, on
the cross-road that passes behind the Fort and leads by way of the
strand to Chitpore; one across the avenue leading to the eastward
which is called the Loll Buzar, in advance of the great gateway of the
Fort, and having the Mayor’s Court on its left and the Park on its
right; and one some three hundred yards to the south of the Fort, at
the corner of the burying-ground, and commanding one of the principal
roads. Behind this last is a second battery, situated close to the
front gate of the Park, and the eastern battery has a slighter one
some distance in advance of it, while the Fort gateway itself is to
have the additional defence of a work called a ravelin, which is not
yet completed. All the smaller lanes and by-ways are blocked with
breastworks made with pallisadoes, and where the ground is open, as in
the Park, it has been cut up into trenches, to prevent the approach of
elephants or cannon. To defend all these works, our small garrison has
been augmented to the number of fifteen hundred by the hiring of a
thousand _buxerries_, which are mercenary Indians armed with
matchlocks. On the other hand, our governors are disappointed of the
help they hoped for from the Dutch and French, for while the first
refuse either to make or meddle in our dispute with the Nabob, the
French are good enough to offer our whole factory to refuge at
Chandernagore, where (say they) there’s more hope of a successful
defence. ’Tis some slight consolation to my papa and me that the
Council have replied to this piece of gasconading only by a request to
the French to assist us with a present of ammunition, that we may
defend ourselves here.
Six days ago, as we hear, the Nabob quitted Cossimbuzar with his army,
and began his march towards us, in spite of the intercessions of three
of his own subjects, Roopchund and Mootabray, the sons of Jugget Seat,
his own _shroff_ and money-lender, and Coja Wazeed, a respectable
merchant of Hoogly. That these disinterested persons failed in their
benevolent designs is in great part due to the submissive and
terrified letters sent by our Presidency to Mr Watts, which have
continued to arrive long after Cossimbuzar was taken, and, falling
into the hands of the Nabob, have confirmed him in his contempt and
hostility for us, and he is marching forward with an incredible
rapidity, so that many of his soldiers fall dead each day from the
fierce rays of the sun. The news of the Soubah’s approach reached us
on Saturday, and the next day was such a Sabbath as I should think
Calcutta never saw before, nor is likely, should it escape the ruin
that seems to be impending, to see again. For first of all, there was
a letter intercepted from Rajaram Hircara, the chief of the Nabob’s
spies and the person that sent his brother Narransing to demand that
Kissendasseat should be given up, addressed to Omy Chund, advising him
to escape from Calcutta to join with the Soubah while there was time.
This coming so soon after Mr Menotti’s accusation against Omy Chund
moved the President and Council to alarm, and they had the old man
arrested at once and lodged in the Fort, setting a guard over his
effects. Orders were also issued out to stop all the Moors’ boats
passing up or down the river, and to seize two Moorish ships that were
lying at anchor, which was done. Then, as though this were not turmoil
enough for one day, some busy-body, finding the defences pretty well
advanced and no feats of arms doing, revived Mr Holwell’s discarded
notion of an attempt on the fort named Tanners, which the Moors call
Mucka Tanna, situated some five miles down the river on the opposite
bank. So confident were our rulers in the strength of our mighty army,
that all Captain Colquhoun’s prudent representations were thrown to
the winds, and all morning were preparations going forward for sailing
against Tanners at noon, though the Captain warned them additionally
that no success could be looked for in an enterprise that was
commenced by profaning the Sabbath.
It appeared for a time, however, as though these prophecies of evil
were to be falsified, for on our troops approaching Tanners in the
evening in two ships and two brigantines, and landing in company with
the Europeans and Lascars from the vessels’ crews, the Moorish
garrison fled, without scarcely any resistance at all, so that our
people entered the place in triumph and disabled or threw into the
river all the great guns of the fort. But this piece of bravado has
proved the destruction of the enterprise, for yesterday morning came
Monickchund, the Moorish Governor of Hoogly, with two field-pieces and
two thousand men, who fired very smartly with their small arms, and to
oppose whom our people had no cannon, and were drove out with little
difficulty. Last evening and throughout to-day our vessels have been
employed in vain trying to dislodge the enemy a second time, in a
genteel sort of style without any fighting, and even a reinforcement
of thirty men from our small garrison had no effect, so that the ships
are dropped down with the ebb of the tide to lie quiet for the night.
Dreadful though this reverse is in a country where such extravagant
value is placed upon the slightest piece of success, an event of far
greater horror occurred yesterday in Calcutta itself. It was resolved
by the Council, who feared further treachery, to arrest Omy Chund’s
relations and his friend Kissendasseat as well as himself, and a
parcel of peons was sent to their houses with this object. Resistance
was offered at both places, and Kissendass, who had raised and armed a
force of men in the evident intention of joining with the Nabob when
he arrives, succeeded in driving off his assailants and taking some of
them prisoners, whom he used in the most shameful manner imaginable,
until his house was fairly taken by storm by Lieutenant Blagg and a
force of thirty Europeans, who discovered an incredible quantity of
arms, as well as much treasure, concealed in it. At Omy Chund’s house,
and this is the horrid part of the affair, his brother-in-law
Huzzaromull, who was the person most sought for, hid himself in the
Ginanah among the women, while the place was defended by Omy Chund’s
peons and armed domestics, to the number of three hundred. The fight
going against them, the head Jemmautdar, Juggermunt Sing (the same man
that Mr Menotti catched in my papa’s garden with Sinzaun’s letter),
stabbed all his master’s women, to the number of thirteen, to preserve
them, as he believed, from disgrace, and fastening up the doors, set
light to the place. Huzzaromull, having no mind to be burnt alive,
surrendered himself, having lost his hand in the fight, and there’s a
rumour that the perpetrator of the fearful deed, Juggermunt Sing
himself, was conveyed away by his fellows covered with wounds. But oh,
my dear, think of all these poor Gentoo women and their children,
murdered in this barbarous fashion! Pray heaven the guilt of their
innocent blood may not come on us, who are indeed remotely, though not
directly, responsible for its being shed.
Fort William, _June ye_ 17_th._
We are besieged, Amelia. Yesterday morning, some time before noon,
when the ships, which had come up with the flood-tide, were preparing
to drop down to Tanners again, all thought of the continuance of that
enterprise was forbidden by a brisk sound of firing from the direction
of Chitpore. The vanguard of the Nabob’s army was arrived at Mr
Kelsall’s garden, under the command of Meer Jaffier, his
_buckshy_[11.08] or chief general officer, and firing on the Prince
George sloop of eighteen guns that lay off Perrins Redoubt. As you
will guess, my dear girl, we had all received our orders in the event
of this crisis, and had our effects packed in readiness for transport,
so that as soon as the firing was heard, and the military and militia
were repaired to their posts, we European women quitted our houses,
and ourselves in palanqueens, and with our trunks carried on
bullock-waggons, took refuge in the Fort without much confusion.
Everything, of course, must necessarily be abandoned, with the
exception of our clothes and jewels and our bedding, which is always
carried about with them by travellers in the East, and which we should
need in the Fort. Here the state apartments belonging to the Company
were prepared for the fugitives’ reception, and the gentlemen who
lodge within the walls were also most obliging in leaving their rooms
free, and huddling into the varandas themselves. Mrs Freyne, who is
still indisposed, was disturbed to discover that the state apartments
were already seized upon when we arrived by the ladies who live nearer
at hand, or whose spouses are of higher rank in the service than my
papa, but we were made welcome to have our choice of all the young
gentlemen’s chambers, and found ourselves at last settled in two
tolerable rooms, in as cool a situation as we could hope for. Next to
us, to my great delight, is my dear Mrs Hurstwood, whose fever has
attacked her again to such a degree that she had to be brought into
the Fort in a palanqueen of the French shape, which is like a couch
covered in with a waggon-top, but her disposition is the cheerfullest
in the world, and she declares that the having her Sylvia so close at
hand will alone suffice to cure her. My Amelia will guess that I had
plenty to do, even with the help of our three iyas (who were more
minded indeed to sit down and bewail themselves), to make my two
sufferers comfortable, while disposing our trunks and other effects to
serve for chairs and tables with some air of neatness and order. When
I had time to give my attention to public affairs, I learned from one
of the young gentlemen, who came good-naturedly to see whether he
could offer me any assistance, that the greater part of the black
inhabitants of the town was fled, as were also most of the servants of
the Europeans, and among them all the cooks, so that though the place
was well supplied with provisions we bade fair to starve in the midst
of plenty. But if the Indians are gone, the half-blood Portuguese and
other black Christians are all crowded into the Fort, to the amount of
two thousand--men, women, and children--so that ’tis scarce possible
to move about the courtyard without tumbling over some of the
refugees; and, with their chests and bundles, the place is like a
fair, though lacking the ease and cheerfulness. However, a certain
number of ’em are chose out to act as cooks, so that they are not
without some use to the garrison and ourselves.
’Tis some slight consolation, in all this alarm and confusion, that
throughout yesterday the honours of the fight remained with us. In
command at Perrins Redoubt is Mr Ensign Piccard,[11.09] a young
gentleman that has seen war service on the coast of Choromandel, and
has profited by it. With him were only twenty Europeans, though these
have since been reinforced by fifty more under Lieutenant Blagg, and
this small party, with two field-pieces, maintained themselves with
complete success against four thousand matchlockmen of the Soubah’s,
with whom was a battery of four cannon and other pieces carried on the
backs of elephants. Shortly after sunset, seeing the piquet under
Captain Clayton advancing against them, the enemy retired, leaving
seventy-nine dead on the field, and encamped in the _top_ or grove on
the further side of the rivulet. Here, after consuming their evening
meal, they betook themselves to sleep, as is the custom of the
Indians, and this being suspected by Mr Piccard, he crossed the
rivulet with a party of his men, seized and spiked up the enemy’s
guns, and beating up the thickets in which the Moors lay, drove ’em
all out, and this without losing one of his people; the spirits of
those in the Redoubt being further cheered by observing the enemy, as
soon as they were recovered from the confusion into which they had
been thrown, filing in very large columns towards Dumdumma, as though
they designed to abandon the siege.
But this, alas! was not to be. Oh, my dear, how do our sins return
upon us! Who does my Amelia think had entered the Nabob’s camp in the
interval between Ensign Piccard’s attack and the departure of the
enemy? None, my dear girl, but Juggermunt Sing, that Jemmautdar of Omy
Chund’s of whose terrible and resolved behaviour I wrote you two days
back. With invincible spirit this man, although covered with wounds
and concealed timidly by his countrymen in some of the black houses,
caused himself to be set on a horse, and being carried to Meer Jaffier
the Buckshy, told him there was no need to sacrifice his men’s lives
in attacking the bridge which was defended so stoutly by our people at
Perrins, for that the Morattoe-ditch did not near extend round the
town, and he himself could show him certain undefended passages by
which he might enter our bounds on the eastward. This, then, was the
secret of the enemy’s movement, which brought ’em as far as the old
entrenchments at Cow Cross, where they encamped behind the
Brick-kilns, their tents extending from the Bungulo[11.10] as far as
Govinderam Metre’s garden on the Dumdumma road. Nor was this all our
misfortune, for at Cow Cross bridge were posted by far the greater
part of our _buxerries_, to the number of near a thousand, and these
seeing the enemy approaching, at once joined with them, thus leaving
the way into the settlement open.
Such, then, was our situation this morning, Amelia, the enemy entering
the skirts of the town and plundering and burning wherever they went,
especially the houses of the black merchants lying near Chitpore. They
have set fire to the Great Buzar and many parts of the Black Town, and
we, for our part, have fired the Buzars and poor mean huts to the east
and south almost as far as Govindpoor’s, so that there’s a vast
expanse of fire and smoke all around us, producing a scene too
horrible to describe. This evening a party was sent to drive out the
Moors from the merchants’ quarter by the river, and brought back a few
prisoners, from whom it was discovered that a general attack upon our
outposts is intended to-morrow. This has led to the recall of
Lieutenant Blagg and his reinforcement from Perrins, and the troops
are ordered to remain all night under arms. One more piece of news has
reached us. The reply from Chandernagore to our genteel letter asking
the French to assist us with ammunition is a cold refusal. They have
only sufficient, they say, for their own needs. Yet we learn that they
were obliging enough to supply the Nabob with two hundred chests of
powder when he lay across the river from them at Banka Buzar.
Questionless we are intended to be grateful that they don’t actively
join with Surajah Dowlah against us, though we hear that in his army
is a body of fifty deserters from Chandernagore, whose escape has been
connived at by their superiors.
Fort William, _June ye_ 18_th._
I am writing these lines tormented by the most cruel anxiety. All is
lost, Amelia, or very nearly so. The women and wounded are to be put
on board the ships this evening, while the small remnant of our
defenders endeavour to maintain themselves in the Fort, which alone is
left to us, against a triumphant and exulting enemy. The Company’s
ship Doddalay[11.11] and seven smaller vessels lie at a convenient
distance from the Fort, and Mess. Manningham and Frankland are gone on
board to provide for the reception of us unfortunates, while here
every one is occupied in making sure that she shan’t be saved and her
possessions left behind. Mrs Freyne is more sprightly than I have seen
her for a fortnight. In an agreeable undress, she sits enthroned on
piles of bedding, directing the trembling iyas as they cord the
trunks, while my poor Charlotte lies almost speechless, exhausted by
the heat and the violence of the fever that has held her all day.
You’ll wonder that I can write at such a moment; and, indeed, I wonder
at it myself. But, Amelia, my papa, my dear and honoured father, the
kindest of men, is missing. I have been hurrying hither and thither,
demanding of every European I met whether they could tell me anything
of him, but all they can assure me of is that no one has seen him
either slain or seriously wounded. Captain Colquhoun came upon me
while I was seeking to obtain some news from a parcel of frightened
To-passes, and fairly led me back by the hand to our lodging.
“You would oblige your good papa much more by remaining calm, madam,”
he said; “for indeed I can imagine few things that would displease him
more than to see you wandering about the Fort unattended at such a
moment. Do me the favour to sit down quietly and occupy your mind in
some suitable manner, and you shall have the earliest news I can
procure you.”
Thus it is, then, that I am writing to my Amelia, and as the
embarkation is not yet begun, I will endeavour to fulfil the Captain’s
request by setting down something of the history of this day of
disaster, for there en’t likely to be much chance for writing on board
of a crowded ship, and, indeed, who knows what may be the fate of all
of us in another few hours?
The day began with an attack made on the South Battery, where Captain
Colquhoun was in command, with my papa among his troops. The enemy,
taking possession of the houses on either side of the road in front of
the battery, kept up a brisk fire upon the defenders with musquetry
and wall-pieces; but the Captain held his ground, and placed garrisons
in the different buildings flanking him on the left as far as the
Rope-walk, to guard against any attack from that side. He was assailed
with the same smartness until noon, when the enemy drew off for a
while. The next battery to be attacked was that on the north, which
was held by Lieutenant Smyth, who was so happy as to be able to beat
off with little loss the assaults made upon him, thanks to the
advantages of his situation and his skilful disposition of his men,
although the Moors whom he repulsed did but join with those ranged
against the Eastern Battery, which was attacked with the greatest
resolution of all. Captain Clayton was in command here, supported by
Mr Holwell and a party of militia, and having as an advanced post on
the right the Gaol, whither Mr le Beaume had entreated to be allowed
to betake himself with forty of our remaining _buxerries_. In advance
of this again was the slight work I have mentioned before, defended by
a platoon of Europeans with two field-pieces, which bore the first
brunt of the assault. Seeing themselves threatened by some thousands
of the enemy, who found shelter from their shot in the thickets, this
small party at length retired upon the Gaol with their guns, when the
Moors, taking advantage of an undefended passage, seized the three
European houses in the Rope-walk to the rear of the Gaol, and fired
from them so furiously that Mr le Beaume was forced to spike up his
guns and retreat to the battery. This was now attacked so hotly from
the three houses on the right, and also from two on the left, that
only the men working the guns could remain in it, and by the loss of
the pallisado on the right it became almost untenable, Captain Clayton
having rejected with displeasure Mr Holwell’s suggestion to occupy the
buildings on either side with musquetry. In this unhappy state of
affairs Mr Holwell rode back to the Fort to demand reinforcements from
the President, for the importance of retaining this commanding post
was universally admitted, nor was there any thought of retreat among
the defenders themselves; but on his return he was met by the
disorderly array of the troops from the battery, whom Captain Clayton
had withdrawn in such haste that he left his ammunition behind him,
disabling his guns also so slightly that the enemy, who now flocked
into our abandoned work, manifesting their joy by excessive shouts,
were able to drill them and turn them on the Fort. Oh, Amelia, figure
to yourself the anguish of this moment to us who had been enquiring
eagerly all day for every the least piece of news, and now saw our
brave men disgracefully led back into the place by their incompetent
commander! But there was worse still to come.
The capture of the Eastern Battery left the Soubah’s whole force at
liberty to hurl itself upon that to the south, where Captain Colquhoun
found himself in danger of being surrounded. The enemy, who now filled
the Rope-walk, broke through the breastwork between Mrs Putham’s house
and Captain Minchin’s, and crowded into the lane at the back, hoping
to take him in the rear. Finding himself pressed also in front, from
the great road leading to Surmans, he was forced to call in the
flanking parties that he had posted in the houses near, and retreat
upon the inner battery close to the Park gate, leaving one of his
field-pieces at the corner of the Park wall to cover his retirement.
This necessary movement left Lieutenant Blagg and a party of
volunteers, who had not been able to obey in time the order to retire,
surrounded by the enemy on the top of Captain Minchin’s house; but
although the Moors held all the houses around, and the very rooms
below the roof on which they were, these brave men fought their way
down the stairs and broke through the hostile crowds that thronged the
whole square with their bayonets, until they reached the cannon at the
corner of the Park, which covered their retreat also to the inner
battery before it was spiked up and abandoned. The incredible
slaughter of the enemy made by this brave band, and the skill and
deliberation with which Captain Colquhoun had conducted his
retirement, bringing with him all his ammunition and all the guns but
that one which was spiked up, made the affair rather a triumph than a
reverse; but what was his mortification and that of all with him to
receive orders from the Fort to retire from the second battery also,
although it was within pistol-shot of the walls, and commanded two out
of the three roads of the place! I could almost wonder that the
gallant gentleman did not refuse to obey (or rather I should do so did
I not know his strict notions of discipline), but leaving an officer
with thirty men, my papa among them, to hold the Company’s house
outside the walls, he returned reluctantly with his troops, to find
that those in command had lost, during the trials of the day, the
little spirit and wisdom they had possessed. Not content with having
compelled the abandonment of the South Battery after the loss of that
on the east, the Council now ordered a retreat from the post which
Lieutenant Smyth had defended with so much success on the north,
sending also boats to recall Ensign Piccard and his party from Perrins
to garrison the Company’s house, and ordering the Prince George to
fall down from Baugbuzar to her usual station opposite the Fort.
No words of mine can describe, Amelia, the state of affairs when this
disgraceful resolution was made known--the consternation of the
English at so unnecessary and damaging a retreat, of which the
remaining _buxerries_ and all the Lascars but a few quickly showed
their opinion by going over to the enemy, the stupefaction of the
To-passes and Armenians among the militia, and the frightful uproar
among the three thousand servants and black Christians that crowd up
the Fort. All this needs to be seen and heard to be appreciated, but
her Sylvia’s misery my dearest girl’s sensibility will enable her to
picture, since the party left by Captain Colquhoun at the Company’s
house came in, on being relieved by Mr Piccard, without Mr Freyne.
(_In the original letter the following is written hurriedly in
pencil._)
I am scribbling these few lines on the last sheet of my unfinished
letter, in case I should never despatch another to my Amelia. I shall
entrust it to Mr Hurstwood, who is going on board the Doddalay to see
how his Charlotte finds herself, but only for a moment, since a fresh
assault of the enemy upon the Fort is momentarily expected. But why am
I not on board? you’ll say. Because my duty holds me here, Amelia. I
was actually in the boat with Mrs Freyne and other ladies, and on the
point of putting off from the Gott, when there comes running a servant
of Omy Chund’s who is permitted to go freely about the Fort to wait
upon his master, and cries out to me that he had found Fahrein Saeb
(so the Indians call my papa), grievously wounded, but still living.
Was it possible for me to persist in going on board the ship after
hearing this, my dear? Sure my sweet girl would tear me from her heart
had I given the notion a moment’s thought. Mrs Freyne is herself ill,
and was so prodigiously alarmed at the idea of delaying any longer,
that I feared a screaming-fit, and begged the boatmen to put off at
once without me, which they did, while I returned with the Indian to
one of the ground-floor chambers of the Fort, where they had carried
the dear gentleman and laid him on a bedstead. It seemed that he had
been struck down by a blow from the butt-end of a musquet or other
heavy weapon, and then stabbed and hacked in the most cruel and
fiendish manner, so that he was as near as possible dead from want of
blood. The good Padra Bellamy and Mr Holwell did all in their power to
stanch the wounds, for Dr Knox was nowhere to be found, but all was in
vain until the poor servant (who had heard, he says, that Fahrein Saeb
was missing, and since he had always used him civilly and been
friendly with his master, went to search for him in the grounds of the
Company’s house and found him) proved himself indeed a good Samaritan,
bringing some odd sort of salve that was extraordinary effectual, and
bidding us on no account move the sufferer before morning, lest the
blood should burst forth again. Here, then, I am, my dear, watching
over my papa, in company with a Portuguese woman that Mr Holwell has
fetched to be with me, not knowing whether I shall see the light of
another day, for the enemy, grown bold, as they may well be, with
their continued and undeserved successes, are gathering themselves for
a general attack. Farewell then, my dearest, my best beloved friend.
If this is the last you hear from me, preserve a little kindness in
your heart for
your Sylvia Freyne.