HOW THE FORTUNES OF ROBERT CLIVE WERE AFFECTED BY THE HOSTILITIES
BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN SOUTHERN INDIA
The events narrated in the second and third chapters must be studied
by the reader who wishes to understand the India of 1744-65--the
India which was to be the field for the exercise of the energies of
the hero of this biography. It was an India, he will see, differing
in all respects from the India of the present day: an India which may
not improperly be termed an Alsatia, in which, as we have seen,
murder was rampant, and every man fought for his own hand. What it
then was it would be again were the English to leave the people to
their own devices.
In the autumn of 1744 the Governor of Pondicherry, M. Dupleix, who
had succeeded Dumas in October, 1741, received a despatch from his
Directors notifying that a war with England was impending; requiring
him to diminish his expenditure; to cease to continue to fortify
Pondicherry; and to act with the greatest caution. A little later
they wrote to say that war had actually been declared, that they had
instructed {33}the Governor of the Isle of France to proceed to the
Indian Seas with a squadron he was preparing; and that they required
him to second that officer, M. de la Bourdonnais, in his enterprise.
Fearing, however, that La Bourdonnais might arrive off the coast only
after some mischief had been done, they specially urged Dupleix to
endeavour to arrange with the Governor of Madras that the war in
Europe should not extend to the two settlements in India.
Similarly, the Governor of Madras, Mr. Morse, had received
information and instructions from his masters. They were, however, of
a nature differing in some respects from those received by the French
authorities. They were to the effect that war had been declared; that
he might at any moment expect the arrival of Commodore Barnett with a
strong squadron off Madras, and that that squadron would be employed
for the annihilation of the French commerce and the destruction of
their possessions. It is easy to see, then, that when Morse received
from the French Governor a proposal that the two settlements should
preserve neutrality, he was compelled to decline it.
Thus threatened, for the reply of Mr. Morse led him to believe that
the English would use their advantage to the utmost, Dupleix appealed
to the common suzerain of the two settlements, to the Nawab
Anwar-ud-din. He reminded him of the long-standing friendship between
the rulers of the French settlement and his predecessors; how the
French, in times of danger and difficulty, had ever extended their
hospitality to the {34}Nawabs and their friends; and represented in a
striking manner the disadvantage which must accrue to the rulers of
the Karnatik if the foreign settlements were to be permitted to wage
war upon one another, for the reason that their respective nations
had quarrelled in Europe. The mind of the Nawab was much impressed by
this cogent reasoning. He had no idea of the fighting qualities of
the settlers. They had up to that time behaved as peaceful traders,
deferential to the lords of the soil. He would that they should
remain so. He therefore informed Mr. Morse that he would not permit
an infraction of the peace between the two nations on the soil of the
Karnatik.
For the moment the plague was stayed. Commodore Barnett's squadron
arrived, intercepted and captured the French merchantmen, but could
not attempt anything against Pondicherry. In April, 1746, Barnett
died, and the command devolved upon Commodore Peyton. In June of the
same year Peyton heard that some French vessels had been seen off
Ceylon. They must be, he thought, the squadron of La Bourdonnais. He
proceeded, then, to cruise off Negapatam to intercept it. On July 6,
the two squadrons came in contact. They fought that afternoon and the
next morning. After an indecisive combat on the 7th, the English
commodore, finding that one of his best ships had sprung a leak,
sheered off, and made sail for Trincomalee, leaving to the Frenchmen
all the honours and advantage of the day. On the evening of the 8th
of July the French squadron anchored off Pondicherry.
{35}The result of the conference between the Admiral of the fleet and
the Governor of Pondicherry was a resolution that the former should
attack Madras, aided by the soldiers supplied by the latter. On the
evening of the 12th of September, 1745, the French fleet sailed for
Madras, arrived within cannon-shot of the English fort on the 15th at
mid-day; La Bourdonnais then landed 1,100 European soldiers, some
sipahis, and a few Africans, and summoned the place to surrender.
Madras was in no position to resist him. The only chance possessed by
Mr. Morse of saving the fort had lain in his obtaining from the Nawab
the protection which the latter had afforded to Pondicherry when he
himself had threatened that town. He had applied for that protection,
but in such a manner as to ensure the rejection of his prayer. He had
sent his messenger empty-handed into the presence of Anwar-ud-din, to
demand as a right the protection which that nobleman had granted to
Dupleix as a favour. The Nawab, probably waiting for the presents
which, as an Indian prince, he expected from the petitioner, had
given no reply when the fleet of La Bourdonnais appeared before
Madras on the 15th of September.
On the evening of the 19th the Governor sent a messenger to La
Bourdonnais to treat. After much negotiation it was agreed that at
noon of the day at which they had arrived, September 21, Fort St.
George and the town of Madras should be surrendered to the French;
that the English garrison and all the English {36}in the town should
become prisoners of war; that the civil functionaries should be set
free on their parole that they should not carry arms against France
until they should be regularly exchanged. There were other secret
conditions, but it is unnecessary to the narrative to refer to
these.[1]
[Footnote 1: For a correct account of these see the author's _History
of the French in India_, a new edition of which is about to appear.]
The capture of Madras by the French took completely by surprise the
Nawab Anwar-ud-din. On learning the movements of the French against
that place he had despatched a special messenger ordering them to
desist. The letter he conveyed reached Dupleix after Madras had been
conquered, but whilst it remained still in the hands of La
Bourdonnais. For a time he temporized with the Nawab, whilst he
endeavoured to bring La Bourdonnais, with whom he had difficulties as
to the disposal of the place, to reason. A terrific storm heralding
the north-east monsoon settled the second question by compelling the
French admiral to sail for the islands with the remnant of the fleet
it had scattered. On the 29th of October, Dupleix was sole director
of French interests in India and on the Indian seas. His negotiations
with the Nawab were of a more complicated character. I lay particular
stress upon them here because it was his action with reference to
that potentate which inverted the position theretofore held between
the native of India and the European; which called into the field the
brilliant military qualities of Clive; {37}which necessitated the
long struggle for predominance in Southern India between France and
England.
When day succeeded day and the Nawab gradually came to the conviction
that the audacious ruler of the French settlement had no real
intention of transferring to him the conquest La Bourdonnais had
made, he resolved to take it by force. He sent, therefore, his eldest
son, Ma'afuz Khan, with a force of about 10,000 men, mostly cavalry,
to enforce his demand. But, in face of the small French garrison
occupying the place, these men soon discovered that they were
powerless. When, with a great display of vigour, they had mastered
the positions which secured a supply of water to the town, the
garrison made a sortie and retook them. That was the first awakening.
The second was more startling, more pregnant with consequences. A
small force of 230 Europeans and 700 natives, sent by Dupleix under
the command of a trusted officer named Paradis to relieve Madras,
encountered the entire army of Ma'afuz Khan on the banks of the river
Adyar, close to the village of Maliapur, then and to the present day
known as St. Thome,[2] defeated it with great slaughter, the
Frenchmen wading breast-high through the water to attack the soldiers
of the Nawab. This victory, few in numbers as were the victors, must
ever be regarded as pre-eminently a decisive battle. It brought into
view, {38}silently but surely, the possibility of the conquest of
India by one or other of the two European powers on the Coromandel
coast.
[Footnote 2: From the fact identified by Bishop Heber and Professor
H. H. Wilson, that it is the place where the Apostle St. Thomas is
said to have been martyred on December 5, A.D. 58.]
In a narrower sense it confirmed the possession of Madras to Dupleix.
Thenceforth, as far as his eye could see, he had nought to fear in
India. On the 9th of November Paradis entered Madras; he made there
new provisions for the conquered English, confiscating all the
merchandize that had been found within the town by La Bourdonnais. He
then ordered all the English who should decline to take an oath of
allegiance to the French governor within four days to quit the town;
the English officials he permitted to dispose of their property; then
to remove to Pondicherry as prisoners on parole. There were some
amongst them who, possibly prescient of the future, declined to
subscribe to terms which would tie their hands. These escaped to Fort
St. David, a small fort purchased by the English in 1691, close to
the important town of Gudalur, sixteen miles to the south of
Pondicherry. Amongst these was the young writer who had had but
two years' experience of India, and who was called Robert Clive.
Hardly had that young writer reached Fort St. David than he was
called upon to share in its defence. It very soon became evident that
the policy of Dupleix was a root-and-branch policy; that he was
resolved to expel the English from all their settlements. With
respect to Fort St. David, however, he was foiled partly by the
stupidity of his generals, partly by the {39}island stubbornness of
the defenders. Four times did the French endeavour to take that small
fort; four times, owing to circumstances upon which it is not
necessary to enter, did they fail. Meanwhile there arrived an English
squadron under Admiral Griffin, and later, to reinforce him, a fleet
and army under Admiral Boscawen (August 11, 1748). By this arrival
the positions of the rivals on the coast became inverted. From being
besiegers the French became the besieged. For Boscawen at once laid
siege to Pondicherry.
Then began (August 19, 1748) the first siege of Pondicherry by the
English troops, assisted to a certain extent by those of the Nawab.
Many gallant deeds were performed on both sides. For a time Paradis
was the soul of the defence. When he was killed, which happened
whilst making a sortie on the 11th of September, the entire labour of
directing the necessary measures fell upon Dupleix. In the attack
were many good men and true. Boscawen himself gave an example of
daring which was universally followed. Amongst those who were
specially remarked was the hero of this book. A contemporary writer,
whose journal[3] of the siege is before me, remarks regarding that
young writer, that he 'served in the trenches on this occasion, and
by his gallant conduct gave the first prognostic of that high
military spirit, which was the spring of his future actions, and the
principal source of the decisive intrepidity {40}and elevation of
mind, which were his characteristic endowments.' The efforts of the
besiegers shattered, however, before the sturdy defence of the
French. On the 17th of October the English were forced to raise the
siege, leaving dead from the fire of the enemy or from sickness 1065
men. The English fleet remained for a year off the coast, and then
sailed for England: the garrison, formerly the garrison of Madras and
of Fort St. David, retired to the latter place, carrying with it
Robert Clive, soon to be joined there by one of the most
distinguished men whose careers have illustrated the history of the
English in India, Major Stringer Lawrence.[4]
[Footnote 3: See _Asiatic Annual Register_ for 1802.]
[Footnote 4: Major Lawrence had arrived from England on the 13th of
January 1747, commissioned to command all the Company's troops in
India. From Mr. Forrest's Madras Records we find that his salary as
Major was 300 pounds per annum, and 50 pagodas per month for other
allowances, besides 70 pounds per annum as third in Council. It was
he who had repulsed the fourth attack made by the French on Fort St.
David in the spring of that year. In the early days of the siege of
Pondicherry he had had the misfortune to be taken prisoner. Released
by the conditions of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, he then resumed
command at Fort St. David.]
It is probable that, after the raising of the siege of Pondicherry,
the French would have resumed their operations against Fort St.
David, for, early in 1749, reinforcements in men and money had
reached them. But before they could move, information reached them
that, on the 7th of October, 1748, peace had been signed between the
two nations at Aix-la-Chapelle. By the terms of this treaty the
conquests made by the two countries were to be restored. The French,
{41}therefore, instead of renewing their attack on Fort St. David,
were compelled to restore Madras, its fortifications undermined, and
its storehouses empty.[5] This restoration was the more distasteful
to them, when they found, as they very soon found, that from the
force of events, the hostilities which had ceased in Europe were, by
virtue of a legal fiction, to be continued in India. They were still
to fight the battle for supremacy, not as principals, but as allies
of the native princes who, in the disorder accompanying the
catastrophe of the Mughal empire, fought for their own hand, against
the native allies of the English.
[Footnote 5: Forrest, page 4. The report which he gives _in extenso_,
minuted by the Council of the Madras Presidency, runs as follows:
'The condition we have received it (Madras) in is indeed very
indifferent, the French having undermined the fortifications, and
rifled it of all useful and valuable stores.'
The official statement is quite opposed to the private accounts
hitherto accepted as true.]
{42}