[Sidenote: 1759.]
[Sidenote: March.]
Lally's failure before Madras could not fail to raise British
reputation and to depress that of the French; and sundry petty
chieftains who had long been wavering in the Carnatic, now threw
in their lot definitely with the victors. Nevertheless the British
success could be but negative unless the territory adjacent to
Madras were at once recovered and protected; and to this task
the authorities wisely addressed themselves without delay. The
reinforcements which had already arrived, together with two
companies lately returned from Bengal, left the British with a
force of eleven hundred Europeans, fifteen hundred Sepoys, and
three thousand native irregulars fit to take the field; but, owing
to the difficulty of collecting transport and supplies, the troops
were not in a position to advance until the 6th of March. Meanwhile
Lally had moved his army eastward from Arcot to Conjeveram, whence
he returned himself to Pondicherry, leaving M. de Soupire in
command with orders not to risk a general action. On the British
side also the command had changed hands owing to the failing health
both of Draper and of Lawrence, and had passed to Major Brereton of
Draper's regiment.
[Sidenote: April 6.]
[Sidenote: April 15.]
For fully three weeks the two hostile armies remained in sight
of each other, de Soupire waiting to be attacked, and Brereton
rightly declining to engage him except on the open plain. The
capture of Conjeveram was important to the British, since the fort
would cover such districts as they had already regained, and so
liberate their army for service farther afield. At length Brereton
determined to dislodge de Soupire, if possible, by threatening his
communications south of the Paliar; so marching upon Wandewash, the
most important French station between Madras and Pondicherry, he
broke ground before it as if for a formal siege. De Soupire made no
attempt to follow him, but finding himself pressed for money and
supplies left a small garrison in Conjeveram and retired to Arcot,
well content to be able to reach it without hazard of an action.
Brereton thereupon made a forced march upon Conjeveram, and before
de Soupire was aware that he had moved from Wandewash, had taken
the fort, with little difficulty, by storm.
[Sidenote: June.]
Lally, who at the news of the siege of Wandewash had advanced
northward from Pondicherry, halted on hearing of the capture of
Conjeveram, and finally took up a position seven miles to westward
of the fortress. There Major Monson, who had taken the command
from Brereton, thrice offered him battle; but Lally declined, and
after a few weeks withdrew from the field, distributing his troops
into cantonments at Arcot, Covrepauk, Carangooly, and Chittapett.
In truth his army was rapidly going from bad to worse. A recent
exchange of prisoners had restored to him five hundred French
soldiers, who, having lived an idle and by no means uncomfortable
life in custody of the British for five years, were very far from
eager to resume hard work in the field. Their discontent soon
extended itself to their comrades, and spread not the less rapidly
since all alike were irregularly paid. Indeed, the garrisons both
at Arcot and Covrepauk offered to betray these stations to the
British for money, though, their hearts failing them at the last
moment, they renounced their bargain. But events had begun to turn
steadily against the French, while the British gathered strength on
every side. At the end of June two hundred recruits arrived from
England, and brought news that Colonel Eyre Coote was likewise on
his way to Madras with his own battalion, one thousand strong,
which had been lately raised in England. Brereton, who was once
again in command, seized the opportunity afforded by his own
strength and by French disaffection to make a dash upon Covrepauk,
which surrendered almost without resistance. The flood-tide of
British power was crawling slowly but surely to the south.
[Sidenote: July.]
Meanwhile disquieting symptoms had been observed in another
quarter, from which British influence had for some years suffered
little trouble. There was intelligence of a Dutch armament fitting
out at Batavia for the Bay of Bengal, which, although nominally
designed merely to reinforce the Dutch garrisons, could not, from
the known jealousy of the Dutch over the British successes in
Bengal, be credited with any very friendly intentions. Admiral
Pocock, who was cruising off Pondicherry in daily expectation of
a French squadron, had already picked up transports with five
companies of Coote's regiment, and had received permission to keep
these troops to man his ships pending the engagement, for which
he waited, with Admiral d'Aché. A sight of the Dutch fleet at
Negapatam, however, convinced him that the troops would be needed
ashore; and he accordingly sent them to Madras, recommending that
at least a part of them should be forwarded to Bengal. It will
presently be seen that Pocock acted with admirable judgment and
foresight.
[Sidenote: August.]
[Sidenote: Sept. 10.]
[Sidenote: Sept. 26.]
[Sidenote: Sept. 29.]
This complication added not a little to the anxiety of the British,
though some relief was afforded by news of Lally's continued
troubles with his troops. At the beginning of August his own
regiment, which was in garrison at Chittapett, broke into open
mutiny and marched out of the fort with the avowed intention of
joining the British. Their officers followed them, and by promises
to discharge the arrears of their pay, now several months overdue,
succeeded in conciliating most of them; but sixty men persisted in
their resolution and deliberately carried it out. The authorities
at Madras seized the moment to order an advance on Wandewash;
but before the troops could march there came fresh important
intelligence. D'Aché had arrived off the coast and had for the
third time been engaged by Pocock; and the action though severe
had ended indecisively in the retirement of the French squadron to
Pondicherry. It was therefore uncertain what reinforcements might
have been landed for the defence of Wandewash; besides which,
as a further ground for caution, there were uncomfortable signs
of renewed French intrigue at Hyderabad. But Brereton, knowing
that Eyre Coote must shortly arrive to take the command from him,
was burning to advance; and the authorities had not the heart to
bid him halt. Accordingly, after some delay owing to heavy rain,
Brereton marched from Conjeveram, with fifteen hundred European and
twenty-five hundred native infantry, besides cavalry and artillery,
and, misled by false information as to the strength of the French
garrison, attacked Wandewash with a thousand British only. Though
successful at the outset he was eventually repulsed with a loss of
two hundred men. The reverse was unfortunate at so critical a time,
but luckily was insufficient to shake the confidence of the British
troops in themselves.
[Sidenote: Nov.]
In any case, moreover, Lally was in no position to take advantage
of his success. D'Aché, though personally a brave man, was so
much chagrined by his third failure that he sailed, in defiance
of all protests, to Mauritius, leaving Pocock master of the sea.
His desertion was a hard blow to Lally, for the indiscipline of
his troops was ever increasing. In despair of help from other
quarters he reverted to that from which he had at first so hastily
withdrawn, the court of Hyderabad; though affairs there had altered
greatly since the departure of Bussy. Salabad Jung had been won to
the British cause by the storm of Masulipatam; his brother Nizam
Ali had always been Bussy's worst enemy; but there was still a
third brother, Basalut Jung, who hated his brethren and had shown a
friendly disposition towards Pondicherry. Him Bussy now approached
with the offer of the Nabobship of the Carnatic, if he would join
the French with a body of native troops. The terms were agreed
upon; Basalut Jung began to advance along the Pennar; and Bussy was
on his way to him with five hundred Europeans, when he was recalled
by the outbreak of a dangerous mutiny of the garrison which he had
left behind him at Wandewash. Turning back, he succeeded by payment
of six months' arrears in reducing the men to obedience; but the
incident was fatal to his negotiations with Basalut Jung; and after
a few days of fruitless haggling he returned to Arcot, with no
accession to his force but a few irregular levies of horse and foot.
[Sidenote: Nov. 24.]
[Sidenote: Nov. 29.]
[Sidenote: Dec. 12.]
Foiled in this direction Lally in despair determined to make a
diversion in the south, and sent a force of nine hundred Europeans
and a thousand Sepoys under M. Crillon to alarm Trichinopoly,
while he himself marched northward to join Bussy at Arcot. Crillon
duly succeeded in capturing the island of Seringham, and left a
battalion of French there to keep the city in awe; but Lally's
rash division of his force between points so distant as Arcot and
Trichinopoly gave the British an opportunity which they did not
fail to grasp. Coote with the remainder of his regiment, in all six
hundred men, had arrived at Madras, and though compelled to send
two hundred men forthwith to Bengal, had been able to make good
the deficiency with about the same number of exchanged prisoners
who had arrived from Pondicherry. On the 21st of November Coote
arrived at the British camp at Conjeveram, where he was joined
two days later by the newly arrived troops. He had already made
up his mind to attack Wandewash; but to conceal his intentions
he despatched one detachment under Brereton to seize the fort of
Trivatore on the road, sent another detachment with the heavy
artillery to Chingleput, and himself marched upon Arcot. Brereton
captured Trivatore without difficulty, and advancing forthwith upon
Wandewash drove in the French outposts and began to construct
batteries. Coote thereupon joined him instantly by forced marches;
on the 29th his batteries opened, and on the same day Wandewash
surrendered. Without delay Coote pushed on to Carangooly,
five-and-thirty miles to eastward, and took that also after a few
days of siege. Then calling in all detachments to him, he on the
12th of December reunited his entire force at Wandewash.
[Sidenote: Dec. 19.]
Now Lally perceived the evil consequences of his diversion in the
south. The capture of Wandewash and of the other posts retrieved at
once any reputation that the British might have lost by Crillon's
success at Seringham, while the possession of these forts was a
solid gain to his enemy. He therefore hastily recalled Crillon,
bidding him leave three hundred men only in Seringham and join him
with the rest of his troops at Arcot. Meanwhile Bussy's irregular
horse from that city spread desolation on the north of the Paliar
to within twenty miles of Madras itself. The terror of these
marauding bands drove all the natives from the open country to
take refuge in the hills; and Coote, who had moved up to within a
few miles of Arcot, as if to intercept Crillon on his march, was
compelled by lack of supplies and inclement weather to cross the
Paliar and distribute his troops into cantonments. So ended for the
present the disjointed and indecisive operations in the Carnatic
for the year 1759.
[Sidenote: Oct.]
[Sidenote: Nov.]
During these latter months any hope that Lally might have built
on diversion of the British forces to Bengal by the menaces of
the Dutch, had already been dashed to the ground. The Dutch
armament, so much suspected of Pocock, had sailed to the mouth of
the Hooghly in October; and Meer Jaffier, weary of his subjection
and dependence, had gone to Calcutta to concert with them the
overthrow of the British in Bengal. The Dutch force consisted of
seven hundred Europeans and eight hundred trained Malays on board
the fleet; while at Chinsura, their settlement on the Hooghly,
there were one hundred and fifty Dutch soldiers, as well as
native levies, which by Meer Jaffier's connivance and help were
daily increasing in number. To meet this danger Clive could
raise in and about Calcutta but three hundred and thirty men of
the Hundred-and-First, and twelve hundred Sepoys; but he was a
man accustomed to face heavy odds. Summoning to him every man
that could be spared from outlying stations, he called out the
militia for the defence of Calcutta, organised two tiny bodies of
volunteers, both horse and foot, ordered the British ships to sail
up the Hooghly, and strengthened the batteries that commanded the
river. At the beginning of November Forde and Knox arrived fresh
from the triumph of Masulipatam, in time to furnish Clive with
two admirable commanders. To Knox was assigned the command of the
batteries, and to Forde that of the troops in the field.
[Sidenote: Nov. 24.]
In the second week of November the Dutch addressed a long letter
of remonstrance and complaint to Calcutta, and shortly afterwards
followed it up by seizing some small British vessels and burning
the British agent's house at Fulta; after which they weighed anchor
and stood up the river. Clive thereupon ordered Forde to move
forward by Serampore upon Chinsura. Forde started accordingly with
one hundred of the Hundred-and-First, four hundred Sepoys and four
guns, and on the 23rd encamped in the suburbs of Chandernagore,
three miles distant from Chinsura. The Dutch on the same evening
sent one hundred and twenty Europeans and three hundred Sepoys from
Chinsura to take up a position in the ruins of Chandernagore and
bar his further advance. These Forde attacked and utterly defeated
on the following morning, capturing their guns and pursuing them
to the walls of Chinsura. Thus one part of the Dutch force was
disposed of, which, had it waited for the co-operation of the
troops on the river might have placed Forde between two fires.
On the evening of the fight Knox joined the Colonel and raised
his force to three hundred and twenty European infantry, fifty
volunteer cavalry, eight hundred Sepoys, and one hundred native
cavalry; with which Forde faced about to deal with the rest of
the enemy. The Dutch squadron, for want of pilots, had moved but
slowly up the river, but on the 21st it anchored just below the
British batteries, and landed the troops on the western bank,
with orders to march to Chinsura; which done, the ships dropped
down the stream again to Melancholy Point. There on the following
day Clive's armed East Indiamen under Captain Wilson attacked
them, three ships against seven, and captured six of them on the
spot, leaving only one to escape and to fall an easy prey to two
British men-of-war that had arrived at the mouth of the river. This
splendid little action cut off the Dutch troops from their base
and ensured that any reverse must be fatal to them. Nor was that
reverse long in coming. On the same evening Forde learned that the
Dutch army would come up with him on the morrow, and wrote to Clive
for instructions. Clive was playing whist when the letter reached
him. He put down his cards, and without leaving the table wrote on
the back of the letter, "Dear Forde, fight them immediately. I will
send you the Order in Council to-morrow." Then taking up his hand
again, he went on with the game.
[Sidenote: Nov. 25.]
Accordingly early in the morning of the 25th Forde took up a
position midway between Chandernagore and Chinsura and astride of
the road that connects them. His right rested on the village of
Badara and his left on a mango-grove, both of which he occupied;
while his front was covered by a broad, deep ravine behind which he
posted his four guns. About ten o'clock the Dutch forces were seen
approaching over the plain; and as soon as they were within range
Forde's artillery opened fire. The Dutch advanced none the less
with great firmness, until to their dismay they found themselves
stopped by the ravine, of which they knew nothing. The leading
files perforce halted abruptly, while the rear, not understanding
the cause, pushed on and threw the whole body into confusion.
Forde continued to ply them with artillery and musketry until they
wavered, and then seized the moment to hurl his handful of European
cavalry at them. This threw them into still greater disorder;
and the native horse charging in their turn completed the rout.
The entire force of the enemy, excepting sixty Dutchmen and two
hundred and fifty Malays, was killed, wounded, or taken; and the
Dutch settlements, humbled to the dust, sued not only for mercy
but for protection. Clive used his opportunity so to shackle them
that they could never again threaten British supremacy in Bengal;
and the Dutch in Europe, being in alliance with England, disavowed
the action of their fleet and paid compensation for the damage
that it had done. Thus, far from diverting British troops from the
principal conflict, the Dutch expedition served only to strengthen
the foundations of British ascendency by the ruin of a still older
rival than the French. In such fashion could Clive and Forde wrench
profit out of adversity.
[Sidenote: 1760.]
[Sidenote: Jan. 8.]
[Sidenote: Jan. 13.]
[Sidenote: Jan. 15.]
[Sidenote: Jan. 21.]
The death-blow to French rivalry also was now near at hand. On the
8th of January Crillon's force reached Arcot; and in the evening
of the 11th, after three days of manœuvring, Lally divided his
army into two columns, and leaving Bussy with one of them at
Trivatore, made a forced march with the other upon Conjeveram. So
effectively had his Mahratta cavalry screened his movements that
Coote knew nothing of them, until he received a message from the
officer commanding at Conjeveram itself. He at once made a forced
march to save the fort, but on arriving found that Lally had been
content with the plunder of the town and had marched to rejoin
Bussy at Trivatore. Taking five hundred Europeans, a thousand
Sepoys, and six hundred and fifty French and Mahratta horse, Lally
left Trivatore on the 14th and marched on Wandewash, which had been
his true object from the first. Coote received intelligence of his
departure on the same evening, and on the following day marched
also by the direct road to the same point. Lally meanwhile, anxious
to recapture the post before Coote's arrival, had in the morning
of the 15th attacked a small British detachment in the southern
suburb and driven it with some difficulty into the fort; after
which he began to erect batteries against the walls. On the 17th he
learned from Bussy that Coote was advancing against him; by which
time the British had actually arrived at Outramalore, about fifteen
miles to north-east of Wandewash. Here Coote halted, being secure
of his communications with Chingleput and Madras, and resolved
not to risk an action until the French were ready to assault the
fort. The French works meanwhile progressed but slowly; and it was
not until the 20th that the batteries opened fire, Bussy's column
having meanwhile joined Lally from Trivatore. On the next day Coote
advanced to within seven miles of Wandewash, and on the 22nd,
having directed that the rest of the army should immediately follow
him, he went forward at sunrise with his cavalry to reconnoitre.
[Sidenote: Jan. 22.]
About seven o'clock Coote's advanced guard struck against an
advanced party of Lally's native horse; and presently three
thousand Mahratta cavalry came swarming over the plain in his
front. Coote brought up a couple of guns masked behind his own
cavalry, and wheeling his squadrons outwards, right and left, when
within close range, opened a fire which sent the Mahrattas flying
back with heavy loss. Then halting the main body of his army he
went forward to examine the French camp. He found it marked out
in two lines about two miles to the east of the fort and facing
eastward, the left flank of each line being covered by a large
tank. In advance of their left front were two smaller tanks, of
which the foremost had been turned into an entrenchment and armed
with cannon, so as to enfilade the whole front of the camp and
command the plain beyond it. Leaving the advanced guard halted
where it stood, he returned and brought up his main army, formed
in two lines, in order of battle before the camp. Finding after a
short halt that no notice was taken by Lally, he caused the whole
force to file to its right across the French front towards the foot
of a mountain, which stood about two miles to northward of the
fort. As soon as the leading files had reached some stony ground,
impassable by cavalry, close to the mountain's base, Coote again
halted and fronted, at a distance of about a mile and a half from
the enemy. Seeing that this movement also passed unnoticed, he
ordered the army to file along the skirt of the mountain round the
French left flank. By thus coasting the hill until he came opposite
to the fort he would be able to form his line with his left resting
on the mountain and his right covered by the fire of the fort, thus
at once securing communications with the garrison and threatening
the French flank and rear.
Before this masterly manœuvre could be fully completed, Lally came
hurriedly out of his camp; and presently the whole of the French
army was observed to be in motion. Coote thereupon desisted from
his movement round their left flank, halted his filing columns,
and fronting them to the left, formed his line of battle obliquely
to the enemy. Lally was thus compelled to cancel his preconcerted
dispositions, to change front from east to north-east, and, while
still resting his left on the entrenched tank, to move forward
his right in order to bring his line parallel to that of the
British.[344] None the less this tank remained the pivot of his
position. His army was formed in a single line in the following
order. On the extreme right were three hundred European cavalry;
next to them stood Regiment Lorraine, four hundred strong; next to
Lorraine the European Regiment of India formed the centre; and to
the left of the centre stood Regiment Lally with its left flank
resting on the entrenched tank, the entrenchment itself being
manned by marines, with four guns. Three guns were also posted
between the tank and Lally's regiment, and as many more in the
intervals between the different corps of the line, making sixteen
guns in all. The smaller tank, which by the change of disposition
was now in rear of the entrenched tank, was held by four hundred
native infantry; while nine hundred Sepoys were ranged on a ridge
before the camp. The total force drawn out for the action amounted
to twenty-two hundred and fifty Europeans,[345] cavalry and
infantry, and thirteen hundred Sepoys; some five hundred men more
of both nationalities being left in the batteries before Wandewash.
The Mahratta horse, having tasted the fire of the British artillery
earlier in the day, had no relish for further share in the action.
Coote's army was drawn up in three lines. The first line was
composed of four European battalions, with a battalion of nine
hundred Sepoys on either flank. Of the Europeans, Draper's regiment
held the right; the Hundred-and-Second, in two weak battalions, the
centre; and Coote's the left. Three field-guns were posted in the
intervals on each flank of Draper's and of Coote's, and two more
with an escort of two companies of Sepoys were detached a little
in advance of the left of the first line. The second line was
made up of three hundred European grenadiers in the centre, with
a fieldpiece and a body of two hundred Sepoys on each flank. The
third line consisted entirely of cavalry, eighty Europeans forming
the centre, with natives on either flank. The total force in the
field was nineteen hundred and eighty Europeans, twenty-one hundred
Sepoys, and twelve hundred and fifty native horse, with sixteen
guns.
In this order the British advanced; but before they arrived within
cannon-shot Lally caught up his squadron of European hussars,
and making a wide sweep over the plain came down with it upon
the cavalry in the British third line. Coote's native cavalry at
once broke and fled away, and the left divisions of Sepoys, while
changing front to meet the attack, showed signs of wavering; but
the weak squadron of British horse stood firm, and the two detached
guns of the left front under Captain Barker coming into action
at short range in the nick of time, brought down ten or fifteen
men and horses at their first fire. The French horse thereupon
broke despite all Lally's efforts to stop them, and would not be
rallied until they had galloped far to the rear. During this attack
the British halted, while the French batteries fired wildly and
unsteadily with grape, though their enemy was not yet within range
of round shot. Coote coolly continued his advance until his guns
could play effectively, and then opened a most destructive fire.
Lally finding his men impatient under the punishment placed himself
at their head, and gave the word to move forward. Coote thereupon
halted the whole of his force excepting the Europeans of the first
and second lines, and advanced to meet him with these alone. Like
Forde at Condore he staked everything on the defeat of the French
regular troops.
Coote, true to the English rule, intended to reserve his volley
for close range; but some few Africans who were mingled in the
ranks of the British opened fire without command, and this disorder
was only with difficulty prevented from spreading to the whole
line. Coote, galloping from right to left of the line, actually
received two or three bullets through his clothes. Order being
restored, he took up his station on the left by his own regiment;
and at about one o'clock the fire of musketry became general.
Coote's regiment had fired but two rounds, when Lally formed
Regiment Lorraine on the French right into a column of twelve men
abreast, and ordered it to charge with the bayonet. Anticipating
Wellington's tactics of a later day Coote met column with line,
reserved his fire until the French were within fifty yards, and
then poured in a volley which tore the front and flanks of Lorraine
to tatters. None the less the gallant Frenchmen, unchecked by
their losses, pressed on the faster; and in another minute the two
regiments had closed and were fighting furiously hand to hand.
The column broke by sheer weight through the small fragment of
line opposed to it; but the remainder of Coote's closed instantly
upon its flanks; and after a short struggle Lorraine, already much
shattered by the volley, broke up in confusion and ran back to the
camp, with the British in hot pursuit, carrying dismay into the
ranks of the Sepoys. Coote paused only to order his regiment to be
reformed, and galloped away to see how things fared with Draper on
the right.
As he passed, a flash and a dense cloud of smoke shot up from the
entrenched tank, followed by a roar which rose loud above the
din of battle. A lucky shot from the British guns had blown up a
tumbril of French ammunition. The commander of the entrenchment
was killed, eighty of his men were slain or disabled around him,
and the rest of his force, abandoning the guns, fled in panic to
the French right, followed by the Sepoys from the smaller tank in
rear. Coote instantly ordered Draper's regiment to advance and
occupy the entrenchment; but Bussy, who commanded on the French
left, brought forward Lally's regiment to threaten their flank as
they advanced, and forced them to fetch a compass and file away to
their right. Bussy thus gained time to rally some of the fugitives
and to re-occupy the tank with a couple of platoons; but Draper's
men, with Major Brereton at their head, moved too fast to allow
him to complete his dispositions, and coming down impetuously
upon the north face of the tank swept the French headlong out of
it. Brereton fell mortally wounded in the attack, but bade his
men leave him and push on. The leading files hurried round to
the southern face of the tank, opened fire on the gunners posted
between Lally's regiment and the parapet, and drove them from their
guns; while the rest hurriedly formed up on their left to resist
any attempt upon the eastern face. Bussy did all that a gallant man
could do, but the odds were too great for him; and he could hope
for no help, since all the rest of the line was hotly engaged. He
wheeled Lally's regiment round at right angles to the line to meet
the fire on its flank, and detached a couple of platoons from his
left against the western face of the tank; but his men shrank from
the British fire and would not come to close quarters. Then two of
Draper's guns came up, and opening on the right flank of Lally's
regiment raked it through and through. As a last chance Bussy
placed himself at the head of his wavering troops and led them
straight at the southern face of the tank; but his horse was shot
under him, and on looking round he saw but twenty men following
him, the rest having no heart for the conflict. Two platoons of
Draper's at once doubled round to cut them off, while Major Monson
came up with part of the grenadiers of the second line to support
Draper's attack. Bussy and his devoted little band were surrounded
and made prisoners, and the whole of Lally's regiment was captured
or dispersed.
The battalions of the centre on both sides had throughout kept up
a continual fire at long range; but when the French Regiment of
India perceived both its flanks to be uncovered, it faced about
and retreated, hastily indeed but in good order. Lally had some
time before attempted to bring forward the Sepoys from the ridge,
but they had refused to move; and the Mahrattas took themselves
off when they saw how the day was going. Nothing was left to Lally
but his few squadrons of French horse, which came forward nobly to
save his army. A few men of Regiment Lorraine, heartened by their
appearance, harnessed the teams to three field-guns and joined with
the cavalry in covering the retreat. The British squadron was too
weak to attack, and Coote's native horse refused to face the French
cavalry; so Lally was able to set fire to his camp, collect the men
from his batteries, and to retire in better order than his officers
had dared to hope.
None the less the victory was sufficiently complete. Two hundred
of the Frenchmen lay dead on the field, as many more were wounded,
and one hundred and sixty were taken, so that Lally's loss amounted
to close on six hundred Europeans. Besides this, twenty-four guns
were taken, together with all the tents, stores, and baggage that
remained unburnt. Against this the British had lost but sixty-three
killed and one hundred and twenty-four wounded, Draper's being the
regiment that suffered most severely. The native troops had few
casualties, for practically none but Europeans were engaged. The
speedy defeat of the French was doubtless due to the explosion
which gave away the key of their position; and there can be no
question but that this fortunate accident immensely simplified
Coote's task for him. On the other hand, it may be asked why,
seeing that this tank was the key of the position, Lally should
have garrisoned it with sailors and marines, the worst instead of
the best of his troops. It is improbable that, even without this
stroke of luck, the ultimate issue of the action could have been
different, especially if Lally's own figures as to the strength
of his own force be accepted as correct. It is plain that he
felt no great confidence in his troops, and that his distrust was
justified. His cavalry would not stand by him in his first attack
on Coote's rear; his artillery was unsteady; he did not venture
to attack the British infantry except with column against line;
he seems to have advanced in the first instance chiefly because
his men chafed under the fire of the British artillery; and his
attack on Coote's left was not only a failure in itself but took
all the heart out of his Sepoys. Coote, on the other hand, felt
perfect reliance on his troops, and proved it by advancing finally
with his infantry only, leaving his guns to follow as they could.
Moreover, he had the choicest of his troops, the grenadiers, still
in reserve at the close of the action; so that it would have been
open to him, after the defeat of Lorraine, to have turned these or
his own regiment upon the flank of the French battalions in the
centre, and to have rolled up their line from right to left instead
of from left to right. In fact, from the moment that he forced
Lally to come out and fight, the superiority of his troops assured
him of victory; and it is probable that Lally himself was painfully
aware of the fact. The tragic fate of the French commander a few
years later made him an object of compassion to foe and friend,
but it is plain that the disaster of Wandewash was principally of
his own making. Bussy had begged him to desist from the siege on
Coote's approach, but he would not, and was therefore unable to
oppose his full strength to his enemy. Finally, though he wished to
decline any engagement except a direct attack on his camp, he was
out-manœuvred and compelled to fight on his adversary's terms. In
the face of such facts, whatever our sympathy with a gallant and
unfortunate man, it is idle to ascribe his defeat to mere accident,
although that defeat was a mortal blow to French domination in
India.
[Sidenote: Jan. 29.]
[Sidenote: Feb. 9.]
[Sidenote: Feb. 29.]
[Sidenote: April 5.]
Lally on the next day fell back to Chittapett, and sending the
Mahrattas and native troops to Arcot retired to Gingee to cover
Pondicherry. Coote on learning of his withdrawal from Chittapett
determined to attack that post, while yet he might, with his whole
army; and after a few hours' cannonade compelled it to surrender.
Then instead of following Lally up further, he bent himself, after
the fashion of Amherst, to systematic reduction of all the minor
posts held by the French. Arcot, the first object chosen, fell
after a siege of a few days; Timery, a few miles to south-east
of Arcot, fell at the same time; Trinomalee surrendered on the
last day of February; Permacoil and Alumparva were taken after
some resistance early in March. Coote, however, was wounded at
Permacoil; and the capture of Carical, the one French station
left on the coast, was entrusted to Major Monson, who speedily
effected it with the help of Admiral Cornish's squadron, which had
arrived on the coast six weeks before. The possession of Carical
was of importance, since, being an outlet from the rich country of
Tanjore, it could have kept Pondicherry supplied with provisions;
while it was also a port wherein a French squadron could obtain
not only victuals but also intelligence before proceeding to
Pondicherry. Lally, amid all his preparations for defence, in his
heart gave up the capital for lost after its fall.
[Sidenote: July 17.]
[Sidenote: August.]
On the 7th of April Coote re-assumed command, and drawing a chain
of posts around Pondicherry from Alumparva to Chillumbrum, closed
in slowly upon the doomed city. Lally had allowed him to capture
far too many of his men piecemeal in different garrisons; but
he now called in all French troops from Trichinopoly and other
posts in the south, and entered into an agreement with Hyder Ali,
then commander of the forces at Mysore, engaging to concede large
tracts of territory in return for the services of eight thousand
men. This accession of strength to the enemy hampered Coote not a
little for the moment, the more so since a detachment which he sent
to check the advance of the Mysoreans was totally defeated. But
the relief to Lally was short-lived; for dearth of provisions and
unwillingness to be attached to the losing side soon caused his
new allies to withdraw. Even so, however, the British force was
not strong enough to undertake a regular siege of Pondicherry, and
Coote was obliged to content himself with a mere blockade.
[Sidenote: Sept. 2.]
[Sidenote: Sept. 4.]
[Sidenote: 1761.]
[Sidenote: April 5.]
At length reinforcements arrived for the Company's troops, together
with half a regiment of Morris's Highlanders[346] under Major
Hector Munro. Three men-of-war also came with the transports,
raising the squadron before Pondicherry to seventeen sail. Lally,
rightly guessing that more vigorous operations would follow on this
increase of the British force, devised a plan of extreme skill and
daring for the surprise of their camp; but fortune was as usual
against him. His combinations miscarried; and his troops after
showing conspicuous gallantry were repulsed. From that day the end
drew rapidly near. Coote indeed forsook the siege for a time on
finding that Colonel Monson had been promoted over his head, but
was soon obliged to take command again on the disabling of Monson
by a wound. It would be of no profit to linger over the dying agony
of Pondicherry. Lally, despite shameful disloyalty and opposition
from the civil authorities, resolved to fight on to the end,
trusting that d'Aché might come with his squadron to his relief;
and his regular troops worked for him with a fidelity and devotion
worthy of the best traditions of France. Once there came a gleam
of hope. On the last day of 1760 a sudden hurricane burst over the
city and harbour which overwhelmed three of the British ships with
all hands on board, drove three more of them ashore, and ruined all
the works of the besiegers. But the surviving ships returned within
a week to resume the blockade, and no d'Aché arrived to interrupt
them. The British works were repaired and pushed forward; and on
the 15th of January the garrison, being on the brink of starvation,
surrendered. A few weeks sufficed to reduce the few isolated
fortresses which were still held by French garrisons; and on the
5th of April the white flag of the Bourbons had ceased to fly in
India.
So after fifteen years of strange vicissitude ended the long
struggle of French and English for empire in the East. That the
result was due as much to the shortcomings of the French Government
as to the prowess of her adversary is unquestionable; for the
corruption and mismanagement both at Versailles and at Pondicherry
were sufficient to wreck any empire. Still the failure of the
French was due to something more than mere maladministration.
Though no people is so patriotic where the soil of their own
country is at stake, Frenchmen once passed across the sea appear
to be cursed with a fatal tendency to jealousy, distrust, and
disunion. In Canada as in India the same forces were always at
work to undermine French influence and neutralise French success.
Individual Frenchmen are found wielding vast power and authority
with consummate ability; yet such men are always alone; not one
of them can command the loyal service of his countrymen. Even
Dupleix, the Napoleon of India, was thwarted at every turn by his
subordinates; for Bussy may be considered to have held practically
an independent command. Again, setting aside individuals of
brilliant talent, the general average of capacity was lower on the
French side. It may have been that ability was by some strange
coincidence absent; or that commanders had no power or were too
jealous to select the ablest of their subordinates for important
work; or indeed that capable subalterns found the acceptance of a
great trust too thankless at the hands of such superiors. In any
case the result remains the same. There are Dupleix, Bussy, and
Paradis on one side, and on the other Clive, Saunders, Lawrence,
Forde, Coote, Brereton, Caillaud, Kilpatrick, Knox,--captains,
lieutenants and ensigns innumerable, all prepared to accept
independent command and yet to work loyally for the common cause.
Before long there will have to be told a story of administrative
cupidity and corruption in Calcutta as shameful as ever disgraced
Pondicherry; and yet always young officers come forward to
undertake the most perilous work and to carry it to a successful
end. Such a contrast points to a distinction between the two
nations which is more deeply rooted than in mere accidents of
administration. Partly no doubt the victory of the British was due
to the traditions that kept archer and man-at-arms together at
Crecy, and may be ascribed to peculiarities of social and political
organisation. But beyond this there appears to be something in
the national character which makes it difficult for a Frenchman,
outside the borders of France, to assume high station without
dangerous exaggeration of his self-esteem; while the Briton, for
all his energetic and imperious nature, has the grim humour and the
deep melancholy of his kind, ever whispering to him of the vanity
of great place.
AUTHORITIES.--Orme's _Military Transactions_ continues to be the
chief authority though it unfortunately closes without giving
account of Forde's action at Badara. The actions of Wandewash,
Condore and Badara are described at length in Colonel Malleson's
_Decisive Battles of India_, where the authorities are quoted.
The French side of the story is presented by the same author
in his _History of the French in India_, based chiefly on the
memoirs of Lally and Bussy. Wilks's _History of Mysore_, the
_Memoirs of Stringer Lawrence_, and the _Biographies of Clive_ by
Malleson and Malcolm are also of value.
[Illustration: TRICHINOPOLY.]
[Illustration: COVREPAUK, Feb. 3/14 1752.]
[Illustration: PLASSEY, June 23^{rd} 1757.]
[Illustration: WANDEWASH, 22^{nd} Jan. 1760.]
[Illustration: MASULIPATAM, The Assault of 8^{th} April 1759.
_Walker & Boutall del._ _To face Page 474._
]