also freely expended his private fortune in intriguing with our allies; and it accordingly became known that he was likely to re-appear with fresh vigor in the field. When this intelligence was conveyed to Europe, the rival companies both expressed extreme aversion to the renewal of a war. Their commercial profits had woefully decreased; and as, in comparison with this, they cared little for territory or renown, they anxiously applied to their respective governments to have an arrangement concluded which should secure them peace. In consequence of this, a negotiation was entered on, and the result was, that Dupleix was superseded, and a treaty signed which was most advantageous to the English. This abrupt and unlooked-for termination of all his ambitious hopes was rendered the more galling to Dupleix, by his reception in France. He received little acknowledgment for his stupendous exertions, and no remuneration for his large personal losses. It appeared, by his accounts, that he had advanced about £400,000 sterling during the war, being partly his own money, and partly funds borrowed from the French merchants of Pondicherry, on his bonds. This the French East India Company refused to pay, on the ground that he had exceeded his authority; and when he commenced a lawsuit to enforce his rights, the ministry interfered, quashed the proceedings in the king's name, and awarded to him the iniquitous satisfaction of letters of protection against his creditors. He lived for a while in retirement, and died unnoticed. Such was the career of Dupleix, the ablest of the French in India; and it brings painfully but forcibly to our mind, that of our own Asiatic statesman, Hastings, whom he resembled in the largeness of his views, in self-sacrifice and energetic zeal, and, we blush to say it, in the character of his fate. * The affairs of the company in India being now regarded as in a highly prosperous condition, Clive returned to England, where, though he had but the rank of captain, and had not yet attained his twenty-eighth year, he was received with public honors, entertained at corporation dinners, and presented by the court of directors with a diamond-hilted sword, which, with a becoming modesty, he declined to accept, until his senior officer, the veteran Lawrence, had received another. He had amassed a considerable fortune, but he He had just before married, in Madras, Miss Margaret Maskelyne, a sister of the celebrated astronomer-royal. embarked in an election contest, and his habits were in other respects so expensive, that he would in all probability have been soon embarrassed, were it not that, after an interval of two years, he was called on to return to India. War had again broken out between France and England, and the former, repining at the advantages she had lost, was determined to encourage and support her agents in their efforts to restore and extend her influence in the East. The English, too, had a more immediate, and still more formidable enemy, in a first-rate native power, the Nabob of Bengal. Under these circumstances, Clive was given the commission of a lieutenantcolonel by the Crown, and appointed to the command of an artillery and infantry force, with which he embarked for India in 1755. His orders were to act, in the first place, against the French in the Deccan, but soon after his arrival he was compelled to proceed to Bengal, to avenge one of the foulest acts of cruelty which ever stained the annals of mankind, and which, it is well to remark, led almost directly to the establishment of our dominion in India. 66 The Carnatic had hitherto been the theatre of our Eastern conflicts; the scene was now to change to Bengal, the richest, most populous, and most powerful of all the subdivisions of the Mogul empire. Suraj-a-Doulah, the young nabob of that province, was rash, ignorant, and unfeeling. He threatened to extirpate the English, and thought it would be as easy to accomplish as to express his wish. For," said he, "there are not ten thousand men in all Europe, and how can they retaliate ?" On some pretext for being displeased, this prince moved his powerful army towards Calcutta, and as he approached the gates, the governor, the few military, and all who could, fled to the ships in terror, a terror not unfounded. When the last boat had pushed off, the nabob's troops were entering the town, and there were still one hundred and ninety Europeans who had no means of escape. These took refuge in the fort, where they were assailed by the nabob's troops, to whom, after a gallant but vain defence, they were compelled to surrender. Their number was now reduced to one hundred and forty-six, and, as the evening drew on, the guards marched them to a small chamber, which had served as the prison of the fortress, and was called the black-hole. It was a room eighteen feet by fourteen, ill mortgage, which pressed heavily on his father's His first application of it was to pay off a property. ventilated by two small windows, which were barred with iron, and which opened into a verandah. Mr. Holwell, who was a member of council, and the chief of the English there, remonstrated against the cruelty of forcing them into so small an apartment, but the officer of the guard threatened to cut down any man who refused to enter, and the prisoners, seeing that it was useless to resist, suffered themselves to be packed in, which being done with difficulty, the door was locked. The night was the 19th of June, and was even more sultry than is usual at that time of the year there. Many of the prisoners were suffering from their wounds-some others, soldiers, were inflamed with arrack, which they had been drinking in the fort. The horrors all endured are too dreadful to be detailed. They tried to burst the door, and seek relief from the scimitars of the guards. Mr. Holwell offered one of the inferior officers, who showed some sympathy for their fate, 1,000 rupees, if he could get them distributed into two apartments. He went to try; but on his return said that the nabob was asleep, and that no change could be made. The sum was now doubled, and he tried again, but returning, he said that nothing could be done, that the nabob was still asleep, and that nobody could dare to waken him. There was now no hope. The air was pestilential, some were suffocated, others were trampled to death, and there was a frantic struggle to get near the windows. The officer who had been before appealed to, forced in some skins of water through the bars, but this seemed only to increase their misery. The contests for the liquid were fearful; and the soldiers without, with a demon feeling, held up lights to see and enjoy the gestures of the combatants. Some sought, by incentives, to tempt the guards to fire upon them; others were raving mad; and midst this wailing scene, the only cry that was not one of horror, was that of prayer. At two o'clock, only fifty were alive; and when Sarajah awoke, at six in the morning, and gave orders for the door to be opened, only twenty-three were taken out alive, ghastly and insensible. Holwell, who was one of the survivors, was brought into his presence, weak and scarcely sensible, he expressed no regret for his sufferings, no sorrow for those who had perished, but proceeded sternly to interrogate him on the far more interesting topic of the treasure which he supposed was concealed in the fort. Mill, with an air of liberality which so often appears in his work, just when it ought not, throws the blame of the transaction on the English themselves, on the ground that they had no business to have so confined a prison. It was, no doubt, large enough for all the purposes of the English factory at that time. As soon as the news of this massacre, and of the fall of Calcutta, reached Madras, it was determined in council there, to prepare an expedition forthwith, to retake the possessions of the English, and avenge their wrongs. After some delay, arising out of personal feelings and jealousies between the company's and the king's service, an armament was fitted out, consisting of 900 Europeans and 1,500 sepoys, with a fleet of five ships under the command of Admiral Watson, and the control of the whole was confided to Clive. The force was small, considering the powerful despot it was destined to assail; but Clive said that his Europeans "were full of spirit and of resentment," and he had no doubt of their success. On the 2d of January, 1757, they retook Calcutta, which had been abandoned by the nabob, who was concentrating his troops at some distance from that town. Although his army amounted to 40,000 men, Clive determined to make a night attack upon his camp. Owing to some errors in the execution of this plan, he was not successful, but was obliged to retire with a considerable loss; still the effort was so daring, and the courage exhibited by his men so remarkable, that the movement had all the influence of a victory. The nabob sought rather to negotiate than to fight; and although Clive had no reliance on his character, he conceived himself bound, in the critical position in which he was placed, to treat with him, if it were practicable. A compact was accordingly made, by which great advantages were conferred upon the English. Clive, however, seems to have relied but little on the stability of this peace; for, in communicating the details of it to the directors, he observes, 'that it cannot be expected that the princes of this country, whose fidelity is always to be suspected, will remain firm to their engagements and promises from principle only." There was great It is said that the nabob did not actually mean to cause so dreadful a catastrophe. Possibly he did not much consider all the horrors which would follow; but it is quite plain that he gave the order for imprisonment; for when he awoke in the morning, his first question had reference to the sufferers, inquiring in what condition they were; and even then his hardened indifference to their fate showed his cruelty. When Mr.ises from principle only.' reason for the caution conveyed in these remarks; for it afterwards appeared that the seal had not been put to the treaty, before the nabob was engaged in making overtures to the French, to assist him in expelling the English from Bengal. This was a contingency on which Clive had counted; and his first object after making peace with the nabob, was to march against the French factory at Chandernagore, where they had a thriving establishment, and a force about equal to his own. He claimed the nabob's agreement to this proceeding, on the ground that the English and the French were then at war. The nabob tried hard to evade giving his assent, but, after some correspondence, Clive advanced against this place, and took it by storm. In this expedition he acted on his own responsibility, disregarding orders from Madras, which recalled him there. He was aware of the efforts which the French government were making for the recovery of their influence in the East; he knew that M. Bussy, with a European and a large native force, was at no great distance from Bengal; and he clearly saw that a French and English power could not co-exist in India; he therefore concluded that he was consulting the interest of England, and the honor of her arms, in assailing her ablest enemy, while he could do so to advantage. On effecting this conquest, he made the further discovery that the nabob was actually in treaty with M. Bussy. He then determined to incur the further responsibility of declaring war against this prince, and of taking part in a conspiracy to dethrone him. "He is," said Clive, a villain, and either he or we must be upset." Suraj-a-Doulah was, as we may easily conceive such a monster must have been, well hated. His tyranny had rendered him unpopular with most of the leaders in his court and camp, and his exactions had set many of the men of wealth against him. There was one feature in the Mogul polity which contributed a good deal to the insecurity of an unjust ruler. While the administration of justice, and every military appointment, was kept in the hands of the Mussulmans, all that related to finance was abandoned to the Hindoos. They were the conductors of money arrangements, the bankers in large towns, the money-lenders in the villages. "I prefer Hindoos as managers and renters, to those of my own religion," said Ameer-ul-Omra, the minister of the nabob of the Carnatic, "because a Mahommedan is like a sieve, and a Hindoo like a sponge. Whatever you put into the one 66 runs through; the other retains it all, and you may recover it any moment by the application of a little pressure." This pressure, however, very much disposed its victims to aid in conspiracies, and their influence was usually great. Amongst those who had suffered by the fall of Calcutta was a native banker, named Omichund, who was artful and avaricious, and who hoped, by political intrigues, to replace his losses. He was mainly the channel through which Clive communicated with the disaffected in the nabob's camp. Their wish was to set the latter aside, and to make Meer Jaffier, the commander-in-chief of his army, their ruler in his stead. The latter took an undecided part, evidently wishing to adhere to his master until he saw that he could desert him with safety. It was also plain that Omichund was not to be depended on, for after having stipulated for an enormous reward, under the name of compensation, he told the English that unless they secured him the further sum of £300,000, as recompense for his agency, he would go over to Suraj-aDoulah, and apprise him of the conspiracy. 'Promise him," said Clive, "all he asks, and draw up any form of engagement which shall satisfy him, and secure us against his treachery.' This was done in a manner, which, if it be at all defensible, certainly shows that Clive was not over scrupulous. The expedient was a fictitious agreement, a proceeding which, in our mind, no emergency could justify.* This was the condition of affairs when Suraj-a-Doulah commanded his army, amounting to upwards of 55,000 men, with a large park of artillery, to advance against the English towards the plains of Plassey. The order was at once obeyed; and Clive, who had been assured that Meer Jaffier would come over and join him with his large division, saw no symptom of such a move. He had, moreover, intelligence that Bussy, with a disciplined force, was moving to the nabob's aid. The rains too were at hand, and the council *Two agreements were prepared, one written on red paper, promising all that Omichund had asked— the other, on white paper, giving him nothing. Admiral Watson signed the latter, but refused to sign the other, to which, however, his name was affixed by the committee. The Hindoo was deceived, and when, after the battle of Plassey, he claimed his reward, he was told, “ The red treaty is a sham, you are to have nothing." The wretched man fell into the arms of an attendant, never uttered a complaint, became an idiot, and shortly after died. It is but right to add, that Clive never could see anything wrong in the transaction, and that his biographer, Sir John Malcom, defends it. at Madras were imploring him to return, as all there were in alarm, daily expecting to be besieged by a French armament, known to be on its way from Europe. In this predicament, Clive made a false step; for the first and last time of his life he called a council of war. His whole force consisted of 3,000 men, one-third of them English, the rest sepoys, and his artillery consisted of eight six-pounders and a howitzer. The question which he propounded was, "Whether, in our present situation, without assistance, and on our own bottom, it would be prudent to attack the nabob; or whether we should wait till joined by some country power?" Clive spoke first, and voted for delay; he was joined by eight others, and seven were for an immediate attack, so that the council, which was composed of sixteen officers, was nearly divided. The question was regarded as definitely settled, and Clive retired to a grove, where, resting under a tree, he revolved the matter again in his mind for a whole hour, and then, regardless of the decision of the council, and of his own expressed opinion, announced his intention of attacking the enemy. No one describes a battle better than Mr. Gleig, and we therefore transcribe from his pages the triumph of Plassey: "At dawn of day on the 22d, the army began to cross the river; by four in the afternoon the last division was safely across. No halt ensued. The boats being towed against the stream with great labor, the infantry and guns pushed forward; and after a march of fifteen miles, the whole bivouacked, about three in the morning of the 23d, in a grove, or small wood, not far from Plassey. had seen on their own side of India. The fact "The battle of Plassey began at daybreak, and was continued for many hours, with a heavy cannonade on the part of the enemy, to which the guns of the English warmly replied. The fire of the latter told at every sound; that of the former was much more noisy than destructive, partly because Clive sheltered his men behind a inud fence which surrounded the grove, partly because the nabob's artillerists were as unskilful as their weapons were cumbrous. No decisive movement was, however, made on either side, for Clive felt himself too weak in numbers to act on the offensive: besides, he still expected that Meer Jaffier would come over to him, and until some indication of the anticipated move were given, he did not consider that he would be justified in quitting his ground. The nabob's troops, on the other hand, were such as the ablest general could not pretend to manœuvre under fire, and able generals were wholly wanting to them. Under these cir"Clive's intelligence had led him to expect that cumstances Clive, whom excessive fatigue had the enemy were in position at Cossimbogue. A worn out, lay down and slept, although not until rapid march had, however, carried them on he had given directions that, in the event of any to Plassey, where they occupied the line or en- change occurring, he should be immediately calltrenched camp, which, during the siege of Chan- ed. Accordingly, about noon, one of his people dernagore, Roydullub had thrown up, and scarcely awoke him, and said that the enemy were retiring. were the British troops lain down, ere the sound He started up; the day, it appeared, being overof drums, clarions, and cymbals warned them of cast, a heavy shower had followed, which so damthe proximity of danger. Picquets were imme-aged the enemy's powder, that their artillery bediately pushed forward, and sentinels planted, and for an hour or two longer the weary soldiers and camp-followers were permitted to rest. "Day broke at last, and forth from their entrenched camp the hosts of Suraj-a-Doulah were seen to pour. 40,000 foot, armed, some with match-locks, others with spears, swords, and bows, overspread the plain; fifty pieces of cannon moved with them, each mounted upon a sort of wheeled-platform, which a long team of white oxen dragged, and an elephant pushed onwards from the rear. The cavalry numbered 15,000; and it was observed that in respect both of their horses and equipments, they were very superior to any which Clive and the soldiers of the Carnatic came in a great degree useless; and as they trusted entirely to their superiority in that arm, they no longer ventured to keep the field. In a moment, Clive gave the word to advance. There was one little band attached to the nabob's force which served him in good stead that day. It consisted of about forty French soldiers, European and native, the remains of the garrison of Chandernagore, with four light field-pieces. Against these Clive first directed an attack to be made, and though they resisted stoutly, he drove them from a redoubt in which they were established, and seized their guns. With the apparent design of preventing this, the nabob's people again sallied forth; but they came on this time in a confused mass, and a well-directed fire from the English guns first checked and then turned them. Advantage was promptly taken of the panic, no respite was given to the fugitives, for the victors entering with them pell-mell into their camp, soon converted the retreat into a flight. In an hour from the first movement of the English beyond the exterior of the grove, a battle, on which may be said to have hung the destinies of India, was decided."-Gleig's Life of Clive, pp. 81, 82. As the battle was closing, Clive observed a dense body of troops, on the enemy's left, moving obliquely towards his right. They made no communication, and were fired on as they approached. When the engagement was quite over, horsemen came in announcing that this was Meer Jaffier's corps, and that he sent his congratulations to the victors. On the following morning that chieftain entered the camp; but he was obviously uneasy, and appeared conscious of his duplicity; for he was observed to change color when the guard turned out to receive him. Clive, however, soon calmed his fears. He received him with open arms, and hailed him as Nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Ovissa. Such was the battle of Plassey, which forms the first great era in the history of British India. Fought under circumstances of great discouragement, it achieved for us the richest district of Hindostan, established England as a recognized power, and spread the terror of her arms throughout the provinces of the Mogul empire, then tottering to its fall. Mr. Wilson's work, now completed, meets, we are quite sure, the expectations of the public. We much regret that he did not rewrite the history of the period embraced by Mill; but he has done the next best thing, by correcting the errors and fancies of that much-biassed author, in his well-considered DEATH OF IBRAHIM PASHA. His Highness Ibrahim Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, died on the 10th Nov., and Abbas Pasha, his nephew, succeeds him in the Pashalic, according to the firman granted by the Sultan in June, 1841, at the close of the Syrian war, by which the succession to the Government of Egypt is to descend in a direct line to Mehemet Ali's male posterity, from the elder to the elder among his sons and grandsons. Ibrahim Pasha, Mehemet Ali's son, was born at Cavalla, in Roumelia, in 1789, and was thus at the age of fiftynine years at his death. His education was similar to what is generally given to Oriental princes; he spoke Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, which he also wrote with facility, and he employed several hours of the day in reading books on history, of which he was very fond; he knew no European language, but he regularly had the newspapers translated to him. Ibrahim Pasha has left only three sons living: Ahmed Bey, born in 1825; Ishmael Bey, born in 1830, both pursuing their studies in Paris; and Mustapha Bey, born in 1835, at present in Cairo. Ibrahim Pasha was buried with military honors, but with little ceremony, on the day of his death, in Mehemet Ali's family tomb, in the vicinity of Cairo. Pasha, who succeeds Ibrahim in the government of the country, was born in Arabia in 1813. He is the son of Toussoon Pasha, Mehemet Ali's second son, who died of the plague in the year 1816, and his right to the succession arises from his being at present the eldest living male member of Mehemet Ali's family. Abbas Pasha has hitherto led a very quiet life, and has been for many years Governor of Cairo. He has had, from his own option, little intercourse with the Europeans; he is a strict Mahommedan, and on this account the natives are glad of his accession. Abbas Pasha is well versed in Oriental literature; he has a thorough knowledge of the Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages, and he occupies much of his time in reading and writing. It is expected that the new Viceroy will be favorably inclined towards the English, in consequence of the courtesy shown to him at the outset of his new career by Captain Frushard, for whom, and the officers of his steamer, handsome presents, consisting of swords, mouthpieces, and snuffboxes, have already been despatched from Cairo to Suez. |