Robert Orme

“ A skirmish ensued, and the troops of Cudapah, overpowered by numbers retreated to their main body. Their attack, whether by chance or design is uncertain, had been directed against that part of the army which escorted the women; so that this defiance was aggravated by the most flagrant affront that the dignity of an Indian prince could receive: for the persons of women of rank are deemed sacred, even in war. Murzafa-jing no sooner heard of this insult, than he ordered his whole army to halt, put himself at the head of a large body of troops, and prepared to march against the Nabob of Cudapah. ”

“ At sun-rise the English troops advanced to the assault. The 300 Sepoys marched first; the company of Coffrees next; the Europeans in the rear. The enemy fired briskly as the line was approaching, and more especially from the tower on the left of the breach, that Col. Forde ordered a six-pounder from the battery, which, at the distance of a hundred yards, kept up a constant fire on the parapet of this tower, more indeed with the hope of intimidating, than the expectation of doing any detriment. ”

“ The Morattoes, thus pent up, seeing no other means to escape but by cutting their way through the Tanjorines, exerted themselves with their usual bravery, augmented by despair: but on the other hand, the Tanjorines were inflamed by the desire of revenging the injuries their country had suffered from these cruel free-booters, and Monac-gee, sensible that the continuance of his master's uncertain favour would depend on the success of this day, animated his troops, who loved him, by his own example; fighting in the thickest throng with the utmost intrepidity. ”

“ Captain Smith, apprized, drew out half his garrison, with two field-pieces, ready in case of need to protect them. Every man was received with open arms; the meal and every refreshment was ready for the welcome and exhausted guests; and with the rising sun, a discharge of twenty-one pieces of cannon announced their exultation, with the news, to the French troops on the plain. ”

“ Whosoever has seen a body of ten thousand horse advancing on the full gallop all together, will acknowledge with the Mareschals Villars and Saxe that their appearance is tremendous, be their discipline or courage what it will; and such an onset would doubtless have disconcerted untried soldiers; but the enemy had to deal with Veterans equal to any who have done honour to the British nation; men convinced by repeated experience that a body of well-disciplined infantry would always prevail against irregular cavalry, let their numbers be ever so great. ”

“ Lally, putting himself at the head of the European cavalry on the right, set off with them, and taking a large sweep on the plain, came down, intending to fall upon the horse of the English army, which made their third line. The black horse, who were nine-tenths of this body, pretended to wheel, in order to meet the enemy's, but purposely confused themselves so much, that some went off immediately, which gave a pretext to the rest to follow them, and the 80 Europeans were left alone, who faced and drew up properly to receive the charge, relying on better assistance. ”

“ The weakness to which the Nabob's force was reduced by this fatal contest, and the apprehension of still worse consequences from it, destroyed the hopes which the English had entertained a few days before, of carrying his arms in triumph against Velore or Gingee. Their late success, instead of inspiring exultation, served only to imbitter the sense of their incapacity to reap any advantage from it. They marched away more with the sullenness of men defeated, than with the alacrity of troops flushed with victory ”

“ Two or three however ventured, and got to the vessels before sun-set. Their appearance and the dreadful tale they had to tell were the severest of reproaches to those on board, who, intent only on their own preservation, had made no efforts to facilitate the escape of the rest of the garrison: never perhaps was such an opportunity of performing an heroic action so ignominiously neglected: for a single sloop, with fifteen brave men on board, might, in spite of all the efforts of the enemy, have come up, and, anchoring under the fort, have carried away all who suffered in the dungeon. ”

“ The commerce of Bengal more especially became the object of their attention: the subordinate factories of Cossimbuzar, Dacca, and Ballasore, which had been abandoned, were now resettled: the exports and imports were doubled in value and in quantity; and the garrison of Calcutta was augmented to 300 men: all which the government of Bengal, contrary to its usual maxims, beheld without repugnance, and even without demanding money as the price of its forbearance and favour. ”

“ The presidency of Madrass, after the retreat of their army from Velore, had had no provocations worthy the contest, to induce them to engage in any military operations in the Carnatic, at the risque of drawing the French again into the field; and the government of Pondicherry, conducting themselves by intelligence, of winch the English were ignorant, were equally averse to venture any hostilities that might diminish their means of maintaining the advantages they had acquired in the Decan, which from their former security were at this time approaching to the utmost risque and uncertainty. ”

“ It is so rare in the manners of Indostan that any indecorum of words or gesture passes amongst equals, and still more from an inferior, that the officers present in the durbar formed sinister conjectures of these animosities amongst the brothers; and although the few, who reason before they believe, imputed the musket-ball to chance, and the confession of the man to subornation, yet the troops even in Salabadjing's camp were persuaded that he had been employed, if not by Shanavaze Khan, at least by Hyder Jung. ”

“ This crisis of modern war is generally decided in an instant, and very few examples of it occur. The company of English grenadiers, with two platoons, broke the enemy's center, on which their whole line immediately gave way, and no quarter being expected in such a conflict, they threw down their arms as incumbrances to their flight. This was the moment for the Nabob's cavalry to charge, as they had been instructed; but instead of setting out in pursuit of the fugitives, they galloped into the camp, and employed themselves in plunder; however the Sepoys picked up many of them. ”

“ D'Aché, with the eight principal ships, now manned with 3300 men, weighed anchor, but, instead of bearing down on Mr. Pocock, who could not work up to him, kept the wind, plying for Fort St. David. The besiegers during this day kept up an incessant fire from 21 pieces of cannon and 13 mortars, which every hour became superior to that of the fort; not for want of mounted artillery, but of ammunition, of which such quantities had been lavished away when no adequate effect could be expected, that the garrison was obliged to spare it now, in the hour of need and real use. ”

“ The three guns with the prisoners were placed in the center, and the troops marching in platoons on each side, the artillery was distributed in the front, rear, and intervals of the column. The real had scarcely got clear of the rock into the plain, when the whole of the enemy's cavalry set up their shout, and came furiously on, flourishing their swords as if they were resolved to exterminate at once the handful of men that opposed them. ”

“ The town of Pondicherry beheld the storm and its effects as a deliverance sent from heaven. The sun rose clear, and shewed the havock spread around. It was proposed by some to march out immediately, and attack the English army; but this operation was impracticable; because no artillery could move through the inundation nor could the troops carry their own ammunition dry; otherwise three hundred men, properly armed, would not, for three hours after day-light, have met with 100 together in a condition to resist them. ”

“ IN a country of such great extent, divided into so many distinct sovereignties, it cannot be expected that there should be no exceptions to one general assertion of the character of the inhabitants. There is every where in the mountains a wild inhabitant, whose bow an European can scarcely draw. There are in the woods people who subsist by their incursions into the neighbouring plains, and who, without the ferocity of the American, possess all his treachery; and according to Mr. Thevenot, India has had its cannibals in the centre of one of the most cultivated provinces of the empire. ”

“ On the day appointed for the solemnization of the marriage, twelve Pitans, with the captain of the band, presented themselves before the young prince, and demanded their arrears with a more determined spirit of insolence than they had hitherto shewn in any of their former applications. It is reckoned the highest indignity that can be offered to a soldier, to order him to retire by an expresion of contempt; and if any violence is employed to remove him, he generally resents it in the instant with blood-shed. ”

“ A few months after his arrival at Catteck, two brothers, natives of Tartary, came to his court with strong recommendations from Delhi, in compliance with which Sujah received them into his service: appointing the elder, Hodgee Hamed, to attend his person as a domestic, and the other, Allaverdy, to command a troop of horse. They were both employed according to their talents. For the elder was calm, supple, wily, provident, but void of natural courage: the younger, stern, active, intrepid, sagacious, but too high-minded to submit to the compliances necessary in an Asiatic court. ”

“ The entry into Aurengabad was more splendid and magnificent, than that which had been made at Gol-condah: and the city merited this preference, being, next to Delhi, the most populous and wealthy in the Mogul's dominions: its inhabitants, when the Soubah is there, are computed at a million and a half of souls. The French had a convenient quarter assigned them, to which Mr. Bussy strictly obliged the troops to confine themselves, lest the disparity of manners should create broils and tumults which might end fatally. ”

“ The next day he renewed his march in open day, in full sight of the enemy, who soon broke and dispersed his infantry, but were not able to make impression on his cavalry. The Pitans were commanded by an officer named Mustapha Khan, whom they not only revered as their hereditary chief, but loved as the bravest soldier amongst them: Allaverdy himself, his nephew Zaindee Hamed, Meer Jaffier his brother-in-law, and all the other officers of distinction, continually presented themselves against the most dangerous onsets; and such examples could not fail to animate their followers. ”

“ THE history of these gods is a heap of the greatest absurdities. It is Eswara twisting off the neck of Brama; it is the Sun, who gets his teeth 'knocked out, and the Moon, who has her face beat black and blue at a feast, at which the gods quarrel and fight with the spirit of a mob. ”

“ Colonel Coote, in answer to Mr. Lally's memorial, said, that "the particulars of the capture of Chandernagore were before his Britannic Majesty, which precluded any discussion on this subject, neither had it any relation to the surrender of Pondicherry." "That the dispute concerning the cartel remaining undecided, precluded his consent that the troops in Pondicherry should be deemed prisoners on the terms of that cartel; but that they must surrender prisoners of war, to be treated at his discretion, which should not be deficient in humanity." ”

“ The many examples of a similar fate, which are perpetually produced by the contests of ambition in this unsettled empire, have established a proverb, that fortune is a throne; and therefore he who falls in such contests is only reckoned unfortunate, without having the odium of rebellion or treachery charged on his memory, unless he opposes the sovereign of sovereigns, the Great Mogul; all the rest is reckoned the common course of politics: for there is scarcely throughout the empire a Nabob, who has not an open or latent competitor. ”

“ As soon as the massacre was finished, a signal was thrown out, on which the army of Bengal advanced against the Morattoe camp, and were joined in the way by Allaverdy, and his officers from the tent, who led them to the attack. The Morattoes fled on every side in confusion; but reassembled again to the westward, and renewed the war with redoubled devastations and barbarity.
Practice and encouragement at length brought the Nabob's cavalry to fight the enemy in their own way, and every day produced a combat or skirmish in some part or other of the country. ”

“ David, and a detachment of 200 Europeans, with 300 Sepoys, attacked the village of Trivadi; but captain Chace, the commanding officer, sallying from the fort, repulsed them; some days after they renewed the attack, and were again repulsed by a detachment of 60 Europeans, and 300 Sepoys; who, elated with their success, quitted the village, and contrary to their orders marched out into the plain: the Morattoes, who were in sight, waiting for such an opportunity of exerting themselves, instantly surrounded the party, and charging with great fury, routed them, and cut every man to pieces. ”

“ From this place all the Mysore cavalry, now 1500, set off for Pondicherry, driving a multitude of cattle, but unaccompanied by any troops on foot, even their own, that, if interrupted, the horse might be free to force their way, or retire. The rule of these countries had so often been shifted to and fro by the fortune of war, and they had suffered so much, as well from the ravages of hostility, as the concussions of unsettled government, that they regarded both the English and French at least as tyrants, when not enemies ”

“ The Nabob had certainly no money to pay his troops; so far from it that the English had now for two years furnished all the expence of their own troops in the field: but it is a maxim with every prince in India, let his wealth be ever so great, to keep his army in long arrears, for fear they should desert. ”

“ An army famished by its own numbers, commanded by chiefs unanimous in nothing but their unwillingness to fight, and these by an emperor who could not command his fears, submitted to enemies whom they outnumbered five to one: but these enemies had been inured to conflicts under the most desperate soldier of the age, and were rendered invincible by the expectation of plundering the capital of the richest empire in the world. ”

“ It is now a century that they have made a figure as the most enterprising soldiers of Indostan, and as the only nation of Indians, which seems to make war and occupation by choice; for the Rajpouts are soldiers by birth. Of late years they have often been at the gates of Delhi; sometimes in arms against the throne: at others, in defence of it against the Affghans or Pitans. The strength of their armies consists in their numerous cavalry, which is more capable of resisting fatigue than any in India; large bodies of them having been known to march fifty miles in a day. ”

“ At midnight the French advanced with scaling ladders, which they no sooner began to apply to the walls than they received the fire of all the musketry from the ramparts, together with that of four or five pieces of cannon loaded with grape-shot. This unexpected resistance struck the whole body, officers as well as soldiers, with a panic. Most of the men flung away their arms without firing a shot: but the precipitation of their flight prevented the English fire from doing much execution amongst them: nor did their fears quit them when arrived at the place of their encampment ”

“ What remained of the march to Masulipatnam, even in the shortest road, was more than 200 miles; and through a very embarrassed and inhospitable country. Sickness prevailed amongst the Europeans, the stores of ammunition were not sufficient for any long continuation of service, provisions failed, money was still more scarce, the Sepoys began to murmur and desert for want of pay and Mr. Bussy knowing that these distresses could no where be so well redressed, as by means of the connexions which he maintained at Hyderabad, turned his march to this city, and arrived there on the 14th of June. ”

“ Major Lawrence represented, that the attack would cost the lives of many brave men, as the French occupied a strong post defended by a large train of artillery; but that, by moving his army between the enemy and Pondicherry, he might, by cutting off their communication, oblige them to fight at a greater disadvantage. Nazir-jing replied, "What! shall the great Nazir-jing, the son of Nizam-al-muluck, even for an advantage, suffer the disgrace of seeming to retreat before so despicable an enemy? No, he would march and attack them in front." ”

“ The interests of the Indian princes and Moorish governors perpetually clashing with one another, and with the interest of the Mogul, will perhaps always prevent the empire of Indostan from coercing the ambitious attempts of any powerful European nation, when not opposed by another of equal force; much less will any particular principality in India be able to withstand such an invader. ”

“ Here, as in all the other great pagodas of India, the Bramins live in a subordination which knows no resistance, and slumber in a voluptuousness which knows no wants; and, sensible of the happiness of their condition, they quit not the silence of their retreats to mingle in the tumults of the state ”