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. ”

“ The field of fortune is open to every man who has courage enough to make use of his sword, or to whom nature has given superior talents of mind. Hence it happens, that half the grandees of Indostan have arrived to the highest employments in the empire from conditions not less humble than that of An'war-odean Khan; against whose accession to the Nabobship of the Carnatic, the people had taken an aversion, from causes independent of his personal character. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The king having intelligence of their design sent a body of troops under the command of his uncle Gauderow to Tricatopoly, a fort eighteen miles east of Tritchinopoly, where they were ordered to remain and punish the Morattoes: for this phrase, in the vain language of the princes of Indostan, is synonimous to fighting, and is not seldom made use of even by those who lose the battle. The king making a merit of this resolution to the Nabob, pretended that Gauderow only waited on the frontiers until the whole army was assembled, which would then immediately march to Tritchinopoly. ”

“ The great men in Indostan bear great affection to their children during their infancy; but as soon as these arrive at the age of emancipation, the perpetual intrigues of an Indian court render them; from being a consolation to their parents, the objects of their mistrust: for there are never wanting those who endeavour to engage them in parties, and even in plots: from hence it often happens, that a prince, in his latter days, fives without affection to his own sons, and gives every kind of paternal preference to his grandchildren ”