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 464

JIISIVJIIY OF INDIA.

[Book III.

A.D. 1761.

Small inun ber of de- fenders.

Activity and stratagem of the be-

. practica- ble breach.

of above 10,000, composed as follows — 150 Europeans, 2000 sepoys, 5000 peons or undisciplined native infantry, and 3000 cavalry. As it was provisioned only for forty days, it was necessary to send away all the inhabitants except a few artificers, one of them, a mason, who most fortunately knew of a secret subter- raneous aqueduct, by which, if it had not been choked up in consequence of his information, the only reservorr within the fort might have been drained of its water. As many of the houses of the town were within musket- shot, and would give great facilities to the besiegers, an attempt was made to buiTi several of them. It failed, because they were almost entirely of stone ; and it was resolved to get rid of the two which threatened to be mo.st annoying by employing more destructive means. Accordingly, at midnight. Ensign Glass and ten men, with several barrels of gunpowder, were let down from the wall by a rope. They got into the houses without being dLscovered, but made the explosion so unskilfully that the efiect intended was not produced. Nor was this the only misfortune. The rope broke while Ensign Glass was ascending by it, and the fall unfitted him for further duty.

For a fortnight the besiegers, while waiting for the battering cannon, kept up a bombardment with four mortars, which did little damage. The fire of musketry from the houses was more effective ; indeed, the aim was so sure that a man could scarcely show liis head above the parapet without being hit. In this way three sergeants, accompanying Clive while he visited the works, were picked off, and several other persons were killed or wounded. Before the siege began in earnest, Mortiz Ali was tempted to try a stratagem. Pretending to be dissatisfied with Rajah Sahib, he withdrew with his troops to a different quarter of the city, and sent a secret messenger to acquaint CHve with his feelings, and assure him that if he would make a sally, he would support liim with all his force. Clive was not to be thus caught, and cleverly foiled Mortiz Ali with his own weapons. Instead of giving a refusal, he pretended to approve of the scheme ; and by maintaining the correspondence for several days, induced a large portion of the enemy to remain inactive. Mortiz Ali, percei'ing at last that he was outwitted, returned to his former place in the camp.

On the 24!th of October, two eighteen -pounders and seven smaller pieces airived from Pondicherry. With these the French opened a battery to the north- west, and served it so weU that the very first shot dismounted, and the second entirely disabled one of the eighteen-pounders in the fort. The other eighteen- pounder there was also soon dismounted, and removed to a spot not exposed to the fire from the battery, which, being thus scarcely answered at aU, succeeded in six days in beating down all the wall between two towers, and making a practicable breach. The ganison, meantime, spared no exertion. Immediately under the rampart opposite t(i the breach two trenches were dug, leaving a considerable space between them, which was covered with crows'- feet; and still farther back, a house was pidled down to the height of a breastwork, from