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 51-- lll.STOUY !• INDIA. [Book III.

AD. 1756. The (Icay on which the shameful desertions from the ^jiniw»n took place the enemy warmly attacked the fort, but were so vigorously met that they desisted

Atioiiiptsto about noon, and contented themselves during the rest of the day and the suc- ceedmg niglit with setting fire to all the adjacent houses, except those which gave them a command of the ramparts. On the following morning their efforts became more determined than ever, while the mejms of resistiince were raj^idly becoming feebler and feebler.' While some of the defenders were resisting with the courage of despair, others were entreating or clamouring for a capitulatioiL To calm the latter class Mr. Holwell caused Omicl.und, who wa.s still a prisoner in the fort, to write a letter to Monichund, the g(A'ernor of Hooghly, who was commanding a considerable body of the besieging army, and threw it over the wall. This letter requested him to intercede with the nabob for a ces.sation of hostilities, as the garrison were ready to submit, and were onl}' resisting in order to preserve their lives and honour. The only an.-.wer the letter received was a determined attempt to escalade, . It was repulsed, but at a fearful los.s. In the course of a few hours. twenty- five of the garrison were kiUed or desperately wounded, and seventy more had received slighter hurts. The common soldiers, moreover, had intoxicated themselves by breaking into the arrack store, and were

Tiie foit no longc r under control. Mr. Holwell prepared anothei- letter of similar import,

captured. ., ,.

addressed to RoyduUub, and threw it over the north-east bastion, and at the same time hung out a flag of truce, in answer to one with which a man was advancing on the part of the enemy. A parley ensued, and was not finished when the fort was taken. The drunken soldiers, endeavouring to escape, had forced open the western gate. Part of the entmy when the}- saw it opening rushed in, while others gained admission by tscalading the wall where, by a most absurd arrangement, it formed the abutment of warehouses. Fm-thei resistance was impossible, and the garrison surrendering their arms were made prisoners. siirajah The capturc being thus effected on the 21. st of June, the nabob, at five in the

Dowlah in *• ®

the fort. afternoon, entered Fort William, and seating himself in state, surroimded by his general, Meer Jaffier, and his principal officers, received their congi-atulations on the great achievement which he had peiformed. Omichund and Ki.ssenda.ss, on being presented to liim, were received with ciAolity. Mr. Holwell was then sent for, and, after a severe reprimand for the presumption which had been manifested in even daring to defend the fort, was told to divulge the place where the wealth of the Company was concealed. The treasury had already been searched, and, to the nabob's infinite disappointment, only 50,000 rupees (£.5000) had been found in it. Could this be all which he was to receive, instead of the countless sums which had inflamed his imagination and provoked his rapacity ? In two other conferences which he had with ^Ir. Holwell before seven o'clock he returned to the same subject, and then dismissed him with. repeated assurances of personal safety. Mr. Holwell, from whose narrative the