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 o.3(i UlSTOKY OF INDIA. [Book- III

A.D. 1757. lated to convince liim of the disasters which he mi^^ht bring upon hinis<:;lf hy continuing obstinate. The town, though open, was guarded by 3000 rnen, and, moreover, defended by a fort with a garrison of 2000 men. Considering the importance of the meaiLS of defence, the force employed in the attack seems very inadequate. It consisted of only a twenty-gun ship, a sloop of war, and three other vessels, having on board 1 50 Europeans and 200 sepoys, under tlie command of Major Kilpatrick and Captain Coote. It was expected to reach Hoogldy in one tide, but a delay of five days took place in coasequence of the ship having struck upon a sandbank. The intended sui-prise was thus a failure, and the enemy, forewarned, had ample time to prepare their means of resistance. Such, however, was their pusillanimity or dismay, that the 3000 men in the town only saw the British troops landed, and then made off without risking an encounter. The foii was battered by the vessels till night, and then attacked in two divisions ; one of them by feint on the main gate, while the other, con- sisting of a party of troops and sailors, under Captain Coote, stormed at the

c ipture of breach. The garrison, seeing their assailants on the ramparts, fled out precipi-

Hooglily. o o 111

tately at the lesser gate. These easy successes made the British over-confident, and Captain Coote, who had proceeded three miles to the north with only fifty Europeans and 100 sepoys, and destroyed several granaries of rice, narrowly escaped as he was returning, from being ovei^whelmed by the fugitive troops, who, unknown to him, were lying in the neighbourhood watching his move- ments. By singular good fortune and dexterity he disengaged himself without the loss of a single man. If, as Mr. Mill gratuitously asserts, without adducing any authority, the capture of Hooghly was undertaken '" solely with a 'iew tlunder,"^ the result must have been disappointment, as the value of all that was obtained was estimated only at £15,000. vvarbetweeii DuHng the cxpcditiou to Hooghly, intelligence arrived that the long tain and expccted War between Great Britain and France was actually declared. Tlie

Fr.ince. • -n l l i • rm -n

state 01 matters m Bengal thus assumed an ominous appearance. Tlie French had 300 Europeans and a train of artillery at C handernagore, and it was feared that they would at once join the nabob. In that case the British would in all ])robability be overmatched. The whole force then in Bengal would scarcely enable them to keep the field, and to all appearance the larger part of it was about to be withdi'awn, as the Madras presidency, alarmed for their own safety, had dii'ected Clive to return as early as possible with what troops could be spared. A vigorous and successful prosecution of the war against the nabob being, in consequence, deemed hopeless, the tone of the Bengal select committee was immediately lowered, and they resolved to lose no time in endeavouring to negotiate a peace. With this view they opened a communication with the banker, Juggut Seat, and condescended to request him to mediate in their behalf The nabob's fears had formerly inclined him to come to terms, but the

' Mill's Bi-itish India, vol. iii. page 175.