Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/274

266 ditch, imagined that he had sufficiently asserted the honour of his nation, and hung out the flag to capitulate, offering to give up the fort if the garrison were permitted to march away with the honours of war. Captain Clive, thinking that the risque of storming a place so capable of making an obstinate resistance, was not to be put in competition with the ideal honour of reducing the garrison to severer terms, immediately complied with the enemy's proposals, who on the 31st of October evacuated the fort, and marched away to Pondicherry.

A garrison of Europeans and Sepoys, under the command of an English officer, was placed in Chinglapett; and some time after, at the Nabob's request, the fortifications of Cobelong were blown up. The capture of these two places completed the reduction of all the country that remained unsubdued to the north of the river Paliar, between Sadrass and Arcot.

The health of Captain Clive declining every day after this expedition, induced him not only to quit the field, but also to take the resolution of returning to his native country. He left Madrass in the beginning of the next year, universally acknowledged as the man whose example first roused his countrymen from that lethargy of their natural character, into which they were plunged before the siege of Arcot; and who, by a train of uninterrupted successes, had contributed more than any other officer, at this time, to raise the reputation of their arms in India.

During these sieges, major Lawrence, accompanied by the Nabob, advanced from Trivadi to Vandiwash. This place, situated 20 miles to the north of Gingee, was under the government of Tuckea-saheb, who had, as well as Chunda-saheb, and Mortiz-ally, married one of the sisters of the Nabob, Subder-ally Khan: the widow of this unfortunate prince, together with his posthumous and only surviving son, called Ally Doast Khan, resided with Tuckea-saheb in the fort. It was imagined that a place capable of sending forth such pretenders to disturb the title of Mahomed-ally, would have been attacked with the utmost vigour; but the Nabob was in such distress for money, that he preferred to listen to the offers of Tuckea-saheb to ransom