Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/57

Book I. feast; and the soldiery left to their own conduct, in the first impulse of detestation, threatened to storm the fort immediately, and to massacre all who were in it; but, on recollection of its strength, this resolution subsided, and they agreed to wait the return of their officers, before they should proceed to extremities. The emissaries of Mortiz-ally took advantage of this suspension of their rage, and called to their recollection the great arrears of pay, which were due to them from Subder-ally, who, although well able, had constantly evaded to satisfy their demands: whereas if the army, they said, would admit Mortiz-ally's pretensions to the Nabobship of Arcot, and declare in his favour, he would doubtless agree to pay all that was due to them.

The armies of the Mahomedan princes of Indostan are composed of a number of distinct bodies of troops inlisted by different leaders; who, with their bands, enter into, and quit the service of different princes, according to the advantages which they expect to receive. Hence the degree of reliance which a prince can have on his army is proportioned to the treasures of which he is possessed, joined to his inclination to disburse them; and it is common in the wars of Indostan to see large bodies of troops going over to the enemy on the very field of battle. The army at Velore forgot its resentments against Mortiz-ally in proportion as the terms proposed by his emissaries appeared to be real. The officers, as they arrived in the camp, were immediately brought over to his interest by presents; accounts were adjusted, times of payment were stipulated, and all, officers as well as soldiers, agreed to acknowledge Mortiz-ally Nabob of the Carnatic, within two days after he had murdered Subder-ally.

Mortiz-ally now pitched his tents without the gates of Velore, and caused himself to be proclaimed Nabob. In November he made his entry with pomp into the city of Arcot, and was again proclaimed there. As soon as the first agitations which this sudden and unexpected revolution had occasioned began to subside, several of the principal officers in the Carnatic 'communicated to one another their sentiments on his accession and concurred in a detestation of it: These