Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/264

258 Europeans, and the more ignominious authority of Vizeramrauze. A number called without distinction were allotted to the work; they proceeded, every man with a torch, his lance, and poignard, to the habitations in the middle of the fort, to which they set fire indiscriminately, plying the flame with straw prepared with pitch and brimstone, and every man stabbed without remorse, the woman or child, whichsoever attempted to escape the flame and suffocation. Not the helpless infant, clinging to the bosom of its mother, saved the life of either from the hand of the husband and father. The utmost excesses whether of revenge or rage, were exceeded by the atrocious prejudices which dictated and performed this horrible sacrifice. The massacre being finished, those who accomplished it returned, like men agitated by the furies, to die themselves on the walls. Mr. Law, who commanded one of the divisions, observed, whilst looking at the conflagration, that the number of the defenders was considerably diminished, and advanced again to the attack: after several ladders had failed, a few grenadiers got over the parapet, and maintained their footing in the tower until more secured, the possession. Rangarao hastening to the defence of the tower, was in this instant killed by a musket-ball. His fall encreased, if possible, the desperation of his friends; who, crowding to revenge his death, left the other parts of the ramparts bare; and the other divisions of the French troops, having advanced likewise to their respective attacks, numbers on all sides got over the parapet without opposition: nevertheless, none of the defenders quitted the rampart, or would accept quarter; but each fell advancing against, or struggling with, an antagonist; and even when fallen, and in the last agony, would resign his poignard only to death. The slaughter of the conflict being completed, another much more dreadful, presented itself in the area below: the transport of victory lost all its joy: all gazed on one another with silent astonishment and remorse, and the fiercest could not refuse a tear to the deplorable destruction spread before them. Whilst contemplating it, an old man, leading a boy, was perceived advancing from a distant recess; he was welcomed with much attention and respect, and conducted by the crowd to Mr. Law, to whom he presented the child with these