Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/370

364 The conduct of the expedition was committed to Lieutenant-Colonel Forde, who, on the invitation of the presidency to take the command of the army in case of the departure of Colonel Clive, had quitted the king's service in Adlercron's regiment, and arrived from the coast in the month of April. Mr. George Grey was sent to continue the course of intelligence at Cutteck, and Mr. John Johnstone was dispatched in the Mermaid sloop to make the necessary preparations in concert with Anunderauze at Vizagapatam. The force allotted for the expedition was 500 Europeans, including the artillery-men, 2000 Sepoys, and 100 Lascars: the artillery were six field-pieces, the best brass six-pounders, six 24-pounders for battery, a howitz, and an eight-inch mortar. Eighty thousand rupees, and 4000 gold mohurs, equivalent to 60,000 rupees, were the military chest for immediate expences. The embarkation was made on three of the Company's ships lately arrived from Europe, on the Thames, a private ship of 700 tons, with two of the pilot sloops of the river. The Thames likewise carried a great quantity of provisions intended for Madrass, whither she was to proceed as soon as the present service would permit. By altercations in the council, for the measure was too vigorous to be acceptable to all of them, and by delays in the equipment, the vessels were detained in the river until the end of September. Their departure left the English force in the province barely equal to what they carried away.

The progress of this expedition after the departure of the armament bears more relation to the affairs of Coromandel than of Bengal. The events which immediately ensued in the provinces of Behar and Bengal, originated in the distractions which had for many years prevailed at Delhi, the capital of the empire, and from the views and operations of a variety of great interests and powers acting in the center of Indostan. The developement of these causes, and their effects, require an uninterrupted investigation of no little complication and extent. But the important and nearer contest already opened between the English and French nations in the Carnatic, continues from this time forth with such incessant energy, that our