Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/580

556 and all the Europeans excepting three were killed: the Sepoys, not being so much the object of this treachery, suffered less. Mr. Moracin immediately returned to Ganjam, and encamped within and round the French factory, which is on the river-side; and threw up works sufficient to protect his detachment from attacks through the avenues of the town, which Narraindeu, and his allies, surrounded. Of the two ships which brought the detachment, the Harlem had been dispatched to Arracan for provisions, and the Bristol had been driven ashore in a hard gale of wind, before the troops marched to Burrampore. There was on the stocks on the river side a large snow; and in the river, several smaller vessels belonging to the factory, in which they intended to return to Pondicherry with the northern monsoon, after the English squadron should have quitted the coast. In the mean time, they continued for many days, skirmishing with the troops of Narraindeu, who at length offered to treat, which produced a cessation of hostilities, but no terms of reconciliation; for the demands of the French were in proportion to the injuries they had received; and Narraindeu only meant to save the expences of the field, with security that the French troops would not make incursions into his country, after his own should have returned to their quarters. This they promised, and remained quiet. In the mean time letters from Narraindeu to Colonel Clive arrived in Bengal, requesting him to send a body of Europeans, which, joined by his own force, might easily take or destroy the whole of the French detachment with Moracin. The report of the deserters confirmed the feasibility of this project. But the dubious state of the English affairs, and the decrease of their military force in Bengal scarcely permitted any farther diminution of it: however, Colonel Clive, with his usual spirit of enterprize, determined to try the experiment. Sixty Europeans, half of them artillery men, were embarked on the Hardwicke, which had 100 Europeans as her crew. The ship sailed out of the river on the 30th of September, and on the 7th of October anchored in the road of Ganjam under Dutch colours. Two French officers immediately came on board to enquire news and were detained prisoners. Captain Sampson then went ashore under