Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/253

Rh these parties the one from the other; that the state of the soil, knee-deep with the mud created by the heavy rainfall, precluded the possibility of quick communication between them, at the same time that it rendered the progress of the guns extremely slow, he passed the leading column (George Hessing's) close to Ujjén, and dashed down upon McIntyre's two battalions at Núri, thirty-five miles from that place. His force was so overwhelming that, notwithstanding their obstinate resistance, he, in the end, forced them to surrender. Having thus placed an impassable distance between Hessing's detachment and the troops under Gautier and Brownrigg, he turned back and fell upon the former. The battle was long, obstinate, and bloody. The immensely superior fire of Holkar's artillery alone decided the day, nor was it until seven out of his enemy's eleven European officers had been killed, and three taken prisoners; until three-fifths likewise of their men had been killed and one-fifth wounded, that victory decided in favour of Holkar.

George Hessing is next heard of at Agra, commanding at that place when it was threatened by Lord Lake in