Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/69

 ROBERT, LORD CLIVE 247 storm ; he was defeated with great loss, principally by Clive's personal exertions, upon which he abandoned the siege, leaving behind him a large quantity of military stores. Clive followed up his victory with great vigor, and the government of Mad- ras, encouraged by his success, resolved to send him with a strong detachment to reinforce the garrison of Trichinopoly. Just at this conjuncture, however, Major Lawrence returned from England and assumed the chief command. If Clive was mortified by the change, he soon overcame his feelings ; he cheerfully placed him- self under the command of his old friend, and exerted himself as strenuously in the second post as when he held the chief command. The French had no leaders fit to cope with the two friends, and the English triumphed everywhere. The be- siegers of Trichinopoly were themselves besieged, and compelled to capitulate. Chunda Sahib fell into the hands of the Mahrattas, and was put to death at the instigation of his rival. The forts of Covelong and Chingleput were taken by Clive, though his forces consisted of raw recruits, little better than an undisci- plined rabble. Dupleix, however, was not driven to despair, but still sought means of renewing the contest. After the capture of Chingleput, Clive returned to Madras, where he married Miss Maskelyne, sister to the Astronomer Royal, and immediately after returned to England. He was received with great honors by the Court of Directors, and, through the influence of Lord Sandwich, obtained a seat in Parliament ; but his election having been set aside, he again turned his thoughts toward India, where both the company and the government were eager to avail themselves of his ser- vices. The directors appointed him governor of Fort St. David ; the king gave him the commission of a lieutenant-colonel in the British army ; and thus doubly authorized, he returned to Asia in 1755. The first service on which he was employed after his return to the East was the reduction of the stronghold of Gheriah. This fortress, built on a craggy pro- montory, and almost surrounded by the ocean, was the den of a pirate named Angria, whose ships had long been the terror of the Arabian seas. Admiral Wat- son, who commanded the English squadron, burned Angria's fleet, while Clive at- tacked the fastness by land. The place soon fell, and a booty of a hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling was divided among the conquerors. About two months after Clive had entered on his government at Fort St. Davnd, intelligence was received of the destruction of the English settlement at Calcutta by Surajah Dowlah, the Nabob of Bengal. Although scarcely any re- sistance had been made, the English prisoners, 146 in number, were all thrust into a close and narrow apartment called the Black Hole, which, in such a cli- mate, would have been too close and too narrow for a single prisoner. Their sufferings during the dreadful night, until death put an end to the misery of most, cannot be described ; 123 perished before morning, and the survivors had to be dug out of the heap formed by the dead bodies of their companions. The authorities at Madras, on receiving this intelligence, resolved to avenge the outrage ; 900 Europeans and 1,500 Sepoys, under the command of Clive,