Three Frenchmen in Bengal Part 8

Law could do nothing at Delhi, and it was only by bribing the Maratha general that he obtained an escort through the Jat country to Agra. Most of his soldiers were glad to be off, but about 60 Europeans deserted with their arms to Delhi, where the Vizir offered them pay as high as 50 rupees a month. M. Jobard was nearly killed by some of them when he tried to persuade them to return to duty, but, a few months after, more than half rejoined Law.

From Agra, Law went to Chatrapur in Bundelkand, where apparently, though he does not say so, he was in the service of the Raja Indrapat. His stay lasted from the 10th of June, 1758, to February, 1759. In order to keep on good terms with the inhabitants, who were almost all Hindus, Law forbade his men to kill cattle or any of the sacred birds, or to borrow anything without his permission, and at the same time severely punished all disorderly behaviour. The people having never heard of Christians, thought the French must be a kind of Muhammadans, but they could not make out from what country they came. Seeing them drink a red wine of which they had a few bottles, they thought they were drinking blood, and were horrified, but the good behaviour of the men soon put them on friendly terms.

Early in 1759 the Shahzada at last invaded Bengal, and on the 5th of February Law marched to join him; but the invasion was badly managed, and was an absolute failure. On the 28th of May Law was back at Chatrapur. The only result of the invasion was that the lands of a number of Rajas in Bihar were plundered by Miran, son of Mir Jafar, and the English. These Rajas were all Hindus.

"They had an understanding with Ramnarain. All these Rajas, of whom there is a great number in the dependencies of Bengal, united to each other by the same religion, mutually support each other as much as they can. They detest the Muhammadan Government, and if it had not been for the Seths, the famous bankers, with whom they have close connections, it is probable that after the Revolution in which Siraj-ud-daula was the victim, they would all have risen together to establish a Hindu Government, from which the English would not have obtained all the advantages they did from the Muhammadan."

In 1759 the Dutch risked a quarrel with the English. They refused, however, any a.s.sistance from Law, who, far away as he was, heard all about it. They were defeated at Biderra on the 25th of November. The effect of this was to reduce Bengal to such tranquillity that Clive considered it safe to visit England. The Shahzada, however, thought the opportunity a favourable one for another invasion, and on the 28th of February, 1760, Law again started to join him. Patna was besieged, and, according to Broome, was very nearly captured, owing to Law's skill and the courage of his Frenchmen. In fact, the French were on the ramparts, when Dr. Fullerton and the English sepoys arrived just in time to drive them back.[113]

The siege was raised, and the Prince's general, Kamgar Khan, led the army about the country with apparently no object but that of plunder. This suited the Marathas, but did not suit Law. On one occasion he was ordered with his own troops and a body of Marathas to capture the little fort of Soupy. The French stormed it at three o'clock in the morning, but found that the Marathas, who had carefully avoided the breach, had swarmed the walls, where there was no one to oppose them, and were carrying off the plunder.

"My chief occupation and that of the officers, for more than five hours during which we stayed in Soupy, was to keep our soldiers and sepoys from bayoneting the Marathas, who, without having incurred the least danger, had, by their cleverness and lightness, carried off more than twenty times as much as our own men, observing among themselves a kind of order in their plundering, very like that of monkeys when they strip a field."

In fact, Law had a personal altercation with the Maratha commander about a young and beautiful Hindu woman, whom the Maratha wished to seize, but whom Law was determined to restore unhurt to her relations, who lived in a village close by.

For the capture of the fort, Law received from the Shahzada various high-sounding t.i.tles and the right to have the royal music played before him; but as he could not afford to entertain the native musicians, he allowed the privilege to sleep.

In 1760 Mr. Vansittart a.s.sumed the Governors.h.i.+p of Bengal, and his first act was to complete the project begun by his predecessor, Mr.

Holwell, namely, the dethronement of Mir Jafar. This was effected on the 20th of October, 1760; the ex-Nawab went quietly to Calcutta, and Mir Kasim reigned in his stead. The Shahzada had now become Emperor by the death of his father, and had a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Shah Alam. He was still hanging with his army round Patna, and Mir Kasim and the English determined to bring him to book. Kamgar Khan continued to lead the Imperial army aimlessly about the country, and in January, 1761, found himself near the town of Bihar. He had 35 to 40 thousand cavalry, maintained chiefly by plunder, but his only musketeers and artillery were those commanded by Law, i.e. 125 Europeans and 200 sepoys, with 18 guns of small calibre. The British commander, Major Carnac, had 650 Europeans and 5 to 6 thousand sepoys, with 12 guns. Mir Kasim had some 20,000 cavalry, and the same number of musketeers, all good troops, for "everybody was paid in the army of Kasim Ali Khan."[114]

On the 14th of January, scouts brought word of the approach of the English. The Emperor consulted Law, who advised a retreat, but he was not deficient in courage, and determined to fight. The next day was fought the battle of Suan.[115]

"At the dawn of day we heard that the enemy were on the march, and that they would quickly appear. No disposition of our army had yet been made by Kamgar Khan, who, in fact, troubled himself very little about the matter.

It was at first decided to re-enter the camp, so I put my men as much as possible under shelter behind a bank, along which I placed my guns in what I thought the most useful positions. About 6 or 7 o'clock the enemy were seen advancing in good order, crossing a ca.n.a.l[116] full of mud and water, the pa.s.sage of which might have been easily contested had we been ready soon enough; but everything was neglected.

For some time we thought the enemy were going to encamp by the ca.n.a.l, but, seeing that they were still advancing, the order was given to go and meet them. The whole army was quickly out of the camp, divided into several bodies of cavalry, at the head of which were, on their elephants, the Emperor, the Generalissimo Kamgar Khan, and other princ.i.p.al chiefs. Scarcely were we out of the camp when we were halted to await the enemy, everything in the greatest confusion; one could see no distinction between right, left, and centre, nothing that had the appearance of an army intending to attack or even to defend itself.

"An aide-de-camp brought me an order to march ahead with all my troop, and to place myself in a position which he pointed out, a good cannon-shot away. Abandoned to ourselves we should have been exposed to all the fire of the English, artillery and even to be outflanked by the enemy and captured at the first attack. We advanced a few paces in obedience to the order, but, seeing no one move to support us, I suspected they wanted to get rid of us. I therefore brought back my men to where I had first placed them, on a line about 200 paces in front of the army.

"The enemy advanced steadily. The English at their head with all their artillery were already within range of our guns. They quickly placed their pieces in two batteries to the right and left, and kept up a very lively cross fire.

In a very short time, having killed many men, elephants, and horses--amongst others one of mine--they caused the whole of the Prince's army to turn tail. Kamgar Khan, at their head, fled as fast as he could, without leaving a single person to support us. The enemy's fire, opposed to which ours was but feeble, continued steadily. We were forced to retire, and did so in good order, having had some soldiers and sepoys killed and one gun dismounted, which we left on the field of battle. We regained the village, which sheltered us for a time. The enemy started in pursuit. Unluckily, as we issued from the village, our guns traversing a hollow road, we were stopped by ditches and channels full of mud, in which the guns stuck fast. As I was trying to disengage them the English reached us, and surrounded us so as to cut off all retreat. Then I surrendered with 3 or 4 officers and about 40 soldiers who were with me, and the guns. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th of January, 1761, a moment whose malign influence it was as it were impossible to resist, since it was that of the surrender of Pondicherry,[117] a place 300 leagues away from us."

Gholam Husain Khan has left a graphic description of this incident.

"Monsieur Law, with the small force and the artillery which he could muster, bravely fought the English themselves, and for some time he made a s.h.i.+ft to withstand their superiority. Their auxiliaries consisted of large bodies of natives, commanded by Ramnarain and Raj Balav, but the engagement was decided by the English, who fell with so much effect upon the enemy that their onset could not be withstood by either the Emperor or Kamgar Khan. The latter, finding he could not resist, turned about and fled.

The Emperor, obliged to follow him, quitted the field of battle, and the handful of troops that followed M. Law, discouraged by this flight and tired of the wandering life which they had hitherto led in his service, turned about likewise and followed the Emperor. M. Law, finding himself abandoned and alone, resolved not to turn his back. He bestrode one of his guns and remained firm in that posture, waiting the moment for his death. This being reported to Major Carnac, he detached himself from his main body with Captain Knox and some other officers, and he advanced to the man on the gun, without taking with him either a guard or any Telingas[118] at all. Being arrived near, this troop alighted from their horses, and, pulling their caps from their heads, they swept the air with them, as if to make him a _salam_; and this salute being returned by M. Law in the same manner, some parley followed in their own language.

The Major, after paying high encomiums to M. Law for his perseverance, conduct, and bravery, added these words: 'You have done everything that could be expected from a brave man; and your name shall be undoubtedly transmitted to posterity by the pen of history; now loosen your sword from your loins, come amongst us, and abandon all thoughts of contending with the English.' The other answered that, if they would accept of his surrendering himself just as he was he had no objection, but that as to surrendering himself with the disgrace of being without his sword, it was a shame he would never submit to, and that they might take his life if they were not satisfied with that condition. The English commanders, admiring his firmness, consented to his surrendering himself in the manner he wished; after which the Major, with his officers, shook hands with him in their European manner, and every sentiment of enmity was instantly dismissed on both sides. At the same time that commander sent for his own _palky_, made him sit in it, and he was sent to the camp. M. Law, unwilling to see or to be seen, in that condition, shut up the curtains of the _palky_ for fear of being recognized by any of his friends at camp, but yet some of his acquaintances, hearing of his having arrived, went to him; these were Mir Abdulla and Mustapha Ali Khan. The Major, who had excused him from appearing in public, informed them that they could not see him for some days, as he was too much vexed to receive any company.

Ahmed Khan Koreis.h.i.+, who was an impertinent talker, having come to look at him, thought to pay his court to the English by joking on this man's defeat--a behaviour that has nothing strange [in it] if we consider the times in which we live and the company he was accustomed to frequent; and it was in that notion of his, doubtless, that with much pertness of voice and air he asked him this question: '_And Bibi La.s.s,[119] where is she_?' The Major and the officers present, shocked at the impropriety of the question, reprimanded him with a severe look and very severe expressions. 'This man,'

they said, 'has fought bravely, and deserves the attention of all brave men; the impertinences which you have been offering him may be customary amongst your friends and your nation, but cannot be suffered in ours, who has it for a standing rule never to offer an injury to a vanquished foe.'

Ahmed Khan, checked by this reprimand, held his tongue, and did not answer a word. He tarried about one hour more in his visit, and then went away much abashed; and although he was a commander of importance, and one to whom much honour had always been paid, no one did speak to him any more, or made a show of standing up at his departure. This reprimand did much honour to the English; and it must be acknowledged, to the honour of those strangers, that as their conduct in war and battle is worthy of admiration, so, on the other hand, nothing is more modest and more becoming than their behaviour to an enemy, whether in the heat of action or in the pride of success and victory. These people seem to act entirely according to the rules observed by our ancient commanders and our men of genius."

Gholam Husain Khan says the victory was decided by the English; the following quotation from Major Carnac's Letter to the Select Committee at Calcutta, dated the 17th of January, 1761, shows how the courage of the British forces saved them from a great disaster.

"It gives me particular pleasure to inform you that we have not lost a man in the action, but a few of the Nawab's troops who had got up near our rear suffered considerably from the explosion of one of the French tumbrils. It seems the enemy had lain a train to it in hopes of it's catching while our Europeans were storming the battery, but fortunately we were advanced two or three hundred yards in the pursuit before it had effect, and the whole shock was sustained by the foremost of the Nawab's troops who were blown up to the number of near four hundred, whereof seventy or eighty died on the spot."[120]

Law continues:--

"The next morning, as the English army started in pursuit of the Emperor Shah Alam, Major Carnac, from whom, I must mention in pa.s.sing, I received all possible marks of attention and politeness, sent me to Patna, where in the English Chief, Mr. McGwire, I found an old friend, who treated me as I should certainly have treated him in like circ.u.mstances. I was in need of everything, and he let me want for nothing."

Thus ended Law's attempt to maintain the French party in Bengal. All hopes of a French attack in force on Calcutta had long since disappeared, and, under the circ.u.mstances, his capture was fortunate for himself and his comrades. Most of the latter were gradually picked up by the English. Law was sent to Calcutta, and left Bengal in 1762. He was now only forty-two years of age. On his arrival in France he found his services much appreciated by his countrymen, and was made a Chevalier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, and a Colonel of Infantry. Later on he was appointed Commissary for the King, Commandant of the French Nation in the East Indies, and Governor of Pondicherry. Law's account of his adventures was commenced at Paris in 1763.[121] There exist letters written by him to the historian Robert Orme, dated as late as 1785, which show the strong interest he always retained in the affairs of Bengal, where with adequate resources he might have played a much more distinguished part.

We have seen a town besieged by a foreign army; we have seen the Court of a great Prince distracted by internal dissensions and trembling at the approach of a too-powerful enemy, and now we shall pa.s.s to the quiet retreats of rural Bengal, which even their remoteness could not save from some share in the troubles of the time. In those days, even more than at present, the rivers were the great highways of the country, but it needs personal acquaintance with them to enable us to realize the effect they produce upon the mind of a European. As a rule comparatively shallow, in the dry weather they pursue a narrow winding course in the middle of a sandy waste, but in the Rains they fill their beds from side to side, overtop the banks, and make the country for miles around a series of great lakes, studded with heavily wooded islands. Amidst these one can wander for days hardly seeing a single human being, and hearing nothing but the rus.h.i.+ng of the current and the weird cries of water-birds; at other times the prow of one's boat will suddenly push itself through overhanging branches into the very midst of a populous village. At first all is strange and beautiful, but after a short time the feeling grows that every scene is a repet.i.tion; the banks, the trees, the villages, seem as if we have been looking at them for a thousand years, and the monotony presses wearily on mind and heart. It was in a country of this kind that Courtin and his little band of Frenchmen and natives evaded capture for nearly nine months, and it adds to our admiration for his character to see how his French gaiety of heart unites with his tenderness for his absent wife, not only to conceal the deadly monotony of his life in the river districts during the Rains, and the depressing and disheartening effect of the noxious climate in which he and his companions had to dwell, but also to make light of the imminent danger in which he stood from the unscrupulous human enemies by whom he was surrounded.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 65: From certain letters it appears that, strictly speaking, the English Factory alone was at Cossimbazar, the French being at Saidabad, and the Dutch at Calcapur. Both Saidabad and Calcapur were evidently close to Cossimbazar, if not parts of it.]

[Footnote 66: George Lodewijk Vernet, Senior Merchant.]

[Footnote 67: The historian Malleson also confuses the two brothers.]

[Footnote 68: The best copy I have seen is that in the Ma.n.u.script Department of the British Museum.]

[Footnote 69: Gholam Husain Khan says that Siraj-ud-daula was born in the year in which Aliverdi Khan obtained from the Emperor the _firman_ for Bihar. This, according to Scrafton, was 1736, and the connection of his birth with this auspicious event was the prime cause of his grandfather's great reference for him.]

[Footnote 70: See note, p. 88.]

[Footnote 71: Uncle of Siraj-ud-daula, who died so shortly before the death of Aliverdi Khan, that it was supposed he was poisoned to ensure Siraj-ud-daula's accession.]

[Footnote 72: Fazl-Kuli-Khan. _Scrafton_.]

[Footnote 73: Law says; "The rumour ran that M. Drake replied to the messengers that, since the Nawab wished to fill up the Ditch, he agreed to it provided it was done with the heads of Moors. I do not believe he said so, but possibly some thoughtless young Englishman let slip those words, which, being heard by the messengers, were reported to the Nawab."]

[Footnote 74: Europeans. Properly, Franks or Frenchmen. This term was generally applied by Europeans to the half-caste descendants of the Portuguese.]

[Footnote 75: Captains or generals: a term of somewhat indefinite meaning.]

[Footnote 76: In alliance with Salabat Jang, Bussy temporarily acquired a large territory for the French.]

[Footnote 77: "After Mr. Law had given us a supply of clothes, linen, provisions, liquors, and cash, we left his Factory with grateful hearts and compliments." _Holwell_. Letter to Mr. Davis, February 28, 1757.]

[Footnote 78: Imperial Charter.]

[Footnote 79: For an explanation of the influence of the Seths, see pp. 84, 85, and note.]

[Footnote 80: Ramnarain is an interesting character. He appears to have been one of the most faithful of the adherents of the house of Aliverdi Khan and on its extinction of the English connection. His gallantry in battle is referred to by Colonel Ironside. _Asiatic Annual Register_, 1800.]

[Footnote 81: The official intimation reached Admiral Watson in January, 1757, but apparently not the formal orders from the Admiralty. See page 30.]

[Footnote 82: In a letter to the Secret Committee, London, dated October 11, 1756, Clive writes: "I hope we shall be able to dispossess the French of Chandernagore." So it is evident that he came with this intention to Bengal.]

[Footnote 83: Clive describes Hugli as "the second city in the kingdom." _Letter to Lord Hardwicke, Feb_. 23, 1757.]

[Footnote 84: Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.]

[Footnote 85: Hearing that Seth Mahtab Rai was to marry a wonderfully beautiful woman, he forced the Seths to let him see the young lady. _Scrafton_.]

[Footnote 86: "If one is to believe certain English writers, the Seths were an apparently insurmountable obstacle to the project because of the money we owed them, as if in their perilous position these bankers would not be inclined to sacrifice something to save the greater part. Besides, we shall see by what follows that they sacrificed nothing." _Law_. The extraordinary influence of these people was due not so much to their dealings with the head of the State as to the fact that native princes generally make payments, not in cash, but in bonds. It therefore depends on the bankers what any man shall get for his bonds. In this way an official, even when paid by the State, may be ruined by the bankers, who are merely private persons.]