The Life of Robert, Lord Clive, Vol. 1 (of 3): Collected from the Family Papers Communicated by the Earl of Powis — John Shaqi
The Life of Robert, Lord Clive, Vol. 1 (of 3): Collected from the Family Papers Communicated by the Earl of PowisMalcolm, John
History
The Life of Robert, Lord Clive, Vol. 1 (of 3): Collected from the Family Papers Communicated by the Earl of Powis
Malcolm, John
Clive, Robert Clive, Baron, 1725-1774; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947
with the English deserters; but, thinking it necessary to disavow such
an outrage, which might exclude them from any pretensions to quarter,
their officer immediately surrendered. By this time, the body of the
enemy's sepoys had passed out of the camp, with as little interruption
as they had entered it: but orders having been sent to the Mahrattas
to pursue them, Innis-Khan, with all his men, mounted at daybreak, and
came up with them in the open plain, before they gained the bank of the
Coleroon. The sepoys no sooner perceived them, than they flung away
their arms, and attempted to save themselves by dispersing; but the
Mahrattas, who never figure so much as in these cruel exploits, exerted
themselves with such activity, that, according to their own report, not
a single man of seven hundred escaped alive: it is certain that none
ever appeared to contradict this assertion. Besides the escapes already
mentioned, Captain Clive had another which was not discovered until the
hurry of the day was over, when it was found that the volley, which
the enemy fired into the choultry where he was sleeping, had shattered
a box that lay under his feet, and killed a servant who lay close to
him."
The mistakes of the night at Samiaveram were of a character more likely
to be created by the imagination of a dramatic poet, to give incident
and spirit to the sudden change of scene and action, than to take place
in real military operations; but no occurrence of his life called forth
in a more remarkable degree that quickness of perception and that calm
self-possession for which Clive was distinguished.
Major Lawrence, not wishing to hazard again the important post of
Samiaveram, sent a party of four hundred sepoys, five hundred Mahratta
horse, and four field-pieces, under Captain Dalton, to watch the
movements of Monsieur d'Autueil, who still remained at Utatore. The
French outposts were driven back in the dusk of the evening; and the
English, having been divided into two bodies, moved on the flanks of
the line with the hopes of deceiving them into a belief that it was the
whole of Clive's force which had come to assail them. The stratagem
succeeded. D'Autueil not only drew his troops within the walls of the
village, but evacuated it next morning, and retreated to Volcondah,
leaving to Captain Dalton's corps the ammunition and supplies he had
brought for the troops at Seringham. M. Law, who observed from the top
of the pagoda at Seringham the movement of Captain Dalton's detachment,
mistook it for that of Clive, and marched upon Samiaveram; but when he
found the whole body of the English stationed there drawn up to receive
him, he fell back on his position.
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