Three Frenchmen in Bengal: The Commercial Ruin of the French Settlements in 1757Hill, Samuel Charles
History
Three Frenchmen in Bengal: The Commercial Ruin of the French Settlements in 1757
Hill, Samuel Charles
Bengal (India) -- History; Courtin, Jacques Ignace, active 18th century; French -- India; Law, John, 1719-; Renault, Pierre
"The state of the people of Lucknow city, the residence
of the Nawab, was hardly better. The evil was perhaps less
evident owing to the variety of objects, but from what one
could see from time to time nature did not suffer less. The
environs of the palace were covered with poor sick people
lying in the middle of the roads, so that it was impossible
for the Nawab to go out without causing his elephant to
tread on the bodies of several of them, except when he had
the patience to wait and have them cleared out of the way--an
act which would not accord with Oriental ideas of
grandeur. In spite of this there were few accidents. The
animal used to guide its footsteps so as to show it was
more friendly to human beings than men themselves
were."
At Lucknow Suja-ud-daula greeted him with a sympathetic interest,
which Law quaintly likens to that shown by Dido for Aeneas, but
money was not forthcoming, and Law soon found that Suja-ud-daula was
not on sufficiently good terms with the Mogul's[110] Vizir[111] at
Delhi to risk an attack on Bengal. On the 18th of October he
returned to Allahabad, with the intention of going to Delhi to see
what he could do with the Vizir, but as it might have been dangerous
to disclose his object, he pretended he was going to march south to
Bussy in the Deccan, and obtained a passport from the Maratha
general, Holkar. This took some time, and it was not till March,
1758, that he started for Delhi. He reached Farukhabad without
difficulty, and on the 21st entered the country of the Jats. On the
evening of the 23rd a barber, who came into their camp, warned the
French they would be attacked. The next day the Jats, to the number
of 20,000, attacked them on the march. The fight lasted the whole
day, and the French fired 6000 musket shots and 800 cannon. The
cannon-balls were made of clay moulded round a pebble, and were
found sufficiently effective in the level country.
Soon after they arrived at Delhi, only to find the Marathas masters
of the situation and in actual possession of the person of the
Shahzada, or Crown Prince.[112] The Prince was friendly, gave Law
money, and eagerly welcomed the idea of attacking Bengal, but he was
himself practically a prisoner. The Vizir, too, could do nothing,
and would give no money. The Marathas amused him with promises, and
tried to trap him into fighting their battles. No one seemed to know
anything about what had happened in Bengal. He spoke to several of
the chief men about the English.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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