with the loss of eight guns, and all their military stores; the officer in command, M. Kirjean, with 100 Europeans, being taken prisoner. This action, with the capture of Covelong and Chingleput by Clive, which were in reality two very desperate enterprises, closed the campaign of 1752. In 1753, as soon as the monsoon closed, the Mahrattas and Mysoreans having meanwhile gone over to the French, the Campaign of war was opened by an attack by the allies upon Trichino- 1753. poly, in which an English garrison had been left under Captain Dalton. It had been occupied in perpetual checks of the Mysore troops, which sought to gain possession, and at length endeavoured to reduce the garrison by famine. Dalton's provisions were nearly at an end, when he apprised Lawrence of the fact, who marched at once to his relief; and by a curious coincidence, arrived on the same day as a French detachment, which reinforced the troops already in possession of the Seringham pagoda. After a series of minor operations, an action ensued near the fort, on Septem- Action at ber 20, 1753, in which the French, in a spirited charge Trichinopoly, with the bayonet, were defeated, and their commander, French M. d'Autuc, taken prisoner. The forces of the allies were still, however, very numerous, and Major Lawrence and a considerable number of the troops being temporarily absent, the fort was assaulted on the night of November 27; but the attempt failed, and the loss of the French was very repulsed from severe. The repulse was, however, followed by a success, in which a convoy from Madras was surprised and cut off by the allied Mahrattas and Tanjoreans, assisted by the French, and in this manner the war continued till October 1754, the one party at times pressing the siege, and the other endeavouring to raise it, which occasioned many interesting and varied achievements. and the defeated. The French the fort. Commis Suspension of hostilities. Treaty be tween the English and At this crisis, M. Dupleix found himself superseded by M. Godeheu, who had been specially sent from France Arrival of to put an end to the war, and who reached India on stoner August 2, 1754; and on October 10, a suspension of Godeheu. hostilities was agreed upon between the French commissioner and Mr. Saunders, governor of Madras, which was continued for three months in anticipation of a general treaty. On December 26 the more formal French. treaty was executed, the first article of which specifies that the companies should renounce all 'Moorish dignities,' and refrain from further interference with native powers. The possessions of each were to be equalised, and are specified in the articles; and the treaty was to continue in force as made, pending the confirmation or otherwise of the respective authorities in Europe. At first sight there undoubtedly appears a decided sacrifice of interests by Failure of M. Fate of the French; and if the relinquishment of the Northern Circars had been actually included, no doubt would have been so. These territories, however, had been assigned by Salabut Jung to Bussy, in payment of his troops; and so fell out of the general category. But M. Dupleix's masterly policy for the sway of the Carnatic had been unduly broken up, his ally Chunda schemes. Sahib was dead; and though his son, a minor, survived, and was even put forward by Dupleix, the opposite party, strengthened by the English, had become too powerful. Dupleix's fate was a melancholy termination to his ambitious schemes. When he went back to France, his accounts proved his large claims on the Government; for, in support of his policy, he had not only used his own private funds to the extent of 300,000, but had borrowed largely. These debts were, however, repudiated by the French Government; and though a letter of protection was granted to him against his creditors, he died of anxiety and vexation, and in poverty-a second victim to the short-sighted policy and ignorance of the French nation. Nor can the eminent services of Mr. Saunders be passed over without remark. It is Mr. Saunders. questionable whether they were ever recognised; certain at least, that they were never rewarded as they should have been. But for his undaunted resolution, and perseverance under all difficulties, Mahomed Ally, unworthy as he was, would never have been adequately supported. Mr. Saunders, with true good faith which never swerved, was determined that the French should not possess a governor of the Carnatic wholly dependent upon them; and, amidst all difficulties and perplexities, calmly and perseveringly worked out his purpose till the arrival of M. Godeheu placed the question beyond issue, in the treaty which was obtained from him, which, more than success against them in the field, humiliated the French in the opinion of the natives of India, and laid the foundation of British ascendency. Services of of Bussy. Meanwhile M. Bussy had accompanied Salabut Jung, and the Proceedings army had advanced as far as the Krishna river, when it was met by that of the Péshwah, who, instructed from Dehly, was acting in the interest of Ghazee-ood-deen, the late Nizam-ool-Moolk's eldest son, and therefore the real successor to his dominions. An action was imminent, when the Péshwah received news from Sattara which obliged him to return. Shao had died in 1751; but before his demise, having no male offspring, he was induced to adopt Ráma, or Rám Rajah, the son, as was alleged, of the second Sivajee, whose existence had hitherto been concealed; but before Shao's death the Péshwah had contrived to obtain an instrument from him, in which he and his descendants office hereditarily. 413 were created the executive rulers of the Mahratta State, on condition of governing it in the name and on the behalf of The the great Sivajee's posterity. Sukwar Bye, the widow of Peshwah's Shao, would no doubt have opposed this arrangement, confirmed but under the effect of a taunting message from the Péshwah, who had discovered her conspiracy against him, she burned herself with her husband's body. It was a base and cruel alternative, and was assisted by the unhappy lady's brother; but it secured the Péshwah's present power, and its hereditary descent to his successors. The news received by the Péshwah now was that Tara Bye, the grandmother of Rám Rajah, had, with the assistance of several great chiefs, made a revolution at Sattara, by which Rám Rajah was to be delivered from the power of the. Péshwah; but the attempt proved abortive: the Rajah was kept in close confinement by Tara Bye herself, and the Gáikwar, who had aided her movement, was secured and imprisoned. and Salabut Mahrattas. The Péshwah was now at liberty to proceed against Salabut Jung, who, with M. Bussy, had reached Ahmed- War between nugger. Thence they advanced upon Poona, and the the Peshwah Mahratta army was defeated by a night attack on Jung. November 22, 1751. On the 27th, Salabut Jung was attacked in turn, and was saved only by the gallantry of the Defeat of the French; and the campaign continued, with occasional advantages, now to one side and now to the other, till Salabut Jung's troops, already discontented by arrears of pay, An armistice threatened to mutiny. Under Bussy's advice, there- ensues. fore, the Péshwah's overtures were accepted, and an armistice ensued. Although the terms of these overtures did not transpire, they may be readily imagined. The Péshwah had been in treaty with Ghazee-ood-deen, now on his way to the Deccan, and had been promised extensive territorial cessions for his assistance in the inevitable contest with Salabut Jung; and it is therefore probable, that these cessions were also promised by Salabut Jung should he succeed. Thus the Péshwah's neutrality was, for the present, apparently secured; while he evidently perceived that the side he should support in the contest must eventually prove victorious. Meanwhile, Rughoojee Bhóslay, during the campaign between Salabut Jung and the Péshwah, had invaded Western Berar, taken Gawilgurh and Narnalla, and occupied the country as far south as the Godavery. Ghazee-ooddeen was not opposed by his brother on his entry into the Deccan, and he was joined by the Péshwah, who, abandoning his promised neutrality, accompanied him to Aurungabad, and obtained from him the cession of the whole of the territory between the Tapty and the Godavery, which included Western Berar. While encamped near the city, Ghazee-ood-deen ac Ghazee-ooddeen poi soned, 1752. Salahut Jung viceroy of the Deccan. cepted an invitation from the mother of Nizam Ally, one of his father's widows who resided at Aurungabad, and partook of a poisoned dish, from the effects of which he almost directly expired. Whether the crime was instigated by Salabut Jung, or was one of the harem intrigues then only too common in great Mahomedan families, is nowhere explained; but no odium seems to have attached itself to Salabut Jung, now without a rival in the Deccan. As to confirmation from Dehly, it was not now needed as a matter of security, and would be acknowledged only as an honorary compliment. No opposition to Salabut Jung was offered, and under Bussy's advice, though unwillingly, he confirmed the grants to the Péshwah, already made by his brother, by which the Peyn Gunga became the southern boundary of the Mahratta possessions of Berar, the posts taken up by Rughoojee as far south as the Godavery being entirely with drawn. Bussy's conduct. Bussy's conduct throughout these events is entitled to the highest praise. It will be readily imagined that a foreigner, entirely unsupported, and dependent only upon a prince's precarious favour, would become a mark for jealousy and conspiracy. He had no private means of his own, and must depend upon what he could locally obtain for the pay of his troops. After some struggles with the executive minister, Syed Lushkur Khan, who desired the dismissal of the Europeans, Bussy, who had been obliged to go to Masulipatam for change of air, suddenly returned to Hyderabad, and marched to Aurungabad, where the court then was. His presence once more secured Salabut Jung, who dismissed his enemy; and, as a provision for the French auxiliaries, assigned to M. Bussy the whole of the eastern provinces, called the Northern Circars, the revenue of which amounted to fifty lacs, or 500,000l., per annum. No European power in India had ever acquired such a possession. It was fertile and productive; its coast was open for 600 miles, and communication with Hyderabad was easy and rapid. Nor did the convention of Pondicherry affect this possession, so long as M. Bussy remained the servant only of a native power. The country was well and moderately managed, and Bussy became as much distinguished by his civil administration as by his military talent. CHAPTER VI. THE PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH (continued), 1754 to 1756. and French ALTHOUGH the treaty of Pondicherry put an end to the actual war in the Carnatic between the French and English, situation of it did not prevent further undertakings in concert with the English native powers; while, on the other hand, the late and their allies could not understand why they should be de- native allies. barred from action by its provisions. Nunjeráj, the regent of Mysore, declared he would not depart till he had obtained Trichinopoly; while Mahomed Ally, the nawáb, considering he had a right to tribute from Madura and Tinnevelly, two small States to the southward, called upon the English for assistance. The Mysoreans were obliged to abandon their pretensions under an invasion of their dominions by the Péshwah; but the Madura expedition, which may be considered the first deliberate breach of the treaty, continued, and was prolonged by various The Peshwah circumstances for several years. In 1754, the Pésh- and Salabut wah proceeded to the Carnatic to levy the national the Carnatic. tribute, and Salabut Jung, accompanied by Bussy, also marched in the same direction. While Salabut Jung protected Mysore from the Mahrattas, he was bent upon exacting his tribute from that State, already impoverished by the expenses of the Bussy's Carnatic campaign; and under these separate interests position. Bussy was placed in a delicate position, as his nation was in alliance with Mysore; but he contrived to extricate himself from it with his usual address, claiming to Mysore that his presence alone had prevented the Péshwah from plundering the country-which, indeed, was true. Jung visit Colonel Clive, who had been absent on leave in England, returned to India in 1755; being sent out to Bombay Clive returns in command of a large detachment of troops. While to India. in England, he had afforded much information in regard to the effects of the treaty of Pondicherry, and the real His statestrength and position of M. Bussy in the Deccan; ments in and had shown clearly that, as he said, 'so long as there was one Frenchman in arms in the Deccan, or in India, there could be no peace. For his own part, he desired nothing better than to dispute the mastery of the Deccan with M. Bussy;' and it was perhaps then as privately clear to his England. |