"^'^^ HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book III.
AP- 1752. alternative but to take the enemy '.s battery or to retreat. The former, if prac- ticable, was of course the more desirable, and was at once adopted, when a sergeant, who had been sent to reconnoitre, returned with the infoiTnation that the enemy had left the rear of the grove without any guard A strong detach- ment was immediately despatched towards the enemy's rear by a long circuit. Clive himself accompanied it half-way, and returned only in time to find the troops he had left in the water-course on the point of giving way. He succeeded with some difficulty in rallying them, and had renewed the fight, when all at once the enemy's artillery ceased to fire. The attack on the rear had been completely successful. The detachment reached the grove unperceived, and gave a general volley at the distance of only thirty yards. The panic was instantan- eous, and the enemy fled without firing another shot. Many of the Frenchmen who had crowded into a choultry in the grove gladly accepted of quarter, and became prisoners of war. Among the immediate fruits of the victory were nine field-pieces, three coehorn mortars, and the surrender of the fort of Cover}'pauk. Clive continued his march to Arcot, and was next day on his way to Vel- lore, in the hopes of inducing Mortiz Ali to piy a contribution, or at least deliver up the elephants and baggage which Rajah Saliib had deposited with him, when he received an order to repair with all his force to Fort St. David, from which it was determined to despatch him, in command of a reinforcement, to Trichino- A memorial poly. In marcliiug south across the country in obedience to this order, he
of Dupi^rx.^ passed the spot where Nazir Jung had lost his life, and where Dupleix, to com- memorate the very detestable action whic'.i he heralded as a victory, had foimded a city under the name of Dupleix- Fateabad, or the City of Dupleix's Victory. In its centre a column, with a pompous inscription in French, Persian, and several Indian languages, was to have been erected. Clive did an act of jus- tice, as well as sound policy, by levelling the whole with the ground. Though his route lay tlirough a country still nominally in the hands of the enemy, no obstruction was offered. Their spirits and their force were equally broken ; and Mahomed Ali, who lately did not possess any spot north of the Coleroon, was, ^ mainly by Clive's exploits, put in virtual possession, as nabob, of a territory sixty miles long by thirty broad, and yielding an annual revenue of £150,000. Three days after Clive's arrival at Fort St. David, Major Lawrence returned from England and again assumed the chief military command.
