538
Jll.S'JOl'.V OF JNlJJA
[Book III.
Sir:ijali Dciwlah's
•iilvance uDon Cal- cutta.
AD, 1756. afldressed to Ortiicliund, Ly the hetid 8py, and advi.sing liiin to put liis effects out of danger. This confirmuig tlie .suspicion ])reviouHly entertained, Oniiehund was immediately put under strict confinement in the fort. Kissendass wa.s, in lik« manner, confined; but when an attempt was made toappreliend (^michundw brother-in-law, a serious fray took place. He had concealed himself in the female apartments, and not only did all the peons and armed domestics in Omichunds seiB/ice resolutely resist a forcible entrance into them, but the person at their head, a native of high caste, to save the women from the dishonour of being exposed to strangers, rushed in, slew thirteen of them with Ids own hand, and tlien stabbed himself Meanwhile the nabob was ha.stening forward with such expedition that many of his troops died of fatigue and .sun-stroke. On the 1 otii of June he reached Hooghly, and immediately after transported his army to the Calcutta side, by means of an immense fleet of boats. The militia and rnilitai-}-
A ^
n-a. T e n t s
^°^^'
A a
THE TEPPtTORr
CALCUTTA
IN 1757
fiis first operations.
immediately repaired to their posts, and all the natives took to flight, with the exception of about 2000 Portuguese, whose claim as Christians was so far recog- nized as to procm'e them admission into the fort.
At noon of the 16th the nabob was seen approaching from the north. His first movement showed that he had not taken any means to acquaint himself with the locality. Had he turned eastward he would have arrived 'where the Mahratta Ditch had not been completed, and met with no obstacle. Instead of this he came directly in front of a deep ri^Tilet, where it enters the Hooghly, and formed of itself so strono- a defence as to render the ditch unnece.ssarv. There was indeed a bridge over it, but this was defended by a redoubt, which had recently been erected, and the approach to it was, moreover, flanked by a 'ship of eighteen guns, which had been stationed there for that purpose. When the point of attack was perceived the greater part of the Company's matchlock- men were posted near the banks of the riviilet. The first of the nabob's oj^e rations was to send forward a detachment of 4000 men, with four pieces of
