I
Chap. IX]
SURAJAH DOWLAH.
54-;5
a. heroic action so ignominiously neglected; for a single sloop, with fifteen brave ad ksc men on board, might, in spite of all the efforts of the enemy, have come up, and, anchoring under the fort, have carried away all who suffered in the dungeon."
The plunder of Calcutta fell far short of the nabob's expectations. No treasures were foi-thcoming except those of Omichund, who, in consequence of the hard measure dealt out to him
by the presidency, had not been .— *^_-,.^
permitted to remove them, and is said to have been pillaged of £4(),()()0 in money, besides many valual)les. Even the quantity and value of the Company's merchandise were less than might have been anticipated. The capture had been made at the wrong season. The investments provided had been shipped off before the previous April, when the mon- soon made navigation impossible; the imports of the past year had
been mostly disposed of, and no new monument to those who penshea in the Black Hole, Calcutta—
the WriUrj Buildings in the background. i—Danielli Oriental Scenerj
cargoes had yet anived from Eng- land. Owing to these causes the Companv's loss in goods was estimated at not tI'o nai.oi) s
° i ^ D ^ disapi«>iiit
more than £200,000. Even of this only a small portion escaped the hands of ment. the soldiers, or the embezzlement of the officials, who should have accounted for it to the treasury. The nabob therefore had made, on the whole, only a barren conquest, and consoled himself for the disappointment in the maunei- suitable to his character, by pompously changing the name of Calcutta to Alinagore, or the Port of God, in commemoration of his victor}^ and by mal- treating Mr. Hoi well and his two companions, who were sent as prisonei"s ti ' Moorehedabad, and subjected to much hardship and indignity. The nabolj, flattering himself that the British would never dare to show themselves again in Bengal, left Monichund in command of Calcutta, with a gamson of 3000 men, and proceeded homewards to cany out the expedition against Punieah, which "'* '*"!'" he had so suddenly abandoned. After crossing the Hooghly Avith his army he determined to make the Dutch and French factories feel the weigiit of his dis- pleasure. In passing southward he had imperiously ordered them to join his standard with all their forces. They declined; and he now sent a message threatening them with extirpation if they did not forthwith send him a large contribution by way of fine. Ultimately the Dutch compounded for £45,000,
ture
' This obelisk was erected by Governor Holwell,
in 1756. It is not undeserving of notice, that Mr.
Holwell himself survived the catastrophe more than
ferry years, and died in 1798, aged eighty-seven. The
Vol. I.
Writers' Buildings were so called from being the residence of the junior officers of the East India Com- pany. Immediately beyond this edifice is the old court-house ; the road leads on to the Lall Bazaar.
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