'>32 ULSKjUY Ol' INDIA. [liooK 111
A. It. i7Mi. or })unlen. Their place was necoasaiily sujijditMl by the men themselves, who had to drag along two field-pieces and a timlird of ammunition. They set out
lih.i.iierH j^i^ fi^m- ijj ^]jg afternoon, and did not reach the vicinity of Budge Budge till eight next moniing. The whole march by land looks like a Ijlunder; and, indeed, is so characterized by Clive himself, who says, in a private letter to Mr. Pigott, tliat it was much against his inclination, and that he applied to the admiral for boats to land them at the very place where they arrived, after suffering " liard- ships not to be described."^ This blunder, therefore, was not his; but there was another of a still more serious nature from which he cannot be so easily excul- pated. The place occupied on arriving was a large hollow, probably a lake in the rainy season, as it was ten feet below the level of the plain. It was a mile and a half north-east of the fort, a mile from the river, and half-a-mile east of a highroad leading to Calcutta. The eastern and part; of the southern banks of the hollow were skirted by a village, which seemed to have been recently aban- doned. The two field-pieces were placed on the north side of this ^■illage. The plan of the ambuscade was as follows : — The grenadiers and 300 sepoys were detached to take possession of a village on the bank of the river adjoining the wall of the fort. The company of volunteers were posted in a thicket on the west side of the road. Clive with the rest of the troops continued in the hol- 1 nv. It was expected that when the garrison in the fort discovered the troops in possession of the village adjoining the north wall, they would mistake them for the whole of the attacking force, and vmder that impression endeavoured to escape by making for the highroad. While they were hastening along it the volunteers, opening upon them from the thicket, would drive them towards the hollow, whei-e their slaughter or captiu-e would be easily effected.
Asui-prise. The idea of dano-er to themselves seems never to have entered the mind of
the commander or his soldiers. They were all worn out with fatigue, and to make their rest more easy were allowed to quit their arms. Even the ordinary precaution of .stationing sentinels was neglected, and in a few minutes they were all asleep. Not so the enemy. The previous day Monichund had anived from Calcutta with 1 500 horse and 2000 foot. He was now encamped with them within a distance of two miles, and having by means of .spies made himself acquainted with all Clive's arrangements, was only watching the oppoi-tunity to turn them against himself. The troops, huddled in the hollow or scattered in the village, had not lain down above an hour when a volley from the east side of the village suddenly broke their slumbers. The soldiers rushed in alarm to that part of the hollow where their arms were grounded. Had a retreat out of the reach of the enemy's fire been ordered a fatal panic would probably have ensued ; but Clive, whose presence of mind never forsook him, made his men stand firm, and detached two platoons which forced their way into the ^^llage at the point of the bayonet. This gave time to the artillerymen, who on the firet
' Malcolm's Memoirs of Lord Clive, vol. i. page 153.
