588
iII.ST(M{V Ol- INDIA
fB*^>oK III.
AD. 1757.
Attemi>ts of a party of Frdiich to excite a counter- rovolntion.
Coote's expeiUtiuii against tUem.
when he urged the new naljr^h to ])re.ss forward to Moorshedahad and endeavour to secure the person of SuniJMh Dowlah, niight have made him aware that u' mast not toucli his life. This precaution, which mere liumanity .seemed t>> dictate, he omitted to use; it may have been from oversiglit. When after- wards referring to the subject, in a long letter which he addre.s.sed to tiie secret committee of director.s, he contents himself with sajnng. " Surajah Dowlah was not discovered till some days after his flight; iiowevei", he was at last taken in the neighbourhood of Kajamahal, and brought to Moorshedabad on the 2d in.stant late at night. He was immediately cut off by the nabob's son. and, as it i.«. said, without the father's knowledge. Next morning the nabob paid me n visit, and thought it necessary to palliate the matter on motives of policv . for that Surajah Dowlah had wrote letters on the road to many of the jemidar.> of the army, and occasioned some commotions among tho.se in his favour." '
M. Law, after losing the opportunity of .saving Surajah Dowlah, and hearing of his capture, immediately marched back with his body of troops into Behar, intending to ofier their services to Kamnarain, the governor, who, as he had formerly promised to support Surajali Dowlah, would now, it was suppo.sed, not be disinclined to assume independence. By accepting of French assistance and forming alliances with neighbouring chiefs, it might be possible not only to .set the new nabob at defiance, but to assume the offensive, and cany the war into tiie very heart of Bengal. This danger seemed so formidable to Meer Jaftiei- that he immediately called Olive's attention to it, and urged the expediency of endeavouring to make prisoners of the French before they could reach Patna. The natural course would have been to have employed his own soldiei-s for this purpose. As yet, however, though he professed to have been called to the throne by the ])opular voice, he did not feel so secure as to be able to part with any of the troops on whose fidelity he could calculate, while, for very obvious reasons, it would have been madness to employ those whom he suspected. Clive easily saw the dilemma in which he was placed, and set his mind at ease by under- taking to send a detachment of his own troops in pursuit of the French. The detachment, consisting of 230 Europeans, 300 sepoys, fifty lascars, and two field- pieces, was placed under the command of Major Coote. The baggage and stores were laden in forty boats, which, besides being very imperfectly equipped were not ready to start from Moorshedabad before the Gth of July. By this time the French had got half-way to Patna, and were almost beyond the reach of captm-e. The expedition, howevei', deserves notice for the remarkable courage and perseverance displayed by those employed in it.
The troops arrived at Rajamahal on the 10th, and the boats on the 1 1th of July. Meer Cossim was expected to give all necessary assistance, but sent onl- 120 horsemen, who refused to proceed without two months' pay, and were therefore left behind. Major Coote, thus thrown on his own resources, set out
' Letter dated 26th Jul^. Memoirs of Cliie, vol. i. p. 2<j:i.
