were of short duration. They had been left at the disposal of the officers of the guard, who determined to secure them for the night in the common dungeon of the fort, a dungeon known to the English by the name of "the Black Hole,”-its size only eighteen feet by fourteen; its airholes only two small windows, and these overhung by a low veranda. Into this cell, — hitherto designed and employed for the confinement of some half dozen malefactors at a time, was it now resolved to thrust an hundred and forty-five European men and one Englishwoman, some of them suffering from recent wounds, and this in the night of the Indian summer-solstice, when the fiercest heat was raging! Into this cell accordingly the unhappy prisoners, in spite of their expostulations, were driven at the point of the sabre, the last, from the throng and narrow space, being pressed in with considerable difficulty, and the doors being then by main force closed and locked behind them.

Of the doleful night that succeeded narratives have been given by two of the survivors, Mr. Holwell and Mr. Cooke. The former, who even in this extremity was still in some degree obeyed as chief, placed himself at a window, called for silence, and appealed to one of the Nabob's officers, an old man, who had shown more humanity than the rest, promising him a thousand rupees in the morning if he would find means to separate the prisoners into two chambers. The old man went to try, but returned in a few minutes with the fatal sentence that no change could be made without orders from the Nabob, that the Nabob was asleep,- and that no one dared to disturb him.

Meanwhile within the dungeon the heat and stench had become intolerable. It was clear to the sufferers themselves that, without a change, few, if any, amongst them would see the light of another day. Some attempted to burst open the door; others, as unavailingly, again besought the soldiers to unclose it. As their dire thirst increased, amidst their struggles and their screams, "Water! Water!" became the general cry. The officer, to whose compassion Mr. Holwell had lately appealed, desired some skins of water to be brought to the window; but they proved too large to pass through the iron bars,

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and the sight of this relief, so near and yet withheld, served only to infuriate and well-nigh madden the miserable captives; they began to fight and trample one another down, striving for a nearer place to the windows, and for a few drops of the water. These dreadful conflicts, far from exciting the pity of the guards, rather moved their mirth; and they held up lights to the bars, with fiendish glee, to discern the amusing sight more clearly. On the other hand, several of the English, frantic with pain, were now endeavouring by every term of insult and invective to provoke these soldiers to put an end to their agony by firing into the dungeon. "Some of our

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company," says Mr. Cooke, "expired very soon after being put in; others grew mad, and having lost their senses, died in a high delirium." At length, and by degrees, these various outcries sunk into silence, - but it was the silence of death. When the morning broke, and the Nabob's order came to unlock the door, it became necessary first to clear a lane, by drawing out the corpses, and piling them in heaps on each side, when,-walking one by one through the narrow outlet,-of the 146 persons who had entered the cell the evening before, only twenty-three came forth; the ghastliest forms, says Mr. Orme, that were ever seen alive!

It does not appear that Surajah Dowlah had in any degree directed or intended the horrors of that night. But he made himself what might be termed in legal phrase an accessary after the fact. He expressed neither sympathy with those who had suffered nor resentment at those who had wrought the inhuman outrage. When in the morning Mr. Holwell was by his orders again brought before him,-unable to stand, and propped up between two guards, the Nabob talked only of the great treasure which he was sure the English had buried, and threatened further injuries, unless it were revealed. But after sufferings like those of Mr. Holwell threats can no longer cause dismay. In Mr. Holwell's own words: "Such "intimations gave me no manner of concern, for at that "juncture I should have esteemed death the greatest "favour the tyrant could have bestowed upon me."— In his treatment of the dead, as of the living, the brutal temper of the tyrant was shown. The corpses drawn

from the Black Hole were rudely and promiscuously cast into a large trench dug without the castle-wall. An Englishwoman, the only one of her sex among the sufferers, and who, strange to add, had been found among the few survivors, was consigned to the Haram of the Nabob's general, Meer Jaffier. The English of inferior rank were suffered to escape, but their property was plundered, and Mr. Holwell, with two other chief men, were sent as prisoners to Moorshedabad; there loaded with irons, lodged in a cow-house, and allowed only rice and water for their food, until, some time afterwards, their release was granted to the humane intercession of a native lady, the widow of Aliverdi Khan.

At Calcutta meanwhile Surajah Dowlah was lending a ready ear to the praises of his courtiers, who assured him that his reduction of the British settlement was the most heroic and glorious achievement performed in India since the days of Tamerlane. In memory of the Divine blessing (for so he deemed it) on his arms, he ordered that Calcutta should thenceforward bear the name of ALINAGORE,— "the Port of God." Another edict declared that no Englishman should ever again presume to set foot within the territory. Then, leaving a garrison of 3,000 men in Calcutta, and levying large sums, by way of contribution, from the Dutch at Chinsura and the French at Chandernagore, Surajah Dowlah returned in triumph to his capital.

It was not till the 16th of August that tidings of the events of Calcutta reached Madras. Measures were then in progress for sending a detachment into the Deccan, to counteract the influence of Bussy. But all other considerations were overborne by the cry for vengeance against Surajah Dowlah, and the necessity of an expedition to Bengal. It happened fortunately that Admiral Watson and his squadron had returned from the western coast, and were now at anchor in the roads. It happened also, from the projected march to the Deccan, that the land-forces were at this period combined, and ready for action. Difficulties, however, immediately arose as to the chief command. Colonel Adlercron and Colonel (lately Major) Lawrence might urge the claims of seniority, but the former had no experience of Indian warfare, and the

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health of the latter was declining. Under these circumstances Mr. Orme, the historian, who was then a member of the Council at Madras, had the honour of suggesting the name of Clive; and Colonel Lawrence, no less to his credit, warmly supported the proposal. Adopting these views, the Presidency summoned Clive from Fort St. David, and appointed him chief of the intended expedition. Colonel Adlercron, much incensed, declared, in his zeal for the public service, that unless the command were vested in himself he would not allow the Royal Artillery or the King's guns and stores to proceed; and, thoughi they were already on board, they were again disembarked by his orders. The young hero of Arcot, however, could still reckon on some of the best troops in the King's service, great part of the Thirty-ninth Foot. That gallant regiment, so conspicuous for many other services, which for its brave deeds at Gibraltar bears on its colours the Castle and the Key, MONTIS INSIGNIA CALPE, —has no less nobly earned the lofty title, as founder of our Eastern empire: PRIMUS IN INDIS.

*

On the whole, the force entrusted to Clive amounted to 900 Europeans, and 1,500 Sepoys. The powers granted him were to be in all military matters independent of the Members of the Council of Calcutta ; but his instructions were positive and peremptory, to return at all events and under any circumstances by the month of April next, about which time a French expedition was expected on the coast of Coromandel.

The armament of Clive and Watson, having been delayed two months by quarrels at Madras, and two more

* This regiment also distinguished itself in the campaigns of the Peninsula and South of France. At Hellette, writes the Duke of Wellington, "two attacks of the enemy were most gallantly received "and repulsed by the 39th." (To Earl Bathurst, February 20. 1814.) Even while these pages are passing through the press, this regiment has gained new and brilliant laurels on the field of Maharaj-poor. Lord Ellenborough speaks of it as follows, in his General Orders of January 4. 1844. "Her Majesty's 39th Regiment had the peculiar fortune of adding to the honour of having won at Plassey the first great battle which laid the foundation of the British empire in India, the further honour of thus nobly contributing to this, as it may be hoped, the last and crowning victory by which that empire "has been secured."

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by contrary winds at sea, did not enter the Hooghly until the middle of December. At the village of Fulta, near the mouth of the river, they found the fugitives from the British settlement, including the principal Members of the Council, who formed a Select Committee of direction. Having combined measures with them, Clive and Watson pushed forward against Calcutta. The scanty garrison left by Surajah Dowlah ventured to sally forth, under its commander, Monichund, but was easily routed with the loss of 150 men, Monichund himself receiving a shot through his turban. Calcutta, after one or two random discharges from the wall, was quietly abandoned to the English, who thus on the 2d of January 1757 again became masters of the place. Nay, more, after this first success, Clive and Watson advanced against the town of Hooghly, which they stormed and sacked with little loss. This was the first opportunity of distinction to Captain Coote, afterwards Sir Eyre.

At these tidings, Surajah Dowlah, much irritated, but also in some degree alarmed, marched back from Moorshedabad at the head of 40,000 men. By this time intelligence had reached India of the Declaration of War between France and England, and the Nabob proposed to the French at Chandernagore that they should join him with their whole force, amounting to several hundred Europeans. But the memory of their reverses on the coast of Coromandel was still present in their minds, and they not only rejected the Nabob's overture, but made an overture of their own to the English for a treaty of neutrality. Formerly, they said, war had been waged in India between France and England while the two countries were in peace at home. Why not now reverse the rule, and maintain quiet in Bengal, though hostilities might prevail elsewhere? As, however, the French at Chandernagore did not, like the English at Calcutta, form a separate Presidency, but were dependent on the government of Pondicherry, they had not in truth the powers to conclude the treaty they proposed, and for this and other reasons it was finally rejected by the British chiefs.*

*There is some contradiction between the several statements of this overture, but they are judiciously reconciled in a note to Mr. Thornton's History of India, vol. i. p. 214.