L^V. ^///1<^K2& 
 
,- ; 
 
 HER OF THE 
 DIAN ARMY 
 
 COLONEL J. BIDDULPH 
 
 ;AN STAFF COP 
 R NINETEENTH AND THEIR T 
 
 ALBEMARL 
 
STRINGER LAWRENCE 
 
 THE FATHER OF THE 
 INDIAN ARMY 
 
 BY COLONEL J. BIDDULPH 
 
 INDIAN STAFF CORPS 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE NINETEENTH AND THEIR TIMES " 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 1901 
 

 MORSE STEPHENS 
 
oua. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 
 
 Indian Warfare From Trade to War Lawrence takes service 
 with the Company Arrival in India Beginnings of our 
 Indian Army French repulse at Cuddalore Boscawen's 
 expedition Siege of Pondicherry Lawrence taken 
 prisoner Failure of siege Expedition against Devicotah 
 Repulse of Cope Lawrence takes command Fall of 
 Devicotah Joins Nazir Jung d'Auteuil's bluff Lawrence 
 at Fort St. David Discontent Resigns the service 
 Appointed Commander-in-Chief n 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 TRICHINOPOLY 
 
 Return to India March to Trichinopoly Dalton Clive 
 Clive's Peril Dalton and d'Auteuil Clive and d'Auteuil 
 Law's surrender Death of Chunda Sahib Dupleix's 
 accusation Kinneer's repulse Lawrence at Fort St. David 
 Victory at Bahoor Relinquishes command ... 30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 TRICHINOPOLY 
 
 Lawrence at Trivadi Dalton's difficulties Lawrence marches 
 to Trichinopoly Attacks Astruc Desperate position 
 Battle of the Golden Rock Action with Brenier Kil- 
 patrick Victory over Astruc Weycondah French attack 
 on Trichinopoly Dupleix's terms Failure of negotiations 
 Grenville's disaster Mahomed Yusuf Poniapa's 
 treachery Caillaud Lawrence and Maissin Suspension 
 of arms Ruin of Dupleix Treaty of peace 53 
 
6 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 
 
 War with France Caillaud outwits d'Auteuil Adlercron His 
 incapacity Lawrence as a Volunteer Siege of Fort St. 
 George Draper's sortie Siege raised Lawrence at Con- 
 jeveram Returns to England Returns to India 
 Mahomed Yusufs rebellion Last Years in India 
 Lawrence's death His character Relations with Clive 
 Monument 96 
 
 APPENDIX A : Parentage of Stringer Lawrence . . .121 
 
 APPENDIX B : Soobadars of the Deccan, and Nawabs of the 
 
 Carnatic, in the eighteenth century 123 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE object of this Memoir is to rescue from 
 oblivion the name of a soldier to whom the 
 British Empire owes a great debt of 
 gratitude. We have been so long accustomed 
 to consider ourselves as the only European 
 nation in India, that it is apt to be forgotten 
 how great was French predominance, in that 
 country, in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. When Lawrence went to India, with 
 no higher commission than to command a small 
 undisciplined garrison of two or three hundred 
 men, our tenure in India hung by a thread. 
 With few troops and scanty resources, under 
 conditions of warfare novel to him, Lawrence 
 gave check to the ambitious schemes of Dupleix, 
 established the prestige of English arms, and 
 secured time for the English Ministry to recog- 
 nise the importance of the unofficial war that was 
 being waged by the East India Company against 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 France. Lawrence was the second and the most 
 distinguished of the little band of English 
 officers whose services were transferred from 
 the Crown to the Company, and who wrote 
 their names so deeply in the history of our 
 earlier wars in India. He was also the first 
 English Commander-in-Chief in India. Nor 
 was Lawrence's merit confined to his services 
 in the field. By his good judgment, unfailing 
 common sense and uprightness of character, he 
 secured the confidence of his masters in England 
 and of his colleagues in India to a degree that 
 no others of his time were able to attain. Alone 
 among his contemporaries, he stands distin- 
 guished as the only man in a prominent posi- 
 tion whom no voice of dislike or malice ever 
 assailed. 
 
 Some account of his operations round Trichi- 
 nopoly has been given by Lawrence himself; 
 but with characteristic modesty he has told his 
 story so briefly as almost to deprive it of 
 interest. Orme's history contains a detailed 
 account of Lawrence's campaigns, but they are 
 intermingled with such a mass of details in 
 which Lawrence was not concerned, that 
 Lawrence's own personality is lost sight of. 
 The dates given in this Memoir, up to 
 
PREFACE 9 
 
 3rd September, 1752, are according to Old 
 Style. 
 
 The tables of the rulers of the Deccan 
 and the Carnatic, in the eighteenth century, 
 given in Appendix, serve to show how the 
 appointed Governors first became indepen- 
 dent of Delhi, and, in time, founded lines of 
 hereditary rulers. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL STRINGER LAWRENCE, 
 
 after the Portrait by SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS . Frontispiece. 
 
 TRICHINOPOLY to face p. 34 
 
 TEMPLE OF SERINGH AM .... to face p. 42 
 
 DUPLEIX to face p. 94 
 
 LAWRENCE'S MONUMENT IN WESTMIN- 
 STER ABBEY to face p. 119 
 
 MAP OF ENVIRONS OF TRICHINOPOLY , at the end. 
 
STRINGER LAWRENCE 
 
 i. 
 
 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 
 
 IN these days when the most trifling skir- 
 mish is telegraphed to all parts of the world, 
 when the distribution of medals and rewards 
 is discussed before a campaign is ended, it is 
 somewhat difficult to realise the small notice 
 that has been taken of some of the men who 
 laid the foundations of our Indian Empire in 
 the eighteenth century. Clive and Coote have 
 found their niche in the temple of Fame ; but, 
 besides them, there were a number of officers, 
 not inferior to them in military achievement, who, 
 as majors and captains, often only as subalterns, 
 commanded armies in the field, won important 
 victories, conducted sieges, and carried on 
 successful operations during a long series of 
 years, generally against superior numbers, 
 always under great difficulties, whose names 
 
12 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 
 
 have almost passed into oblivion : " stout- 
 hearted but utterly forgotten Englishmen, who, 
 at great odds and with small means, sustained the 
 fortunes of their country in many a hazardous 
 predicament by their devoted bravery and 
 steadfast perseverance." Some of their deeds 
 have been chronicled by Orme ; but Orme is 
 only to be read by the few. Without some 
 personal knowledge of India he cannot be read 
 to much advantage. There is no skimming or 
 dipping into Orme. His long-drawn narrative 
 of fifteen years' warfare, diffused and mono- 
 tonous, merges its interest in a multiplicity of 
 personages and details among which all sense of 
 proportion is lost. The enemies against whom 
 our armies contended were no contemptible foes. 
 In statesmanship and far-reaching views there 
 was nobody in authority on the English side 
 who could match Dupleix, while he was in 
 India. He was, through the greater part of 
 his career, well supported by his own Govern- 
 ment, and wielded resources that his English 
 opponents never commanded. Fortunately he 
 was no soldier. La Bourdonnais, Bussy and 
 Lally were excellent generals. They were less 
 hampered by their own local Government than 
 were the English commanders, who were con- 
 
INDIAN WARFARE 13 
 
 tinually subjected to vexatious interference in 
 military details. The French troops were more 
 numerous and better equipped than the English. 
 The native commanders pitted against us were 
 frequently bad, though Hyder Ali was as fine 
 a military leader as India has ever produced ; 
 but the numbers and resources they could bring 
 into the field made them very formidable. The 
 fighting was often of a most desperate nature. 
 If there was any superiority of arms it was not 
 on our side. The native chiefs had strong 
 fortresses, powerful trains of artillery, and thou- 
 sands of horsemen, against which our people 
 were obliged to match themselves with slow- 
 moving infantry and a few field pieces drawn 
 by oxen. Sepoys were enlisted and disciplined 
 by the French, before the idea was taken 
 up by the English. Our Sepoys, at first, had 
 only such weapons as they could themselves 
 furnish ; sometimes only bows and arrows, and 
 spears. It was not till the end of 1754 that 
 the first regiment of the British army landed in 
 India. Before that date, the Company had to 
 depend on the sweepings of the English sea- 
 ports, gathered by sharks and crimps ; for they 
 were not allowed to recruit openly. Orme 
 describes a newly-arrived batch in 1752, the 
 
i 4 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 
 
 very men with whom Clive took Covelong and 
 Chingleput, as being "as usual, the refuse of 
 the vilest employments in London."* Some- 
 times Swiss mercenaries were obtained, who 
 deserted wholesale and enlisted in the French 
 ranks. Such one-sided combats as the superior 
 armaments of our day have rendered possiblef 
 never fell to the lot of our armies in India in 
 the eighteenth century. Our successes in India 
 were largely due to the fine qualities of our 
 subordinate officers when entrusted with de- 
 tached commands. This was where the inferi- 
 ority of the French showed itself. Equal to us 
 on other points, and our superiors in many, 
 their subordinate officers proved themselves 
 markedly inferior to the English, when con- 
 fronted with unexpected difficulties, or when 
 acting independently. Nor did French officers 
 succeed in developing the best qualities of their 
 
 * Qive, in 1758, writes with reference to the King's intention 
 to give him a Colonel's commission : " I shall never make 
 any use of it, for I am not at all inclined to enter the lists with 
 Monsieur Lally. Experience, discipline and perhaps bravery 
 would be against me. For you well know the men which come 
 to India are the worst of their kind, and surely the best men 
 of France are equal to the worst men of England." 
 
 f On the 8th May, 1866, at Irdjar, a Russian force of about 
 3,000 men defeated 40,000 Bokhara troops, having only 12 men 
 wounded, 
 
FROM TRADE TO WAR 15 
 
 Sepoys, to the same degree that English officers 
 were able to do. While our regular forces 
 were engaged in Germany and America, our 
 first successes in India were, to a great extent, 
 won by our waifs and strays, by the younger 
 sons of younger sons, the failures and ne'er-do- 
 weels who went to India in search of a career 
 that they were unable to find at home. 
 
 The capture of Madras by the French, in 
 September, 1746, was the beginning of our 
 military career in India. At that time, the 
 few European soldiers in the East India 
 Company's service were merely factory 
 guards, with little organisation and less 
 discipline. After nearly one hundred and 
 fifty years of existence, the Company was 
 still a purely trading association ; trade, not 
 territory, was their object, and they had 
 steadily kept aloof from interference in local 
 politics. The declaration of war, by France, 
 found the Companies of both nations equally 
 unprepared for hostilities. On the appearance 
 of an English squadron, under Commodore 
 Barnet, off the Coromandel Coast, in 1745, 
 Dupleix, the French Governor of Pondicherry, 
 prevailed on the Nawab of the Carnatic to 
 prohibit hostilities, and Barnet sailed away. 
 
16 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1746. 
 
 The English Company, secure in the Nawab's 
 assurance that he would force the French to 
 observe a similar neutrality, took no precautions 
 to strengthen themselves. When, therefore, a 
 French squadron, under La Bourdonnais, 
 appeared off Madras, in September, 1746, no 
 resistance was possible. Dupleix had secured 
 the neutrality of the Nawab, by promising to 
 put him in possession of Madras, and the place 
 fell after two days' bombardment. The 
 garrison, at that time, consisted only of some 
 200 Europeans fit for duty and about three 
 thousand Peons, less than a third of whom 
 were armed with muskets. The officers were 
 three lieutenants, two of whom were foreigners, 
 and seven ensigns promoted from the ranks. 
 Only one lieutenant and one ensign were 
 deemed efficient officers. 
 
 The Nawab, as soon as he found that 
 Dupleix was playing him false, and had no 
 intention of surrendering Madras to him, sent 
 his son, Mahfoos Khan, with ten thousand men 
 to expel the French. The French, under 
 M. Paradis, inflicted a bloody defeat on the 
 Nawab's army, at S. Thome, six weeks after 
 the capture of Madras from the English, 
 which practically made Dupleix dictator of the 
 
1746. FIRST APPOINTMENT 17 
 
 Carnatic. A few weeks later he succeeded in 
 making terms with the Nawab, and was left in 
 peace to prosecute his plans against the English. 
 The Directors in London, thinking only of 
 trade, took no steps to strengthen Madras till 
 after it had fallen. Major Knipe, the 
 commander of the Fort St. George garrison, 
 had died in May, 1 743 ; after much delay 
 Captain Stringer Lawrence was selected to 
 succeed him. Little is known of Lawrence's 
 parentage.* He was the son of John 
 Lawrence and Mary his wife, of Hereford, 
 where he was born on the 24th February, 
 1697-8. In December, 1727, he received 
 a commission, as ensign, in Major-General 
 Clayton's regiment, now the West Yorkshire, 
 and saw service with that regiment in Spain 
 and Flanders, and during the Highland rising 
 of 1745. He became a lieutenant in March, 
 1735-6, captain in June, 1745, and retired on 
 20th January, 1746-7. The circumstances 
 under which his services were transferred to 
 the East India Company are not known ; but 
 it was not till the Company had agreed to 
 employ him that his name ceased to appear on 
 the rolls of Clayton's regiment. 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
 C 
 
i8 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1747. 
 
 According to the record of the Directors' 
 Proceedings for i ;th December, 1 746, it was 
 " Resolved that the garrison of Fort St. 
 George be strengthened with a number of 
 recruits, sergeants, and ensigns, and that an 
 able officer be sent from hence, as Major 
 thereof, at the salary of ,250 per annum and 
 one hundred guineas for his charges out. And 
 Captain Lawrence being recommended as a 
 person qualified for the post, Resolved by the 
 Ballot that the said Captain Lawrence be 
 appointed Major of the Garrison on the terms 
 above mentioned, and, being called in, he was 
 acquainted therewith." On the i8th February 
 following, when he was forty-nine years of age, 
 he took the usual oath, and sailed in the 
 Winchelsea. His appointment was notified to 
 the Governor of Madras in the following 
 terms : " Stringer Lawrence, Esq., is enter- 
 tained by us to be Major of our Garrison at 
 Fort St. George upon the same terms as Major 
 Knipe, viz. : two hundred and fifty pounds 
 sterling per annum and one of the Companies." 
 About one hundred and fifty men embarked at 
 the same time. It is noteworthy that the views 
 of the Directors, at that time, were limited to 
 strengthening the Fort St. George garrison. 
 
1748. ARRIVAL IN INDIA 19 
 
 The idea of using troops in the field, or for 
 any other purpose than defending their own 
 walls, had never entered their minds. 
 
 Four months after Lawrence's departure the 
 news of the fall of Madras reached London. 
 The English at Madras having all been taken 
 prisoners, the Directors appointed a new 
 governor, and a Council, of which Lawrence 
 was made the third member ; but it was 
 ordered that his work in the Council was to 
 be confined to military advice and duties. 
 
 Lawrence's voyage lasted nearly eleven 
 months. For some reason his ship went to 
 Batavia, before making the Coromandel coast. 
 Probably they received news of the fall of 
 Madras at the Cape, and went to Batavia to 
 await further intelligence. 
 
 In January, 1748, Lawrence landed at Fort 
 St. David, then momentarily expecting an 
 attack by the French. After the fall of 
 Madras, the Fort St. David officials had taken 
 on themselves the administration of the Com- 
 pany's affairs on the coast. Very little was 
 then wanting to deprive the English of their 
 last foothold in Southern India. Two attacks, 
 since the fall of Madras, had been foiled rather 
 than defeated. Lawrence's first care was to 
 
 C 2 
 
20 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1748. 
 
 form a camp outside the walls. This led to 
 the detection of a plot among the native officers 
 of Peons, who were in secret correspondence 
 with Dupleix. The presence of the English 
 fleet on the coast prevented any French 
 movement against the place for a time. 
 Lawrence employed the interval in reorgan- 
 ising the companies of Europeans, and intro- 
 ducing a system of military law. The reorgan- 
 ised companies were seven in number, con- 
 sisting each of one captain, one lieutenant, one 
 ensign, four sergeants, four corporals, three 
 drummers, and seventy privates. The lieu- 
 tenant of Lawrence's company was called 
 captain-lieutenant, and ranked as a captain. 
 In the field, these companies acted together as 
 a battalion, but ten years elapsed before they 
 were formed into an administrative battalion in 
 quarters. In the same way, the Peons were 
 organised in companies, and, eleven years later, 
 in battalions. It was in such humble begin- 
 nings that the Anglo-Indian army had its 
 origin. 
 
 Six months after Lawrence's arrival, Dupleix 
 took advantage of the absence of the British 
 squadron to make another attempt against Cud- 
 dalore. By a sudden march, a force of eight 
 
1748. CUDDALORE 21 
 
 hundred Europeans and one thousand Sepoys, 
 from Pondicherry, appeared within three miles 
 of Cuddalore on the morning of the i7th June. 
 Lawrence had intelligence of the design, and 
 ostentatiously withdrew the guns and garrison 
 to Fort St. David, about a mile distant, 
 giving out that he did not consider Cud- 
 dalore tenable. Directly night fell, he 
 marched back the garrison and guns. At 
 midnight the French advanced with scaling 
 ladders, and were received with such a fire of 
 grape and musketry that they flung down their 
 arms and retreated precipitately to Pondicherry 
 without making any further attempt. Two 
 months later, Lawrence was involved in a 
 disaster of the same nature as he had inflicted 
 on the French. 
 
 On receipt of the news of the loss of Madras, 
 the Directors in London were roused to action. 
 Being devoid of military resources, their appli- 
 cation to the Crown for assistance met with a 
 ready response. An expedition, against Pondi- 
 cherry, was fitted out under Admiral Boscawen, 
 and sailed from England in November, 1747. 
 For the purposes of the expedition, twelve 
 independent companies, each of one hundred 
 rank and file, were formed by drafts from 
 
22 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1748. 
 
 different regiments, A force of artillery was 
 added, and the whole force consisted of about 
 1,400 men. Some time was wasted in an abor- 
 tive attempt against Mauritius. On the 29th 
 July, the squadron arrived off Fort St. David : 
 the troops were landed, and, on 8th August, 
 began their march to Pondicheny, The whole 
 of the operations by land and sea were in 
 Boscawen's hands, and the miscarriage of affairs 
 was ascribed to his ignorance of land warfare. 
 With marines, sailors, and a Dutch contingent 
 from Negapatam, the European rank and file 
 amounted to 3,720 men. Lawrence's authority 
 only extended to the Company's troops, which 
 formed a fifth of the whole force, not counting 
 Sepoys. 
 
 The first attempt was made against Arian- 
 copang, a detached fort two miles from Pondi- 
 cherry. Without information, without recon- 
 naissance, and without scaling ladders, seven 
 hundred men were marched to the attack, with 
 the inevitable consequences. One hundred and 
 fifty men were killed or wounded, the best 
 officer among the English troops being among 
 the killed, without the slightest advantage being 
 gained. It was found necessary to commence 
 regular siege operations against Ariancopang. 
 
1748. TAKEN PRISONER 23 
 
 After much blundering, a battery was opened 
 with very little effect. M. Law, who com- 
 manded in Ariancopang, made a sudden sortie, 
 with a mixed force of infantry and cavalry, 
 against a part of the entrenchment held by 
 sailors. The sailors were struck with panic at 
 the sight of the cavalry, and fled. The panic 
 communicated itself to the regular troops, and 
 the whole of the entrenchment was abandoned. 
 Lawrence, who commanded in the trenches that 
 day, disdained to fly, and was made prisoner. 
 The same day the magazine in the fort was 
 blown up by accident, forcing the garrison to 
 retreat into Pondicherry. 
 
 On the 3<Dth August, Boscawen broke ground 
 before Pondicherry. Blunder was heaped upon 
 blunder, till, at the end of a month, during which 
 no progress was made, it was found necessary 
 to abandon the siege. One thousand and sixty- 
 five soldiers and sailors had perished, and an 
 enormous quantity of ammunition had been 
 uselessly expended. " There are very few 
 instances of late years," Orme remarks, "of a 
 siege carried on by the English with less skill 
 than this of Pondicherry." In November, news 
 was received of the cessation of arms in Europe. 
 Lawrence was permitted to return to Fort St. 
 
24 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1749. 
 
 David on parole, pending ratification of the 
 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which restored 
 Madras to the English. 
 
 The establishment of peace left both English 
 and French stronger in military resources in 
 India than they had ever been before. The 
 French profited by the occasion to mingle in 
 the politics of the Deccan and Carnatic courts ; 
 a step destined to increase enormously their 
 political influence, and to force the English 
 into opposition. On the English side, 
 Boscawen, burning to retrieve his failure 
 against Pondicherry, by some notable exploit, 
 agreed with the Company's officials to 
 espouse the cause of a Tanjore prince who 
 had been living for some years under the 
 Company's protection. This Tanjore claimant 
 was profuse in his promises to the English, 
 and in his assurances that his appearance in 
 Tanjore territory at the head of an armed force 
 would be the signal for thousands to join his 
 standard. In return for assistance in gaining 
 the throne of Tanjore, he undertook to cede 
 Devicotah to the English. At the end 
 of March, 1749, four hundred and thirty 
 Europeans, with a thousand Sepoys and 
 a small siege train were despatched against 
 
i 7 49- DEVICOTAH 25 
 
 Devicotah, under command of Captain Cope. 
 The force reached Devicotah with only 
 three days' provisions in hand, and, after a 
 series of blundering operations in which the 
 troops were only saved from destruction by a 
 want of enterprise on the part of the Tanjoreans, 
 Cope was glad to make his way back to Fort 
 St. David. The English were by this time 
 disillusioned as to the influence of their prottgt, 
 but thought it necessary to wipe out the re- 
 proach of their failure by a second expedition, 
 which was entrusted to Lawrence. 
 
 This time success crowned their efforts. The 
 details of the capture possess little interest 
 beyond the fact that it was on this occasion 
 that Clive first came prominently under 
 Lawrence's notice. A breach had been made, 
 and Clive volunteered to lead the storming 
 party. The Sepoys held back, and Clive's 
 little party of Europeans was cut to pieces ; 
 Clive himself being almost the only one that 
 escaped. Lawrence at once made a second 
 assault at the head of his whole European 
 force, and Devicotah fell. The Tanjore ruler 
 was glad to make peace, on account of the 
 changes produced in the Carnatic by French 
 intrigues, and Devicotah was ceded to the 
 
26 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1749. 
 
 English. The acquisition of Devicotah was 
 not a very creditable business for the Company. 
 It was their first deliberate attempt at terri- 
 torial acquisition, without the excuse of acting 
 in self-defence. Having gained their object, 
 they threw over the Tanjore prince whose 
 claims they had affected to assert. The prime 
 mover in the business appears to have been 
 Boscawen. 
 
 Boscawen, who had only waited on the coast 
 till Madras was received from the French, 
 returned to England. Lawrence was appointed, 
 by the Directors, Chief Commissioner to take 
 over Madras. Many of the survivors of the troops 
 Boscawen had brought out with him entered 
 the service of the Company. Eleven subalterns 
 were in this way transferred to the Company's 
 service, their names being retained on the 
 half-pay list in the event of their returning to 
 England at a future date. Among them may 
 be mentioned two officers, John Dalton and 
 James Kilpatrick, who served in India with 
 much distinction. 
 
 In spite of peace having been established in 
 Europe, the English and French in India were 
 soon again opposed to each other in the field. 
 Rival claimants were contending for the thrones 
 
1750. D'AUTEUIL'S BLUFF 27 
 
 of the Deccan and the Carnatic, and the real 
 issue of the struggle depended on the English 
 and French commanders ; though they only 
 appeared as auxiliaries in the rival camps. In 
 March, 1750, Lawrence, with six hundred 
 Europeans, joined the camp of Nazir Jung, the 
 Soobadar of the Deccan, who was opposed by 
 the rival pretenders to the Soobahship and the 
 Nawabship of the Carnatic, supported by a force 
 of 2,000 French under d'Auteuil, the brother-in- 
 law of Dupleix. It was the first time, since 
 the establishment of peace, that English and 
 French troops had been opposed to each other, 
 and d'Auteuil tried to intimidate Lawrence by 
 a bit of bluff. Sending him a flag of truce, he 
 expressed his desire that no European blood 
 should be shed. As he did not know where the 
 English were posted, he would not be to blame 
 if any shot came in their direction. Lawrence 
 replied that his post would be known by the 
 English colours carried on his flag-gun ; that 
 he too, was averse to spilling European blood, 
 but if any shot came his way he would cer- 
 tainly return them. In order to try Lawrence's 
 mettle, d'Auteuil fired a shot over the English 
 camp. Lawrence at once answered it with 
 three guns, " and saw they were well pointed." 
 
28 FIRST SERVICE IN INDIA 1750. 
 
 d'Auteuil, with a mutiny amongst his men, 
 thought so badly of his prospects that he re- 
 treated the same night, sacrificing his guns and 
 artillerymen. But Lawrence's relations with 
 Nazir Jung were so unsatisfactory that he 
 shortly afterwards left him, and marched his 
 troops to Madras. 
 
 At this time important changes took place 
 among the officials at Madras. Floyer, the 
 governor, and Holt, the next in seniority 
 to him, were dismissed from the service ; 
 Saunders was summoned from Vizagapatam to 
 assume charge at Madras, and, for four months, 
 Lawrence was made provisional governor of 
 Fort St. David. Before Mr. Saunders' arrival, 
 Lawrence's relations with the provisional 
 Government at Madras became strained. He 
 had cause of dissatisfaction in regard to several 
 matters. The Company's practice permitted 
 interference in the most trifling military 
 details by the civil officers whose business 
 it was to manage the Company's trade. In 
 June, 1748, the power to convene court mar- 
 tials had been granted to Lawrence by the 
 Directors, though the power of overriding them 
 was vested in the Governor and Council. In 
 1750, the Court of Directors sent orders for 
 
1 75 1. APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 29 
 
 the withdrawal of Lawrence's powers ; but it 
 was found impracticable to do this. He was 
 also dissatisfied at the failure of the Company 
 to enforce necessary measures for the mainten- 
 ance of discipline. He had no proper authority 
 over his men, and his pay was miserably small. 
 On the 25th September, he resigned the 
 Company's service, and sailed for England a 
 month later. 
 
 The Directors acted with a sagacity that they 
 did not always show in similar circumstances. 
 They packed Lawrence back to India before 
 he had been two months in England, with the 
 appointment of Commander-in-Chief of all the 
 Company's military forces in the East Indies, 
 on a salary of ^500 per annum, to which was 
 added a yearly allowance of ^250 " in lieu of 
 diet money, servants, horses, and all other pri- 
 vileges and perquisites whatever." He was 
 also commissioned to consider at once of the 
 proper establishment for forming a company of 
 artillery at Fort St. George. The most stirring 
 part of Lawrence's career was about to com- 
 mence. 
 
3 
 
 II. 
 
 TRICHINOPOLY 
 
 ON the i4th March, 1752, Lawrence again 
 landed in Madras, and at once took command of 
 the army that was about to march under Clive. 
 At this time a Political Committee of the Coun- 
 cil was formed for the first time. It consisted 
 of three members, of whom Lawrence was one. 
 During his absence, the unofficial war between 
 the English and French Companies, acting as 
 auxiliaries of the rival claimants to the Nawab- 
 ship of the Carnatic, had been prosecuted with 
 vigour, and Clive had sprung into notice by his 
 feats at Arcot and Covripauk. During Law- 
 rence's absence a dangerous spirit of discontent 
 had arisen among the officers, owing to a breach 
 of faith, on the part of Government, affecting 
 their allowances, and the whole discipline of the 
 troops was very bad. Three days after land- 
 ing, Lawrence, with 1,500 men, of whom 400 
 were Europeans, marched to the relief of 
 Trichinopoly, where Mahomed AH, the English 
 
1752. MARCH TO TRICHINOPOLY 31 
 
 claimant to the Nawabship, with a small 
 English force under Captains de Gingens and 
 Dalton, had been besieged, for seven months, 
 by a French force under M. Law, the French 
 officer into whose hands Lawrence had fallen 
 prisoner at Ariancopang, and a large native 
 force under Chunda Sahib, the French claim- 
 ant. In Trichinopoly also was a Mahratta 
 force under Morari Rao, the chief of Gooti, in 
 the pay of Mysore, and a contingent from Tan- 
 jore, whose ruler had, for the time, cast in his 
 lot with Mahomed Ali. On the 26th March, 
 Lawrence arrived within twenty miles of Tri- 
 chinopoly. Morari Rao was, at this time, in 
 secret correspondence with the French, an 
 advantage to Law of which Lawrence was 
 ignorant. Law and Chunda Sahib were en- 
 camped on the south bank of the Cauvery, 
 about five miles east of Trichinopoly. It was of 
 the utmost importance to them to prevent the 
 junction of Lawrence's force with the garrison. 
 Several favourable positions were open to Law 
 for opposing Lawrence's march, at the different 
 rivers Lawrence was obliged to cross before 
 arrival within striking distance of the besieged 
 town ; but Law neglected his opportunities. 
 Instead of moving to meet Lawrence, he left 
 
32 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 the issue to be decided on the ground on which 
 he stood. Ten miles from the allied camp, Law 
 had occupied Coiladdy, where the Cauvery 
 divides into several branches, with about six 
 hundred men, and had formed there a formid- 
 able battery commanding Lawrence's route at 
 point blank range. Lawrence's march was 
 directed along the strip of land between the 
 two southern branches of the Cauvery, where- 
 by a certain amount of protection was afforded 
 to his convoy. It was his intention to strike 
 southwards across the southernmost branch, 
 before coming in touch with Coiladdy : but 
 his guides misled him, and he suddenly 
 found himself under the fire of the battery. 
 Twenty Europeans were killed, and much 
 confusion caused among the baggage before 
 he could extricate himself. Continuing his 
 march, without further interruption, Lawrence 
 halted that night about ten miles from 
 Trichinopoly. 
 
 The next morning, 28th March, Lawrence 
 resumed his march, having been joined in the 
 night by a hundred Europeans and fifty dra- 
 goons from the garrison. While he directed 
 his march on the fortified rock of Elmiseram, 
 another detachment from the garrison, under 
 
1752. MARCH TO TRICHINOPOLY 33 
 
 Captain Dalton, consisting of two hundred 
 Europeans and four hundred Sepoys with four 
 guns, took post at the Sugarloaf Rock. Law 
 had drawn up his force, with his right resting 
 on Elmiseram, and his left thrown back to the 
 Cauvery at Chucklipolliam. Lawrence's busi- 
 ness was to reach Trichinopoly, not to fight a 
 general action ; so, directing his march south- 
 wards, he marched round Elmiseram, and was 
 joined by Dalton at noon. Here a halt was 
 called, to rest the troops who were suffering 
 greatly from the heat, while Morari Rao and his 
 Mahrattas from the city pretended to skirmish 
 with the French. Soon, news was received that 
 the whole French line, with their allies, were 
 advancing. Lawrence at once pushed forward 
 Clive with a small detachment of Europeans 
 and some guns, to occupy some buildings that 
 Law had neglected to occupy, while he moved 
 up, in order, to his support. A fierce cannonade 
 ensued, from nine guns on the English side 
 against twenty-two on the French. The 
 English troops were well sheltered, while the 
 Frenchmen stood without cover on the open 
 plain. In half an hour they wavered and gave 
 ground, withdrawing their guns. Clive and 
 Dalton followed them up till they took refuge 
 
34 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 in the watercourse near French Rock. Here 
 they would have been exposed to a severe enfi- 
 lading fire, when Lawrence, satisfied with the 
 advantage he had gained, and unwilling to 
 overtax the energies of his men, who were 
 suffering severely from the heat, ordered the 
 pursuit to cease. He was also, no doubt, in- 
 fluenced by the dubious behaviour of Morari 
 Rao. Seven of his Europeans had died of 
 sunstroke, and fourteen were killed or disabled 
 by the cannonade. The French losses were 
 heavier. They had lost about forty Europeans, 
 while some three hundred of their native allies, 
 about the same number of horses, and an 
 elephant lay dead on the field. The com- 
 mander of Chunda Sahib's cavalry had also 
 been killed. 
 
 Continuing his march, Lawrence entered 
 Trichinopoly the same evening. On the 
 night of the ist April, he sent Dalton with 
 four hundred men to beat up the French 
 camp, and set fire to it. Dalton lost his way, 
 but managed to regain Trichinopoly without 
 loss, though morning had surprised him in the 
 midst of the French posts. The mere attempt 
 alarmed Law to such an extent that he preci- 
 pitately withdrew across the south branch of 
 
1752- DALTON 35 
 
 the Cauvery, on to the Island of Seringham,* 
 destroying a quantity of stores he was unable 
 to take with him. The next day, Lawrence 
 sent Dalton with a small force against 
 Elmiseram, an isolated rock with a fortified 
 temple on the summit. A small party of 
 grenadiers, attempting a night attack without 
 orders, were beaten back, but the place sur- 
 rendered on the following morning. Fifteen 
 Frenchmen, thirty Sepoys, and two guns, one of 
 them an 1 8-pounder, were captured. Two days 
 afterwards, Dalton and the grenadiers captured 
 another gun. Law had posted a gun in a 
 small building on the island, commanding the 
 bathing place used by the principal leaders of 
 Mahomed Ali's army. Dalton concealed his 
 men behind an old wall on the bank of the 
 river. At noon, when the guard were asleep 
 or engaged in cooking, the grenadiers forded 
 the river and captured the gun, before it could be 
 fired twice. The gun was brought across the 
 river, under cover of some field pieces that 
 had been sent to cover their retreat. The 
 boldness and success of these achievements 
 made an impression on both sides, out of all 
 proportion to their importance. Hitherto, the 
 
 * Sri Runghum. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 operations of the English had been feeble and 
 wanting in resolution, with the exception of 
 Clive's deeds at Arcot and Covripauk, while 
 the French had carried all before them. Now 
 the French were forced into a defensive atti- 
 tude, and the English were the attackers. 
 Among the first results was a change in the 
 behaviour of Morari Rao, who relinquished for 
 a time his treacherous correspondence with 
 Chunda Sahib. Law's position on the island 
 was an extremely strong one. After experience 
 showed that it was almost unassailable, owing 
 to the hollow ways and watercourses with 
 which the ground of the island was intersected, 
 and to the great stone temples, standing in 
 walled enclosures, which could be converted 
 into defensible posts. The only necessity of 
 Law's position was that he should keep open 
 his communications with Pondicherry. 
 
 Clive, whom Lawrence had taken into his 
 confidence, now made the daring proposal to 
 divide the army, sending one half of it north 
 of the Cauvery to intercept Law's communica- 
 tions with Pondicherry. Hazardous as such 
 a move would have been in face of an enter- 
 prising foe, Lawrence at once agreed to it. 
 By this time he had gauged Law's want 
 
1752- CLIVE 37 
 
 of enterprise, while recognising his own advan- 
 tage in possessing such a coadjutor as Clive. 
 His superiority in cavalry, at this time, an 
 advantage he never again possessed, made 
 the division of his army less hazardous than it 
 would otherwise have been. On the scheme 
 being made known to Lawrence's native allies, 
 they declared that they would take no part in 
 it, unless Clive was given the detached 
 command. Some anxiety was felt by Lawrence, 
 who had intended to give the command to 
 Clive, lest the officers senior to Clive should 
 decline to serve under him ; and it is a proof 
 of the good spirit Lawrence was able to infuse 
 into his officers that no demur was made. 
 
 On the night of the 6th April, Clive, with 
 four hundred Europeans, seven hundred Sepoys, 
 four thousand native horse, and eight guns, 
 passed the Cauvery, and occupied Samiaveram, 
 where they entrenched themselves. As a 
 counter-move, Law sent a party to occupy 
 Munserpet. A detachment sent by Clive to 
 dislodge them was repulsed with some loss. 
 But the enemy was faint-hearted, and retired 
 to Pitchandah. Clive followed up his advantage 
 by capturing Lalgoodi, where Law had a large 
 magazine of supplies. 
 
38 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 Meanwhile, Dupleix, greatly alarmed at the 
 situation produced by Law's retreat to Sering- 
 ham, had collected all the men he could spare 
 from Pondicherry, and sent them, under 
 d'Auteuil, to reinforce Law. d'Auteuil reached 
 Ootatoor, thirteen miles north - east of 
 Samiaveram, on the I4th April, and sent 
 messengers to Law advising him of his inten- 
 tion to reach the Cauvery by a circuitous night 
 march. One of his messengers was captured 
 by Clive, who marched the same night to 
 intercept him. d'Auteuil received news of 
 Clive's march, and fell back on Ootatoor. 
 Clive also returned to Samiaveram. Clive's 
 movement to intercept d'Auteuil was known to 
 Law on the following day ; but not his return. 
 Law at once detached a small party of eighty 
 Europeans, forty of whom were English 
 deserters, and seven hundred Sepoys to 
 surprise Clive's camp at Samiaveram, while he 
 was engaged with d'Auteuil. They reached 
 Clive's camp at midnight, and, by the help of 
 the English deserters, passed themselves off 
 on Clive's Sepoys as a reinforcement from 
 Lawrence. The story was believed ; they 
 were conducted through the camp, and, on 
 reaching Clive's quarters, opened fire on the 
 
1752. OLIVE'S PERIL 39 
 
 buildings in which Clive and his soldiers were 
 asleep. There ensued five or six hours of 
 extraordinary confusion, in the course of which 
 Clive had several wonderful escapes. Twice 
 he was alone in the midst of the enemy, mis- 
 taking them for his own men ; but his courage 
 and presence of mind saved him. A third time 
 he was treacherously fired at while parleying 
 with the enemy, who had taken post in the 
 building in which he had been sleeping at the 
 time of attack, and the two men on whom he 
 was leaning were killed. Daylight made the 
 French aware of the failure of their attempt, 
 and they surrendered. The French Sepoys, 
 attempting to retreat, were cut down and 
 slaughtered to the last man by Clive's Mahrattas. 
 Had Law sent a larger and better commanded 
 force, he would probably have been successful 
 in cutting off Clive's whole detachment. The 
 leader of the deserters was a man named 
 Kelsey, who had been given a commission in 
 the French Army by Dupleix. He was the 
 man who had treacherously tried to kill Clive, 
 when Clive had entered into a parley for the 
 surrender of the enemy. Lawrence ordered 
 him to be hung. This produced lively com- 
 plaints from Dupleix, who urged the Madras 
 
40 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 Council to send Lawrence to Europe to meet 
 the charges of bad faith he, Dupleix, was 
 sending to France against Lawrence. Dupleix 
 was already beginning to see that in Lawrence 
 he had a formidable adversary. 
 
 Law, who remained encamped at the 
 western end of the island, now only retained the 
 small post at Pitchandah, north of the Cauvery. 
 At the eastern end of the island he had an 
 important magazine at Coiladdy. d'Auteuil 
 remained at Ootatoor. It was evidently the 
 duty of the two French commanders to fall 
 upon Clive by a concerted movement, while 
 Lawrence was kept in play south of the river. 
 But their whole thoughts were bent on effecting 
 a junction on the island. Lawrence sent a 
 Tanjore force to capture Coiladdy, which was 
 effected on the 26th April. The loss of the 
 supplies stored here soon began to make itself 
 felt in Law's force. The next move was made 
 against d'Auteuil. Events had shown that it was 
 essential not to weaken the force at Samiaveram, 
 so Lawrence sent Dalton across the river with 
 150 Europeans, 400 Sepoys, 500 Mahratta 
 horse and four guns to attack d'Auteuil. On 
 the evening of the loth May, Dalton reached a 
 point within two miles of Ootatoor. Before 
 
1752. DALTON AND D'AUTEUIL 41 
 
 encamping, he sent a party of Europeans and 
 Sepoys to dislodge the enemy from a small 
 village in his front. This was so easily effected 
 that Dalton's men pushed on beyond the 
 village, without orders, and found themselves 
 face to face with d'Auteuil's whole force. After 
 a brief skirmish, in which they lost their officer, 
 they fell back on the village, and held it till 
 Dalton came up. The sun had set, and Dalton 
 worked on d'Auteuil's apprehension by a bold 
 move in the failing light. Keeping his guns in 
 front of the village, with a few men to give the 
 appearance of strength, he sent his whole force 
 of infantry, in two parties, to fall simultaneously 
 on both flanks of d'Auteuil's force. d'Auteuil 
 thought he had to do with the whole of 
 Clive's force, and retreated precipitately to 
 Ootatoor, followed closely by Dalton. Further 
 conflict was prevented by d'Auteuil's cavalry, 
 who had cut in on Dalton's rear, but were 
 driven off by Dalton's Mahrattas. The same 
 night, d'Auteuil evacuated Ootatoor, and fell 
 back eighteen miles on Volcondah, abandoning 
 a great quantity of ammunition and stores. 
 
 Dalton's march towards Ootatoor had been 
 seen from the island, but was taken to be part of 
 Clive's force. Law at once crossed the river to 
 
42 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 attack Samiaveram, and found himself con- 
 fronted by Clive in a strong position. After 
 some skirmishing, he recrossed the river to 
 Seringham. Two days later, the river rose so 
 as to prevent Dalton rejoining Lawrence. 
 Dalton, with admirable spirit, placed his detach- 
 ment at Clive's disposal, and offered his own 
 services as a volunteer, to prevent any dispute 
 arising from his superiority of rank. Law- 
 rence, who had already made a lodgment on 
 the island, now ordered Clive to attack Pit- 
 chandah. Clive's guns first broke up Law's 
 camp, forcing him and his allies to take refuge 
 about the Jumbakistna temple, and Pitchandah 
 fell after two days' bombardment. The invest- 
 ment of the island was now complete, every 
 part of it being exposed to artillery fire. Law- 
 rence's next move was to cross over to the 
 island at Chucklipolliam, and throw an 
 entrenchment right across the island, east of 
 the Jumbakistna temple, forcing Law and 
 Chunda Sahib to take post at the Seringham 
 temple. Here some delay was necessary in 
 order to get heavy guns from Devicotah. 
 The Europeans with Lawrence on the island 
 were only half the number Law had at his 
 disposal, so a direct attack was out of the 
 
1752. CLIVE AND D'AUTEUIL 43 
 
 question ; especially as the frequent rising of 
 the river made it impossible for him to depend 
 on co-operation from Clive. 
 
 While awaiting the guns from Devicotah, 
 he sent Clive in search of d'Auteuil, on 
 2;th May. Clive found d'Auteuil a few 
 miles south of Volcondah. The English 
 Sepoys, who had outmarched the Europeans, 
 were now so full of ardour that they fell on 
 impetuously, and drove d'Auteuil into the town. 
 The Europeans coming up, carried a gateway 
 by assault, and before morning, on the 29th 
 May, d'Auteuil surrendered with his whole force, 
 consisting of 100 Europeans, 400 Sepoys, 340 
 horse, three guns and a great quantity of stores, 
 including 800 barrels of powder and 3,000 
 muskets. Already, before this, Chunda Sahib's 
 people, seeing which way the game was going, 
 and straitened for provisions, had begun to leave 
 him. Chunda Sahib, in despair, entered into 
 negotiations with the Tanjore General for a 
 free passage through his camp, and was 
 treacherously made prisoner. On the 3rd June, 
 Law surrendered, with 35 officers, 785 
 Europeans, of whom 60 were sick or wounded, 
 2,000 Sepoys and 45 pieces of artillery. 
 Chunda Sahib was put to death by the Tanjore 
 
44 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 General on the same day. And all this had 
 been brought about without a pitched battle. 
 A notable feature in the campaign was the 
 fine military spirit developed among the 
 Sepoys, which had received its first impulse 
 under Clive at Arcot. " It is indeed difficult," 
 says Orme, " to determine whether the English 
 conducted themselves with more ability and 
 spirit, or the French with more irresolution and 
 ignorance, after Major Lawrence and Captain 
 Clive arrived at Trichinopoly." 
 
 Dupleix, whom Mill styles " the most 
 audacious contemner of truth that ever en- 
 gaged in crooked politics," accused Lawrence 
 of having ordered Chunda Sahib's death ; and 
 Dupleix's admirers have upheld the unjust 
 accusation so far as to affirm that Lawrence 
 could have saved him if he had chosen. But 
 Lawrence was in no position to dictate to his 
 native allies. The English were auxiliaries, 
 not principals, in the war, and their views had 
 no weight except in the actual business of 
 fighting. Mahomed Ali, the Tanjoreans, the 
 Mysoreans and the Mahrattas, were all equally 
 desirous of getting possession of Chunda 
 Sahib's person to further their own political 
 views, and were equally averse to allowing any 
 
1752. CHUNDA SAHIB'S DEATH 45 
 
 of the others to have him in their keeping. 
 When Lawrence offered to settle the dispute 
 by taking charge of the prisoner, the one point 
 on which the confederates agreed was that he 
 should not be made over to the English. 
 Wilks states that Chunda Sahib was put to 
 death at the instigation of Mahomed Ali. Con- 
 sidering the circumstances of the time, his 
 death would appear to have been almost the 
 only solution that would prevent a quarrel 
 among the allies. Not a scrap of evidence has 
 ever been adduced to show that Lawrence was 
 aware such a step was being contemplated, till 
 after the deed was done. It was by Law's 
 advice that Chunda Sahib chose to run any 
 risk rather than surrender himself to the 
 English. The accusation comes with a par- 
 ticularly bad grace from Dupleix, in view of 
 the fact that he had himself resolved on im- 
 prisoning Chunda Sahib for life, and at that 
 very time held a firman, secretly obtained from 
 the Nizam, setting aside Chunda Sahib, and 
 placing the Nawabship in the hands of the 
 French. 
 
 Law's conduct in retreating to Seringham 
 has been the subject of much adverse criticism, 
 but Lawrence considered it a prudent step at 
 
46 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 the time. Its effect on Law's native allies 
 was certainly disastrous. But Law cannot 
 be absolved from blame for not opposing 
 Lawrence's march at a sufficient distance from 
 Trichinopoly to prevent the garrison giving 
 him assistance. 
 
 No such blow had fallen on the French since 
 they had first entered the field of Indian 
 politics. With great ability, Dupleix re- 
 constructed his plans. The timely arrival of 
 the annual fleet from France brought him 
 reinforcements ; by clever intrigues he pro- 
 duced dissension between Mahomed AH and 
 his native allies ; and, by an audacious as- 
 sumption of authority, claiming the right to 
 act in the name of the Emperor of Delhi, 
 he proclaimed Reza Sahib, Chunda Sahib's 
 son, Nawab of the Carnatic. Two months 
 after Law's surrender, the French inflicted a 
 severe repulse on an English force. The 
 Madras Council, elated by their recent success, 
 resolved to reduce Gingee, an exceptionally 
 strong fortress held by the French, about forty 
 miles from Pondicherry, and seventy-five from 
 Madras. Lawrence, who was at Fort St. 
 David, set out for Madras to dissuade Mr. 
 Saunders from the undertaking. His repre- 
 
1752. KINNEER'S REPULSE 47 
 
 sentations as to the strength of the place, the 
 difficulty of sending supplies to the besieging 
 force, the necessity of settling affairs at 
 Trichinopoly, and the inadequacy of the 
 English forces were not listened to. On 
 July 26th, Major Kinneer, an officer new to 
 the country, arrived before Gingee with 200 
 Europeans and 2,000 of the Nawab's troops. 
 Dupleix sent an equal force from Pondicherry, 
 under his nephew, M. de Kerjean. Kinneer, 
 finding he had no chance of success against 
 Gingee, marched to meet de Kerjean, who 
 took post at Vicravandi, twenty miles south- 
 east of Gingee, with a river in his front. The 
 English guns, commanded by a French de- 
 serter, were badly handled. The attack was 
 repulsed, Kinneer wounded, and many officers 
 and men killed ; but Kinneer managed to bring 
 off the rest of his men in good order to Fort 
 St. David. The expedition never had the 
 slightest chance of success. Kinneer died of 
 illness brought on by vexation and disappoint- 
 ment. M. de Kerjean was then sent by 
 Dupleix, with every available man, to blockade 
 Fort St. David. His force amounted to 450 
 European Infantry, 1,500 Sepoys, fourteen 
 guns, and 500 Native horse, Among the 
 
48 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 arrivals from Europe, 200 Swiss troops in 
 English pay had reached Madras. Half of them 
 were despatched in open boats to Fort St. David. 
 Lawrence, anticipating what actually happened, 
 strongly urged that the men should not be 
 sent in open boats ; but the Council over- 
 ruled him. It was part of the unwritten 
 code that had hitherto governed the acts 
 of the two Companies, while their nations 
 were at peace, that hostilities should not be 
 prosecuted at sea. But Dupleix was not a 
 man to be hampered by scruples in the carry- 
 ing out of his plans ; and, though he would 
 have hesitated to attack a ship, he had no 
 scruples about snapping up defenceless troops 
 in open boats. As the Swiss passed Pondi- 
 cherry, he intercepted them and made them 
 prisoners. Lawrence, who was ill at the 
 time, at once embarked with the rest of 
 the Swiss for Fort St. David. His force 
 consisted of 400 Europeans, 1,700 Sepoys, and 
 eight or nine field guns, together with three or 
 four thousand of worthless rabble representing 
 the Nawab's troops. De Kerjean, finding he 
 was about to be attacked, broke up his camp 
 and retreated to Bahoor, followed by Lawrence. 
 The next day, the French force moved back to 
 
1752- BATTLE OF BAHOOR 49 
 
 within the bound hedge marking the limits of 
 Pondicherry. According to the curious ethics 
 of the time, Lawrence's instructions forbade his 
 violating French territory, so he contented 
 himself with driving in the French outposts 
 that were outside the boundary hedge, in the 
 hope of bringing on a general action. Seeing 
 that de Kerjean had no intention of leaving 
 his position under the walls of Pondicherry, he 
 formed the project of luring him out of it. 
 Affecting an unwillingness to engage, he fell 
 back precipitately to Bahoor. De Kerjean, 
 against his better judgment, allowed himself to 
 be coerced by Dupleix, under threats of 
 supersession, into following Lawrence, and 
 encamped two miles from Bahoor. 
 
 Before daylight, on the 26th August, 
 Lawrence moved out to the attack. Contrary 
 to the usual practice, the advance was led 
 by the Sepoys, the European battalion being 
 kept in reserve. In every action, at that 
 time, the decisive blows were struck by the 
 European troops, and it was essential to as- 
 certain where the French battalion was posted, 
 before the English battalion was too deeply 
 engaged. At the first challenge, the English 
 Sepoys opened fire, but the European battalion 
 
50 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 continued their advance with shouldered arms. 
 As daylight appeared, the French battalion was 
 discovered, drawn up, with their right resting 
 on a high bank, and their left covered by a small 
 piece of water. The English battalion formed 
 up opposite to them, and advanced under a 
 heavy fire of cannon and small arms. The 
 records of war show that, under such circum- 
 stances, one line or the other usually gives way 
 before actual contact ; but, at Bahoor, an 
 incident rare in war occurred. The French 
 stood the shock, and the two lines crossed 
 bayonets without flinching. A few minutes of 
 hand to hand fighting ensued, and then the 
 English grenadier company and the two 
 platoons next them broke through the French 
 centre. The whole French line gave way, and 
 fled in confusion. The Nawab's cavalry, 
 instead of pursuing the fugitives, galloped off 
 to plunder the French camp, by which a 
 number of the French were able to escape. 
 M. de Kerjean with fifteen officers and 100 
 Frenchmen were made prisoners, and a greater 
 number killed, upwards of 100 by the bayonet ; 
 eight guns, with all the French ammunition and 
 stores, were captured. Of the English battalion, 
 four officers and seventy-eight men were killed 
 
1752. LAWRENCE DISPLEASED 51 
 
 and wounded, mostly by the bayonet, so close 
 and determined was the fighting. In his 
 gratitude to the English, Mahomed Ali, at this 
 time, remitted the ground rent of twelve 
 hundred pagodas a year paid for Fort St. 
 George, and henceforth the East India Company 
 was free of the charge. 
 
 In spite of his victory, Lawrence was, for a 
 time, reduced to inaction by the doubtful atti- 
 tude of the Mysore Durbar and the Mahrattas, 
 under the influence of Dupleix's intrigues. 
 He was engaged in a little fighting and 
 much marching, during which the Mahrattas 
 plundered friend and foe impartially, till a 
 great amount of sickness among his troops 
 forced him to return to Cuddalore. 
 
 So little aware were the Directors in London 
 of what was going on in the South of India, 
 that they sent instructions to Lawrence at 
 this time to proceed to Calcutta, to advise about 
 the fortifications there ; but Lawrence was too 
 busy to be spared. His whole service in 
 India was confined to the Coromandel coast. 
 
 At this time he again sought to relinquish 
 his command. There was frequent discontent 
 among the troops, owing to their pay being 
 
 constantly in arrears. They were worn out 
 
 E 2 
 
52 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 with harassing service, and Lawrence's plans 
 for prosecuting the war were disregarded. He 
 complained that he was not allowed to exercise 
 the powers conferred on him by the Directors, 
 without constant interference. The Governor 
 sent him orders for military movements, with- 
 out informing him of his plans for prosecuting 
 the war, or paying the slightest attention to his 
 opinions, and made appointments and promo- 
 tions among the troops without consulting him. 
 In November, he actually relinquished the 
 command, but was prevailed on to resume it 
 after an interval of three weeks. 
 
1753- 53 
 
 III. 
 TRICHINOPOLY 
 
 IN January, Lawrence was again in the field, 
 engaged in harassing operations, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Cuddalore, against the French 
 under M. Maissin, with whom were allied the 
 Mahrattas, who had now definitely declared 
 themselves against Mahomed Ali and the 
 English. On gih January, he took three guns 
 from the Mahrattas. The French, under M. 
 Maissin, were strongly entrenched in sight of 
 Lawrence's camp at Trivadi, in an unassailable 
 position, and all his efforts to force on a general 
 engagement in the open were unsuccessful. 
 During four months the two armies were in sight 
 of each other, and a number of minor engage- 
 ments took place between the English and the 
 Mahrattas, in which the want of cavalry on the 
 English side placed Lawrence at some disadvan- 
 tage. The Mahrattas displayed great energy 
 and gallantry, but the French troops kept them- 
 selves in reserve ; discouraged, no doubt, by their 
 
54 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 recent reverses, and also, because it was the 
 design of Dupleix to detain Lawrence and the 
 English force on the coast, while his schemes 
 were working at Trichinopoly. On the ist 
 April, while bringing up a convoy from Fort 
 St. David, he was attacked by a large Mah- 
 ratta force supported by a French battalion. 
 Lawrence at once accepted the challenge, and a 
 brisk engagement ensued. The Mahratta 
 leader Morari Rao's brother was killed, and 
 the French battalion ran away. Having his 
 convoy to look to, Lawrence was unable to 
 follow up his advantage. Two days later, he 
 threw up a battery and bombarded the French 
 camp, but to no purpose. Unable to bring 
 matters to a decisive issue, Lawrence was 
 relieved from his dilemma by urgent news from 
 Trichinopoly, which caused him to transfer his 
 operations to that neighbourhood. 
 
 Mahomed Ali's affairs in Trichinopoly had 
 been going very badly from the time of Law's 
 surrender. In order to secure the Mysore 
 alliance, Mahomed AH had engaged himself 
 by treaty to surrender Trichinopoly to the 
 Mysore Durbar, without the knowledge of 
 the English, and without the slightest inten- 
 tion of fulfilling his promise. The Tanjore 
 
1752. PLOTS AGAINST DALTON 55 
 
 chief had withdrawn, tired of the contest, 
 and Mahomed Ali, without money or supplies, 
 found his only support in Dalton, who 
 had been left at Trichinopoly with 200 
 Europeans and 1,500 Sepoys after Law's 
 surrender. Before commencing open hostilities, 
 plot after plot was made by the Mysore leader 
 to get rid of Dalton. A plot to assassinate 
 him was detected ; efforts were made to seduce 
 his Sepoys from their allegiance, but without 
 success. Two emissaries, with the Mysore 
 regent's papers in their possession, were given 
 up by a faithful native officer and blown from 
 guns. Then an attempt was made to gain 
 over Poverio, a Neapolitan in the Nawab's 
 service ; but Poverio was true to his salt, and 
 disclosed the plot The Mysore Regent then 
 put a price on Poverio's head. Lawrence, who 
 was kept informed of all that was going on, 
 proposed that Dalton should seize the Mysore 
 Regent and Morari Rao, by surprise, but the 
 Madras Council disapproved of the project. 
 Mill remarks that the Council would have done 
 well in following Lawrence's advice both in 
 this matter, and in surrendering Trichinopoly 
 to Mysore, according to Mahomed Ali's agree- 
 ment. " Delicacy would have been less violated 
 
56 TRICHINOPOLY 1752. 
 
 in one instance, by following the advice of 
 Lawrence, and prudence would have been more 
 consulted by following it in both." It was at 
 this juncture that Morari Rao, the Mahratta 
 leader, who wanted Trichinopoly for himself, 
 and who had been for some time in correspon- 
 dence with Dupleix, threw off the mask, and 
 joined Mahomed All's enemies. The Mysoreans 
 now began to intercept the entry of provisions 
 into Trichinopoly, and open hostilities were 
 inevitable. Permission was sent from Madras 
 to treat the Mysoreans as enemies. The 
 Mysore army was encamped on the island of 
 Seringham, the scene of Law's surrender. 
 Dalton resolved to beat up their camp. At 
 10 o'clock at night on the 23rd December, 
 1752, he marched out, crossed the river, and 
 fell on the Mysore camp. The attack was 
 completely successful, and Dalton regained the 
 city after killing a great number of the enemy, 
 with a loss to himself of only twenty killed and 
 wounded. Being desirous of driving them off 
 the island altogether, he renewed the attack, 
 and seized a small temple which the enemy had 
 occupied. An attack of Mahratta horsemen 
 was repulsed, and all was going well, when a 
 sudden panic seized the men, in consequence of 
 
1753- DALTON AT BAY 57 
 
 their officer leaving them to communicate with 
 Dalton. They rushed madly to recross the 
 river ; the Mahratta horsemen dashed into the 
 fugitives, sabreing right and left, and a disaster 
 was only averted by the steadiness of the re- 
 maining troops under Dalton, who had not 
 crossed the river. Two English officers, 
 seventy Europeans, and 300 of the best Sepoys 
 were killed, and Dalton's little force was 
 seriously crippled. 
 
 From this date Trichinopoly was closely in- 
 vested. The Mysore general, with 8,000 men, 
 took up his position at the Fakeer's Tope, 
 south of the city ; Dalton, working on his 
 fears, compelled him to retire from it and re- 
 turn to Seringham. But, before this, provisions 
 were running short, and Dalton had been 
 forced to send an express to Lawrence asking 
 for assistance. Lawrence had, for some time, 
 been anxious about the safety of Trichinopoly, 
 but the Council took no action on his repre- 
 sentations. On the i Qth April he wrote : "If 
 Captain Dalton is to be reinforced, and his 
 situation seems to cry aloud for it, 'tis time to 
 determine something, for the rising of the 
 rivers (and that season is approaching) will 
 put it out of our power to assist him." The 
 
5 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 intelligence of Trichinopoly's straitened cir- 
 cumstances reached Lawrence at Trivadi, 
 near Cuddalore, at 10 o'clock at night, on 
 the 20th. Leaving 650 men at Trivadi, 150 
 of whom were Europeans, he marched, at 
 six hours* notice, to Fort St. David to collect 
 supplies. Marching again the next day, he 
 entered Trichinopoly, without fighting, on 6th 
 May, the seventeenth day from the receipt of 
 Dalton's message. Sickness and desertion on 
 the march had considerably reduced the num- 
 ber of his Europeans : 100 of them, unfit for 
 duty, were carried into hospital on the day of 
 his arrival : his whole force, including the 
 original garrison, consisted only of 500 Euro- 
 peans, 2,000 Sepoys, and 3,000 of the Nawab's 
 horse. His artillery consisted of ten field 
 pieces, and one or two eighteen-pounders. It is 
 worth noting that in taking this sudden decision 
 to march to Dalton's assistance, Lawrence acted 
 without permission of the Madras Council ; 
 and it is evident that the long detention of his 
 force near Cuddalore was against his wishes. 
 By his bold march to Trichinopoly, without 
 reference to the Council, Lawrence brought the 
 dispute between Saunders and himself to an 
 issue. The bickerings between them had not 
 
1753- ASTRUC 59 
 
 ceased, and Saunders had gone so far as to 
 accuse Lawrence of neglecting the Company's 
 interests. The Council not only approved his 
 march, but for the first time disclosed to him 
 their plans, as he had so often solicited. From 
 this time there was perfect accord between 
 Lawrence and the Governor. 
 
 Directly Lawrence's withdrawal from Trivadi 
 was known to Dupleix, he despatched M. 
 Astruc with 200 Europeans, 500 Sepoys, and 
 4 guns to Trichinopoly, without waiting for 
 more definite intelligence of Lawrence's march. 
 All his plans depended on gaining possession 
 of Trichinopoly. Astruc joined the Mysoreans 
 in Seringham the day after Lawrence's arrival 
 at Trichinopoly, and assumed command of the 
 whole force. Astruc was a general of con- 
 siderable ability. With so great a superiority 
 in numbers, his prospects of success seemed 
 assured. The country in the neighbourhood 
 of Trichinopoly was particularly favourable for 
 his operations. North of the city, the Cauvery 
 River, dividing into two branches, forms the 
 island of Seringham, a stronghold capable alone 
 of containing his whole force. In an irregular 
 three-quarter circle south of the city, and at a 
 distance of between two and four miles, are 
 
60 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 a number of strong positions known as 
 Elmiseram, French Rocks, Sugarloaf Rock, 
 Golden Rock, Fakeer's Tope, Five Rocks and 
 Weycondah, affording the most favourable 
 ground for an investing force. For thirty 
 years circumstances made Trichinopoly the 
 bone of contention for the contending armies 
 of Southern India. Few spots on earth have 
 been the scene of such continuous fighting as 
 the country for ten miles round Trichinopoly, 
 from 1732 to 1760. 
 
 Lawrence was badly off for supplies. His 
 sole chance lay in an active defence, and in 
 being able to gain over the Tanjore Chief, who 
 was still neutral. He was at a great disadvan- 
 tage through want of cavalry. The Nawab's 
 three thousand horse were quite unable to face 
 the Mysore and Mahratta horsemen led by 
 Hyder Ali and Morari Rao. Giving his troops 
 three days' rest, he marched out to dislodge the 
 French and Mysoreans from Seringham. The 
 engagement was mainly an artillery one. A 
 charge of Rajpoot cavalry was repelled with 
 heavy loss, by the English Sepoys, and Lawrence 
 was forced to return to his camp after the troops 
 had been twenty hours under arms ; unsuc- 
 cessful, but having suffered very slight loss. 
 
1753- ATTACK ON ASTRUC 61 
 
 The only result of the day's operations had 
 been to show him that, in M. Astruc, he had 
 an abler enemy than he had yet met. He 
 therefore abandoned the idea of dislodging the 
 enemy from Seringham, and devoted himself 
 to procuring supplies. For this purpose, he 
 encamped at the Fakeer's Tope, two and a half 
 miles from the city, so as to prevent a complete 
 investment, and sent parties of Sepoys to pro- 
 cure provisions. In this position he remained 
 five weeks, without being able to bring the 
 French to action, or to procure more provisions 
 than were sufficient for daily consumption. 
 His whole dependence for supplies was on 
 the Chief of Poodoocottah, who was friendly to 
 Mahomed Ali, and whose territory reached to 
 within a few miles of Trichinopoly. He was 
 known in those days by his family title of the 
 Tondiman. 
 
 Meanwhile, affairs were going very badly for 
 the English in other parts of the Carnatic. 
 Trivadi, with the force left in it, were captured 
 by the French. A similar mishap occurred at 
 Arcot ; every petty chieftain, or soldier of 
 fortune, set up his standard, and ravaged 
 the territories that still gave allegiance to 
 Mahomed Ali. Dupleix, whose whole views 
 
62 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 were centred on Trichinopoly and the capture of 
 Mahomed Ali, discouraged the Mahrattas from 
 partaking in the general plunder, and prevailed 
 on them to join Astruc, to whom he sent 
 three hundred more Europeans and a thousand 
 Sepoys. 
 
 On receipt of these reinforcements, M. Astruc 
 quitted Seringham, crossed the Cauvery, and 
 encamped on the plain to the west of the city, 
 near Weycondah. His force consisted of 450 
 Europeans, 1,500 well-trained Sepoys, 11,500 
 Mysore and Mahratta horse, two companies of 
 Topasses (Portuguese native Christians), and 
 1,200 Sepoys in the Mysore service, and a 
 nondescript, badly armed, undisciplined rabble 
 of 15,000 footmen, more useful to plunder than 
 to fight. Lawrence had at his disposal 500 
 Europeans, 2,000 Sepoys, of whom 700 were 
 detached from him engaged in collecting and 
 sending in supplies, and 100 of the Nawab's 
 horse. Lawrence's deficiency in cavalry was 
 accentuated by the Mysore and Mahratta horse- 
 men being under two first-rate leaders ; the 
 Mysore cavalry under Hyder Ali, who, a few 
 years later, seized the throne of Mysore, and 
 the Mahrattas under Morari Rao. Two miles 
 south-west of the Fakeer's Tope were some 
 
1753- ORDERS DISOBEYED 63 
 
 rocky hills known as the Five Rocks, where 
 Lawrence maintained a Sepoy guard to keep 
 open the route for the entrance of supplies. 
 Being in a bad state of health he had gone to 
 the city. Through the disobedience of the officer 
 left in command, the guard was withdrawn. 
 Astruc, finding the post undefended, occupied it 
 during the night, advanced his guns and bom- 
 barded the English camp. Lawrence main- 
 tained his position during the day, and at night 
 withdrew his camp behind a slight eminence 
 nearer the city. Astruc then brought his 
 whole force to the Five Rocks, cutting off 
 Lawrence from the Tondiman's country, and 
 from his absent detachment of 700 Sepoys. 
 Lawrence's position was full of peril. The 
 enemy's position and numbers rendered it im- 
 possible to attack them with any prospect of 
 success ; Astruc was evidently determined to 
 run no risks ; Lawrence's surrender for want 
 of supplies seemed inevitable. There was 
 general despondency in the English camp. 
 
 Half a mile from Lawrence's camp, and 
 nearly a mile from Astruc's, was the Golden 
 Rock, where Lawrence maintained a guard of 
 200 Sepoys. Astruc saw that if he could gain 
 possession of this post he would force back Law- 
 
64 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 rence into the city, and straiten the investment. 
 At daybreak, on the 26th June, he attacked it 
 with a mixed force of Europeans and Sepoys, 
 and, in spite of a gallant resistance" on the part 
 of the defenders, overwhelmed them, killing or 
 taking prisoners the whole of them, before 
 Lawrence could come to their assistance. The 
 French battalion was then brought up behind 
 the rock, the French guns were posted at the 
 base, and opened fire ; the whole Mysore army 
 was drawn up about a cannon shot in rear, 
 while the Mahrattas dashed about in small de- 
 tachments, threatening the flanks and rear of 
 the small English force. Lawrence's position 
 was truly desperate. A number of his Sepoys 
 were absent in the city buying rice ; 200 of 
 them had been just destroyed ; after providing 
 for the safety of his camp, he could only muster 
 300 European infantry, 80 artillerymen, and 
 500 Sepoys. With this force he had advanced 
 to within a short distance of the Golden Rock, 
 before the outpost was overwhelmed. To 
 retreat in face of the numerous horsemen, and 
 pressed by Astruc's Frenchmen, meant pro- 
 bable destruction ; yet, to attack a strong 
 position held by such an overwhelming force 
 seemed nothing but sheer madness. Lawrence 
 
1753- AT THE GOLDEN ROCK 65 
 
 chose the heroic part. Among his good quali- 
 ties was his power of inspiring confidence in 
 those who served under him. In a few words 
 he explained the situation to those about him. 
 His officers agreed in the wisdom of attack- 
 ing, while the men expressed their delight at 
 the opportunity of having " a knock at the 
 Frenchmen " who had kept so long out of reach. 
 Ordering the grenadier company to assault 
 the rock, Lawrence moved with the rest of his 
 little force round the base of it, to attack the 
 French battalion. Seldom in war has such a 
 sight been seen as this little band of British 
 soldiers moving to the attack, surrounded by 
 many thousands of enemies. Scrambling up 
 the rock, with fixed bayonets and without pull- 
 ing trigger, cheering as they moved, the unex- 
 pected onset of the grenadiers led by Captains 
 Kirk and Kilpatrick, struck the French 
 defenders with panic. Not daring to stand 
 the shock, they fled headlong down the 
 reverse side. Meanwhile, Astruc, behind 
 the rock, not seeing what was happening, had 
 wheeled up his battalion to meet Lawrence, 
 exposing its right flank to the fire of the 
 English grenadiers from the rock, which 
 was increased by some Sepoys who had 
 
 F 
 
66 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 followed the grenadiers. At this moment, 
 Lawrence drew up his men directly opposite the 
 French front, at twenty yards distance. In 
 spite of M. Astruc's efforts, his men were struck 
 with consternation at seeing themselves attacked 
 by the foe that a few moments before had 
 seemed in their power. Smitten by musketry 
 fire in front and flank, they fell into disorder, 
 which a bayonet charge converted into panic, 
 and they fled from the field, leaving three guns 
 in Lawrence's hands. In vain the Mahrattas 
 strove to retrieve the fortunes of the day. Some 
 of the grenadiers fell under their sabres, while 
 in disorder, taking possession of the guns. But 
 they were soon forced to withdraw, with the 
 loss of many men. Among others, fell Morari 
 Rao's nephew. He had cut down one of the 
 grenadiers, when the man's comrade, who was 
 loading his musket at the time, fired his ramrod 
 through his body. Lawrence sent the corpse 
 back to the Mahrattas in his own palanquin. 
 The French rallied on the Mysore army, and 
 contented themselves with keeping up an in- 
 effective cannonade. For three hours Lawrence 
 remained at the foot of the rock, in the expecta- 
 tion that they would renew the combat. Finding 
 that the French would not advance, he formed 
 
1753- AT THE GOLDEN ROCK. 67 
 
 his little army into a hollow square, with the cap- 
 tured guns and about seventy prisoners in the 
 centre, and deliberately marched back towards 
 his camp. Hardly had he got clear of the rock, 
 when the whole of the enemy's cavalry, upwards 
 of 10,000 in number, charged furiously down. 
 On several occasions the Mahrattas had suc- 
 ceeded in overwhelming detachments of infantry 
 by dashing in, after first drawing their fire. 
 But the English battalion and sepoys stood 
 firm : not a trigger was pulled. The square 
 was halted and the guns rapidly served, pouring 
 in grape shot into the dense masses, till they 
 broke up and forsook the field, leaving the little 
 band of heroes to march unmolested back to 
 camp, bearing the trophies of victory. No finer 
 feat of arms was ever performed. 
 
 The first result of this victory was to produce 
 dissensions between the French and their 
 allies. M. Astruc made over his command to 
 M. Brenier, and repaired to Pondicherry. 
 Lawrence got in fifty days' provisions, and 
 leaving Dalton with a small garrison, marched 
 towards Tanjore, thirty miles distant. His 
 object in view was to induce the Tanjore Chief 
 to furnish him with cavalry, and to meet a 
 reinforcement on its way from the coast. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 Brenier closely invested the City, and, could 
 he but have summoned resolution to assault it, 
 would probably have taken it. But Dalton's 
 vigilance, together with occasional sorties, 
 prevented any such attempt. 
 
 Lawrence, meanwhile, had gained over the 
 Tanjore Chief, who furnished him with 3,000 
 horse, and 2,000 matchlock men. He also 
 received a reinforcement of 1 70 Europeans and 
 300 Sepoys from Fort St. David. With his 
 force thus increased, Lawrence arrived within 
 ten miles of Trichinopoly. Brenier deter- 
 mined to intercept him, and, with this purpose, 
 occupied the whole of the strong positions south 
 of the City from Weycondah to Elmiseram. 
 The centre of the whole position, the Golden 
 and Sugarloaf Rocks, about half a mile apart, 
 was strongly held by the French infantry and 
 artillery. On the gth August, Lawrence re- 
 sumed his advance. Encumbered with thou- 
 sands of bullocks it appeared impossible for 
 him to force a passage. He had, however, the 
 advantage of an exact knowledge of the dispo- 
 sition of Brenier's forces communicated to him 
 by Dalton. The key of the French position 
 was the Golden Rock. Lawrence formed up 
 his men as if he intended to attack the Sugar 
 
1753- LAWRENCE AND BRENIER 69 
 
 loaf Rock. Brenier fell into the trap, and 
 denuded the Golden Rock to strengthen 
 the point apparently threatened. Lawrence 
 thereupon detached his grenadier company, 
 with 800 Sepoys, to seize the Golden Rock ; 
 a movement not perceived by the French 
 commander till too late to prevent it. Brenier 
 dispatched 300 Europeans to strengthen 
 the small party he had left at the Golden 
 Rock, and a thousand cavalry to hamper the 
 English infantry on their way. But the grena- 
 diers did not permit themselves to be delayed. 
 Without halting, they kept up a rolling fire on 
 the horsemen, who refrained from closing, till, 
 reaching the Golden Rock, they drove the 
 enemy down and planted their colours on the 
 top, before the infantry detached by Brenier 
 could reach the spot. Instead of making an 
 effort to recover the position, this party then 
 took post on some high ground between the 
 two rocks, and opened a galling fire with four 
 guns upon the Golden Rock. Brenier, instead 
 of moving his main body to support his detach- 
 ment, remained halted near the Sugarloaf 
 Rock in a state of indecision, while Lawrence 
 moved his whole force, convoy and all, to the 
 Golden Rock. 
 
70 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 An artillery duel ensued in which the Eng- 
 lish battalion suffered some loss. At this 
 juncture, Dalton issued from the City with two 
 field pieces and his detachment, in rear of the 
 enemy's cavalry, who broke up and galloped 
 off. Seeing Brenier's main body still 
 stationary, Lawrence sent the grenadier 
 company and 200 Europeans, with 300 
 Sepoys, against the French detachment. 
 The officer ordered for the attack sent back 
 word that he could not proceed without cannon. 
 Lawrence galloped up and took command, 
 sending back the officer to the main body. 
 They were received with a heavy fire, which 
 caused some loss, and killed Captain Kirk of the 
 grenadiers. Captain Kilpatrick put himself at 
 the head of the grenadiers, desiring them, if 
 they loved their Captain, to follow him and 
 avenge his death. " These things on the spot 
 have generally a very great effect, when delivered 
 from a person whose spirit and courage is 
 known," as Lawrence afterwards wrote, 
 describing the affair. " The fellows, roused in 
 an instant, swore, after their manner, they 
 would follow him to hell," and avenge Kirk's 
 death. The French broke, without awaiting 
 the shock, and ran off to Weycondah, galled 
 
1753- BRENIER FOILED 71 
 
 by Dalton's guns, leaving three field pieces in 
 Lawrence's hands. Brenier, when it was 
 now too late, moved up his main body ; but 
 his men, seeing Lawrence's whole force in 
 motion, lost heart, and, without waiting to 
 exchange shots, ran off in great confusion to 
 the Five Rocks, exposed to a severe cannonade 
 from the English guns at the Golden Rock. 
 The Tanjore horse, who might have destroyed 
 them, refused to pursue, and so the battle 
 ended. Lawrence, collecting his force, marched 
 into the city with his convoy and the captured 
 guns. Of the French, about one hundred 
 Europeans were killed and wounded ; of the 
 English, about forty; principally by artillery 
 fire. 
 
 In the course of the action Lawrence's 
 palanquin bearers had straggled from the line 
 of march, and were snapped up by the 
 Mahrattas. Lawrence sent to redeem it, but 
 before this could be done, the French got 
 hold of it, and sent it to Pondicherry, where 
 Dupleix had it paraded through the streets as 
 a token of Lawrence's defeat and death. 
 
 During Lawrence's absence, Dalton had 
 been closely blockaded in Trichinopoly. On 
 one occasion a French officer, feigning himself 
 
72 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 to be a deserter, gained access to the town, in 
 order to communicate the weak places of the 
 defence to Brenier, and head an outbreak of 
 the French prisoners. He was detected, and 
 hanged after Lawrence's return. 
 
 A fortnight later, Lawrence moved out 
 against Weycondah, where Brenier had 
 concentrated his force and thrown up en- 
 trenchments. The French abandoned the 
 position without resistance, and took post at 
 Mootachellinoor on the Cauvery, leaving a 
 gun and some baggage in Lawrence's hands. 
 Here Brenier was joined by a strong rein- 
 forcement under M. Astruc, consisting of 400 
 Europeans, 2,000 Sepoys, six guns, and 3,000 
 Mahratta cavalry, together with a great number 
 of irregular infantry. The English were again 
 as much outnumbered as they had been at any 
 time during the war. Astruc again assumed 
 command. He reoccupied the positions of the 
 Five Rocks and the Golden and Sugarloaf 
 Rocks, entrenched himself, and recommenced 
 the blockade, instead of making use of his 
 great superiority of force to bring matters to a 
 conclusion. Lawrence moved out into the 
 open plain, south-east of the French Rock, to 
 give a hand to the convoys coming in from 
 
1753- ASTRUC AGAIN 73 
 
 Tanjore, while he awaited a reinforcement that 
 was on its way to him. For eighteen days the 
 two armies remained thus encamped, at about 
 two miles distance from each other, on an open 
 plain, without a bush on it between them ; so 
 that, with a glass, each could see what was 
 going on in the other's camp. The difference 
 in morale between the two armies may be 
 gathered from the fact that the English were 
 encamped on the open plain, while the superior 
 force of the French had their front covered 
 by entrenchments. On the night of the 
 1 8th September, Lawrence seized a small 
 eminence between the camps, brought an 
 i8-pounder out of the city, and opened fire 
 with it on the French camp. The French 
 detached a party against the i8-pounder. A 
 skirmish ensued, under cover of which the 
 expected reinforcements, consisting of 237 
 Europeans and 300 Sepoys, under Captain 
 Ridge, joined him without molestation. With 
 Ridge also came Captain Caillaud, who was 
 destined in time to succeed Lawrence, and 
 who, among other performances, outwitted 
 d'Auteuil on this very ground four years later. 
 
 Having nothing to gain by further delay, 
 Lawrence at once took the offensive. His 
 
74 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 troops were in high spirits, but he had only 
 three days' provisions, so action was necessary. 
 Depositing his tents in the city, he drew up his 
 little army at the Fakeer's Tope, at daybreak 
 on the 2Oth, and offered battle. M. Astruc 
 not accepting the challenge, Lawrence sent for 
 his tents, and pitched camp, with the view of 
 disarming suspicion. The cannonade from the 
 1 8 -pounder was maintained "that they might 
 think we had no other view than that of 
 disturbing them in their camp with our shot. 
 This lulled them into a security." After dark, 
 the tents were packed up and sent back to 
 the city, and preparations made to attack. 
 Lawrence's force consisted of 600 European 
 infantry, in three divisions, 100 European 
 artillerymen with six guns, 2,000 Sepoys, and 
 the Tanjorine cavalry and matchlockmen. At 
 four in the morning of the 2ist September, the 
 army started. The European infantry marching 
 in three divisions in column, the guns were 
 disposed on either flank, and the Sepoys 
 followed in two lines in rear of the guns ; the 
 Tanjorine cavalry in rear of the whole. 
 
 The object of first attack was the Golden 
 Rock, on which Astruc had posted 100 
 Europeans, 600 Sepoys, and two guns, with 
 
1753- LAWRENCE ATTACKS 75 
 
 two companies of Topasses. It was a 
 bright moonlight night, but clouds obscured 
 the moon as the force moved out ; so that 
 they arrived within pistol shot of the rock 
 before they were discovered. Pouring in a 
 volley, they rushed to the assault with such 
 ardour that the enemy fled precipitately, with- 
 out even waiting to fire their two cannon, which 
 were ready loaded with grape. Without waiting 
 longer than was necessary to disable the guns, 
 the force advanced again, the Europeans in 
 line, with the Sepoys, in short echelon, on either 
 flank. The French had entrenched the front 
 of their camp, but the adjoining native camp 
 was not entrenched. Lawrence's plan was to 
 penetrate the native camp and, through it, to 
 attack the French camp, thus turning the 
 entrenchment, while the Tanjore horse, with 
 some matchlockmen, were directed to move 
 against the French front, and threaten an 
 attack in that quarter. With drums beating, 
 portfires lighted, and the Sepoys' native instru- 
 ments in full blast, the British force advanced 
 with loud cheers into the Mysore camp, spread- 
 ing consternation everywhere. Nine French 
 guns were brought into action, but, with such 
 ill effect in the dark, that they did harm mostly 
 
76 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 to their native allies. The Sepoys kept up a 
 smart fire, while the Europeans marched with 
 fixed bayonets and shouldered arms. As day 
 was breaking, the Mysore camp was cleared, 
 and the French battalion was discovered drawn 
 up in line, with a large body of Sepoys on their 
 left flank, while another large body, who had 
 been directed to cover their right flank, had, 
 instead, taken post on the Sugarloaf Rock. 
 Reforming their disordered lines as they 
 advanced, and reserving their fire, the English 
 infantry were received with a volley at twenty 
 paces, which caused some loss ; Captain 
 Kilpatrick, leading the grenadiers on the 
 right of the European battalion, falling 
 desperately wounded. But the Sepoys on 
 the left of the French line broke and fled under 
 the fire of the English Sepoys. Caillaud, who 
 had taken Kilpatrick's place, seized the oppor- 
 tunity, and wheeled up the right division of the 
 European battalion on the uncovered left flank 
 of the French battalion, poured in a heavy fire 
 and charged with the bayonet, rolling them up 
 on their centre ; while the remainder of the 
 English battalion fell upon them in front. The 
 French fell back in disorder, Astruc doing his 
 best to rally them. But the English grenadiers 
 
1753- COMPLETE VICTORY 77 
 
 were on them again before they could re-form ; 
 in a moment the whole French force dis- 
 solved and fled in complete disorder, dispersing 
 in every direction. The overthrow of the 
 French battalion was completed in ten or 
 twelve minutes. The English Sepoys on the 
 left, who had taken no part in the engagement 
 so far, pushed on to the Sugarloaf Rock, which 
 they carried, completely defeating and dispers- 
 ing the French Sepoys posted there. 
 
 The whole affair scarcely lasted two hours. 
 On beholding the defeat of the French, their 
 native allies dispersed in flight. The whole 
 plain was covered with the flying enemy, 
 who were computed at 30,000 footmen and 
 16,000 horse. In wild confusion, the great 
 mass of fugitives, mingled with elephants, 
 camels and bullocks, fled, as they best could, for 
 Mootachellinoor, not stopping till they had 
 crossed the Cauvery on to the island of Sering- 
 ham, The Tanjore horse, as usual, instead of 
 pursuing, amused themselves with plundering 
 the French camp. M. Astruc, with nine officers, 
 and 100 Frenchmen, eleven pieces of cannon 
 and all the tents, baggage, and ammunition of 
 the French camp, remained in the hands of the 
 victors. Dalton, sallying out from the city, took 
 
73 TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 twenty-one French prisoners, sixty-five more 
 were found straggling in Tanjore territory, and 
 a number were knocked on the head by the 
 country people, wandering in the woods : 200 
 of them were killed or wounded in the engage- 
 ment, and the Mahratta horse alone saved the 
 French European infantry from total destruc- 
 tion. A thousand of the French native allies 
 were killed and wounded. Of the English, 
 six officers and seventy men were killed or 
 wounded, among the latter being Lawrence 
 himself. Kilpatrick, in spite of being shot 
 through the body, and receiving several sabre 
 wounds from Mahratta horsemen as he lay on 
 the ground, survived to fight again. The action 
 was decided entirely by the infantry : the 
 English guns were never engaged, while the 
 French guns were so badly served that they 
 only inflicted damage on their own allies. 
 
 Lawrence followed up his victory by laying 
 siege to Weycondah, the same evening. Early 
 on the 23rd, before the breach was ready for 
 assault, the English Sepoys, seeing some of the 
 garrison escaping, broke away from their officers, 
 and tried to mount the breach. Finding this 
 impracticable, they made for the gateway. A 
 sergeant of Sepoys, "a resolute Englishman," 
 
1753- ''MAISSIN 79 
 
 whose name has not been preserved, clambered 
 up by the carved work, and planted the colours 
 of his company on the parapet. He was 
 quickly joined by some of his men ; the gate 
 was opened, and those outside rushed in with 
 such fury, with the bayonet, that the garrison 
 flung down their arms and surrendered. Then 
 Lawrence, after sweeping a large quantity of 
 supplies into the city, where he left a small 
 garrison, marched for Tanjore, where his 
 presence was needed to counteract the 
 intrigues of Dupleix. In spite of his efforts, 
 heavy bribes from Pondicherry succeeded in 
 procuring the removal of the only efficient 
 Tanjore commander, while threats of a 
 Mahratta invasion practically reduced the timid 
 ruler of Tanjore to neutrality again. In 
 November, a French reinforcement of 300 
 Europeans and 1,200 Sepoys, under M. Maissin 
 reached Seringham. Their arrival was care- 
 fully kept secret, and everything was done to put 
 the Trichinopoly garrison off their guard. At 
 three o'clock in the morning of the 28th 
 November, a determined attempt was made 
 to surprise Trichinopoly. A chosen body of 
 600 Frenchmen, led by an English deserter, 
 crossed the ditch, and seized a detached battery, 
 
8o TRICHINOPOLY 1753. 
 
 without alarming the main garrison. Nothing 
 more was needed for success but to blow in a 
 small side gate, for which all preparations had 
 been made. Elated by their first success, the 
 French disobeyed their orders, and commenced 
 firing. The alarm was given. Kilpatrick, 
 who was in command, was still confined to his 
 bed by his wounds, but his orders to his 
 subaltern, Lieutenant Harrison, were coolly 
 obeyed. The picquet and reserve hastened to 
 the rampart and opened fire. By great good 
 fortune, the guide and both powder bearers 
 were killed ; the French, between the outer 
 and inner walls, unable to advance or retreat, 
 and without a guide, were exposed to a merci- 
 less fire, and, as soon as daylight permitted, 
 they were glad to surrender. A number 
 attempted the desperate expedient of leaping 
 down into the ditch, when they found the 
 enterprise had failed. Few escaped without 
 serious injury ; but all were carried off by their 
 associates who had remained outside. Eight 
 officers and 364 men were taken prisoners, one 
 officer and twenty- four men killed, and a number 
 wounded. Thus, " French petulance," as Law- 
 rence styled it, saved Trichinopoly from the 
 greatest risk it had run during the war. 
 
1754- DUPLEIX NEGOTIATES 81 
 
 The acute phase of the struggle was at an 
 end. Lawrence could defeat the French, but 
 he could not drive them away, backed up as 
 they were by some of the best cavalry in 
 Southern India, a force in which he was lament- 
 ably deficient. Dupleix, now at the end of his 
 resources, attempted to come to an arrange- 
 ment with the English, hoping to win by 
 diplomacy what he had failed to win by force. 
 In January, 1754, commissioners from both 
 sides met at the Dutch settlement at Sadras ; 
 but their views were quickly found to be irre- 
 concilable. On the English side the com- 
 missioners laid down, as a basis of negotiation, 
 that Mahomed Ali should be recognised as 
 Nawab of the Carnatic, and that the Tanjore 
 Chief should be guaranteed in the peaceable 
 possession of his kingdom. The French terms 
 were based on the recognition of Salabut Jung 
 as Soobadar of the Deccan, and the rejection 
 of the claims of Mahomed Ali. They also 
 produced Sunnuds from Salabut Jung, appoint- 
 ing Dupleix commander in all the countries 
 south of the River Kistna, and granting him 
 Arcot and Trichinopoly. The whole was 
 capped by a Firman from Delhi confirming the 
 grants made by Salabut Jung. The English 
 
 G 
 
82 TRICHINOPOLY 1754- 
 
 held this latter document to be a forgery, as 
 it probably was. Apart from the Moghul 
 Firman, which, after all, had only an academic 
 value, the position of the English in Southern 
 India would have become untenable had they 
 agreed to the French demands ; so the con- 
 ference was broken up in eleven days from its 
 commencement. Dupleix had, in fact, de- 
 manded the specific assent of the English to 
 what they had all along been contending 
 against. 
 
 At the same time, negotiations were opened 
 with the English, by the Mysore Regent, for 
 the possession of Trichinopoly. The Madras 
 Council wished Lawrence to conduct the 
 negotiations : he excused himself on the plea 
 of health, but really because he disapproved 
 of the conditions. He had all along held the 
 opinion that Mahomed Ali should be forced to 
 observe his promise to deliver Trichinopoly to 
 Mysore, and he did not cease to express his 
 regret " that the attempt had been made to 
 keep Trichinopoly after promising to cede it." 
 The Madras Council had all along held a 
 different opinion. They now made the absurd 
 proposal that Trichinopoly should be held by 
 the English till the other articles of the pro- 
 
1754- DEMAINVILLE 83 
 
 posed treaty with Mysore were carried out ; 
 and that a certain proportion of Mysore troops 
 should be introduced into the garrison. Law- 
 rence bluntly wrote to them : " Give me leave 
 to tell you the proposal is absurd and im- 
 practicable." The negotiation, after dragging 
 on for a long time, came to nothing. 
 
 While these negotiations were going on, 
 Lawrence was encamped at Trichinopoly, 
 confronting the French Force in Seringham, 
 under M. de Mainville. The country for a 
 great distance round had been denuded of 
 supplies of every kind by the warfare of the 
 two previous years, and Lawrence was depen- 
 dent for provisions on Tanjore. Supplies were 
 brought in by the Tanjore merchants to 
 Tricatopoly, eighteen miles east of Trichi- 
 nopoly, whence they were escorted in by 
 detachments from Lawrence's camp. The 
 duty was one of great fatigue and risk to the 
 small force Lawrence had with him, encum- 
 bered as he was with a great number of French 
 prisoners. There were sufficient English troops 
 to spare to have strengthened his force, but the 
 Council chose to keep them on the coast. In 
 the middle of February 7 , a more important 
 convoy than usual was on its way from Trica- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 TRICHINOPOLY 1754. 
 
 topoly. Lawrence sent out a detachment of 
 230 Europeans, about 500 Sepoys, and 4 
 guns, under Captain Grenville, to bring it in.* 
 Grenville had orders to keep his force together, 
 and, if attacked, to take up a position and 
 defend himself, till Lawrence could come to his 
 relief. De Mainville had notice of the convoy, 
 and detached 400 Europeans, 6,000 Sepoys, 
 and 7 guns with 8,000 Mahratta horse, to 
 intercept it. On the morning of the i5th 
 February, Grenville had reached a point be- 
 tween Elmiseram and the river when he was 
 attacked. Disregarding his orders, he had dis- 
 tributed his men on both sides of the convoy 
 along its whole length. On seeing the enemy, he 
 made no attempt to get his men together or to 
 take up a position, and the whole detachment 
 was overwhelmed by the Mahrattas, almost 
 without striking a blow. The French troops 
 only came up in time to save the lives of some 
 of them. Men, guns, supplies, and ,7,000 in 
 money were lost, and Grenville paid for his 
 error with his life. Here also Lawrence lost 
 
 * These are the numbers given in Lawrence's letter written 
 ten days after the event. In his later narrative he adopts 
 the numbers given by Orme viz., 180 Europeans and 8og 
 Sepoys, 
 
1754- MAHOMED YUSUF 85 
 
 that splendid company of grenadiers that he 
 had formed with such care, and so often led 
 to victory. Though it is nowhere mentioned, 
 there can be little doubt that it was the 
 company he made his own. Of the 230 
 Europeans lost to him that day, 138 were 
 prisoners, only thirty-eight of them being taken 
 unwounded. Of the eight officers present, four 
 were killed and three wounded. 
 
 This disaster reduced Lawrence to great 
 straits. He was no longer able to send 
 parties to bring in convoys from Tanjore, and 
 was obliged to depend on the Tondiman's 
 country for precarious supplies. He was 
 oppressed by serious illness, and despaired of 
 ultimate success, with the insufficient means at 
 his disposal. For the escorting of his small 
 convoys he was principally dependent on a 
 gallant native soldier, Mahomed Yusuf, of 
 Nellore. This man had first entered the 
 Company's service, under Clive, at the 
 beginning of 1751, at the head of a small body 
 of men raised by himself. Lawrence describes 
 him as " an excellent partisan . . . brave and 
 resolute, but cool and wary in action. He was 
 never sparing of himself ... a born soldier, 
 and better of his colour I never saw in the 
 
86 TRICHINOPOLY 1754. 
 
 country. He always prevents my asking, by 
 offering himself for everything, and executes 
 what he goes about as well and as briskly as 
 he attempts it." On Lawrence's recommenda- 
 tion, Mahomed Yusuf was, at this time, granted 
 a commission as commandant of all the Sepoys 
 in the Company's service. 
 
 All Lawrence's communications with native 
 authorities were carried on through his inter- 
 preter, a Brahmin named Poniapa, whose 
 position, necessarily, made him acquainted with 
 important secrets. Poniapa entered into a 
 secret correspondence with the Mysore Regent, 
 whom he induced to demand that he, Poniapa, 
 should be sent by Lawrence to receive 
 proposals for the termination of the war. 
 Lawrence sent him, and he returned with a 
 plausible report; having really engaged with 
 the Regent to betray the English, whose 
 difficulties in procuring supplies he revealed. 
 As a first step, he informed the Regent that it 
 was necessary to get rid of Mahomed Yusuf. 
 For this purpose he arranged that an incrimi- 
 nating letter from the Mysore Regent, 
 addressed to Mahomed Yusuf, should be 
 dropped in the English camp. This was 
 done, and the letter brought to Lawrence, as 
 
1754- PONIAPA'S FATE 87 
 
 had been intended, and read to him by 
 Poniapa. Lawrence was completely deceived, 
 and Mahomed Yusuf was at once imprisoned. 
 His fate would have been sealed, had not, by 
 good fortune, the man who dropped the letter 
 been discovered. He was confronted with 
 Poniapa, and the Brahmin was forced to 
 confess the truth. As a fitting punishment, 
 Poniapa was blown from a gun, by sanction of 
 the Madras Council, and Mahomed Yusuf 
 exonerated. But the narrowness of his escape, 
 and the danger of serving people who were at 
 the mercy of interpreters, is said to have made 
 an impression on Mahomed Yusuf that was 
 never effaced from his mind, and bore evil 
 fruit eight years later. 
 
 On 1 2th May, Lawrence detached a party 
 under Captain Caillaud, consisting of 120 men 
 with 500 Sepoys and 2 guns, to escort in a 
 convoy coming from the Tondiman's country. 
 De Mainville had intelligence of the convoy, 
 and sent a detachment of troops with some 
 Mysore horse and four guns to intercept 
 it at the point where Caillaud was to 
 meet it. The Mahrattas, fortunately, were 
 absent ; having quarrelled with the Mysoreans 
 the day before. Caillaud left camp at four in 
 
88 TRICHINOPOLY 1754. 
 
 the morning, with Mahomed Yusuf recon- 
 noitring in front. Suddenly, Mahomed Yusuf s 
 horse neighed, and was answered by many 
 others. Riding to the top of a bank, Mahomed 
 Yusuf was received with an ill-directed volley 
 which disclosed the position of the ambush. 
 So far as could be made out in the dark, the 
 French were posted under cover of a bank. 
 Caillaud sent parties against both flanks at 
 once, who drove them from their cover with 
 the loss of some men and a tumbril of ammuni- 
 tion. He then sent off a messenger to turn 
 the convoy back, and waited for daylight. 
 Directly the firing was heard in camp Captain 
 Polier* marched out to join Caillaud ; bringing 
 up their joint force to 360 Europeans, 1,500 
 Sepoys, and 1 1 English troopers with 5 guns. 
 Lawrence was ill, in the city, at the time ; too 
 ill to move. He had himself carried to the 
 ramparts, whence he viewed the combat with 
 much anxiety. French reinforcements had 
 also come up, bringing up their force to 700 
 Europeans, 50 dragoons, 5,000 Sepoys, 10,000 
 Mysore horse and 7 guns. Polier commenced 
 
 * He was a Swiss officer, and his real name was Polier de 
 Bottens. He was killed at the beginning of the siege of 
 Madras, December, 1758. 
 
1754- CAILLAUD 89 
 
 his retreat in the face of this overwhelming 
 force, and, for a mile, his party moved with 
 great steadiness, harassed by French cannon 
 and musketry fire, till they were able to take 
 post under cover of a bank. Two of the guns 
 had been disabled, but were still brought along, 
 and Polier himself was wounded, and obliged 
 to make over the command to Caillaud. 
 Caillaud drew up his Europeans to face the 
 advancing French battalion, and opened a 
 heavy fire of grape on them from two guns ; 
 while the Sepoys were drawn up, en potence, 
 protecting the left flank and rear of the 
 Europeans against the Mysore cavalry. So 
 effectively were the guns served that the 
 French battalion halted, wavered and began 
 to retreat. Caillaud seized the moment to 
 advance and fire a volley, which threw the 
 French into complete disorder. In spite of 
 the efforts of their officers they fell back ; the 
 example was followed by their Sepoys and 
 Mysore allies, and Caillaud resumed his march 
 without further molestation. Six out of the 
 nine officers present were wounded ; fifty-five 
 soldiers and one hundred and fifty Sepoys 
 were killed and wounded. 
 
 The French, disheartened by their constant 
 
90 TRICHINOPOLY 1754. 
 
 failures against Trichinopoly, now adopted the 
 expedient of ravaging the territories of the 
 Tondiman, and of Tanjore, whence Lawrence 
 drew the supplies that enabled him to main- 
 tain his position. They were able to do little 
 damage beyond destroying the dam of the 
 Cauvery river, on which much of the prosperity 
 of Tanjore depended ; but a Tanjore force of 
 1,500 men was overwhelmed by Morari Rao. 
 Lawrence, leaving a sufficient garrison in Tri- 
 chinopoly, and calling in all his outposts, 
 marched for Tanjore, where he procured the 
 reinstatement of the Tanjore commander, who 
 had been displaced through the intrigues of 
 Dupleix. Here he remained some weeks, and 
 received a reinforcement of Europeans and 
 Sepoys, while waiting for the co-operation of the 
 Tanjore army, which was as dilatory in its 
 movements as native armies always were. 
 
 On the 1 6th August, Lawrence and his allies 
 encamped six miles west of Elmiseram. Law- 
 rence's force now consisted of 1,000 European 
 infantry, 200 Topasses, 3,000 Sepoys, and 14 
 field guns. The Tanjore force mustered 2,500 
 cavalry, 3,000 infantry, and some guns. M. 
 de Mainville, with the French force, had 
 all this time been hovering round Trichi- 
 
1754- LAWRENCE AND MAISSIN 91 
 
 nopoly without making any serious attack. 
 On the 1 6th August, orders from Pondicherry 
 constrained him to relinquish the command 
 to M. Maissin. Maissin moved from 
 the Five Rocks to intercept Lawrence. His 
 force consisted of 900 European infantry, 400 
 Topasses, a number of Sepoys, 8 guns, and 
 10,000 Mysore horse under Hyder Ali. 
 Marching on the iyth, Lawrence was able to 
 seize a deep watercourse and high bank between 
 French Rock and Elmiseram, which Maissin 
 had designedly failed to occupy. In concert 
 with Hyder Ali, he had arranged to draw 
 the English force towards Five Rocks, when 
 Hyder Ali was to seize a favourable opportu- 
 nity to fall on the baggage and convoy. The 
 plan nearly succeeded. 
 
 Lawrence, seeing the French drawn up in 
 order of battle on his left, at once accepted the 
 challenge, and advanced in two lines. A hot 
 cannonade ensued, in which the French 
 suffered a good deal, and, as the opposing 
 lines were on the point of commencing mus- 
 ketry fire, the French went about, and retreated 
 in good order towards Five Rocks. Lawrence 
 was preparing to follow, when he received news 
 of Hyder Ali's attack on his rear. In his 
 
92 TRICHINOPOLY 1754. 
 
 impatience, Hyder AH had moved too soon. 
 Leaving some of his cavalry to keep the Tan- 
 jore horse in play, he had galloped round 
 French Rock, and was driven off, after causing 
 some confusion, carrying off thirty-five carts 
 laden with arms, ammunition and baggage. A 
 separate attack made by the French, from 
 the island of Seringham, was met by a sortie 
 from Trichinopoly under Kilpatrick, who 
 drove them back to the island without loss to 
 himself. Maissin, who had orders not to risk 
 a general engagement, offered no further 
 opposition, and Lawrence entered Trichinopoly, 
 with the loss of one officer and fifteen men. 
 The French had a hundred Europeans killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 Three days later, Lawrence moved out to 
 the Fakeer's Tope, in the hope of provoking an 
 engagement : the French set fire to their camp, 
 and drew off to Mootachellinoor, leaving the road 
 open for Lawrence's supplies to come in. The 
 same evening the French fortified post at 
 Elmiseram was invested by the Tanjore troops, 
 and surrendered two days later. Finding the 
 French were entrenched at Mootachellinoor, 
 Lawrence moved to Warriore. So little con- 
 fidence had the French in themselves that, in 
 
1754- SUSPENSION OF ARMS 93 
 
 spite of the strength of their position which 
 was covered by an inundation from the Cauvery 
 on both flanks, they abandoned the entrench- 
 ment by night, and retreated across the river 
 to Seringham. 
 
 Further operations were suspended on 
 account of the rainy season. In October, news 
 was received of a truce, preparatory to a definite 
 peace having been established between the 
 French and English Companies, and of the 
 recall of Dupleix. At the same time, Lawrence 
 received notice of the grant to him of a sword 
 of honour, worth 750, by the Court of 
 Directors. 
 
 The services Lawrence rendered his country, 
 in 1752 and 1753, cannot be over-estimated. 
 In 1751, French power in India was at its 
 zenith. A French Nizam ruled at Hyderabad, 
 and a French Nawab was predominant in the 
 Carnatic. From the Nerbudda to Cape 
 Comorin the whole country was practically 
 under French domination. Had Dupleix 
 triumphed at Trichinopoly, the expulsion of the 
 English from Madras and Fort St. David 
 would have quickly followed. Lawrence's 
 victories turned the scale, and brought about 
 the withdrawal of Dupleix, in whom France 
 
94 TRICHINOPOLY 1754 
 
 lost the services of the ablest statesman she ever 
 sent to India. Within seven years of Dupleix's 
 departure, the fortunes of France in India were 
 irretrievably ruined. Again and again Dupleix 
 had assured the French Government that the 
 British were on the brink of destruction ; 
 that one effort more only was required, and 
 all the wealth of India would be in their grasp. 
 The repeated defeats and disappointments de- 
 stroyed Dupleix's credit in France, and he was 
 recalled to end his days in disgrace and ruin, 
 just one month before the first Royal regiment 
 from England landed in India. M. Cultru, 
 in his study of Dupleix, states that it was the 
 defeat of Law in 1752 that had a decisive 
 effect on Dupleix's career, by destroying his 
 credit in France. All his previous services 
 were at once forgotten. But it may be 
 doubted if the death of Chunda Sahib was not 
 more disastrous to Dupleix's policy, than 
 Law's surrender was to French arms. Chunda 
 Sahib's ability made him a better candidate for 
 the Nawabship than Mahomed AH, and, after 
 his death, Dupleix failed to find any decent 
 claimant to the Carnatic throne, under cover of 
 whose name he could prosecute his schemes of 
 aggrandisement, till he was prepared to assume 
 
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 his death, Dupleix failed tc 
 
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1754- TREATY OF PEACE 95 
 
 the government himself. In the following 
 year, the French with their Mysore and 
 Mahratta allies were far stronger in the field 
 than the English, and had every prospect 
 of regaining the prestige they had lost 
 by Law's defeat. 
 
 The East India Directors had at last 
 realised that if they wished to preserve their 
 trade they must be prepared, at all times, to 
 fight for it. The territorial expansion that 
 followed in due course of time was forced upon 
 them in their own defence. At the end of 
 1 754, a treaty of peace* was signed between the 
 English and French Companies, which gave 
 both nations in India a short breathing time, 
 before the outbreak of the Seven Years' War. 
 
 * A curious feature about the treaty was that it did not 
 fully provide for the restoration of prisoners of war. It 
 provided only for a mutual exchange, man for man. No less 
 than 670 French prisoners were in Trichinopoly at the time. 
 Of these some died and some Swiss and Germans entered 
 the English service : but when war broke out again in April, 
 1757, there were still 500 French prisoners in Trichinopoly. 
 These prisoners were not exchanged till May, 1759. No sooner 
 had they rejoined the French army, under Lally, than they 
 raised a mutiny, and some sixty of them marched off in a body 
 to join the English. 
 
96 1756. 
 
 IV. 
 
 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 
 
 WITH the advent of the 39th Regiment in 
 India, Lawrence received notice that the King 
 had bestowed on him the commission of a 
 Lieutenant-Colonel in the East Indies; but 
 this did not save him from the loss of the chief 
 command of troops in the field. Though he 
 held the appointment of Commander-in-Chief 
 under the Company, the command of the Royal 
 troops was dependent on seniority, and Adler- 
 cron, who commanded the 39th, was senior to 
 Lawrence by date of commission. Lawrence 
 refused to serve under Adlercron, and retained 
 only his command of the Company's troops. 
 For two years his work was chiefly administra- 
 tive. When the news came, in 1756, of the 
 capture of Calcutta by Sooraj-ud Dowla, and 
 preparations for an expedition for its recapture 
 were made, Adlercron was set aside by general 
 consent, owing to his want of experience of 
 the country, and to the independence of his 
 
1757- WAR AGAIN 97 
 
 position towards the Company's officials. Ill- 
 health prevented Lawrence from taking the 
 command, and Clive was selected. 
 
 Ift April, 1757, the French took the field 
 again, consequent on the breaking out of the 
 Seven Years' War in Europe. Their first 
 move was an attempt to capture Trichinopoly. 
 
 On the 1 2th May, d'Auteuil, with 1,150 
 Europeans and 3,000 Sepoys, occupied Sering- 
 ham, and, three days later, commenced to bom" 
 bard the city. Caillaud, who held the command 
 at Trichinopoly, was away besieging Madura, 
 which had been seized by Mahfoos Khan. 
 Trichinopoly washeldonly by 165 Europeansand 
 700 Sepoys under Captain Joseph Smith. Smith 
 was embarrassed by the presence of 500 French 
 prisoners, whose release was one of d'Auteuil's 
 objects. For ten days the garrison was harassed 
 by bombardment and threatened assaults, when 
 the news of Caillaud's approach caused 
 d'Auteuil to draw off, and dispose his army to 
 intercept him, by occupying the old positions at 
 the Five Rocks, Fakeer's Tope, &c. Caillaud, 
 with 1 20 Europeans and 1,200 Sepoys, marching 
 without artillery, tents or baggage, had arrived 
 within twelve miles of the city when he received 
 Smith's messengers telling him of the disposal 
 
 H 
 
98 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1757. 
 
 of d'Auteuil's forces. At the same time he 
 detected the presence of d'Auteuil's spies in his 
 camp. Affecting not to notice them, while 
 keeping them under surveillance, he marched, 
 in the evening, as if to pass between the Five 
 Rocks and the Sugarloaf Rock. After satis- 
 fying himself that the spies had gone off to 
 carry the news to d'Auteuil, he changed the 
 direction of his march, and striking eastward, 
 emerged from the woods opposite Elmiseram. 
 The whole plain was at this time a deep swamp, 
 under rice cultivation. d'Auteuil, believing it 
 to be impassable, had not even stationed a 
 guard here. After seven hours of terrible 
 fatigue, but without a single shot being fired, 
 Caillaud reached Chucklipolliam on the Cauvery. 
 A salute of twenty-one guns, at daybreak, 
 announced to d'Auteuil that he had been out- 
 witted. He at once broke up his camp and 
 marched for Pondicherry. 
 
 Before this, the Council had sent Adlercron, 
 with what troops the Presidency could furnish, 
 to Smith's relief. Adlercron's movements 
 were so slow that he took six days to 
 accomplish thirty miles, and was still at 
 Ootramaloor when the news of Caillaud's 
 arrival in Trichinopoly reached him. He 
 
1757- ADLERCRON 99 
 
 then marched on Wandiwash, and captured the 
 Pettah, but seeing no chance of success against 
 the fort, before the arrival of the French, 
 who were now advancing, he fell back 
 on Ootramaloor, to await instructions. The 
 Council, distrustful of Adlercron, ordered him 
 to return to Madras. A French force, under 
 Saubinet, had reached Wandiwash before 
 Adlercron commenced his march for Madras, 
 and occupied Ootramaloor a few hours after he 
 left it. Adlercron, without informing the 
 Council, or taking any steps to oppose the 
 French, continued his march to Madras. The 
 French at once advanced on Conjeveram, 
 which they burned ; but they failed to take the 
 Pagoda, which was stoutly held by Sergeant 
 Lambertson and two companies of Sepoys. 
 The Council, sensible of their mistake in 
 leaving the fertile country of the Paliar valley 
 open to the French, ordered Adlercron to take 
 the field again. 
 
 During his three years in India, Adlercron 
 was a continual source of embarrassment to 
 the Council. He was a dull, incompetent 
 man, puffed up with a sense of his own im- 
 portance in commanding the King's troops, 
 The instructions he had been furnished with, 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1757. 
 
 before leaving England, had not been submitted 
 to the Directors, and were of such a nature as 
 to ensure a clash of authority. The Council in 
 Madras, annoyed at being deprived, by an 
 accident, of the services of an experienced 
 officer like Lawrence, were dismayed at the 
 prospect of the operations in the field being 
 directed by Adlercron. For three years their 
 efforts were directed to getting the use of 
 Adlercron's troops without Adlercron. Adler- 
 cron, on his side, was determined that, unless 
 he himself had the command, his troops should 
 not be employed. The services of the 250 men 
 of the 3Qth, who helped to recover Calcutta, 
 were only secured on the understanding that 
 they were to act as Marines under the Admiral. 
 Adlercron's incompetence and obstructiveness, 
 combined with his seniority of rank, threatened 
 to paralyse all military operations in India. 
 At a time when the presence of every British 
 soldier was worth his weight in gold, the 
 Company had been forced to move the Crown 
 to recall the 39th Regiment, merely to get rid of 
 Adlercron. But a year and a half were to 
 elapse before the representations of the Madras 
 Council bore fruit. The brief experience they 
 had now had of Adlercron in the field, only 
 
1757- LAWRENCE AS VOLUNTEER 101 
 
 served to increase their distrust of his capacity 
 for command. In this dilemma, Lawrence, 
 who had hitherto refused to serve under Adler- 
 cron, now offered to accompany him as a 
 volunteer. Making his way, by sea, to Fort 
 St. David, he took a hundred men from the 
 garrison there, landed at Sadras, and joined 
 Adlercron near Chingleput. The army marched 
 for Ootramaloor, where it remained for forty 
 days, within a few hours' march of the French, 
 without a shot being fired. In a letter written 
 by Adlercron at this time, dated Ootramaloor 
 2 Qth June, 1757, he says : " What increases my 
 confidence of success is that I am assisted with 
 Colonel Lawrence, who is not only deservedly 
 esteemed for his military capacity, but has a 
 thorough knowledge of the situation of the 
 country. This gentleman is in such favour 
 with the Company's managers that, in order 
 he might have command of the army, the 
 Committee had the assurance to propose my 
 staying at Fort St. George to assist them in 
 their Councils, which they have always 
 hitherto kept private from me." It apparently 
 never occurred to Adlercron that Lawrence had 
 waived his objections to serving under him, in 
 order to be at hand to keep him out of scrapes. 
 
102 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1757. 
 
 It was found impossible to bring the French to 
 action, except at a great disadvantage ; there was 
 much sickness among the troops, so, by 
 Lawrence's advice, the army fell back on 
 Conjeveram at the end of July. Neither side 
 was in a position to undertake active opera- 
 tions. At the end of the year, the 39th were 
 ordered to embark for England, and Law- 
 rence once more became the senior officer 
 in India. Several officers and 350 men 
 of the 39th transferred their services to the 
 Company. 
 
 For the first two years of the war, the 
 English forces in Madras were reduced to act 
 on the defensive. Every available man who 
 could be spared had been sent to Bengal with 
 Clive. Fortunately, the French did not take 
 all the advantage that was open to them, and 
 only indulged in secondary operations, while 
 awaiting the large armaments that were on their 
 way from France. In the meantime, Bussy 
 seized the English factories in the Northern 
 Circars. On some reinforcements reach- 
 ing Pondicherry, the French over-ran the 
 Carnatic, snapping up all the strongholds 
 in native hands, and took Chittapet from the 
 English. 
 
1758. LALLY TOLLENDAL 103 
 
 At the end of April, 1758, Count Lally 
 arrived at Pondicherry with a powerful fleet 
 commanded by d'Ache", field guns and troops, 
 and plenary powers over the whole of the 
 French troops and possessions in India. The 
 English, in this hour of weakness, had been 
 forced to retire from all their conquests in 
 Southern India. Trichinopoly, Arcot, Chingle- 
 put and Conjeveram alone remained to them, 
 besides Madras, Fort St. David and Cuddalore 
 on the coast. Within five weeks of Lally 's 
 arrival, Cuddalore and Fort St. David were 
 captured, and Lally determined to march on 
 Madras. But d'Ache refused to support him 
 with the fleet, and money was wanting. To 
 remedy this evil, Lally determined to attack 
 Tanjore. He laid siege to the place, but, at 
 the end of three weeks, was forced to relinquish 
 the enterprise and return to Pondicherry. 
 D'Ache, too, was worsted in an encounter with 
 Pocock, off Tranquebar, and left the coast 
 Before doing so he seized a Dutch ship, 
 though France and Holland were at peace, 
 and thus obtained money for Lally to equip 
 his army. 
 
 On the 1 2th December, Lally appeared before 
 Madras and occupied the town. Lawrence, 
 
104 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 
 
 who had taken post at St. Thomas's Mount, 
 fell back before the French advance. On his 
 entering the fort the command of the troops 
 devolved on the Council, according to the prac- 
 tice of the time under the Company's sway. 
 The Council committed the defence of the fort 
 to the Governor, Mr. Pigot, recommending 
 him to consult Lawrence on all occasions, and, 
 on extraordinary emergencies, to assemble a 
 council of the superior officers of the garrison. 
 The defence practically devolved on Lawrence, 
 who had, at the moment, under him, an excep- 
 tionally able body of officers formed by himself 
 in the past ten years. Three of his best 
 officers remained outside Fort St. George : 
 Caillaud and Preston to carry on a partisan 
 warfare against the French rear, and Joseph 
 Smith, who held Trichinopoly, where the 
 French prisoners exceeded his small garrison 
 of invalids by five to one. Mahomed Yusuf, 
 of Nellore, also did good service in partisan 
 warfare against the French. 
 
 Lawrence's garrison comprised 1,600 Euro- 
 peans (including officers), 64 Topasses, 89 
 Coffrees (natives of Madagascar and the East 
 Coast of Africa), and 2,220 Sepoys. Nine 
 hundred of the European infantry belonged to 
 
1759- DRAPER'S SORTIE 105 
 
 Colonel Draper's regiment, the 79th, that had 
 just arrived from England. There were also 
 about 140 men of the Royal Artillery. The 
 occupation of the town by Lally was the signal 
 for the French troops to disperse themselves 
 in search of plunder and drink. Their disorder 
 and drunkenness being known in the fort, a 
 sortie was determined on. Six hundred men 
 with two field pieces were placed under Colonel 
 Draper for the purpose. Draper entered the 
 town, before he was discovered by the French, 
 and put to flight those opposed to him. French 
 reinforcements then came up, and a scene of 
 much confusion followed. The English troops 
 got separated, and Draper, with four men 
 only, was in brief possession of a battery of 
 French guns. Saubinet, one of Lally's best 
 officers, was killed, and d'Estaing was taken 
 prisoner ; but the English were obliged to 
 regain the fort in face of the additional rein- 
 forcements brought up by Lally, after suffering 
 a loss of fifty killed, as many wounded, and 
 103 taken prisoners, besides six officers killed 
 and three wounded. The French acknow- 
 ledged a loss of 200 killed and wounded, 
 besides four officers killed and twelve wounded. 
 The loss of Saubinet and the capture of Count 
 
io6 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1759. 
 
 d'Estaing* were seriously felt by Lally at the 
 opening of the siege. 
 
 On the 2nd January, the French batteries 
 opened, and the siege was closely pressed. 
 Sallies were made from time to time with 
 more or less success. In one of them, Major 
 Brereton, of the 79th, captured two guns, and 
 brought them into the fort. A welcome sup- 
 ply of powder was brought in in a singular 
 way. The French had dispatched three 
 native boats laden with fifty barrels of powder, 
 from Sadras, with a French soldier in each 
 boat. The boatmen seized and disarmed the 
 Frenchmen, and brought the powder into the 
 fort, for which they were paid the full value. 
 
 On the 3Oth January, TheShaftesbury, East 
 Indiaman, managed to run the gauntlet of the 
 French blockading ships, and landed a much 
 needed supply of treasure and warlike stores. 
 Meanwhile, Caillaud, Preston and Mahomed 
 Yusuf had carried on a daring and harassing 
 warfare against the French communications. 
 By great exertions, Caillaud had succeeded in 
 
 * After the siege, d'Estaing was released on parole. He 
 broke his engagement, and assisted in destroying the Com- 
 pany's factory at Gombroon a few months later, much to the 
 indignation of the Directors. He was again taken prisoner at 
 sea, and brought to England. 
 
1759- THE SIEGE RAISED 107 
 
 raising a force of about 4,700 natives, with 
 which he advanced and fought an indecisive 
 action at S. Thome* on the Qth February. All 
 this time the siege had been pressed by regular 
 approaches, and the crisis was imminent ; 
 when, on the i6th February, Pocock's fleet 
 sailed into the roadstead, a few hours before 
 Lally's intended assault. 
 
 The condition of the garrison was so much 
 better than that of the besiegers that it is 
 doubtful if an assault would have been suc- 
 cessful. Anyhow, Lally determined not to 
 hazard it. He broke up his camp at once, 
 and, the next morning, the retreating French 
 columns were visible from the walls of the 
 fort. Thus came to an end the most notable 
 siege that had yet occurred in India, and the 
 last serious bid for an Eastern Empire by 
 the French. Fifty-two French guns and a 
 quantity of stores were found in the trenches. 
 The English loss amounted to 33 officers, 559 
 Europeans, and 346 Sepoys killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners. The fort was so well supplied 
 that it was calculated there were enough stores 
 to stand another siege. All the operations of 
 the defence had been managed by Lawrence. 
 Mr. Pigot had had the good sense to abstain 
 
io8 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1759. 
 
 from interference, while he had been of much 
 use in directing the distribution of supplies. 
 
 The reinforcements from England brought 
 up the strength of European troops in Madras 
 to over 1,700. The Council thought they 
 ought to do something. Against Lawrence's 
 advice, they sent him towards Conjeveram, 
 which was occupied by Lally. But Lawrence's 
 army was badly off for transport, and the 
 Council found they had not money to maintain 
 the troops in the field. They were now as 
 anxious to bring back their troops to Madras, 
 as they had been to send them out. Lawrence 
 pointed out the evil of retreating in face of the 
 enemy, though he had looked on the move 
 towards Conjeveram as a mistake. To strengthen 
 the Council's infirmity of purpose, he left the 
 army and came to Madras. His health had 
 completely broken down, and he made known 
 his intention of returning to England. A few 
 days later, in April, 1759, he sailed, with the 
 intention of never returning to India. On his 
 arrival in England, the Directors granted him an 
 annuity of ,500 a year. In September, 1 760, the 
 Directors voted statues to Lawrence, Clive, and 
 Pocock "that their eminent and signal services to 
 this Company may be ever had in remembrance." 
 
1761. LAST YEARS IN INDIA 109 
 
 On the 3rd October, 1761, Lawrence again 
 took his seat in the Madras Council, having 
 returned to India in the Fox, packet ; yielding, 
 apparently to the solicitation of the Directors. 
 By this time, he had so thoroughly won 
 their confidence that his position was greatly 
 improved. He was again made Commander- 
 in-Chief of all the Company's forces in India, 
 and, to ensure that he should not be superseded 
 in the field by any colonel of King's troops, 
 he received the commission of Major-General 
 in the East Indies, from the King. He was 
 given a seat in Council at Madras, next to the 
 Governor, with power to vote like any other 
 member, instead of being restricted, as hereto- 
 fore, to military subjects only. His salary was 
 fixed at ,1,500 a year, and it was ordered that, 
 in the event of his visiting Bengal, or any 
 other place where there was a Council, he was 
 to be granted a seat on the Council Board ; it 
 being particularly mentioned that he was to 
 take precedence of Colonel Coote.* Hitherto, 
 
 * In March, 1759, tne Directors sent orders uniting the 
 command of the King's and Company's troops in Bengal under 
 Coote. At the same time, it was provided that, in the event of 
 Coote's death, the nomination of his provisional successor was 
 to be made by Lawrence, and was " on no pretence whatever " 
 to be set aside by the civil authorities. 
 
no DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1762. 
 
 no personal staff had been granted to the 
 senior military officer, except in the field. 
 Lawrence was now granted an aide-de-camp 
 and a brigade major. From this time his work 
 was wholly administrative. The power of the 
 French in India had been broken : Caillaud, 
 Carnac, Coote and Adams were dealing 
 effectively with the situation in Bengal. 
 
 One of the most serious things Lawrence 
 had to deal with arose from the treachery of 
 his old Brahmin interpreter. Since 1756 
 Mahomed Yusuf's loyalty had fallen under 
 suspicion. In 1761, at the instance of the 
 Council, the Nawab was induced to appoint 
 him as Governor of Madura and Tinnevelly. 
 Before long he began to give trouble, and it 
 became evident that he aimed at independence. 
 He collected arms and men, strengthened the 
 fortifications of Madura, and, at the end of 
 1762, invaded Travancore territory without 
 authority. Two months later he openly hoisted 
 French colours, and was found to have over 
 25,000 men in his pay, among them being a 
 corps of 200 Europeans under a French 
 officer named Flamicourt. At the same time 
 a certain M. Mandave, living at the Danish 
 settlement of Tranquebar, announced himself 
 
1763. MAHOMED YUSUF in 
 
 as the representative of the French Govern- 
 ment, and called on the Madras Council to 
 desist from coercing Mahomed Yusuf. He 
 asserted that Madura had been ceded to the 
 French by Mahomed Yusuf, and that the 
 cession must be recognised under the suspen- 
 sion of arms just concluded between the two 
 nations; also, that Flamicourt was acting under 
 his orders. The Madras Government was 
 greatly embarrassed by these claims, but, on 
 the Danish authorities being addressed, M. 
 Mandave disavowed his connection with the 
 French in Madura, and left India. 
 
 Lawrence advised immediate action, and a 
 force of 9,900 men was assembled at Trichi- 
 nopoly, under Colonel Monson, to march on 
 Madura. Mahomed Yusuf 's enterprising 
 character quickly showed itself. On the 
 i ith August he attacked a reconnoitring party 
 of Sepoys, and drove it back with a loss of 
 150 men killed and wounded. On the 
 3rd September another reconnoitring party 
 was driven back, with the loss of one European 
 officer killed and sixteen or seventeen Europeans 
 killed and wounded. Monson's artillery was 
 so inferior that he was forced to raise the siege, 
 in November, and take post six miles from 
 
ii2 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 1764. 
 
 Madura. Mahomed Yusuf took advantage of 
 the respite to open communication with the 
 Governor and Lawrence, and liberal terms of 
 amnesty were offered him ; but he failed to 
 take advantage of them. In April, 1764, the 
 siege was renewed under Major Charles Camp- 
 bell. On the 2 Qth April, five redoubts were 
 taken by storm. Batteries were opened, and, 
 on 26th June, an assault was delivered and 
 repulsed, with the loss of two officers killed 
 and eight wounded ; about 1 50 Europeans 
 and fifty natives killed and wounded. Major 
 Preston died of his wounds. 
 
 Campbell turned the siege into a blockade, 
 which was strictly maintained, till scarcity and 
 discontent forced the garrison to consider their 
 own safety. Mahomed Yusuf was seized and 
 confined by M. Marchand, the French com- 
 mandant, who surrendered the place next day. 
 On 1 5th October, Mahomed Yusuf was hanged 
 as a rebel against the Nawab. 
 
 Lawrence's last years in India were probably 
 the pleasantest of his life. He possessed the 
 full confidence of the Directors in London and 
 of his colleagues in Madras, and was united in 
 bonds of the closest friendship with the 
 Governor, Sir Robert Palk, to whom he 
 
LAWRENCE'S CHARACTER 113 
 
 stood second in the Council. In April, 1766, 
 he bade a final farewell to India. He 
 was succeeded, as Commander-in-Chief, by 
 Caillaud ; who, in turn, was succeeded by 
 Joseph Smith. Mahomed AH Khan, whose 
 rule over the Carnatic had been secured by 
 Lawrence's abilities, showed his gratitude by 
 obtaining permission from the Company to 
 grant Lawrence an annuity of 3,750 pagodas a 
 year : about ,1,500 in English money. The 
 money was paid, through the Directors, till 
 Lawrence's death, which took place in London 
 on loth January, 1775. His remains were 
 conveyed to Dunchideock, near Exeter, where 
 a monument was erected to him by Sir Robert 
 Palk. 
 
 If the best General is the one who makes the 
 fewest mistakes, Lawrence's name should 
 occupy a high position on the list of com- 
 manders. To speak of him as a master of 
 strategy would be out of place. There was 
 little place for strategical developments in the 
 warfare he was engaged in. His work was 
 purely tactical. The Council kept all questions 
 of strategy jealously in their own hands. But 
 against Law and de Kerjean in 1752, and by 
 his transfer of operations from Trivadi to 
 
 i 
 
ii4 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 
 
 Trichinopoly in 1753, he showed a grasp of 
 strategical principles that would have won 
 success on a larger field. The armies he led 
 were out of all proportion to the issues they 
 decided. They were always of inferior quality. 
 How bad they could be, at times, ,/as shown at 
 Volcondah, in April, 1751, during Lawrence's 
 absence from India, when, with such officers as 
 Clive, Dalton, and Kilpatrick, the European 
 companies behaved in such a cowardly way that 
 they had to be marched away from the field of 
 operations. But Lawrence had that supreme 
 gift of a great commander in being able to 
 obtain great efforts from his men at critical 
 moments, while he commanded their entire con- 
 fidence at all times. 
 
 In the field, Lawrence exhibited all the quali- 
 ties of a great commander, though opportunity 
 to exercise them on a large scale was denied 
 !iim. In front of the enemy, his self-possession 
 never deserted him at the most trying moments. 
 On no occasion did he ever hesitate or convene 
 a council of war, as Clive did before Plassey. 
 Never forcing a battle without necessity, he 
 struck, with all his force and with the greatest 
 daring, when the opportunity occurred. His 
 decision once taken was carried out without 
 
LAWRENCE'S CHARACTER 115 
 
 faltering, and always with the best results. 
 Especially had he the gift of misleading and 
 confusing his enemy as to his intentions. In 
 council, his judgment was as sound as it was in 
 the field. Again and again the civil govern- 
 ment had to repent that they had followed their 
 own devices, and neglected Lawrence's advice. 
 Yet with all this he seems never to have made 
 a personal enemy. Among the prominent men 
 of that time he stands alone in having left no 
 trace of personal ill-feeling attached to his name. 
 Lawrence appears to have possessed one of 
 those minds that, working in ordinary grooves, 
 comes to the right conclusion under all circum- 
 stances, so easily and unerringly, that the world 
 gives the name of Common Sense to what in a 
 more showy personality it would have styled 
 Genius. d'Auteuil, Law, de Kerjean, Astruc, 
 Brenier, Astruc again, Maissin, Lally, every 
 French leader who crossed swords with 
 him, retired defeated from the combat, or had 
 to yield himself a prisoner. Macaulay writes 
 of Lawrence as being " gifted with no intel- 
 lectual faculty higher than plain good sense," 
 and leaves it to be inferred that Lawrence's 
 triumph over Law was as much due to Clive 
 as to his own efforts. In this he was no doubt 
 
 I 2 
 
n6 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 
 
 misled by dive's biographer, who writes of 
 Clive " placing himself" under Lawrence when 
 Lawrence returned to India in March, 1752. 
 Clive had, at that time, only just sprung into 
 notice by his feats at Arcot and Covripauk. 
 His merits were challenged, and his successes 
 were put down to luck. There was a strong 
 feeling, in the army, of personal dislike to 
 him, which found expression in an address to 
 Lawrence. Had Clive refused to serve under 
 Lawrence, he would have had no alternative 
 but to abandon the military profession and 
 return to his writership. Instead of Lawrence 
 being indebted to Clive, it was Clive who, at 
 that time, owed his advancement to Lawrence. 
 In the operations that crushed Law and 
 d'Auteuil, Lawrence took Clive into his con- 
 fidence and listened to his advice. That 
 he should have done so, considering their 
 difference of age and rank at the time, is a proof 
 of the penetration of Lawrence's character. 
 He certainly would have hesitated to divide 
 his forces as he did, had he not gauged Law's 
 over-caution and lack of enterprise, and had he 
 not recognised Clive's capacity to carry out his 
 views. But Clive made no move except under 
 Lawrence's orders, though the fact that most 
 
LAWRENCE'S CHARACTER 117 
 
 of the fighting was done by him, causes his 
 name to stand out more prominently than 
 Lawrence's during the two months' campaign. 
 After events showed that Lawrence was well 
 able to act by himself. Clive was not at 
 Bahoor, nor was he in India, when Lawrence 
 fought Astruc and Brenier, Morari Rao and 
 Hyder Ali, on the battlefields of Trichinopoly 
 in 1753. The operations of that year alone 
 are sufficient to establish Lawrence's reputation. 
 Yet, for some reason not easily explained, 
 Lawrence's military triumphs have been over- 
 shadowed by Clive's, though Clive was never 
 matched against a French commander of any 
 capacity. But the whole nature of the man 
 was so quiet and unassuming, that his genuine 
 merit might easily pass unobserved. Few 
 things are more characteristic of Lawrence 
 than his relations with Clive. When he arrived 
 in India, totally ignorant of the country, at an 
 age when most men adapt themselves with 
 difficulty to novel circumstances, it would not 
 have been surprising if he had regarded with 
 some mistrust a masterful, headstrong, young 
 man of twenty-two, who had only established 
 at that time a reputation for love of fighting. 
 But Lawrence quickly recognised Clive's 
 
u8 DEFENCE OF MADRAS 
 
 genius, and reported to his superiors that 
 Olive's successes were not due to good luck, as 
 many imagined, but to real merit. When the 
 expedition was prepared to avenge the horrors 
 of the Black Hole of Calcutta, ill-health alone 
 prevented Lawrence from taking the com- 
 mand. Lawrence, and not Clive, would have 
 triumphed at Plassey, had Lawrence's health 
 permitted him to assume the command. 
 
 Throughout his career in India, the relations 
 of Lawrence with Clive, who quarrelled with 
 almost everybody else, were of the most cordial 
 description. When the East India Company 
 voted a sword set with diamonds to Clive, he 
 refused to receive it unless a similar honour 
 was paid to Lawrence ;* and, when Lawrence 
 retired to England, Clive, who had become rich 
 and powerful, bestowed on him an annuity 
 
 * The story of Clive refusing to receive the sword voted to 
 him by the East India Company, unless one was also given to 
 Lawrence, rests on the authority of Clive's biographer. It is 
 indirectly supported by the imperfect records now in existence. 
 Lawrence's sword was not voted to him till three months after 
 a testimonial to Clive had been determined on, and then in 
 such a manner as to show that it was an afterthought. It is 
 remarkable also that, in repairing the oversight, the Directors 
 voted a sword worth j$o to Lawrence, after granting one 
 worth ,500 to Clive, as if they had all at once become aware 
 of Lawrence's superior claims. Clive was in London at the 
 time, Lawrence being still in India. 
 
LAWRENCE'S MONUMENT IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 
 
 [To face p. ug. 
 
OLIVE'S REGARD 119 
 
 of ^500 from his private purse. Nothing is 
 more honourable to Clive than the deference 
 and consideration with which he treated Law- 
 rence at all times, and nothing testifies better 
 to Lawrence's character than the ungrudging 
 regard paid him by Clive. 
 
 Since Lawrence's day many illustrious names 
 have been added to the roll of our Indian 
 officers. None among them has a better claim 
 to be remembered than Stringer Lawrence, the 
 Father of the Indian Army. 
 
 On his death, the Directors of the East 
 India Company voted a sum of ^700 for the 
 erection of a monument to his memory, in 
 Westminster Abbey, in testimony of their 
 gratitude for his eminent services. It bears 
 the following legend : 
 
 DISCIPLINE ESTABLISHED. 
 
 FORTRESSES PROTECTED. 
 
 SETTLEMENTS EXTENDED. 
 
 FRENCH 
 
 AND INDIAN ARMIES 
 DEFEATED 
 
 AND 
 
 PEACE CONCLUDED 
 IN THE CARNATIC. 
 
 With a carved representation of the fortified 
 rock of Trichinopoly. 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 THE PARENTAGE OF STRINGER LAWRENCE. 
 
 THE only positive knowledge we have of 
 Stringer Lawrence's parentage is from the 
 baptismal register in the Church of All Saints 
 at Hereford, which shows that on 27th 
 February, 1697-98, was baptised Stringer, the 
 son of Mr. John Lawrence and Mary, his wife. 
 In the All Saints' burial register is recorded 
 the burial of Michael Stringer on I3th Novem- 
 ber, 1698. It is reasonable to presume that 
 Stringer was the maiden name of Lawrence's 
 mother. 
 
 The coat of arms on Stringer Lawrence's 
 monument in Westminster Abbey (ermine, a 
 cross ragule gules) is almost identical with the 
 coat of arms granted to Sir John Lawrence, 
 Alderman of London, and Lord Mayor in 
 1664, in which year the grant of arms was 
 
122 APPENDIX A 
 
 made (ermine, a cross ragule gules, a canton 
 ermines). 
 
 The archives of the City of Hereford, which 
 were partly destroyed in the Civil War, show 
 that there was one or more families of the 
 name of Lawrence living in Hereford in the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
 
 In 1625 James Lawrence was Mayor of 
 Hereford. 
 
 A memorandum signed by the Parlia- 
 mentary officer, Colonel John Birch, shows that 
 " Mr. Lawrence " was fined six pounds for 
 being disaffected to Parliament. 
 
 In 1660 James Lawrence, junior, gentleman, 
 was admitted to the freedom of the city, and 
 became Mayor in the following year. 
 
 In 1682 John Lawrence, apothecary, and in 
 1702 John Lawrence, brewer, were admitted to 
 the freedom of the city. One of these must, 
 almost certainly, have been the father of 
 Stringer Lawrence. 
 
 In 1707 William Lawrence, brewer; in 1714 
 Humphries Lawrence, gentleman, of Leomin- 
 ster ; in 1761 Samuel Lawrence, brewer, were 
 admitted to the freedom of the city. 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 SOOBADARS OF THE DECCAN, AND NAWABS 
 OF THE CARNATIC IN THE EIGHTEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 SOOBADARS OF THE DECCAN. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1691 ZULFIKAR KHAN. NUSRUT JUNG. 
 
 Aurungzib's General : son of Assad Khan (Meer 
 Jumla) : recalled 1702. 
 
 1702 DAOOD KHAN, PUNNEE. 
 
 Zulfikar Khan's deputy and successor : recalled 
 
 CHIN KILLIJ KHAN, ASAF JAH, NIZAM-OOL-MOOLK. 
 Son of Ghazi-oo-deen Khan, Moghul noble. On 
 his appointment, Arcot made into a separate 
 Nawabship. Makes himself independent 1720: 
 reconciled to the Emperor 1722: goes finally to 
 the Deccan 1741 : dies 1748. 
 
 1748 NAZIR JUNG. 
 
 Son of Nizam-ool-Moolk : seizes the throne : 
 imprisons Mozuffer Jung: assassinated on the 
 field of battle against the French, i6th December, 
 
 MOZUFFER JUNG. 
 
 Son of Nizam-ool-Moolk's daughter, and designed 
 by him as his successor. Appointed by firman from 
 
i2 4 APPENDIX B 
 
 the Emperor, and supported by the French, who 
 proclaim him Soobadar of the Deccan after Nazir 
 Jung's death : killed by the Nawab of Kurnool, 
 February, 1751. 
 
 1751 SALABUT JUNG. 
 
 Son of Nizam-ool-Moolk : proclaimed Nizam by 
 the French: imprisoned by Nizam Ali 1761: 
 murdered 1763. 
 
 1761 NIZAM ALI. 
 
 Son of Nizam ool-Moolk : rebels against Salabut 
 Jung : is reconciled : rebels again, and seizes the 
 throne 1761 : dies August, 1803. 
 
 NAWABS OF THE CARNATIC. 
 
 A D. 
 
 Arcot made into a separate Nawabship 1713. 
 (See Soobadars of the Deccan.) 
 
 171 3 SAADUT-OOLLAH KHAN. 
 
 Daood Khan's Foujdar and Dewan : dies 1732. 
 
 1732 DOST ALI KHAN. 
 
 Nephew and adopted son of Saadut-oollah 
 Khan : slain in battle with the Mahrattas. 
 
 1742 SUFDER ALI KHAN. 
 
 Son of Dost Ali Khan: assassinated, 1742, by 
 Moortis Ali Khan, his cousin and brother-in- 
 law. 
 
 Nawabship claimed by Moortis Ali Khan, sup- 
 ported by the French : allegiance refused by 
 subordinate Chiefs, who set up Mahomed Said 
 Khan, son of Sufder Ali Khan. Mahomed Said 
 Khan set aside by the Nizam : assassinated by 
 Pathans 1744. 
 
APPENDIX B 125 
 
 1743 KHOJAH ABDULLAH. 
 
 Nizam's General appointed : poisoned by 
 Anwaroodeen. 
 
 1 744 ANWAROODEEN. 
 
 Nizam's Governor of Ellore appointed : slain in 
 battle at Amboor, 1749, against Mozuffer Jung 
 and Chunda Sahib, supported by the French. 
 
 1749 MAHOMED ALI KHAN. WALLAH JAH. 
 
 Son of Anwaroodeen, appointed by the Nizam, 
 and supported by the English : holds the Nawab- 
 ship till his death. A firman of the Emperor 
 acknowledges the independence of the Carnatic 
 1765 : dies 1795. 
 
 CHUNDA SAHIB. 
 
 Dost Ali Khan's Dewan, claims Nawabship on 
 Anwaroodeen's death : supported by Nizam's 
 brother, Mozuffer Jung, and by the French : 
 assassinated by Tanjore General 1752. On his 
 death, Dupleix claims the Nawabship for himself, 
 in virtue of a sunnud obtained from the Nizam 
 Salabut Jung during Chunda Sahib's lifetime. 
 On the strength of this, Dupleix proclaims Reza 
 (Rajah) Sahib, son of Chunda Sahib, 1752, but a 
 few months later sets him aside, and proclaims 
 Moortis Ali Khan. Moortis Ali Khan makes 
 submission to Mahomed Ali Khan, 1754. Lally 
 again appoints Reza Sahib 1759. 
 
 1 795 UMDAT-OOL-OOMRA. 
 
 Son of Mahomed Ali Khan : dies July, 1801. 
 
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