abuse. And the governor and council of Calcutta, by refusing to deliver up to him a noble refugee, who had taken shelter with all his treasures within their presidency, farther confirmed him in his hostile resolution. Enraged at this refusal, though seemingly occasioned by misapprehension, the nabob, who had assembled an army of fifty thousand men, with an intention of striking a blow in a distant quarter, ordered it to march directly toward Calcutta; where the English, he was told, were building new fortifications. He himself headed his troops; and advanced with such rapidity, that many of them died of fatigue. Sufficient force, however, remained for the accomplishment of his enterprize. After attempting in vain to oppose the enemy in the streets and avenues, the English inhabitants took refuge in fort William; a place in itself by no means strong, and defended only by a small garrison. Conscious of his inability to hold out, Mr. Drake, the governor, called, at two in the morning, a council of war, to which all except the common soldiers were JUNE 19. admitted; and after debating long, whether they should immediately escape to the company's ships in the river, or defer their retreat until the following night, the council broke up, without coming to any positive determination. But as the first proposal was not carried into execution, the second was generally understood to have been embraced. Meanwhile the besiegers vigorously pushed their attacks, and hoped every moment to carry the fort by storm. Filled with terror, and utterly unacquainted with military service, many of the company's servants, and even some members of the council, went off to the ships. A party of militia, is was observed, that had conducted the women on board the preceding night, did not return to the garrison. They who remained in it looked at one another with wild affright. The governor, who had hitherto dicovered no want of courage, now panic-struck at the the thought of falling into the hands of Surajah Dowlah, who had threatened to put him to death, hurried into a boat that lay at the wharf, without apprising the garrison of his intention. The military commanding officer, and several other persons of distinction, pusillanimously followed his example, and accompanied him to one of the ships. The astonishment of the garrison at this desertion could only be equalled by their indignation. Nothing was heard for a time but execrations against the fugitives. At length, however, the tumultuous concourse proceeded to deliberation: and Mr. Pearkes, the eldest member of the council left in the fort, having resigned his right of seniority to Mr. Holwell, that gentleman was unanimously invested with the chief command. The number of militia and soldiery now remaining, amounted only to one hundred and ninety men. The new commander, therefore, having seen some boats return to the wharf, locked the gate leading to the river, in order to prevent future desertions. The same promptitude and spirit distinguished Mr. Holwell's whole conduct. But all his gallant efforts were found insufficient to preserve the fort. Soon convinced of their weakness, and conscious of their danger, the garrison threw out signals for the ships or boats to repair to the wharf. That rational hope of escape, however, failed them. One ship having struck on a sand-bank, not a single vessel of any kind offered afterward to yield them a retreat. As a last resource, Mr. Holwell threw a letter from the ramparts, intimating a desire to capitulate; many of the garrison having been killed JUNE 20. since the departure of the governor, and more of the survivors thrown into a state of despondency. Encouraged by this indication of weakness, the besiegers made a desperate but ineffectual assault; after which one of the nabob's officers appeared with a flag of truce. It was answered by another from the fort. A parley ensued, but before any articles of capitulation could be settled, the troops troops of Surajah Dowlah forced open one of the gates, and made themselves masters of the place, though without putting any of the garrison to the sword9. About an hour after the taking of fort William, the nabob entered it, accompanied by his general Meer Jaffier, and most of the great officers of his army. Having given directions for securing the company's treasure, he seated himself, with all the state of an Asiatic conqueror, in the principal apartment of the factory, and ordered Mr. Holwell to be brought before him. On the first appearance of that gentleman, Surajah Dowlah expressed violent resentment at the presumption of the English, in daring to resist his power, and chagrin at the smallness of the sum found in the treasury. Softened, however, in the course of three conferences, he dismissed the English chief, as he thought proper to call him, with repeated assurances, on the word of a soldier, that he should suffer no harm. Notwithstanding those assurances, Mr. Holwell and his unfortunate companions, (whom he found, on his return, surrounded by a strong guard) were forced into the common dungeon of the fort, usually called the black-hole, about eight o'clock in the evening; and in that dungeon, only eighteen feet square, were they condemned to pass the night, in one of the hottest climates of the earth, and in the hottest season of that climate. They could receive no air but through two small grated windows, almost totally blocked up by a neighbouring building, which deprived them of the common benefit even of the sultry atmosphere. Their distress was inexpressible, in consequence of the heat, and the pressure of their bodies, as soon as the door was shut. They attempted to force it open, but without effect. Rage succeeded disappointment. The keenest invectives were uttered, in order to provoke the guard to put an end to their wretched lives, by firing into the dungeon; and whilst some, in the agonies and torment of despair, were blaspheming their Creator with frantic execrations, others were imploring relief from heaven, in wild and incoherent prayers. Mr. Holwell, who had taken his station at one of the windows, exhorted his fellow-sufferers to composure, as the only means of surviving till morning. In the mean time he addressed himself to an old jemautdar, an officer of the guard, who seemed to have some marks of humanity in his countenance, promising him a thousand rupees if he would separate them into different apartments. He retired to procure an order for that purpose, but returned in a few minutes, with a sorrowful face, and said it was impossible! Misapprehending his meaning, Mr. Holwell proffered him a larger sum. He retired a second time, and again returned with the same woe-forboding look; while the prisoners rent the air with their cries to the guard, to open the dungeon, and drank their own sweat to relieve their thirst. "Unhappy men!" said the jemautdar "submit to ne"cessity. The subah is asleep! and what slave dares disturb "his repose1?" A stronger picture of despotism was never drawn, nor a deeper scene of human misery exhibited. All sentiments of friendship, compassion, or respect, were henceforth extinguished in the breasts of the devoted prisoners. No one would give way for the relief of another; but every one employed his utmost strength to obtain a place near the windows, or to maintain that station. The feeble sunk, never more to rise, and were trampled upon by their stronger companions. The havock of death, and the struggle for air continued until morning appeared; when, the door being opened, of one hundred and forty-six persons, thrust into the black-hole, twentythree only were brought out alive. And Mr. Holwell, and other two of the survivors, were condemned to farther sufferings. They were sent prisoners to Muxadavad, the capital of the province, in hopes of extorting from them, by cruel usuage, a confession of the factory's hidden treasures. Calcutta was pillaged, and fort William VOL. V. 10. Holwell's Narrative. Orme, book vii. secured secured by a garrison of three thousand men". The affairs of the English East-India Company seemed finally ruined in Bengal. The accumulated misfortunes of Great-Britain did not, however, discourage the king of Prussia, her brave ally, from taking vigorous measures in order to defeat the designs of his numerous enemies; or to acquire that ascendant in Germany which he had long been ambitious of attaining, and which was now become in some degree necessary for his own preservation, as well as to enable him to fulfil his political engagements with his Britannic majesty. Nor did George II. fail to act with proper dignity. He ordered his electoral minister to deliver a memorial to the diet at Ratisbon, expressing his surprise to find the treaty which he had lately concluded with the king of Prussia industriously represented as a ground of apprehension and terror; that as France had made open dispositions for invading the electorate of Hanover, and disturbing the peace of Germany; and the empress-queen, notwithstanding her obligations to Great-Britain, had denied him the succours stipulated by treaties, he had negociated that alliance merely for the safety of his own dominions, and the preservation of the tranquillity of the empire, neglected by its head12. The behaviour of his Prussian majesty was still more stately. Having ordered his minister at the court of Vienna to demand a clear explication, and proper assurances concerning the hostile preparations he saw making on the frontiers of Silesia, and, receiving only evasive answers, he resolved to anticipate the designs of his enemies by carrying the war into their dominions, instead of cooly waiting its approach in his own. And he called heaven and earth to witness, that the empress-queen alone would be chargeable with all the innocent blood that might be spilt, and the dismal consequences that must attend the prosecution of hostilities, by refusing the declaration |