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Sailing plassey

Reference to the Vellore Mutiny (Miscellany, June 19) brought me a reminder from a retired Army officer that though it was battalions of the Madras Regiment that had mutinied in Vellore, it was from this regiment that, 50 years later, Robert Clive took with him troops when he sailed from Madras to relieve the besieged Company settlements in Bengal and then used them to win the battle that changed the course of modern Indian history — Plassey.

Indeed, it was 150 years ago that Robert Clive returned to India to find himself not only gaining an even greater military reputation than what the Wars of the Carnatic had bestowed on him in the 1740s, but also acquiring a level of notoriety as he began to develop into a `Nabob.' That second part of the Robert Clive story began in 1755 when he sailed from England to which he had returned in 1753, after he had married Margaret Maskelyne in St. Mary's in the Fort.

When he set sail for Madras for the second time in his life, the teenager who had first arrived in Madras in 1744 as a Writer, was now designated Second in Council in Madras, Deputy Governor in charge of Fort St. David in Cuddalore and "to succeed to the Government of Fort St. George upon the Death or Absence of Mr. Pigot," in fact, in charge of all British settlements in Asia. In May 1756, he arrived in Madras. Less than three months later, Fort St. George received the news that the English had been ousted from Fort William (Calcutta) and other settlements in Bengal. And it was decided by the Council to immediately send Company troops under Clive aboard a naval squadron that had just arrived in Madras. Clive and his army sailed from Madras on October 16, 1756. On June 23, 1757, the Battle of Plassey was fought and won.

An exchange of letters between Clive and Mohammed Ali, the Nawab of the Carnatic, provides a fascinating insight into the minds of the political players of the times. Clive wrote to the Nawab in August 1757, "... On the 23rd June at Day break (an) Army, consisting of 100,000 Men, appear'd in Sight on the extensive Plains of Placis. The Battle immediately began, and at 4 in the Evening God declar'd for us, and this vast Army was entirely defeated... Nothing now prevented me possessing myself of Muxadavad with its immense Wealth, in Revenge for the Injuries of Calcutta, but I came not to this Country to destroy it. I encamped without the City, and left it to the great Men to choose a Successor... All the great Men here testify their Esteem for me, and have wrote to Court to obtain for me a great Title and a 6000 Munsub (NOTE: a command of 6000 cavalrymen and the perks that go with it), which I hope to receive shortly. The great Desire I have to see you checkes the Joy of this vast Success... " The progress to Clive the Nabob had begun.

Replying to this letter a month later, Mohammed Ali effused, "... There is not a Day passes that I do not remember you and have an inexpressible Desire of seeing you, which I hope will be very soon." Then he shrewdly adds, "Our interest is mutual. I trust that... you will send for my Naib (deputy) and give him the Charge of the Country." Finally, in his own hand, the Nawab adds a postscript: "By the Favour of God and your Bravery I hope to get Possession of Bengal." How history would have changed if that had happened!

S. MUTHIAH

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