Macaulay's Essay on CliveMacmillan & Company, 1907 - 114 pages |
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abuses annexation Arcot army battle Bengal British Budgebudge C. J. Fox Calcutta Carnatic Charles the Simple chief Chinsurah Clifton College command corruption Council courage Court Culloden Deccan Delhi Directors dominion Dupleix Dutch East India Company Edited election Emperor empire enemy England English Europe European evil foll Fort St fortune France French in India functionaries George George Grenville Glossary governor Grampound hands held Hindoo History honour Hoogley hundred India House Intr intrigue J. H. FOWLER Jung King Lawrence Lord Clive Macaulay MACAULAY'S ESSAY Madras Mahrattas Malleson Meer Cossim Meer Jaffier ment military minister Mirzapha Mogul Mogul Empire monopoly Moorshedabad Mussulman mutiny Nabob Nawab Nizam Omichund paid Parliament peace Plassey Pondicherry proconsul provinces reigned revenue Roman ruler sent sepoys servants Shah siege Sir John Malcolm soldier subst success Sulivan Surajah Dowlah talents thousand pounds throne tion trade treaty Trichinopoly troops Viceroy victory Warren Hastings wealth wrote
Popular passages
Page 45 - No mob attacked by regular soldiers was ever more completely routed. The little band of Frenchmen, who alone ventured to confront the English, were swept down the stream of fugitives. In an hour the forces of Surajah Dowlah were dispersed, never to reassemble.
Page 67 - he says, " how is the English name sunk ! I could not avoid paying the tribute of a few tears to the departed and lost fame of the British nation — irrecoverably so, I fear. However, I do declare, by that great Being who is the searcher of all hearts, and to whom we must be accountable if there be...
Page 20 - The sepoys came to Clive, not to complain of their scanty fare, but to propose that all the grain should be given to the Europeans, who required more nourishment than the natives of Asia. The thin gruel, they said, which was strained away from the rice, would suffice for themselves. History contains no more touching instance of military fidelity, or of the influence of a commanding mind.
Page 13 - The camp-fires of one rapacious leader were seen from the walls of the palace of Delhi. Another, at the head of his innumerable cavalry, descended year after year on the rice-fields of Bengal. Even the European factors trembled for their magazines. Less than a hundred years ago, it was thought necessary to fortify Calcutta against the horsemen of Berar ; and the name of the Mahratta ditch still preserves the memory of the danger.
Page 34 - Then was committed that great crime, memorable for its singular atrocity, memorable for the tremendous retribution by which it was followed. The English captives were left at the mercy of the guards, and the guards determined to secure them for the night in the prison of the garrison, a chamber known by the fearful name of the Black Hole.
Page 44 - Hole. .The day broke, the day which was to decide the fate of India. At sunrise the army of the Nabob, pouring through many openings from the camp, began to move towards the grove where the English lay. Forty thousand infantry, armed with firelocks, pikes, swords, bows and arrows, covered the plain. They were accompanied by fifty pieces of ordnance of the largest size, each tugged by a long team of white oxen, and each pushed on from behind by an elephant.
Page 45 - The battle commenced with a cannonade in which the artillery of the Nabob did scarcely any execution, while the few field-pieces of the English produced great effect. Several of the most distinguished officers in Surajah Dowlah's service fell.
Page 65 - ... if they exerted as much ingenuity and solicitude in relieving the people of God, as they do in whatever concerns their military affairs, no nation in the world would be preferable to them, or worthier of command. But the people under their dominion groan every where, and are reduced to poverty 30 and distress. Oh God ! come to the assistance of thine afflicted servants, and deliver them from the oppressions which they suffer.
Page 2 - ... as the victorious Spaniards. They had reared cities larger and fairer than Saragossa or Toledo, and buildings more beautiful and costly than the cathedral of Seville. They could show bankers richer than the richest firms of Barcelona or Cadiz, viceroys whose splendour far surpassed that of Ferdinand the Catholic, myriads of cavalry and long trains of artillery which would have astonished the Great Captain.
Page 12 - Gualior, in Guzerat, in Berar, and in Tanjore. Nor did they, though they had become great sovereigns, therefore cease to be freebooters. They still retained the predatory habits of their forefathers. Every region which was not subject to their rule was wasted by their incursions.