This triumph of time and treachery was reported by Sheikh Faiz Ulla's master, Kasim Ali, to Clive, on the 14th of February:[149]—
"I before wrote you that I had sent forces to fight theFrench, that they had a fort and strong intrenchments, andthat we had a battle with them.... ever since I wroteyou last we have been fighting, my people have behaved well,and I make no doubt but you have heard it from other people.God knows what pains and trouble I have taken in thisaffair. The French being shut up in their fort and undergoingmuch fatigue by always fighting, and likewise beingin want of provisions were obliged to run away in theirboats by night, and went towards the Dinajpur country.My people being always ready to fight followed them....They can go no other way but through the Dinajpur country.I have therefore wrote expressly to the Rajah to stop thepassage."
About this time, though Courtin does not mention it till later, he began to see what the inevitable end must be. He could not cut his way through to join Law, and with the whole country in arms against him he was too weak to hold out for any length of time. Accordingly he sent messengers secretly to Mr. Luke Scrafton, at Murshidabad. It was Scrafton, as I have said above, who wrote to Courtin for assistance when the Nawab of Dacca wanted to take their Factory and imprison the English. Courtin now wrote to him to save him from falling into the hands of the natives, and, on the 18th of February, Scrafton wrote to the Select Committee at Calcutta for the necessary permission.[150]
We now rejoin Courtin:—
"What was my surprise, at the end of an hour and ahalf, to see that we were followed by a body of four or fivehundred men, with two guns drawn by oxen. I pretendednot to notice, and continued my march, but at 3 o'clockin the afternoon, seeing this troop approach, within range ofmy pieces, I pointed them at the Moors, and put my forcein a position of defence. Their rascality followed its usualcourse, and they sent me word that I had nothing to fear,that they would not march so close to me any more, andthat they followed me only to preserve the peace and tohinder my people, especially the stragglers, from committingany disorder. I received this excuse for what it was worth,and pretended to be content with, it, seeing clearly that theywere looking for an opportunity to surprise and destroy us."Several accidents happening to the boats of the rearguardprevented my troop and myself from rejoining themain body of the fleet till far on in the night. I found itanchored in the most disadvantageous position possible, andin the morning I saw at a distance of one-eighth of a leaguethe same body of troops, that had followed me the day before,establishing and settling itself. A moment later I learnedthat Sheikh Faiz Ulla was on the opposite bank with hisarmy and his artillery, that he intended to wait for me in anarrow place called Choquova,[151] at the foot of which my boatsmust pass, and that he was diligently making entrenchmentsthere. My embarrassment was then extreme. I foundmyself surrounded on all sides; I was without any provisions,destitute of the most necessary articles of life. Inthis perplexity I saw only the most cruel alternatives, eitherto surrender or to fight to the death so as to perish with ourarms in our hands. The latter appeared to be less dreadfulthan the former."After repeated consultations, we determined it wouldbe best to risk the passage of the fleet by Choquova. Wethought that possibly we should find provisions there, andthat certainly the position could not be worse (for defence)than that in which we then found ourselves. The passagewas carried out in three hours' time without confusion ordisorder, by means of my Swedish guns on the boat whichled the van. What was our delight to find, not only a betterposition than that which we had quitted, but one that wasalmost completely entrenched by nature, and had villagesfull of rice to the right and left of it."Next day I collected provisions in abundance, clearedthe country round for a quarter of a league, and did my bestto ameliorate my condition. The enemy were disconcerted bymy boldness. They pretended as usual, in order to deceiveme the more easily, that they were not surprised at my march.They feared rightly that if I commenced new entrenchmentsall their trouble would begin again. Besides, I had completelyprotected myself from the possibility of surprise.Pourparlersfor an accommodation were renewed and lasted threedays, at the end of which it was agreed that I shouldcontinue my march, that two hostages should be given mefor my safety, and that the army with its guns should retirefrom Choquova, and should be sent a long way ahead acrosscountry, and as, at half a league from this place, the riverwas no longer navigable because of the bank which hadformed in it, I should be supplied with people to facilitatemy passage. Thou wilt notice, my dear wife, that in all thenegotiations I had for various reasons and on several occasionsproposed to suspend all hostilities until an answercould be received from Jafar All Khan and the English, towhom I said I would write to come to some accommodationwith them, offering to send my letter open. This was repeatedlyrefused, but the refusal did not prevent my askingfor the honours of war. My letters were despatched secretlyby my own messengers."At last, on the 23rd, I quitted, though with regret(always expecting treachery), my new position, and approachedthe shallow or bank mentioned. It was night when Iarrived. In spite of this I could understand, from thedreadful noise made by the waters, that I should havedifficulty in traversing this dangerous passage even with theassistance promised me. I was only too well convinced ofthe truth of this when day broke, and I saw that I hadagain been betrayed. There was nothing to be seen of thework which the Moors had engaged to do to lessen thedifficulty of the passage. However, I did not hesitate toput out with my lighter boats, firmly resolved, if they arrivedsafely, to sacrifice the larger, with all that was upon them,to my safety, and thus to effect my retreat during the night.With the exception of two, which were lost, they all arrivedsafely. During this piece of work, which took up the wholeday, I dissimulated my intentions in the presence of my hostages,merely letting them see I was somewhat surprised tofind that, contrary to the promise given, there were no workmen,but that the army, which ought to have been withdrawn,was still close to us. Their excuses were vague and unsatisfactory.One of them, who, no doubt, knew the enemy's plans,asked permission to go to their camp, promising to comeback the next day. Though his demand accorded with mydesigns, I agreed to it only after much persuasion, warninghim not to break hisparoleto return the next morning veryearly. This he swore to do. As a rule these people thinknothing of an oath. I did not intend to wait for him, whichhis comrade clearly perceived, for, seeing that he himselfhad been sacrificed by his master's perfidy, he approved ofthe resolution I had taken to set out by night, and sworethat he had acted in good faith, and was ignorant of thetreachery that had been concocted. 'You can,' he said to me,'have my throat cut. You would be justified in doing so;but I will not quit you, even if you give me permission.If I went to my own people, they would say that I haddisclosed to you the trick which you have yourself discovered,and would certainly show me less mercy than Ihave experienced from you.' After this I contented myselfwith having him closely watched."Orders being given to the remaining boats to start bynight, I mounted on horseback to carry certain necessariesto my detachment on land, which was already a little inadvance and had crossed a small river with the guns. Ihad only three blacks with me, and none of us knew theway. The night was dark, and we wandered from it. Inarrowly escaped being drowned with my horse, and at lastwe lost ourselves entirely. If we had been met by anyhorsemen, nothing would have been easier than for them tocapture me, our arms and cartridges being all soaked withwater. Luckily I heard our drums beating, and this told usin what direction we could safely go."My intention was to march by land with my troops andguns. They objected to this, as I was wet to the skin andhad a cold on the chest, which hardly allowed me to speak;so I went back to the boats, though with much regret, andresolved to manage so as not to lose sight of my detachment.I was in constant anxiety about the latter till 8 o'clock thenext day, when we all came together, except one soldiertopass, who, by his own fault, had remained on a big boatwhich we had abandoned, and amanjhi,[152] who was drownedin one of the two little ones which had sunk."Finding myself in the territory of the Raja of Dinajpur,I imagined I had nothing to do with any one except him, andthat Sheikh Faiz Ulla and his army would not think offollowing me through a country which, though tributary tothe Nawab of Bengal, still in no way belonged to Faiz Ulla'smaster. The hostage who remained with me, and to whomI spoke about the matter,[153] did not altogether dissuade mefrom this idea, but counselled me to continue my marchand to get farther away, which I did till 6 o'clock in theevening. What was my surprise when, at 9 o'clock, myscouts reported that the enemy were pursuing me, and werenot more than a league away at the most. I could notadvance during the night for fear of running on the banksor shallows with which the river was filled, and which mightcause the loss of my boats and of my people. Accordingly,I did not set out till the morning, and always remainedmyself in the rear (of the fleet). I had stopped to wait formy land detachment and the guns, and was at some distancefrom the rest of my little fleet, when, about half-past nine,I heard several musket shots fired. In an instant I wassurrounded by the enemy. M. Chevalier, who conducted theland detachment, fortunately perceived my situation, and,seeing my danger, brought up the two guns and fired about20 shots, which disengaged me, and gave me time to regainmy boats by swift rowing. I had with me only Pedro andthe Moorish hostage mentioned before. Then I landed withMM. Brayer, Gourlade, and in general every one who wasstrong enough to defend himself. At the same time I orderedthe boats to go on. In this skirmish our loss was only oneman slightly wounded in the ear by a musket-ball."My little fleeten route, we marched by land on thebank opposite to that on which was, the main body of theenemy, who had only cavalry, which we did not troubleourselves about It was not the same, however, with theboats. At the end of an hour the boatmen abandoned themin a sudden panic, and hurried tumultuously to join me.When my people were collected, I would have tried to goand recapture my boats, which the enemy had not delayedto seize; but not only would this have been a rash undertakingwith so small a force against 3000 men, but alsothere was a little river which formed an island between myboats and me, and so prevented the passage of my gunsThis determined me to abandon the boats, and to retreat toDinajpur, where I hoped to find an asylum with the Rajawhilst I waited for a reply to my letters to Jafar All Khanand the English. We marched till 1 o'clock in the afternoonwithout being harassed or disquieted—no doubt becauseduring this time Sheikh Faiz Ulla and his people wereoccupied in plundering the boats. We were now not veryfar from Dinajpur, when we met a body of the Raja's cavalry,the commander of which begged me to take another road soas not to pass through his town. Accordingly he gave mea guide, with whom we marched till half-past five, when wearrived at a greatgunge(market place) at the extremity ofDinajpur. There they lodged us in a great thatched building.The want of provisions had caused us to suffer very much inthis retreat."
This was the battle of Cantanagar. Kasim Ali described it as follows to Clive:—
"My people and the French had a battle, and the latterfinding themselves much, beat, they run away, and left theirboats. They went to Oppoor" "and begged protection ofthe Kajah's people.... Bahadur Sing came and told mypeople to go a little further off, and they would deliverthem up, but they put us off from day to day."[154]
About the time he was writing this, Clive was writing to say that he had received Courtin's offer of surrender, and that Kasim Ali was to cease hostilities and allow the French to come to him with their boats and necessaries. Kasim Ali had received orders to the same effect from Mr. Scrafton, who informed him he was sending an officer to accept their surrender. This did not however prevent Kasim Ali from trying to get hold of them, which accounts for the following letter from Raja Ram Nath to Clive:[155]—
"The French are now coming from another country byboats to go towards Muxadavad, and Kasim Ali Khan'speople have followed them, out of his own country intomine. They have left their boats among Kasim Ali Khan'speople and are now travelling to Jangepors" (? Tangepur)."When I heard this I sent people with all expedition to lookafter them, and I now hear that they have surrounded them.The French want the Nawab's and your orders andcall for justice[156]from you. They have hoisted the Nawab's[157] andyour colours, have put on your cloaths (?) and want to goto Muxadavad. Kasim Ali Khan's people want to carrythem to Rungpore but they refuse to go, and say that if oneof us is taken they will destroy themselves.[158] I am a poorZemindar who pays revenues[159] and ready to obey yourorders. If the Rungpore people should take them by force,and they should kill themselves, it would be a troublesomeaffair."
To return to Courtin's letter.
"The Raja of Dinajpur did not fail to be embarrassed bythe favour which he had shown to us. Fear was the onlymotive which influenced him. He sent word to me todepart by night under an escort of 200 of his people, whowould conduct me to Murshidabad. I was very nearlyaccepting his suggestion, but the hunger and thirst, fromwhich we suffered greatly, prevented me. So I postponedgiving him a final answer till the next morning, andthen, after full reflection, decided not to move from theplace to which. I had been conducted until I received ananswer to the letters sent to Murshidabad. I thought thisall the wiser, as I was informed that nothing would inducemy enemies to approach or attack me in my asylum.[160] Theplace was so retired and so well provided with storehouses,that I found there a greater appearance of security than inthe open country or the escort offered by the Raja, as hismen were subordinate to the same Prince as the people whocomposed the army of Sheikh Faiz Ulla, and were likelyenough to abandon me or to join my enemies in overwhelmingme. My conjectures were well founded, as, several daysafter, this same Raja, prompted by Sheikh Faiz Ulla, sentme word that he could not answer for what might happen tome if I were attacked; that his troops, being subject toMurshidabad like those of Kasim All Khan, could notsupport me, nor fire on the latter. Finally he sent a certainpriest of his faith, a grave man, who came to suggest to usthat our best course was to leave Dinajpur and gain theopen country, otherwise we were lost. He said that heknew for certain that if I were so obstinate as to persist inwishing to remain there, orders had been given to attack us,cut our throats, and send our heads to Murshidabad. Thisperson wished to terrify us so as to rid the Raja of us, as hewas dying with fright lest war should be made in the veryheart of his town. I replied that I was resolved to defendmyself against any one who attacked me, to set fire toeverything I found within my reach, to kill as many peopleas I could, and to die on my guns when I had used up allmy ammunition; that this was also the intention of my companions,who preferred to die thus, like brave men, rather thanto be exposed to the ignominies and indignities that we shouldundergo if we allowed ourselves to be made prisoners by thepeople of Kasim All Khan. The timid Raja, threatened byboth parties, found himself in the utmost embarrassment, forSheikh Faiz Ulla, at the gates of his town, put, as it were,his country under contribution, and demanded from him,with all imaginable insolence, that he should deliver us upto him, a thing which the Raja found difficult to do."Some days passed in this way, during which we hadfrequent alarms, but the letters I received from Murshidabadfilled every one with perplexity. The English sent mepeople on their own account. One of my private friends,[161]whom I had been so fortunate as to oblige on a similaroccasion, wrote me not to trouble myself about my boats ormy effects, but to come at once to him, and he would seethat they restored or paid for my property, and that theygave me all that I might need. The orders received bySheikh Faiz Ulla and the Raja at the same time, ordered theone to leave me in peace and the other to furnish me witheverything I wanted. This put my mind in a condition ofserenity to which it had long been a stranger, and threw myenemies into much confusion. They proposed that I shouldresume possession of my boats. I knew, with absolutecertainty, that they had been half looted, still I acceptedthem on condition they were brought to Dinajpur. Theydid not wish, to do this; but next morning after reflectionthey consented, when, in my turn, I declined, and asked onlyfor provisions and other things necessary for my journey.This they had the harshness to refuse, doubtless because theythought that I, being destitute of everything, would have togo down by whatever route they pleased. I would nottrust them in anything, fearing treachery."At last, without linen, without clothes, except what wehad on our bodies, on the 1st of March, the seventeenth dayafter our retreat[162] we set out with our arms and our twoSwedish guns to go to Murshidabad to the English, fromwhom I had demanded the honours of war."