s troops. At ten,
Manickchand, the Governor of Calcutta, attacked us with between two and
three thousand horse and foot, and was worsted. Manickchand himself
received a shot in his turban. Our two field pieces were of little or no
service to us, having neither tubes nor port-fires, and heavy carriages
were sent with them from Fort St. David. Indeed, we still labor under
every disadvantage in the world for want of the Marlborough. It seems
the enemy were encamped within two miles of us, and we ignorant of the
matter. So much for the intelligence of the country."

There can be no doubt that Clive sustained a surprise that might have
been prevented had the ordinary precautions been used; but in the
circumstances there is much allowance to be made. Clive himself was ill,
and had suffered much from the fatiguing march which he and his men had
gone through, owing to Watson's wrong-headed obstinacy. But
notwithstanding illness and fatigue, and the unexpected appearance of a
hostile force, Clive on this, as on other occasions, never for a moment
lost his nerve. He at once rallied his men, who, awakened out of their
sleep by being fired upon, were at first thrown into confusion, and then
with scarcely a pause made dispositions which retrieved the situation,
although not without heavy loss to the English.

When Watson and Clive entered the river, they found at Falta some of the
fugitives from Calcutta, and the scanty remains of a small force which,
on the receipt of intelligence of the seizure of Kasimbazar, but before
the news of the Black Hole tragedy had arrived, the Madras authorities
had sent to Bengal under Major Kilpatrick. Clive, after beating off
Manickchand's army, was met by Major Kilpatrick, who had been sent to
his aid with reenforcements. In the mean time Watson had bombarded Budge
from his ships, and had effected a breach in the ramparts of the fort.
Clive had arranged to assault the fort the next day, when a drunken
sailor, discovering the breach, entered it alone, and firing his pistol
among a small group of the defenders who were sitting near, shouted out,
"The fort is mine," accompanying the exclamation by three loud cheers.
He was at once attacked, but defended himself valiantly, and, some of
the English soldiers and Sepoys coming up, the garrison abandoned the
fort, which was taken possession of by Captain Eyre Coote, who had come
up from Madras with a detachment of the Thirty-ninth foot. The squadron,
with