nal to attack. Seeing the impossibility of holding out longer,
I thought that in the state in which the Fort was I could not
in prudence expose it to an assault. Consequently I hoisted
the white flag and ordered the drums to beat a parley."

According to an account written later by a person who was not
present at the siege, Renault lost his Fort by a quarter of an hour.
This writer says the tide was rapidly falling, and, had the eastern
defences of the Fort been able to resist a little longer, the ships
would have found their lower tiers of guns useless, and might have
been easily destroyed by the French. Suppositions of this kind
always suppose a stupidity on the part of the enemy which Renault
had no right to count upon. Admiral Watson must have known the
strength of the fortress he was about to attack before he placed
his ships in a position from which it would be impossible to
withdraw them whenever he wished to do so.

The flag of truce being displayed, Captain Eyre Coote was sent
ashore, and returned in a quarter of an hour with the Governor's son
bearing "a letter concerning the delivery of the place." Articles
were agreed upon, and about 3 o'clock in the afternoon Captain
Coote, with a company of artillery and two companies of grenadiers,
took possession of the Fort. Before this took place there occurred
an event the consequences of which were very unfortunate for the
French. Everything was in a state of confusion, and the deserters,
who formed the majority of the garrison, expecting no mercy from the
Admiral and Clive, determined to escape. Rushing tumultuously to the
Porte Royale, their arms in their hands, they forced it to be opened
to them, and, finding the northern road to Chinsurah unguarded, made
the best of their way in that direction. They were accompanied by a
number of the military and marine, as well as by some of the
Company's servants and private persons who were determined not to
surrender. As all this took place after the hoisting of the white
flag and pending the conclusion of the capitulation, the English
considered it a breach of the laws of warfare, and when later on
the meaning of the capitulation itself was contested they absolutely
refused to listen to any of the representations of the French. In
all about 150 persons left the Fort. They had agreed to reassemble
at a place a little above Hugli. The English sent a small force
after them, who shot some and captured others, but about