FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   >>  
ur, the men gave way. The mutiny, as far as Mungir was concerned, was over. Meanwhile the officers expelled by Fletcher had encamped within a short distance of Mungir, resolved to wait there the arrival of their comrades from other stations. But they had to deal with a man who would stand no trifling. Clive despatched to them an order to set out forthwith for Calcutta; and to quicken their movements he sent a detachment of sipahis to see that his order was obeyed. After that there was no more mutiny at Mungir, or in the stations dependent upon it. At Bankipur the officers, notwithstanding the action of Sir R. Barker, previously noted, had sent their commissions _en bloc_ to Lord Clive. But the news of the occurrences at Mungir startled and frightened them. When, then, Lord Clive arrived at Patna, he found the officers penitent and humble, and that his only task was to pardon. There, too, he learned with pleasure the successful action of the two Smiths at Allahabad and Surajpur. He remained then at Patna, to crush the last embers of the mutiny, and to arrange {189}for the bringing to justice of the ringleaders. This last task he performed in a manner which tempered justice with mercy. Fletcher, who had played a double part, and whose actions were prompted by personal greed, was brought to a court-martial and cashiered. Five other officers were deported, but of these, one, John Neville Parker, was reinstated in 1769, and survived to render glorious service to the Company, giving his life for his masters in 1781. The comparative ease with which Clive suppressed this formidable conspiracy was due to one cause alone. No sooner did Clive hear of the combination than, instead of waiting to be attacked, he seized the initiative: the mutineers allowed him to strike the first blow; standing on the defensive in their isolated positions, they gave the opportunity to Clive to destroy them in detail. It was the action which Napoleon employed against the Austrians in 1796, 1805, and in 1809. It is useless to speculate what might have been the result if Clive had stood, as the majority of men would have stood, on the defensive. By the opposite course he not only saved the situation, but achieving a very decisive victory, struck a blow at insubordination which gave an altered tone to the officers of the army, then as much hankering after ungodly pelf as were their brethren in the Civil Service. Never, throughout his glorious career
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   >>  



Top keywords:

officers

 

Mungir

 

action

 

mutiny

 

justice

 

glorious

 

Fletcher

 

defensive

 
stations
 

combination


initiative
 

allowed

 

strike

 
mutineers
 

seized

 
waiting
 
attacked
 

formidable

 

service

 

Company


giving

 

render

 
survived
 

Neville

 
Parker
 

reinstated

 

masters

 

sooner

 
conspiracy
 

comparative


suppressed

 

struck

 

insubordination

 

altered

 

victory

 

decisive

 

situation

 

achieving

 
Service
 
career

brethren

 

hankering

 

ungodly

 

employed

 

Austrians

 

Napoleon

 

detail

 

isolated

 

positions

 

opportunity