as lieutenant, proceeded to Devikota by sea, landed
his troops, and commenced to batter the place. On the morning of the
fourth day a practicable breach was pronounced, and a storming party
was ordered. By his conduct Clive had already won the esteem of
Lawrence,[1] and it was to him that he gave command of the party.

[Footnote 1: The partiality which induced Lawrence to entrust Clive
with so important a duty is to be found under his own hand. 'A man of
undaunted resolution,' he writes in his memoirs, 'of a cool temper,
and a presence of mind which never left him in the greatest danger.
Born a soldier, for, without a military education of any sort or much
conversing with any of the profession, from his judgement and good
sense, he led an army like an experienced officer and a brave
soldier, with a prudence that certainly warranted success. This young
man's early genius surprised and engaged my attention, as well before
as at the siege of Devikota, where he behaved in courage and
judgement much beyond what could have been expected from his years,
and his success afterwards confirmed what I had said to so many
people concerning him.' Cambridge's _War in India_, pp. 18-19.]

To lead a storming party is an honour full of danger. So found Clive
on this occasion. Of the twenty-nine Europeans who composed it,
twenty-six were swept away by the enemy's horsemen, the sipahis
halting and witnessing the deed. Clive with the three survivors
managed to join the main body which was advancing under Lawrence, and
this body, repulsing a charge of cavalry which endeavoured to thwart
it, pushed vigorously on, and stormed Devikota. Abandoning the cause
of the ex-Raja, Lawrence then made a treaty with the powers that
were, in virtue of which Devikota was ceded to the East India
Company, and the Raja paid all the expenses of the {44}war. The force
returned to Fort St. David to find the fleet of Admiral Boscawen
still off the coast.

But, during the absence of the English troops, there had occurred in
the Karnatik one of those revolutions which were not uncommon in the
days of the dissolution of the Mughal empire.

On the 17th of April, 1748, the titular King of Delhi, Muhammad Shah,
had died. His son, Ahmad Shah, had succeeded him. Rather less than a
month later, the Subahdar of the Deccan, the famous Nizam-ul-Mulk,
also died. He had in his lifetime arranged that the succession to the
inheritance of the Deccan should devolve upon his se