to one another. The Soubahdar then addressed a letter of indignation and defiance to Clive; and, in proud anticipation of a victory over his English enemy, ordered his whole army to assemble without delay at their former encampments at Plassy, about thirty miles from Moorshedabad, and ninety from Calcutta.
In the meantime the English had not been idle; and as no time was to be lost in commencing operations, on the 12th of June the troops at Calcutta, with a party of one hundred and fifty seamen from the fleet, marched to join the remainder of the British force at Chandemagore. Here one hundred seamen were left in garrison, that every soldier might be at liberty for service in the field; and on the 13th the rest of the force proceeded on their march. It consisted of six hundred and fifty European infantry, one hundred and fifty artillerymen – including fifty seamen, two thousand one hundred Sepoys, and a small number of Topasses, or descendants of Portuguese, making a total of something more than three thousand men; it was accompanied by eight field-pieces and one or two large howitzers.
The British force continued its march without interruption, and on the 17th of June took possession of the town and fort of Kutwah, where they found an immense store of rice.
Suraja Dowlah, after some altercation with his troops, respecting arrears of pay, had succeeded in assembling at and near Plassy his whole force, amounting to fifty thousand men; of whom fifteen thousand were cavalry, with upwards of forty pieces of cannon. The Hooghly flowed between the two armies, and to cross it was to provoke an engagement. Uncertain of the support of Meer Jaffier, and doubtful of the success of an attack unaided by his co-operation, Clive for some time hesitated to take a step which, if it should fail, would be fatal to the British power in Bengal. At length, however, he decided on risking the attempt, even in opposition to the
