expressed opinion of a Council of War;[1] and on the 22nd of June the British force crossed the river. An hour after midnight they arrived at Plassy, and took up a position there in a grove of mango-trees.
At daybreak the army of Suraja Dowlah was discovered in motion. Countless bodies of troops were seen advancing with guns of the largest calibre, drawn by vast trains of oxen; while a number of elephants, gorgeously clothed in scarlet cloth and embroidery, added greatly to the magnificence of the spectacle, if they contributed little to the strength of the army which they adorned. The cavalry and infantry were disposed in columns of four and five thousand each, and between them were placed portions of the artillery. They marched as if intending to surround the English force as far as the river would permit; but as soon as their rear was clear of the camp they halted, and a party of forty or fifty Frenchmen advanced with some guns; their officer, named Sinfray, calling upon some of the Soubahdar's troops to follow him.
But his invitation was disregarded; "for such," says Scrafton, "was their mistrust of each other, that no commander dared to venture on singly, for fear some other commander, suspected of attachment to us, should fall on him." A general cannonading, however, commenced from the Soubahdar's artillery, which was severely felt by the English, who had quitted the grove where they were sheltered by a bank, in front of which they were now drawn up. Clive, therefore, withdrew his troops once more to their position behind the bank. The enemy thereupon advanced their heavy artillery nearer, and fired with greater rapidity than before; but they produced little effect, the English troops escaping the shots by sitting down under cover of the bank.
About noon a heavy shower so much damaged the
- ↑ Sixteen years afterwards Clive observed that this was the only Council of War he had ever held; and that, if he had abided by that council, it would have been the ruin of the East India Company.
