in advising, but no one was properly qualified to give advice."[1]
Under such circumstances, the expediency of abandoning the fort and retreating on shipboard naturally occurred to the besieged, and such a retreat might have been made without dishonour; but the want of concert, together with the criminal eagerness manifested by some of the principal servants of the Company to provide for their own safety at any sacrifice, made the closing scene of the siege one of the most disgraceful in which Englishmen have ever been engaged. On the 18th of June, 1756, it was resolved to remove the female residents at Calcutta, and such effects as could conveniently be carried away, to a ship lying before the fort. In the night the general retreat was to take place. Two civil servants, named Manningham and Frankland, volunteered to superintend the embarcation of the females, and, having on this pretence quitted the scene of danger, refused to return. Others followed their example, and escaped to the ship which in the evening weighed anchor and dropped down the river, followed by every other vessel of any size at the station. In the morning no means of escape were available, except two small boats which still remained at the wharf. These were eagerly seized by parties of panic-struck fugitives, among whom were Mr. Drake, the Governor, and Captain Minchin, the Commandant.
When thus abandoned by those whose especial duty it was to protect them, the devoted community proceeded to take measures for establishing some authority in place of that so unworthily renounced. The senior member of Council remaining in the fort waived his claim, and Mr. Holwell, another member, assumed the command with the full consent of all parties. No expectation was entertained of preventing the ultimate fall of the place: the only object in view was, to defend it until a retreat could
- ↑ Cook's Evidence.
