TJie Expansion of Eiigland 341 against those who were likely to get it before him ; and in these conflicts many were either pressed to death by the efforts of others or suffocated by their own. . . . Before midnight all who were alive and had not partaken of the air at the windows were either in a lethargic stupe- faction or raving with delirium. Every kind of invective and abuse was uttered in hopes of provoking the guard to put an end to their miseries by firing into the dungeon ; and whilst some were blaspheming the Creator with the frantic execrations of torment and despair, Heaven was im- plored by others with wild and incoherent prayers ; until the weaker, exhausted by these agitations, at length laid down quietly and expired on the bodies of their dead or agonizing friends. . . . All regards of compassion and affection were lost, and no one would recede or give way for the relief of another. Faintness sometimes gave short pauses of quiet, but the first motion of any one renewed the struggle through all, under which ever and anon some one sunk to rise no more. At two o'clock not more than fifty remained alive. But even this number were too many to partake of the saving air, the contest for which and for life continued until the morn, long implored, began to break. . . . An officer, sent by the nabob, came and inquired if the English chief still survived ; and soon after the same man returned with an order to open the prison. The dead were so thronged, and the survivors had so little strength remain- ing, that they were employed near half an hour in removing the bodies which lay against the door before they could clear a passage to go out one at a time ; when of one hun- dred and forty-six who went in no more than twenty-three came out alive, — the ghastliest forms that were ever seen alive. The following extract is from a letter by Clive de- scribing his famous victory at Plassey, north of Calcutta. This battle completely demonstrated the inability of native armies to cope with Europeans, and marked the
