276 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
at
midnight, to leave Cossimbazar well-nigh defenceless, and thereby to
give up Calcutta, with all it contained, to a mixed Mohammedan and
native force. This they did with cruel promptitude. The triumphant
garrison thereupon drove the helpless foreigners, 146 of them, into the
strongroom used for the confinement of military offenders, since called
the " Black Hole," where seven-tenths died in unexampled horror during
the night, and the whole English population were exposed to miseries,
in comparison of which the death on duty of every man in the city would
have been a glory and a paradise.
The
surrender of Cossimbazar was not known to Mr. Pigott, the Governor of
Madras, till the 15th of July, and it was two months before he and his
council could make up their minds to send aid to their brethren at
Calcutta, and then it was due to Mr. Orme that Colonel Clive was
nominated to command the expedition against the Nabob, which Mr.
Manningham, being one of the runaway council at Cossimbazar, very
naturally opposed. Clive, small as was the force at his command, soon
recovered Calcutta for the company, and followed up this success by the
total overthrow of Sooraj-oo-Doulah, his army and his kingdom. The
successes of Clive were partially unavailing, because the Governor of
Madras, Mr. Pigott, failed to protect " Fort St. David," which
capitulated to the French. In the siege of Madras Mr. Pigott
shewed some courage, and the coming up of a fleet, under Admiral
Pocock, preserved the town from being taken. The French were driven
beyond the Kistna, and the English gained an extended line of eighty
