"In consequence of these conclusions it was determined not to send a body of troops to Madras, but to employ all that could with prudence be spared, in concert with Anunderauze, against the French in the ceded provinces[215]; which would either occasion a diversion of their troops in the Carnatic, or, if they neglected this assistance, would deprive them at once of all they had acquired by their long connection with the Soubah of the Deckan; and, lest any danger during the expedition should threaten Bengal, the troops were only to obey the immediate orders of Calcutta.
"The conduct of the expedition was committed to Lieutenant-Colonel Forde, who, on the invitation of the Presidency to take the command of the army in case of the departure of Colonel Clive, had quitted the King's service in Adlercron's regiment, and arrived from the coast in the month of April. Mr. George Grey was sent to continue the course of intelligence at Cuttack, and Mr. John Johnstone was despatched in the Mermaid sloop to make the necessary preparations in concert with Anunderauze at Vizagapatam. The force allotted for the expedition was five hundred Europeans, including the artillery men, two thousand sepoys, and one hundred lascars: the artillery were six field-pieces, the best brass six-pounders, six twenty-four-pounders for battery, a howitz, and an eight-inch mortar: eighty thousand rupees, and four thousand gold mohurs, equivalent to sixty thousand rupees, were in the military chest for immediate expenses. The embarkation was made on three of the Company's ships arrived lately from Europe, on the Thames, a private ship of seven hundred tons, with two of the pilot sloops of the river. The Thames, likewise, carried a great quantity of provisions intended for Madras, whither she was to proceed as soon as the present service would permit. By altercations in the Council, for the measure was too vigorous to be acceptable to all of them, and by delays in the equipment, the vessels were detained in the river till the end of September. Their departure left the English force in the province barely equal to what they carried away."[216]
Of the brilliant success which attended the expedition under Colonel Forde I shall speak hereafter. I shall content myself at present with the insertion of extracts from the private letters of Clive written at the period of its formation. These, while they show the enlarged and just view he took of the state of affairs on the coast, will prove that he not only gave to that settlement all the aid he had the power of giving it, but that he actually left Bengal almost without European troops, in order to provide for its defence.
