commander, and also in that of Chanda Sahib, who was subsequently murdered by order of the Tanjore chief. In the course of these operations Clive had more than one hair-breadth escape. During a night attack by the French, who, aided by some English deserters, had managed by stratagem to secure an entrance into Olive's position, a choultry in which Clive was sleeping was fired into, a box which lay under his feet was shattered by bullets, and a servant sleeping close to him was killed. In the fighting which followed Clive was wounded, and a few hours later had the narrowest escape of being shot. The incident is thus related by Orme : 'At daybreak the commanding officer of the French, seeing the danger of his situation, made a sally at the head of his men, who received so heavy a fire that he himself, with twelve others who first came out of the gateway, were killed by the volley ; on which the rest ran back into the pagoda. Captain Clive then advanced into the porch of the gate to parley with the enemy, and, being weak with loss of blood and fatigue, stood with his back to the wall of the porch, and leaned, stooping forward, on the shoulders of two sergeants. The officer in charge of the English deserters presented himself with great insolence, and, telling Clive with abusive language that he would shoot him, fired his musket. The ball missed him, but went through the bodies of both the sergeants on whom he was leaning, and they both fell mortally wounded.' Shortly after the close of the Trichinopoly campaign Clive was employed in reducing the forts of Covelong and Chingleput, which had been occupied by the enemy. This service he performed with a force of two hundred raw English recruits, just landed at Madras, and five hundred sepoys newly raised, alike deficient in discipline and courage, until shamed into the exercise of the latter quality by the example of Clive, who, exposing himself to the hottest fire, compelled his men to stand firm.
Clive's health was at this time much broken by the fatigues and exposure to climate which he had undergone. He accordingly resolved to revisit England, and embarked from Madras early in 1753, reaching England in the course of the year. Before his departure he contracted what proved to be a very happy marriage with Margaret, daughter of Mr. Edmund Maskelyne of Purton in Wiltshire, and sister of the friend with whom he had escaped from Madras after its capture by the French. The fame of his exploits having preceded him, his reception in England was most gratifying. The court of directors of the East India Company treated him with special honour, toasting the young captain at their banquets as General Clive, and presenting him with a sword set in diamonds, of the value of five hundred guineas, ' as a token of their esteem and of their sense of his singular services to the company on the coast of Coromandel.' Clive's stay in England was short. He had received considerable sums in prize money, and had brought home a moderate fortune, a portion of which he expended in extricating his father from pecuniary difficulties, and in redeeming the family estate ; while the greater part of the remainder was dissipated in maintaining an establishment beyond his means, and in an expensive contested election for the borough of St. Michael's in Cornwall, which ended in his being unseated on petition. Being thus compelled to return to India, Clive obtained from the court of directors the appointment of lieutenant-governor of Fort St. David, with a provisional commission to succeed to the government of Madras, but was ordered in the first instance to go to Bombay and take part in an expedition then contemplated against the French in the Deccan. The rank of lieutenant-colonel was conferred upon him before his departure. The expedition to the Deccan having been countermanded in consequence of a convention which had been made between the governors of Madras and Pondicherry, Clive, on his arrival at Bombay, was employed, in conjunction with Admiral Watson, in reducing the stronghold of a piratical freebooter, named Angria, and then proceeded to Fort St. David, of which he took charge on 20 June 1756, the day preceding the capture of Calcutta by Suraj ud Dowlah and the tragedy of the Black Hole. When the intelligence of these occurrences reached Madras, Clive was at once selected to command a force sent to recapture Calcutta, and to avenge the outrage which had been committed. The expedition, in which the naval command was entrusted to Admiral Watson, was embarked on a squadron composed of five king's ships and five ships of the company, with nine hundred British soldiers and fifteen hundred sepoys under Clive. It sailed from Madras on 16 Oct., but did not reach the Hiigli until the latter part of December. After an encounter with the nawab's troops at Budge Budge, the force advanced to Calcutta, which surrendered at once. An expedition against the town of Hugli followed, resulting in the capture of the place and of booty valued at 15,000l. Shortly afterwards the nawab, with an army of forty thousand men, advanced against Calcutta, encamping on the outskirts of the town, from which they were driven by Clive with a small force of thirteen.
