unexpected attack; and, as the troops continued to stream
up the breach, the garrison were pressed; and, losing heart, fled
through the opposite gate of the fort.

The only casualty on the British side was that Captain Campbell,
marching up at the head of the Sepoys, was mistaken for an enemy by
the sailors, and shot dead. Strahan was, in the morning, severely
reprimanded by the admiral for his breach of discipline; and, retiring
from the cabin, said to his comrades:

"Well, if I am flogged for this here action, I will never take another
fort, by myself, as long as I live."

Manak Chand was so alarmed at the fighting powers shown by the English
in these two affairs, that, leaving only a garrison of five hundred
men at Calcutta, he retired with his army to join the nabob at
Moorshedabad. When the fleet arrived before the town, the enemy
surrendered the fort at the first shot, and it was again taken
possession of by the English.

Major Kilpatrick was at once sent up, with five ships and a few
hundred men, to capture the town of Hoogly, twenty miles farther up.
The defences of the place were strong. It was held by two thousand
men, and three thousand horsemen lay around it. The ships, however, at
once opened a cannonade upon it, and effected a breach before night,
and at daybreak the place was taken by storm.

Two days after the capture of Calcutta, the news arrived that war had
again been declared between England and France. It was fortunate that
this was not known a little earlier; for had the French forces been
joined to those under Manak Chand, the reconquest of Calcutta would
not have been so easily achieved.

The nabob, furious at the loss of Calcutta, and the capture and sack
of Hoogly, at once despatched a messenger to the governor of the
French colony of Chandranagore, to join him in crushing the English.
The governor, however, had received orders that, in the event of war
being declared between England and France, he was, if possible, to
arrange with the English that neutrality should be observed between
them. He therefore refused the nabob's request, and then sent
messengers to Calcutta, to treat.

The nabob had gathered an army of ten thousand foot and fifteen
thousand horse, and advanced against Calcutta, arriving before the
town on the 2nd February, 1757. Clive's force had now, owing to the
arrival of some reinforcements from Europe, and the enlisting of fresh
Sepoys, been raised to seven hundred Eur