Study Edition · Essay 44
Lord Clive (The Battle of Plassey)
Source: Edinburgh Review, January 1840; collected in Critical and Historical Essays (1843). Text from Project Gutenberg #2332. EXCERPT: the essay runs to about 25,000 words; this edition gives the famous account of the eve of Plassey and the battle (June 1757). Four small typing errors in the e-text (“twenty times numerous,” “in grove,” “no and then,” a missing full stop) are corrected from the printed text. Archaic verb forms modernized; vocabulary kept and glossed.
Macaulay was the most popular historian and essayist of Victorian Britain, and his long review-essay on Robert Clive tells how a clerk of the East India Company became the soldier who won Bengal for Britain. This excerpt is his set-piece account of the Battle of Plassey in 1757, where Clive's 3,000 men routed the much larger army of Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, after the Nawab's general Mir Jafar had secretly agreed to betray him. Admire the storytelling: the night of doubt, the sleepless enemy, the huge army crossing the plain, the sudden collapse. Read it critically too. Macaulay writes as a confident imperialist, and some of his phrases about Indians reflect the prejudices of his age; the notes point these out.
44 sentences: 17 simple, 19 moderate, 8 complex. Hover a number for its paraphrase; click it for the full note.
Key Vocabulary
- conspiratora person who secretly plots with others
- evasiveavoiding a direct answer
- remonstrancea strong protest or appeal
- confederatean ally, especially in a plot
- dauntlessfearless
- concurrenceagreement
- hazardrisk; chance
- toilsometiring; full of hard work
- oddsthe balance of advantage against someone
- apprehensionfear about what may happen
- appalledfilled with horror
- firelocka musket
- ordnanceheavy guns; artillery
- auxiliariesforeign troops helping an army
- formidableinspiring fear; very strong
- cannonadea continuous bombardment by cannon
- expediencythe advantage or usefulness of an action
- insidiousharmful in a sly, hidden way
- routeddefeated and put to disorderly flight
- vanquisheddefeated
The Essay
Surajah Dowlah instantly assembled his whole force, and marched to encounter the English.1 It had been agreed that Meer Jaffier should separate himself from the Nabob, and carry over his division to Clive.2 But, as the decisive moment approached, the fears of the conspirator overpowered his ambition.3 Clive had advanced to Cossimbuzar; the Nabob lay with a mighty power a few miles off at Plassey; and still Meer Jaffier delayed to fulfil his engagements, and returned evasive answers to the earnest remonstrances of the English general.4
Clive was in a painfully anxious situation.5 He could place no confidence in the sincerity or in the courage of his confederate; and, whatever confidence he might place in his own military talents, and in the valour and discipline of his troops, it was no light thing to engage an army twenty times as numerous as his own.6 Before him lay a river over which it was easy to advance, but over which, if things went ill, not one of his little band would ever return.7 On this occasion, for the first and for the last time, his dauntless spirit, during a few hours, shrank from the fearful responsibility of making a decision.8 He called a council of war.9 The majority pronounced against fighting; and Clive declared his concurrence with the majority.10 Long afterwards, he said that he had never called but one council of war, and that, if he had taken the advice of that council, the British would never have been masters of Bengal.11 But scarcely had the meeting broken up when he was himself again.12 He retired alone under the shade of some trees, and passed near an hour there in thought.13 He came back determined to put everything to the hazard, and gave orders that all should be in readiness for passing the river on the morrow.14
The river was passed; and, at the close of a toilsome day's march, the army, long after sunset, took up its quarters in a grove of mango-trees near Plassey, within a mile of the enemy.15 Clive was unable to sleep; he heard, through the whole night, the sound of drums and cymbals from the vast camp of the Nabob.16 It is not strange that even his stout heart should now and then have sunk, when he reflected against what odds, and for what a prize, he was in a few hours to contend.17
Nor was the rest of Surajah Dowlah more peaceful.18 His mind, at once weak and stormy, was distracted by wild and horrible apprehensions.19 Appalled by the greatness and nearness of the crisis, distrusting his captains, dreading every one who approached him, dreading to be left alone, he sat gloomily in his tent, haunted, a Greek poet would have said, by the furies of those who had cursed him with their last breath in the Black Hole.20
The day broke, the day which was to decide the fate of India.21 At sunrise the army of the Nabob, pouring through many openings of the camp, began to move towards the grove where the English lay.22 Forty thousand infantry, armed with firelocks, pikes, swords, bows and arrows, covered the plain.23 They were accompanied by fifty pieces of ordnance of the largest size, each tugged by a long team of white oxen, and each pushed on from behind by an elephant.24 Some smaller guns, under the direction of a few French auxiliaries, were perhaps more formidable.25 The cavalry were fifteen thousand, drawn, not from the effeminate population of Bengal, but from the bolder race which inhabits the northern provinces; and the practised eye of Clive could perceive that both the men and the horses were more powerful than those of the Carnatic.26 The force which he had to oppose to this great multitude consisted of only three thousand men.27 But of these nearly a thousand were English; and all were led by English officers, and trained in the English discipline.28 Conspicuous in the ranks of the little army were the men of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment, which still bears on its colours, amidst many honourable additions won under Wellington in Spain and Gascony, the name of Plassey, and the proud motto, Primus in Indis.29
The battle commenced with a cannonade in which the artillery of the Nabob did scarcely any execution, while the few fieldpieces of the English produced great effect.30 Several of the most distinguished officers in Surajah Dowlah's service fell.31 Disorder began to spread through his ranks.32 His own terror increased every moment.33 One of the conspirators urged on him the expediency of retreating.34 The insidious advice, agreeing as it did with what his own terrors suggested, was readily received.35 He ordered his army to fall back, and this order decided his fate.36 Clive snatched the moment, and ordered his troops to advance.37 The confused and dispirited multitude gave way before the onset of disciplined valour.38 No mob attacked by regular soldiers was ever more completely routed.39 The little band of Frenchmen, who alone ventured to confront the English, were swept down the stream of fugitives.40 In an hour the forces of Surajah Dowlah were dispersed, never to reassemble.41 Only five hundred of the vanquished were slain.42 But their camp, their guns, their baggage, innumerable waggons, innumerable cattle, remained in the power of the conquerors.43 With the loss of twenty-two soldiers killed and fifty wounded, Clive had scattered an army of near sixty thousand men, and subdued an empire larger and more populous than Great Britain.44
Sentence Notes
In plain English: Siraj ud-Daulah at once gathered his entire army and marched out to meet the English.
Reference & context: Siraj ud-Daulah (c. 1733–1757), Nawab (governor-ruler) of Bengal. In 1756 he had captured the English trading post at Calcutta; Clive retook it early in 1757.
In plain English: It had been secretly agreed that Mir Jafar would break away from the Nawab and bring his part of the army over to Clive's side.
Reference & context: Mir Jafar, the Nawab's commander-in-chief, had made a secret bargain with the English: in return for his help he would be made Nawab himself.
In plain English: But as the moment of decision came near, the plotter's fear got the better of his ambition.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: Fear against ambition: a neat summary of a traitor's divided mind.
In plain English: Clive had moved forward to Cossimbazar; the Nawab's huge army was camped a few miles away at Plassey; and still Mir Jafar put off keeping his promises and gave slippery replies to the English general's urgent appeals.
Reference & context: Plassey (Palashi) is a village on the Bhagirathi River, about 90 miles north of Calcutta.
In plain English: Clive was in an agonizingly worrying position.
In plain English: He couldn't trust his ally's honesty or his courage. And however much he trusted his own skill as a soldier and the bravery and discipline of his men, it was no small matter to fight an army twenty times the size of his own.
In plain English: In front of him was a river that was easy to cross going forward, but if things went badly, not one of his small force would ever get back across it.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: The river becomes a picture of a decision that cannot be undone.
In plain English: On this one occasion, the only time in his life, his fearless spirit shrank for a few hours from the terrible responsibility of deciding.
In plain English: He called a meeting of his officers to vote on what to do.
In plain English: Most of them voted against fighting, and Clive said he agreed with them.
In plain English: Years later he said he had called only one council of war in his life, and that if he had followed its advice, Britain would never have ruled Bengal.
In plain English: But the meeting had hardly ended when he was his old self again.
In plain English: He went off alone into the shade of some trees and spent nearly an hour there thinking.
In plain English: He came back resolved to risk everything and ordered that all be made ready to cross the river the next day.
In plain English: The river was crossed, and at the end of a hard day's march, long after sunset, the army settled for the night in a mango grove near Plassey, less than a mile from the enemy.
In plain English: Clive couldn't sleep. All night long he heard drums and cymbals from the Nawab's enormous camp.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: Sound alone conveys the size of the enemy and the tension of the night.
In plain English: It's no surprise that even his brave heart sank now and then when he thought about how heavily the odds were against him, and how huge the prize was that he would be fighting for in a few hours.
In plain English: Siraj ud-Daulah's night was no more peaceful.
In plain English: His mind, both weak and turbulent, was tormented by wild and dreadful fears.
In plain English: Horrified by how big and how close the crisis was, distrusting his officers, afraid of everyone who came near him and afraid to be alone, he sat gloomily in his tent, haunted, as a Greek poet would say, by the avenging spirits of those who had cursed him with their dying breath in the Black Hole.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: Macaulay casts the Nawab as a guilty tragic villain, contrasted with Clive's lonely hour of thought.
Reference & context: The “Black Hole of Calcutta”: after taking Calcutta in June 1756, the Nawab's guards shut English prisoners overnight in a tiny cell, where many died. The numbers come from one survivor, John Zephaniah Holwell, and modern historians think they were much exaggerated; the Nawab himself probably did not order it. The Furies were Greek spirits of vengeance who pursued the guilty.
In plain English: Dawn came: the day that would decide India's future.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A short, solemn sentence after long ones, like a drumbeat.
In plain English: At sunrise the Nawab's army, streaming out through many gaps in the camp, began to advance on the grove where the English were.
In plain English: Forty thousand foot soldiers with muskets, pikes, swords, and bows and arrows filled the plain.
In plain English: With them came fifty very large cannons, each pulled by a long team of white oxen and each pushed from behind by an elephant.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A vivid, almost cinematic detail that makes the enemy army seem enormous and exotic.
In plain English: A few smaller guns, run by a handful of French soldiers helping the Nawab, were probably more dangerous.
Reference & context: Britain and France were rivals in India; the Seven Years' War had broken out in 1756.
In plain English: There were fifteen thousand horsemen, recruited not from among the Bengalis, whom Macaulay calls soft, but from the tougher peoples of the northern provinces; and Clive's experienced eye could see that both men and horses were stronger than those he had fought in the Carnatic.
Reference & context: Calling Bengalis “effeminate” is a racial stereotype common among British writers of the time and used to justify colonial rule. The Carnatic is the region of south-east India where Clive had made his name fighting in the 1740s and 1750s.
In plain English: The army he had to set against this enormous crowd numbered only three thousand men.
In plain English: But nearly a thousand of them were English, and all were commanded by English officers and drilled in the English way.
Reference & context: The other two thousand were sepoys, Indian soldiers in the Company's pay.
In plain English: Standing out in the ranks of the small army were the men of the 39th Regiment, whose flags still carry, among many honours later won under Wellington in Spain and south-west France, the name “Plassey” and the proud motto Primus in Indis.
Reference & context: Primus in Indis (Latin): “First in the Indies,” because the 39th Foot was the first regiment of the regular British Army to serve in India. A regiment's “colours” are its flags, on which battle honours are embroidered.
In plain English: The battle began with an exchange of cannon fire in which the Nawab's guns did almost no damage, while the few English field guns did a great deal.
Reference & context: A heavy rainstorm at midday soaked the Nawab's gunpowder, while the English had covered theirs.
In plain English: Several of Siraj ud-Daulah's most important officers were killed.
Reference & context: Among them was Mir Madan, one of the few commanders who was loyal to the Nawab.
In plain English: Confusion began to spread through his army.
In plain English: His own fear grew by the minute.
In plain English: One of the plotters advised him that it would be wise to retreat.
In plain English: The treacherous advice, since it matched what his own fears were telling him, was gladly accepted.
In plain English: He ordered his army to pull back, and that order sealed his fate.
In plain English: Clive seized the moment and ordered his men forward.
In plain English: The confused, discouraged mass of soldiers gave way before the charge of disciplined bravery.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: Two words carry Macaulay's whole explanation of the victory: discipline beats numbers.
In plain English: No crowd attacked by trained soldiers was ever more completely put to flight.
In plain English: The small group of Frenchmen, the only ones who dared to stand up to the English, were carried away in the flood of fleeing men.
In plain English: Within an hour Siraj ud-Daulah's army was scattered, never to come together again.
In plain English: Only five hundred of the defeated army were killed.
In plain English: But their camp, their guns, their supplies, countless wagons and countless cattle were left in the hands of the victors.
In plain English: At a cost of twenty-two men killed and fifty wounded, Clive had scattered an army of nearly sixty thousand and conquered a realm bigger and more populous than Great Britain.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: The closing contrast of tiny numbers and huge results is Macaulay's signature flourish.
Reference & context: Mir Jafar was made Nawab a few days later, and Siraj ud-Daulah was captured and killed by Mir Jafar's son. Plassey is often taken as the start of British rule in India.
Fun Fact
Macaulay knew India at first hand: he served on the Governor-General's council in Calcutta from 1834 to 1838, two years before writing this essay. There he wrote the notorious “Minute on Indian Education,” which claimed that “a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia” and helped make English the language of higher education in India. He also drafted the Indian Penal Code, which remained India's criminal law until 2024 and still underlies the codes of Pakistan and Bangladesh.