Mss Eur Orme OV.26

pp. [i-iii]. Table of Contents.

1, pp. 2-3 (24 x 19.2 cm.). A list of the officers killed and wounded in the Siege of Fort St. George, 1759. Copy. Recopied in VI. 1.

2, p. 5 (12 x 18.5 cm.). Ammunition expended in the Defence of Fort St. George. Copy. Re-copied in VI. 2.

3, pp. 7-8 (23 x 19 cm.). Retreat of the French from before Fort St. George - Landing of the troops arrived - a remark by Captain Richard Smith. Original. Expressing Surprise that no attempt was made to harass Lally's retreating army.

4, p. 11 (37.5 x 22.5 cm.). Plan de la ville et du fort de Thiagar. Pris par les François en 1759. In French, and printed at Pondicherry. Apparently the explanatory letterpress intended to accompany the plan of the Fort. This account also ascribes the defeat of Raillard to M. Mariol and not to Vicomte Fumel (See above, 20. 12.)

5, pp. 13-28. (1) pp. l3-16 (38 x 23 cm.). Letter, dated [August 1759] from John Call to Edmund Maskelyne. Original. Copied in III. 57. Mentions the capture of Conjeeveram, the raising of a troop of Hussars under De Beck, Forde's campaign, Clive's doings in Bengal, formation of the Corps of Engineers, [This appears to be the first mention of the Corps of Engineers. Call states distinctly that the Corps has already been formed: "Our Corps is formed into a regular body of which I am Captain from the beginning of 1757, [Alexander] Leigh Captain-Lieutenant, [William] Stevenson Lieutenant, and [Edward] Cotsford Ensign." This first grant of military rank to the Engineers (see 226, Call's Journal under date 24 December 1758) is mentioned in Wilson's Madras Army, I., 111, but is not noticed by Vibart (Madras Engineers), I., 29.] disgust with his own prospects. "Our little limping late antipenultima [Colonel H. D. Love (Vestiges of old Madras, II., p. 589), supposes Mr John Smith to be here referred to.] is now tertius nulli. Charles Bourchier, Pybus, Andrews, Vansittart, Fairfield, Ardley, Turner, and Heath, now form our august Council; what think you, are they not an intelligent and sagacious collection? "T'is well you went off, for risum teneatis amici! " In regard to the siege of Conjeeveram, Call says that the commander Muzaffar Beg (he calls him Mustapha Beg) was “cut to pieces and half his garrison," but makes no mention of Muhammad Yusuf cutting him down, after he had surrendered, with the remark: "These are the terms to be kept with a traitor" (see Orme, History, II. 472). (2) pp. 17-28 (37.5 x 19 cm.). Letter, dated Fort St. George, 26th October 1759, from John Call to Edmund Maskelyne. Original. Copied in III. 57. Mentions the English defeat at Wandiwash by Captain Gahegan, an Irish officer, indecisive action between Pocock and the French, mutiny of the French Lorraine Regiment, Bussy's doings in the north, Forde disgusted at his supersession by Coote, Dutch expedition to Bengal, the Council refuse to obey the order of the Directors appointing one Edwards Mintmaster, "the Senate voted him unworthy the company of gentlemen and have only made him silversmith, with which he is contented. This is a stroke of power and will show the Company that our gentry will not be slaves. We have had a little bickering with the Military Commander [Major Brereton] but I believe the Governor and Council have established their power, and he is convinced they will give up nothing."

6, pp. 29-34 (48.3 x 29.5 cm.). Account of the military affairs in the Carnatic, in a letter from an officer whose name is not to the copy of the letter to Mr. White (sic) - whom I do not know - from the 19th of November 1759, when Coote's regiment took the field, to the month of February 1760, when the English army were besieging Arcot, containing the battle of Vandewash, at which it is said that the English cavalry wanted spurs. Copy. Re-copied in VII. 20. "I asked a very great man how it was that our cavalry did not pursue. He answered with a most satirical and meaning smile, 'our Horsemen want spurs,' and that was all he said." N.B. The English had only 85 European horsemen present in this battle (see No. 10 below). Of these De Beck's Hussars (see No.5 (1) above) had come over from the French, which would explain their reluctance to attack men who were their old comrades.

7, pp. 35-38 (38 x 24 cm.). Narrative of military operations on the Coast of Choramandel under Colonel Coote to the end of January 1760, dated Wandewash, 23rd January 1760. Copy. Re-copied in VI. 3.

8, pp. 39-42 (39 x 23.5 cm.). An Account of the military transactions [in Coromandel] from the middle to the end of January, with a detail of the battle of Wandewash, not very clear. Copy.

9, pp. 43-45 (22 x 18.5 cm.). Description of the battle of Vandewash with references to a plan. Copy. The plan is missing.

10, pp. 47-48 (24.5. x 19 cm.). Account of the force of both armies at the battle of Vandewash, with references to a plan of the action - a scrap. Possibly Original.

11, pp. 49-51 (37 x 23 cm.). Letter, dated 1st February 1760, from Mr. Pigot to the Nabob. Copy. Explains why he cannot supply the Nawab with money, but proposes to relieve him to a certain extent by ordering Captain (Richard) Smith to pay the Company's troops and sepoys out of the money remitted by Muhammad Yusuf Khan.from Madura.

12, pp. 53-61 (37 x-20 cm.). Three letters, dated 13 and 22 August and 9 September 1760, from the Council Fort St. George to Captain Richard Smith at Trichinopoly. Duplicates. Refer to the arrangements necessary for defence against Mysore and for an attack on Caroor [i.e., Karur].

13, pp. 63-82 (21.5 x 18 cm.). Letters from Captain Richard Smith to the Council and Commander-in-Chief, Fort St. George, during his expedition to Caroor. Copies in Smith's and writing. These include- (1) Letters from Captain Smith, dated 27 August and, 2, 6, and 9 September 1760. (2) King of Mysore's letter to Captain Smith, dated 16 September 1760. (3) Capitulation of Caroor. Orme remarks: "These letters besides their authenticity are very curious, giving a description of Caroor and this frontier country of the Mysoreans -- of the King's situationof his quarrel with Hydernaig - of Hydernaig's situation - of the Mysoreans then assisting Mr. Lally at Pondicherry - Something of Dindigul - of the Madura and Tinnevelly Countries."

14, pp. 83-84 (38 x 23 cm.). Letter from Captain Richard Smith to [his sister], dated 14 September 1760. Encloses an extract from a letter from the Council dated 13 August 1760 (see above, No. 12), and gives an account of his expedition to Caroor: "A most successful campaign, equal to my own ambitious hopes and as far exceeds the sanguine expectations of all my friends."

15, pp. 85-86• (37.5 x 19.5 cm.). Letter, dated Fort St. George, September 16, 1760, from the Council of Madras to Captain Richard Smith. Original. Congratulate him on his success at Caroor, and leave him to judge what further can be done, "only observing that the charges of the expedition being defrayed by the profits can be the sole equivalent."

16, pp. 87-94 (23 x 18.5 cm.). (1) Letter, dated - June. 1763, from Robert Fletcher to R. Orme. Original. Sends plans and a letter. (2) Captain Fletcher's account of the several services in which he has been employed in India, viz., Taking of the Island of Diego Rays, taking of Carangolly, of Pondemall, Enemy's Sepoys, Pettah of Gingee. Original. Diego Rays is now known as Rodriguez or Diego Ruy's Island, a dependency of Mauritius. It became British property in 1809-10. (See also 27. 13 below.)

17, pp. 95-103 (37 x 24 cm.). Letters from the Council Fort St. George to Captain Richard Smith. Originals.(1) 21 November 1760. Order him to send a suitable person to examine into the report that Yusuf Khan is building a strong Fort in or near the Nattam woods. (2) 20 December 1760. Give directions for the management of the Caroor districts, and permit him to raise two new companies of sepoys. (3) 30 December 1760. Order him to hang Roussillon, the ringleader in a conspiracy amongst the French prisoners at Trichinopoly.

18, pp. 107-108 (22 x 21 cm.). A scrap containing exctracts of three letters from the Council, Fort St. George, to Captain Richard Smith at Tritchinopoly, which extracts appear to have been written originally in cypher, and the scrap to be the translation of them into common writing. Original. These extracts refer to events in the year 1760.