1.  The lives of the deserters to be spared. Answer.  The deserters to surrender absolutely.

2.  Officers of the garrison to be prisoners on parole, and allowed to keep their effects. Answer.  Agreed to.

3.  Soldiers of the garrison to be prisoners of war. Answer.  Agreed to, on condition that foreigners may enter the English service.

4.  Sepoys of the garrison to be set free. Answer.  Agreed to.

5.  Officers and crew of the French Company’s ship to be sent to Pondicherry. Answer.  These persons to be prisoners of war according to articles 2 and 3.

6.  The Jesuit fathers to be allowed to practise their religion and retain their property. Answer.  No European to be allowed to remain at Chandernagore, but the fathers to be allowed to retain their property.

7.  All inhabitants to retain their property. Answer.  This to be left to the Admiral’s sense of equity.

8.  The French Factories up-country to be left in the hands of their present chiefs. Answer.  This to be settled by the Nawab and the Admiral.

9.  The French Company’s servants to go where they please, with their clothes and linen. Answer.  Agreed to.

It is evident that the capitulation was badly drawn up.  Civilians who had taken part in the defence, as had all the Company’s servants, might be justly included in the garrison, and accordingly Admiral Watson and Clive declared they were all prisoners of war, and that article 9 merely permitted them to reside where they pleased on parole.  On the other hand, Renault and the French Council declared that, being civilians, nothing could make them part of the garrison, and therefore under article 9 they might do what they pleased.  Accordingly, they expressed much surprise when they were stopped at the Fort gates by one of Clive’s officers, and forced to sign, before they were allowed to pass, a paper promising not to act against Britain directly or indirectly during the course of the war.

Another point of difficulty was in reference to article 7.  The town had been in the hands of the British soldiers and sepoys for days.  Much had been plundered, and both soldiers and sailors were wild for loot.  They considered that the Admiral was acting unjustly to them in restoring their property to civilians who had been offered the chance of retaining it if they would avoid unnecessary bloodshed by a prompt surrender.  Instead of this, the defence was so desperate that one officer writes:—­

“Our losses have been very great, and we have never yet obtained a victory at so dear a rate.  Perhaps you will hear of few instances where two ships have met with heavier damage than the Kent and Tyger in this engagement."[54]

Clive’s total loss was only about 40 men killed and wounded, but the loss on the ships was so great, that before the Fort surrendered the besiegers had lost quite as many men as the besieged, and it was by no means clear to the common mind what claim the French had to leniency.  Even English officers wrote:—­