The English had made some feeble and irresolute attempts to stop the rapid and brilliant career of the rival Company, and continued to recognise Mahommed Ali as Nabob of the Carnatic.  But the dominions of Mahommed Ali consisted of Trichinopoly alone:  and Trichinopoly was now invested by Chunda Sahib and his French auxiliaries.  To raise the siege seemed impossible.  The small force which was then at Madras had no commander.  Major Lawrence had returned to England; and not a single officer of established character remained in the settlement.  The natives had learned to look with contempt on the mighty nation which was soon to conquer and to rule them.  They had seen the French colours flying on Fort St. George; they had seen the chiefs of the English factory led in triumph through the streets of Pondicherry; they had seen the arms and counsels of Dupleix everywhere successful, while the opposition which the authorities of Madras had made to his progress, had served only to expose their own weakness, and to heighten his glory.  At this moment, the valour and genius of an obscure English youth suddenly turned the tide of fortune.

Clive was now twenty-five years old.  After hesitating for some time between a military and a commercial life, he had at length been placed in a post which partook of both characters, that of commissary to the troops, with the rank of captain.  The present emergency called forth all his powers.  He represented to his superiors that unless some vigorous effort were made, Trichinopoly would fall, the house of Anaverdy Khan would perish, and the French would become the real masters of the whole peninsula of India.  It was absolutely necessary to strike some daring blow.  If an attack were made on Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, and the favourite residence of the Nabobs, it was not impossible that the siege of Trichinopoly would be raised.  The heads of the English settlement, now thoroughly alarmed by the success of Dupleix, and apprehensive that, in the event of a new war between France and Great Britain, Madras would be instantly taken and destroyed, approved of Clive’s plan, and intrusted the execution of it to himself.  The young captain was put at the head of two hundred English soldiers, and three hundred sepoys, armed and disciplined after the European fashion.  Of the eight officers who commanded this little force under him, only two had ever been in action, and four of the eight were factors of the Company, whom Clive’s example had induced to offer their services.  The weather was stormy; but Clive pushed on, through thunder, lightning, and rain, to the gates of Arcot.  The garrison, in a panic, evacuated the fort, and the English entered it without a blow.

But Clive well knew that he should not be suffered to retain undisturbed possession of his conquest.  He instantly began to collect provisions, to throw up works, and to make preparations for sustaining a siege.  The garrison, which had fled at his approach, had now recovered from its dismay, and, having been swelled by large reinforcements from the neighbourhood to a force of three thousand men, encamped close to the town.  At dead of night, Clive marched out of the fort, attacked the camp by surprise, slew great numbers, dispersed the rest, and returned to his quarters without having lost a single man.