Page 300 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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300 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST

handful of Englishmen had kept at bay an army and had
done that while they held a position which had many and
serious disadvantages. Outwardly little was accomplished
as far as the main object of the expedition was concerned,
but it does not admit of question that the courageous stand
made on this occasion by Charnock infused into the mind
of the native authorities a healthy respect for the prowess
of the English which ultimately bore rich fruit.
From Iiijili the English went to Ulubaria for three
months, and at the expiration of that time once more
established themselves at Sutanuti; Charnock selected f
the latter spot with the definite intention of making it the
permanent seat of the Company’s power. What were the
reasons which animated him in his choice we do not know,
but as Mr. C. R. Wilson points out in his admirable work
The Early Annals of the English in Bengal, it possessed valu­
able strategic qualities. “ It could only be approached
on one side. To attack it the Mogul troops must cross the
river higher up and march down upon it from the North.
But if the river were crossed while the English ships still
dominated it, the attacking force was exposed to swift and
certain destruction. The English, sending their troops up
the stream, could land and assail the enemy on his march
to Calcutta, cut him oli from his base, force him to form
front parallel to his line of communication and so place
him in the most dangerous predicament in which an army
can find itself.”
History has abundantly vindicated the choice of the site
of what was for so long the capital of India and what is
still to-day its most important commercial centre. But
no credit for the choice rests with those who were in author­
ity at home. Indeed, if the short-sighted directors who