TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.

Scenes of higher import were this year acted by the British arms in the East Indies. The cessation of hostilities between the English and French companies on the peninsula of Indus, though it encouraged Mr. Clive to visit his native country, was not of long duration; for in a few months both sides recommenced their operations, no longer as auxiliaries to the princes of the country, but as principals and rivals both in arms and commerce. Major Laurence, who now enjoyed the chief command of the English force, obtained divers advantages over the enemy; and prosecuted his success with such vigour, as, in all probability, would in a little time have terminated the war according to his own wish, when the progress of his arms was interrupted and suspended by an unfortunate event at Calcutta, the cause of which is not easily explained; for extraordinary pains have been taken to throw a vail over some transactions from whence this calamity was immediately or remotely derived.