"You may be assured," Clive writes[[38]], "I felt much for you, when I heard of the unequal fight between the two squadrons, for want of your not being better supported by two or three of His Majesty's ships. The unthinking world, who never bestow applause but where there is success, would have been ready enough to have laid the censure at your door, if you had not called the authors of the late miscarriage to a public account. It is really a cruel case, after the eminent examples of bravery and conduct shown by you personally, that a certain victory should be snatched out of your hands by the misbehaviour of others. May infamy and disgrace attend all those who are backward in their country's cause; and may the worst of punishment attend those who so shamefully gave up Saint David's to the French! I cannot think of that transaction with common patience; every reflection about it pains me to the very soul; and the more I inquire into facts, the more reason I have to lament the lost reputation of the English on the coast of Coromandel. I do not mean that St. David's would not have been taken at last; but it certainly might have been made to cost M. Lally so dear, as to have rendered his future attempts much more uncertain and precarious."
Lally found among the prisoners at Fort St. David a pretender[[39]] to the throne of Tanjore; and, by threatening to support this man's claims, he expected to obtain, through the fears of the Prince of that country, a supply of treasure, of which he was in great want. To enforce compliance with the large demand he made as the price of his forbearance, he moved towards Tanjore. His march was the cause of equal distress to his own troops, and to the natives of the country through which he passed. The latter, alarmed by his indiscriminate violence and the licence he admitted, particularly in seizing their cattle, fled the country; and we may judge how general the desertion of their homes must have been, when we are informed that the French army was almost starving in the midst of plenty; for, while it found great stores of paddy, which is the name given to rice before the grain is separated from the husk, there were literally no persons to beat it out, as it requires before it can be used as food. The troops had neither tents nor baggage; for, in the common alarm at the violent measures of the French General, not even bullock drivers could be persuaded to remain in the camp.
Some days after the arrival of the army at Tanjore, a treaty was concluded, by which the King agreed to pay five lacs of rupees, and to furnish some aid in Lally's intended attack of Trichinopoly. Fifty thousand rupees of this amount were paid, and hostages interchanged for the fulfilment of the engagement; but recurring points of irritation soon broke this agreement. Lally charged the King with insincerity, and with having no design but to gain time; while the other accused the French General of many outrages, and particularly of having confined, on groundless suspicion, forty of the contingent of horse with which he had furnished him. Lally, seeing no prospect of an amicable termination to these disputes and recriminations, determined, with the advice of his officers, to attack the town; and he not only sent to the King to denounce vengeance upon his city and dominions, but expressly directed Colonel Kennedy[[40]], through whom this threat was conveyed, to state, that it was the French General's intention to carry the Prince and all his family as slaves to the Mauritius.
The counsels of the King of Tanjore had hitherto been fluctuating; they were decided, however, by Lally's conduct, and every preparation was made for defence. Captain Caillaud, who commanded in Trichinopoly, had before sent five hundred sepoys; and, being now convinced of the King's intention to oppose the French, sent a reinforcement of an equal number, with a small party of gunners. The day of their arrival, Lally had determined to retreat[[41]]; to which he was induced from want of ammunition, distress for provisions, and alarm at the British fleet, which was reported to be off Karical, a sea-port in the vicinity.
The Tanjore General Monack-jee, on receiving certain information of the intended movement of the French, determined upon attacking them. He made some impression from coming upon the camp by surprise[[42]], but was compelled to retire: when, however, the army marched towards the Carnatic, his harassing operations aggravated what they suffered from fatigue and want of food; and we learn from authentic sources[[43]], that the whole of the French force was obliged to live for several days upon gram[[44]] and cocoa-nuts.
The natural violence and acrimony of Lally's disposition were greatly increased by the bad success of this expedition. Instead of attributing its failure to the real causes, his own want of local knowledge, his obstinacy and presumption, he imputed it, and the privations the troops had suffered, to the corrupt practices of the Company's servants, to the general laxity of discipline and subordination in all departments of their government, and to the dread which M. D'Aché and his squadron appeared to have of the British fleet. These violent attacks produced abuse and recrimination, and nothing could exceed the discord and faction which at this period pervaded the settlement of Pondicherry.
Lally, after his return from Tanjore, found no difficulty in occupying almost all the towns in the Carnatic, and, amongst others, Arcot, the capital of the Nabob. Chingliput was the only place which the English preserved; but, its consequence being fully appreciated, every measure was adopted to strengthen its garrison and improve its defences. The government of Madras were not induced by Clive's advice to try their fortune in the field. They reserved their force unbroken for the defence of Fort St. George, the siege of which it was evidently Lally's intention to undertake, as soon as the season[[45]] permitted him to move. In deliberating on the course they ought to pursue, they possessed more correct information than Clive had procured regarding the actual composition of Lally's force; from which it appeared, that though some of his soldiers were of an indifferent description, others were of the French line, and belonged to corps of high reputation. He had besides, well equipped and well mounted, a body of three hundred European cavalry, who, being the first of this branch seen in India, were likely, added to his superior numbers of infantry, to give him a great advantage in an action in the field; whereas they could be of comparatively little benefit in a siege.
Governed by these considerations, they determined to await, within the walls of Madras, the approach of the French army. The siege which took place has been minutely described by a cotemporary historian.[[46]] It continued for two months, the French having taken up their ground on the 14th of December, 1758, and retreated on the 15th of February, 1759.
The enemy's force consisted of two thousand seven hundred European infantry, besides their cavalry, artillery, and sepoys. The garrison was not more than a third inferior in number; and when, to that circumstance, was joined the established character of the Governor, Mr. Pigot, and of Colonel Lawrence, the commander of the troops, who was aided by some of the most distinguished officers in India, there appeared, from the first, but little doubt of the result. The most remarkable event of the siege was a sally, soon after the enemy took up their ground, by Colonel Draper; which, though not altogether successful, was attended with a great loss to the French as well as to the English: and Lally had to regret, which he did deeply, the loss of two of his best officers, Major-General Saubinet and Count D'Estaing, the former of whom was killed and the latter taken prisoner.
During the siege a corps of observation was kept by the French, under the partisan Lambert; but this did not prevent their receiving almost as much annoyance from the activity of the English parties without the walls, as from the courage of those within. Two small corps, sometimes acting separately, but oftener co-operating, hung continually upon the outskirts of their camp, attacking and intercepting their supplies. One of these, which had come from the southern territories, was commanded by the celebrated Mahommed Esoof; the other by Captain Preston[[47]]: but Captain Caillaud, who had been summoned from Trichinopoly, took the command of both, and by his operations greatly increased the distresses of the enemy.