[49]. Mr. Vansittart, a member of the Council at Fort St. George, in a private letter to Clive, dated 2d March, 1759, gives a general account of Lally's operations, from which the following is an extract:—
"I am very glad," he observes, "to begin with acquainting you that the siege of Madras is raised. Certainly it was an undertaking too great for M. Lally's force, and it was undoubtedly a want of men that obliged him to confine his approaches to so narrow a front. I will send you a plan of them as soon as I can find one of our engineers at leisure. The trenches are the weakest that ever were seen, and yet they pushed them up close under our nose. Three or four times small detachments sallied, and took possession of the head of their sap almost without resistance. Our people retired after destroying a little of the work, and then the enemy returned and worked on. Their grand battery, the first that they opened, tore our works a good deal, but our men were active, and got them repaired in the night. This continued for a few days, but our fire was not decreased. The enemy then lost all patience, and advanced with all our defences in good order; when they got to the foot of the glacis, they erected a battery against the east face of the north ravelin, but they could never stand there for an hour together, as we had a heavy fire both on their flank and front. In three or four days they abandoned that, but still kept pushing on their sap, and presently got up to the crest of the glacis, where they erected another battery close to the north-east angle of the covered way. This cost them very dear, and they well deserved to suffer; for all our defences were yet perfect, nay, we had more guns than we had at first.
"For six mornings running they opened this battery at daybreak, and were obliged in an hour or two to shut up their embrasures. Their loss there must have been very great; for it was raked from one end to the other by the flank of the royal bastion, had a front fire from the north-east bastion, and was overlooked by the demi-bastion so with musketry, that it was absolutely impossible for a man to live. At the end of six days they gave it up, and at the same time, I believe, gave up all hopes of success. It is true they had opened a narrow passage through the counterscarp of the ditch by a mine, and had beat down so much clay from the face of the demi-bastion, that there was a slope which a nimble man might run up, and that is what M. Lally calls a breach; but his people were wiser than he, if he proposed to assault it, and they refused. That letter of M. Lally's is a most curious piece. I am glad it was intercepted, that he may not say the arrival of the ships obliged him to raise the siege, and that the officers and men of the garrison may have the honour they deserve. Their duty was really severe, and what was yet worse, they had not a safe place to rest in when off duty; for there is not a bomb-proof lodgement in garrison, except the grand magazine, and the casemates under the Nabob's bastion, where the sick and wounded lay. Nevertheless there was a universal cheerfulness from the beginning to the end; and (what M. Lally so much expected) a capitulation never entered, I believe, into the head of any one man in the garrison.
"The enemy retired by the way of Poonamallee, and, by our last advices, were at Arcot. Our army is just now moving after them. We had a difficulty to get coolies and bullocks for a camp, by which many days have been lost. A large body of Mahrattas are upon the borders of the province: we have made them handsome offers. If they join us, it will be difficult for the French army to get to Pondicherry, or if they only stand neuter, Colonel Lawrence will have no objection to a trial of skill with the Lieutenant-general.
"I should not forget to mention that your old friend the Nellow Subhadar was of great service during the siege. He brought a large body of country horse and sepoys from Tanjore and Trichinopoly; and being joined by Captain Preston with about fifty Europeans from Chingleput, and afterwards by Major Caillaud, they occasioned a powerful diversion. The French were obliged four times to send out considerable detachments; but our people always kept their post, till a scarcity of provisions forced them to move further off. The enemy, however, lost many men in these different actions, besides the hinderance it gave to their work."
[50]. Mr. Vansittart, in his letter to Clive of the 2d March, 1759 (quoted in the last note), observes, "I believe I shall be obliged to apply to you to lay hands upon some of the Chandernagore ladies, in order to exchange against Mrs. Morse, Mrs. Vansittart, and some others, whom we sent away in a boat for Sadras, just at the time that M. Lally borrowed that settlement from the Dutch. They were received by the French officer, and told they were prisoners. They have been kept there ever since; and two days after the siege was raised I wrote to M. Lally, desiring he would let me know his resolutions concerning my family: he sent back the peon without an answer; nor have I got one yet. All this I could excuse if they had but been treated with politeness; but it has been far otherwise, as you will see by a letter I lately received from Mrs. Vansittart, and which I send enclosed. I beg you will let Carnac explain it to the French ladies at Bengal, that they may see, with thankfulness, the different usage they have met with."
[51]. Mr. Sulivan was Chairman of the Court of Directors.
[52]. 21st February, 1759.
[53]. 6th September, 1759.
[54]. This advice, as appears from Mr. Vansittart's letter, (note, p. 50.) was adopted.