Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/115



HE squadron, soon after the raising of the siege of Pondicherry, left the coast to avoid the stormy monsoon: five ships went to Achin, and the rest to Trinconomalee; but Mr. Boscawen himself remained with the land-forces at Fort St. David. In November news arrived, that a cessation of arms between Great Britain and France had been proclaimed in the preceding April: but Mr. Boscawen was, notwithstanding, instructed to remain in India until he should receive intelligence that the general peace was concluded. In the beginning of January 1749, the squadron returned to Fort St. David, and about the same time Mr. Bouvet, with the same squadron which had eluded Mr. Griffin, came again from Mauritius to Madrass, where he landed a large sum of money, together with 200 soldiers.

The sword was sheathed, and it depended on the agents of the two companies to re-assume in tranquillity their mercantile occupations: but the war had brought to Pondicherry and Fort St. David a number of troops greatly superior to any which either of the two nations had hitherto assembled in India; and as if it were impossible that a military force, which feels itself capable of enterprizes, should refrain from attempting them, the two settlements, no longer authorized to fight against each other, took the resolution of employing their arms in the contests of the princes of the country: the English with great indiscretion, the French with the utmost ambition.

An unfortunate prince, who about seven years before had been dethroned at Tanjore, came to Fort St. David, and implored the assistance of the English to reinstate him, asserting with great confidence that he should no sooner appear in the kingdom, supported even by a moderate force, than his standard would be joined by numbers, and his title acknowledged by thousands. The succession of the