Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/145

Book II. began to augment his army, and sent orders to all the Nabobs and Rajahs, whose territories lie to the south of the Kristna, to hold themselves in readiness to accompany him, with the number of troops which, either as princes paying tribute, or as feudatories of the empire, they were obliged to furnish in times of danger to the Mogul government. It is probable, from the implicit obedience which was paid to these orders, that he was generally believed to be the real representative of the emperor. For some time Nazir-jing imagined, that the report alone of these extraordinary preparations would intimidate his nephew, and induce him to make submissions: but finding that Murzafa-jing, pursuing his successes, had marched into the kingdom of Tanjore, he set out from Gol-condah, and advanced towards the Carnatic. His army, encumbered with all the preparations necessary to furnish the same luxuries in his camp as he enjoyed in his capital, made slow and dilatory marches, and was during its progress every day augmented by the coming in of the different troops summoned to join him. He had hired three bodies of Morattoes, of 10,000 men each, to act as the hussars of the army: one of these was commanded by Morari-row, the same man who was left governor of Tritchinopoly when the Morattoes took the city from Chunda-saheb in 1743. Morari-row was sent forward, and in the middle of February arrived on the bank of the Coleroon, the southern boundary of the Carnatic, before any other part of Nazir-jing's troops had entered the province to the north. They met near the Pagoda of Chillambrum the army of Murzafa-jing, returning with the French battalion; and being not strong enough to venture a general battle, they divided into different bodies, and continued to harrass the enemy's line of march, which extended three leagues: they were often repulsed by the fire of the French field pieces, notwithstanding which they continued to return to the charge, and accompanied Murzafa-jing's army until it arrived at Villanore. Murzafa-jing and Chunda-saheb went into Pondicherry to confer with Mr. Dupleix, who sharply reproached Chunda-saheb for having deviated from the plan of attacking Tritehinopoly, as also for not taking possession of Tanjore. It was now no longer time to dissemble, and Chunda-saheb confessed the motives of his conduct by representing the distress to which Murzafa-jing's