Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/146

138 affairs, as well as his own, were at that time reduced for want of money: he added, that what they had received at Tanjore had likewise been expended in the pay of the army, to whom such arrears were still due, that he every day apprehended some tumult, or perhaps a general defection to their common enemy Nazir-jing The known generosity of Chunda-saheb secured him from the suspicion of dissembling in this declaration, and Mr. Dupleix now shewed his ability to conduct the ambitious cause in which he was engaged, by not hesitating to employ the treasures of the French company to relieve the distress of his allies. He lent them 50,000 pounds, and gave out that he intended to furnish them with still larger sums: this welltimed assistance reconciled and pacified the army of Murzafa-jing. At the same time Mr. Dupleix augmented the French battalion to the number of 2,000 Europeans, and ordered this body to encamp, under the command of Mr. d'Auteuil at Villanore, where the army of Murzafa-jing was posted. Nazir-jing on entering the Carnatic, summoned Mahomed-ally to join him from Tritchinopoly, and dispatched letters to Fort St. David, requesting the English to send a body of Europeans; and he ordered all the troops that marched from the northward to rendezvous under the Forts of Gingee, situated about 35 miles to the northwest of Pondicherry. Large bodies arrived there every day; and at length, about the middle of March, came up Nazir-jing himself with the main body. When the whole was assembled, his army consisted of 300,000 fighting men, of which more than one half were cavalry, together with 800 pieces of cannon, and 1,300 elephants. This force, and the number of great lords who followed his standard, convinced the English that Nazir-jing was the real Soubah of the southern provinces, and they ordered the detachment at Tritchinopoly to proceed with Mahomed-ally, who with 6,000 horse joined Nazir-jing at Valdore, about fifteen miles from Pondicherry. A few days after, on the 22d of March, major Lawrence, with a body of 600 Europeans from Fort St. David, came to his camp, which was now in sight of that of Murzafa-jing. A member of the council, and captain Dalton, a military officer, accompanied major Lawrence, and were authorized, in conjunction