Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/442

 About this time the agent sent by Salabad-jing from Sanore arrived at Madrass: the letters announcing the purport of his embassy were received some days before; but the full extent of Salabad-jing' s proposals remained to be explained by the agent in person. Nothing could be more acceptable to the presidency than the invitation he brought; for since the disappointment of the expedition, which the company had projected to be carried on from Bombay, they despaired of having another opportunity of striking at the French influence in the northern parts of the Decan; on which, nevertheless, the very existence of the English on the coast of Coromandel seemed to depend. They therefore with great alacrity assured Salabad-jing of their intentions to comply with his request, and were on the point of ordering a detachment of 300 Europeans and 1500 Sepoys to take the field; when in the middle of July they received letters from Bengal, informing them of the greatest danger that had ever threatened the company's estate in the East Indies; to retrieve which from utter perdition required nothing less than the exertion of the utmost force that could be spared from the coast of Coromandel.