Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/77

Book I and by representing, that the English would certainly be willing to pay him a large sum of money for the restitution of so valuable a possession. By this transaction, Mr. Dupleix first discovered that he thought the right of disposing of Madrass, was invested in himself as governor general of the French establishments in India. But Mr. De la Bourdonnais, relying on his own commission, did not admit of tins authority in the governor of Pondicherry, and, conformable to his promise, proceeded to treat with the English for the ransom of the town. Mr. Dupleix and the council of Pondicherry protested against the treaty, as a measure highly detrimental to the interests of their nation, which, they said, would be sacrificed to private advantages, if Madrass was not razed to the ground. Disputes ensued, which, fortunately for the English affairs, prevented many evils, which in all probability would have befallen them, if the councils of the enemy had not been divided by these contentions. For on the 27th of September three ships of war, one of 72, the others of 40 guns, with 1,360 men on board, arrived at Pondicherry, and with this reinforcement, the French force was sufficient to have conquered the rest of the English settlements in Indostan. Such indeed was the destination and intention of De la Bourdonnais; and he would have immediately began to carry this plan of hostilities into execution, if all his operations had not been contradicted by Mr. Dupleix, and the council of Pondicherry.

However, the effects of Madrass, which Mr. De la Bourdonnais intended to carry away in his ships, were put on board by the 1st of October, and two of them had sailed to Pondicherry. Mr. Dupleix was not as yet reconciled to the treaty of ransom, and Mr. De la Bourdonnais was determined not to leave Madrass before the governor and council of Pondicherry had given their approbation: at the same time his experience in the navigation of India fully apprized him of the danger to which his ships were exposed, by remaining on the coast of Coromandel at this critical season of the year.

In India the year is divided into two seasons. From the month of October to March the winds blow from the north, and during the rest of the year from the southern points of the compass: these seasons