Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/96

88 their stations. The rest made sail to the Bay of Trinconomalee in Ceylon; to which place Mr. Griffin with the other ship likewise went in December to take in wood and water, and returned to Fort St. David in the beginning of the year 1748 with all the squadron, excepting the Medway. This ship, which had been the first cause of the English disgraces and misfortunes in India, was in so bad a condition, that she was soon after condemned as unfit for service; she had been have down at Calcutta in Bengal, but her leaks had not been thoroughly repaired.

In the month of January 1748, Major Lawrence arrived from England at Fort St. David, with a commission to command all the East India company's forces in India. At this time intelligence was received that Mr. Dupleix was preparing to make another attempt against Cuddalore: upon which the Major ordered all the troops at Fort St. David to form a camp between the garden and the river Pannar. Here they continued some time; when it was discovered that the commander of the Tellicherry Sepoys, a Moor, had formed a design to desert with all his men to the French, in the first engagement that should happen. This discovery led to others. It was found that an Indian, who, before Madrass was lost, had acted as interpreter and agent of the English governor of that place, carried on a correspondence with the wife of Mr. Dupleix in the Malabar language, which she understood. When the governor was removed by the French to Pondicherry, this man accompanied him; and Mrs. Dupliex, by civilities and promises, engaged him to give her intelligence of the transactions of the English at Fort St. David, which he had for some time done with great punctuality. The facts were proved; and the traitor, with another Indian his accomplice, was hanged. The commander of the Tellicherry Sepoys, with ten other officers belonging to that body, were banished to the island of St. Helena, where several of them assisted one another in putting an end to their lives, rather than remain in slavery in a place, of which the situation excluded them from all hopes of being able to make their escape to their native country.

The four French ships which sailed from Pondicherry in February 1747, left Goa and the coast of Malabar in October, and sailed to the island of Mauritius. They were here joined by three others, one of 50