Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/500

476 exertion, until they saw Mr. Bussy and the whole of the French force quitting Hyderabad, and the service of Salabadjing, in obedience to the orders of Mr. Lally; when judging little likelihood of their return, they acted with more open declaration; and soon after, Nizamally was enabled, with the assistance of his friends, to increase his force from 1500 to 15000 horse, with which he marched from Brampore in November, and was received with homage into the city of Aurengabad; but the fortress of Dollabad still held out for Salabadjing. The insolence of Salabadjing, wedded to habits, saw no means of coercing his brother, but by the accustomed assistance of a body of French troops, which his own aid to Conflans in this time of necessity was certainly the likeliest means of procuring: but few of his officers were desirous of seeing the re-establishment of a power, which had interfered so much with their own authority and advantages in the government; nevertheless, they imagined, that the present contest for the ceded provinces between the French and English might give a chance of recovering these countries to their former dependence on the soubahship; and in this view most of them advised him to march towards Masulipatam. His brother, bassaulet Jung, concurred in the same opinion, and marched with his forces from Adoni at the same time that Salabadjing was advancing from Hyderabad. Both joined near the Kristna, and amounted to 15000 horse and 20000 foot. Neither their approach, nor the probability of their assisting the French, deterred Colonel Forde from his purpose of proceeding against Masulipatam. It was obvious, that the junction of Salabadjing's army with the French would bring heavy vengeance upon the Rajah, if the English troops should be obliged to retire before them: but even this consideration, because the danger was distant, could not induce him to relinquish the immediate advantages of his delay, although nothing more than the collections of the day levied by his troops spread abroad in all parts of the country. Five miles to the south of Elore you arrive at the bed of a vast lake, which extends 47 miles in length, from west to east across