Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/565

Book XI attemp; and by this time the foremost of Crillon's troops appeared on the bank of the river. The flood kept them there until the 20th, when they crossed into the island of Seringham, and encamped opposite to the west face of the pagoda, in which Captain J. Smith had stationed 300 Sepoys, 500 Colleries armed with their long lances, and two field-pieces, with European gunners. The outward wall of the pagoda, being 40 feet high, can neither be defended nor escaladed; and, if battered down, which would be tedious, the ruins would be difficult to pass. The great gateway is within, 40 feet high, 30 broad, and 40 through to the inside of the pagoda. As it is impossible to weild gates of such a surface, a wall 20 feet high had been raised across the middle of the passage, and in the wall was left an opening, in which likewise no gate had been erected. A trench was therefore dug across the passage in front, and a parapet was raised behind the opening for the field -pieces. At day-break on the 21st, the French advanced their heaviest cannon, which soon beat down the partition-wall, and disabled the field-pieces on the parapet. They then ran to the assault, and stormed their way in; not without much resistance from the Sepoys, but very little from the Colleries. Irritated by their loss, they refused quarter for some time after all resistance had ceased. They then turned out whom they had spared, when the musketry fired upon them as they were going away, and some of the European horse rode after and cut down others: but neither with the permission of their officers. The garrison of Tritchinopoly beheld this wanton cruelty from the walls; but could give no relief. Few of the Sepoys regained the city, and one of the three companies was entirely lost. Joseph Smith reproached Crillon severely for this barbarity.

The Presidency, as soon as certified of the destination of this part of the French army, resolved that the whole of their own should immediately take the field. The choice of operations was left to Colonel Coote, who on the 21st of November came from Madrass to Conjeveram, where the largest division of the troops were in cantonment. Having taken the command, he immediately assembled a council of war, in which it was agreed, that the separated and distant situations