Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/90

84 which flattered the pusillanimity and other vices of his own mind.

The English at Fulta, notwithstanding their wrangles, agreed to acknowledge the authority of the governor, and of such others as had been members of the council at Calcutta, who in the beginning of July deputed Mr. Maningham, one of the members, with a military officer, to represent their condition to the presidency of Madrass, and to solicit the expedition of an armament to their assistance. With them our narrative returns to the coast of Coromandel.

ALL was lost before the presidency of Madrass even received intelligence of the danger; for the letters, advising the surrender of Cossimbuzar, did not arrive until the 15th of July. The experience of former embroilments between the European settlements and the government of Bengal, suggested hopes that the Nabob would, as his predecessors, be appeased with a sum of money. But whether this or the worst should happen, it was deemed necessary, in either case, to send a reinforcement without delay; in the one, to render the settlement more respectable to the Nabob; in the other, to afford refuge to such as might have escaped the calamities of war.

The squadron under the command of Admiral Watson, and the Delaware, one of the company's ships lately arrived from England, chanced at this time to be in the road of Madrass: but, as it would have been highly imprudent to send away, or divide the squadron until the last extremity, a detachment of 230 men, mostly Europeans, were shipped on board the Delaware, under the command of Major Kilpatrick. They sailed on the 20th of July, and on the 5th of August arrived letters from the fugitives at Fulta, with details of the capture of Calcutta, which scarcely created more horror and resentment than consternation and perplexity.

We have said that the presidency was at this time preparing to send a detachment of 300 Europeans with deputies to Salabadjing, who had solicited this assistance to rid himself of the French army under the command of Mr. Bussy. The government of Pondicherry, as soon as they received intelligence that Mr. Bussy had