Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/125

118 sent him then the most minute instructions, detailing the strength of the English force, the road it would take, the date of its departure, the fact that its movements would be encumbered by the necessity of escorting a large convoy, and then unfolded his plan. 'Leave,' he wrote, 'but a screen of troops before Trichinopoli; mass the remainder, and, marching eastwards, fall on the English relieving force with your superior numbers, and destroy it; then return, and make your decisive assault on the place.' To help him in this operation, which, in capable hands, had been perfectly feasible, he despatched from Pondichery every available Frenchman south of the Krishtna.

In the despatch of Dupleix to Law there shone the prescience of the statesman and the penetration of the real soldier. But the best plans, entrusted to incapable hands, will fail. So it was on this occasion. Instead of leaving only a screen before Trichinopoli, and marching with the bulk of his troops to crush Lawrence, Law kept the bulk of his men before the fortress, and sent the screen to accomplish that which the combined force would have found the toughest job on which they had ever been engaged. He failed, and he deserved to fail. Nor when, a day or two later, he ranged his troops in position and attacked Lawrence, was he more successful. The time, the position, the opportunity, were alike ill-chosen. The action was ill-fought, and the French had to fall back, disconcerted, on their Rock, whilst