Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/180

Rh returning to Pondichery, wrung some more money from the Pondichery Council; then, taking the strong places which lay between Arcot and Madras, appeared before the latter place on the 12th of December. He had under his orders 2000 European infantry, 300 cavalry, and 5000 trained sipáhis.

Into the details of the siege which followed it is unnecessary to enter. It will suffice to state that although Lally took easy possession of the Black Town, the fort resisted with such resolution that, notwithstanding some advantages gained in the open, one of which he unaccountably failed to press home, he was ultimately compelled to raise the siege. His heavy guns had already made a breach in the fortifications, and he was waiting for a favourable night to order the assault, when the English fleet appeared off the coast. It was the 16th of February. Lally's resources were exhausted. The following day, full of rage and disappointment, he raised the siege.

The most fatal mistake committed by Lally up to this point was the recalling of Bussy and his troops from the Court of the Subáhdár, and of Moracin from the Northern Sirkars. To replace the latter he had sent the Marquis de Conflans, an officer with no Indian experience. The consequences were fatal to French domination. One of the Rájás in the northern part of the Northern Sirkars seized the occasion to assert his independence, and despatched pressing requests to Calcutta for assistance. Clive, thoroughly alive to the possibilities which might result from