Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/58

Rh was that it would be dangerous to attack Madras until the English fleet should have been destroyed. He dwelt, moreover, on the perils to which he would expose his ships by remaining on the coast after the 15th of October, about which date the monsoon was accustomed to come on with a fury dangerous to ships anchored in an open roadstead, exposed to its full force. At last, the 27th of August, Dupleix unable to persuade, acting in concert with his Council, served on the admiral a summons, calling upon him 'on the part of the King and the Company to make choice of one of the two plans' they had presented to him the day previous. The first of these plans prescribed an attack on Madras, the second, the pursuit and destruction of the English fleet. They added: 'these are the only plans we consider practicable, suitable to present circumstances, to the glory of the King, to the honour of the Nation, to the interests of the Company, to the strength of his squadron, and the weakness of his enemies by sea and land.' These plans were plainly specified. La Bourdonnais was required either to attack Madras, or to sail in pursuit of the English fleet.

In consequence of this citation La Bourdonnais sailed for Madras the evening of the 12th of September, joined his fleet—which he had despatched on the 28th of August with orders to anchor off the Madras coast—on the 14th, landed 600 men with two guns the same evening twelve miles south of the English fort, and increasing them on the 15th to 1100 Europeans, 400