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Rh complete the work begun at Madras. It presented no difficulties, for he outnumbered his enemy in the proportion of about five to one.

He saw as clearly as we, looking back, can see it now, that it was the one thing to be done. Not for an instant did he hesitate. He organised a force of 900 Europeans, 600 trained sipáhis, 100 Africans, with six field-pieces and six mortars, to march against the place. Then came the question of command. He had at least one capable officer at his disposal, the Paradis who had triumphed at St. Thomé. But Paradis was only a captain, and the senior officers insisted on their rights. In an evil hour Dupleix recognised the force of their arguments, and confided the command of the expedition to an incapable octogenarian named de Bury. De Bury marched against Fort St. David the 19th of December, crossed the Panár river the following mornings took possession of a walled garden, and allowed his troops to disperse to cook their dinners, without placing sentries of any kind. There they were surprised and compelled to a hasty and disorderly flight by the native troops of the Nuwáb of the Karnátik, led by his two sons,—the very troops whom 230 of them had beaten but seven weeks before.

This was a blow, though not an irreparable blow. To minimise its effects Dupleix reopened negotiations with the Nuwáb, who, he had some reason to believe, was anxious for an accommodation. He found the Nuwáb not indisposed to come to an arrangement,