Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/86

Rh and he accordingly recognised Chandá Sáhib. But when he heard of the march of the new Nuwáb on Pondichery, and of his reception there, and when about the same time he received imploring requests from Muhammad Alí urging him to espouse his cause, he hesitated for a moment whether he should recall his recognition. Admiral Boscawen, smarting under his repulse from Pondichery, promised to remain off the coast with his fleet, if he would return a favourable reply to Muhammad Alí. But the risk was too great. Floyer did not care to pledge all the resources of the Presidency to the cause of a man who had apparently but a very slight following. He refused therefore the Admiral's offer. Boscawen then quitted the coast with his ships (November 1).

Chandá Sáhib had felt nervous and ill at ease so long as Boscawen remained off the coast. But no sooner had information reached him that the English fleet had sailed, than, quite relieved from his fears, he set out from Pondichery with an army 30,000 strong, accompanied by Muzaffar Jang, and aided by 800 Frenchmen, 300 Africans, and a train of artillery, in the direction of Trichinopoli.

Had Chandá Sáhib only kept in view the one aim carefully instilled into his mind by Dupleix, he would have carried into action that great principle of the capable general, and have concentrated upon the decisive point of the campaign a force large enough to overcome all opposition. Had he marched, that is to say, directly on Trichinopoli, that place, feebly