Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/152

124 IV.

The success of this expedition showed the Government how far from formidable were the resources possessed by the islands, and how easy it would be to strike a decisive blow at these harbours of safety for the French privateers. Impressed with this idea Lord Minto, without waiting for orders from England, dispatched in the spring of 1810, considerable reinforcements from the three presidences to the island of Rodriguez. These reinforcements raised the troops under Colonel Keating's orders to 3650 men, of whom not quite one-half were Europeans. So confident was Lord Minto of the success of his plans that he nominated, in anticipation, Mr. Farquhar of the Bengal Civil Service to be Governor of the island.

The transports conveying the reinforcements to Colonel Keating arrived off Rodriguez on the 25th June, but it was not till the 3rd July that the expedition was able to start for its destination. This time Colonel Keating had determined to strike at once at the heart of Bourbon, at its capital, St. Denis. With this view it was arranged that the transports should meet at a given point about fifty miles to the windward of the island; that the