Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/160

132 and the criminal laws of the island, embodying them in a code which, I believe, is still known as the Code Decäen. So salutary were his reforms, so beneficient was his administration, that many years later an illustrious Frenchman referring in a speech in the Chamber of Peers to his achievements in the islands, used this remarkable expression: "General Decäen made the people over whom he ruled almost forget even the names of La Bourdonnais and of Dupleix."

Such was the man. Let us now glance at the means at his disposal in 1810. He had with him only 800 French troops of the line, and scattered over the island, from 2000 to 5000 Creole militia. In Port Louis were three frigates, the Astrée, the Venus, and La Manche: the others, constituting the squadron under Commodore Duperre, had not then returned from their cruise. With these small means to meet a powerful and well-organised attack he must have felt that all the resources, even of his own brave heart, would be abundantly drawn upon.

Before, however, the English had been able to take advantage of the possession of de la Passe Commodore