Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/174

146 26th Dragoons. The native troops from Bengal and Madras consisted of four volunteer battalions and the Madras pioneers; 2000 sailors and marines were likewise contributed by the fleet. The Europeans were to the natives of the force in the proportion of two to one.

General Decaën had not been unconscious of the coming storm. Aware of his own inability to oppose with success any large hostile force led with ordinary prudence, he had nevertheless exerted himself to the utmost to rouse the energies of the colonists. We have seen that he had at his disposal only 800 French troops of the line, in addition to 500 enlisted prisoners, mostly Irish, upon whom he could not depend. The Creole element has been variously estimated. Extravagant English writers have rated it as high as 10,000; but it probably never exceeded 4000; and of these it is recorded by the English annalist of the time, that "they refused on the approach of the British armament to co-operate in the defence of the island." A few of the slaves were armed, but in a most cursory and inefficient manner.

General Decaën might, indeed, well have despaired. But he allowed no symptoms of any such feeling, even if he entertained it, to appear. No sooner had he received information that the hostile armament had left Rodriguez than he issued a spirited proclamation!