Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/87

Rh position was full of peril. Still he maintained it for some days, straining his eyes towards the sea. Nor did he cease to hope, until an express from Madras informed him that Trincomali had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and that the fleet, badly treated in an encounter before that place, was in full sail for Madras. He at once resigned hope and fell back on the presidency town.

Seldom, it may be safely affirmed, have English interests in Southern India been exposed to greater danger than they were on this occasion. Haidar was encamped in an impregnable position within easy distance of Madras; two thousand of the famed horsemen of Mysore encircled the capital endeavouring to cut off supplies; a large addition to the French land force was momentarily expected; the fleet, by the capture of Trincomali, had been deprived of the only possible place of refuge on the Coromandel coast during the N.E. monsoon, then about to break: and, added to all, a famine, such as had not been known for years, was devastating the country. It seemed that it required