Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/180

144 official to M. Conflans, dated September 4, 1758, and intercepted by the English, gives some notion of the depression then prevailing at headquarters. Lally furiously accused Bussy of disloyalty in evading his demands for money and active co-operation; nor can it be denied that Bussy, although far superior to Lally in military skill and in the knack of managing Orientals, much preferred remaining at Haidarabad, where he was wealthy and independent, to serving against the English under Lally, who was suspicious, intractable, and manifestly predestined to ruin.

In the course of the next twelve months, Lally's situation grew rapidly worse. A letter written by him from his camp before Madras to the governor of Pondicherri betrays the unhappy general's impotent rage and misery. His cash and gunpowder were both running out, and the country round could furnish no more provisions. He proposed to storm the place by the open breach, but his officers refused to risk the assault, and there was a serious mutiny among his European soldiery; yet he persevered until in February, 1759, the arrival of the English fleet struck such dismay into his army that the siege was hastily raised, to the great damage of the French reputation among the native princes, who were all watching the contest. Admiral D'Aché returned with his ships from Mauritius, threw some insignificant supplies into Pondicherri, and then disappeared finally, leaving French India to its fate. The English forces could now take the field against the French outposts, and they carried by assault the im-