Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/182

146 person a charge of the French cavalry – they could not face the superior artillery of the English; so he rallied his broken lines behind the intrenchments and made good his retreat to Pondicherri in January, 1760.

MILITARY PRACTICE AT OLD FORT JHANSI.

It was nevertheless a fatal reverse. The French could no longer keep the open field; they lost all their strong places; the districts from which they drew their supplies were gradually occupied by the enemy. The French fleet never returned to the coast, for D'Aché flatly refused to bring back his ships; the English squadron held the sea in great strength, and fresh detachments of English troops were arriving. In this hopeless condition Lally was exposed to the ignoble reproaches and resentment of the civil officials within Pondicherri, which was quite unprovided with maga-