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 244 FRENCH INDIA AT ITS ZENITH. chap. Without entering into the details of this expedition, , it will suffice to state that it was successful. Devikota, 1749. after a gallant resistance, was stormed, and Partab Singh, to avert further hostilities, and anxious now to secure the alliance of the English against Chancla Sahib, whom he regarded as the most dangerous enemy of the Tanjur kingdom, agreed to cede that fortress, together with so much of the surrounding territory as should produce an annual revenue of 36,000 rupees. The English, on their part, promised to abandon the cause of Sahuji, and even to keep him under surveil- lance at Madras, on condition of his receiving a life- pension of 4,000 rupees. Such was the result to him of his alliance with an European power. The English were occupied with their new conquest, when they learned the success of Chanda Sahib at Ambur. They hastened to acknowledge him at Arkat. Nevertheless, noticing his subsequent visit to Pondi- chery, his protracted stay there, and the intimacy which he vaunted with Dupleix, they were not deaf to the solicitations — poor as they considered his chances of success — of Muhammad Ali. They waited, however, the further proceedings of Chanda Sahib before com- mitting themselves to any definite action. When, moreover, they saw that that chieftain remained idle at Pondichery, making no movement against his rival, they hestitated still more as to the course they should follow. Admiral Boscawen, on his part, was eager to support Muhammad Ali, and even offered to stay on the coast, if he were officially requested to do so. Bat the Governor, Mr. Floyer, shrank from a line of policy which seemed to commit the Presidency to the support of a pretender in extremis. He therefore suffered the Admiral to depart on November 1, taking from him only 300 men as an addition to his garrison. The departure of Admiral Boscawen constituted the opportunity for which Chanda Sahib had been so long