Page:History of the French in India.djvu/283

 BUSSY ATTACKS JINGf. 261 for England, were likewise by the same means reduced c ^ p to an almost compulsory inaction, for they were not at , war with France, and the dispersion of Muhammad 1750. Ali's army had left them almost without a native ally whom indirectly to assist. It was true indeed that Nasir Jang was yet exercising the functions of the office of Subadar of the Dakhan, and Nasir Jang was their ally. Sunk in debauchery and the pleasures of the chase, Nasir Jang, however, left the direction of affairs to his ministers and nobility, and the chief of these had already — thanks to the intrigues of Dupleix — been won over to the interests of France. Whilst the army he had given to his protege, Muhammad Ali, was being destroyed in the field, he remained inactive at Arkat, not yet thinking himself in danger, not yet believing that the army which fled before him at Valdavur would dare to compete with him in the field. Of this inaction, which he had used all his efforts to secure, and of the consternation caused amongst the partisans of Muhammad Ali by the victory of d'Auteuil, Dupleix resolved to take the fullest ad- vantage. He therefore sent instant orders to d'Auteuil to detach a sufficient force under M. de Bussy to attack Jinjf, a fortress, fifty miles inland, and the possession of which would, he thought, decide the fate of the Karnatik. The town of Jingf, surrounded by a thick wall and flanked by towers, is situated at the base of three lofty ranges, forming the three sides of an equilateral triangle. Each of these mountains was defended by a strong cita- del built on its summit, and by the sides, in many places naturally steep and in others artificially scarped, by which alone access was possible. A cordon of advanced works contributed likewise to make all approach a matter of extreme difficulty. It was no wonder then that in the eyes of the natives Jinjf was deemed quite impregnable. Even Sfvajf, the founder of the Mara-