Page:History of the French in India.djvu/310

 288 THE STRUGGLES OP DUPLEIX WITH ADVERSITY. chap, the cue to their native allies. All the accounts of their ■ T ' - historians, the memoirs of Dupleix himself, record that 1751. they failed to do this, and that they failed because of the illness and apathy of their general, and the want of spirit of their officers. Never before, indeed, had such an opportunity been offered them ; never had such an opportunity been neglected. The force under Captain Gingens consti- with the tuted, exception of 180 men under Captain Cope at TrichinapalH, and a few left to mount guard at Fort St. David and Madras,* the entire available force of English soldiers on the Koromandel coast. A little display of energy on the part of d'Auteuil and his officers would not only have insured the destruction of this force, but, as a necessary consequence, the fall of TrichinapalH, and the restriction of the few English who remained to the limits of their possessions on the coast. This is no idle supposition. It is capable of positive proof. So com- plete was the panic which possessed the soldiers of the little army under Captain Gingens, that they left their native allies to fight whilst they Hed in confusion ; f they heard without shame the taunts of a native chieftain on their cowardice ; and notwithstanding that they were not pursued, they abandoned their encampment at midnight, and leaving behind them their guns, camp equipage, and munitions of war, fled precipitately in the direction of TrichinapalH. Can anyone doubt that upon men so panic-stricken, the vigorous pursuit of an enemy would have produced the most decisive effect I Can anyone believe that the consequences of such decisive action would not have been ruinous to the English 1 But no pursuit was attempted that day ; d'Auteuil contented himself with securing possession of Volkon- dah. On the following morning, however, finding that the enemy had disappeared, d'Auteuil followed on his sequently alluded to did not reach t Orme, Cambridge.
 * The reinforcements to be sub- Fort St. David till the end of July,