Page:History of the French in India.djvu/315

 CLIVE APPEARS OX THE SCENE. His past services and the character he then bore were sufficient to authorise the expectations which Dupleix had formed from his nomination. He was indeed des- tined to be disappointed. But Captain Law's case is not the only instance in which showy qualities have covered infirmity of purpose, or where pomposity and self-assertion in the council-chamber have been mis- takenly regarded as indications of ability in the field. Nevertheless, at the commencement of his proceed- ings, Law displayed no lack of energy. Finding that the English were resolved to defend Trichinapalli to the last, and deeming that its defences precluded the possi- bility of a successful assault, he determined to take advantage of the possession given him, by the recent French victory, of the neighbouring country, and to subjec tthe town to a strict blockade. Everything seemed to favour such a proceeding. The great body of the English troops were shut up in Trichinapalli, the few that remained could not expect to cope successfully with the French in the field, still less to introduce sup- plies into the town : in the entire Karnatik but one place, the small fort of Verdachelam, on the road from Fort St. David to Trichinapalli, held out at this par- ticular period for Muhammad Ali. The cause of the English seemed hopeless ; the fall of Trichinapalli, if strictly blockaded and pressed vigorously, appeared certain. Yet it was in these desperate circumstances, in this crisis of the fortunes of France and England, that there appeared upon the stage one of those men whose daring genius and power of original conception supply the want of armies. We have already stated that with the force led by Captain Gingens, to endeavour to intercept the march of Chanda Sahib and the French on Trichinapalli, there served as commissariat officer Honorary Lieutenant Robert Clive. This officer had originally come out to India as a Avriter in the civil u 2