Page:History of the French in India.djvu/337

 LAWRENCE OUT- MANOEUVRES LAW. 813 to Trichinapalli to draw up his men so as to bar the road C y^ p across which Lawrence must pass, for in that case he would have exposed himself to the serious danger of an 1752. attack on his rear from the garrison. He was compelled, therefore, to take up a position in which he could meet an assault from both parties on his front. In this view he drew up his forces in a line drawn obliquely from the village of Chakalpalam on the Kavari to the French Rock, and extended thence still moie obliquely to the almost inaccessible rock of Elmiseram. As the direct road to Trichinapalli lay between those two positions, Law was not without hope that the English would move upon them before attempting a junction with the garri- son. Major Lawrence, however, was far too wary. March- ing early in the morning from Kilakota, where he had encamped the previous evening, he fell in, before he had gone more than a mile, with an officer sent by Captain Gingens to inform him of the disposition made by the French. Feeling that the game was too secure in his hands for him to risk the loss of it by a premature attack on a strong position, he made a detour round the point of Elmiseram in the direction of the Sugarloaf Rock, near which he was joined by 200 soldiers of the garrison, under the command of Captains Clarke and Dalton. At this place, therefore, the junction with the garrison may be regarded as having been virtually effected. It was just this moment, when the English could no longer be assailed with advantage, when they might, in case of defeat, take secure shelter under the guns of the fort, that the incompetent Law selected to assault them. Feebly made on his part, though supported with great resolution by the levies of Chanda Sahib, his attack did not succeed. The superiority of the French in artillery was neutralised by the superior energy of Clive, who led the English to the attack ; and after an interchange of cannon shot, considered, whilst it lasted, to have been