Page:History of the French in India.djvu/340

 316 THE STRUGGLES OF DUPLE FX WITH ADVERSITY. chap, he had under him, was at Aurangabad with the Subadar ; ^ 11 Law, helpless at TrichinapalH. Besides those two, 1762, there was but the infirm d'Auteuil, disabled by the climate, and by gout, incapable certainly of making head against the vigorous energy of Clive. It seemed almost preferable to maintain Law, who was at least still vigorous, in command, than to intrust the last remains of the army to d'Auteuil. Before, however, he could take any measures in this respect, in fact the second day after he had heard of the entrance of Lawrence into TrichinapalH, Dupleix received from Law a despatch which threw him into even greater amazement. This was to the effect that, threatened by the English, and despairing now of gain- ing the place, he had determined to retreat at once into the island of Srirangam. The madness of such a scheme was patent to the far-seeing vision of Dupleix. It reemed to him indeed that for a general deliberately to move his forces into an island, where he would be cut off from all communication with his countrymen, was an act of which no one, who had not lost his head, could be guilty. There could not, he felt, be a more dangerous, a more incompetent commander at the head of an army than the man who should propose such a step. Under the influence of this feeling he instantly acted. Hoping that it might not possibly be yet too late to avert a great calamity, he sent strict orders to Law to retreat, if he must retreat, not into Srirangam, but upon Pondichery. With the view of aiding him in this undertaking, and to be prepared at all events for the worst, he strained every nerve to levy a fresh force to move towards TrichinapalH, and to endeavour to effect a junction with Law. His own funds, constituting the bulk of the private fortune he had amassed during his service, were freely spent for this purpose. No regard for his own interests stood in the way of the performance of his duty to his masters and to France.