Page:History of the French in India.djvu/399

 SAIYID LASHKAIt's PLOT DEVELOPS ITSELF. 375 French were scattered all over the country ; their main C y£f' detachment at Haidarabad had been starved into a. ^ condition bordering upon mutiny ; in attendance upon 1753. the Subadar was a young officer without influence or ability. It seemed natural to Saiyid Lashkar that troops, so high-spirited as the French, thus starved and neglected, would be but too glad to accept a free dis- missal from the country in which their presence seemed to be so unwelcome. So completely, indeed, did Saiyid Lashkar count upon the success of this policy, that he wrote at that period to Mr. Saunders, telling him to have no fear for the result, " for," he said, " I have arranged the mode in which to rid myself of your enemies. The plan is in action, and with the assist- ance of Providence, the result will be what you wish. I expect to be with you by the end of the rains, and to arrange then everything in a satisfactory manner." Meanwhile, the French at Haidarabad were in want of everything. The governor of that city, Muhammad Husen Khan, had carried out only too well the orders he had received, and had refused the French troops and sipahis even the smallest supplies. Nor were their detachments better off in the provinces. Separated from the main body and from one another, they were not in a position to effect anything in the presence of the silent opposition that seemed everywhere to rise up against them. They fell at once into despondency ; every thought turned towards Bussy ; had he been on the spot, they argued, this dilemma would never have occurred ; he alone could extricate them from it. Such were their thoughts, and, thus thinking, they des- patched messenger after messenger to their old leader. When Bussy received these messengers and the letters they carried, he was lying still sick at Machh- lipatan. The sea-breezes of the coast had indeed con- tributed somewhat to the restoration of his strength, but prudence counselled him a longer intermission