Page:History of the French in India.djvu/421

 SPLENDID CONDUCT OF LAWRENCE. 395 were even then threatening his battalion. To advance chap. was to advance in the face of a triumphant enemy, , possessing a strong position, vastly superior in num- 1753, bers. It appeared indeed but a choice of deaths. Thus seemed to think Lawrence. For a moment he halted, though but for a moment only. That brief interval was sufficient to bring him to a resolution worthy of himself, worthy of the nation to which he belonged. Under all doubtful circumstances to attack is a principle which, in India, should be stamped upon the mind of every commander. Especially when re- treat and attack present alike sombre aspects should the general recollect that the one encourages, the other demoralises ; the one insures defeat, the other at least offers a chance of success ; it is, at the very worst, better to die advancing than retreating, to command the respect of the enemy rather than to afford him an opportunity for the display of his contempt, with its concomitant encouragement to his soldiers. It is probable that some such thoughts coursed through the mind of Lawrence, as after that momen- tary halt he detached a chosen body of grenadiers and sipahis to storm the hill on its front, whilst he himself moved rapidly against the main body of the French, drawn up on the left of its base. It was a heroic resolve, heroically carried out. The grenadiers and sipahis clambered up the hill without pulling trigger, and reaching the summit charged the French stationed there with so much vigour and impetuosity, that they drove them headlong down on the opposite side. Mean- while Astruc, noting the advance of Lawrence, but not the movement of the grenadiers, had drawn up his men with their right resting on the left spur of the rock which, he deemed, covered his flank. Opposing thus his own line to the English, who by this time were within fifty yards of him, he ordered the Maratha horse and his native allies to move up and take them in flank