Page:History of the French in India.djvu/43

 THE FRENCH EXPELLED FROM ST. THOME. 21 This arrangement concluded, Martin returned to St. chap. Thome. He there found the two Directors not at all ^— ^— doubtful regarding the intentions of the Dutch. It was 1074. no longer a secret that the Government of Holland, highly incensed at the attack upon its possessions in Ceylon, was by no means satisfied with the recapture of Trinkamali, but had sent out pressing instructions to its agents to drive the French likewise from St, Thome. Possessing the power, that Government determined to exercise it by striking out the French from the list of its rivals in the Indian trade. Whilst, therefore, showering rewards upon Admiral van Goens for the energy with which he had acted with reference to Trin- kamali, it urged him to follow up his blow, and, by a well-aimed stroke, to put a final end tc the ambitious projects of the French in the East. The Dutch agents immediately set to work to carry out these instructions. Their first care was to provide themselves with native allies. They, therefore, repre- sented to the King of Golkonda that the capture of St. Thome by the French was a deliberate and wanton at- tack upon possessions which they held only in vassalage to him ; that the newcomers were an enterprising and energetic race, who would not be content with merely a port on the sea-coast ; and that it concerned his safety, as well as his honour, to expel them. They acted, in fine, so much on the jealously and fears of Abul Hasan, the last representative of the House of Kutb-ul Mulk, that he detached a considerable force to besiege St. Thome by land, whilst the Dutch should attack it by sea. The combined force made its appearance before St. Thome in the beginning of 1674, but for a considerable time they failed to make any impression upon its de- fences. The place was garrisoned by nearly six hundred men, the remnants of the expedition which two years before had sailed with such alacrity against Point de