Page:History of the French in India.djvu/527

 THE INCIDENT LOSES HIM GREAT OPPORTUNITIES. 501 Subadar and his ties with the other chiefs had been, in chap. the interval, rudely shaken ; and not only that, but the XL native chieftains established by himself in the Sirkars, 175G seized the opportunity to endeavour to rid themselves of the rule of France, and to establish their indepen- dence. Instead, therefore, of operating against the chief possessions of the English, and of crushing them in Bengal or at Madras, the events consequent upon his sudden dismissal from the service of the Subadar com- pelled Bussy to forego that grand opportunity, in order to devote all his efforts to the re-establishment of French power in the provinces ceded to Pondichery. Who shall say then how much the English were not indebted to that abortive effort of Shah Nawaz Khan ? From the 26th August to the 16th November Bussy continued at Haidarabad, interfering as little as pos- sible with the affairs of the Subadar, but engaged in ar- ranging for the prevention of the possibility of being subjected in any future time to a similar danger. Having effected this, so far as it was possible for him to effect it, he proceeded on the last-mentioned date towards the Sirkars, at the head of 500 Europeans and 4,000 sipahis, there to re-establish his authority. With the Subadar, who was about to proceed to Aurangabad, he left 200 Europeans and 500 sipahis under a trusted officer. It is unnecessary to enter into minute details regard- ing the successful march of Bussy throughout these pro- vinces. His principal object was to reward those who had remained faithful to the French in their hour of difficulty, to punish the chiefs who had evinced disaffec- tion or who had rebelled. Nowhere, except at Bobilf, did he meet with any real opposition. At this place, however — the Eaja of which had a private quarrel with one of Bussy's most trusted feudatories — the resistance was so determined, that the defenders stabbed their