Page:History of the French in India.djvu/536

 510 THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE. chap, sailed — but that Count d'Ache who commanded the XIL fleet, insisted, against the advice of all his captains, on 1758. returning to the port of Brest on account of some trifling repairs he considered necessary for two of his vessels. Whilst he was lying there, the order for the reduction reached him. It happened, therefore, that whilst one half the force, under Chevalier de Soupire, left l'Orient on December 30, 1756, the other half, under Lally in person, was not able to sail till May 2 of the following year. Those who have accompanied us thus far in our history of the attempts of the French to form an empire in India, cannot fail to have been struck by the remark- able fact of the incongruous character of the various leaders who ought to have acted together. There is, perhaps, in the entire story, no more striking example of this peculiarity than that afforded by Lally and his associates. He himself was apparently a man of hasty temper, yet possessing a ready mind, fertile in resources, and quick to apprehend ; one who feared no responsi- bility, prompt in action, a daring soldier, fully impressed with the conviction, that, in Eastern warfare, he wins who strikes quickly and with all his force ; he had too a proper idea of the point at which his blows should be directed — the expulsion of the English from the Koro- mandel. He was a man who, had he enjoyed the advantage of some slight Indian training and experience, would have been invaluable as a leader at Pondichery ; but, not having had that, and having imbibed a supreme contempt for all who had acquired that experience, he was destined to fall into errors more than suffi- cient to neutralise his other many shining qualities. The second in command, de Soupire, was a man the very opposite of his chief. Indolent, unenterprising, and incapable, he was just the man to waste the time which Lally would have employed, and to lose opportunities which the other would have eagerly