Page:History of the French in India.djvu/539

 DILATORINESS OF DE LEYRIT. 513 a little. He could not foresee that Lally would be nearly chap. twelve months on his way ; he did not even know that XI1, he had put back; he believed, on the contrary, that he had 175 g left France six weeks after de Soupire, and he thought therefore that it might be regarded as presumptuous on his part, and that it would certainly be rash, were he to attempt any considerable object before the arrival of the Commander-in-chief. A third reason * likewise weighed with him ; he dreaded lest the English fleet in the HugK should at any moment bear down upon the Koroman- del coast and regain the superiority at sea. He could not then know the great things to which the conquest of Chandranagar had given birth in the heart of Clive. Instead, therefore, of attempting to strike at either of the vital points of the English position, de Leyrit resolved to content himself with the reduction of the various forts in the Karnatik, and with subjecting the country under the influence of those forts to the sway of men devoted to the Pondichery Government. In this view he joined the soldiers of de Soupire to Saubinet, and employed them, in the interval between the arrival of the former and the close of the year, in the capture of Trinomali and other places in the vicinity of Chitapet and Jinji.f But from the beginning of the following year till the arrival of Lally on April 28th, the precious moments were frittered away in inactivity, in delusive negotiations with Haider Ali, or in abortive attempts to induce a rising amongst the French prisoners in Trichinapalli. Meanwhile d' Ache's squadron had been slowly pursuing its course. Throughout the whole voyage the Admiral himself had never ceased to display his weakness and folly, to show how utterly unfit he was for such a com- mand. He had picked up on the way a small English merchant ship, and, to preserve this ship, which was not worth 1,600/., he had not hesitated, despite the remon- LL
 * Orme. t Chapter XI.