Page:History of the French in India.djvu/569

 lally's difficulties. 543 600 men, one half of whom were cavalry. Muhammad c ^ v ' Isuf, a partisan, brought 2,000 more. These various parties, hovering about Lally's position, kept him in a 1758. continual state of alarm. They might be driven away, but, like wasps, they returned to annoy. Lally's diffi- culties were still further increased by the fact that even the powder necessary for carrying on the siege had to be brought from Pondichery, through a country swarming with partisans, who carried their depredations to the verv gates of that city. Besides these outer enemies there were within the walls of Madras 200 French deserters. These constantly mounted the ramparts, holding in the one hand a bottle of wine, and in the other a purse, and calling out to the French soldiers to follow their ex- ample. Scarcely a day passed but missives from these men were discharged by arrows into the besieging camp, all tempting the soldiers to desert. At length, on Janu- ary 2nd, after overcoming innumerable trials and con- quering difficulties seemingly insuperable, two batteries, called, from the brigades to which they belonged, the Lally and the Lorraine, opened their fire. This they continued almost incessantly for forty-two days, a great portion of the army being at the same time engaged with varying success almost daily with the enemy's partisans, with the troops under Calliaud from Tanjui and under Preston from Chengalpat, and with the nu- merous sorties from the garrison. At length the crisis approached. The garrison received intimation, early in February, that Admiral Pocock's fleet was on its way from Bombay, and would infallibly arrive off Madras in a few days. On the other hand, a breach had been effected in the walls, and Lally, who knew how much depended on the promptitude of his proceedings, de- termined to deliver the assault. At this moment, how- ever, he found all his designs shattered by the back- wardness of his officers. Those of the engineers and artillery declared that although the breach was quite