Page:History of the French in India.djvu/582

 556 THE LAST STRUGGLE FOB EMPIRE. C xn? ' m * n & the i^ea tnat ae na( * been beaten in the late mm ^ m ^ action, and that he would infallibly be beaten again. 1759. He had done, he believed, his duty by bringing to Pondichery the supplies of which it stood in need, and he would do no more. It was in vain that the com- missioners in person, and that Lally in writing, pointed out to him that the English fleet had suffered more than his, and that his departure would inevitably lead to the fall of Pondichery; in vain did they beg him to stay at least till the movements then going on in the neigh- bourhood of Wandiwash should have been concluded; in vain did the Council send to him a protest signed by every one of its members, fixing upon him the re- sponsibility for the loss of Pondichery, and threatening to make his conduct the subject of a special repre- sentation to the Crown. In vain. D'Ache, usually so irresolute and doubting, was firm on this point, and despite their representations, sailed, never to return.* Meanwhile, the English, reinforced by the arrival of 300 men belonging to the battalion of Colonel Eyre Coote, then being conveyed out in four ships com- manded by Hear-Admiral Cornish, determined to beat up the French cantonments on the Palar. With this object Major Brereton, massing about 2,000 Europeans, made a dash on September 16 at Tripatur, captured in it thirty men, and then moved quickly on Wandiwash. M. Geoghegan, an officer of Irish extraction who com- manded there, on learning the first movements of Brereton, hastily collected 1,100 men, and posted them in such a manner as best to meet any attack that might be delivered. On the night of the 29th, Brereton, bringing up his men, made a gallant attempt to carry on the 17th, but the protest was sent return, the English fleet passed Pon- after him, and reached him at sea. dichery in disorder, gave d' Ac he a Upon this he returned to Pondichery, good opportunity of attacking it, hat but after staying there five days, he that he abstained, again set off as stated in the text.
 * He sailed, as he said he would, Lally mentions that the day after his