Page:History of the French in India.djvu/587

 I'HE LAST CAMPAIGN. 561 lish for Trichinapalli. It seemed, indeed, a rash raea- chap. sure to weaken the force with which he would have to v encounter, in the then ensuing cold weather, the re- 1759. info reed army of the English, and as such it was con- sidered by de Leyrit and others of the Council. But Lally was in very great perplexity. He had not money enough to pay all his troops, and he had a very strong idea that a certain portion of them — the Europeans in the ser- vice of the Company — were not worth paying. He conceived, then, that he would facilitate his own move- ments by sending away troops in Avhom he had no con- fidence, at the same time that he alarmed the English for the safety of a city they had held so long, and con- fined their garrison within its walls. Taking advantage of a repulse sustained by the English before Devikota, he despatched Crillon at the head of the battalion of India, and three companies of grenadiers, to Sriran- gam. Crillon carried this island by assault on November 21, then leaving the battalion of India to keep the garrison in alarm, he rejoined Lally with his grenadiers. Whilst Crillon was engaged on this expedition, Lally, recovered from his illness, had proceeded to Wandiwash, and had marched thence with his army to Arkat. Here, on December 10, he was joined by Bussy, at the head of 350 Europeans and 2,000 native irregulars. The com- mandant of these last had, however, fortified himself with claims upon the French Government for consider- able sums of arrears of pay. These he had lost no opportunity of presenting, and did so to such an extent, that, to use the expression of Lally, he and his fol- lowers resembled more a troop of creditors than a troop of auxiliaries. To provide himself with native cavalry indispensable to his campaign, Lally succeeded, after some negotiation, in making an arrangement with Murarf Rao for 2,000 horse.* O O
 * These men were engaged at the rate of 25 rupees each per mensem.