Page:History of the French in India.djvu/600

 574 THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE. j **ap. the citizens of Pondichery thought more of combining -v— ' to thwart the general they hated, than of effectually 1760. opposing the foe, who threatened them with destruction. No sortie, therefore, was made. 1761. Nevertheless, the storm had at least the effect of re- opening the door of hope to Lally and the garrison. If d'Ache or, failing d'Ache, if even five French ships were to arrive, the damaged English fleet could be des- troyed. With the destruction of that fleet, deliverance, and with it the command of the seas for at least twelve months could be obtained.* It became, therefore, an object with Lally to provide subsistence for his men for another fortnight longer. To effect this, he sent to the Jesuit, Lavaur, and informed him of his intention to search his convent for grain, which he had reason to believe was stored there. The reply to this was an agreement on the part of Lavaur to subsist the garrison till January 13. How terribly each day passed, how the expectation of the arrival of d'Ache, eager and stimulating to action at the outset, became gradually more and more faint, till it finally disappeared, can be better imagined than de- scribed. The English, on their part, were not idle. One week after the storm they had nine ships in the road- stead ready for action, and they had erected new batteries in the place of those that had been destroyed. Further defence was then impossible. The French had but one day's supply of food remaining. On January 14, therefore, Lally summoned a council of war, to debate regarding the terms of surrender ; whilst de incapacity of the Government of a mere rumour, the French Ministry Louis XV., than that offered by the did not hesitate deliberately to sacri- idleness of d'Ache at this conjunc- tice India. They withheld the fleet ture. On the mere rumour that the from the point threatened by an army English Government were debating and ships of war, to keep it in the a plan for an attack upon Bourbon, quarter that was menaced only by the Cabinet of Versailles sent orders report. — Memoirs of Count Lally ; to d'Ache not to leave that island, or Voltaire's Fragments. should he have left it, to return to it
 * There is no stronger proof of the instantly. Thus, on the strength of