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INDIA.] THE FRENCH BESIEGE MADRAS.

343

found that, though he might enforce obedience, it was not so easy to stifle discontent or to inspire alacrity. When, after nearly two months' investment, a breach had been effected by his batteries, his principal officers declared that it was not accessible, adding their opinion that a prolongation of the siege would be merely a wanton waste of human lives. At this time the supply of provision was scanty and uncertain, and the pay of the troops several weeks in arrear. The Sepoys had deserted in great numbers, and some of the Europeans threatened to follow their example. Under such discouraging circumstances, Lally, with bitter mortification, resolved to burn the Black Town and to raise the siege of the White. Happily, of these two designs, the first was prevented, and the second quickened by the opportune appearance, on the 16th of February 1759, of Admiral Pocock and his squadron, which had sailed to Bombay several months before, and now returned with some fresh troops on board. The French, apprehensive of a combined attack upon them, commenced that very night their march to Arcot, leaving behind their sick and wounded, fifty-two pieces. of artillery, and a hundred and fifty barrels of gunpowder.

After this great reverse to the French arms, and the return of their chief to Pondicherry, hostilities languished for some time between the rival nations. But in the autumn there ensued another naval engagement, from another voyage of the Admiral Comte d'Aché to this coast. On the 2d of September his squadron was encountered by Pocock's; the English having nine ships of the line and the French eleven, with a great superiority both in guns and men. Nevertheless, after a cannonade of two hours, the French sailed away in great confusion, leaving to the English the honours of victory. The result, however, as on the two last occasions, was by no means decisive; the loss of men was nearly equal on both sides, and the English, though the victors, suffered the most damage in their ships. D'Aché immediately proceeded to disembark a few men and a little money at Pondicherry, and then, notwithstanding the vehement remonstrances of the Governor and Council, returned with his squadron to the islands.

At nearly the same period the English at Madras were cheered with the tidings that Eyre Coote had been promoted in England to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and was coming over at the head of the King's 84th Regiment and other reinforcements. Major Brereton, who meanwhile commanded in the field, appears to have been desirous of distinguishing himself before the arrival of his chief. Thus he attempted to reduce the fort of Wandewash by three divisions in a night-attack, but signally failed, with the loss of 200 men. So indignant was Brereton himself at his repulse, that, on seeing the crowd of English fugitives, he drew his sword, and ran the first man he met through the body! *

Colonel Eyre Coote, with the last division of his force, landed at Madras on the 27th of October 1759. Born in 1726, Coote was now in the prime of life, with none of those infirmities of body or mind which clouded over his later years, and obscured the lustre of his fame. His influence over the native soldiers was great, and not forgotten by them to this day; and he showed himself on all occasions not less active and resolute than prudent and wary. One of his earliest measures on reaching the Carnatic was to retrieve the recent check to the British arms, by a more regular and skilful attack on Wandewash. In this enterprise Major Brereton did good service at the head of a division, and the fort was carried with little loss on the last day of November.

At this news Lally took the field. His dissensions with the civil service still continued, and his want of money to pay the troops had already produced more than one mutiny among them. He had, however, obtained as auxiliaries a body of Mahrattas, and he had under his command the sagacious and experienced Bussy, but, unhappily for himself, was jealous of his influence and distrustful of his counsels. Bussy strongly urged the imprudence of attempting to recover Wandewash, in the face of the English army. Lally, however, thought the honour of his arms at stake, and persevered in the design. He accord

* Orme's Hist. vol. ii. p. 521. He adds: "Unfortunately the man "was one of the bravest in the army, so that this example carried "little influence."

INDIA.]

BATTLE OF WANDEWASH.

345

ingly proceeded to the attack of the fort so lately lost, when Coote, who had been in expectation of this movement, at once marched upon him with his whole force. Lally had no other choice than to raise the siege, or to give battle on the ground selected by his enemy. He preferred the latter alternative. On the morning of the 22d of January 1760 he perceived the English, after some skilful manoeuvres, advancing along the base of the mountain of Wandewash, protected on their left by the rugged height, and on their right by the fire of the fort. Immediately, while yet maintaining his batteries of siege, he drew up the remainder of his army on the open plain. This was, for the most part, stony ground, but here and there intersected with rice fields, so as to render nearly useless the superiority of the French in cavalry. According to the English computation, the French numbers in line of battle were 2,250 Europeans, 300 of them horse, and 1,300 Sepoys. There were also 3,000 Mahrattas ; but these kept carefully aloof at the hour of action. The English had 1,900 Europeans, of whom only eighty were cavalry, 2,100 Sepoys, and 1,250 native horsemen. At nearly the commencement of the battle, the French horse, led on by Lally in person, was thrown into disorder by two English pieces of artillery, and was driven back to the encampment. Lally hastened to put himself at the head of the foot soldiers, and cheered them on to the charge. In pursuance of his brave example, the French regiment of Lorraine especially displayed the utmost gallantry; it formed in a column twelve in front, and came rushing full upon the King's 84th. In a moment the two regiments were mingled at the point of the bayonet. The battle now became general, and fiercely contested among the Europeans, but ere long began to declare in favour of Coote, a result hastened by the accidental explosion of a tumbril in the French ranks. Among other brave soldiers, Major Brereton fell mortally wounded, and when fallen refused the assistance of the men next to him, bidding them not mind him, but follow up their victory. On the other side, M. de Bussy, attempting to rally the fugitives, and fighting with undaunted spirit at the head of a handful of men that still adhered to him, was surrounded and made prisoner sword

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in hand. The day was now decided. The French, notwithstanding the efforts of Lally, gave way in all directions from the field. In the battle or pursuit their loss was estimated at nearly 600 men; the English had 190 killed and wounded. It deserves notice that the brunt of the conflict had fallen entirely on the Europeans of both armies, the native troops taking no part in it since the first cannonade. In the evening the officers of the English Sepoys came to congratulate Colonel Coote on his victory, and with great coolness thanked him for the sight of such a battle as they never yet had seen. *

The English at Madras, who felt their own fate dependent on the issue of this battle, were watching with feverish anxiety for its earliest tidings. At sunrise the next morning one of the black spies of the English camp brought them some vague rumours of success, but it was not till noon that they received a note of two lines in pencil, written by Coote from the field of battle. Then, indeed, relieved from all their fears, they burst forth into exclamations of delight; acknowledging also, with welldeserved applause, the skill and intrepidity of the British commander. The joy this day at Madras, says a contemporary, could only be compared to that at Calcutta on the news of Plassey. In truth, as the one victory gained us Bengal, so did the other the Carnatic. It is remarkable, however, in all these operations by or against Lally, how little weight the native Powers threw into either scale. Scarcely does it appear worthy of commemoration that Mahomed Ali was present with the English at Ma- . dras during the first part of the siege, and afterwards passed to Trichinopoly; or that Salabat Jung, after the departure of Bussy, consented to renounce the French alliance

I may also observe on this occasion of the three most eminent chiefs who ever fought in British India, — Lord Clive, Sir Eyre Coote, and Sir Arthur Wellesley,—that they gained the battles of Plassey, of Wandewash, and of Assaye, at the ages respectively of thirty-two, thirtythree, and thirty-four. It may hence, perhaps, be doubted (notwithstanding some recent and most brilliant examples

* Orme's Hist. vol. ii. p. 589

INDIA.]

HYDER ALI.

347

to the contrary) whether the more modern practice of sending forth to military command in that unwholesome climate veterans already bending beneath the weight of years be in all cases entirely consistent with the means by which our Eastern greatness was achieved.

Had Coote been aware how ill Pondicherry was then provided, and how discordantly governed, he might probably have pushed forward to that city immediately after his triumph at Wandewash; but knowing how large was still the force of the enemy, he first applied himself to besiege and reduce the outposts of their dominion. Arcot, Trincomalee, Devi-Cottah, Cuddalore, and several other places fell successively into his hands. During this time the French were making strenuous efforts to obtain some native reinforcements. With that view they opened a secret negotiation with Hyder Ali, afterwards the founder of the great kingdom of Mysore, and at this period the General in chief of the Mysorean army. It was stipulated that Hyder Ali should send, as auxiliaries, a body of 3,000 horse and 5,000 foot, and receive in return from the French the fort of Thiagur, one of their last remaining strong-holds in the Carnatic. The first division of the Mysoreans marched accordingly, and a detachment, chiefly of Sepoys, having been sent out by Coote to repel them, was itself totally routed. Nevertheless, the result of this treaty proved of little advantage to the French. Only a few weeks after the auxiliaries had arrived intelligence reached them of a revolution in Mysore, threatening danger to their chief, upon which, without any notice to Lally, they set off by night, and hastened home.

The net was now closing round Pondicherry itself. Through the boundary-hedge of thorns and prickly plants, which, as in many other Indian towns, encompassed its outer defences, the inhabitants could discern the hostile army encamped, and ready for the siege. The departure of D'Aché's squadron had left the English undisputed masters of the sea, and scarce any further supplies, either by land or water, could reach the beleaguered city. The French valour, the rainy season, and a most violent storm in the roads, — interposed, however, considerable obstacles in the way of Coote. Nor was Discord, which raged so fiercely within the walls of Pondicherry,

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