that they were the advanced guard of a powerful fleet from France, and the Nabob began to waver in his alliance with the English. He saw that they were comparatively few in number, while the French were growing daily stronger. So he made peace with the French, recalled the army he had sent to the assistance of the English, and sent his son on a visit to Pondicherry, where Dupleix received him with great pomp. A third attempt on Fort St. David, in March of the same year, met with no better success; for the French had no sooner taken their position than an English squadron, under Admiral Griffin, was seen in the offing, which scared them back to Pondicherry; during which the admiral was enabled to throw in material succours to the fort, consisting of a hundred English soldiers and a force of seven hundred natives from Bombay and Tellicherry. Early in the following January of 1748, Major Stringer Lawrence, an officer of distinguished merit, arrived at Fort St. David with a commission to command the whole of the Company's forces in India. He had not been there long ere Dupleix attempted a fresh night attack on Cuddalore. Lawrence allowed the French to approach the walls, and even to apply their scaling-ladders; and then poured forth such a destructive fire, that the French were driven back in great disorder. It should not be forgotten that although England had then upon her hands a war with Spain, France, and Holland combined, and had only recently recovered from the effects of the invasion of the Young Pretender in the affair of '45, she was enabled to despatch Admiral Boscawen with nine Dupleix's Ambition. 33 ships of the line to co-operate with eleven ships belonging to the Company in carrying on the war against the French in India. Boscawen arrived at Fort St. David in August, and joining his fleet with that of Admiral Griffin, found himself at the head of the largest force that any European power had as yet possessed in India. The land troops from England amounted to 1,400 men, and it was hoped that the loss of Madras would be speedily avenged by the capture of Pondicherry. The siege of the French capital, however, which lasted for thirty-one days, proved a miserable failure. The French were for a time regarded by the natives as the superior race; but before they could avail themselves of the prestige thus ingrained in the native mind, peace was concluded in Europe between England and France, and Madras was restored to the English. It was now that the real ambition of Dupleix began to show itself. The war with the English had been confined to local affairs; but during its continuance he had already witnessed the ease with which a small force of Europeans had overthrown a host of native soldiers, and the anarchy which then ruled throughout the north of India, by the breaking up of the Mogul Empire, encouraged French and English alike to pursue their schemes, more or less avowed, of territorial aggrandizement. Sanhojee, a Hindoo prince, who, in the rapid revolutions of that country, had gained and lost the throne of Tanjore, repaired to Fort St. David, and entreated the assistance of the English in a war against his illegitimate brother, Pertaub Singh, who had dethroned him. As the price for such assistance, Sanhojee offered the fort and adjoining country of Devicotta, advantageously situated on the cost of Coromandel, about seventy miles south of Pondicherry. In April, 1749, a force consisting of nearly 500 English with 1000 Sepoys marched from Fort St. David into Tanjore, and commenced operations by attacking the fortress which was to be ceded to the Company. But Devicotta proved stronger than was expected, and the English had to retreat after having failed in their attempt. Sanhojee's impatience, however, to recover his throne, and their own eager desire for territorial aggrandizement, soon induced the English to renew the attempt. A new expedition was fitted out at Fort St. David, under the command of Major Lawrence, the troops were landed, Devicotta was stormed, and after some hard fighting soon fell into the hands of the English. A truce was concluded with Pertaub Singh, the reigning sovereign of Tanjore, by his agreeing to yield the town and adjoining district, while the English, with a lamentable disregard of honour, agreed, not merely to desert Sanhojee, for whom and with whom they entered on the war, but also to secure his person, in order to prevent him from giving any further trouble to his illegitimate brother. The siege and capture of Devicotta was rendered memorable from the fact of its being the second appearance of Clive, the real founder of the British Empire in India, on the scene of operations. He had attracted some attention in the previous year at the siege of Pondicherry, and was now regarded as the most promising of the young officers who were sccking to make their fortunes on the plains of The Capture of Devicotta. 35 Hindostan. The possession of Devicotta, though it inflicted a stain on the English name, proved of immense importance to the East India Company in their subsequent proceedings, and thus concluded the first and comparatively insignificant attempt of English interference with the numberless quarrels and wars which were perpetually arising between the native princes and peoples of India. 36 CHAPTER VII. DUPLEIX, GOVERNOR OF PONDICHERRY. WH HILE the events related in the last chapter were in progress, the French, under the guidance of Dupleix, were mixed up with the great revolution which had occurred in the Carnatic. In the year 1741, Chunda Sahib, on surrendering Trichinopoly to the Mahrattas, had been sent a prisoner to Sattara, while his wife and family had been committed to the care of Dupleix at Pondicherry, where his wife had been born and educated, and consequently spoke the native languages as her mother tongue. By this means she was enabled to conduct a secret correspondence with the native troops employed by the English at Fort St. David; but this treachery was discovered and punished. Madame Dupleix, however, succeeded in forming an intimacy with the wife of Chunda Sahib, and before long they arranged a plan for obtaining the latter's release; which was effected by a bribe of £70,000 given to the prime minister of Nizam-ool-Moolk, the nominal viceroy, but the real sovereign, of the Carnatic. Early in 1748, Chunda left Sattara to join his wife and family; but being attacked by the Rajah of |