ClIAI'. ill.
THE FltENCH EEPULSEI) FROM CUUDALUKE.
421
AD. 1746.
^■Si:
proof of his having obtained a victory. A reinforcement sent fiom PonJi- cherry enabled tlie whole to arrive there without fui'ther interruption.
The force destined to act against Fort St. David consisted of 1700 men, Attcmi.ton mostly Europeans, with six field- pieces and as many mortars. Before it set out the officers refused to serve under Paradis, and compelled him by a kind of mutiny to resign the command to M. Bury, to whom it was considered to belong by right of seniority. At daybreak on the 9th of December, the Pennar, which falls into the sea about a mile and a half north of the fort, was reached and immediately cro.ssed, with no show of opposition except from a few native soldiers, who fired under cover from the surrounding thickets. A gi'eater re- sistance had been anticipated, as it was understood that the nabob had entered into close leasfue with the English, and promised a large supply of troops. Assuming that he had not fulfilled, and in all probability was not disposed to fulfil his promise, the French resolved to leave the fort behind, and make a sudden dash at the town of Cuddalore. There seemed little risk, as the garrison of the fort mustered no more than 200 Europeans, and 100 topasses, or natives of Portuguese descent; and the whole force without it, for the defence of the territory, consisted of about 2000 peon^, or native soldiers, not disciplined according to the
example which the French had already set, and so imperfectly armed that scarcely 900 of them had muskets.
A few of these peons had been stationed in a garden situated about a quarter Fremh of a mile from the place where the French had forded the river. It belonged to a summer residence of the governor of the fort, and was inclosed by a brick wall, which, together with the house and the com-t of buildings attached to it, might have furnished the means of a vigorous defence. The peons, how- ever, were not capable of making it, and were no sooner attacked than they abandoned the post. The French troops, having now no apprehension of danger, began to refresh themselves from the fatigues of their march, and were sleeping, or cooking, or straggling about without their arms, when a sudden cry arose that an enemy was approaching from the westward. It proved to be a body of (iOOO horse and SOOO foot belonging to the nabob, and led by his two sons, Maphuze Khan and Mahomed Ali. So great was the consternation of the French, that instead of attempting to profit by their position, they rushed out and made directly for the river, which, owing to the want of skill and courage on the part of their assailants, they crossed without sustaining any serious loss except that of their baggage. The garrison of the fort perceiving their flight
"-^s-.;
Peons of Mysorf,
From Vincount Valenlla's TruvcU In India.
repiilsed.
