TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.

In the East Indies the transactions of the war were chequered with a variety of success; but, on the whole, the designs of the enemy were entirely defeated. The French commander, M. de Bussy, had, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, quarrelled with Salabatzing, viceroy of Decan, because this last would not put him in possession of the fortress of Golconda. In the course of the next year, while the English forces were employed in Bengal, M. de Bussy made himself master of the British factories of Ingeram, Bandermalanka, and Vizagapatam, and the reduction of this last left the enemy in possession of the whole coast of Coro-mandel, from Ganjam to Massulapatam. While a body of the English company’s forces, under captain Caillaud, endeavoured to reduce the important fortress and town of Madura, the French, under M. d’Anteuil, invested Trichinopoly. Caillaud no sooner received intelligence of the danger to which this place was exposed, than he hastened to its relief, and obliged the enemy to abandon the siege. Then he returned to Madura, and, after an unsuccessful assault, made himself master of it by capitulation. During these transactions, colonel Forde made an attempt upon the fort of Nelloure, a strong place at the distance of twenty-four miles from Madras, but miscarried; and this was also the fate of an expedition against Wandewash, undertaken by colonel Aldercron. The first was repulsed in storming the place, the other was anticipated by the French army, which marched from Pondicherry to the relief of the garrison. The French king had sent a considerable reinforcement to the East Indies, under the command of general Lally, an officer of Irish extraction, together with such a number of ships as rendered the squadron of M. d’Apché superior to that of admiral Pococke, who had succeeded admiral Watson, lately deceased, in the command of the English squadron stationed on the coast of Coromandel, which, in the beginning of this year, was reinforced from England with several ships, under the direction of commodore Stevens. Immediately after this junction, which was effected in the road of Madras on the twenty-fourth day of March, admiral Pococke, who had already signalized himself by his courage, vigilance, and conduct, sailed to windward, with a view to intercept the French squadron, of which he had received intelligence. In two days he descried in the road of fort St. David the enemy’s fleet, consisting of nine ships, which immediately stood out to sea, and formed the line of battle a-head. The admiral took the same precaution, and bearing down upon M. d’Apché, the engagement began about three in the afternoon. The French commodore, having sustained a warm action for about two hours, bore away with his whole fleet, and being joined by two ships, formed a line of battle again to leeward. Admiral Pococke’s own ship, and some others, being greatly damaged in their masts and rigging, two of his captains having misbehaved in the action, and night coming on, he did not think it advisable to pursue them with all the sail he could carry; but, nevertheless, he followed them at a proper distance, standing to the south-west, in order to maintain the weather-gage, in case he should be able to renew the action in the morning. In this expectation, however, he was disappointed; the enemy showed no lights, nor made any signals that could be observed; and in the morning not the least vestige of them appeared. Mr. Pococke, on the supposition that they had weathered him in the night, endeavoured to work up after them to windward; but finding he lost ground considerably, he dropped anchor about three leagues to the northward of Madras, and received intelligence from the chief of that settlement, that one of the largest French ships, having been disabled in the engagement, was run ashore to the southward of Alem-parve, where their whole squadron lay at anchor. Such was the issue of the first action between the English and French squadrons in the East Indies, which, over and above the loss of a capital ship, is said to have cost the enemy about five hundred men, whereas the British admiral did not lose one-fifth part of that number. Being dissatisfied with the behaviour of three captains, he, on his return to Madras, appointed a court-martial to inquire into their conduct; two were dismissed from the service, and the third was sentenced to lose one year’s rank as a post-captain.

In the meantime, Mr. Lally had disembarked his troops at Pondicherry, and, taking the field, immediately invested the fort of St. David, while the squadron blocked it up by sea, Two English ships being at anchor in the road when the enemy arrived, their captains seeing no possibility of escaping, ran them on shore, set them on fire, and retired with their men into the fortress, which, however, was in a few days surrendered. A much more resolute defence was expected from the courage and conduct of major Polier, who commanded the garrison. When he arrived at Madras he was subjected to a court of inquiry, which acquitted him of cowardice, but were of opinion that the place might have held out much longer, and that the terms on which it surrendered were shameful, as the enemy were not even masters of the outward covered way, as they had made no breach, and had a wet ditch to fill up and pass, before the town could have been properly assaulted. Polier, in order to wipe off this disgrace, desired to serve as a volunteer with colonel Draper, and was mortally wounded in a sally at the siege of Madras. Admiral Pococke having, to the best of his power, repaired his shattered ships, set sail again on the tenth of May, in order to attempt the relief of fort St. David’s; but, notwithstanding his utmost endeavours, he could not reach it in time to be of any service. On the thirtieth day of the month, he came in sight of Pondicherry, from whence the French squadron stood away early next morning, nor was it in his power to come up with them, though he made all possible efforts for that purpose. Then receiving intelligence that fort St. David’s was surrendered to the enemy, he returned again to Madras, in order to refresh his squadron. On the twenty-fifth day of July, he sailed a third time in quest of M. d’Apché, and in two days perceived his squadron, consisting of eight ships of the line and a frigate, at anchor in the road of Pondicherry. They no sooner descried him advancing than they stood out to sea as before, and he continued to chase, in hopes of bringing them to an engagement; but all his endeavours proved fruitless till the third day of August, when, having obtained the weather-gage, he bore down upon them in order of battle. The engagement began with great impetuosity on both sides; but in little more than ten minutes, M. d’Apché set his foresail, and bore away, his whole squadron following his example, and maintaining a running fight in a very irregular line. The British admiral then hoisted the signal for a general chase, which the enemy perceiving, thought proper to cut away their boats, and crowd with all the sail they could carry. They escaped, by favour of the night, into the road of Pondicherry, and Mr. Pococke anchored with his squadron off Cari-cal, a French settlement, having thus obtained an undisputed victory, with the loss of thirty men killed, and one hundred and sixteen wounded, including commodore Stevens and captain Martin, though their wounds were not dangerous. The number of killed and wounded on board the French squadron amounted, according to report, to five hundred and forty; and their fleet was so much damaged, that in the beginning of September their commodore sailed for the island of Bourbon, in the same latitude with Madagascar, in order to refit; thus leaving the command and sovereignty of the Indian seas to the English admiral, whose fleet, from the beginning of this campaign, had been much inferior to the French squadron in number of ships and men, as well as in weight of metal.

Mr. Lally having reduced Cuddalore and fort St. David’s,* resolved to extort a sum of money from the king of Tanjour, on pretence that, in the last war, he had granted an obligation to the French governor for a certain sum, which had never been paid.

* Cuddalore was in such a defenceless condition, that it
could make no resistance; and there being no place in fort
St. David’s bomb-proof, nor any provisions or fresh water,
the garrison surrendered in twelve days, on capitulation,
after having sustained a severe bombardment.

Lally accordingly marched with a body of three thousand men into the dominions of Tanjour, and demanded seventy-two lacs of rupees. This extravagant demand being rejected, he plundered Negare, a trading town on the sea-coast, and afterwards invested the capital; but after he had prosecuted the siege until a breach was made, his provisions and ammunition beginning to fail, several vigorous sallies being made by the forces of the king of Tanjour, and the place well defended by European gunners, sent from the English garrison at Trichinopoly, he found himself obliged to raise the siege, and retreat with precipitation, leaving his cannon behind. He arrived at Carical about the middle of August, and from thence retired to Pondicherry towards the end of September. He afterwards cantoned his troops in the pre vince of Arcot, entered the city without opposition, and began to make preparations for the siege of Madras, which shall be recorded among the incidents of the succeeding year. In the meantime, the land-forces belonging to the East India company were so much out-numbered by the reinforcements which arrived with Mr. Lally, that they could not pretend to keep the field, out were obliged to remain on the defensive, and provide as well as they could for the security of fort St. George, and the other settlements in that part of India.