THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
2; 
lose no time to secure and improve this valuable acquisition. 
An officer of experience and judgment was appointed to com- 
mand the fortress of Tr incoma] ee ; and he was charged to 
endeavour by every means to conciliate the natives to the 
English, and to neglect no measure which could tend to 
strengthen the British interest in the island. The most san- 
guine hopes were entertained of the success of this enterprise ; 
but this fair prospect was soon converted into a striking lesson, 
that dilatory measures are utterly incompatible with success 
in military operations. Soon after the capture of Trincomalee, 
the English Admiral judged it necessary to sail to the roads 
of Madras for repairs. While these were completing, it was 
understood that the French Admiral Suffrein had formed a 
design to retake it ; and about two hundred men of the forty- 
second regiment, under the protection of two ships of war, 
were dispatched to reinforce the garrison, till the rest of the 
fleet should be in a condition to join them. The ships, after 
landing the troops, returned to Madras with information, 
that they had fallen in with the French fleet off Trincoma- 
lee, and had with difficulty made their escape. The English 
Admiral at last found himself in a condition to sail for the 
protection of the place, having on board the new commander 
together with a body of troops. But on arriving off Trin- 
comalee, lie discovered the French colours flying on all the 
forts, and the French Admiral with a fleet of thirty sail of 
the line moored in the bay. It was in vain that the British 
fleet, though inferior in numbers, attacked and routed the 
e 2 
