482 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OE 
And now, at length, the main action of the great war drama was to begin 
in earnest. The traditional foes were to be pitted, in their fall might, and 
with the mutual display of their highest energies and subtlest skill, against 
each other. The Exterminator was to meet, face to face, men thoroughly 
determined not to be exterminated; but, under the experienced command of 
the veteran Lawrence, to retrieve the disgrace of Eort St David, and to 
hold Madras against the Erench, as they had, again and again, against heavy 
odds, held Trichinopoly in former times. 
On the 29th of Nov. 1758, the besieging army marched from Conjeveram. 
On the 4th of December Daily reconnoitred Chingleput, and, (adds Orme), 
“ contrary to the sound rules of war, and perhaps his own conviction, 
determined to leave it in his rear.” 
It was, in fact, invaluable to the besieged as a place d’armes and rallying 
point for their outlying forces. As usual, the Erench commander was in a 
hurry to push on, when he could move at all. But Lawrence, though 
resolved not to engage in a general action, felt the importance both of giving 
confidence to his men, by not sheltering them too abruptly behind stone 
walls, and of gaining time, to facilitate the seasonable arrival of the fleet. 
He therefore made a stand first in the Choultry Plain, to the south-west of 
the city; then at the end of a sort of defile formed by enclosures on the 
south side of the main road towards Madras, and by the mound of a large 
tank, called the Meliapore, on the north of the road. Here he planted his 
field pieces ; cut the mound, submerging the road; and skirmished with good 
effect for a time; whilst other approaches witnessed similar skirmishes. 
Gradually and coolly, and with little loss, he retired, withdrawing his various 
outposts as he went; and the English, fully mustered in the fort, looked out 
on the Erench army finally taking up its station in the Black Town. This the 
native quarter lay to the north and north-west of the fort, an open esplanade 
intervening; while of two rivers which met at the sea to the south of the 
fort, the more northerly one swept round the Black Town on its west and 
south sides, and forming a morass there, sufficiently protected it from the 
probability of the enemy's directing their serious efforts in that quarter. 
Daily's own regiment was stationed near the sea, on the north of the Black 
Town ; Lorrain, and the battalion of India, more to the west, in the centre of 
the city. 
The flying natives sought shelter in the fort, but were refused admittance, 
and escaped into the country. Spies and some deserters apprised the 
English that the enemy had taken to plundering the town, and were already 
in a state of drunkenness and disorder. This seemed confirmed by what 
could be seen from the walls. Draper accordingly urged, and led forth the 
same night, a strong sally to beat up the quarters of the Erench, before they 
should have time to recover their discipline. Emerging from the fort on 
the west, followed later by a covering party under Brereton, which was to 
halt on the esplanade, the sallying force crossed the river, ascended a 
rising ground, penetrated up a long street into the heart of the Black Town, 
before the enemy were in any condition to oppose them. Daily's men were 
far away, most of them “ reeling drunk.” Dorrain drew up in a street 
parallel to that in which Draper was approaching, facing down the street, 
and with two or three platoons advanced to the opening of a cross street. 
The Indian battalion of Europeans seems to have been further off, or in 
