HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
207 
and precaution, to men who knew no other rule of warfare but the impetuosity of 
the moment. He began, therefore, by opening a trench opposite one of the enemy’s 
batteries which greatly, annoyed the town; and the work was conducted with such 
expedition that, on the third day, it reached within thirty fathom of the outworks of 
that battery. Here, however, he met with a piece of marshy ground, which pre¬ 
vented him from advancing: he was therefore reduced to the necessity of making 
a parallel, to lodge a body of troops sufficient to sustain the head of the work, as it 
was his design to maintain that post till the arrival of the other ships, which he 
daily expected. 
As soon as one of them arrived, he sent all the troops, as they landed, into the 
trenches, in order to accustom them to the fire of the enemy, which was incessant; 
and they soon acquired the resolution and habits of the military character. 
In the night of the third of December, he ordered a battery to be constructed, 
which was attacked in the morning by the enemy. As he had foreseen this attack, 
he had the precaution to conduct eight hundred men thither, who repulsed the 
enemy with great bravery. He then made a general attack, which was supported 
with such spirit and activity, that the enemy, unable to sustain it, took to flight, and, 
having lost five hundred men, left the French masters of all their posts and in- 
trenchments, with eight pieces of cannon. 1 
He now proceeded to negociate a peace for Mahe with the Naires , which was 
concluded in February, 1742, and he then returned to the Isles of France and Bour¬ 
bon, where his presence was essentially necessary. Here he waited for the intelli¬ 
gence which he daily expected, that war was declared between France and Great 
Britain. 
By a letter, dated the 1st of October, 1742, addressed to M. de la Bourdonnais, 
Cardinal Fleury communicated to him the high approbation of the King, and 
expressed his own eulogium of his services; at the same time he gave orders that 
letters of nobiiity should be expedited to him to the Isle of Bourbon. 
As his ships arrived at the islands, he ordered them to be successively refitted; 
so that he had his fleet ready in the month of May, in a better state of equipment 
than when it left France. The hostilities of Mahe being terminated, and the islands 
not only cultivated, but sufficiently fortified to resist any attack, he waited for the 
information that war was declared, to engage in his premeditated expedition against 
the enemies of France in India. 
