HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
265 
his design also to return thither in the month of January, in order to attack Fort St. 
David. In the mean time, he addressed the following letter to the Supreme Council 
of Pondicherry. 
c< Gentlemen, Madras, September 27,1746. 
£f I have received the honour of your letter, dated the 25th instant. We agree in 
our opinion as to the necessity of quitting Madras, but we differ as to the manner 
in which I should conduct myself respecting that place. You think it ought to be 
entirely dismantled, while in my judgment it should be ransomed. What signify 
the walls of that town to the merchants, who inhabit the country twenty miles around 
it. You indulge the hope, that if those walls were demolished, these men would 
retire to Pondicherry : do you really imagine that such a circumstance would induce 
them to expatriate themselves ? Ought it not rather to be presumed, that the English 
will continue their commerce; and that, to secure themselves from any future coup 
de main, they will erect others of a superior structure ? I am certain that, in two 
years, the English will be stronger than they have ever been. I do not believe that 
the merchandize in Madras will produce more than from three to four lacks of 
rupees ; and ought I to sacrifice the surplus to a notion, that is at variance with the 
nature of things? For these hundred and fifty years, the vast commerce of the 
English has been the sole attraction of mercantile adventurers to Madras. 
“ If the whole body of these merchants were to take refuge in Pondicherry, 
would our commerce retain them there ? I cannot therefore bring myself to sacri¬ 
fice five or six millions which belong to the Company, and the crews of the ships, 
who have a decided claim upon them. But you will say, what assurance have 
I that the ransom will be paid ? I answer, the solemn engagement of the English, 
which they will not forfeit. They also give you as hostages, the two children of 
their Governor, and two of the Council with their wives. Besides, the whole body 
of officers, and the principal inhabitants, have engaged themselves by a solemn oath 
to surrender their town to the Governor of Pondicherry, if the Company does not 
fulfil the terms of the ransom. But even if I had not these sureties, the law of 
nations demands the performance of similar engagements. Such is my opinion ; nor 
do I entertain the shadow of a doubt that the English will pay the ransom.” 
After a particular account of the arrangement of his ships, he concludes his letter 
in the following manner: 
M m 
