HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
456 
spy; to assist him with his counsels, and to excite malcontents in the southern parts 
of Great Britain, by promises of money and other inducements. It is even said 
that he had some success in these dangerous attempts, when his plans were discovered 
to the Duke of Cumberland, who gave immediate orders for his arrest: but M. 
Lally was, by the kind interposition of the Prince of Wales, preserved from a pri¬ 
son, and permitted to return to France, in direct opposition to the sentiments of 
the Duke. 
Such, however, was the obstinacy of M. de Lally, that he quitted England with 
great reluctance, though, as the expedition of the Pretender entirely failed, he had 
every reason to be thankful to providence for his escape. From that time till he 
was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and commander in chief in the East 
Indies, his life does not olfer any circumstance that merits particular attention. As 
to his history in that part of the world, to the period of his death, we shall refer our 
readers to the following papers. 
Journal of Expeditions in lndia t under the Command of Count Lally. 
In the month of August, 1756, Count de Lally was appointed to the command of 
an expedition in India, to support which the court had destined six millions of livres, 
six battalions of troops, and three ships of war, which were to be joined by such as 
the Company could prepare for the occasion. 
The Chevalier des Soupirs, who was to command as major-general under him, 
set sail from L’Orient on the 30th of December following, wdth two millions of livres 
and two battalions. 
On the 20th,of February, 1757, the Count D’Ache set sail from Brest, with 
Count Lally, having two millions of livres, and two battalions, on board his squa¬ 
dron; but an accident which happened to one of their ships, in going out of the port, 
obliged him to return, and contrary winds detained him till the 2d of May. 
The Count D’Ache was near a year on his passage, a circumstance which gave 
Admiral Stevens sufficient time to reach the coast of Coromandel; though he did not 
leave England till three months after the French squadron set sail from France. The 
Chevalier des Soupirs waited some time at Mauritius, and disembarked at Pondicherry 
eight months before Count Lally arrived there. At this time the English could not 
bring a hundred men into the field, and he had two thousand. Madras was an open 
town. Fort St. David was in ruins, with a garrison of sixty invalids. Three weeks 
