HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
459 
the Island of Mauritius with four ships of war, and three millions of livres, destined 
for the service of Pondicherry; and he was about to quit that island when, unfortu¬ 
nately, the Count D’Ache arrived there, and prevented him from proceeding. He also 
took upon himself to send to Pondicherry no more than one million of the money, 
by a small frigate, which anchored before that place on the 2ist of December, 1758. 
On the arrival of this money Count Laity determined to besiege Madras in 
form. He paid both his European and black troops a portion of what was due 
to them, and opened the trenches on the 6th of January, 1759. He attacked the 
town with two thousand seven hundred Europeans, but the black troops were of 
little use in a siege. The garrison consisted of five thousand men, sixteen hun¬ 
dred of which were regular troops, four hundred servants of the English Company, 
and three thousand Sepoys. The English army, that was in possession of the 
country, made four different attempts to raise the siege, but was as often repulsed 
with loss. Count de Lally had already made a breach, and waspreparing an assault, 
when six English vessels, laden with all kinds of refreshments, and six hundred men 
of Colonel Draper’s regiment, came to an anchor in the road, and determined 
Lally to retreat to Arcot. 
Six weeks after the siege of Madras had been raised the English received ano¬ 
ther reinforcement of six hundred men from Europe, and immediately took the 
field against the Chevalier des Soupirs, who abandoned to them the post of Con- 
jeveram, and all the conquests that had been made on the left bank of the Paliar. 
After an absence of thirteen months the Count D’Ache at length arrived at 
Pondicherry on the 17th of September, 1759, having had a third engagement with 
the English fleet, in which, as usual, he had been worsted. On that very day he 
wrote to M. de Lally, with an offer of four hundred thousand livres in piastres, 
and about as much more in diamonds, the produce of an English vessel which 
he had taken, in part of payment of the two millions he had stopped the year 
before at Mauritius, one of which would have secured the conquest of Madras. He 
also notified that he should set sail the following day for Madagascar. This unex¬ 
pected message threw the whole colony into the greatest consternation. M. de Lally 
was so ill as not to be able to quit his house, but he sent a deputation of all his prin¬ 
cipal officers to engage him to suspend the execution of his design : nothing however 
that was said or done could avert his.purpose. M. de Lally therefore assembled 
the council, who unanimously signed a protest against the sudden departure of 
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