HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
462 
English on the night of the 2d of September. This enterprize accordingly took place* 
and failed. At length, after a siege of two months, and a very gallant defence by M. 
de Lally, Pondicherry surrendered to the English army, commanded by General Coote, 
on the 16th of January, 1761. M. de Lally requested to be sent to Cundalore, 
where he might have the advantage of being attended by French and English sur¬ 
geons; but the Governor of Madras insisted on his being removed from that place, 
and sent his own palanquin to convey him thither. * 
The English batteries were not opened but a few weeks before the reduction, 
and though they were served with great skill, and were employed with extraordinary 
effect, the want of every necessary of life within the town was the most important 
circumstance in favour of the besiegers. The inhabitants had for some time sub¬ 
sisted on elephants, camels, and horses. It is well known that a dog had been sold 
for twenty-four rupees; and of this wretched provision they had not more than 
would have sustained them for one day, when the place surrendered. 
Extract from the Report of the Condemnation and Execution of the Count 
de Lally. 
In consequence of the very weighty conclusions which the Procureur General had 
given against the Count de Lally, he was removed, during the night of Sunday, the 
4th of May, from the Bastille to the prison of the Conciergerie, which communi¬ 
cates by several staircases with the different apartments belonging to the Court of 
Parliament. Though it was but one o’clock in the morning when he arrived at 
the Conciergerie, he refused to go to bed; and about seven he appeared before his 
judges. They ordered him to be divested of his red riband and cross, to which he 
submitted with the most perfect indifference; and he was then placed on the stool 
* Extract of a Letter, dated Fort St. George, Feb. 1, 1761. 
“ M. de Lally is arrived here; and, notwithstanding his melancholy condition, is as proud and 
haughty as ever. Genius, understanding, and military knowledge, obscured by very ferocious 
manners, and a perfect contempt for any one beneath the rank of a General, characterise this ex¬ 
traordinary man. When he quitted the citadel of Pondicherry, the officers and soldiers treated 
him with the most marked disapprobation and insult: while his Commissary, who attempted his 
justification, was instantly murdered; and the same fate would have awaited M. de Lally, if he had 
not retreated to the English camp. To have maintained, therefore, so long a siege amid the detes¬ 
tation of those whom he commanded, is a decided proof of his firmness, activity, and bravery.” 
