side at once, few fired, and all pushed with fixed bayonets through the ditch over the parapet. The resistance was not equal either to the strength of the post, for it was closed on all sides; or to the number of the guard, which were, including the Sepoys, 170 men. Some escaped by jumping over the parapet; a few were killed, and the greatest part, with the officer, surrendered themselves prisoners. At noon, Mr. Lally sent back all who had been taken, to the English camp, for want of provisions to feed them; but on condition, that they should not act again. This discovery of the distress of the garrison could only be required or warranted by the utmost necessity. However, Mr. Lally might suppose, that the prisoners had not time to learn the worst of what the town was enduring, and that they could not tell so much as deserters.
On the failure of this attempt, a large portion of the working parties was allotted to complete the redoubt on the spit of sand, which was to replace that which had been washed away. It was raised for the advantage of higher ground, three hundred yards in the rear of the former; its scale sufficient to contain 400 men, and to mount 16 guns in different directions. Equal attention was given to repair and complete the Hanover battery, where, from the lowness of the situation, much labour was requisite to clear the water, which had filled the trench that communicated with it from some inclosures in the rear. The only fire from the town was to interrupt the workmen here, but with little effect. On the 7th, the Company's ship Falmouth arrived from Madrass, laden with battering cannon, ammunition, and stores, to replace what had foundered in the Duke: and on the 9th another ship brought Mr. Pigot the governor, with Mr. Dupré, one of the council, and captain Robert Barker, who had been to Madrass to superintend the embarkation of the stores and artillery, which Captain Hislop and he were now to direct against the town.
At this time the Nabob received intelligence that his agents had concluded a negotiation with the Morattoe general Vizvazypunt. Allen, and the bishop of Halicarnassus, had added the offer of Thiagar
