THE ALLIES BAFFLED. 249 of the vast army under Nasir Jang, and, panic-striken chap. at the report of its numbers, they broke up without , i ' orders, and fell back rapidly on Pondichery. 1750. Thus, by the weakness of the instruments he was compelled to use, were the great plans of Dupleix tem- porarily shattered. Nay more, the very men who had caused the defeat, and who by their want of energy had plunged themselves as well as him into misfortune, now came to beg him to extricate them from their difficulties. He made the attempt, not indeed with any great confidence in his allies — for the past three months had shown him their weakness — but yet with a steadfastness, an energy, an adaptation of means to the end, such as even at this distant day must challenge and command our admiration. He did not, as we shall see, succeed in the outset, but his patience, his perseverance, his energy, could not be long working without produc- ing some advantageous result. Before however noticing the manner in which he acted, we propose to take a comprehensive glance at the situation. The army of Muzaffar Jang and Chanda Sahib, 40,000 strong, panic-stricken from the rumours of the vast force of Nasir Jang, and mutinous from want of pay, was under the walls of Pondichery. With it had come the French detachment of 800 men, now commanded by M. Goupil, its former leader, Duquesne, having died of fever at Tanjur. On the other side., the enormous army of Nasir Jang, said to consist of 300,000 men,* of whom one-half were cavalry, together with 800 pieces of cannon and 1,300 elephants, was marching on them from Arkat. On its way it was joined by Murari Rao at the head of 10,000 Maratha horse, fresh from a skirmish with the allied army at Chelambram ; whilst on reaching Valdavur, fifteen miles from Pondichery, Muhammad Ali, the pseudo-Nawwab of the Karnatik, brought 6,000
- The number of trained soldiers did not probably exceed 40,000.
