Page:History of the French in India.djvu/288

266 FRENCH INDIA AT ITS ZENITH. chap. Jang was tantamount to a renewal of the civil contest, ' M , and rather than assent to that, he preferred to try the 1750. fortune of war. Summoning then his chiefs to Arkat, he set out at the head of an army consisting of 60,000 foot, 45,000 horse, 700 elephants, and 360 cannon, in the direction of Jinji. When, however, he had arrived within twelve miles of the French force — which, after making one or two marches in the direction of Arkat, had returned, on the news of the approach of the enemy, to Jinji — the periodical rains set in with such violence that any movements in the face of an enemy became impossible. An inaction of two months' dura- tion, from September to the beginning of December, succeeded, the French army remaining encamped about three miles from Jinji, whence, for some weeks, it drew its supplies. When these had been exhausted it received others, thanks to the excellent arrangements of Dupleix, and despite the unsettled state of the country, direct from Pondichery. Nasir Jang, on his side, was forced to remain in a most inconvenient position, hemmed in by watercourses swollen by the rains, and able to obtain supplies only with the greatest difficulty. But these two months of military inaction constituted a busy period to Dupleix. Corresponding secretly with the chiefs of Nasir Jang's army, he had succeeded in persuading many of them, especially the Patans and the Marathas, that it would be more to their interest to regard the French as friends than as enemies. Both these sections had several causes of dislike to Nasir Jang. His manifold debaucheries, the treatment, after his solemn promise to grant him liberty, of MuzafFar Jang, his constant refusal to entertain the propositions for peace, and the knowledge that, with MuzafTar Jang upon the viceregal seat, they would enjoy not only peace and alliance with the French, but an accession of honours and dignities, all conspired to whet their desire to be rid of him. On the other hand, their admiration,