Page:History of the French in India.djvu/518

492 CHANDEANAGAR AND THE DAKHAN. chap, here several days, for, meanwhile, the " Favourite " had i y *~i arrived at Machhlipatan, and the troops she brought 1756. with her, under the command of M. d'Arambure, a most capable officer, were able to join him before he was in a position to move forwards. Law, as the senior officer, at once assumed command of the whole party, and leaving Bezwada on the 3rd, arrived on the 10th at Megnapara, about fifty-two miles from Haidarabad. Up to this point Law had met with no enemies. But his troubles were only now to commence. Salabat Jang himself had reached Haidarabad on August 1st, and it was believed by the French in the Char Mahall that his arrival would be celebrated by an attempt to storm their position. Wiser counsels, however, pre- vailed near the Subadar ; and it was resolved, instead of storming the place, to adopt the surer plan of inter- cepting and destroying the party marching to the relief of Bussy. This, it was believed, would render his destruction inevitable. Under ordinary circumstances, due consideration being had to the character of the officer commanding the re- lieving party, this might have been quite possible ; and considerable credit is due to Shah Nawaz Khan for pre- ferring such a plan to the more showy scheme of an assault upon the Char Mahall. But in dealing with Bussy he had to do with a man who was not accustomed to be foiled, and whose resources were inexhaustible. It must not be supposed that when Shah Nawaz persuaded the Subadar to dismiss Bussy, he was supported by the entire voice of the nobility of the Dakhan. He had, indeed, at the moment, from various causes, a consider- able party at his back, probably a numerical majority, but there were many, some of them very considerable men, who had remained thorough partisans of the French connexion. These were unable at the time to show their sentiments in any other manner than by communi- cating to Bussy all that passed in the camp of the