Page:History of the French in India.djvu/540

614 THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE. chap s trances and even the threats of Lally, to lie to every XIK night. More than that, arriving at Rio de Janeiro, he 1758. actually remained six weeks in port in order to dispose of the cargo of that vessel, and to reload her ; to avoid the Cape during the equinox, he steered for six weeks out of his course ; to avoid the second equinox he took the longest course from the Isle of France to Pondicherv. So timid was he, that on the appearance of a sail in the daytime he altered his course by night, and took in his sails whenever there was the smallest gust of wind. He took a course, in fact, which — to use Mr. Orme's graphic expression — it would be useful to know, in order to avoid it. And this, whilst the English fleet was following in his wake ; whilst the possession of India depended upon the rapid movements of those ships whose course he was thus hindering. If, indeed, there is one person than another more responsible for the fatal result of Lally's expedition, that individual is undoubtedly Count d'Ache. A little more haste on his part, the curtailment of the delays with the merchant ship and of the long sojourn in Iiio de Janeiro, and Lally, with the cold weather before him, with d' Ache's squadron unopposed to aid him, could not have failed to capture both Fort St. David and Madras. He himself was sanguine that under such cir- cumstances he would have been able to expel the English from Bengal. At length, on April 28th, the fleet anchored off Pon- dichery, and Lally, with some of his principal officers, arrived. Amongst these were the representatives of some of the great aristocratic families of monarchical France. There were under his command a d'Estaing, descended from him who saved the life of Philip Augustus at the Battle of Bovine, and who transmitted to his family the coat of arms used by the Kings of France ; a Crillon, great-grandson of Crillon, surnamed the brave, worthy of the love of the great Henry IV. ; a Montmorency ; a Confians, of ancient and illustrious