U() HISTORY OF T)TA. [Book III
A.D. i74(i. among the French, that they were preparing to flecamp. Unhappily for tlje besieged it proved a false alarm, and Labourdonnais, only urged by it U) more strenuous exertions, not only opened another battery to the south, but began to cannonade from the sea. An assault had now become imminent, and in order to avert its horrors, a flag of truce was sent from the town. The deputies wlio accompanied it proposed a ransom, but Labourdonnais at once declared, that though he was not unwilling to entertain such a proposal, it could only be after the capture was completed by a surrender. Ultimately, after he had given liis word of honour that the ransom would be moderate, his terms were accejited, and he entered the town in triumph. Tliough the siege lasted and tlie bombard- ment continued with interruptions from the ] 8th to the 2oth of September, so bloodless was it that not one Frenchman was killed, and only five Englishmen. Terms of gy the terms of capitulation the whole of the merchandise and the moveable
oiiiiitiUation.
property passed at once to the captors, and all the English became prisoners of war. The important point of the ransom remained to be settled, but the honourable and liberal spirit which characterized Labourdonnais' proceedings made it impossible to doubt that it woidd be fairly, amicaVjly, and generously arranged. Suddenly it was whispered that a serious difficulty had arisen. Dupleix, on the ground that Madras was locally within his government of India, claimed a right to dispose of it. So confident was he of possessing this right, or at least so determined was he to insist upon it, that on receiving a letter from the Nabob of Arcot, who had now, when too late, endeavoured to interdict the French from laying siege to Madras, he had pacified him by pro- mising that the town when taken would be delivered into his hands. Fi'oni the subsequent proceedings of Dupleix it is plain that he never meant to have ful- filled this promise. It furnished him, however, with a plausible pretext for sending a letter to Labourdonnais, in wdiich he desired him not to consent to any terms of ransom, and intimated for the first time that he Considered him- self entitled to speak authoritatively on the subject. Dupleix Before this letter arrived, the capitulation, including the ransom as one of
interferes.
its essential conditions, had taken place. As a completed act, Labourdonnais could not honourably recede. Nor did he wish it ; for, so far from acquiescing in the alleged right of Dupleix to dictate the terms of the capitulation, lie regarded it as an arrogant assumption, at total variance with theu* respective commissions. Instead of deviating from the course originally chalked out, he proceeded to fijc the amount of the ransom. Dupleix now listened only to his passion, and even endeavoured to gain his object by attempting to seize the person of Labourdonnais, and tampering with the soldiers under his command. At Pondicherry, also, he entered on a course of intrigue, and endeavovu-ed to gain a kind of sanction to his proceedings, by inducing the French inhabitants to petition and protest against the ransom as most injurious to French interests. Labourdonnais remained luimoved, and intimated his detei'mination not to quit
