G30
IIISTOllV OK INDIA.
[B^JOK III,
Cooto super xeduii in conniiaiiil by Coldiifl Muiisou.
AD 1760. of several Company ships, having on board part of a Highland regiment They were under convoy of three ships of war, two of them of sixty guns each. These joined to the other shi])s increased the whole stjuadron now before Pondicherry, under the command of Admiral Stevens, to seventeen sail of the line.
The joy caused by the arrival of tliese ships and troops was much damped l)y the commissions which they brought from the War Office, appointing Majors Jirereton and Monson lieutenant-colonels, with prior date to the commission of Colonel Coote. This distinguished officer was thus virtually superseded at the very moment when he was preparing to crown all his exploits by a final triumph. The injustice done him was, however, rather accidental than premedi- tated. Coote had been originally appointed to Bengal, and the commi.ssions had been issued under the belief that he was actually serving, or at least aVjout to serve there, as the new colonels were expressly ordered not to assert their com- missions while he remained on the coa.st. Major Brereton had, as we have seen, met a soldier's death at Wandiwash. Monson was still at his post, and might have done himself honour by continuing to serve under Coote as before. This temporary obscuration of rank, however, was too great a sacrifice, and the utmost which he could bring himself to propose was to retire to Madras. This could not be listened to, and Coote, immediately g'i^ng over the command of the army to him, prepared to sail for Bengal. As a matter of course he meant to take his regiment along with him, but generously consented to leave it beliind, when the presidency alleged that it could not be wanted, and Monson even declared that on its departure the blockade of Pondicherr}- would be raised He may have made this declaration the more readily in consequence of a bold attempt which LaUy made to take the British camp by surprise. Being per- fectly aware that he was in no condition to stand a siege, he mustered all his forces for an expiring effort. It was concerted with some skiU and so much secrecy, that Coote, though he had many spies in Pondicherry, was totally unaware till the attack actually commenced. On the 4th of September the whole of Lally's disposable troops, amounting to 1400 Eiu-opean infantrj^ 100 European horse, and 900 sepoys, ha'sdng marched out of the town, and passed the boundary hedge, approached the British camp in four divisions, to take possession of the post which had been previously assigned them. By some mistake, the division which ought to have been the most effective of all, as it was in the rear of the camp, did not an'ive in time to commence the attack when the concerted signal was given; and the other divisions, disappointed when the expected diversion was not made in their favour, were obliged, after a partial success, to retire.
The intended attempt on Ariancoopan had been abandoned in deference to the objections of Monson, who was now able to caiTy on tjie siege according to his own plans. His first object was to seize the four redoubts which were placed in the openings of the bound hedge, and commanded the leading avenues to
Monson
woundeil
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