be out-manœuvred and beaten back to Pondichery. De Leyrit had then replaced D'Auteuil by one Saubinet, who had done much better, and had compelled the English to act on the defensive. Saubinet was master of the field when the first detachment of Lally's force arrived under the Chevalier de Soupire, (September 9, 1757). Pending the arrival of Lally, De Leyrit united the considerable force of De Soupire to that of Saubinet, and the combined troops captured Tiruvannámalai and other places in the vicinity of Chitapet and Gingi. The opportunities were magnificent to accomplish a great deal more, for the English had sent all the troops they could spare to assist Clive in Bengal. But Lally was expected every day: he was known to be haughty, imperious, violently prejudiced against Franco-Indians. De Soupire hesitated to act decisively till he should arrive: the precious moments, therefore, were allowed to slip by.
At length Lally arrived. He had all the possibilities before him. He was a splendid soldier. But there was wanting, from his disposition, that peculiar quality which had enabled Dupleix to acquire commanding influence over all the native princes with whom he came in contact. Dupleix could persuade: Lally could only command. The one caressed the foibles of the native to turn them to his own advantage. The other heeded neither his foibles nor his virtues, but stamped contemptuously on both. Dupleix, wielding but a small number of European troops, had made possible French predominance in Southern
