fort were for the most part invalids, veterans, and pensioners.
The French settlement of Pondicherry is on the coast, a few miles north of Cuddalore. This town and Cuddalore were made the unfortunate objects of retaliation between the two nations. When Lally took Fort St. David he gave the inhabitants three days to clear out, and then blew up the place with gunpowder, destroying three gateways and making breaches in the ramparts. A few years later the English took Pondicherry (1761). They revenged themselves for the demolition of their fort by razing the French town to the ground by the same means. It was done under the direction of Josiah Dupré. Mr. Garstin says in the Manual of South Arcot that according to Voltaire, Dupré was the grandson of a Frenchman, who was a refugee after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. When one of the Roman Catholic priests remonstrated with Dupré and accused him of severity, his reply was to the effect that Lally had given the inhabitants of Fort St. David only three days to turn out, whereas he had given the people of Pondicherry three months.
Between the fort and the Company's garden-house was a room built by the Danish missionaries, and used for a school during the week and for services on Sunday. It stood in a garden, and on the top of the roof was a little cross. Some Roman Catholic fugitives took refuge in the room, hoping that they might be spared, as they were of the same religion as the conquerors. The French were told that the chapel was a Protestant building, and that the refugees were not Roman Catholics. Without further inquiry they set fire to it and burned it to the ground, their native allies cutting the unfortunate people to pieces as they tried to escape.
With the proclamation of peace the damaged towns of Pondicherry and Fort St. David were restored to their
