negotiation with the besiegers, which he managed to protract from day to day and from week to week; nor was it till the French, not less disgusted than alarmed by the delay, had attacked and carried his outer line during a truce, that he came at last to terms. These were abundantly favourable to the allies. He agreed to acknowledge Chundah Saheb as Nabob, paying by instalments seven millions of rupees, while to the French he promised two hundred thousand, besides ceding many villages in sovereignty. But ere this treaty could be carried into execution, the event befell against which it had been Dupleix's most earnest wish to provide, and the prospects of the allies, hitherto so bright and flourishing, became overcast.

Nazir-jing, more suspicious of his brother's designs than apprehensive of the issue of his nephew's movements, was on his march to Delhi, when intelligence of the victory of Amboor, and the subsequent proceedings of the allies, reached him. He became alarmed for the safety of the Carnatic, and suddenly changing his route, advanced towards Tanjore, at the head of a numerous army. He moved slowly, for his columns were encumbered with baggage, and being a man of loose habits, he transported from place to place every imaginable instrument of impure pleasure; but the very fame of his approach struck terror into the hearts of Murzafa-jing and Chundah Saheb, who broke up their camp and fled. Nazir-jing followed, being joined both by Mahomed Ally and an English battalion, for the government of Fort St. David's began at last to feel the necessity of a more active interference in the contest, and, harassing the fugitives with his

Mahratta horse, of which thirty thousand accompanied him, at last took up a position opposite their camp, which was pitched beside the bound-hedge of Pondicherry.

Though far from blind to the perils which menaced him, Dupleix by no means lost either his courage or presence of mind. He at once opened a correspondence with Nazir-jing, in which he endeavoured to persuade that prince of the good feeling of the French towards him, and laboured by the most strenuous exertions to support the spirits of Murzafa and Chundah Saheb. He advanced to the latter fifty thousand pounds belonging to the French Company, for the payment of the troops, gave out that a much larger sum would be furnished by-and-by, and strove to impress all about him with a conviction that matters were by no means desperate. Nevertheless he could not provide against an evil, of the possible occurrence of which he had entertained no anticipation. His own officers mutinied, at a time when an action seemed inevitable, and the spirit of disaffection being communicated to the European troops, they also deserted their colours in large numbers. The remainder were of necessity marched back within the walls of the town.

It was now apparent both to Murzafa-jing and Chundah Saheb, that their cause was hopeless; and as the former could not be persuaded to incur the disgrace of flight, they tenderly embraced, and parted. Chundah Saheb escaped with a few horse into Pondicherry, while his friend sought to obtain the pardon of Nazir-jing, an attempt in which he succeeded only so far as, under existing circum

stances, might have been expected. Having received solemn assurances that he should not be deprived of his personal liberty-that his faults were forgotten-and that his uncle longed to embrace him, he ventured to approach the Soubahdar's tent, where he was immediately secured, loaded with irons, and placed under a guard. In this condition he was kept, during the remainder of the summer, expecting from hour to hour a severer fate.

Meanwhile there arose among certain Patan chiefs, who commanded corps in Nazir-jing's army, a feeling of violent dissatisfaction towards the Soubahdar, of which Dupleix was not slow of obtaining information through his spies, and of which he made haste to take advantage. He sent ambassadors to the enemy's camp, ostensibly with a view to intercede in Murzafa-jing's favour, but in reality to blow up into a flame the animosities which slumbered there; and though he failed in obtaining any satisfactory answer to his application, he proved completely successful in other respects. A system of confidential intercourse was organized between him and the malcontents, and a plot arranged, which, in due time, produced a complete revolution in the general aspect of affairs.

Things were in this state, Dupleix strangely commingling hostilities with negotiation, when Major Lawrence, who commanded the English force attached to Nazir's army, applied to that chief for the confirmation of a grant of territory which had been assigned by Mahomed Ally to the Madras government. Compliance with this request was for a while evaded, and in the end positively refused. Major Lawrence was exceedingly

indignant; he remonstrated warmly against the injustice of such treatment—but the Soubahdar was not to be moved, upon which the Major withdrew with his battalion, and returned to Fort St. David's. That movement, which occurred at a moment particularly inconvenient to Nazir-jing, gave him so much offence, that he broke up his encampment, and marched to Arcot.

While these things were passing, the French not only made themselves masters of Masulipatam, but, sending a body of five hundred men secretly to the mouth of the Pannar, surprised and took possession of the pagoda of Trevadi, distant about fifteen miles to the westward from Fort St. David's. The loss of this place gave excessive umbrage to Mahomed Ally, who became justly alarmed for others of his strongholds; he therefore solicited and obtained permission from Nazir-jing to attempt its recovery. He was joined by a considerable body of English, who, with equal reason, apprehended further encroachments; but the operations were conducted with so little both of skill and of courage, that they led to a very disastrous issue. A quarrel sprang up between Mahomed and his allies, who sullenly quitted his camp, and being immediately attacked by the French, now largely reinforced, he was totally routed. Nor were the victors remiss in following up the advantage. They pursued a body of fugitives as far as Gingee, one of the strongest hill-forts in the Carnatic, which they stormed and carried by a night attack, though the ascent was so steep, and the footing so insecure, that it seemed barely possible for unarmed men to surmount it in open daylight.

All this while, Nazir-jing, in whose eyes the fatigues of warfare possessed no attraction, was spending his time at Arcot, amid the dissipations of the harem and the chace. The loss of Gingee roused him from his supineness, and he advanced with the design of chastising its captors; but his troops began to desert in great numbers, his money and stores fell short, and he found himself beset by many and serious difficulties. In this emergency

he turned a willing ear to the proposals of Dupleix, who negotiated at the same time with him and with the Patans, and a treaty was concluded abundantly humiliating to the dignity of the Soubahdar. On the day, however, which succeeded its ratification, the commandant of Gingee received intelligence that the plot of the conspirators was matured. He marched all night at the head of his garrison, attacked Nazir's camp at four o'clock in the morning, and penetrated, though not without hard fighting, beyond the line of artillery, while Nazir himself, hastening to oppose the design, was shot through the heart. Murzafa-jing was immediately freed from his fetters, and, by the mutual consent of the French and the Patan chiefs, acknowledged as Soubahdar.

The expectations of the French were now excited to the highest pitch, and the situation of affairs was undoubtedly such as to furnish ample room for them. The army so recently opposed to them marched as friends to Pondicherry, where the new Soubahdar was received with every mark of attention. But the demands of the Patan nabobs, who had contributed to the late revolution, proved so extravagant, and were so keenly urged, as to