he altered
attitude of the fickle population. The main body of the inhabitants of
Southern India were Hindoos, who had for centuries been ruled by
foreign masters. The Mohammedans from the north had been their
conquerors, and the countless wars which had taken place, to them
signified merely whether one family or another were to reign over
them. The sole desire was for peace and protection; and they,
therefore, ever inclined towards the side which seemed strongest.
Their sympathies were no stronger with their Mohammedan rulers than
with the French or English, and they only hoped that whatever power
was strongest might conquer; and that, after the hostilities were
over, their daily work might be conducted in peace, and their property
and possessions be enjoyed in security. The capture and defence of
Arcot, and the battle of Arni, had brought them to regard the English
as their final victors; and the signs of deep and even servile
respect, which greeted the conquerors wherever they went, and which
absolutely disgusted Charlie Marryat and his friend, were really
sincere marks of the welcome to masters who seemed able and willing to
maintain their rule over them.

With the news of the successes of Riza Sahib, all this changed. The
natives no longer bent to the ground, as the English passed them in
the streets. The country people, who had flocked in with their
products to the markets, absented themselves altogether, and the whole
population prepared to welcome the French as their new masters.

In the fort, the utmost vigilance was observed. The garrison laboured
to mend the breaches, and complete the preparations for defence.
Provisions were again stored up, and they awaited anxiously news from
Clive.

That enterprising officer was at Fort Saint David, busy in making his
preparations for a decisive campaign against the enemy round
Trichinopoli, when the news of the rising reached him. He was
expecting a considerable number of fresh troops from England, as it
was in January that the majority of the reinforcements despatched by
the Company arrived in India; and Mr. Saunders had written to
Calcutta, begging that a hundred men might be sent thence. These were
now, with the eighty men at Madras, and the two hundred at Arcot, all
the force that could be at his disposal, for at Fort Saint David there
was not a single available man.

With all the efforts that Clive, aided by the authorities, could make,
it was not until the mi