ed till the month
of September; when major Brere-ton, who commanded the English forces,
being joined by major Gordon with three hundred men of colonel Coote's
battalion, resolved to attack the enemy in his turn. On the fourteenth
day of the month he began his march from Conjeveram for Wandewash,
at the head of four hundred Europeans, seven thousand sepoys, seventy
European and three hundred black horse, with fourteen pieces of
artillery. In his march he invested and took the fort of Trivitar; from
whence he proceeded to the village of Wandewash, where the French, to
the number of one thousand, were strongly encamped under the guns of a
fort, commanded by a rajah, mounting twenty cannon, under the direction
of a French gunner. On the thirteenth day of September, at two in the
morning, the English attacked the village in three different places, and
drove them from it after a very obstinate dispute; but this advantage
they were not able to maintain. The black pioneers ran away during the
attack, so that proper traverses could not be made in the streets; and
at day-break the fort poured in upon them a prodigious discharge of
grape-shot with considerable effect. The enemy had retired to a dry
ditch, which served as an intrenchment, from whence they made furious
sallies; and a body of three hundred European horse were already in
motion, to fall upon and complete their confusion. In this emergency,
they retired in disorder; and might have been entirely ruined, had not
the body of reserve effectually covered their retreat: yet this could
not be effected without the loss of several officers, and above three
hundred men killed and wounded. After this mortifying check, they
encamped a few days in sight of the fort, and, the rainy season setting
in, returned to Conjeveram. The fort of Wandewash was afterwards
garrisoned by French and sepoys; and the other forces of the enemy were
assembled by brigadier-general de Bussy, at Arcot.

ADMIRAL POCOCKE DEFEATS MONSIEUR D'APCHE.

During these transactions by land, the superiority at sea was still
disputed between the English and French admirals. On the first day of
September, vice-admiral Pococke sailed from Madras to the southward, in
quest of the enemy, and next day descried the French fleet, consisting
of fifteen sail, standing to the northward. He forthwith threw out the
signal for a general chase, and stood towards them with all the sail he
could carry; but the wind abating, h