These successes turned the tide of the public opinion, in that part of the country where they occurred, in favour of the English. The killahdar (or governor) of Arnee proclaimed his allegiance to Mahommed Ali; and six hundred French sepoys, having brought their arms, were enlisted, and added by Clive to the strength of his small force. Clive next proceeded to the attack of Conjeveram, of which the French had made a post. The commandant compelled two English officers, Revel and Glass, who were their prisoners, to write, that if the place was attacked they should be exposed on the wall. They, however, added to the letter, that they made this communication by desire of the enemy, but trusted no consideration for them would for one instant stop operations. When battering cannon arrived, a breach was made; but the French garrison, dreading the just resentment which their conduct[47] had excited, did not await a storm, but abandoning the pagoda at night, left behind the two prisoners they had threatened to expose. Clive, after destroying the defences of Conjeveram, and strengthening the garrison of Arcot, proceeded himself to Fort St. David, to report the details of his success, and to suggest further operations. These successes had, at first, a favourable impression upon the affairs of Mahommed Ali, who still remained at Trichinopoly, where he was in daily expectation of being joined by a large force from Mysore, to the Regent of which country he had made great promises. He had been joined by a body of Mahrattas sent by Morari-row; but the comparatively small force of the English led their cautious commander, Captain Gingen, to limit himself to the defensive. This excited a spirit of discontent in the garrison, and more in the Mahrattas, who, eager for action, upbraided the English for their want of enterprise, telling them[48], "they were not the same kind of men whom they had seen fight so gallantly at Arcot!" In the beginning of the ensuing year (January, 1752), Rajah Sahib re-assembled a force, which amounted to four hundred Europeans, two thousand sepoys, and two thousand five hundred horse, with a train of artillery, and began to lay waste the territories of Mahommed Ali, plundering those of the English at Poonamalee, and burning their newly-erected houses at St. Thomas's Mount.