This man's name was Gotica; he was uncle to the deposed King of Tanjore, whom the English had supported in 1749. Footnote 40: Col. Kennedy was one of the hostages sent to Tanjore. Footnote 41: A breach had been made, but it was not deemed practicable. Two of the principal French officers, General Saubinet and Count D'Estaing, strongly advised a storm; deeming the breach, though imperfect, to be assailable. Footnote 42: A considerable body, cavalry and infantry, of Tanjore troops, with fifty Europeans, and one thousand English sepoys, were engaged in this attack; which is chiefly remarkable for the attempt made upon the person of the French General. A body of fifty horsemen advanced, at daylight, to the French outposts: they inquired for Lally, saying they wished to take service. They were conducted to the General, who, being informed of their request, came out from a choultry to speak to them: at this moment one of the Tanjore horsemen, supposed to be intoxicated, fired his pistol into a tumbril, which, by its explosion, gave a general alarm. The leader of the party, observing this, rode at Lally, who, however, defended himself with a stick, and the man was shot by an attendant, while the French guard succeeded in repelling a charge made by his comrades. Footnote 43: Orme's History, and Clive's MSS. Footnote 44: A species of pulse upon which horses are fed in India. Footnote 45: The north-east monsoon commences, on the coast of Coromandel, in the end of October; and military operations are difficult, and in some parts almost impracticable, till towards the end of November. Footnote 46: Orme, vol. iii. p. 385. Footnote 47: Captain Preston's corps was from the garrison of Chingliput. Footnote 48: Orme, vol. iii. p. 453. Footnote 49: Mr. Vansittart, a member of the Council at Fort St. George, in a private letter to Clive, dated 2d March, 1759, gives a general account of Lally's operations, from which the following is an extract:—