nd had Bussy then
started without delay, he and Suffren would now have met in the
Carnatic, with full command of the sea and large odds in their favor
ashore. Hughes did not arrive till two months later.

Being thus alone, Suffren, after communicating with Tippoo-Saib, the
new sultan of Mysore, went to Trincomalee; and there he was at last
joined, on the 10th of March, by Bussy, accompanied by three
ships-of-the-line and numerous transports. Eager to bring the troops
into the field, Suffren sailed on the 15th with his fastest ships, and
landed them the next day at Porto Novo. He returned to Trincomalee on
the 11th of April, and fell in with Hughes's fleet of seventeen
ships-of-the-line off the harbor's mouth. Having only part of his
force with him, no fight ensued, and the English went on to Madras.
The southwest monsoon was now blowing.

It is not necessary to follow the trivial operations of the next two
months. Tippoo being engaged on the other side of the peninsula and
Bussy displaying little vigor, while Hughes was in superior force off
the coast, the affairs of the French on shore went from bad to worse.
Suffren, having but fifteen ships to eighteen English, was unwilling
to go to leeward of Trincomalee, lest it should fall before he could
return to it. Under these conditions the English troops advanced from
Madras, passing near but around Cuddalore, and encamped to the
southward of it, by the sea. The supply-ships and light cruisers were
stationed off the shore near the army; while Admiral Hughes, with the
heavy ships, anchored some twenty miles south, where, being to
windward, he covered the others.

In order to assure to Suffren the full credit of his subsequent
course, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that Bussy, though
commander-in-chief both by land and sea, did not venture to order him
to leave Trincomalee and come to his support. Allowing him to feel the
extremity of the danger, he told him not to leave port unless he heard
that the army was shut up in Cuddalore, and blockaded by the English
squadron. This letter was received on the 10th of June. Suffren waited
for no more. The next day he sailed, and forty-eight hours later his
frigates saw the English fleet. The same day, the 13th, after a sharp
action, the French army was shut up in the town, behind very weak
walls. Everything now depended on the action of the fleets.

Upon Suffren's appearance, Hughes moved away and anchored four or five
mile