e walls and
was absolutely without defence. The defences of the Fort were taken in
hand at once, though the work was by no means completed; and the
Directors in England readily sanctioned the construction of a wall
round New Black Town. It was well that the security of the Fort was
looked to without any long delay; for in 1758, a large French army
under Count Lally besieged the Fort again--but so unsuccessfully that,
after sixty-seven days of persistent endeavour, they beat a sudden
retreat. It was a good many years, however, before the building of
the wall round Black Town was taken seriously in hand--and then only
because the Company had been given a succession of sharp warnings that
it was absolutely necessary that new Black Town should be protected.

The French themselves had given the first warning during the siege
under Count Lally; for, although they were powerless against the Fort,
they were able to enter Black Town without opposition, and they made
use of some of the houses for the purpose of the siege. The next
warning was given a few years later when Tipu, the son of Haidar Ali,
Sultan of Mysore, after ravaging the country round Madras, came so
near to the city itself that parties of his horsemen were scampering
about in the suburb of Chintadripet. Tipu's raid induced the Company
to bring forth the approved but long-shelved plans for a wall round
Black Town; but there was still much more discussion than work. The
Company needed yet another awakening; and they got a stern one two
years later. We quote the story from the Company's official records,
published by the Madras Government. It is contained in a minute in the
official Diary of Fort St. George, dated the 29th of March, 1769,
which runs as follows:--

About 8 o'Clock this morning several Parties of the Enemy's
(Haidar Ali's) horse appeared in the Bounds of this Place at
St. Thome and Egmore, from which latter place some guns were
fired at them.... At eleven o'Clock a fellow was caught
plundering at Triplicane and brought into Town, who gave
Intelligence that Hyder himself was on the other side of St.
Thome with the greatest part of his horse. In the afternoon
Advice came that the Enemy's horse were moving from St.
Thome round to the Northward with a design, as was supposed,
to make an attempt on the Black Town.

It would have been difficult to have defended the unwalled town; and
on the following day