He is anxious that the walls of the forts should be placed in the best possible condition for defence.

No one doubts that we shall, ere long, be again at war with England, and although the sultan relies much upon large reinforcements that have been promised by France, with whom he has entered into an alliance, they have not yet arrived, and he may have to bear the brunt of the attack of the English by himself." "I have heard of this," the governor said, "and regret that we shall again have the Feringhees upon us.

As for the Mahrattis or the Nizam, I heed them not--they are dust, whom the sultan could sweep from his path; but these English are terrible soldiers.

I have fought against them under Hyder, and in the last war they again showed their valour; and the strangest thing is that they make the natives under them fight as bravely as they do themselves.
"As to forts, nothing is safe from them.

Were all the troops of the Nizam and the Mahrattis combined to besiege us, I should feel perfectly safe; while were there but five hundred Englishmen, I should tremble for the safety of the fortress.