The Second commander was an Indian prince named Mir Sayyad, who had been an ally of France in the Seven Years' War and moved to Paris upon the war's conclusion. Sayyad participated in the invasion, and advised Rullecourt to sack the town and massacre all the inhabitants. One British officer wrote of him: "If our fate has depended on him, it would not have been of the most pleasant; he advised the French General (Rullecourt) to ransack everything and to put the town to fire and to blood." Rullecourt ignored Sayyad's advice.