over a large territory at Hyderabad. Ásaf Jáh's succession was disputed between his son Násir Jung and his grandson Mozuffur Jung, who both took up arms; whereupon the Carnatic, which had only been kept quiet by Ásaf Jáh's power of enforcing his authority,

became at once the scene of a violent conflict between rival claimants for the subordinate rulership. The entanglement of these two wars of succession threw all South India into confusion, producing that complicated series of intrigues, conspiracies, assassinations, battles, sieges, and desultory skirmishing, that is known in Anglo-Indian history as the War in the Carnatic. The whole narrative, in copious and authentic detail, is to be read in Orme's History under the title of 'The War of Coromandel,' which records the admirable exploits of Clive, Lawrence, and some other stouthearted but utterly forgotten Englishmen, who at great odds and with small means sustained the fortunes of their country in many a hazardous or desperate situation by their skill, valour, and inflexible fortitude.

Into this medley Dupleix plunged promptly and boldly. His immediate aim was to establish in the Carnatic, the province within whose jurisdiction lay both Madras and Pondicherry, a ruler who should be dependent on the French connexion. His ulterior object was the creation of a preponderant French party at the court of the Nizám himself, to whom the Carnatic was still nominally subordinate; and by these two steps he hoped to obtain a firm dominion for his nation in India. In defending himself, afterwards, for having taken a part in these civil broils, he argued, not unfairly, that neutrality was impossible, because if the French had refused all overtures for European assistance the contending princes would have certainly got it from

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the English, who would thus have attained irresistible predominance. However this may be, the result of his policy was that the English Company, who at first expected that the Treaty of 1748 would relieve them. from the hostility of France, soon discovered that they were in greater danger than before; for the peace enabled Dupleix to employ his forces in giving such material assistance to Chunda Sahib, one of the competitors for the Carnatic, that the ruling Nawab Anwarudín Khan was speedily attacked, defeated, and slain. The victorious Chunda Sahib joined forces with Mozuffur Jung, who was contending for the Nizámship; and both marched to Pondicherry, where they were received magnificently by the French, to whom they made a substantial grant of territory, with special allotments to Monsieur and Madame Dupleix. The French were now openly supporting Mozuffur Jung for the Nizamship of the Dekhan, and Chunda Sahib for the Nawabship of the Carnatic.

The English, who regarded these proceedings with considerable dismay, although their own behaviour at Tanjore made protest embarrassing, became involved in an acrimonious correspondence with the French, leading obviously to a rupture. Their position, which was now seriously threatened, left them no alternative but to take the side opposed to the French candidates in this double war of succession. When Dupleix sent out a strong contingent in support of Mozuffur Jung, Násir Jung, his opponent, appealed to the English, who after some hesitation supplied a body of 600 men, and also assisted Mahomed Ali, whom Násir Jung had appointed to contest the Carnatic Nawabship against Chunda Sahib. Thus Násir Jung and Mahomed Ali were supported by the English for the Nizámship and the Car

natic, against Mozuffur Jung and Chunda Sahib who were backed by the French.

The English Company also sent home urgent requisition for succour, representing to their Directors that the French had 'struck at the ruin of your settlements, possessed themselves of several large districts, planted their colours on the very edge of your bounds, and are endeavouring to surround your settlements in such manner as to prevent either provisions or merchandize being brought to us.' The murder of Nasir Jung by his own mercenaries seemed indeed to secure the triumph of the French cause; for Mozuffur Jung, whom Dupleix was assisting, was thereby placed for the moment in undisputed possession of the Nizámship; while Chunda Sahib with his French auxiliaries. became irresistible in the Carnatic, where only the strong fortress of Trichinopoly held out against him.

It would be very difficult to describe briefly and yet clearly the intricate scrambling campaigns that followed, in which the French and English on either side played the leading parts, for the result of every important action depended on the European contingents engaged. While their troops exchanged volleys in the field, the two Companies exchanged bitter recriminations from Madras and Pondicherry, accusing each other of breaches of international law, denouncing one another's manœuvres, and imploring their respective governments at home to interpose against each other's total disregard of the most ordinary political morality. The French troops had carried the Carnatic for their candidate, had sent Bussy with Mozuffur Jung to establish him as Nizám at Hyderabad, and seemed in a fair way towards general success. The English had thrown a reinforcement into Trichinopoly, where Mahomed Ali defended

growing, and that Dupleix had laid claim to the whole south-eastern coast from Cape Comorin to the river Kistna.

The French ministry, on the other hand, did not care to embroil themselves with England, whose sea power was dangerous to all their colonies, on account of these apparently interminable Indian quarrels. Their finances were low; they had good reasons for honestly desiring to substitute pacific for warlike relations between the two Companies, to discontinue the practice of lending auxiliary troops to native princes, and to agree upon a mutual return to the old commercial business. So in 1754, having settled an understanding upon this basis with the English government, they deputed to Pondicherry M. Godeheu, who superseded Dupleix, and concluded with the English governor, Saunders, first, a suspension of arms, secondly, a provisional treaty, afterwards ratified, whereby the Companies bound themselves not to renew attempts at territorial aggrandizement or to interfere in local wars, and covenanted to retain only a few places and districts stipulated in the treaty. Mahomed Ali, whom the English had been ' supporting throughout the whole contest, was tacitly recognized as Nawab of the Carnatic. This concession virtually dropped the keystone out of the arch upon which the high-reaching policy of Dupleix had been built up, and on his return to France he died, after some vain attempts to obtain justice, in neglect, poverty, and unmerited discredit.

SECTION III. Policy of Dupleix examined.

It has been usual to regard this treaty arrangement, which put an end to the unofficial war between the two Indian Companies, as the turning-point of the fortunes

of France in the East Indies. The abandonment of the policy of Dupleix has been freely censured as shortsighted and pusillanimous, particularly by recent French writers. The French government is accused of throwing up a game that had been nearly won, and of deserting in the hour of his need the man whose genius had engendered the first conception of founding a great European empire in India, who showed not only the possibility of the achievement but the right method of accomplishing it. We are told that England, in conquering India, has had but to follow the path that the genius of France opened out to her1. James Mill, in summarizing the causes why the English succeeded, says that the two important discoveries for conquering India were, first, the weakness of the native armies against European discipline, and, secondly, the facility of imparting that discipline to natives in the service of Europeans. He adds -'Both these discoveries were made by the French.' And almost all writers on Indian history have repeated this after him, insisting that the failure of Dupleix is to be ascribed to the ineffective co-operation on the part of the French naval officers, to the want of good military commanders, to accidents, bad luck at critical moments of the campaign, and above all to the faint-heartedness of the French ministry.

Now, it is quite true that Dupleix was a man of genius and far political vision, who strove gallantly against all these obstacles. On the other hand it is also true that the English, with their usual good luck, had in Clive and Lawrence commanders superior to any of the French military officers with Dupleix, except Bussy. Bussy was a very able man, whom French historians delight to honour; but he was evidently intent, under Dupleix 1 Xavier Raymond.

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