Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/384

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
376
The War of Coromandel.
Book V.

so as not to interfere with one another. Upon these conditions a truce was to take place between them and their allies, on the coast of Coromandel, until the answers should be received from Europe concerning this convention. Both nations obliged themselves, during the truce, not to procure any new grant or cession from the princes of the country, nor to build forts; but they were permitted to repair such fortifications as were at this time in their possession. Neither were to proceed to any cessions, retrocessions, or evacuations, until a definitive treaty should be concluded in Europe, at which time were to be settled the indemnifications which each was to receive for the expences incurred by the war.

The truce to which this conditional treaty gave birth, specified that if either of the European nations committed any acts of hostility, or incroached upon the possessions of the other, commissaries were to be appointed to examine and adjust the dispute; but if the Indian allies of either side committed violences against either of the two nations, both were to unite in repulsing them: it was likewise agreed to proceed to an exchange of prisoners as far as the number taken by the French extended; this was only 250, whereas the English had 900.

This convention was in reality nothing more than a cessation of hostilities for eighteen months; since there was no positive obligation on either of the companies to adopt the opinions of their representatives expressed in the conditional treaty. In the mean time the French were left to enjoy, without interruption, the revenues of all the territories which they had acquired during the war. These incomes, according to the accounts published by themselves, were, from Karical in the kingdom of Tanjore, 96,000 rupees; from the eighty villages in the district of Pondicherry, 105,000; from Masulipatnam with its dependencies, from the island of Divi, Nizampatnam, Devrecottah, and Condavir, all contiguous territories, 1,441,000; from the four provinces of Elore, Mustapha Nagar, Rajahmundrum, and Chicacole, 3,100,000; froni lands in the Carnatic, to the south of the river Paliar; 1,700,000; from the island of Seringham and its dependencies, which Mahomed-ally had given up to the Mysoreans when they came to his assistance, and which