permanent advantage for the Company. In return, then, for some slight services, he asked the Nuwáb to obtain from the Court of Delhi permission to coin money. This request was granted, to the great monetary advantage and increase of prestige of the French. Two years later (1738), Dumas was tempted by an offer from the pretender to the throne of Tanjore to cede to him certain districts if the French Governor would lend him material aid for the recovery of his territories. It was indeed a tempting offer, for the districts offered were those which would give the French a hold on the sea-coast of Tanjore. To accede to it, however, would be to depart from the principle of strict neutrality in the quarrels of native princes hitherto pursued. But the risk, in the opinion of Dumas, was greatly outweighed by the advantages. He accepted then the offer; supplied the pretender with money, with gunpowder, and with warlike stores; and received in return a grant of the town of Kárikál, of the adjoining fort of Karkan-Garhí, and of ten villages depending upon them. The actual cession was dated February 14, 1739.
The possession of this territory gave the French a footing in the kingdom of Tanjore, which enabled them to overshadow the influence of the Dutch, whose factory was at Nágápatnam, a few miles lower down the coast. The acquisition increased the power, the manner in which it had been acquired increased the influence, of the Pondichery settlement. But, the year following, it seemed as though the fortunes of the
