husband in all his trials. She was with him during the whole period of his administration of French India. And when that administration came to a close, in the manner to be related, she accompanied him to France, to die there of the chagrin caused by the injustice meted out to the husband she adored.
Dupleix found the lands of the French settlement on the southern coast suffering from the effects of the Maráthá invasion. Those marauding warriors had, after the manner of locusts, eaten up the products, and by their presence prevented the tilling of the soil for the coming season. The Karnátik, too, unsettled by the fatal invasion, was threatened by the Subáhdár of the Deccan. There were indications, moreover, that in Europe a war between France and England was imminent, and it was necessary to foresee and to provide for the necessities which such an event might entail on the Indian settlements.
To be able to meet difficulties from without, it was necessary, in the opinion of Dupleix, to be prepared at home. He therefore proceeded to put his house in order. He set on foot inquiries having for their object the checking of public expenditure, increasing, as he thought, unnecessarily. He issued regulations to put a stop to the habit of taking douceurs, a habit borrowed from the natives. He thoroughly overhauled the fortifications. He notified at the same time to the native princes in the Karnátik and at Haidarábád his succession to M. Dumas alike as Director-General of the French settlements and as
