and he could dispose of but 436 Europeans. But at this crisis the friendly relations he had been careful to cultivate with the native princes bore a rich and abundant fruit. Dupleix wrote to the Nuwáb of the Karnátik, reminded him of the friendly relations which had existed between the French settlement and his predecessors; of the moral support rendered by Pondichery to the Karnátik ruler at the time of the Maráthá invasion; of the desire of the French to live at peace with all around them; and begged him to employ his authority to prevent his tenants, the English, from attacking a settlement, the chief of which was an officer of the Great Mughal, and his own friend.
The Nuwáb, Anwáru' dín, had but recently succeeded to his office, but he was cognisant of all the circumstances referred to by Dupleix. Neither he, nor any man in India, regarded the scattered European settlers on isolated parts of the coast as possessing claims to be seriously reckoned with. They were vassals of the lord paramount, simple traders dependent upon his goodwill, nothing more. But the French had the character of being polite, friendly, unaggressive, desirous to conciliate. They had had, too, opportunities of displaying their sympathy. The manner in which they had used those opportunities had made an impression. Anwáru' dín then acted in the spirit of the request preferred to him by Dupleix. He informed Morse that he would not permit him to attack the French settlement. He added that in
