78 THE RISE OF T1IE FRENCH POWER IN INDIA. C ?n P ^ ae s ^PP^ n 8 fr°na his grasp of this much-coveted place _ v ~ ' just at the moment his hand was closing upon it, caused 1738. him great mortification and annoyance. He was well aware that with the force in the two ships of war before Karikal, it would be easy to take possession of the place, and that, to a less prudent man, would have been a very great temptation. But M. Dumas' great characteristic was prudence. He would not risk, even for so valuable a prize, the character gained by the French as a non- aggressive nation. He preferred to wait for the oppor- tunity which he felt sure would, sooner or later, present itself, satisfied that he had made a great step in advance in having secured from the Raja of Tanjur the legal cession of Karikal and its dependencies. He therefore recalled the ships to Pondichery. The opportunity he waited for soon came. No sooner did the intelligence reach Chanda Sahib that Raja Sahuji had refused to fulfil his engagement regarding Karikal, than he realised that the moment had arrived for him to cement his alliance with the French. He accordingly wrote to M. Dumas, informing him that he was at war with Sahuji, and offering to march his own troops upon Karikal, to conquer it, and to make it over, in full sovereignty, to the French. From them he asked no assistance : he would employ, he said, none but his own soldiers. Chanda Sahib, it will be recollected, was son-in-law of Dost Ali, Nawwab of the Karnatik, and feudal lord of the territory to the north of the French possessions ; he himself, as Dost Ali's lieutenant, held the country on the south-west; tbat on the south-east alone was held by the Raja of Tanjur. It was clear then that Chanda Sahib's offer to conquer a portion of that Raja s posses- sions involved no risk to the French ; it did not even invoke the suspicion of a greed for territorial extension. It was the offer of a powerful Indian potentate to com- pel a weaker ruler to adhere to his agreement. M.
