142 LA BOURDONNAIS AKD DUPLEIX. chap i n to hostile contact with the native princes of the coun- try. Daud Khan, Navvvvab of the Karnatik under the 1702. Emperor Aurangzeb — a chief noted for his fondness for the strong waters of Europe — made a sudden de- mand upon Mr. Pitt (1702) for 10,000 pagodas, about 40,000 rupees. Mr. Pitt endeavoured by civilities and sumptuous entertainments to amuse the Nawwab into forgetfulness of his demand. But if Daud Khan loved cordials much, he loved rupees even more. Finding his requests evaded, he subjected Fort St. George to a strict blockade, cut off all supplies from the country, seized all the goods coming into the place, and only raised the siege when Mr. Pitt consented unwillingly to a compromise. In addition to Madras, and subordinate to it, the English possessed at this time, on the Koro- mandel coast, the settlement of Fort St. David, close to Gudalur, sixteen miles south of Pondichery, and the factories of Porto Novo, Pettaipoli, Machlipatan, Mada- pallam, and Vioshakpatan. It does not appear that the history of Madras was marked by any other incidents of importance till the period of which we are treating. In 1744. the year 1744, Mr. Nicholas Morse was appointed Gover- nor of Fort St. George. Morse was an old Company's merchant, ignorant of politics, caring little for them, a quiet, easy-going, sedate sort of man, who ever carried out, with a literal obedience, and regardless of any changes that might have occurred in the interval, the orders of his masters in England. Thus it was, that when, shortly after his accession to office, he received overtures from Dupleix to preserve neutrality in India during the coming war, Governor Morse, well convinced, all the time of the wisdom of the measure, excused him- self from entertaining it, on the ground of the instruc- tions he had received from the Company. 1745. We have seen how little these instructions had availed the English. Although they had the command of the seas when the war broke out, they had, nevertheless,
