LA BOURDOtfNAIS DEFIES DUPLEIX. 157 Madras/' he said, " is only a momentary, and, at the c ^ p - most, an uncertain advantage. All the hostages which . ^ __ you may have will not bind the English Company to 1746. accept the bills which the Governor may give you, and he, now a prisoner, will probably say that he has acted under compulsion to procure his freedom, and the Com- pany will say the same." The same post conveyed to La Bourdonnais an official letter from the Superior Council on the same subject. This letter, and the tone of superiority which per- vaded it, seem to have decided the action of La Bour- donnais. It would appear that up to, and during, September 26, he had been engaged in discussing with Governor Morse and the English deputies the terms of ransom. On the morning of the 26th he wrote to Dupleix to state that he had almost agreed with Mr. Morse regarding the conditions ; that there remained only a few slight differences to adjust, and to arrange the terms of payment. But during the 26th he received from Dupleix not only the letters to which we have alluded, but another from the Council, dated the 24th, in which he was informed that Messrs. Dulaurent and Barthelemy would arrive that day from Pondichery to congratulate him on his success, and to form with MM. Despremesnil, Bonneau, Desforges, and Paradis, all Pondichery men, a Council, over which he was to preside. Instantly his part was taken. He states in his memoirs that from that moment he could not doubt the views of Dupleix; that he saw that he was resolved to be master of Madras and of the ships, to dispose of all as he wished. The assumption of such superiority he resolved at once to dispute. Although the ransom-treaty was not then signed, he wrote to Dupleix as though it had been : " I wish with all my heart," he said, " that the deputies had arrived five or six hours earlier ; there would have been time then to inform them of all that passed between the
