THE VIEWS OF DUPLETS. 245 watching. All his preparations had been made. Dupleix, c ^ p - with that rare disinterestedness and care for the re- sources of the colony which so eminently character- 1749. ised him, had advanced to this chief 100,000 rupees from his own funds, and had induced other individuals to contribute 200,000 rupees in addition.* He also supplied him with 800 European troops, 300 Africans, and a train of artillery, from the support of which Pondichery was thus freed, whilst the troops remained at the disposal of Dupleix. They were now with Chanda Sahib, under the immediate command of M. Duquesne. On the very day after the departure of the English fleet, this united army marched upon Trichina- palli. There, as Dupleix pointed out to the leaders, they would find the end of all opposition. The only man who had the shadow of a claim to oppose to the pretensions of Chanda Sahib was in that fortress. To take it, therefore, was to destroy the last stronghold of the enemy, and with it the only chieftain capable of offering any opposition. It is indeed clear to us now, as it was clear to Dupleix at the time, that upon the capture of this place depended the permanent preponderance of French influence in Southern India. Had that been accom- plished, there could have been no possible rival to Chanda Sahib, the English would have had no excuse to refuse to acknowledge his supremacy. In fact that supremacy would have been so firmly rooted, so strongly established, that they would not have dared to dispute it; they would, in a word, have been forced to recognise the sway on the Koromandel coast of a governor who, by inclination, gratitude, interest, was bound irrevocably to the French. Such, indeed, was the aim of the policy of Dupleix.
- These advances were secured on lands which were temporarily made over
to the French. —Dupleix,
