274 FRENCH INDIA AT ITS ZENITH. chap, it, as well as a separate jaghir of 100,000 rupees a . year. He confers upon him the title of Mangabdar 1750. of 7,000 horse, with permission to bear the ensign of the fish, one of the highest honours in the Mughal empire. He directs that the Pondichery currency shall be the sole currency of Southern India; he confirms the sovereignty of the French Company over the newly-acquired districts of Machlipatan and Yanaon, and an extension of the territories about Karikal. Then, turning to Dupleix with the air of a vassal to his liege lord, he promises never even to grant a favour without his previous approval, and to be guided in all things by his advice. Dupleix, on his side, is true to himself, to his policy, on this tempting and trying occasion. With a generosity which, if assumed, shows his political fitness in a still stronger light, he calls up Chanda Sahib to his side, presents to the Subadar his old and tried companion, and urges that if he himself is to hold the nominal dignity of Naw- wab over the country south of the Krishna, the real sovereignty and emoluments of that part of it known as the Karnatik may be bestowed upon one who had shown so much steadfastness and fidelity. We can well imagine the impression that would be conveyed to the minds of an Oriental assembly by an act so generous and graceful. He who could thus give away provinces, who, in the height of his prosperity, could recollect and reward those who under all circumstances had been true to him, showed the possession of qualities which, in that rude day, the princes of Asia could admire though they could not imitate. From such an one, practising such lofty sentiments, there was nought, they would believe, for them to fear. That one act of abnegation was sufficient to make them acquiesce without envy, without the least hesitation or doubt, in the substantial acquisitions that had been made that day to Dupleix. He indeed was the hero of
