HIS TREATY. 441 Pondichery to discuss the conditions of a permanent cha.p. peace. The principal articles of this truce declared, ' that, till January 11, 1755, no act of hostility should 1754. ensue between the French and English, or between their allies ; that commerce should be free to both nations in the Karnatik ; that there should be a mutual, but ad valorem, exchange of prisoners ; and that commissaries should be appointed on both sides to see that the conditions of the truce were not infringed. Two months later, a treaty of peace was agreed to, so far only provisional, that it required the ratification of the East India Companies of France and England. The first condition of this treaty laid down that the two Companies should "renounce for ever all Mughal dignities and governments, and should never interfere in the differences that might arise among the princes of the country " ; the second and third, that the English should possess Fort St. George, Fort St. David, and Devikota ; the French, Pondichery and a limited settle- ment at Nizampatnam, it being arranged, that to the French should be allotted either a territory between Nizampatnam and the river Gundlakamma, to com- pensate for the inferiority of Karikal to Devikota ; or that the districts of Pondichery should be made equal to those of Fort St. George and Fort St. David, the French in that case abandoning the country about Nizampatnam. The fourth clause abandoned for the French their claims on Machhlipatan and the adjoin- ing districts, it being arranged that equal territories should be there assigned to the rival Companies. The fifth, sixth, and seventh clauses regulated the naviga- tion of certain rivers, and the possession of certain other minor territories, on the same principle. The eighth provided for the prolongation of the truce till the con- firmation of the treaty should arrive from Europe. The ninth, for the non-construction of any ports or obtaining
