1753. Book IV. action, and employed themselves in making war upon the English convoys. This they did, with so much effect, that Major Laurence was frequently obliged to escort his stores and provisions with his whole army from Fort St. David. In this manner the time was consumed till the 20th of April, when an express arrived from Captain Dalton, that he had only three weeks' provisions remaining in the fort. The English army sum danger by want of pro visions. When the English, after the capitulation of the French at Seringham, moned to Tri- marched from Trichinopoly, and left Captain Dalton Commandant of the chinopoly, in English garrison, a brother of the Nabob was at the same time appointed Governor of the town. By an unhappy oversight the magazines were left under direction of the Mohamedan Governor; and Captain Dalton satisfied himself with asking from time to time in what condition they remained. When the Mysoreans, however, had shut him up in his fort, and, scouring the adjacent country with their cavalry, had prevented for some time the arrival of supplies, it occurred to him, rather too late, that he had better see with his own eyes on what he had to depend. His ally, he found, had been selling the provisions at an enormous price to the people of the town; and he was left in that alarming condition, of which he hastened to make report to Major Laurence. the seat of the war. Trichinopoly But one resolution was left to the English commander, that of marching directly to the support of Trichinopoly. His army suffered greatly on the march, both by desertion and sickness; and, upon his arrival at the place, he found that all the force he could muster for offensive operations, after leaving the proportion necessary for the duties of the garrison, consisted of 500 Europeans, and 2,000 Sepoys. The Nabob had 3,000 horse; but they were badly paid; and executed their duty with proportional neglect and disobedience. The French followed with 200 Europeans and 500 Sepoys, to the support of the Mysoreans; and Trichinopoly became once more the seat of a tedious and harassing warfare. It deserves remark, that Major Laurence, who had recommended the seizure of the Mysorean and Mahratta chiefs, uniformly disapproved of the attempt to retain Trichinopoly after the promise to give it up. It is equally worthy of remark, that the delicacy of the Presidency withheld their hands from the persons of the hostile chiefs; but easily endured the violation of the engagement respecting Trichinopoly. Delicacy would have been less violated in the one This fact is stated on the satisfactory authority of Col. Wilks, who had an opportunity of perusing the correspondence of Laurence with the Presidency. Historical Sketches, ut supra, P. 342. 1754. instance by following the advice of Laurence, and prudence would have been CHAP. II. more consulted by following it in both. The cession of Trichinopoly to the Mysoreans would have enabled the English to establish their nabob, with little opposition, in the sovereignty of Carnatic, and would have saved them from two years of expensive warfare. It was on the 6th of May, 1753, that Major Laurence again arrived at Trichinopoly; and from that day to the 11th of October, 1754, the most active operations were carried on. Neither the French, with their allies, were sufficiently powerful to reduce Trichinopoly; nor had the English sufficient force to compel them to raise the siege. The two parties, therefore, bent their endeavours; the English, to supply the garrison with a sufficient quantity of food, to enable them to prosecute their objects in another quarter; the French, by cutting off the supplies, to compel the garrison to surrender. On both sides the greatest exertions were made; severe conflicts were frequently sustained, in some of which decisive advantages, at one time on one side, at another on the other, were on the point of being gained: and never did English troops display more gallantry and good conduct, than in defence of the unimportant city of Trichinopoly. More than a year had been spent ; and neither of the contending parties seemed nearer their object, when a new scene was introduced.* between the The objects, which fired the ambition of the European Governors in India, A negotiation were too distant to warm the imaginations of the Directors and Proprietors of English and the French and English Companies in Europe; and to them the burden of the Dupleix. war had become exceedingly hateful. Aware of the passion for peace which now animated his employers, and of the opinion disseminated in Europe of his ambitious and warlike views, Dupleix had opened a negotiation with Saunders, the Governor of Madras, in January, 1754. The real point in dispute was, whether or not Mahomed Ali should be acknowledged Nabob of Carnatic; the English contending that he should be recognized by the French, the French contending that he should be given up by the English. The parties were far from being disposed, on either side, to concede the point; and the state of circumstances was little calculated to facilitate a compromise: the negotiation turned, therefore, on matters of form; and never, surely, did negotiation find more ridiculous matters of form on which to employ itself. In a country in * For this war, Laurence's Narrative, in Cambridge's War, p. 38-95; Orme, i. 245–249, 253 -322, 337-365; Mem. pour Dupleix, p. 78-111; Wilks, ut supra, p. 285-340, yield the most important materials. 1754. Book IV. which all questions of dominion are determined by the sword; in a question which, without any consideration of right, they themselves had, during four years, been labouring to decide by the sword, they affected to sit down gravely to a comparison of pretended titles and grants. The authority to which both parties appealed was that of the Mogul, though the Mogul himself, in the district in question, was an usurper, and that of a very recent date; though the power too of the Mogul was such that he had no more authority in Deccan than he had at Rome. The authority on which the government of Carnatic immediately depended was that of the Subahdar of Deccan; and the Subahdar of Deccan was Salabut Jung, the friend of the French: So far, in point of title, they had the undoubted advantage. The patents, however, which Dupleix had received from Salabut Jung, and which placed the nabobship of the Carnatic entirely at his disposal, he asserted to have been confirmed by the Mogul. The English, on their side, affirmed that they had a patent constituting Mahomed Ali Nabob of Carnatic; and they called upon the French to produce their documents. The French did exhibit some papers, which the English, and probably with truth, asserted to be forged. The English were called upon to produce their pretended patent, and had none to produce: Upon this with mutual crimination the proceedings broke off.* A negotiation Europe. The parties upon whom the decision depended in Europe came together with minds more disposed to accommodation. The English Company had, from an early period of the war, importuned the ministry with complaints, that during the existence of a treaty of peace between England and France, they were oppressed by the burden of a dangerous war, produced by the ambition of a French governor in India. The same subject had formed the matter of remonstrance between the English and French governments; and it was at last agreed that the dispute should be terminated by a distinct negotiation. M. Duvelaer arrived in London, vested with the powers of the French East India Company; Lord Holdernesse negotiated on the part of the English; while the Duke of * Orme, i. 337; Laurence's Narrative, p. 81; Mem. pour Dupleix, p. 83; Wilks, p. 338. The English writers, with the exception of Wilks, make no allusion to any pretence of a patent held out by the English. But it is so distinctly asserted by Dupleix, who appeals to the letters of Saunders, to which his opponents had access, that I doubt not the fact. The English writers, who are very severe upon the French forgeries, say, that the conferences were broken off when the French, who had permitted their papers to be so far copied by the English, withdrew them upon the English allegations that they were forged. Dupleix on the other hand says, that he refused to permit the French papers any longer to be copied, when the English failed to produce any on their side which might undergo the same operation. Newcastle, as minister of England, and the Duc de Mirepoix, as ambassador of CHAP. II. France, shared when necessary in the conferences and decisions. Dupleix, in stating afterwards the reasons of his conduct, asserted that, in the situation into which Deccan was thrown, upon the death of Nizam al Mulk, an interference in the affairs of the country was not a matter of choice. The chiefs who contended for power, supreme and subordinate, were all ready to tempt, and by the most important concessions, the European nations to grant them support. If one nation, from an extraordinary effort of self-denial, should decline such advantages, what was to be expected but that another would embrace them? and that, rising above its rivals in power, it should first oppress, and finally expel them from the country? Dupleix was the first to perceive these consequences; and, from the promptitude and decision of his character, the first to act upon his discovery. This priority, which naturally promised to be advantageous to him, was the reverse. It stamped his whole career with the character of aggression; though the English themselves drew the same conclusions, as soon as they were suggested to them by the proceedings of Dupleix; and guided their proceedings by the belief, that it was not safe for them to see their rival aggrandized by favour of the native powers. That to play a high game in India was a wish dear to the heart of Dupleix, sufficiently appears; but that there were strong reasons for the part which he acted, no one acquainted with the affairs of India will attempt to dispute. The French East India Company however, and the French Ministers, were but little acquainted with the affairs of India; those who envied, and those who hated Dupleix accused him of wasting the resources of the Company in ambitious wars; the English Company and the English Ministry accused him of embroiling the two nations in India; and there was a general prejudice against him and his proceedings, both in France and in England, at the time when the conferences in London were held. The English Ministry prudently dispatched a considerable fleet to India while the negotiation was still proceeding. The French Ministry had no fleet to spare; and dreaded the superiority which such a force might bestow. The French Company were at the same time extremely eager to taste the gains of commerce, which they promised themselves in peace; and, from all these causes, were disposed to make ample concessions. It ultimately appeared, that no definitive arrangement could be made except upon the spot. The English, however, exclaimed against any negotiation which was to be conducted by Dupleix, the object of which they affirmed his ambition and artifice would be sure to defeat. The French Ministry were not far from 1754. Book IV. harbouring the same opinion; and easily enough assented to the proposition of sending commissioners from Europe to settle the differences of the two nations Agreement to in India. 1754. sioners to the disputes tions. send commis- A point was thus gained in favour of the English, on which their fortune in India to settle India very probably hinged; for when, after the short interval of two years, of the two na- war was renewed between the English and French; when the English were expelled from Bengal; and the influence of Bussy was paramount at the court of the Subahdar; had Dupleix remained at the head of French affairs in India, the scheme of that enterprising governor, to render himself master of Carnatic, and the Subahdar master of Bengal, would have stood a fair chance of complete accomplishment. Dupleix superseded in the govern ment of Pondicherry. An accominodation made on terms fathe English. vourable to On the second of August, 1754, M. Godheu, appointed commissary to negotiate a peace with the English, and vested with authority to supersede Dupleix in the government of all the French possessions in India, arrived at Pondicherry. Dupleix affirms that in the negotiations at London, for the sake of removing all local prejudices and views, it had been established that the governors in India on both sides should be removed; and commissioners, free from all bias, should be sent from England to terminate the costly disputes.* If this was a condition really made, the French, it would appear, consented to a departure from it, as they raised no complaint against Mr. Saunders, who continued the President of Madras. The English in this manner obtained the important advantage of having the negotiation conducted on their side by a person conversant with the affairs and interests of the two nations in India, while it was conducted, on the part of their antagonists, by a man to whom they were in a great measure unknown. Godheu lost no time in taking upon himself the exercise of his authority, and in commencing his negotiations with Saunders. The strong desire of his employers for peace appears to have been the predominating consideration in his mind; and he manifested, from the beginning, a disposition to concede, of which the English made ample advantage. On the 11th of October, a suspension of arms was established for three months; and on the 26th of December, a provisional treaty, to be confirmed or altered in Europe, was signed at Pondicherry. By this treaty, every thing for which they had been contending was gained by the English; every advantage of which they had come into possession was given * Mem. pour Dupleix, p. 89. As this assertion (made before persons highly competent to contradict it, and for which an appeal is made to the Journal of Duvelaer) is not denied in the Answer of the Company to the Memoire of Dupleix, it is entitled to credit. |