428 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book III.
AD. 1748. their duty; lor tlie whole siege, from first to last, exhibited nothing mi a
tissue of monstrous blunders.
Exuitationof Tlic French garrison, originally 1800 Europeans and 3000 sepoys, lost only 200 of the former and about fifty of the latter, and were therefore well entitled to sing their Te Deunis. Even Dupleix may be excused for the o.stentatioas vanity lie displayed in sending bombastic letters to all the native princes, including the Mogul himself, intimating how gloriously he had trium[>hefi There cannot be a doubt that, by the issue of this siege, the reputation of the French for military prowess rose in India far above that of any other European nation, and that many years and signal victories were required to restore to the British the reputation which they had lost.
The British, notwithstanding the di.sgrace and loss which had befallen them, were still more powerful than their rivals, and might therefore hope for an early opportunity of regaining their laurels. PondicheiTy was beyond their
Madras rcacli, but Madras remained to be recovered. That this would be the next
restored. • • i p rr» • i
object attempted, was m itself sufficiently probable. Though captured fau'ly by Labovuxlonnais, the retention of it was a gross fraud. Of this Dupleix him- self coiild not but be conscious, and hence it is easy to understand how unwilling he was, after incurring infamy in order to obtain the po.ssession of it, to incur the risk of having it again wrested from him. His anxiety to retain thus equalling the eagerness of the original possessors to recover, he exerted himself in strengthening its defences. At first, indeed, he acted as if he had resolved to raze it entirely to the gi'ound, and commenced the work of destruction by laying the black town in ashes. Very inconsistently with this proceeding, he shortly after began to make improvements on the white town, and had rendered it much more capable than before of standing a siege, when he had the mortification to learn that all his labour was in vain, as Madi-as was about to return unransomed and improved to its former possessors. Ho.sti- peacenf Aix- fities between Great Britain and France had been terminated by the peace of
la-Chapelle. ,. ■ t r-^^ ^^ i • 1 T 1 • ^ ^
Aix-la-Chapelle, and possession was to be restored as nearly as might be to the state in which it was at the commencement of the war. It would be diffi- cult, and is not necessary, to decide how far the interests of the two rival com- j)anies were beneficially or injuriously affected by the treaty of peace. In some respects both were gainers. The British recovered Madras ; the French escaped from the disasters which were evidently im2:)ending over them, in consequence of the maritime supremacy which their rivals had established. Warlike ten- Now that the sword had been sheathed, and there was neither necessity nor
dencies of /•!• ^it • i;iji
the Freiici. prctcxt for keeping up powerful and expensive armaments, the natural course
com^'r^es.'^ for all parties would have been to abandon all schemes of tenitorial aggi'andise-
ment, and confine themselves, in accordance Avith their original profession, to
the peaceful pm-suits of commerce. On the other hand, there were strong
temptations to deviate from this course. The Mogul empire was only the
