later years. His plans had been successful everywhere; and he was on the eve of gaining the pinnacle which would have enabled him to form one vast combination against the English, when he was attacked by fever and died (12th February, 1794).
With him the fabric raised with so much patience, so much skill, and so much foresight, fell to the ground. His successor, Daolát Ráo, was a boy of fifteen, with a character which, if unformed, still showed the germs of waywardness and of a want of self-control.
At the time of Mádhají's death de Boigne was virtually governor of Hindostan. Daolát Ráo confirmed him in this appointment, and he held it, resisting the advances made him by the partisans of the blind Emperor, Shah Alim, till the end of 1795. In the interval, feeling his health weakened, he had more than once asked permission to resign; but Daolát Ráo had as often begged him to remain. At last, at the end of 1794, he yielded to his urgent solicitations, and granted him permission to leave for Europe, still retaining him in his service.
De Boigne bade farewell to the officers of his army in February 1796, and set out for Calcutta. He took with him the regiment of cavalry which was his own peculiar property. He had offered this regiment to Sindia, but Daolát Ráo proposed to pay for it only on the return of de Boigne to India. On his way through Lakhnao he offered it to the Nawáb, but they could not agree as to the terms. Finally he offered it to the English government; Lord Cornwallis took it on the general's own
