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POSSIBILITIES LOOMING IN THE FUTURE. 129 details ; the other, a man great in action and prompt in chap. council, accustomed to command, accustomed to see his ^ will obeyed, to bear down every obstacle ; but whether 1746. equally fitted to carry out the will of another, as yet unproved. The uncertainty in this respect formed the only cloud in the horizon of the fortunes of French India. Would the active genius, who had " conquered the impossible," who, by the sheer force of his will had created the soldiers and the sailors, the ships and the guns, wherewith he has relieved Pondichery, would he now subordinate that will to the will of another man, his superior in position, but whom he has yet only heard of as a successful trader ] Up to the moment of casting anchor at Pondichery not a shadow of a contest had arisen. Hitherto each had acted independently of the other. The communications between the two Govern- ors had been most friendly. " The honour of success," wrote Dupleix in the early part of the year, " will be yours, and I shall hold myself lucky in contributing thereto through means that owe their value entirely to your skill." " We ought," wrote La Bourdonnais on his side, " to regard one another as equally interested in the progress of events, and to work in concert. For my part, Sir, I devote myself to you beforehand, and I swear to you a perfect confidence." But circumstances had altered. Success had now been attained ; the two men were about, for the first time, to come in contact. Which of them was to take the lead 1 It w T as in the chance of some disagreement between those strong natures, both conscious of the possession of genius, both accustomed to command, that lay the best chance of Governor Morse and Madras. K