Page:History of the French in India.djvu/219

DUPLEIX RETAINS MADRAS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST. 197 Madras to the English, present any longer an obstacle, chap. He had never ratified the unauthorised engagements ' into which La Bourdonnais had entered. To him they 1746. were as though they had never been made. Madras, he knew well, would have surrendered at the same time, or at the utmost a day later, had no reference been made to a ransom. The place was not at the time capable of further defence. He regarded it therefore as his conquest, as a lawful prize to French valour, and he determined, now that he possessed the power, to use it for the interests of France, regardless of those en- gagements into which La Bourdonnais had been lured, and which he had never sanctioned. No sooner, then, had he received intimation of the utter defeat of the Nawwab's army, and of the triumphant relief of Madras, than he appointed Paradis military governor of that place, instead of Despremesnil, who, as a civilian, would not, he considered, exercise sufficient authority over the troops, and instructed him to issue a declaration proclaiming Madras to be French by right of conquest, and disavowing all engagements entered into by La Bourdonnais as null and void. Paradis was not slow to act upon his orders. He had beaten the Nawwab's army on November 4, and had entered Madras the same day. On the 9th he received his instructions, and on the 10th he issued his proclama- tion. In this, he annulled La Bourdonnais' ransom- treaty ; declared all the merchandise, provisions, warlike stores, and horses to be French property, and ordered all the English residents who would not take the oath of allegiance to the French, to quit the town within four days. On the other hand, the English were permitted to dispose of their moveables, clothes, and jewels, and they were simply required not to serve against the French till they should be exchanged. Governor Morse and the other officials were conveyed as prisoners to Pondichery, where, however, they were treated with the greatest