Page:History of the French in India.djvu/609

DIVERSE CHARACTER OF THE TWO NATIONS. 583 that contributed much to the same result. We confess chap. that before we had studied the public documents which , XIL form the basis of this history, we could not understand 1701. how it was that characters so brilliant, so energetic, so enterprising, as Dupleix, La Bourdonnais, Bussy, and Lally, should have failed, opposed as they were by mep, who, with the exception of Clive and Lawrence, must be regarded as inferior to them in capacity. But the solution of the question becomes after examination easy. Those four French names shine out as bright lights among a crowd of flickering satellites. It is they, or rather — for he stands out far above the others — it is Dupleix, the lustre of whose great name reflects the struggles of his countrymen for empire in the East. He did it all. He was unsupported except by Bussy. He it was who caused the fame of the French nation to re- sound in the palaces of Delhi, who carved out a policy which his rivals seized and followed. He did not suc- ceed, because he was not properly supported at home, because he was alone amongst his countrymen in India. Those contests for the possession of TrichinapalK showed that, even under the most favourable circum- stances, his soldiers would not win battles. He could do everything but imbue them with his own spirit. He was in fact alone — in everything supreme, except as a soldier in a field. If we examine, on the other hand, the conduct of the English, we shall see numberless instances of the per- tinacious character of her people. Not counting Clive, who was but for a limited period on the scene, there was not a man in the English settlements equal in genius to Dupleix. But, again, there were many, very many among them, far superior to any of the subor- dinates of Dupleix, Bussy alone excepted. The daring of Lawrence, the dogged pertinacity of Saunders and his Council, the vigour and ability of Calliaud, of Forde,