72 THE K1SE OF THE FKENCH POWER IN INDIA. chap, to Pondichery. Here he displayed so much ability and _ aptitude, that, five years later, he was made a member 1735. of the Supreme Council, and, in June, 1721, Attorney- General. Transferred thence to the Isles of France and Bourbon as a member of the Supreme Government, and filling there in turn the offices of General Director for the Company of the Indies and of President of the Supreme Council, he was finally appointed Governor of those islands. This position he held till 1735, when he was nominated to succeed M. Lenoir as Governor- General of the French possessions in the Indies.* The new Governor was a shrewd, calculating, prudent man — one not given to risk much without having in view a very tangible result; brave, resolute, jealous of the honour of France, thoroughly acquainted with native ways, holding fast by the traditions of Francis Martin, a lover of peace, and anxious, above all, to extend the French territories in India by smooth means. M. Dumas, it may be imagined, was just the man to carry out a mild and peaceful policy. Certainly under his sway Pondichery lost nothing of its attractiveness to the independent native rulers. Indeed, almost imme- diately after his accession to office a circumstance oc- curred which served to knit, even more closely, the bonds of friendship that existed between the French and the most powerful of their neighbours, Nawwab Dost Ali Khan, ruler of the Karnatik. In 1732 Nawwab Saadat-ulla Khan, then ruler of the Karnatik, one of the most enlightened native noblemen of that period, died. His nephew and nearest of kin, Dost Ali, at once occupied the vacant masnad, with- out, however, obtaining the sanction of his immediate superior, the Viceroy of the Dakhan. It may have been partly on that account that Dost Ali showed very early a disposition to lean upon European support, and
- The account of the previous ser- dated September 4, 1742, confirming
vices of M. Dumas is taken from the the ennobling of M. Dumas on the letters patent issued by Louis XV., occasion of his return to France.
