372 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[May, 
the native princes. They now assumed a new attitude, and pi'e- 
^ pared to mix in the wars of the native powers. The French, also, 
were- now very active, and attempted great things. The English 
were the first to draw the sword, for the poor motive of a trifling 
settlement on the Coromandel coast. But when have power and 
cupidity stood for rights, or regarded the interests of the weak ? 
Seldom, at any period ; much less at the one of which we are 
speaking. > . 
In seventeen hundred and fifty-one, the French, under that 
able commander, Dupleix, had made extensive conquests ; their 
arms had generally been successful ; and that portion of the Mo- 
gul's dominions, from the Coromandel coast, and the river Kisna 
to Cape Comorin, was in their possession. The natives were 
astonished and panic-struck to behold a handful of foreigners, who 
had so recently been at the feet of petty governors, so suddenly 
extending their power, until the Mogul himself seemed scarcely 
secure on his throne. 
Even the English seemed to have sunk for a time into apathy 
and despair before the superior energy of Dupleix. But in seven- 
teen hundred and fifty-four, the French and English governments 
at home became anxious for the restoration of peace among their 
subjects in India ; new commissioners were appointed ; Dupleix 
was superseded in the command by Goodheu, and an amnesty at 
once agreed upon. In this treaty, the English gained all by ne- 
gotiation which they had contended for with their arms ; while 
the French, in their desire for peace, made great sacrifices and al- 
most unlimited concessions. 
It was this treaty which led to the ascendency of the English 
East India Company, and they did not fail to take advantage of it, 
by pushing their conquests, as the French averred, in direct viola- 
tion of the sacred stipulations of the treaty ; and the consequence 
was, that the French found themselves again engaged in the war, 
with every advantage ceded in the treaty turned against them. 
They saw, when too late, the oversight in not having sustained 
Dupleix, who, more than any other man, was capable of extend- 
ing their interests in the east. 
In seventeen hundred and fifty-six, war again broke out between 
the English and French : the latter exerted all their efforts to re- 
gain what they had lost by the treaty. The talented and unfor- 
