HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
419 ' 
war. The Mahratta General being informed of the place where the family of the 
Nabob had retired, addressed two threatening letters to the French government, 
demanding the payment of certain tribute, which he pretended that the French 
owed to the King his master; to pay, besides, five hundred thousand rupees, and to 
put into his hands the widow of the Nabob of Arcot, with the fugitives, and their 
treasure, their elephants, horses, and all their equipage. 
M. Dumas having rejected these propositions, a detachment of fifteen or sixteen 
thousand Mahratta troops advanced as far as the large village of Archionac, which 
is but a league and an half from Pondicherry, and pillaged, in their passage, Porto 
Novo, the English factory at Gondelour, and other European habitations. The 
firmness which the French displayed, a diversion which the King of Golconda made 
in their favour, and other fortunate circumstances, saved Pondicherry. It is said 
that some bottles of liquor sent to the Mahratta General determined him to retreat. 
The Court of Delhi, which protected the old Nabob of Arcot, was so well satisfied 
with the conduct of the French in this war, that Nisam-ul-Mulk, the first minister, 
wrote a letter of thanks on the occasion to the Governor of Pondicherry, and accom¬ 
panied it with the present of a very costly robe, in the name of his master. Some 
time after, M. Dumas was advanced to the dignity of Nabob, which was also settled 
upon his children and family. 
In the same year, 1741, the son of the Nabob of Arcot, as a mark of his gratitude 
for the very kind treatment which his mother, See. had received at Pondicherry, sent 
a Paravana to the French Governor, by which he ceded personally to him, and not 
to the colony, the Aldees of Archionac, of Tedouvana-tan, of Villamour, and some 
other districts, situate to the south of Pondicherry. These lands, which M. Dumas 
sold to the Company, considerably augmented its territorial dominion in this part 
of India. 
The foreign commerce of France was carried, in 1742, to the highest degree of 
importance that it ever attained. Seven ships were sent to India, with cargoes to 
the value of twenty-four millions of livres; so that to prevent the market from be¬ 
ing overstocked, a large part of it was necessarily consigned to the magazines. A 
more powerful marine, at this time, would have fixed for ever the prosperity of the 
French East India Company,* and, consequently, preserved them from the losses 
and disgrace which it has since sustained. 
* See the accounts of M. de la Bourdonnais’s operations, Chapter VI. p. 208, and following. 
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