Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/250

242 rebellion or treachery charged on his memory, unless he opposes the sovereign of sovereigns, the Great Mogul; all the rest is reckoned the common course of politics: for there is scarcely throughout the empire a Nabob, who has not an open or latent competitor. It therefore only remains to speak of the private character of Chunda-saheb, in which he is generally acknowledged to have been a brave, benevolent, humane and generous man, as princes go in Indostan. His military abilities were much greater than are commonly found in the generals of India, insomuch that if he had an absolute command over the French troops, it is believed he would not have committed the mistakes which brought on his catastrophe, and the total reduction of his army.

But signal as these successes were, they were so far from being the means of restoring tranquillity to the Carnatic, that in the very principles which produced them were intermixed the seeds of another more dangerous and obstinate war: and this the Nabob had the anguish to know, whilst he was giving the demonstrations of joy expected from him on successes which appeared so decisive.