Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/103

96 proposal and the reason for it, and obtained from them general consent. That same day Salábat Jang was released from confinement and proclaimed Subáhdár of the Deccan. Again did Southern India witness a prompt transition from a prison to a throne.

Thus, by a happy act of audacity and decision, did Bussy retain for Dupleix all the advantages which he had gained from his support of Muzaffar Jang. He gained for him and for France others not less precious. One of the first acts of the new Subáhdár was to join to the French possessions at Masulipatam the territories depending on the towns of Nizámpatnam, of Kondavír, of Álamnává, and of Narsápur, in its vicinity. He rebuilt for him the factories of Yanáon; and he presented to Dupleix the town of Mafuz Bandar (Chicacole), in the Ganjám district. A few days later the new Subáhdár set his army in motion, traversed in triumph the territories of the rebel nobles, and finally entered Aurangábád, June 29. Here, in the presence of Bussy and the nobles of the province, Salábat Jang, in virtue of a farmán received from Delhi, was solemnly invested with the dignities appertaining to the office of Subáhdár of the Deccan. In him Dupleix possessed, to the last hour of his life, a true and admiring friend.

By the means related in this chapter Dupleix had, in the early days of 1751, brought French India to the height of its glory and power. Through Bussy and the Subáhdár his influence was supreme in the territories now known as the territories of the Nizám.