Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/159

 CHAPTER XI

THE FALL OF DUPLEIX

Dupleix, whilst determined to maintain his position an Nuwáb of the Karnátik, had authorised his Com- missioners to make such liberal concessions on other points as might, he hoped, induce the English to give way in that one particular. At the first meeting of the Congress, then, they proposed that the arrears due by the English Company on account of the rent for Madras should be remitted, and that thenceforth Madras should become the absolute property of the English; that the expenses they had been put to on account of the war should be defrayed from the revenues of the Karnátik; that the French Company should give to the English Company the necessary securities for freedom of commerce. They proposed to compensate Muhammad Alí by the bestowal upon him of a Government in another part of the Deccan guaranteed to him by the French and English jointly; and to assure to the Rájá of Tanjore, under a similar guarantee, the possession of his territories. They demanded also the evacuation by the English of the fortified places in the interior, with the exception of Punamullu, fifteen miles from Madras, which, with its dependent territories, should become absolutely