Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/44

Rh life of sloth and lassitude. Their utmost endeavours were directed to surmount pressing emergencies. The place bore evidence of the want of enterprise of its occupants. It had a ruined and forlorn appearance. Its silent walls were overgrown with jungle. And whilst the swift stream of the Húglí carried past it merchandise from the interior intended for the rivals who were converting the mud huts of Chatánatí into the substantial warehouses of old Calcutta, the landing-places of Chandarnagar were comparatively deserted.

Such was Chandarnagar when Dupleix arrived there as Intendant in 1731. Decaying and lifeless though he found the place, he regarded its position with other feelings than those of anxiety and dismay. He saw that it had capabilities; that it might be made as prosperous as Chatánatí; that energy and prudence, directing capital, could accomplish results which would startle his sluggish colleagues. He set to work with a will; employed the fortune he had accumulated at Pondichery in the purchase of ships; freighted cargoes; opened communications with the interior; induced native merchants to settle in the town. His compatriots, gained by his energy, joined him in the race for prosperity. He had room for all. To some he advanced money, others he took into partnership, all he encouraged. Chandarnagar soon felt the effect of the master's hand. Four years after his arrival the settlement which, in 1731, had but half a dozen country-boats lying unemployed at the