Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/48

Rh the settlement on a basis which would have made it the first of the European settlements in southern India. But at the very moment when he should have received support, he met only with discouragement. In a despatch dated September 18, 1743, the Directors of the Perpetual Company informed him that in view of the probability of a war between France and England they were compelled to restrict the number of their vessels for India to four, two of which only were destined for Pondichery. They pressed upon him at the same time the necessity of reducing his expenses by at least one-half; and of suspending all outlay on account of the fortifications.

How to act in the face of such an order? Such was the question Dupleix had to solve. The order regarding the fortifications touched him most. He knew, and he was aware that the Directors knew, that the defences of Pondichery were in a state almost to invite attack. The original fortifications were crumbling, and, on the side of the sea—the side which specially required protection—there was a space of a thousand toises absolutely open. The way in which Dupleix acted on this occasion affords a key to his character. Recognising that, under the circumstances, to obey was to invite destruction, and that, as Director-General, he was really though not nominally responsible to the France which he represented, he disobeyed the order. Along the entire front of the space spoken of he erected a solid rampart with a broad ditch in front and rear. He had amassed by successful trading