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42 a considerable fortune. A portion of this he devoted without stint to the work. From the same source he provided cargoes for the two vessels which, in pursuance of the advices he had received, arrived from France that year, and which, but for his liberality and enterprise, would have returned empty. The other order of the Company he carried out with rigour. He reduced salaries, removed abuses, strangled corruption, until, in spite of the murmurs of some and the more open complaints of others, he brought about the required balance between income and expenditure. The Directors warmly approved all that he had done. His conduct in furnishing cargoes to their vessels caused them to overlook his disobedience regarding the fortifications. Regarding the former they wrote him that they had been 'much pleased at the zeal which he and the Councils of Pondichery and Chandarnagar have displayed for our interests in procuring cargoes for our two ships.' With respect to the fortifications, which took more than two years to complete, they wrote to him under date November 30, 1746: 'The promptitude with which the town of Pondichery has been enclosed on the side facing the sea has given us real pleasure. We are under a great obligation to you on that account:' further, 'we have seen with not the less satisfaction all the measures you have taken, both to provide, notwithstanding your poverty, cargoes for the ships, the sailing of which we had announced to you.'

In 1744 the war of the Austrian succession broke