Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/75

68 before the siege had been thought of. The French had Pondichery and Madras, the English only Fort St. David and the adjoining town of Gudálur. The English troops in that fort had indeed been slightly increased in number, but, early in the following year (1749), the reception by Dupleix of reinforcements to the extent of 200 men restored to the French their considerable numerical superiority. Dupleix was once more planning the reopening of operations against Fort St. David when he received information of the signing of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, one clause of which necessitated the mutual restitution of conquests. With a bitter pang, then, he was compelled to restore to his late besiegers the Madras which he had gained by so much daring, and at the expense of breaking his intimate relations with the princes of the soil, a Madras much improved and strengthened. After five years of contest he found himself in the position, as far as possessions were concerned, in which he had been when he entered upon the strife. But his reputation, his prestige, and the reputation and prestige of his countrymen, had enormously increased. That of the English, by the capture of Madras, by their striking failure before Pondichery, had proportionately diminished. There can be no doubt but that, at this time, the French stood far higher in the estimation of the native princes and people than did their rivals. It was clear to Dupleix, even when he restored Madras, that this higher prestige would stand him in good stead in