Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/77

 CHAPTER VI

The Zenith of his Success

When the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle forced the representatives in southern India of the two rival nations to revert to the position each had held before the outbreak of the war, and to exchange promises of amity, the results of the revolution which the victory of Paradis at St. Thomé had brought about became at once apparent. Before that battle had been fought the French and English had been alike regarded as simple traders. Subsequently to St. Thomé, they were looked upon as warriors of a very superior order, whose assistance in quarrels between rival pretenders would bring victory to the pretender whose cause they might be induced to espouse. This feeling especially prevailed with regard to the French, whose capture of Madras and whose repulse of the English from Pondichery had given them a very high prestige. It was impossible, so long as the two nations were openly at war, that the native princes should utilise their superior prowess in the manner indicated. But no sooner had the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ensured a nominal peace between them on Indian soil, than several native princes began to cast about how they could induce the chiefs of the two establishments to