Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/78

Rh espouse their cause. One circumstance contributed largely to the success of the idea which these chiefs cherished. The treaty had left the French and English in southern India with a far greater number of European troops at their disposal than were required for a peace establishment. Unless they could profitably employ some of these, the respective Governors of Pondichery and Madras, of Pondichery especially, would be reduced to considerable straits to meet the expenditure thereby caused. It was likely, then, that any proposal from a native prince of position made to Dupleix to hire the superabundant troops at his disposal, either for payment in money or a grant of territory, or for both combined, would meet with a ready assent. The reader will have seen that the battle of St. Thomé had produced upon his mind an effect greater even than it had produced on the minds of the princes of the soil. It had opened out a vista of supremacy scarcely bounded by the Vindhyan range. He had already, in his imagination, so manipulated the native princes as to acquire, first, a supreme influence; secondly, supreme power, south of that range. He had felt quite certain that, sooner or later, his assistance would be implored. Already he had intimate relations with influential chiefs, and he knew, far better than his rivals knew, how to work their passions to the development of his idea. Added to this, he had at his disposal a larger number of European troops than the English could muster; he had trained, on the European model, a