Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/79

72 considerable number of sipáhis, and he had, serving under him, a small but select body of Maráthá horse. He was thus as ready to meet any demands the native chiefs might present to him, as these were to make them.

Nor were the English less ready, though from an entirely different cause. They cherished no ideas of supreme influence and supreme authority in southern India. But they were a practical people. They had a superabundance of soldiers. There were many places on the coast the possession of which would open out to them great facilities for the extension of their trade. They were as willing therefore as were the French to lend their soldiers for a consideration. But it must be borne in mind that whilst, in the case of the French, the main consideration was the increase of political influence and political power, in that of the English it was extension and expansion of commerce.

It happened that whilst the rival nations were thus eager to lend their troops, the state of southern India was such that there was likely to be a multiplicity of borrowers. And as it was evident that the two people would not lend their men to the same prince, it followed that the moment the applications should be complied with, the French and English would be arrayed in arms against one another, as completely, though not as avowedly, as though no Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had ever been signed.

In June, 1748, whilst the French and English were combating in the vicinity of Pondichery and Fort