Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/84

Rh portion of the territories of the Nuwáb of the Karnátik. The battle of Ambur had assured to Chandá Sáhib all the remainder. Of the districts which he claimed Trichinopoli alone remained unconquered. He knew the place well, for he had defended it against the Maráthás, and his surrender of it had cost him seven years of captivity. Dupleix was very urgent with him to march upon it without delay. Until he had it, he told him, he could not reckon on maintaining his position. It was above all necessary that the Karnátik should be cleared of foes before the greater enterprise against Nádir Jang should be undertaken. The remonstrances on the part of Dupleix against delay were very urgent indeed. There were, however, circumstances which seemed to Chandá Sáhib so full of the possibilities of danger on the one side, and so replete with temptations on the other, that he long hesitated as to the course he should follow. To enable the reader to judge the position I must recount the action of the English, during the period just covered by the story.

I have stated that the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle had found the English, scarcely less than their rivals, with a plethora of soldiers. A tempting offer made to them by a pretender to the throne of Tánjore to cede to them the town of Devikota, advantageously situated on the coast 120 miles south of Madras on the Kólrun, the great northern artery of the Káveri, and to pay all the expenses of the war, was eagerly grasped at, and in April, 1749, Captain Cope had