Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/186

 BOOK III.

FOREIGN ADVENTURERS IN INDIA.

After the failures of the direct attempts made by Dupleix, by Lally, and by Suffren to establish French domination in Southern India, there remained to the Latin race but one mode of counteracting the progress of the English. That mode may be described in a few words. To enable the princes of India to meet the English successfully in the field it was necessary above all things to impart to their troops a thorough knowledge of European discipline and a complete acquaintance with the system of European strategy. To this somewhat venturesome task the sons of France bent themselves with untiring energy. They gave to it often their lives, almost always their every faculty. They had much to aid them. The native princes who employed them knew at least that their