Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/302

260 regions distant from Europe superiority of sea power meant the control of the issues upon the land. The French made great exertions to stop England's sea-roads to India, to drive her fleet off the Indian coasts, and to throw reinforcements into the camps of her Indian opponents; they captured the only good harbour that commands the Indian peninsula, Tricomali in Ceylon, and in conjunction with Hyder Ali they might have taken Madras, if Suffren could have shaken off the English admiral's indomitable grip.

It is no wonder that, during such a struggle, and for some time afterwards, the territorial landmarks of England in India remained stationary, since her resources in men and money barely sufficed to preserve Madras and Bombay from destruction. But the centre and heart of the English power lay in Bengal, which the war never reached at all, and which was governed by a man of rare talent and organizing capacity. No Anglo-Indian government of that time could carry on a campaign by war loans, as in Europe; for its public credit, the sphere within which it could borrow, was confined to the Presidency town. The main cost had to be provided out of revenue, or by requiring subsidies from allied native rulers; and it was Bengal that furnished not only the money and the men, but also the chief political direction and military leadership which surmounted the difficulties and repaired the calamities of the English in the western and southern Presidencies.

When at last the Marathas made peace, when Hyder Ali died, and Suffren, with all his courage and genius,