Page:History of the French in India.djvu/117

 DUPLEIX ASSUMES THE REINS. 95 have run counter to the ideas of his immediate superior, chap. The very promptness of Dupleix's acts must have made, 1 L _ them often appear rash and precipitate in the eyes of 1741, men of prudence and caution. Difference of opinion on these points had latterly arisen between himself and M. Dumas, and Dupleix, chafing under a control which he felt to be unwise, and believed to be unauthorised, had requested M. Godeheu, a member of his Council, who was returning to Europe, to explain, more fully than he could write, the exact state of affairs. The Directors at Paris entered fully into the views of their agent at Chandranagar, from whose daring yet practical genius they had so largely benefited, and, on the resig- nation of M. Dumas, they appointed Dupleix to succeed him at Pondichery. He was installed there in the month of October, 1741 * He left Chandranagar, which he had found almost a ruin, the most important European settlement in Bengal, possessing two thousand brick houses, an extensive trade, and unsurpassed credit. He had made for him- self, by private trade — a proceeding not only allowed but encouraged by the Directors — an enormous fortune. In the early part of the year in which he was appointed to Pondichery, Dupleix had married the widow of one of his councillors, Madame Vincens,f a lady who had been born and educated in India, but whose strong yet devoted character and brilliant intellect made her an admirable companion for the far-sighted and deep- scheming politician. Her proficiency in the native languages rendered her aid invaluable to Dupleix in his confidential dealing with native princes. She likewise gives the exact date of the appoint- visited Chandranagar in 1742 may ment of Dupleix. The writer of the have misled the other authorities, article on Dupleix in the National t She was the daughter of a M. Review, and the Nouvelle Biographie Albert, a Frenchman. Her mother Generate give 1742, but the Archives belonged to the Portuguese family of de la Compagnie des Indes give the De Castro. By M. Vincens, her pre- month of October, 1741, as the pre- vious husband, she had six children, cise date; and this is undoubtedly
 * Neither Mr. Orme nor Mr. Mill correct. The fact that Dupleix