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 98 Till: RISE OF THE FRENCH POWER IN INDIA. chap, officials holding supreme power, to cripple and thwart , their more capable agents on the spot. In this des- 1743. patch, dated September 18, 1743, he was informed by the Directors that, in consequence of the approaching prospect of a war between France and England, they were compelled to restrict the number of vessels for India to four, two of which were destined for Pondi- chery, and two for Bengal; they then proceeded to press upon him, as the greatest and most important service he could render, (1) the reduction of all the expenses in India by at least one-half; and (2) the suspension of all expenditure on account of building and fortifications. To carry out this service, they added their belief, " that this operation cannot be intrusted to better hands than yours, whose wisdom and zeal are known. It is that which determines it " — the Com- pany — " to charge you alone with the sole execution of this operation, free from consulting with the Council regarding it."* The announcement in this despatch, that a war with their great European rivals in India and on the seas was impending, and the injunction which accompanied it to spend no money on the fortifications — the unsatis- factory condition of which was, nevertheless, known to the Company — must have sounded strange in the ears of Dupleix. Not only were the fortifications in bad order, but on the front facing the sea there was a space of a thousand toises — nearly a mile and a quarter — which was absolutely open. Regarding this in con- nexion with the intimation he had received of the prospect of an European war, in which the enemies of France might obtain the mastery of the Indian seas, he felt that his duty as Governor of Pondichery — a place for which he was responsible to his sovereign — was paramount to every other. The orders which he re- ceived he therefore boldly disregarded. He caused a
 * Memoire pour Dupleix,