Page:History of the French in India.djvu/123

 PROPOSES NEUTRALITY TO THE ENGLISH. much for the endurance of France, and in the month of March, 1744, she formerly declared war against England. It will thus be seen, that the event which now took place had been long expected, that the breaking out of war had been regarded as a mere question of time, We have seen how Dupleix prepared himself to meet those hostilities when they should come. We have now to regard him in a different aspect, to notice how earnestly and indefatigably he strove to ward them off altogether. When the Directors of the Company of the Indies intimated to their Governor-General at Pondichery, that war with England was inevitable, they apprised him at the same time that they had instructed the Governor of the Isle of France, M. de la Bourdonnais, to proceed with a squadron to his assistance, but they especially urged upon him to endeavour to bring about a treaty of neutrality with the Governor of the English settlement, and to arrange with him that the commercial operations of both countries with India should continue without molestation from either. Those instructions found Dupleix in the very mood to comply with them, though very little hopeful of success in the negotiation. Of the movements of La Bourdonnais he had no positive knowledge. Even before the declaration of war, the English cruisers had spread themselves over the Indian seas, ready to carry devastation into French commerce.* Yet from stray vessels, and from other sources, intima- tion had reached him that a squadron under Commodore Barnet was on its way out, especially charged with the entire destruction of the French settlement. Nevertheless he made the attempt, earnestly, almost beseechingly. But Mr. Morse, the Governor of Madras, and his Council, had precisely the same reasons for Indies had made great progress since the time of Lenoir. In 1740 the Company possessed forty large ships fitted for the Indian trade. Ten or twelve of these were sent every year to the Indies. — Hi stair e des Indes.
 * The French commerce with the