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 FATE OF LA BOURDONNAIS. 187 anxiety to answer the charges brought against him being c ^ p - irrepressible. ^ But his reception in France was unfavourable. Accu- 1746. sations were lodged against him of having disregarded the King's orders, of having entered into a secret under- standing with the enemy, of having diverted to his own use the funds of the Company. On these charges he was thrown into the Bastille, and was for three years kept con- fined in that fortress, deprived of the visits of his family, debarred even from the use of pen and ink. When, at the expiration of this period, his innocence* of the charges brought against him was declared, he came out of prison only to die. By means, nevertheless of hand- kerchiefs steeped in rice water, of coffee dregs, and of a pen made of a piece of copper money, he had succeeded in writing his biography — and this, published at a time when the fate of Dupleix was trembling in the balance, contributed not a little to turn the popular feel- ing against that statesman. La Bourdonnais died shortly after his release, on September 9, 1753. But we must turn now to Pondichery, where Dupleix remains undisputed ruler, master of Madras, master even for the moment of the seas. His policy has triumphed, but yet dangers seem to be rising on two sides of him. On the one, England, alarmed at the loss of Madras, is making superhuman efforts to retaliate on Pondichery. On the other, the Nawwab of the Karnatik, jealous of French aggrandisement, is demanding with eager mes- sages the surrender to himself of Madras, the renun- ciation by the French of further designs of conquest, threatening hostilities in case of refusal. In out next chapter will be recorded the consummate skill by which, in this crisis, Pondichery was preserved, Madras retained, and which planned the first direct blow for a French Empire in India. Directors of the East India C mpany ferred, on every account, to be silent, and of the Madras Council to prove
 * It was in the power alone of the the charge of hribery. Both pre-