Page:History of the French in India.djvu/227

 THE FRENCH AGAIN MOVE ON GUDALUR. 205 upon the English settlement a combined attack by sea chap. and land such as must be fatal. It is difficult to say why the attempt was not made. The importance of it 1747, was undoubtedly obvious to Dupleix. It is probable, however, that he was hampered by the character of his naval and military commanders. Dordelin was feeble and unenterprising; de Bury, as we have seen, worn out and incapable. But though he did not use the squadron for the pur- pose to which he might, under better auspices, have directed it, its presence on the coast was not abso- lutely resultless. The Nawwab, struck by this accession of force, and learning at the same time that the country around Arkat had been ravaged by the French troops, could no longer resist the conclusion that he had en- gaged in a struggle which could but end in loss and dishonour to himself; that the English had evidently been abandoned even by their own countrymen, and that every consideration of policy prompted him to ac- cept the offers of the French Governor. He no longer therefore continued to insist upon the fulfilment of the agreement regarding Madras, but signed at once a treaty, by which the French were confirmed in posses- sion of all the territories which they then held, and the Nawwab agreed to leave the English to their fate. This treaty was ratified by Mafauz Khan in person during a visit of ceremony which he paid to Dupleix at Pondichery, at the end of the following February. Now, at last, the English were apparently in his power. Abandoned by everyone, numbering but three hundred, occupying a position little capable of pro- longed defence, what could possibly save them ? If, at this conjuncture, Dupleix had put into action that great principle of warfare, — a principle appliable alike to all transactions in which men ordinarily engage, — to bring the greatest force to bear on the decisive point of the scene of contest, he must have gained his great end.