Page:History of the French in India.djvu/24

 THE EARLY FRENCH IN INDIA. subordinate the vast empire of the Mughal to a European will. He was a French statesman who first conceived the idea of conquering India by the aid of Indians — of arm- ing, drilling, and training natives after the fashion of European soldiers, thus forming the germ of that sipahf army which has since become so famous. They were French soldiers who first demonstrated on the field of battle the superiority of a handful of disciplined Europeans to the uncontrolled hordes of Asia. As we contemplate, indeed, the great achievements of France on the soil of Hindustan ; as we read the numerous examples of the mighty conceptions, the heroic actions, the mental vigour, and the indomitable energy displayed there by her children, we cannot but marvel at the sud- den destruction of hopes so great, of plans so vast and deep-laid. There may be, indeed there always are, many excuses for ill-success. Sometimes failure is to be attributed solely to the superior skill, genius, and force of character of an adversary. Sometimes, the hostile intervention of a third party, or his failure to keep engagements made with a principal, tends to the same result. But there are other fluctuating causes, which are often more influential still. An acute attack of a pros- trating disease prevented the destruction of the Russian army at Borodino, and thus caused the annihilation of the soldiers of Napoleon in the snows of Russia. A careless movement on the part of Marshal Marmont, induced by a feverish desire to monopolise to himself the glory of expelling the English from Spain, brought on that battle of Salamanca which was the turning- point of the Peninsular war. The storm on the after- noon and night of June 17 materially affected the move- ments of the French Emperor at Waterloo, and con- tributed to the actual result of that famous battle. The misdirection of a despatch brought on the battle of Navarino ; and it is believed in Vienna that the accidental absence of the Austrian General from his