Page:History of the French in India.djvu/255

 THE ENGLISH RENEW HOSTILITIES. 233 tory attaching to it, formed a tempting bait to a people chap. possessing a surplus of soldiers, and just resting after a , war which had severely tried their resources. At any 1749. rate it was eagerly grasped at, and in the beginning of April, 1749, a force of 430 Europeans and 1,000 sipahis, under the command of Captain Cope, was de- spatched to re-establish ex-Raja Sahuji on his ancestral throne. In a history relating mainly to the transactions of the French in India, it will be necessary to follow the move- ments of the English only in those instances in which an effect was thereby produced on the policy of their rivals. We do not propose, therefore, to enter into the details of this expedition against Tanjur. The results will be found chronicled hereafter. It is essential, how- ever, that we should allude prominently to the fact of the enterprise, in order to make it clear that in the course which Dupleix adopted at this period, he but followed an example which the English had set him. The main difference between his proceedings and theirs was this, — that whereas in all his undertakings he had a settled purpose and design, — his smallest actions tending to one mighty end, — the English had, for long, no great principle of action, and it was only after a time that they instinctively adopted the policy of offer- ing, on all occasions, a steady opposition to French aggression. In a previous chapter* we have recorded the fate which befell Chanda Sahib in his endeavours to defend Trichinapalli against the army of Raghuji Bhonsla. Taken prisoner by that general, he had been sent off (1741) under a guard to Satara, and there kept for seven years in confinement. Vainly had he exerted his utmost endeavours to effect his release. Although dur- ing that period the Mughals had re-occupied Trichina- palli, although the office of Nawwab of the Karnatik had
 * Chapter III.