Page:History of the French in India.djvu/57

 MARTIN APPOINTED DIRECTOR-GENERAL. 35 restitution of all places taken on both sides, both in chap. and out of Europe ; and at the close of that article was 1 _ a clause in which the fortress of Pondichery was ig9 7< particularly mentioned, with an especial proviso, that its fortifications should not be destroyed, but that it should be delivered up in its then condition. Pondichery thus recovered, the French Company resolved that it should not easily again slip from their possession. Martin was at once appointed to the command of the place, and instructions were given him to add still further to its strength. It was agreed to reimburse to the Dutch 16,000 pagodas, which they asserted they had expended on the fortifications. A squadron was at the same time sent out to India, having on board two hundred regular troops, several engineers, a large supply of military stores, several heavy and field-guns, and materials in abundance for the use of the settlement. On arriving at his destination, Martin commenced the work of improvement. He enlarged and strengthened the fortifications, and collected a garrison of between seven and eight hundred Europeans ; he laid out a plan for a large town, the erection of which he commenced. In little more than a year, a hundred new houses had been erected, and the place presented such an improved appearance, that, it is stated, a person who had only seen it in 1693 would not have recognised it. Nor did he omit to renew his relations with the natives. By the same course of gentleness and straightforward dealing which he had formerly followed, he attracted them in great numbers to the settlement, so much so that on his death, in 1706, the native town was computed to contain nearly forty thousand inhabitants. We have stated that on the abandonment of Mada- gascar in 1672, the supreme French authority in India was transferred to Surat. But, in 1701, less than three years after the re-occupation of Pondichery, the trade at d 2