Page:History of the French in India.djvu/608

 582 THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE. chap. Thenceforth the attempt was renounced, and partisans , '., and adventurers represented France at the courts of 1761. native princes, and endeavoured, though in vain, to accomplish by their means the result, which at the period we have described, had been indeed possible, but which, after January 16, 1761, was for ever illusory and hopeless. But was there not, it may be asked, something due to the different characters of the rival nations, that con- tributed to a result so disastrous to France ? Much, very much, in our opinion. England, doubtless, in the greater wealth of her East India Company, in the greater influence of its Directors with the government, and in her free parliamentary system, possessed advan- tages which were denied to France. We believe that the fact that the Directors of the East India Company were often members of parliament, and as such pos- sessed considerable influence with the Ministry of the day, tended not a little to that prompt action of the latter, to that despatch of royal fleets to defend the Company's possessions, which acted so favourably for English interests. Under the despotic system of France such action was but seldom taken ; the Com- pany was, except in rare instances, left to defend its possessions with its own ships alone. Whilst England, working in unison with its East India Company, saw clearly that imperial interests required her to use im- perial means to defend the settlements of the Company, the France of Louis XV., throughout the epoch of which we have written, but once raised herself to the height of regarding India from an imperial point of view, and then, as we have seen, displayed a want of a resolute and decided policy, which rendered success im- possible. But, though this circumstance mainly caused the fall of French India, there were other circumstances dependent on the character of the agents on the spot,