the chief seat of the English power and trade in that direction; and, in 1687, the seat of the presidency was transferred to Bombay from Surat. Sir John Child was the first president of Bombay; and his bad government and dishonest policy, which, among other results, caused a brief war with Aurungzebe, involved the company's affairs abroad, reduced their dividend at home, and led to the formation of a new East India Company. The two were, after a year or two's contention, united, and the new charter already mentioned* was granted. We have stated, that besides the active hostility of the Portuguese and Dutch, the English merchants and settlers had to contend against the rivalry of the French, whose first adventure to India was made in 1601, when two ships were fitted out at St. Malo for the East, but were wrecked before they reached their destination. In 1604, the first French East India Company was incorporated by Henry IV.: it met with little success; and it was not till 1672, that M. Martin purchased from the King of Visiapoor, a village on the Carnatic coast, called Pondicherry, with a small tract of land adjoining. Here he effected a settlement, and the village was soon transferred into a populous and flourishing city, which became the capital of the French possessions subsequently acquired. In 1693, the Dutch took Pondicherry, the fortifications of which they greatly strengthened; restoring it, four years after, thus improved, into the hands of the French. Chandernagore, on the west bank of the Hooghly, about twenty miles above Calcutta, was another settlement possessed by the French, whose Eastern trade, early in the eighteenth century, became of considerable importance.

The Danes and Swedes were induced to turn their attention to the East, by the successes of the Dutch and Portuguese. The latter met with very little temporary, and no permanent, success. In Denmark, an East India Company was established at Copenhagen, in 1612; and a vessel arrived on the coast of Coromandel, from that country, in 1616. The strangers were kindly received by the Rajah of Tanjore, from whom they purchased the village of Tranquebar, with the small adjacent territory. They erected there the fort of Danesburgh; and though the company was unsuccessful, and surrendered its charter in 1624, the sovereign retained possession of this settleSee ante, p. 11.

ment, the revenues of which were made to pay its current expenses.

The French and Danes held the territories they had acquired in the early part of the eighteenth century; and at the same time, the Portuguese, Dutch, and English possessions comprised the following cities, towns, factories, forts, and settlements :

Damaun, Bassein, Choul, and Diu. The islands of PORTUGUESE.- City of Goa; the fortresses of Timor, Solor, and Macao.

DUTCH. (For the most part, conquests from the Portuguese.) The town of Negapatam, in Tanjore. The factories of Chinsura, Hooghly, Cossimbazar, Dacca, Patna, and some others, in Bengal. The posts and stations of Ahmedabad,† Agra,‡ and Baroach. On the Malabar coast, Cochin, Cranganore, Coulan or Quilon, and Cananore: with governments or factories in Ceylon, Java, Malacca, Amboyna, Banda, Ternate, Surinam, Siam, Macassar, Tonquin, and Japan.

ENGLISH.-The Presidency of Bengal comprised, in its jurisdiction, the factories of Surat, Swally, Baroach, Ahmedabad, Agra, and Lucknow. On the Anjengo; and the factory of Calicut. On the CoroMalabar coast, the forts of Carwar, Tellicherry, and mandel coast, the establishments of Jinjee and Orissa.-In the Madras Presidency were the city of Madras, the Fort of St. George, Fort St. David, Cuddalore, Porto Novo, Pettipolee, Masulipatam, Madapollam, and Vizagapatam.-In the Presidency of Calcutta were the factories of Balasore, Cossimbazar, Dacca, Hooghly, Malda, Rajmahal, and Patna; the city of Calcutta, and Fort William.-On the island of Sumatra, there were the factories and settlements of York Fort, Bencoolen, Indrapore, Priaman, and Sillebar, with dependent stations.

Of all the possessions of the English, Madras appears, at this period, to have been the most important as a commercial and populous city. Charles Lockyer, writing in 1711, describes it as "a port of the greatest consequence to the East India Company, for its strength, wealth, and the great returns made yearly in calicoes and muslins." It was divided into the English city and the Black city, both being strongly fortified; with "plenty of guns, and much ammunition;" which rendered it "a bugbear to the Moors, and a sanctuary to the fortunate people living in it," whose "singular decorum" Mr. Lockyer praises highly.

The Mogul empire, at the opening of the century, was already diminished by the loss of many important provinces: Cabool, Scinde, and Moultan; Cashmere, the Punjaub, Malwa, and Oude, were severed from the empire, and governed by independent chiefs.-The Rajpoot states of Jeypoor, Joudpoor, and Oodipoor, were tributary to the emperor.-Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, † Abandoned in 1716. Abandoned in 1744.

or any subordinate authorities, for the purpose of advancing what they conceived to be the interest of their masters.

The differences between the governments of England and France, which commenced in the support extended by the latter to the Stuart family, and were increased by the wars of the Spanish succession, after a peace of some years, broke out again upon the question connected with the right of Maria Theresa to the throne of Austria, which was contested by the Elector of Bavaria. England supported Maria Theresa; while France took the side of Charles Albert; and in 1744, the government of Louis XV. declared war against England, on the ground that her sovereign had violated his neutrality, and had dissuaded the court of Vienna against acceding to an accommodation."-This war, momentous in many of its consequences, gave rise to hostilities in India, which continued for about half a century, and ended in the complete triumph of the English over their antagonists.

When this war commenced, Joseph Dupleix, who had originally gone out to India in a mercantile capacity, and had raised the factory of Chandernagore to a great pitch of prosperity, was governor-general of Pondicherry, and director-general of the French factories in India. The French had proposed, that a system of neutrality should be observed in that country; but the terms they offered were rejected; and a small English squadron of three ships of the line and a frigate, was sent out, under Commodore Barnet, which, in the summer of 1745, made captures of several richly-laden French ships, on their voyage home from China. Commodore Barnet shortly after died, and the command devolved on Captain Peyton, who showed himself deficient in enterprise, if not in courage, and proved unequal to the emergency. At this time, Pondicherry, though its fortifications had been greatly improved by the Dutch, was far from impregnable; and its European garrison was little more than 400 in number. Before a bold and determined effort the place must have fallen: this Dupleix apprehended would be the result; and he solicited assistance from the nabob of the province, Anwar-ooDeen. This prince appears to have enter tained a wish to be considered the protector of both parties; for whilst he ostentatiously informed the English governor of Madras, that he would avenge any injury offered to

the French, he also told M. Dupleix that he would not allow him to take any offensive steps against the English stations. The interference of the nabob, aided by the inactivity of Captain Peyton, preserved Pondicherry for that time; and in June, 1746, a French squadron arrived in the Indian Ocean, under Bernard Francis Mahe de la Bourdonnais, an officer of great talent, who had been for some years governor of Mauritius. Shortly after his arrival, he encountered the English force under Captain Peyton, and an engagement took place, which appears not to have reflected honour on either party, and to have been quite indecisive in its results. Shortly after, Captain Peyton sailed into the Bay of Bengal, leaving Madras, which was much more indefensible than Pondicherry, to its fate, should the French determine to attack it.

If there had been an English commander in India at that time, at all adequate to the services required of him, the fate of the French fleet, and of Pondicherry also, would have been soon decided. The ships of La Bourdonnais were ill-manned and illprovided. It was his desire to attack Madras; but he was unable to do so without a fresh supply of guns, which Dupleix, out of a feeling of jealousy, it is said, refused to furnish him with. However, he managed, by patience and perseverance, to get his crew in better order; also to obtain a meagre supply of ordnance and ammunition, with a small military force of Europeans and sepoys; and on the 3rd of September he arrived before Madras. He did not land till the 14th; and, as there was no means of defence, in less than a week the place capitulated. The terms granted were generous; for, though all the property in the company's warehouses was seized, La Bourdonnais pledged himself to surrender the place, if a ransom, to be fixed at a moderate amount, were paid. The nabob, Anwar-oo-Deen, was greatly enraged at the capture of Madras, and dispatched a messenger to Dupleix, to inform him that he would send an army to retake that town, if it were not immediately restored. Dupleix acted with great duplicity. On the one hand, he promised that the town should be given up when the ransom was paid; on the other, he refused to ratify the terms of capitulation agreed to by La Bourdonnais; and insisted that Madras should either be retained as a French settlement, or razed to the ground. As the terms of the capitula

tion were not kept, the British officers and civilians, who were at liberty on their parole, conceived they were not obliged to observe it. Several of them succeeded in making their escape, and went to Fort St. David: amongst them was Robert Clive, afterwards the celebrated Lord Clive, then a writer in the company's service. Before the two French commanders had settled their dispute, a violent storm inflicted such damage upon the fleet (reinforced, since the fall of Madras, by the arrival of three ships of the line from Europe), that its commander, to avoid the consequences anticipated from a change in the monsoon, returned to the Mauritius. He was obliged to leave his troops behind him; and, on his departure, Dupleix-having also received an accession of strength from other quarters-found that he had 3,000 men at his disposal. He soon after defeated a much larger force, which the nabob, in conformity with his threat, sent against Madras; and this was the first time that a small European army had defeated a native one three or four times as numerous; and the native chiefs appear to have been struck with the effect of discipline over mere numbers, of which that defeat was an example.

The defeat of the nabob's force was the signal for a very unjust proceeding on the part of M. Dupleix. He immediately annulled the capitulation to which M. La Bourdonnais had agreed, and ordered all the property of the inhabitants of Madras to be seized, except "their wearing apparel, household furniture, and the jewels of the women." His commands were unhesitatingly obeyed by his troops; and the inhabitants were reduced to great distress. These events occupied the winter. In the spring of 1747, with a body of 1,700 men, mostly Europeans, Dupleix laid siege to Fort St. David, twelve miles south of Pondicherry. The garrison consisted only of 200 Europeans and 100 native troops; but the advance of a large force, sent by the nabob, compelled the assailants to retreat, with the loss of twelve killed and 120 wounded. When the French appeared before this fort, Robert Clive enrolled himself as one of its defenders he shouldered a musket, took his turn of duty with the rest of the garrison, and received an ensign's commission for the good service he rendered.-Driven from St. David's, M. Dupleix planned an expedition against Cuddalore, a town situated about a mile from Fort St. David, where the prin

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cipal Indian merchants, and many natives in the employ of the company, resided. force of 500 men was embarked in boats, and ordered to enter the river on which Cuddalore stands, in the night. As soon as day dawned they were to commence the attack; but a storm arose, dispersed the boats, and the enterprise was not at that time resumed.

In January, 1748, Major Stringer Lawrence arrived at Fort St. David. He held a commission to command all the company's forces in India; and was the first officer who introduced a regular discipline among the British forces in that country, and trained the natives in an European manner. An English squadron arrived about the same time, which remained in the neighbourhood till June; when, it having sailed for Madras, M. Dupleix determined again to attack Cuddalore. A force of 800 Europeans and 1,000 sepoys was dispatched against that place from Pondicherry, and they arrived at the hills of Bandapolam, within three miles of it, on the morning of the 17th of June. Their intention being to take the town by surprise, they halted till night; and Major Lawrence, having been made aware of their design, withdrew the garrison, and removed the guns to Fort St. David, with the view of inducing the French to believe that he did not think the place tenable. As soon as the shades of night came on, the men were marched back, and the cannon replaced; and when the French advanced at midnight, with scaling-ladders, and were about to place them against the walls, they were received with such a fierce discharge of musketry and grapeshot, that their advance was at once arrested: a panic ensued, and they made a precipitate retreat. The gallant band who thus repulsed these 1,800 men, did not exceed 400 in number.*

On the 29th of July, Admiral Boscawen arrived at Fort St. David, having under his orders the most powerful marine force that any European power had ever had in the East Indies. It consisted of more than thirty ships, none of which were less than 500 tons burthen. A land force was joined with this naval expedition; and the admiral received a commission from the king as general and commander-in-chief of the army, as well as admiral of the fleet. The great object of the expedition was the capture of Pondicherry; and the troops being • The East India Military Calendar.