puted the viceroyalty with his uncle, Nazir Jing, was slain soon after in battle, and succeeded in the subahship of the Decan by Sallabat Jing, another uncle; who being conducted by a body of French troops to Aurangabad, the capital of the province, there governed in security, under the protection of France, independent of the great mogul, to whose authority he bid defiance. Both this prince and his predecessors made liberal cessions to their European benefactors.

Before M. Dupleix had thus far succeeded in his plan, he was enabled to procure the nabobship of Arcot, in which Pondicherry is situated, for a man whose attachment and submission might be depended on. The person singled out for that purpose was Chunda Saheb, son-in-law to a former nabob, whom he had hoped to succeed. But the court of Delhi disappointed his ambition, by bestowing the nabobship of Arcot upon Anawardean Khan, an aged prince, whose fortune had undergone a variety of revolutions. Through the intrigues of Dupleix, however, and the assistance of French troops, Chunda Saheb vanquished, his rival, who fell in battle, and obtained a grant of the disputed government from Murzafa Jing.

The new nabob vigorously supported the French in their usurpations. They became masters of an immense territory, extending six hundred miles along the coast of Coromandel. M. Dupleix had even the address to get himself appointed nabob of the Carnatic during the life of Chunda Saheb. And he and his associates in the east, encouraged in their ambitious views by the court of Versailles, (though afterward timidly abandoned by it) proposed to obtain from the great mogul, or from the subah of the Decan, a cession of the capital of the Portuguese settlements on the coast of Malabar, and to seize upon the whole country that lies, in a triangular form, between Mazulipatnam, Goa, and Cape Comorin3.

In

5. These ambitious projects are owned by Voltaire, Raynal, and other French writers. And Mr. Orme, one of the most judicious English writers

In the meantime, Mahommed Ally, son of the late nabob of Arcot, having taken shelter in Tritchinopoly, a strong fortress still in his possession, implored the assistance of the English, with whom his father had lived in friendship. And, in order to induce them to espouse his cause, he represented that his interests and theirs were intimately connected; that their danger was common; as the French, if suffered to proceed in their conquests, would soon make themselves masters of all the Carnatic. He accordingly received a reinforcement under major Lawrence, a brave and experienced officer; and the enemy being compelled to retire from Tritchinopoly, he went in person to fort St. David, and entered into close alliance with the governor, in the name of the English East-India company, to which he gave up some commercial points, of no small moment, that had been long disputed.

Mahommed Ally, in consideration of this alliance, received another reinforcement under captain Cope, and a third under captain Gingen. A number of actions took place, and with great diversity of fortune. Sometimes victory declared for the French, and sometimes for the English. But no decisive advantage had been gained before the campaign of 1751, when a great military character appeared on that theatre where he was afterward to make so distinguished a figure.

This was the famous Mr. Clive, who had gone out to fort St. David as a writer, or accomptant, to the English East-India company, and was at that time commissary to the army. He proposed to divide the French force, by attacking Arcot, the capital of the province of the same name, and the seat of the nabob. Being furnished, for that purpose, with one hundred and thirty European soldiers, he accordingly repaired to Madras; where receiving a small reinforcement, he happily accomplished his enterprize. Arcot was taken.

on the affairs of Indostan, imputes to M. Dupleix yet more extensivé plans of dominion.

But

But before the victor had leisure to secure his conquest, or to think of a retreat, he was besieged in the place, by a numerous army of French and Indians, under raja Saheb, the son of Chunda Saheb.

The ruin of captain Clive and his brave associates seemed now inevitable; and the more timid began to represent it (as posterity certainly would, if it had taken place) as the natural consequence, and just punishment, of his presumptuous rashness. By his courage and conduct, however, he repelled all the efforts of the assailants; who, having suffered severely in many desperate attacks, were forced to relinquish their enterprize, after a vigorous siege of fifty days. This defence is memorable in the annals of war. It was maintained with wonderful intrepidity and perseverance against greatly superior numbers, provided with skilful engineers, by a handful of men, under a young commander, in a great measure ignorant of the military science; but the resources suggested by whose genius were such as would have been employed by the greatest masters in the art of defending fortified places.

Receiving soon after a reinforcement under captain Kirkpatrick, captain Clive pursued the enemy; and coming up with them in the plains of Arni, gained a complete victory, after an obstinate dispute of five hours. But this victory did not put an end to the war. The French, who were still powerful at Pondicherry, quickly assembled a new army, and took the field in conjunction with their allies Sallabat Jing and Chunda Saheb. The English, who persevered in supporting Mahommed Ally, were joined by the raja of Tanjour, and other princes in their alliance. Major Lawrence assumed the chief command of the company's troops; and captain Clive, who shared his confidence, acted under him, and continued to give fresh proofs of his military genius. The whole peninsula

6. Orme's Hist. of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in ́ Indostan, book iii.

of

of India rung with the din of arms, and some of its finest provinces were laid waste. At length, after a variety of efforts, in which the advantage was generally in favour of the English, the French and their allies were effectually humbled; and Chunda Saheb being made prisoner by the raja of Tanjour, that prince cruelly, but politically, commanded his head to be struck off, in order to prevent future disputes.

In consequence of this success, the French were stript of many of their late acquisitions. Mahommed Ally remained undisputed nabob of Arcot; and the ambitious and enterprising Dupleix being recalled in 1754, a cessation of arms took place between the hostile powers, as a prelude to a treaty of peace. A conditional treaty was accordingly negociated, by which the French and English companies agreed forever to renounce all oriental government and dignity; never to interfere in any disputes that might arise between the princes of the country; and that all places, except such as were particularly stipulated to remain in the possession of each company, should be delivered up to the government of Indostan7. These stipulations it is unnecessary to enumerate, as they were never fulfilled. Before this conditional treaty had received the sanction of the two companies in Europe, a new war between the two nations broke out in another quarter of the globe, and soon embroiled the whole world.

The province of Nova-Scotia in North-America, to which the French gave the name of l'Acadie, was ceded to Great-Britain, as we have seen, at the peace of Utrecht. But the soil being reputed barren, and the climate intensely cold, only a few English families settled in that much contested country, notwithstanding its advantageous situation for carrying on the fishing trade, and its abounding in naval stores; so that the French inhabitants, having taken the oath of allegiance to their new so

7. Id. Ibid.

vereign, continued to enjoy their possessions, their religion, and every other privilege, under the British government, which exacted from them neither rent nor taxes. As they were exempted from the obligation of carrying arms against the subjects of his most Christian majesty, they assumed to themselves the name of neutrals. This peaceful character, which they were bound by every tie of honour and gratitude to maintain, they shamefully violated in 1746, when France attempted to regain possession of the country. Their conduct on that occasion, though not altogether hostile, was utterly inconsistent with their political situation, and sufficiently shewed the necessity of peopling Nova-Scotia with British subjects; as well to secure its dependence as a colony, as to render it of any benefit to the mother-country; the neutrals being clandestinely supplied with French commodities from Cana da and Cape-Breton3.

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which left a number of men, belonging to the sea and land-service, without employment, was highly favourable to such a project. The British ministry accordingly offered great encouragement to all soldiers, sailors, artificers, and reduced officers, who chose to settle in Nova-Scotia. Beside large lots of land, proportionate to their rank in the army or navy, government engaged to pay the charge of their passage, to build them housse, to furnish them with all the necessary utensils for husbandry and the fishery, and to defray the expense of subsistence for the first year. In consequence of this liberality, about three thousand families, many of whom were German protestants, embarked for Nova-Scotia. The town of Halifax, intended as a naval and military station, in order to repress the encroach. ments of the French, was built, and the harbour strongly fortified.

Now it was that the disputes, between France and England, concerning the limits of Nova-Scotia (which

8. Contin, of Rapin, vol. ix.

had