is
from following up the advantage of his victory, and he failed in his
attempts to engage the English fleet, and, in consequence, returned to
France, and died from the effects of an unjust imprisonment in the
Bastile.

Dupleix, after the departure of La Bourdonnais, brought the principal
inhabitants of Madras to Pondicherry. But some of them contrived to
escape. Among them was the celebrated Clive, then a clerk in a
mercantile house. He entered as an ensign into the company's service,
and soon found occasion to distinguish himself.

But Dupleix, master of Madras, now formed the scheme of founding an
Indian empire, and of expelling the English from the Carnatic. And
India was in a state to favor his enterprises. The empire of the Great
Mogul, whose capital was Delhi, was tottering from decay. It had been,
in the sixteenth century, the most powerful empire in the world. The
magnificence of his palaces astonished even Europeans accustomed to
the splendor of Paris and Versailles. His viceroys ruled over
provinces larger and richer than either France or England. And even
the lieutenants of these viceroys frequently aspired to independence.

The Nabob of Arcot was one of these latter princes. He hated the
French, and befriended the English. On the death of the Viceroy of the
Deccan, to whom he was subject, in 1748, Dupleix conceived his
gigantic scheme of conquest. To the throne of this viceroy there were
several claimants, two of whom applied to the French for assistance.
This was what the Frenchman desired, and he allied himself with the
pretenders. With the assistance of the French, Mirzappa Juy obtained
the viceroyalty. Dupleix was splendidly rewarded, and was intrusted
with the command of seven thousand Indian cavalry, and received a
present of two hundred thousand pounds.

The only place on the Carnatic which remained in possession of the
rightful viceroy was Trichinopoly, and this was soon invested by the
French and Indian forces.

To raise this siege, and turn the tide of French conquest, became the
object of Clive, then twenty-five years of age. He represented to his
superior the importance of this post, and also of striking a decisive
blow. He suggested the plan of an attack on Arcot itself, the
residence of the nabob. His project was approved, and he was placed at
the head of a force of three hundred sepoys and two hundred
Englishmen. The city was taken by surprise, and its capture induced
the nabob to reli