eem to be dictated by knowledge of Bonaparte's
designs. There was, indeed, every need of vigour. Nowhere had French
and British interests been so constantly in collision as in India. In
1798 France had intrigued with Tippoo Sahib at Seringapatam, and
arranged a treaty for the purpose of expelling the British nation from
India. When in 1799 French hopes were dashed by Arthur Wellesley's
capture of that city and the death of Tippoo, there still remained
some prospect of overthrowing British supremacy by uniting the
restless Mahratta rulers of the north and centre, especially Scindiah
and Holkar, in a powerful confederacy. For some years their armies,
numbering some 60,000 men, had been drilled and equipped by French
adventurers, the ablest and most powerful of whom was M. Perron.
Doubtless it was with the hope of gaining their support that the Czar
Paul and Bonaparte had in 1800 formed the project of invading India by
way of Persia. And after the dissipation of that dream, there still
remained the chance of strengthening the Mahratta princes so as to
contest British claims with every hope of success. Forewarned by the
home Government of Bonaparte's eastern designs, our able and ambitious
Governor-General now prepared to isolate the Mahratta chieftains, to
cut them off from all contact with France, and, if necessary, to
shatter Scindiah's army, the only formidable native force drilled by
European methods.

Such was the position of affairs when General Decaen undertook the
enterprise of revivifying French influences in India.

The secret instructions which he received from the First Consul, dated
January 15th, 1803, were the following:

"To communicate with the peoples or princes who are most impatient
under the yoke of the English Company.... To send home a report six
months after his arrival in India, concerning all information that
he shall have collected, on the strength, the position, and the
feeling of the different peoples of India, as well as on the
strength and position of the different English establishments; ...
his views, and hopes that he might have of finding support, in case
of war, so as to be able to maintain himself in the Peninsula....
Finally, as one must reason on the hypothesis that we should not be
masters of the sea and could hope for slight succour,"

Decaen is to seek among the French possessions or elsewhere a place
serving as a _point d'appui_