ndernagore desolated that, in November of the same year, we read
that the English army, under Colonel Forde, was ambushed by the
Dutch garrison of Chinsurah "amongst the buildings and ruins of
Chandernagore."

From Chandernagore Courtin went to Pondicherry, where he became a
member of the Superior Council. He was one of the chiefs of the
faction opposed to Lally, who contemptuously mentions a printed
"Memorial" of his adventures which Courtin prepared, probably for
presentation to the Directors of the French East India Company.[169]
When, in January, 1761, Lally determined to capitulate, Courtin was
sent to the English commander on the part of the Council. Still
later we find his name attached to a petition, dated August 3, 1762,
presented to the King against Lally.[170] This shows that Courtin
had arrived in France, so that his elevation to the Council of the
Company is by no means improbable.

To any one who has lived long in India it seems unnatural that in
old days the small colonies of Europeans settled there should have
been incited to mutual conflict and mutual ruin, owing to quarrels
which originated in far-off Europe, and _which were decided without
any reference to the wishes or interests of Europeans living in the
colonies_. The British Settlements alone have successfully survived
the struggle. The least we can do is to acknowledge the merits,
whilst we commiserate the sufferings, of those other gallant men who
strove their best to win the great prize for their own countrymen.
Of the French especially it would appear that their writers have
noticed only those like Dupleix, Bussy, and Lally, who commanded
armies in glorious campaigns that somehow always ended to the
advantage of the British, and have utterly forgotten the civilians
who really kept the game going, and who would have been twice as
formidable to their enemies if the military had been subordinate to
them. The curse of the French East India Company was Militarism,
whilst fortunately for the English our greatest military hero in
India, Lord Clive, was so clear-minded that he could write:--

"I have the liberty of an Englishman so strongly implanted
in my nature, that I would have the Civil all in all,
in all times and in all places, cases of immediate danger
excepted."

How much might have been achieved by men like Renault, Law, and
Courtin, if they had had an adequate military force at their
disposal! They saw, as clearly as did the E