rough the progress and
extension of the European races over the seas of the whole world the
time had come when the Eastern peoples must be brought into
ever-increasing contact with them; and he judged that India, so often
conquered before, was now about to be conquered by Europeans. He meant
that France should win the prize, and saw in England the only rival.
His plan was to meddle in Indian politics: first, as head of a foreign
and independent colony, which he already was; and second, as a vassal
of the Great Mogul, which he intended to become. To divide and
conquer, to advance the French lines and influence by judicious
alliances, to turn wavering scales by throwing in on one side or the
other the weight of French courage and skill,--such were his aims.
Pondicherry, though a poor harbor, was well adapted for his political
plans; being far distant from Delhi, the capital of the Mogul,
aggressive extension might go on unmarked, until strong enough to
bear the light. Dupleix's present aim, therefore, was to build up a
great French principality in southeast India, around Pondicherry,
while maintaining the present positions in Bengal.

Let it be noted, however,--and the remark is necessary in order to
justify the narration of these plans in connection with our subject, a
connection perhaps not at first evident,--that the kernel of the
question now before Dupleix was not how to build up an empire out of
the Indian provinces and races, but how to get rid of the English, and
that finally. The wildest dreams of sovereignty he may have
entertained could not have surpassed the actual performance of England
a few years later. European qualities were bound to tell, if not
offset by the opposition of other Europeans; and such opposition on
the one side or the other depended upon the control of the sea. In a
climate so deadly to the white races the small numbers whose heroism
bore up the war against fearful odds on many a field must be
continually renewed. As everywhere and always, the action of sea power
was here quiet and unperceived; but it will not be necessary to
belittle in the least the qualities and career of Clive the English
hero of this time and the founder of their empire, in order to prove
the decisive influence which it exerted, despite the inefficiency of
the English naval officers first engaged, and the lack of conclusive
results in such naval battles as were fought.[91] If during the twenty
years following 1743, Fr