Storia do Mogor 17.1694

17.1694

Francois Martin had been transferred from Pondicherry to Surat, where he arrived on August 22, 1681, and upon Baron's death (June 10, 1683) succeeded to the conduct of affairs. It was about this time (1685-86) that Deslandes married F. Martin's elder daughter. On April 20, 1686, we find Deslandes still at Surat, and we are told that he was preparing for a move to Pondicherry as Second in Council, with the object of being employed on the Choromandel coast and Bengal. F. Martin and his family reached Pondicherry on May 20, 1686, and Deslandes either accompanied them or soon followed them. Before he left Surat he was sent with le Sieur Roques as a deputation to the Mahomedan Governor of Surat to remonstrate at his continual exactions.
On June 15, 1686, Deslandes formed one of a deputation from Pondicherry to Fort St. George (Madras); and an English trader's letter from Mergui (in Tenasserim), dated December 30, 1686, would lead us to believe that he was at Pondicherry at that date. We know he was still there on September 24, 1687. It must, then, have been in the end of 1687 that he revisited Siam at the request of the king; but although the king wished to retain him, he did not remain long, for the French Company required his services to found a trading station in Bengal. On the return journey he and the French ambassador to Siam were off Madras on January 14, 1688, but excused themselves from landing on the plea that business required them to hasten to Pondicherry. We have notices of his presence at Pondicherry on February 2 and 17, 1688. He now became Director-General of Commerce in Bengal, and left Pondicherry in April, 1688, to take up his new duties. In October, 1689, he was called upon by Martin to send a shipload of food from Bengal to relieve the distress then prevailing in Pondicherry. He remained in Bengal until 1701, as is proved by a whole series of letters.
In 1690 Deslandes had a dispute with the Portuguese Augustinian friars at Hugli, who had sent their Christians to force their way into the French compound (loge). In consequence, Deslandes retired a few miles off to Chandarnagar, and there built another loge. This seems the real date for the foundation of the French settlement at Chandarnagar; until this time they had apparently, like the other Europeans, lived in or close to Hugli town.
The date of the founding of Chandarnagar is somewhat obscure, but some light is thrown upon it by the English records. In a general letter from Hugli, dated October 13, 1686, para. 8, we hear that the French had sent orders to settle factories all over Bengal; to which Fort St. George, September 1, 1688, para. 44, adds the fact that they are endeavouring to procure the Mogul's farmān. Again, in January, 1689, para. 16, it is said that, 'French trade is increasing by new settlements in ... Bengal, though no factory had been built, nor any certain terms agreed on.' On January 16, 1692, the Calcutta Council write (para. 17) that 'the French had almost finished a large factory at Chandarnagar.' From Dhakkah, under date May 26, 1690, we hear of a struggle between the Dutch and French, apparently about Chandarnagar. The French had bought a piece of ground 'for which they have a prime writing'; but the Dutch refused to let them build. After taking the dispute before the nawab (the nazim) and the dīwan, it was referred to the king. Finally, by the Fort St. George general letter of November 20, 1691 (O.C. 5777) we are told that: 'The Mounseers have been long idle and quiet at Pullicherry ... tho' their Chief in Bengali is building severall large Factoryes, bigg enough for a mighty trade, but 'tis doubted too large for their Stock.'
From F. Martin's letter of January 22, 1691, we learn that Deslandes then spoke of returning to France. He complained of having been passed over in promotion. Other notices of him at Hugli (for thus he dates his letters) are found in his letters of December 15, 1691, and January 20 and 29, 1693 (? 1694). In the last of these he states that he has just heard of the fall of Pondicherry, and that F. Martin was a prisoner. There are other letters from him to the directors of September 27, 1693, and January 25, 1694.