A History of the Mahrattas v1.c26.16

v1.c26.16

Before that time, however, the Presidency obtained aid on which they had not calculated, by the arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Clive with a large detachment² of soldiers from Europe. The French establishments in the Deccan had created a jealous alarm in England, and it was there projected to send a force to Bombay, with the view of entering into an alliance with the Mahrattas, which had for its object the expulsion of the French from their districts in the Deccan and from the service of Sulabut Jung. The articles of the truce agreed to by Mr. Saunders and Monsieur Godeheu in the preceding year, on the coast of Coromandel, precluded, in the opinion of the Bombay Government, the employment of this force on its original destination, until accounts should be received from Europe, approving or annulling the articles in question.³ The Madras Presidency were of a contrary opinion, but on this subject their arguments and their whole design certainly more resemble the sophistry and artifice of a Dupleix⁴ than the strong straightforward sense, which