A History of the Mahrattas v2.c36.9

v2.c36.9

‘Drunk and sober, jointly and separately, I have examined all the Frenchmen with whom we have yet had connection, that is, Madjett, Monsieur de Corcelle, who was to have been made engineer by St. Lubin; and Monsieur de Coronet, the captain of the ship, whom I found means to get to eat soup with us. They are all in such a situation with respect to Monsieur St. Lubin, that it is the first wish of their lives that he may prove totally a counterfeit, and not be supported by the ministry of France; for in fact their lives may perhaps depend on Lubin’s reality, and the justifying his conduct. I have turned the matter every way to persuade them that he was a counterfeit, in order to fish out their arguments to the contrary; but they are all perfectly convinced of the facts mentioned in Madjett’s letter. The captain of the ship confirmed to me repeatedly what Madjett had often mentioned, that his owner had given him his orders relative to St. Lubin, in consequence of recommendations from Monsieur de Sartine. They all agree perfectly with regard to the ideas entertained of him at Bourdeaux; that it was first talked of sending out a body of men under Monsieur Dumas. The fact of the intelligence the captain and supercargo received at Cochin, of Lubin’s destination, the captain The encouragement given to St. Lubin by Nana Furnuwees might have had the effect of alarming the Bombay Government, and inducing them, in the subordinate situation they had been taught to consider themselves, to accept the stipulations of the treaty of Poorundhur, under the disadvantages which the ministers would have imposed, had they not been uniformly supported by the Court of Directors. In a letter from that body of the 16th April, 1777, which was received exactly seven months afterwards, and was a counterpart of a dispatch previously sent to the Bengal Government, a repetition of the approval of their conduct, and of regret at the great and unnecessary sacrifice made by the treaty of Poorundhur, was still more clearly expressed than in the preceding year. The Court, to be sure, repeat their determination to adhere to that treaty; but should its conditions