He arrived in India in
1715, at the age of eighteen, and amassed a large fortune in
legitimate trade; he became Administrator of Chandernagore, in Bengal,
in 1730, and displayed such remarkable ability in this post that in
1741 he was appointed Governor-General of the French Indies. In 1742
war broke out between France and Britain, and at the outset the French
arms were triumphant. Madras surrendered in 1746 to a powerful French
fleet under La Bourdonnais, the Governor of the Island of Reunion, and
a counterattack on Pondicherry by Admiral Boscawen's fleet in 1748
failed utterly, though the defence was conducted by Dupleix, a
civilian. These easy French successes inspired Dupleix with the idea
of establishing a vast French empire in India on the ruins of the
Mogul monarchy, but here he was frustrated by the military genius of
Clive, who, it must be remembered, started life as a civilian "writer"
in the East India Company's service. Dupleix encountered his first
check by Clive's dashing capture of Arcot in 1751. From that time the
fortunes of war inclined with ever-increasing bias to the British
side, and the decisive battle of Plassey in 1757 (three years after
Dupleix's return to France) was a death-blow to the French aspirations
to become the preponderant power in India.
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