JOSEPH

See also:

• FRANCOIS (1558-1614)

FRANCOIS

See also:

• JOSEPH FRANCOIS DUPLEIX (1697-1763)

DUPLEIX (1697-1763)  , governor-general of the French establishment in India, the great rival of Clive (q.v.), was born at Landrecies, France, on the 1st of January 1697 . His father, Francois Dupleix, a wealthy farmer-general, wished to bring him up as a merchant, and, in order to distract him from his taste for science, sent him on a voyage to India in 1715 on one of the French East India Company's vessels . He made several voyages to America and India, and in 1720 was named a member of the superior council at Pondicherry . He displayed great business aptitude, and, in addition to his official duties, made large ventures on his own account, and acquired a fortune . In 1730 he was made superintendent of French affairs in Chandernagore, the town prospering under his energetic administration and growing into great importance . His reputation procured him in 1742 the appointment of governor-general of all French establishments in India . His ambition now was to acquire for France vast territories in India; and for this purpose he entered into relations with the native princes, and adopted a style of oriental splendour in his dress and surroundings . The British took the alarm . But the danger to their settlements and power was partly averted by the bitter mutual jealousy which existed between Dupleix and La Bourdonnais, French governor of the isle of Bourbon . When Madras capitulated to the French in 1764, Dupleix opposed the restoration of the town to the British, thus violating the treaty signed by La Bourdonnais . He then sent an expedition against Fort St David (1747), which was defeated on its march by the nawab of Arcot, the ally of the British . Dupleix succeeded in gaining over the nawab, and again attempted the capture of Fort St David, but unsuccessfully .

A midnight attack on

Cuddalore was repulsed with great loss . In 1748 Pondicherry was besieged by the British; but in the course of the operations news arrived of the peace concluded between the French and the British at Aix-la-Chapelle . Dupleix next entered into negotiations which had for their object the subjugation of southern India, and he sent a large body of troops to the aid of two claimants of the sovereignty of the Varnatic and the Deccan . The British were engaged on ire side of their rivals . After temporary successes the scheme failed . Dupleix was a great organizer, but did notpossess the genius for command in the field that was shown by Clive . The conflicts between the French and the British in India continued till 1754, when the French government, anxious to make peace, sent out to India a special commissioner with orders to supersede Dupleix and, if necessary, to arrest him . These orders were carried out with needless harshness, what survived of Dupleix's work was ruined at a blow, and he himself was compelled to embark for France on the 12th of October 1754 . He had spent his private fortune in the prosecution of his public policy; the company refused to acknowledge the obligation; and the government would do nothing for a man whom they persisted in regarding as an ambitious and greedy adventurer . The greatest of French colonial governors died in obscurity and want on the loth of November 1763 . In 1741 he had married Jeanne Albert, widow of one of the councillors of the company, a woman of strong character and intellect, known to the Hindus as Joanna Begum, who proved of great use to her husband in his negotiations with the native princes . She died in 1756, and two years later he married again .

See Tibulle Hamont, Dupleix, d'apres sa correspondance inedite

Paris, 1881); H . Castonnet, Dupleix, ses expeditions et ses projets Paris, 1888) and La Chute de Dupleix (Angers, 1888) ; G . B . Malleson, Dupleix (Rulers of India series, 189o) ; and E . Guerin, Dupleix (1908) .