Indian history: When Maratha general Murarirao Ghorpade defended Robert Clive against the French

In the seventeenth century, the French established trading posts in the coastal cities of Surat, Masulipatam and Pondicherry. Other French territories included Karikal, Mahé, Yanam and Chandernagore. These territories were governed by French officials and were largely self-sufficient. They also developed a reputation for treating their employees and local partners fairly.

The period was such that the French saw the Dutch as their main threat – the two were also involved head-to-head in the War of the Spanish Succession. Correspondingly, this was also the brief period during which the French viewed the British as their friends. When French Governor François Martin thought that the Dutch would besiege Pondicherry, he sent French goods to the English settlement for safety. Later, when the French retained Pondicherry in 1699, Martin again reached out to Thomas Pitt, Governor of Madras, a British settlement, to enter into a treaty of neutrality under which the men and ships of Britain and France were not to attack each other. When a French squadron appeared in Indian waters and began to seize English shipping, the Pondicherry Council did its best to limit its captures.

So far, so good.

The French settlement, though, was in its infancy. The population was small, and its...

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