In 1754, Godeheu gave up with the English the Indian territories, especially
Madras, which had been conquered in 1746 by
Dupleix and left the French with the
Deccan region. From 1751 Dupleix's star began to wane.
Robert Clive, a discontented young British factor who had left the
countinghouse for the field, seized the fort of
Arcot, political capital of
Karnataka, with 210 men in August 1751. This daring stroke had the hoped-for effect of diverting half of
Chanda Sahib's army to its recovery. Clive's successful 50-day defense permitted
Mohamed Ali Khan Walajan to procure allies from
Tanjore and the
Marathas. The French were worsted, and they were eventually forced to surrender in June 1752. Dupleix never recovered from this blow and was superseded in August 1754 by his director Godehou, who made an unfavourable settlement with the British. On 26December 1754, he signed the
Treaty of Pondicherry with Thomas Saunders, the
English East India Company's resident at
Madras, that forbade the British and French companies all political activity in India and the activity must be strictly commercial. His intervention in French activity at that time left an unerasable scar on Dupleix's efforts and became the death blow for future expansion of the
French Colonial Empire in India. ==See also==