DUPLEIX, JOSEPH FRANcOIS gover nor-general of the French establishment in India, the great rival of Clive (q.v.), was born at Landrecies, France, on Jan. I, 1697. His father, Francois Dupleix, a wealthy farmer-general, sent him on a voyage to India in 1715 on one of the French East India Com pany's vessels. He made several voyages to America and India, and in 172o was named a member of the superior council at Pondicherry. There, in addition to his official duties, he made large ventures on his own account and acquired a fortune. In 173o he was made superintendent of French affairs in Chander nagore, which he administered with great success, and in 1742 he was appointed governor-general of all French establishments in India. He determined to acquire for France vast territories in India. The British took the alarm; but the danger to their settle ments and power was partly averted by the bitter mutual jealousy between Dupleix and La Bourdonnais, French governor of the isle of Bourbon. When Madras capitulated to the French in 1746 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. Du pleix 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 Pondi cherry was besieged by the British ; but in the course of the opera tions news arrived of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Dupleix next entered into negotiations which had for their object the subjuga tion of southern India, and he sent a large body of troops to the aid of two claimants of the sovereignty of the Carnatic and the Deccan. The British were engaged on the side of their rivals. After temporary successes the scheme failed. Though Dupleix was a great organizer, he did not possess Clive's genius for war. The conflicts between the French and the British in India con tinued till 1754, when the French government, anxious to make peace, sent out to India a special commissioner, Godeheu, a direc tor of the Compagnie des Indes, with orders to supersede Dupleix and, if necessary, to arrest him. Dupleix's work was ruined at a blow, and he himself was compelled to embark for France on Oct. 12, He had spent his private fortune in the prosecution of his public policy; the company refused to acknowledge the obliga tion ; 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 Nov. I o, 1763. In 1741 he had married Jeanne Albert (d. 1756), 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. Dupleix defended his case against the company in a Memoire--Contre la Compagnie des Indes avec les pieces justicatives (1750, to which Godeheu replied in his Lettre a M. Dupleix (176o).
See Tibulle Hamont, Dupleix, d'apres sa correspondance inedite (i881) ; H. Castonnet, Dupleix, ses expeditions et ses projets (1888) and La Chute de Dupleix (Angers, 1888) ; G. B. Malleson, Dupleix (189o) and History of the French in India (1894) ; P. Cultru, Dupleix, ses plans politiques; sa disgrace (19o1) ; E. Guerin, Dupleix (19o8) ; A. A. Martineau, Dupleix et l'Inde francaise, 3 vols. (Paris, 192o-27).