A NEW scene is now to open in the history of the East India Company. Before this period they had maintained the character of mere traders, and, by humility and submission, endeavoured to preserve a footing in that distant country, under the protection or oppression of the native powers. We shall now behold them entering the lists of war; and mixing with eagerness in the contests of the princes. Dupleix, whose views were larger than, at that time, those of any of the servants of the Company, had already planned, in his imagination, an empire for the French, and had entered pretty deeply into the intrigues of the country powers. The English were the first to draw the sword; and from no higher inducement than the promise of a trifling settlement on the Coromandel coast (Mill 60).
Mills, James. “From The Establishment, On Legislative Authority, Of One Exclusive Companay, In The Year 1708, Till The Change In The Constitution Op The Company, By The Act Of 13th Geo. III. In 1773.” The History of British India, vol iii, James Madden, 1840, pp. 85-152.