Nasir Jung, pleased with these proofs of allegiance and support, proclaimed Mahommed Ali Nabob of the Carnatic, with whose fortunes those of the English became from that day intimately associated. An able author[32], well qualified from the extent and accuracy of his observation to decide upon the true character of the events he describes, has justly ridiculed the attempts which have been made to defend the sacred right of inheritance claimed by any one of the candidates for power that now appeared upon the stage. The authority of the Emperor of Delhi over the south of India, during the long life of Nizam-ul-Mûlk, had been merely nominal. Nasir Jung rested his right of succession to his father on the falsely assumed pretext of his elder brother[33] having, in pursuit of his schemes of ambition at Delhi, resigned the office of subadar of the Deckan. Muzuffer Jung _asserted_ his claim on a pretended will of his grandfather Nizam-ul-Mûlk: no proof was ever given of the existence of such a will; and if it did exist, it never could, according to Indian law or usage, be pleaded to the exclusion of the sons of that prince. Mahommed Ali claimed the title of nabob, to the exclusion of his elder brother Maphuze Khan, by virtue of a promise of Nizam-ul-Mûlk, now confirmed by the act of his son Nasir Jung; while Chunda Sahib put forward no claims beyond his own character, his near connection with the respected family of Saadet Ali, and the right of Muzuffer Jung, while exercising the power of subadar of the Deckan, to appoint whom he chose to be Nabob of Arcot. These various pretensions, alike groundless as matters of right, were about to be referred to the sword, which alone could decide claims of such a character. The troops of the rival trading companies of England and France, though these nations were at peace, stood arrayed as mercenaries in the opposing ranks of Indian princes. Each endeavoured to cast the blame upon the other, as the cause of this hostility; but it is sufficiently obvious, that whatever pretext the English might have afforded by their petty unjustifiable attack upon Tanjore, they could not remain neuter when Dupleix took the part he did in Indian politics, without the imminent hazard of being deprived of all their privileges, if not expelled from their possessions on the coast of Coromandel. The great error they committed was, not to have foreseen the crisis which had now occurred, and not to have prevented Admiral Boscawen from returning to England, leaving them every way inferior in strength, both by land and sea, to their formidable opponents.