ABSTRACT
The defence of British India against external aggression essentially depended upon Britain's pre-eminent naval strength in Europe. Robert Harland forwarded an account of the French forces at Mauritius by Captain Uppleby who remarked: 'they seem from their present inconsiderable force to have laid aside all the designs they had formed against India'. After the Seven Years' War successive British governments had endeavoured to protect British interests with the minimum of expenditure on the navy, and the East Indies Squadron was not unique in experiencing great reductions. Security depended upon accurate naval intelligence giving warning of impending attack so that the small foreign squadrons could be reinforced, and so that steps could be taken to ensure that British diplomatic representations were seen to be backed by an obvious readiness to protect British interests with force. The Anglo-French confrontation over India was complicated by other conflicts of the global political systems of Britain and France.
