CHAPTER II

M. RENAULT, CHIEF OF CHANDERNAGORE


The French East India Company was founded in 1664, during the
ministry of M. Colbert. Chandernagore, on the Ganges, or rather that
mouth of it now known as the River Hugli, was founded in 1676; and
in 1688 the town and territory were ceded to France by the Emperor
Aurengzebe. I know of no plan of Chandernagore in the 17th century,
and those of the 18th are extremely rare. Two or three are to be
found in Paris, but the destruction of the Fort and many of the
buildings by the English after its capture in 1757, and the decay of
the town after its restoration to the French, owing to diminished
trade, make it extremely difficult to recognize old landmarks. The
Settlement, however, consisted of a strip of land, about two leagues
in length and one in depth, on the right or western bank of the
Hugli. Fort d'Orléans lay in the middle of the river front. It was
commenced in 1691, and finished in 1693.[12] Facing the north was
the Porte Royale, and to the east, or river-side, was the Water
Gate. The north-eastern bastion was known as that of the Standard,
or Pavillon. The north-western bastion was overlooked by the Jesuit
Church, and the south-eastern by the Dutch Octagon. This last
building was situated on one of a number of pieces of land which,
though within the French bounds, belonged to the Dutch before the
grant of the imperial charter, and which the Dutch had always