TO

MY DEAR WIFE




PREFACE


This account of the commercial ruin of the French Settlements, taken
almost entirely from hitherto unpublished documents, originated as
follows. Whilst engaged in historical research connected with the
Government Records in Calcutta, I found many references to the
French in Bengal which interested me strongly in the personal side
of their quarrel with the English, but the information obtainable
from the Indian Records alone was still meagre and incomplete. A few
months ago, however, I came across Law's Memoir in the British
Museum; and, a little later, when visiting Paris to examine the
French Archives, I found not only a copy of Law's Memoir, but also
Renault's and Courtin's letters, of which there are, I believe, no
copies in England. In these papers I thought that I had sufficient
material to give something like an idea of Bengal as it appeared to
the French when Clive arrived there. There is much bitterness in
these old French accounts, and much misconception of the English,
but they were written when misconception of national enemies was the
rule and not the exception, and when the rights of non-belligerents
were little respected in time of war. Some of the accusations I have