C.—AUTHORITIES FOLLOWED IN THE TEXT.
The period treated in this book is singularly rich in contemporary personal records. Holwell, Watts, and Scrafton have left us lengthy narratives of their experiences, and Ives, Admiral Watson’s surgeon and clerk, supplies a detailed account of the campaign of vengeance which terminated at Plassey. Clive’s letters give us the military point of view, and in the Seïr-ul-Mutaqharin we have that of the natives. Orme’s History (1763) appears to have been compiled from other documents still, probably the official letters addressed to the Court of Directors, since his account of Mr Watts’ escape from Madhupur, for instance, is far more detailed than that contained in Watts’ own ‘Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal.’ Orme’s account is followed in the text, save that other names have been substituted for those of Messrs Collet and Sykes and Dr Forth, whom the historian mentions as Watts’ companions in addition to the Tartar servant. The evidence given before the Parliamentary Committee of 1772 adds many interesting details, and the same may be said of two MSS. in the Hastings Collection, one written by the anonymous junior civilian who is called Mr Dash in the text, the other the apologia of Captain Grant, who had fought under Prince Charles Edward at Culloden, and succeeded, when the Jacobite cause was lost, in escaping to Bengal, where ill-fortune still pursued him. I am indebted to Dr Busteed, whose book, ‘Echoes from Old Bengal,’ is a mine of curious information on eighteenth-century Calcutta, for directing my attention to these writings. The description of Siraj-u-Daula’s Durbar is taken from the Discours Préliminaire of Anquetil du Perron’s translation of the ‘Zend-Avesta,’ the French traveller having visited Murshidabad during the prince’s short reign. For various minor details, the ‘Voyages’ of Grose and of Mrs Kindersley have been laid under contribution, while Broome’s ‘History of the Bengal Army’ has afforded a standard by which to compare the often varying contemporary authorities.
The variations and discrepancies in these narratives form indeed the great difficulty of the historian, and with these must be joined their omissions, particularly in matters of date. Thus there are no means of knowing the exact time at which Mr Watts’ letter of warning as to the Nawab’s intentions arrived, or when the Delawar entered the Hugli with the instructions of the Court of Directors, when Siraj-u-Daula was formally proclaimed in Calcutta and the Governor’s letter of congratulation forwarded, or when “Fuckeer Tongar” and the Nawab’s second messenger arrived, or lastly, when the “first prohibition of provisions” took place, at which time Holwell recommended the seizure of Tanna. I have endeavoured in the text to place these events in their probable order and in a right relation to one another.