"The person who afterwards made himself so conspicuous by his connection with the French, viz., Chunda Sahib, was also a Noayet. His real name was Hussein Dost Câwn. Duff Grant, in his late history of the Mahrattas, says, that this man was known by no other name when he was a prisoner at Sattarah.
"The appellation of Chunda Sahib was only given to him in his family when a boy. Yet it has continued to be used in history in distinguishing him; although, besides his name above-mentioned, the title of Shems-ul-Dowla was conferred on him by the Nizams in the French interest. It is not unlikely, that his being known to the English only by the name of Chunda Sahib was, in some measure, owing to his rival Mahomed Ali, supported by them, constantly designating him by that appellation, and rather contemptuously, Chunda being a vulgar appellation, often that of menial servants."—D. H.
[8] This army is stated to have consisted of 200,000 foot, and 80,000 horse.—Orme, vol. i. p. 51.
[9] Orme, vol. i. p. 52.
[10] "This settlement," according to Orme, vol. i. p. 65., "had been, about 100 years, the principal establishment of the English nation on the coast of Coromandel. It was built on a territory granted by the Great Mogul to the East India Company, which extended about five miles along the sea shore, and about one mile inland. The town consisted of three divisions; that to the south, extended about 400 yards in length from north to south, and about 100 yards in breadth. None but the English, or other Europeans under their protection, resided in this division, which contained about 50 good houses, an English and a Roman Catholic church, together with a residence for the factory, and other buildings belonging to the Company. It was surrounded with a slender wall, defended with four bastions, and as many batteries; but these were very slight and defective in their construction, nor had they any outworks to defend them. This quarter has long been known in Europe by the name of Fort St. George, and was in India called, for distinction, the White Town. On the north of this, and contiguous, was another division, much larger and worse fortified, in which were many very good habitations, belonging to the Armenian and to the richest of the Indian merchants, who resided in the Company's territory; this quarter was called the Black Town. Beyond this division, and to the north of it, was a suburb, where the Indian natives of all ranks had their habitations promiscuously. Besides these three divisions, which composed the town of Madras, there were two large and populous villages, about a mile to the southward of it, within the Company's territory; and these were likewise inhabited by Indian natives."
[11] The representations of Dupleix received more attention in France than those of La Bourdonnais; and that great man, instead of the high rewards to which he was entitled, was imprisoned four years in the Bastille. The injustice done him was too tardily acknowledged; and he died before another opportunity was afforded of elevating still more his own name, and of exposing the ingratitude of his country.
[12] "M. Dupleix was greatly assisted in all his transactions with the natives of India by his wife, a Creole, born and educated in Bengal, where he had married her, while he was there in the service of the French East India Company. Her knowledge of the Hindostanee language had been the means of introducing her to the family of Chunda Sahib, when they took refuge at Pondicherry, during his confinement at Sattarah with the Mahrattas: and this laid the foundation of the French intrigues with him. In all these, M. Dupleix's lady made herself conspicuous, by corresponding, in the name of her husband, with those who could be brought into action for favouring the French views of interference, and supporting the cause of Chunda Sahib. She then became known all over that country by the name of Jân Begum, which she assumed in the seal to all her letters. Her own Christian name was Jeanne, which gave some colour to her converting it into the Persian word on her seal, as familiar to Mahomedans.
"It must be acknowledged that the French at this time, viz., during M. Dupleix's government, had greatly the advantage of the English, by their superior knowledge of the languages and usages of the nations of India. Their Catholic missionaries, especially the Jesuits, who had travelled inland, had been very instrumental in their acquiring that knowledge; while the English confined themselves to their trade, and remained in total ignorance of any thing else. The French gave certain proofs of the superior information they had acquired, when they produced, at the conference with the English commissioners at Sadras, in 1754, the sunnuds or grants for the lands they had acquired in the Carnatic, which were all procured under the authority of the Mogul Emperor or his viziers; while those of the English were only from inferior agents of that government. It is true, that the sunnuds there produced by the French were objected to by the English as under the forged seals of emperors; yet it shows that they did not rest their claims on grants of inferiors, as the English did. It is, indeed, very remarkable, that the latter never, till a late period, possessed any others but those of the nabob Mahomed Ali in the Carnatic, excepting for the ground of their original factories. It was not till Lord Clive obtained regular grants from the Emperor Shah Aulum, in 1765, when he obtained the dewanee of the provinces of Bengal, that the English could produce any other grants but those obtained from the nabob whom they themselves had set up."—D. H.
[13] Orme (vol. i. p. 78.), speaking of this settlement, observes:—
"The East India Company was here in possession of a territory larger than that of Madras; it had been purchased about 100 years before from the Indian prince of the country, and their title to it was confirmed by the Mogul's viceroy, when the Moors conquered the Carnatic. The fort was situated near the sea, twelve miles to the south of Pondicherry: it was small, but better fortified than any of its size in India, and served as a citadel to the Company's territory. About a mile to the south of it, was situated the town of Cuddalore, in which the principal Indian merchants, and many of the natives dependent on the Company, resided. This town extended 1200 yards from north to south, and 900 from east to west: three of its sides were defended by walls flanked with bastions; that towards the sea was for the greatest part open; but a river passing from the westward, between Fort St. David and the town, flowed, just before it gains the sea, along the eastern side of the town, of which, whilst it washed the skirts on one hand, it was, on the other, separated from the sea by a mound of sand, which the surf throws upon the shore in most parts of the coast. To the westward of the fort, and within the Company's territory, were two or three populous villages, inhabited by the natives.