THIS HISTORY, although dedicated to Governor Hastings, was not addressed to him in London, (it was intended to regale him with the surprise of it) but to a correspondent, eminent in the mercantile line, who was informed that it had been hurried thither in the rough state in which it was, merely to afford some timely assistance to that great man, by elucidating upon so com­petent and so unconcerned an evidence as our historian, several articles that went far towards clearing the Governor’s character. These were “the high opinion conceived by the natives of his talents for Government, and the attachment they bore to his person; the falsehood of the Rohillah nations having been extirpated, or even intended for extirpation; the just grounds on which Shudjah-ed-döulah went to war with them; the erroneous opinion conceived by some persons of the treasure in the hands of the Princess at Feizbad, which they fancied to be private property, whereas it was public property, deposited as such by that Prince himself at a particular conjuncture, which our author points out with its date and motive; the opinion of the natives on Nandecomar’s death; and their detestation of the persecu­tion undergone by the Governor from General Clavering and his party.”—All those points, with some more, were to be set in a strong light by this publication.—But in the rough state in which it had been hurried to England, it unavoidably wanted much correction in the distribution and divisions of the subject, in the punctuation of the sense, and in the style; all which defects required the inspection of a reviewer before it could be sent to thepress.—Unfortunately, the person to whose judgment and care the whole had been submitted, (and this was no less than an eminent historian in a nation that has now taken the lead of all Europe, after having been for several centuries shockingly defec­tive in that branch of literature) unfortunately, I say, that gentle­man proved to be deaf, and upon his death-bed; so that my cor­respondent, unable to spare any time himself for the inspection of this work, was obliged to lay it by, until a person properly qualified might be found out, and, of course, until fresh instruc tions should come from India. But such an incident being likely to take up a whole year more, and the original intent of the pub­lication being totally marred and already defeated, there remained no other resource than that of supplicating the British public in Bengal, instead of addressing the British public in London.— This alteration was followed by another. Instead of applying the profits of this publication to the benefit of the little sum I had placed in the English funds, for the education of my children sent to England, I thought it full as proper to transfer them to the benefit of the British insolvent debtors in Bengal.

Not that I am unaware of the censure passed upon the exclusiveness of that disposition; but there were strong motives for it.—In a sojourn of more than thirty years in India, and in particular in Bengal, I have obliged, assisted, relieved, an infinity of Indians and other Asiaticks, made the fortune of some, and have never met with any other return than perfect indfference or the blackest ingratitude.—The case is very different with the British. Taken up by them after a ship-wreck, I have been assisted and relieved with so much generosity, that at last a small competency was put in my way; and the only return I ever made for such important benefits, amounts to one or two advices con­veyed to Government, and some small trifling relief afforded to five or six individuals wrecked or distressed; a merit too diminutive certainly to be set to account in the line of return.—In restricting, therefore, to British insolvent debtors only, the bene­fits of this publication, I am conscious of acting with great pro­priety; nor is this any new thought. The worthy Captain Thorn­hill, whose probity and benevolence are universally known, will- I hope, aver that having so early as the year 1774, dedicated a yearly sum of a thousand Rupees to a charitable society at the head of which he was, I broke my connections with it, on their objecting to my restricting the donation to British insolvent debtors only, against the spirit of the institution.

Unluckily for me, (and my regret fall entirely upon the use I intend now to make of the work) this publication has unavoid­ably lost by delays and contretemps, the only merit it could pre­tend to, which was NOVELTY.—It is now superseded and totally eclipsed by a gentleman well known in the literary world, and in the line of translation in particular, who by publishing his General History of India, (a work greatly superior to this in arrangement and perspicuity of subject, as well as elegance of style) has very nearly rendered this slender performance superfluous and nuga­tory. However, as I cannot divest myself totally of all regard for twenty-four folio quires of paper, that have cost me so much money, and so much bodily labour; and as I fancy that the gen­erality of that gentleman’s plan cannot have admitted an infinity of facts and details peculiar to this performance; I cannot help flattering myself that this humble offering of a well meaning individual will still find grace with the public.

Although this address be possibly too long already, fain I am to add two short articles more.—A year ago, I intended to print the first Volume at my own expense, and to submit that trial to an indulgent public; but the copy sent to England by triplicate, having cost me more than two thousand rupees; and my little competency (now greatly impaired by misfortunes and bankruptcies, as well as by a variety of infidelities, that have at last forced me to look out for some livelihood in Calcutta) being unable to furnish the great expense required by this publication, I have thought it expedient to supplicate the public on that head, rather than to give any trouble to a gentleman skilled in Persian, who had in 1786 generously offered his patronage, for the pur­pose of getting it printed here by subscription.

All, or by much the greatest part of the persons spoken of in this History, were to have a plate in their proper places; and plates were also to be occasionally inserted, of fortresses, palaces, buildings, arms, ceremonies, &c., &c.; but all that is become impossible, or nearly so; the five hundred miniatures sent for that purpose to England being still there.—Nevertheless, as a few miniatures have been procured since, and others may be found amongst the curious of Calcutta, this publication may still have some plates, or rather as many as the public shall encourage.

This performance having been originally intended for Euro­pean readers, was of course interspersed with a variety of notes and remarks, absolutely necessary to them; and although there is no doubt of their becoming nearly superfluous in India, yet it has been surmised that they would not prove totally unacceptable to some Indian readers, even in Bengal! and they have been therefore suffered to stand as they were.