East India Company V5 by Patrick Truck

Author:Patrick Truck [Truck, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781000557831
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2021-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

NOTES

Dundas to Sydney, [2) Nov. 1784, PRO 30/11/112, fo. 58.

Charles Grant, ‘Observations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain, particularly with respect to Morals; and on the Means of Improving it,’ Parliamentary Papers, 16 Aug. 1832, appendix, p. 99.

For an estimate by the commander-in-chief at Bombay, see Stuart to Dundas, private, 24 July 1799, WO 1/357, p.311.

Memorandum by Dundas, 2 Oct. 1800, SRO GD 51/1/777.

See the terms of the Anglo-Persian treaty of 1801, in C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads relating to India and Neighbouring Countries (3rd ed., Calcutta, 1892), x. 37–45.

Minute of Wellesley, 12 Aug. 1798, The Despatches, Minutes, and Correspondence of the Marquess Wellesley, K.G., during his Administration in India, ed. M. Martin (London, 1836–7), i. 159.

Both Dundas and Wellesley wanted the vizier to disband his army and rely solely upon British protection. The vizier’s army, according to Wellesley, was ‘rather a dangerous encumbrance than a security. . . against internal commotion or foreign invasion.’ Ggic to sc, 3 Oct. 1799, IO L/PS/5/82, p.79. But the principal advantage to the British would be reducing the cost of the Indian Army.

The British also employed in India the Swiss mercenaries of the comte de Meuron, whom they had hired to help them capture Ceylon.

The officers of the Bombay Marine fared worse: any officer in the Royal Navy, even one of the junior rank, took precedence over them. But, unlike the officers of the Indian Army, after twenty-five years they were retired on pension.

Arthur Wellesley’s service in India was not an exception, because he needed to make money to pay off his debts. See E. Longford, Wellington: The Years of the Sword (New York, 1969), ch. 3.

The habit of judging an army officer by his birth continued after Cardwell had abolished purchase. England’s only general, Lord Wolseley, was disliked not for his reforms, but for entertaining in too grand a style given his obscure Irish origin.

The most famous being the comte de Boigne. For details of their careers, see C. Grey, European Freebooters in Northern India (Lahore, 1929).

General Carnac took home approximately £30,000 after two years as commander-in-chief, Bengal, in the 1760s. Sir Mark Wood, chief engineer at Bengal under Cornwallis, took home £200,000.

T. S. P. Spear, The Nabobs (London, 1932), is a superb book written from this false assumption. A different picture is presented by H. H. Dodwell, The Nabobs of Madras (London, 1926).

For details of daily life in the Indian Army, see Soldiering in India, 1764–1787: Extracts from Journals and Letters left by Lt.-Col. Allan Macpherson and Lt.-Col. John Macpherson of the East India Company’s Service, ed. C. W. Macpherson (London, 1928).

Parkinson, Trade in the Eastern Seas, pp. 70–2.

Wellesley to Dundas, private, 7 June 1799, Dundas, p. 161.

Dundas to Wellesley, private, 1 Nov. 1799, Dundas, pp. 204–5.

To the great and legitimate annoyance of the commander-in-chief, India, Lt-Gen. Sir Alured Clarke, whom Wellesley had persuaded to stay behind in Calcutta, while he went to Madras to superintend the war.

For a more detailed account, see R.

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