grant of the imperial charter, and which the Dutch had always
refused to sell. The Factory buildings were in the Fort itself. To
the west lay the Company's Tank, the hospitals, and the cemetery.
European houses, interspersed with native dwellings, lay all around.
M. d'Albert says that these houses were large and convenient, but
chiefly of one story only, built along avenues of fine trees, or
along the handsome quay. D'Albert also mentions a chapel in the
Fort,[13] the churches of the Jesuits and the Capucins, and some
miserable _pagodas_ belonging to the Hindus, who, owing to the
necessity of employing them as clerks and servants, were allowed the
exercise of their religion. In his time the Europeans numbered about
500. There were besides some 400 Armenians, Moors[14] and Topasses,
1400 to 1500 Christians, including slaves, and 18,000 to 20,000
Gentiles, divided, he says, into 52 different castes or occupations.
It is to be supposed that the European houses had improved in the
thirty years since d'Albert's visit; at any rate many of those which
were close to the Fort now commanded its interior from their roofs
or upper stories, exactly as the houses of the leading officials in
Calcutta commanded the interior of Fort William. No other fact could
be so significant of the security which the Europeans in Bengal
believed they enjoyed from any attack by the forces of the native
Government. The site of the Fort is now covered with native huts.
The Cemetery still remains and the Company's Tank (now known as Lal
Dighi), whilst Kooti Ghat is the old landing-place of Fort
d'Orleans.

As regards the European population at the time of the siege we have
no definite information. The Returns drawn up by the French
officials at the time of the capitulation do not include the women
and children or the native and mixed population. The ladies,[15] and
it is to be presumed the other women also, for there is no mention
of women during the siege, retired to the Dutch and Danish
settlements at Chinsurah and Serampore a few days before, and the
native population disappeared as soon as the British army
approached. The Returns therefore show only 538 Europeans and 66
Topasses. The Governor or Director, as already mentioned, was Pierre
Renault: his Council consisted of MM. Fournier, Caillot, Laporterie,
Nicolas, and Picques. There were 36 Frenchmen of lesser rank in the
Company's service, as well as 6 surgeons. The troops were commanded
by M. d