let the world know
what manner of men their opponents were, it is equally only justice
to their opponents to allow them to give their own version of the
story. This is my apology, if any one should think I allow them to
say too much.

The translations are my own, and were made in a state of some
perplexity as to how far I was bound to follow my originals--the
writings of men who, of course, were not literary, and often had not
only no pretension to style but also no knowledge of grammar. I have
tried, however, to preserve both form and spirit; but if any reader
is dissatisfied, and would like to see the original papers for
himself, the courtesy of the Record officials in both Paris and
London will give him access to an immense quantity of documents as
interesting as they are important.

In the various accounts that I have used there are naturally
slightly different versions of particular incidents, and often
it is not easy to decide which is the correct one. Under the
circumstances I may perhaps be excused for not always calling
attention to discrepancies which the reader will detect for himself.
He will also notice that the ground covered in one narrative is
partly traversed in one or both of the others. This has been due to
the necessity of treating the story from the point of view of each
of the three chief actors.

I may here mention that the correspondence between Clive and the
princes of Bengal, from which I have given some illustrative
passages, was first seen by me in a collection of papers printed in
1893 in the Government of India Central Printing Office, Calcutta,
under the direction of Mr. G.W. Forrest, C.I.E. These papers have
not yet been published, but there exists a complete though slightly
different copy of this correspondence in the India Office Library
(Orme MSS. India XI.), and it is from the latter copy that I have,
by permission, made the extracts here given. The remaining English
quotations, when not from printed books, have been taken chiefly
from other volumes of the Orme MSS., a smaller number from the
Bengal and Madras Records in the India Office, and a few from MSS.
in the British Museum or among the Clive papers at Walcot, to which
last I was allowed access by the kindness of the Earl of Powis.

Finally, I wish to express my thanks to M. Omont of the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris, to Mr. W. Foster of the Record Department of the
India Office, and to Mr. J.A. Herbert of the British Muse