ctors in want of 'material;' but, with
a happy regard for a relic of Old Madras, the Madras Government have
recently undertaken the task of preserving the ruin, which they have
officially declared an 'historic memorial.'

The 'Wall of Madras' is worthy of a meditative visit, but, in order
that the meditation may be on an historic basis, it is necessary to
know something about the Wall itself.

We have seen that when the Company established themselves at Madras,
in 1639, they first built a small fort for the protection of
themselves and their goods. Around the walls of the Fort a number of
Christians--English and Portuguese and Eurasians--settled down, and
what was called 'White Town' came into being. Within a term of years
this White Town was itself enclosed within fortified walls, which were
finally identical with the wall round Fort St. George to-day. There
was thus 'a fort within a fort;' but in course of time the inner wall
was pulled down.

Immediately outside the northern wall of White Town lay Black Town,
inhabited by Indians--employees and purveyors of the Company, as well
as merchants, shop-keepers, industrialists, and the rest. It should be
borne in mind that the site of this original Black Town was
altogether different from the site of the later Black Town, the
'Georgetown' of to-day. Old Black Town, as already explained, extended
from the northern wall of the Fort to what is now called the Esplanade
Road, and it covered the ground that is now taken up by the Wireless
Telegraph enclosure, the grounds of the High Court, and those of the
Law College (_vide_ map, p. 10).

Black Town was at first without any wall, and, as the times were
unsettled, the place was exposed to the serious danger of being raided
by any adventurous band of marauders. Very soon, however, a beginning
was made of enclosing the town with a mud wall; and in the reign of
Queen Anne a wall was built with masonry. Meanwhile, moreover,
numerous houses and streets had sprung up outside the wall, on the
site of the Georgetown of to-day.

[Illustration: A BIT OF THE BLACK TOWN WALL]

In 1746 the French captured Fort St. George; and they destroyed not
only the Black Town Wall but also Black Town itself. It was a
disastrous episode in the history of Madras. For six years the English
and the French had been at war in Europe, and the relations between
the English and French colonists in India were naturally strained; but
they were settlers with