A
HISTORY
OF THE
MILITARY TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
BRITISH NATION
IN
INDOSTAN,
FROM THE YEAR MDCCXLV,
BOOK VI.
THE WAR OF BENGAL.
1756
THE scope of our narrative now calls us from the coast of Coromandel to relate the calamities which at this time befel the English settlements in Bengal; previous to which it is requisite to investigate the rise and progress of the English commerce in the province, and to give some portion of the history of the Mahomedan government.
Bengal is the easternmost of the provinces which compose the empire of the Great Mogul. It lies between the degrees 26. 30. and 21. 30. of north latitude, and extends from the 86th to the 97th degree of longitude, computing from the meridian of London. Its area is nearly 21 square degrees.
The Ganges, from its irruption through the mountains of the frontier, flows for 300 miles to the south-east, when it receives the Jumna at Allahabad. From hence its course continues 300 miles almost directly east, when having received seven large rivers, and more of inferior "note, it enters the province of Bengal, according to the
