Page:History of the French in India.djvu/17

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xi so far as I am aware, the first attempt to do justice to that illustrious Frenchman. I beg also gratefully to acknowledge the courtesy of M. Bontemps, Governor of the French Establishments in India, and of M. Derussat, Chief of those Establishments in Bengal, in replying to the various questions with which I troubled them, and in forwarding to me extracts from the archives of their respective seats of Government. Nor can I close this long list of obligations without expressing the deep sense I entertain of the encourage- ment afforded me in the prosecution of this work by Lord Ellenborough — an encouragement which mainly induced me to expand the original sketch of Lally into the history of his countrymen in India — as well as by my honoured friend, Sir Henry Durand, one of the Members of the Supreme Council of India. I may add, in conclusion, that this work originally appeared, in separate parts, in the pages of the Calcutta Review, though it has since been thoroughly revised and indeed partly re-written. It was my wish, before offering it in a complete form to the English public, to submit it to the ordeal of the criticism of those, some of whom, from their long experience of India and their close acquaintance with its history, were thoroughly competent to pronounce an opinion as to its merits. If I may presume to draw any conclusion from the recorded opinion of the Indian press on the work as it appeared in parts, I shall have no reason to regret the act which I am now about to take upon myself — of presenting it to my countrymen as a whole. G. B. M. Simla: May 24, 1867.