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DEDICATION

of the

FIRST EDITION

To the Right Hon. the Lord Northbrook, G.M.S.I., Viceroy and Governor-General of India.

My dear Lord Northbrook,

I am glad to be allowed to inscribe to you, from whom, when I was your Private Secretary, in times past, I received so much kindness, my editorial labours in connection with a book which cannot, I venture to think, fail to have interest for the Viceroy of India.

The most important portion of the volume would, without doubt, have been dedicated to Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General, by his envoy Mr. George Bogle, if untoward circumstances had not intervened to prevent its publication. A century has since elapsed, and now that the intention of Warren Hastings that it should be given to the world is fulfilled, it is appropriate that the book should be dedicated to his successor, the present Viceroy and Governor-General of India.

In the long period that has intervened, since the first Governor-General retired, no greater advances have been made towards the establishment of friendly commercial