Kathleen Blechynden

“ Holwell and his companions had, in the mean time, been carried to Murshedabad. The rains broke over Calcutta the day after its capture, and the wretched prisoners, journeying by boat, were given no shelter, but lay on a platform of bamboos at the bottom of the boat, exposed alike to the soaking rain and the scorching sun, laden with heavy fetters, covered with terrible boils the result of breathing the poisoned atmosphere during that night of agony in the Black Hole, and given only a little boiled rice for food. ”

“ Kirkpatrick sailed for Calcutta, where he died soon after his arrival: the poor young begum returned alone to her splendid home, desolate at once of husband and children, and died a few years later, and so closed in sadness and loneliness the passionate romance.
The children grew up happily in their English home; the son died in early manhood, leaving a widow and three children; the daughter, who also married, lived to a great age. ”

“ Some idea of the condition of the Nullah in the early days of the English settlement may be formed, when we read that dying Hindus were laid on its muddy banks that their lives might ebb away amid the slime and ooze of the ebbing tide of the sacred stream, and their funeral pyres were lit on the spot where they breathed their last, the remains being cast into the venerated waters. ”

“ And when men visit the rugged coast of Zululand, and, looking down through the clear waters, see the weed-grown guns and iron that mark the spot where lay the wreck, they tell again the story of the lost East Indiaman, and their thoughts rest in pity on the shadowy pathetic figures of those English women who, dead to their former world and all that they held most dear, lived out their lives as wives and mothers among an alien and savage race. ”

“ While France still clings to her bright little settlement in Bengal, the Danes at Serampore, like the Dutch at Chinsurah, realized that their Indian possessions had become useless to them, and, in 1845, the King of Denmark transferred his Indian settlements to the British Government, receiving in return a sum of twelve lacs of rupees; and now, beyond the Danish royal monogram on the church and on the gateway of the magistrate's house, and a few names on the old tombstones in the cemetery, nothing remains in Serampore to tell of the Danish occupation. ”

“ Charnock's domestic history has long been the romance of the early days of Calcutta. The story runs that he saw one day a youthful Hindu widow, a girl of fifteen, about to commit sati, to be burnt on her husband's funeral pyre. Moved by her youth and beauty, Charnock with his bodyguard of soldiers dispersed the attendant priests and relatives, and carried away the girl, to be for twenty-five years his faithful companion through all his trials. The old records show that many of the English factors in Bengal were married to native women, many of whom became converts to the Roman Catholic faith. ”

“ This road, known to Modern Calcutta as Park Street, was called Burying Ground Road, and many were the mournful processions which slowly trod its dreary length, as described by Miss Goldborne:— "Funerals are indeed solemn and affecting things at Calcutta," she wrote, "no hearses being here introduced, or hired mourners employed; for as it often happens, in the gay circles, that a friend is dined with one day and the next is in eternity, the feelings are interested, the sensations awful, and the mental question, for the period of interment at least, which will be tomorrow's victim? ”

“ To the hospitality and generosity of Anglo-Indian society there is no lack of testimony. Lord Valentia, who was in Calcutta in 1803, and who subsequently published an account of his travels in the East, wrote:—
"I can truly affirm that my Eastern countrymen are hospitable in the highest degree, and that their generosity is unbounded. The hearts of the British in this country seem expanded with affluence, they do everything on a princely scale."
Again we read, in Forbes's "Oriental Memoirs":—
"The character of the English in India is an honour to their country. ”

“ One of Sir William Jones's earliest acts in India was the founding of the Asiatic Society, and, for ten years, he laboured with indefatigable zeal and stupendous learning, carrying out his duties on the Bench with care and dignity, studying Sanskrit, writing voluminously, translating learnedly, and attending the weekly meetings of the Society he had founded, and to which he contributed many valuable papers, notably his discourses as president. ”

“ The bodies of the poor creatures who perished in the Black Hole were carried out of the Fort, and thrown into the ditch of an unfinished ravelin, which the English had hastily begun opposite the main gate, but had been unable to complete before they were driven within the walls, and were covered with earth. Holwell, when he returned to Calcutta, after the town had been recovered by Clive and Admiral Watson, erected, at his own cost, over this common grave of his fellow-sufferers a monument, on which he inscribed their names and a vigorously worded record of their fate. ”

“ It was while the English were at Hughly that the French and Danes established themselves in Bengal, about the year 1676. Taking warning from the difficulties experienced by the English, they obtained land on which to build their factories at some distance from Hughly and from each other, but on the river for the convenience of shipping their goods. The Dutch who arrived in Hughly during the Portuguese times had also a factory, but they selected a spot adjoining Hughly, and, in their plodding, phlegmatic way, kept themselves to themselves, and prospered accordingly. ”

“ To chronicle all the tales of pathos and romance that whisper from the old tombs to the listening ear, would fill many volumes; but there is one sad story of the sea, that is connected with a grave in the South Ground, that should not be missed. Facing the heavy old gateway stands the "Family Tomb" of the Chambers, in which were laid, in February, 1782, the remains of Mrs. Anne Chambers, the mother of Sir Robert Chambers, afterwards Chief Justice of Bengal. The poor lady died of grief on parting with her grandchild, Sir Robert's eldest son. ”

“ It was quite evident that a few more strokes of the spade would discover the rest of the skeleton, perhaps perfect, after just two hundred years of burial. There can be no reasonable doubt, arguing from the position of the body and the depth at which it lay, that it was the very one to enshrine which only the mausoleum was originally built—the mortal part of the Father of Calcutta himself. Having seen what I did, I had the grave filled in ... if the investigation were to be prosecuted at all, it should at least be in presence of a representative company of Englishmen. ”

“ After the English settled in Calcutta, and as year by year the villages grew and spread, the Govindpore jungle was steadily cleared away as brushwood was cut and trees felled for firewood to supply the needs of the growing population. Then came the sudden expansion of the town which followed Clive's victory at Plassey; and, the old fort having been found inadequate for the defence of the settlement, it was decided to build the new Fort William on the ground occupied by the Govindpore village, surrounded as it was by waste lands which formed a natural esplanade. ”

“ While the more timid, priding themselves on their European descent, and clinging to a pitiful imitation of European customs, were driven to menial occupations for a livelihood, and, sinking deeper and deeper in the social scale, made the proud Portuguese names they had inherited a byword through the land for all that was vicious, idle, and degraded. ”

“ It is something of a coincidence that as the opening years of the twentieth century have brought sweeping changes to Calcutta, and have seen the passing away of many old landmarks, and the creation of a new and more stately city, so the early years of the nineteenth century saw a similar changing of the old order; and a similar desire for the improvement of the city as that which animates her citizens to-day, filled the minds of the men of Old Calcutta.
A hundred years ago a lottery was the most popular means of obtaining money for any purpose. ”

“ After many representations, the emperor agreed to allow Hamilton to leave him, but it was on the condition that, after he had gone to England to visit his wife and children and to procure medicines which could not be obtained in India, he would return to the emperor's service. This matter being satisfactorily arranged, the embassy at last left Delhi and returned to Calcutta, but Hamilton's compact with the emperor was never to be fulfilled. Shortly after his return to Calcutta the skilful and modest surgeon died, and was laid to his rest in the sadly crowded burial-ground of the settlement. ”

“ Down in the lower reaches, where the great river rushes to the sea, frenzied devotees cast their helpless children, or flung themselves amid the swirling waters where the hungry jaws of alligators waited to devour them. ”

“ From the time of his election as nawab in 1742, till his death in April, 1756, Aliverdi Khan ruled Bengal with strength and justice. He was succeeded by his grandson, a youth of twenty, whose name, Suraj-ud-Dowlah ("Lamp of the State") is infamous in history as the author of the terrible tragedy of the massacre of the Black Hole in Calcutta. This young man had been adopted when a child by his grandfather, the late nawab, who lavished on him a passionate tenderness which overlooked and forgave every fault. ”

“ The agent's and Mr. Peachie's houses, which were part standing, to be repaired, as also the secretary's office: "these to be done with mud walls and thatched, till we can get ground whereon to build a factory." These mud-walled and thatched houses, which could have been no better than native huts, were the nucleus of the city of Calcutta.
The cessation of trade during the five years' dispute with the English had made it clear to the Mohammedan rulers that a persistence in their high-handed treatment of the traders inflicted loss on themselves. ”

“ From supper the company were summoned by the discharge of a rocket at one o'clock, to view the illuminations and fireworks, "which were executed by artificers sent to Calcutta for the purpose from Lucknow and Murshedabad." Lord Valentia wrote rather disparagingly of the illuminations: "The populace stole much of the oil, and as it was impossible to light so great a range at one time the effect was inferior to what it ought to have been," but the rockets which were discharged from mortars on the Fort ramparts he considered superior to any he had ever beheld. ”

“ Though Suraj-ud-Dowlah may not have been primarily responsible for the inhuman massacre of his defenceless prisoners, he expressed no concern for their fate. His one thought was the treasure of which he imagined he had been cheated. Mrs. Carey and all the men, both European and native, with the exception of Messrs. Holwell, Court, Walcot and Burdet, were given their liberty; but on these four officers fell the full force of the nawab's resentment, and he ordered them to be loaded with chains and conveyed to Murshedabad, there to await his return. ”

“ The unfortunate people received it eagerly in their hats thrust through the bars, but such was the struggle for a draught, that more than half was spilt and wasted before it reached their parched lips. The water only added to their sufferings, the sight of which the inhuman soldiers enjoyed, holding up blazing torches that they might see them fighting for a drink. ”

“ The Portuguese traders in Bengal were favoured by the tolerant Akbar, and retained their privileges under his son and successor, Jehangir; Hughly continued to grow in importance and wealth, and the merchants grew proportionately more arrogant and proud. They domineered over the Mohammedan governors of Satgaon; having acquired land on both banks of the river, they exacted duties from all vessels passing up and down the great waterway, and raided the country-side for slaves, who were sent to their possessions in Southern India and elsewhere. ”

“ Even in 1768 it was said that, though the town of Calcutta was daily increasing in size, "the English inhabitants multiply so fast that houses are extremely scarce." Under these circumstances it was natural that the building of a church should be relegated to the distant future, when the new Fort should have been completed, and that, in the mean while, the chaplain had to find what place he could for the celebration of Divine Service. ”

“ James Kyd, and his brother Robert, who became his partner, were sons of General Alexander Kyd; they were men of high character, and were widely respected, and greatly beloved for their generous charity. James survived his brother ten years, and on his death, in 1836, the Dock, in which many fine ships had been built, was acquired by the Government, and became the Government Dockyard, the sole survivor of the large number of dockyards which had once raised expectations that shipbuilding would become the leading industry of Calcutta. ”

“ During this period of lawlessness the Mahratta horsemen of Central India began to invade Orissa and Bengal, and to lay waste whole tracts of country. Terror and consternation spread through the land, and everywhere the people fled into the jungles, or gathered in the towns and larger villages in the hope of obtaining some protection by their numbers. In Calcutta the native population undertook to dig a wide ditch which cavalry could not readily cross, round the three villages which formed the town. ”