Echoes from old Calcutta : being chiefly reminiscences of the days of Warren Hastings, Francis and Impey / by H.E. Busteed.

  • Henry Elmsley Busteed
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Echoes from old Calcutta : being chiefly reminiscences of the days of Warren Hastings, Francis and Impey / by H.E. Busteed. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lories Siraj iid I)o^vla denianded submission, and aid in Ids enter- prise, but they pleaded their peaceful trading occupation, and appeased him Avith promises of substantial donations of money. Meanwhile, how was Calcutta prepared for the approaching visitation 1 On the 1st of June they knew that Ivasimbazar Avas threatened, but not till the 7th did authentic information reach them that it had fallen without striking a blow, and that an immediate descent on the chief settlement was proposed. “ When the Xawab’s intention of marching on Calcutta was known, it was felt time,” naively writes the Adjutant-General, “ to enquire into the state of defence of a garrison neglected for so many years, and the managers of it lulled in so infatuate a security, that every rupee expended in military services Avas esteemed so much loss to the Company.” The Company’s factory at Calcutta Avas built quite at the close of the seventeenth century. When permission Avas obtained for enclosing it, it Avas fortified and called a fort, and named after William the Third. The building, A\diich Avas of brickAvork strongly cemented, lay on the river bank about half Avay betAveen the north and south extremities of the Company’s territory; it occupied ])retty nearly the site noAv comprised betAveen Coelah Ghat Street and Tairlie Place. In shape, it is described as an irregular tetragon, the east and Avest curtains being longer than the north and south, the tAvo latter sides being of unequal length. It had four bastions ; the outer Avails or curtains Avere scarcely four feet thick, and Avere about 18 feet high ; their terraces Avere merely the roofs of chambers and Avarerooms beloAv. Large AvindoAvs Avere in several })laces opened through the curtains for the ventilation of the rooms contiguous to them. A little less than half the factory Avas oppo- site the enclosure then called “ tlie park and great tank,” Avhich is still such a notable feature in “Tail iJiggee.” The main gateAvay projected from the east curtain, and carried guns; those standing in it Avould look out on Avhat Avas then knoAvn as “ the avenue leading to the eastAvard ”—in later years it Avas called “ Great Bungalo Road,” noAv recognized as Lalhousie 8(juare (north), continued into Lall Bazaar, etc. Under the Avest face on the river’s brink, Avas a line of cannon mounted in embrasures of masonry. This so-called fort Avas unprotected lyy any surrounding ditch or out-Avork, and Avas overlooked by several of the English houses scattered near it, some of Avhich Avere enclosed in gardens. It Avas also commanded by the church (built in 1715), Avhicli .stood close to, and about opposite the north-east bastion, on the site of the
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