Little by little public interest was now being centred on India. The desperate efforts of France to gain an ascendancy in the Peninsula of Hindoostan, and the gallant endeavour of the servants of the East India Company to thwart those efforts, had at last aroused our Ministers to the value of Indian commerce, and to the necessity of affording military assistance in the shape of trained regiments to the "Honourable Company of Merchants trading to the East." In 1754 a first step was made in this direction, and in that year the 39th Regiment (now the 1st Dorsets) landed in Madras, and, in memory of their connection with our early struggles in India, have been permitted to bear on their colours the legend "Primus in Indis." The following year a truce was signed between France and England, thus putting an end to active hostilities. No steps, however, were neglected by either party in order to secure a paramount influence with native rulers. In this, however, we were less successful than our rivals. PLASSEY, JUNE 23, 1757. The following regiments are entitled to bear this battle honour: The Dorsetshire Regiment. Royal Munster Fusiliers. Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Just as in the South of India the rulers of the Carnatic and of Mysore were the bitter foes of the English settlement at Madras, so at Calcutta we had against us Surajah Dowlah, the ruler of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa--a nominal Viceroy of the Mogul Emperor--straining every nerve to wrest from us the territories on which our factories were built. The tragedy of the Black Hole of Calcutta is familiar to every schoolboy. Fortunate indeed for England was it that, when the news of the fall of Calcutta reached Fort St. George an English fleet, under Admiral Watson, was lying in Madras Roads, and that men of action sat in the Madras Council. Two hundred Europeans were at once despatched to the Hooghly, and a force of 2,500 men hastily organized, consisting of 250 men of the 39th Regiment (1st Dorsets), 700 Madras Europeans, and 1,500 sepoys, for their support. This force was under the joint command of Admiral Watson and Robert Clive. Calcutta was relieved; and as war with France had again broken out, it was determined--now that all pressure on the part of Surajah Dowlah was removed--to attack the French settlement at Chandernagore. The fleet sailed up the Hooghly, and on March 23 the British flag was flying over the French fortress. I have been unable to ascertain the losses of Clive's troops on this occasion. Those of the Royal Navy amounted to 4 officers and 46 men killed, 9 officers and 156 men wounded. In the burial-ground of St. John's Church, Calcutta, may yet be seen two monuments recording thus daring feat of arms and of superb seamanship--the one raised in memory of the Admiral, the other of a midshipman. The former reads: