Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal, Anno Dom. 1757Watts, William, active 1737-1758
History
Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal, Anno Dom. 1757
Watts, William, active 1737-1758
East India Company -- History; India -- History -- 1526-1765; Plassey, Battle of, Palashi, India, 1757
perpetual; since the Company is at Liberty to take whatever Measures
shall seem most expedient for the Safety of her Settlements, which is as
much as could be either expected or desired.
The Regard shewn, and the Provision made, for all Degrees of Persons,
who suffered by the Subversion of the Colony, was equally equitable and
honourable. The Company, and those who depended upon it, shared the good
as well as the ill Fortune that attended the different Administrations
in _Bengal_. There were many of the _European_ Sufferers, who were
absolutely ruined and undone; reduced from Opulence and Ease, to Misery
and Want, by a sudden, unforeseen, and inevitable Misfortune. These were
restored to the whole of what they had lost, which was a Benefit to
themselves, and to their Creditors in other parts of _India_ and in
_Europe_. Besides, as many of them had acquired their Fortunes by their
Industry, and had spent almost their whole Lives in this Climate, it was
not only a Piece of Justice to recover for them what they had lost, but
a Point of true Policy to prevent the Terror of their Fate from having a
mischievous Operation in succeeding Times, which otherwise it might have
had; and this too in many Respects. The extending this Restitution to
the _Jentoows_ and _Armenians_, was not only a very exemplary but a very
generous Act of Benevolence, founded in Principle. At the same time that
it attached the particular Persons who were relieved, it raised the
Reputation of the Company. It revived the Spirits of those useful
Inhabitants, and gave a new Spring to their Activity and Industry, which
were not only salutary Consequences at the Time, but will be found more
so in their Effects, and facilitate the Execution of those Designs, that
will be hereafter mentioned. This Tenderness for other Nations, this
laudable Desire that they should share in the Prosperity, who had been
hurt by the Adversity of the _English_, might be set in a far stronger
Light, if placed in Comparison with the Conduct of others, without
stirring out of _India_; but as that would be invidious, it is better
omitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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