Just as, historically speaking, it is not true to say that Romulus founded the city of Rome in 750 B.C., it is not correct to think that Job Chamock of the English East India Company established the city of Calcutta on August 24 1690. Indeed, even before the establishment of the British settlement in Calcutta the region was far from a vast stretch of swamps and mangroves. It was already vibrating with a fast-developing trade and commerce. Nevertheless, the advent of the Britishers definitely ushered in the colonial period of its history and till 1911 it remained the capital of the British Empire in India. As such, I have great pleasure in presenting this volume of documents on Calcutta held in the custody of the State Archives of West Bengal on the occasion of the Ter-centenary Celebrations of Calcutta.
Though the British settlement is traditionally reckoned to have been established on August 24 1690, its carly records are all lost, particularly due to the extensive burning of the city by Nawab SirajudDaula during his invasion of Calcutta in 1756. It must, however, be stated that not very many records of permanent interest could possibly also have existed at that time for historical reasons. The period of change from pure trade to governance of the country by the East India Company with their principal base at Calcutta began with the victory at the battle of Plassey. But it was only after the investment of the Company with the Dewani of Bengal, Behar and Orissa in 1765 that the Company had the obligation to maintain proper accounts of revenue etc. In fact, the consecutive records of the Company arranged properly, both year wise and subject wise, start after the promulgation of the Regulating Act of Lord North in 1773. Consequently, in the State Archives of West Bengal records on Calcutta prior to 1775 are very few. But these become more numerous and voluminous in the subsequent years. In the present volume records on Calcutta covering the period 1764-1800 have been listed. While the list of documents is rather comprehensive, extracts and texts of documents are given on a selective basis, primarily for reasons of bulk and economy. It is hoped that lists of records of the subsequent periods on the same pattern will be published in separate volumes later.
In this connexion, I owe an apology, on three counts. In the first place, in the present volume has been included the minute of Lord Wellesley dated August 2 1800 on the foundation of the College of Fort William at Calcutta. But considering the immense importance of the topic for cultural history of India, it has been thought prudent to include in the present volume also a few subsequent correspondences on the subject and changes in the Statutes and Rules of the institution taking place later than 1800.
In the second place, to infuse an idea of the steady organic growth of the city of Calcutta we have reproduced by way of Introduction to the present volume the account of the origin and growth of Calcutta by H. Beverley from the Census of Calcutta in 1866. This, I believe, will add flesh and blood to the otherwise dry and impersonal list of documents.
In the third place, no attempt has been made to standardize either the spelling of proper names, often given differently even in one and the same document, or the marks of punctuation. The preserved texts of documents and particularly of correspondences relative to the Fort William College at Calcutta contain few lacunae and are also sometimes defective. Wherever possible, the lacunae have been restituted but these additions are indicated in brackets. Little effort has been made to correct the defects.
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