744, of which I am writing.

It will be seen then, that, at this period, whilst the nominal ruler
of the Deccan was Chin Kilich Khan, better known as Nizam-ul-Mulk, as
I shall hereafter style him, the Nawab of the Karnatik, who ruled the
lands bordering on the sea, including the English settlement of
Madras and the French settlement of Pondicherry, was a very powerful
subordinate. The office he held had likewise come to be regarded as
hereditary. And it was through the failure of the hereditary line,
that the troubles came, which gave to Robert Clive the opportunity to
develop the qualities which lay dormant within him.

Before I proceed to describe those events, it seems advisable to say
a few words regarding the two settlements to which I have just
referred; of the principles which actuated their chiefs; and of the
causes which brought them into collision.

The English had made a first settlement on the Coromandel coast in
the year 1625 at a small place, some thirty-six miles to the south of
Madras, known now as Armagon. Seven years later they obtained from
the Raja of Bisnagar a small grant of land, called {19}by the natives
Chennapatanam from the village contained thereon. They re-named the
place Madras, and built there a fort round their storehouses which
they named Fort St. George. In 1653 the Company in London raised the
agency at Madras to the position and rank of a Presidency. Towards
the end of the seventeenth century the establishment there counted a
population of 300,000 souls. In 1744 the town consisted of three
divisions: that to the south (the White Town) extending about four
hundred yards in length from north to south, and about one hundred
yards in breadth. There resided the Europeans, mainly English. They
had there about fifty houses, two churches, one of them Catholic;
likewise the residence of the chief of the factory. All these were
within the enclosure called Fort St. George. That somewhat pompous
title represented merely a slender wall, defended by four bastions
and as many batteries, very slight and defective in their
construction, and with no outworks to defend them. This division was
generally known as the 'White Town.' To the north of it, and
contiguous, was another division, much larger and worse fortified,
principally tenanted by Armenian and Indian merchants, called the
Black Town. Beyond this, again to the north, was a suburb, where the
poorer natives resided. These three divisions form