The Life and Correspondence of Henry St. George Tucker

THE

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE

HENRY ST.GEORGE TUCKER,

LATE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF BENGAL,

AND

CHAIRMAN OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.

JOHN WILLIAM KAYE,

AUTHOR OF THE "HISTORY OF THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN."

LONDON:

RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

MDCCCLIV.

[The right of publishing a French Translation of this work is reserved.]

213.d. 214.

PREFACE.

A WORK of this kind tells its own story so plainly, that little prefatory remark need be made in the shape of explanation or apology. I was requested to write the Life of HENRY ST.GEORGE TUCKER; and believing that a Memoir of one, who throughout the space of half a century took no unimportant part in many of the great transactions of Indian history, and who, in his participation in those transactions, "did all like a man," would contribute much both in the way of historical information and personal example to the general stock of "things worth knowing," I undertook to write it; and the present volume is the result of my endeavors.

I wish, however, to add, that for the publication of whatsoever the Memoir contains, I, and I alone, am responsible. It is based entirely on materials derived from private sources. I have not received the smallest assistance from any public body or any official person. If there be anything in this volume which ought not to be there, the indiscretion is mine. I believe, however, that the faults of the work are rather those of omission than commission. Certainly they are in my own eyes. If any one should think that I have inserted too much, and reproach me for the insertion, I would beg him to believe, that in consideration for what is called "public convenience"-a great inconvenience, be it

said, to the Public-and what really is private feeling, I have forborne even more than I have adventured.

What's done ye partly may compute

But know not what's resisted.

It would have been egotistical and presumptuous in me to have said even this much, upon the circumstances under which the present work has been written, if it had not been that, on a recent occasion, these personal circumstances were much mis-stated both in Parliament and by the Press; and a great Public Body identified with what was in reality but a private undertaking. And, however willing I may be, in all cases where others have assisted me, to share with them the praise that may be considered my due, I wish to keep the blame undividedly to myself; and to be held solely responsible for all the revelations that are made, and all the opinions that are expressed, in any book that bears my name upon its title.

I have but one word more to say, personal to myself. On looking over the sheets of this work, it appears to me that there is, in some parts, what may seem to be a party bias-in other words, a disposition to speak more slightingly of the acts of the old Whig party than those of their opponents. As the supposition that I have written at all under political influence would, very properly, invalidate my testimony, I think it right to say, that ever since I was a boy my sympathies have been all with the Whigs, and that if this has not appeared in the writings which bear my name, it is because I have ever held that "India is of no Party," and esteemed the claims of Historical Truth paramount over all considerations of Party or of Person.

London, January, 1854.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Birth and Parentage of Henry St.George Tucker-The Bruere and

Tucker Families-Early Life in Bermuda-Departure for England-

Schoolboy Days-Embarkation for India-Midshipman Life-Arrival

at Calcutta.....