Noticia certa dos notaveis sucessos acontecidos na Azia contra os Inglezes, os quaes tem quasi totalmente perdido quanto conservação naquellas partes, ficando senhores de todas as suas colonias os Francezes.

[SEVEN YEARS' WAR?INDIA].

Published by [Colophon] Lisbon, n.pr., 1757.

4°, disbound. Caption title. Browned. In good to very good condition. Foliated in manuscript. 7 pp. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of this rare newsletter describing the origins of British-French conflict in Bengal during the Seven Years' War. The Noticia begins with the death in 1756 of Ali Vardi Khan, nawab of Bengal, and the march upon Calcutta by his impetuous successor, Suraj-ud-Dowlah, whose treatment of the British was characterized by "crueldades mais barbaras, e inauditas, e impraticaveis". The feeble resistance and capitulation of the British garrison at Fort William is described, followed by the "fatal disgraça" of the Black Hole of Calcutta, in which most of the British prisoners are said to have died after having been shut overnight in a small, unventilated room. According to this account, after 4,000 soldiers and many others died, the remaining defenders of the fortress that guarded Calcutta surrendered. The Noticia comments that 60 officers and 175 soldiers who were hiding near the Ganges were captured, "e unicamente puderão escaper desacete" ("and only 17 escaped"). British merchants appear to have lost more than 10 million cruzados. The Noticia then relates the successful recovery of Calcutta by British forces led by the celebrated Col. Robert Clive. The French are blamed for fomenting the conflict in an effort to disrupt English trade.This Noticia seems to include a nearly contemporary reference to the notorious incident of the "Black Hole of Calcutta." According to John Zephaniah Holwell, leader of the captured British, when Fort William surrendered in June 1756, its soldiers and civilians were imprisoned overnight in a small, unventilated room. Only 23 of 146 prisoners survived the night; the rest died of asphyxiation. Holwell?s full account was given in a letter dated February 28, 1757, and published in 1758. Holwell?s veracity has been questioned because no other contemporary account mentions the atrocity. Since the numbers in the Noticia are not the same as Holwell?s, they perhaps derive from a separate source.On p. 5 the "Pyrata Angria" is mentioned as "favorecida em todas as suas circunstancias pelos Inglezes." The Angria dynasty, established in the 1690s by Kanhoji Angre (d. 1729), is variously regarded as a family of pirates who grew wealthy by plundering British, Dutch, and Portuguese merchant ships, or as naval commanders of the Maratha Confederacy who were precursors of India?s effort to drive out the British. They usually plied their trade off the west coast of India. (One of the Angria family makes a guest appearance on the Brethren Court in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End.)The Noticia also comments that the British asked the Grand Mogul for his help against Suraj-ud-Dowlah, and that the Mogul (to bolster his own reputation and to help trade) sent an army of 180,000 to subdue Suraj-ud-Dowlah. There is a brief reference to troops sent from Madras by Col. Clive, which may refer to the Battle of Plassey (June 23, 1757), at which Suraj-ud-Dowlah was decisively defeated, and which is generally considered to have opened the way for the British domination of India.The Seven Years? War, 1756-1763, was waged in Europe, North America (where it began in 1754, and is known as the French and Indian War), Central and South America, West Africa, India (the Third Carnatic War), and the Philippines. Prussia, Great Britain, and (from 1761) Portugal were allied against France, Austria, Spain (from 1761), Russia (until 1762), Sweden (1757-1762), Saxony, and the Mughal Empire (from 1757). Aside from venting the ongoing antagonism amongst the Bourbons, Habsburgs, and Hohenzollerns, the countries were battling for overseas colonies and commercial superiority. As a result of the war, Great Britain annexed Canada, much North American territory west of the Alleghenies, and Florida, and became dominant in the Indian subcontinent. France transferred Louisiana to Spain. Prussia gained influence at the expense of the Ho. Seller Inventory # 22738

Bibliographic Details

Title: Noticia certa dos notaveis sucessos ...
Publisher: [Colophon] Lisbon, n.pr., 1757.
Edition: 1st Edition