Page:History of the French in India.djvu/619

 APPENDIX A. 593 " Folio 5. — Mr. Edward Fowke .... speaking (letter of the 25th of December, 1746) of the ransom .... says: 'In regard to ran- soming of the town, afterwards when Monsieur la Bourdonnais told us we might march out with our swords and hats, I thought it (going out with swords and hats) much more to your interest than to accept the terms that were agreed upon .... I could have consented so far as five or six lacs .... Madras is but a tributary town .... therefore for your Honours to be loaded with such a monstrous sum, and the Native Government not to feel any part of so severe a blow, would, I am afraid, in future have a very bad effect, especially with a little money laid out among the great men, which the French know pretty well how to place.' " Again, 3rd March, 1748, ' I can assure you, gentlemen, not- withstanding I may have appeared so lukewarm in defence of your town .... I would rather have sacrificed my life than to have acceded to those terms of agreement, I thought them as directly oppo- site to your interest, honour and credit, as others thought them for it. In the same letter he says one of the bonds was brought to him to sign ; and he wrote on it : — ' I acknowledge Mr. George Jones to have brought me the above-mentioned bond to sign, but as I do not approve the ransom, nor do I know whether I am now legally authorised (being a prisoner of La Bourdonnais) to take up money on the Company's account, I refused to sign it.' "Folio 10. — In the examination (1753 ?) of the bond creditors by inter- rogatories, Messrs. Abraham Franco, Jacob Franco, Aaron Franks inter alia, say : 1 That they heard and believe that the then President and Council of Fort St. George did, after the 10th of September, 1746, agree to give and pay to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais 88,000 pagodas, but they did not know and believe that the said 88,000 pagodas, or any part thereof were so agreed to be paid in order to free or exempt the goods and effects of the merchants and inhabitants .... and particularly the goods and effects of the said Governor in Council, or the said Solomon Solomons (one of the bondholders) in their private capacity from being seized, taken, or plundered, but that the same was agreed to be given or paid to the said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, as a douceur or present on behalf of the said East India Company, with the view to reduce the amount or value of the ransom insisted on by the said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais.' "And the same further say {Folio 11), 'They do believe in their con- sciences that .... the same and said present of 88,000 pagodas, as agreed to be given to the said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, was entered into for the benefit and interest of the East India Company.' "Folio 12. — Francis Salvadore, executor to Jacob Salvadore, says : QQ