106 
C. R. Wilson — Topography of old Fort William. [No. 2, 
The Records. 
graphy of tlie place. The plan, it is true, is not quite accurate, but it is 
infinitely superior to the little rough sketch of the fort found in Orrne’s 
history, which was all Mr. Bayne had to go upon. 
The plan suggested a further searching of the records, both here 
and at homo, to see if they could cast any 
further light either upon the plan itself, or 
on the projected new fort of 1753, or on the state of the old fort 
generally. Through the kindness of Mr. Forrest, I was enabled to 
see such records bearing on the subject as are now preserved in the 
Imperial Library at Calcutta, but I found that they were very meagre. 
Dr. Busteed, however, most generously devoted a considerable amount 
of his valuable time to looking up the records at home, and has 
furnished me with a complete list of all the passages to be found in 
the extant records which have any bearing whatever on the old fort, 
and on the question of improving it, or superseding it, which seems 
to have been so often discussed during the four or five years which pre- 
ceded the tragedy of the Black Hole. These extracts are provokingly 
incomplete. They refer to fuller documents, but those fuller documents 
are not now forthcoming, having been all destroyed. Four plans are 
mentioned, viz., Colonel Scott’s, Captain Jones’s, Simson’s and Plaisted’s, 
but none of these could be found by Dr. Busteed at the India Office. 
It is only by some lucky chance that a duplicate copy of Scott’s, or 
Wells’s plan found its way into the King’s library at the British Museum. 
As, however, these extracts bring before us very vividly the circum- 
stances under which the plan was drawn up in 1753, I will here give 
them in full, together with Dr. Busteed’s valuable comments on them, 
before proceeding to speak of the plan itself. 
1. From President and Council, Bengal, to the Court of Directors, 
Extracts. Scott and. the 28th February, 1754. 
Wells. 
Colonel Scott having laid a project before the Board for securing 
this settlement against any attack from a country force which, iu the 
present juncture, ought to be guarded against, and as we imagine the 
expense of it will not be very considerable, we have complied with his 
proposal and directed him to set about it as soon as possible. A 
copy of that project we transmit yr. Honours in this packet as we did 
not chuse for the sake of secresy to enter it after the consultations. 
2. From President and Council, Bengal, to the Court of Directors, 
the 7 th September 1754. 
When Col. Scott proceeded to the coast he requested we would 
permit Lt. W ells to carry on the works he had planned at Perrin’s iu 
