who undertakes to tell such a story is rash, but if I have had the
temerity to do so, I can only express the hope that I have suc-
ceeded in moving the story a little nearer to the place that it ought to
occupy in the historical memory of the English speaking peoples and
of our Indian friends. In conclusion, I think I do well to warn my
readers that present day controversies have in no way been my con-
cern. I have sought only for the facts and not to provide material for
the disputants on either side of the Indian constitutional question.

I am indebted to a number of kind friends. For the inspiration of
this book I owe all to the late Sir George W. Forrest who, when I was
an undergraduate at Oxford, first aroused my interest in this subject on
which he was himself so great an authority. It was a very great
privilege for me to have had him as a friend, mentor and tutor; his
kindness was inexhaustible and I take this opportunity to pay an
affectionate and grateful tribute to his memory. I wish to thank two
good friends, Mr. Alan Dudley and Mr. R. J. Cruikshank, for reading
the book in manuscript; Mr. Alan Green for his painstaking criticisms
and helpful suggestions; and Sir Arthur Knapp for having given me
invaluable assistance with the illustrations as well as for his special
contribution printed in the Appendix. For the translation of the testi-
monial appended to Chapter XXVIII I am indebted to Mr. C. A. Storey,
librarian at the India Office, where the originals lie. I am also under
grateful obligation to the Librarians of the British Museum, the Guild
Hall, and the British Library in New York, and to Mr. Ottewill of the
India Office. Finally, I welcome this opportunity to acknowledge the
debt I owe my father -- a debt that has now mounted so high as to
render any kind of a statement of it impossible.

A. MERVYN DAVIES

Silvermine, Norwalk, Connecticut,
January, 1935.

-viii-