These are the private and secret letters of the Governor-General of British India to the Home Government during that complex and interesting period of European history which intervenes between the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and the departure of Napoleon for Egypt. They tell the story of British relations with native princes, of the all but open mutiny in the Bengal army in 1796, of the revolution in Oudh in 1798, and of British efforts to combat the activities of French naval vessels and privateers in the Indian Seas. Since not much has previously been known about Sir John Shore's administration owing to the lack of original materials, Mr Furber makes a special attempt in his Introduction to place him in his proper setting and to put a just valuation on his work in India.