An Historical Sketch of the Native States of India (English Edition)

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From the preface:
“THE WANT of a condensed historical sketch of the Native dynasties now reigning in India has been felt alike in that country and in England. Proposals to supply the want have from time to time been mooted. Had any of these been carried to their legitimate conclusion, the present publication would never have seen the light.
It happened, however, that information reached me in the course of last year that the labours in the same direction of a gentleman most competent to do justice to the subject had been indefinitely postponed. I had just then completed a literary work on which I had for some time been engaged, and the desire to supply a great public want induced me to take up the dropped thread.
Indian subjects had long been familiar to me, and the history of several important Native States had previously engaged my study and attention. I should, nevertheless, have felt myself unequal to the task of conducting to completion a work so extensive, had I not possessed in my library all the authorities necessary for the purpose. I made a diligent use of the materials thus at my disposal, and gave my undivided time and attention to the subject. The work is now completed. If it should fail to fulfil the expectations of those who have felt the want of such a book of reference, I can assure them that I have grudged no toil, and, dependent entirely as I was on my own exertions, have spared no pains to bring it as nearly as possible to the required standard.
Such a work must necessarily be of the nature of a compilation. This aspires to be nothing more. I have gone to the best authorities and have deliberately robbed them. In the widest sense of the term, I have been ‘the burglar of others’ intellects.’ Of Colonel Tod’s ‘Annals and Antiquities of Rájásthán;’ of Captain Grant Duffs ‘History of the Mahrattas;’ of Sir John Malcolm’s ‘Central India,’ I have availed myself largely. Chiefly, however, certainly more generally, are my obligations due to Mr. Aitchison’s invaluable collection of ‘Treaties, Engagements, and Sunnuds,’ a work which contains within it all the modern part of the information I have condensed, and which must always constitute a material basis for such a compilation as the present. I owe much likewise to Elphinstone’s ‘History of India;’ to Ferishta’s ‘History of the Dekkan;’ to a work published anonymously in 1833, entitled ‘An Historical Sketch of the Princes of India;’ to an admirable summary, evidently officially inspired, of the history of the several states of India attached to the ‘Agra Gazetteer’ for 1841 or 1812; to the Gazetteers of Hamilton and Thornton; and to a printed summary compiled in the Foreign Department in 1869, by Mr. Talboys Wheeler. I have made passing references to various articles in the ‘Calcutta Review’ and in ‘Asiatic Researches;’ to the works of Mill, Thorn, Stewart, and others; but those specially mentioned constituted my main sources of supply. Nor, when mentioning my obligations, can I omit the name of my valued friend Mr. Runga Charlú, Controller to the household of the Máhárájá of Mysore, a gentleman whose vast range of learning, great acquaintance with affairs, sound comprehensive views, and lofty character render him an invaluable ally to anyone engaged in literary work.”