and on Aug. 24, 1776, had Pigot arrested, taken to St. Thomas' Mount and kept in confinement, where he died May 11, 1777. The Court of Proprietors of the E. I. Co. in London voted in Pigot's favour, and eventually, with the concurrence of the Court of Directors, Pigot was ordered to be restored to his Governorship, with instructions to resign directly. But he had meanwhile died. Four Members of Council were tried in England for his arrest and fined £1,000 each.
PISCHEL, KARL RICHARD (1849–)
Born Jan. 18, 1849 : son of Ernst Pischel : educated at Breslau and Berlin : studied in London and Oxford, 1872–3 : Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Kiel, 1875–85 : at Halle, 1885–1902 : has held the same position at the University of Berlin since 1902 : in 1901 obtained the Volney Prize from the French Academy : became Privy Councillor in 1904. His chief works are : Kalidasa's Sakuntala, the Bengali Recension edited, 1877; Hemacandra's Grammatik der Prakrit-sprachen, 1877, 1880; The Desinamamala of Hemacdndra, 1880; The Theri-Gatha, 1883 : Rudrata's Sringaratilaka, 1886; Vedische Studien, (published together with Geldner), 1889–1901; and a Prakrit grammar, 1900 : is a member of several learned Societies, including the Royal Asiatic Society, the American Oriental Society, the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, etc., and corresponding member of others.
PITMAN, CHARLESJEDWARD (1845–)
Born May 14, 1845 : son of Capt. J. C. Pitman, R.N. : educated at Royal Naval School : joined Indian Telegraph Department, 1868 : served in Lushai expedition, 1871–2 : Afghan war, 1878–80 : Tirah expedition, 1897–8 : Director-General, Indian Telegraph Department, 1899 : retired, 1900 : C.I.E., 1880.
PITT, WILLIAM (1759–1806)
Second son of first Earl of Chatham : born May 28, 1759 ' educated privately and at Pembroke College, Cambridge : called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, 1780 : M.P. for Appleby, 1781 : for Cambridge, 1784 : Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1782 : Prime Minister, 1783–1801, and 1804–6. His influence on Indian affairs was exerted on several occasions. His first India Bill was rejected by 8 votes on Jan. 23, 1784 : his second Bill, passed May 18, 1784, as the Statute 24 Geo. III, c. 25, established the Board of Control, commonly called the India Board, to consist of Commissioners for the affairs of India, with very extensive powers. The Home Government of India nominally passed from the E. I. Co. to the Crown : but the Statute left large powers to the Court of Directors. The complex system of Government thus created endured until 1858. When the Opposition attacked Warren Hastings in 1786, Pitt voted silently against the Rohilla charge, June 2, but spoke and voted, June 13, for the Benares charge : again, for the charge relating to the Begams of Oudh : this vote, as Lord Rosebery has pointed out, made the impeachment of W. Hastings inevitable, and it was carried out. He passed also the Act of 1786, which gave the Governor-General power to override his Council, and he passed the Declaratory Act of 1788, which required the Board of Control to maintain a permanent body of troops out of the funds of the E.I. Co. : died Jan. 23, 1806.
PLATTS, JOHN THOMPSON (1830–1904)
Inspector of Schools in the Central Provinces during the mutiny: Head Master of the Benares College : returned to England, from ill-health : Teacher of Persian at Oxford, 1880 : examined in Hindustani at the Indian Civil Service examinations : published an Urdu-English dictionary, and part of a Persian grammar : translated many Persian works : died Sep. 1904 : buried at Oxford, Sep. 26.
PLAYFAIR, SIR HUGH LYON (1786–1861)
Son of Dr. James Playfair : born Nov. 17, 1786 : educated at Dundee, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Woolwich : entered the E. I. Co.'s Bengal Artillery, 1804 : to India, 1805 : saw general service in India, up country : in the Nipal war, 1814–5, in the bombardment and capture of Kalunga : Captain, 1818 : Superintendent of the great military road and postal department from Calcutta to Benares : commanded
