[2] He was the youngest son of Stephen Cassan (1725–1773) of Sheffield House, Queen's County, Ireland.
[7] Duane, however, alarmed the East India Company authorities with his reports of revolutionary events in France, and of intrigues in the various Indian princely courts where a return of French influence was greatly feared.
He further offended by printing a spurious report of Lord Cornwallis having been killed while on campaign against Tipu Sultan.
Sued for libel, and removed from the paper, Duane was dragged by his hair through the streets of Calcutta, was committed to a debtors' prison.
[8] It is not clear if the paper survived William Hickey states that Cassan after marrying went to Bombay to practise in the Mayor's Court, but died spitting blood.