FOOTNOTES:
[214] Orme, vol. ii. p. 363.
[215] The country usually known by the name of the Northern Circars, which had been ceded by the Soubah Salabut Jung to the French.
[216] A modern writer has noticed Clive's conduct on this occasion in less favourable terms:—
"Clive," Mr. Mill observes[217], "chose to remain in Bengal, where he was master, rather than go to Madras, where he would be under command; and determined not to lessen his power by sending troops to Madras, which the Presidency, copying his example, might forget to send back. An enterprise at the same time presented itself, which, though its success would have been vain had the French in the Carnatic prevailed, bore the appearance of a co-operation in the struggle, and afforded a colour for detaining the troops."
I conceive no remark is necessary upon the first part of this paragraph. Every one acquainted with our condition in India at this period must be sensible that Clive's presence was comparatively of little consequence at Fort St. George[218], and that it was essential to the very existence of our power in Bengal; he, therefore, having the option, very properly chose to remain where he was most urgently required.
[217] Vol. iii. p. 247.
[218] Mr. Pigot was governor, and Colonel Lawrence commanded the troops.
[219] Calcutta, 14th August, 1758.
[220] Calcutta, 15th September, 1758.
[221] Two companies of Draper's regiment.
[222] Calcutta, 26th December, 1758.
[223] Calcutta, 25th December, 1758.
[224] M. Moracin.
[225] Mr. Scrafton.
[226] In a letter from Mr. Hastings to Clive, of the 13th August, 1758, he observes:—
"As I look upon myself to be principally indebted to you for my appointment to this office (of what advantage soever it may prove to me with respect to my own particular interest), I think it incumbent upon me to make my sincere acknowledgments to you, for your favourable intentions herein; which I cannot do better than by a constant attention to the business entrusted to my charge, and my earnest endeavours to promote the interests of the Company, as far as my capacity will enable me; in which, I hope, I shall always have the happiness to meet with your approbation."
[227] Mr. Hastings could not have been above twenty-five years of age when appointed to this arduous and responsible situation.
[228] Mr. Hastings, in a letter to Clive of the 18th September, reports the suspicious circumstances that led to the dismission of Cajah Haddee, who was accused of having armed his followers with an intention of murdering the Nabob when he went on a visit to his son. This accusation was probably false, and invented, as the ground of the fictitious plot, before alluded to, against Meer Jaffier's life, said to be formed by Roy Dullub, with the knowledge and approbation of Clive.
[229] Tunkaws are the orders upon the revenue of the country.
[230] 6th October, 1758.
[231] The Nabob gave a copy of this letter to Mr. Hastings, to forward to Clive. Its purport was as follows:—
"Your acceptable letter I have received: the purport of it I have duly attended to. You write that the sepoys are all unanimous in this affair, which I am very glad of. At present, it is your business to put in immediate execution the affair in which you are engaged. I will be with you in time: with regard to the expenses, I have wrote to Meer Allee, who will supply you.
"I have talked with Sayeed Cossim Ali Khan as far as necessary, and half engaged his consent. As you judge most effectual, do you bring him entirely over to our design. What was agreed upon between us, you may be assured shall be fully complied with: of this you may rest perfectly satisfied. By the means of Mr. Watts and Mr. Scrafton I have communicated the whole affair to Sabut Jung, and have gained his concurrence in it. Sabut Jung's tunkaw money, and the sepoys' arrears, I have taken upon myself.
"Let these particulars entirely satisfy you in this affair, which I desire you will bring to a speedy conclusion."
Mr. Hastings, in the letter to Clive which accompanies this document, observes, "Whether the letter is genuine or forged, I shall leave to yourself to judge, and time to determine. I own I cannot help making one obvious remark,—that if Roy Dullub was really the author of the letter, it will be a matter of some difficulty to find out what his intent could have been in writing it; as it appears of very little consequence towards the design in hand, and rather calculated to discover the whole affair, and put himself entirely in Cajah Haddee's power, than to answer any other purpose, at least that I can discover."
[232] To the Council of Fort William, 5th December, 1758.
[233] Private letter to Mr. Drake, sen., 30th December, 1758.
[234] Shah Zada means "King's son;" but, in India, has latterly been always applied, by way of distinction, to the princes of the family of Delhi. Indeed, before the assumption of the title of Sultan by Tippoo, and of that of Shah by the present Vizier of Oude, no Indian Mahommedan prince or chief, in recent times, ever styled himself Sovereign.
[235] Mr. Hastings, in his letter to Clive of the 8th July, 1759, observes, "The Nabob suspects Ram Narrain to have taken the part of the King's son; which I do not wonder at, as the Nabob has never been thoroughly reconciled to Ram Narrain."
[236] Aurungzebe died at Ahmednagar, in the Deckan, on the 21st February, 1707.
[237] The name of this chief was Meer Shah-u-Deen. He took the title of his father, Ghazee-u-Deen, or, "The Champion of the Faith."
[238] This prince is often called Ali Gohur; but the title of Shah Alum (or, "King of the World") is that by which he designates himself in all his letters written at this period. The Vizier, in his letters to Clive, gives the Prince this title; and it is also that by which he has since become so well known, as titular Emperor of Delhi, throughout a long life of vicissitude and misfortune.
[239] M. Law, who was an able man, and well acquainted with the natives, was incessant in his intrigues at this period. Clive obtained copies of his letters to Sujah-u-Dowlah, whom he endeavoured to stimulate to action by representing the unsettled state of Bengal, and the certainty of a large French force soon invading that kingdom.—See Country Correspondence, MSS. vol. xiii.
[240] Antè, pp. 348, 349.
[241] Pursnath is the name given by the Jains (the sect to which the Seits belonged) to their principal idol; and their pilgrimage was to Samet Sechara, at which there is one of his most celebrated temples.
[242] 23d November, 1758.
[243] "I cannot close this letter," Clive states, "without doing that justice to Mr. Watts which I think his great services entitle him to. That gentleman, at the manifest hazard of his life, brought to perfection the treaty with the new Nabob and other great men of the Durbar, and sent it down to Calcutta to be put in execution; that gentleman attended the army throughout the long expedition to Patna, in which his knowledge of the language, and of the natives in general, has been of great service to the Company. I could not say less in favour of one who, I think, has had just cause given him for resigning the service."
[244] 4th March, 1759.
[245] Mr. Hastings, in a letter to Clive of the 4th March, observes, "Golam Shah was yesterday with me, with whom I had some discourse upon the subject of the present dissensions betwixt the Nabob and his sepoys. He said the greatest part would assuredly quit the Nabob as soon as he took the field, and that he did not know one who would stand by him against the Shah Zada. But he added, that if you would act as mediator betwixt the Nabob and his jemidars, and engage your word for the safety of their lives and honour, he did not doubt that they would continue faithful to the Nabob, as the fear of his treacherous behaviour was the principal reason that they had to be displeased with his service."
[246] Letter to Mr. Amyatt, 29th December, 1758.
[247] 10th February, 1759.
[248] 13th February.
[249] Received at Calcutta 11th February.
[250] Chuta Nabob means, "the Little Nabob;" by which name the son of Meer Jaffier was always known.
[251] 20th February, 1759.
[252] The Nabob, in his answer to Clive, denied the truth of this report.
[253] 12th February, 1759.
[254] The following is a translation of this letter:—
"To the most High and Mighty, Protector of the Great, Colonel Sabut Jung Bahader.[255]
"I know that you are under the shadow of the King's favour. My beloved son, Maddar-u-Dowlah Bahader, and the magnificent Fyaz Ali Khan, worthy of our favour, have fully represented to me your readiness to expose your life for me, and many other particulars relating to you. In this happy time, with a view of making the tour of Patna and Bengal, I have erected my standard of glory at this place. It is my pure intention to bestow favour upon you, the high and mighty, and all faithful servants, agreeable to their conduct. This world is like a garden of flowers, interspersed with weeds and thorns; I shall, therefore, root out the bad, that the faithful and good ryots (God willing) may rest in peace and quietness. Know you who are great, that it is proper you should pay a due obedience to this my firman, and make it your business to pay your respects to me like a faithful servant, which will be great and happy for you. It is proper you should be earnest in doing this, when, by the blessing of God, you stand high in my favour. Know this must be done."
[255] The following remarks on this title, communicated by David Haliburton, Esq., to his friend Sir John Malcolm, are too curious to be omitted.
"The title of Sabut Jung, viz. 'firm or steady in war,' was first given by the Nabob Mahommed Ali to Colonel Clive, in allusion to his memorable defence of Arcot some years before; but it was after his arrival in Bengal, in 1757, that he was best known there by that title, which was engraven on his Persian seal. One reason might be, that his own name of Clive is difficult to be pronounced in any of the languages of India. Even after a higher title, Zubdut-ul-Mulk, was conferred upon him by the Mogul Emperor, when he created him an Omra of the empire, Clive was better known through the country by the original title of Sabut Jung, which he had brought when he commanded the expedition from Madras.
"Mahommed Ali had, indeed, no right himself to grant titles. He had assumed for himself that of Suraj-u-Dowlah, which, he asserted, had been conferred on him by the Subadar of the Deckan, Nasir Jung; but it had not been acknowledged by those in the French interest, who had succeeded as Subadars of the Deckan. Be this as it may, Mahommed Ali retained that title of Suraj-u-Dowlah in his correspondence with the English. It is that even on his seals to the sunnuds for the lands he gave them near Madras, commonly called the Jaghire; and he never took any other, till he assumed that of Wala-Jah, by which he was known in his latter years.
"It is, however, remarkable, that the first title he had, of Suraj-u-Dowlah, was the same as that by which the Nabob of Bengal was known to the English, by whom he was dethroned in 1757; and perhaps was assumed by him with as little right as Mahommed Ali had: but certainly, of the two, he was placed in the higher situation, when he succeeded his grandfather Aliverdi Khan as Subah of Bengal and Bahar, which would command his procuring a high title from the Court of Delhi."
[256] Clive's sunnud (of which a translation was made by Mr. Hastings) is a curious document, not only as being a good specimen of that florid style in which such patents were written, but as it exhibits their form, and the various offices of government through which they passed before they were sent to the individuals distinguished by such marks of imperial favour. I have given, therefore, a literal transcript of this sunnud in the Appendix.
[257] Polit. Hist. of India, vol. i. p. 510.
[258] 27th February, 1759.
[259] A letter from a prince to a subject is, in India, invariably termed a firman, or mandate.
[260] Clive, on the assurance of Meeran, appears, for the moment, to have believed this report. He wrote to Meer Jaffier, urging him to abandon the play of the Hooley (a Hindu feast), and to hasten to the field, if he desired to preserve his country. To Ram Narrain he wrote in the following terms:—"I have neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, the letter I have now received from Mr. Amyatt; nor could aught but the great confidence I have in him induce me to give credit to its contents. Have you no sense of the obligations you are under to me for all the care and pains I have taken for you? If you had not courage equal to the occasion, yet what could have induced you to act so imprudent a part? What power has the Shah Zada to resist the united forces of the Nabob and the English? Think, then, what will be your fate. For God's sake reflect on the duty you owe to your master, to my friendship, and to your own safety. Turn from this bad design, and act in such a manner that your master may be satisfied with you, and the world acknowledge you worthy of the friendship I have shown you. Should you, from want of courage, forsake your city, be assured it will not remain ten days in the Shah Zada's power."
Ram Narrain, in answer to this letter, urged the difficulties of his situation, and his want of means for a protracted defence; but asserted his fidelity. Clive wrote in reply (29th March), "I shall continue to march, with the utmost expedition, to your assistance. Let my approach animate you to a vigorous defence; and let your conduct be such that I may never repent the protection I have given you."
When Clive was informed of Ram Narrain's having repulsed the Shah Zada, he wrote him in terms of the highest applause and encouragement: "Your behaviour convinces me not only of your fidelity, but of your bravery as a soldier; and you may be assured of my maintaining you in your subahship, even at the hazard of my life." He adds, "Continue thus gloriously to exert yourself, and be assured of my coming shortly to your aid."
[261] Ensign Mathews writes to Clive, from Patna, on the 6th of April, as follows:—"The Shah Zada's army, on the arrival of the English advanced guard (as they term it), raised the siege yesterday morning. Had we not been so expeditious on our marches, they would have had the town this day, as they meant to storm, and had undermined one place."
[262] 19th March, 1759.
[263] The Prince, in his letter to Clive, assumed his title of "Shah Alum," by which we denominate him.
[264] The Vizier wrote two letters to the Nabob, to the same purport as that from the Emperor. He further states, in the second letter, that Mahommed Hedayet-Buksh, second son of the Emperor, was appointed Subadar of Patna, and Meer Jaffier his naib. The nomination of the Prince was titular; but, by its being made at this period, it was, no doubt, meant to take away every shadow of a pretext that could justify the invasion of that province by the Prince Shah Alum. These letters were received at Moorshedabad on the 29th of March, and must have been written before Shah Alum left Benares.
[265] Clive, in a letter to Mr. Manningham of the 24th of April, makes the following observations on Shah Alum's situation at this period:—"The Prince, beset as he is on all sides, must be in great distress, and much puzzled where to retire to. I herewith send you a translation of a letter lately received from him. The letter to which he alludes, as having received from me, is an absolute forgery, as I never wrote him but one, and that from Calcutta, to which this bears no resemblance. The affair appears to be a contrivance of his, in order to sow dissension between the Nabob and me; unless it be really the consequence of the necessitous state to which he is reduced, and intended as an introduction to his throwing himself upon us for protection."
[266] There cannot be a greater proof of Ram Narrain's desire to preserve his fidelity to Meer Jaffier, than this opinion; for had he cherished different sentiments, the ex-Prince was a fit instrument to aid his future designs.
[267] Ganges.
[268] 8th May, 1759.
[269] About 1000l.
[270] He received one, on the 23rd of May, from Ahmed Khan, the Vizier's brother, who states, "I have heard, with pleasure, of your great fame, good actions, and sincerity. Your coming with Nabob Nasser-ul-Mulk[272], to assist and join Ram Narrain Bahader against the Shah Zada, who went into these parts against the Emperor's pleasure, and that of the Vizier my brother, and raised disturbances, was very proper and advisable. I return God thanks that, on your approach, and by your influence, the Naib of Azimabad (Ram Narrain) soon put an end to these disturbances, which has saved the King, my brother, and myself, much trouble and fatigue, as we should have been obliged to take a long journey."
[271] 29th June, 1759.
[272] The title of Meeran.
[273] Hist. of India, vol. iii. p. 254.
[274] Vol. iii. p. 255.
[275] 24th April, 1759.
[276] This means the Court of Delhi. No jaghire, or other grant, was deemed complete in form till sanctioned by the command of the Emperor.
[277] House of Commons Reports, vol. iii. p. 154.
[278] 9th August, 1759.
[279] In a letter to Mr. Amyatt, Chief of Patna, Clive objects, on the ground of having as yet no jaghire, to pay the enormous sum demanded as a fee for the patent of nobility sent him from Delhi; but he desires Mr. Amyatt to give the royal agent, Shitabroy, the nazeranna (or offering) customary from omrahs of similar rank. In the evidence of Clive, given before the Committee of the House of Commons, we find the following testimony on the subject:—
"That the first letter he (Clive) ever wrote about a jaghire was, to the best of his remembrance, on the 31st of January, 1759, to Jugget Seit, informing him that the Nabob had made him an omrah, without a jaghire. In answer to which he replied, that the Nabob never granted jaghires in Bengal; that Orissa was too poor, but that he might have one in Bahar; and he declared, upon his honour, that he never applied for any jaghire, directly or indirectly, after that period; and that, when the Nabob presented him the jaghire (which was near six months afterwards), he did not know what that jaghire was; had not the least idea of the amount of it, nor of its being the quit-rent upon the Company's lands; and that he did believe the Nabob gave him that jaghire in consequence of the services he had rendered him, which have been stated by Mr. Sykes.
"That having looked upon the Nabob's answer as an evasive one, and that he was not inclined to comply with his request, he never wrote, nor thought, more upon the subject, until he received a second letter from Jugget Seit, in answer to his first, after the success against the King's son, mentioning that the Nabob had turned the thing in his mind, and was willing to grant him a jaghire in Bengal; but the nature of it, where, or what value it was to be, he was entirely ignorant of till the patent explained it. Jugget Seit was a banker, and a man of great interest and weight with the Nabob."—Parliamentary Reports, vol. iii. p. 154.