On the death of Meer Jaffier, the supreme council at Calcutta conferred the sovereignty on his youthful son, Nujeem-ul-Dowlah; at the same time appointing Mohammed Reza Khan, a naib subah, or sub-nabob, to manage the revenues and all other matters of government. On his arrival, however, Clive decided that Nujeem was not fit to rule, and he was soon compelled to retire on a pension of thirty-two lacs of rupees per annum. Having restored peace, Clive turned his attention to the correction of abuses; and for which he had full powers given him by the court of directors before he left England. But this was no easy task. Most of the members of the council at Calcutta had been partakers in the spoils and profits of the nefarious system which had been adopted in India; many of those servants who had been most oppressive and rapacious, were strong in their patronage in Leadenhall-street; and nearly every European in the country looked to India as prey, which they were to make the most of for themselves, without regarding the interests of those who should come after them, or of the company by whom they were employed. On commencing his reforms, many of the company’s agents threatened and protested; and several, confident in their patronage at home, refused to act with or under him. But none of these things daunted Clive. He declared that if he could not find support at Calcutta, he would procure it elsewhere; and he actually sent for some civil servants from Madras, and turned the refractory out of their offices. Seeing his resolution, recourse was next had to flattery, entreaty, persuasion, and arguments, but all this failed to turn him aside from his purpose. By one fell stroke he put down the private trade and dangerous privileges of the company’s servants, and he prohibited the extorting or receiving presents from the natives. At the same time Clive adopted measures, which might give the servants of the company a proper maintenance, and also an opportunity of acquiring fortunes by application and perseverance. The pay of the company’s servants being miserably low, and altogether insufficient for their proper maintenance—a circumstance which doubtless had the effect of increasing their rapacity—as the monopoly of salt was now, by the pensioning off the young nabob, in the hands of the company, he appropriated it to the proper pay and support of the servants of all kinds, carefully dividing the proceeds according to a scale; and thus gave every British functionary employed in the East the means of slowly but surely acquiring a competence. Having disposed of the affairs of the civil servants, Clive turned his attention to those of the military, his old companions in arms. And here he had greater difficulties than ever to contend with, for they were men who held the power of the sword in their hands.

Notwithstanding, the reduction of military expenses, which were rapidly absorbing the whole revenue of the country, required his attention, and he gave it without fear of the consequences. As long as the troops were employed by Meer Jaffier and Meer Cossim, these potentates, in order to cherish the goodwill of the officers, allowed them “double batta,” or double pay. The court of directors had long ago issued that “double batta” should be abolished, but Vansittart and his council had listened to the remonstrances of the army, and the order was left unregarded. But Clive was a bolder man than Vansittart, and he resolved that “double batta” should cease forthwith, except at Allahabad, where the troops were considered as being actually in the field. An order was issued to this effect, and the troops in Bengal were put upon the same footing as the troops on the Coromandel Coast, by whom no batta was drawn, except when actually marching or serving on the field of battle. The officers remonstrated, but it was to no purpose: the order was given, and it must be obeyed. On the appointed day the reduction took place, and, enraged thereby, two hundred English officers engaged in a conspiracy, binding themselves by an oath to secrecy, and to preserve, at the hazard of their lives, the life of any comrade that might be condemned by a court-martial. These officers, indeed, each bound themselves in a bond of £500 to throw up their commissions, unless “double batta” were restored; and finding that Clive was inexorable, they resigned. To increase the danger this conspiracy was formed at a time when the country was threatened with a new invasion by a Mahratta army. The officers, doubtless, supposed that Clive would be frightened out of his resolution, but they soon found that they had mistaken the force of his character. On hearing of the conspiracy, he exclaimed, “Such a spirit must, at all hazards, be suppressed at the birth,” and he wrote to the council, desiring them to write to Madras, in order that every officer and cadet that could be spared from that presidency should be held in readiness to embark for Bengal; and directing them to acquaint the presidency of Fort St. George with the mutiny, and with the approach of the Mahrattas. In his letter to the council he stated that the committee at Calcutta must adopt a resolution, that no officer now resigning should ever again hold a commission in the company’s service. At the same time, Clive sent directions to the commanding officers of all the divisions to find, if possible, the leaders; to arrest those who appeared most dangerous; and above all to secure the obedience of the sepoys and native commanders. He also gave commissions to several young men in the mercantile service; and when informed that a large sum of money was subscribed for the mutinous officers by gentlemen at Calcutta, in the civil service, he requested the council to take immediate steps for discovering and punishing those gentlemen. Having taken these preliminary steps, Clive quitted Moorshedabad, where he had been arranging matters of trade and finance, and fearlessly advanced with a small escort to Monghir, the scene of the mutiny. Before his arrival, the council had resolved that all resignations tendered should be accepted, and the officers tendering them immediately sent down to Calcutta. Clive was the more incensed against them because he had recently given up £70,000 to form a fund for their invalids and widows; a gift which showed him to be their friend. He arrived at Monghir full of wrath against them, and having secured the attachment of the sepoys, by ordering them double pay for two months, in a short time the ringleaders were all arrested, tried, and cashiered. In the first heat of his passion he had threatened to have them all shot, but as legal doubts were entertained as to the powers granted by the Mutiny Act for the company’s service, not one was sentenced to death. After they had been cashiered, nearly all who had joined in the conspiracy, begged with tears in their eyes, to be permitted to re-enter the service, and some were restored on condition of signing a contract to serve the company on its own terms for three years, and to give a year’s notice of any intention to quit the service. The young officers were treated with great lenity, and when his indignation was cooled and the danger over, he scorned to take any revenge for personal wrongs and insults. The main cause of the mutiny was the gambling and dissipation which prevailed among the English officers, and Clive adopted several wise regulations to check these evils, and to restore the strictest discipline and subordination.

Lord Clive having completed his work of reformation, and restored peace to India, in January, 1767, left Calcutta for England. On accepting his commission he had declared that he wanted no more money, and that all he wished for was a thorough reform; which in the end would prove equally beneficial to the oppressed and the oppressor. And, notwithstanding the temptations to enrich himself, by which he was surrounded, Clive adhered to this resolution of self-abnegation. The servants of the company would have enabled him to treble his wealth, if he would have consented to connive at their misdoings; and the princes of India offered him money, and jewels, and diamonds in abundance, as the price of his assistance on their behalf; but, steady to his purpose, he refused the tempting offers. He returned a poorer man than when he went to India. And yet, notwithstanding his integrity of purpose, and although on his arrival he was hailed with acclamations by the court of directors, and was received with unusual regard by George III. and his consort Queen Charlotte, at a subsequent date, he was charged in the house of commons with mal-administration; and when this failed, his enemies brought him to trial before that tribunal for the events and deeds of his early life. So persecuted was he, and so maligned, that, though finally acquitted by the commons, his spirits sunk under it, and he died by his own hand in the forty-ninth year of his age.

The court of directors had left the abolition or confirmation of the select committee to Lord Clive’s discretion, and before he returned to England he declared for its continuance; naming as members, Mr. Verelst, Mr. Cartier, Colonel Smyth, Mr. Sykes, and Mr. Beecher. Shortly after his return the court of directors resolved to send out to Calcutta three supervisors, to complete the work of reformation, and to put the revenues of Bengal under better management. These supervisors were Messrs. Vansittart, and Scrafton, and Colonel Forde, who took their departure in the Aurora, which is supposed to have foundered at sea with every soul on board, for it was never heard of after leaving the Cape of Good Hope. Subsequently the government of Bengal was left in the hands of Mr. Cartier; but in less than two years it was notified, by the court of directors, to Mr. Warren Hastings, who had long been rising in their estimation, that he was nominated to the second council at Calcutta, and that as soon as Mr. Cartier retired, it was their wish that he should take upon himself the charge of the government of that presidency.

In the meantime the flames of war had been rekindled in the Carnatic by Hyder Ali, who became one of the most formidable opponents of the English in all India. Since his expedition to the neighbourhood of Pondicherry, as the ally of Mr. Lally, Hyder Ali had greatly increased his army. He had, in fact, deposed his benefactor and nominal master, the Rajah of Mysore, and had established himself on his throne. Moreover, Hyder Ali had conquered the rajahs and polygars of Sera, Balapoor, Gooty, Harponelly, Chitteldroog, Bednore, and Soonda, with other districts, and had extended his dominion almost to the banks of Kistna. At this point of his conquests Hyder Ali was checked by Madhoo Row, the Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who crossed the Kistna with an immense body of cavalry, and not only deprived him of some of his recent acquisitions, but compelled him to pay thirty two lacs of rupees. But Ilyder Ali, though checked, was not destroyed. At a subsequent date he undertook and achieved the conquest of Malabar; and he kept that country quiet by cutting off all the Hindoo chiefs. His conquests induced the English, the Mahrattas, and Nizam Ali, the ruler of Deccan, to form a league against him. The Peishwa of the Mahrattas was the first to take the field against him; and he was subsequently followed by Colonel Smith at the head of a small English corps, and a large army of the Nabob of the Carnatic, and by another large army under the Nizam of the Deccan. Before Colonel Smith and the nizam, however, could join their forces to those of the peishwa, he had consented, on the payment of thirty-five lacs of rupees, to retire from the confederacy, and to quit Mysore. The nizam himself was soon after discovered to be negociating a treaty with Hyder Ali, the chief end of which was to expel the company from the Carnatic; and Colonel Smith separated from him, and hastened to take possession of the passes which led into that country. He was joined by some reinforcements from Mohammed Ali, the Nabob of the Carnatic; but he was soon compelled to retreat for Changama, a town about sixty miles from Madras. In his route he was attacked by the three armies of Hyder Ali, the peishwa, and the nizam, whom he bravely repulsed; but want of provisions compelled him to continue his retreat till he reached Trinomalee. He was still followed by the enemy, who plundered, burned, and destroyed all the open country through which they passed. While at Trinomalee, Colonel Smith made an unsuccessful attempt to stop the ravages of the enemy; an attempt which chiefly failed from want of cavalry. In the meantime, Hyder Ali sent his son Tippoo, with five thousand horse, to Madras; and the fortress only escaped his ravages. Grown bold by success, the allies resolved upon a pitched battle with Colonel Smith; and a conflict took place near Trinomalee, in which they were routed. The nizam now again changed sides, and came over to the English; and in the month of December, Colonel Smith once more defeated Hyder Ali and the Peishwa, who fled to Caverypatum, on the river Panaur. On hearing of his successes, the presidency at Madras resolved to carry the war into the very heart of Hyder Ali’s dominions; and Colonel Smith received orders to march upon Bangalore, while Colonel Wood, who was detached from Smith’s force, was directed to operate on the frontiers. As the territory around Bangalore was barren, Colonel Smith represented to the presidency that his army could not subsist in that country; but his representation was unheeded, and he was compelled to set forward on his march. This proved a fatal step. Colonel Smith arrived in the neighbourhood of Bangalore, and Colonel Wood overran the fruitful country on the frontiers; but Hyder Ali, flushed with a recent victory which he had gained over some English troops, which the presidency of Bombay had sent into Malabar and Canara, returned to Mysore, and by the end of the year 1768 recovered every inch of territory he had lost. Early in the year following Hyder Ali again poured down into the Carnatic; and so irresistible were his movements that the presidency of Madras proposed terms of peace. Hyder Ali could not hope to conquer the English, and he readily listened to the proposal; and a treaty was concluded, by which it was agreed that a mutual restitution of territory should take place, and that there should be a mutual co-operation against all enemies. But this treaty was not kept in good faith by the English; for soon after, when Hyder Ali applied to the presidency of Madras for assistance against the Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who again invaded Mysore, and swept everything before him, it was refused, on the plea that Hyder had brought the war upon himself, by leaguing with some Mahratta chiefs.

In the year 1770 the English ministry sent out Sir John Lindsay, with some frigates, to protect the company’s settlements and affairs. Soon after his arrival., the Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who had long boldly defied the English, courted a new alliance with them, and intimated to the Nabob of the Carnatic, that his country should be swept by his cavalry from end to end if a treaty was not agreed upon. The nabob and Sir John Lindsay were of opinion that the peishwa’s wishes should be gratified; but the presidency of Madras refused the alliance, and left the Mahrattas and the Mysoreans to fight their own battles. Hyder Ali was defeated in several encounters, and Seringapatam, his capital, was besieged. Such was his situation when Sir Robert Hariand arrived to supersede Sir John Lindsay in the command; he being removed on the complaints of the presidency of Madras and the directors in Leadenhall-street. Sir Robert followed the plans and notions of his predecessor, strongly insisting that the presidency ought to conclude the alliance which the peishwa demanded. The presidency of Madras, however, supported by the other presidencies, refused to take part in the war, either for or against Hyder Ali; and at the same time sent some forces to protect the Carnatic from the Mahrattas. The peishwa at length became fearful that if he entered the Carnatic he should bring the English upon him; and being distressed for want of provisions in the country of the Mysore, which he had overrun, he listened to the voice of Mohammed Ali, accepted some money from him, and agreed to make peace with Ilyder Ali. A treaty was concluded in 1772, by which the Mahratta chief obtained a large portion of the more northern and inland provinces of Mysore, together with thirty lacs of rupees.

During this war between Hyder Ali and the Mahrattas, the Rajah of Tanjore attempted to seize upon some territory belonging to the Nabob of the Carnatic. Mohammed Ali called upon his English allies for assistance, but after inducing them to make some hostile demonstrations near the Tanjore frontier, he became apprehensive that they might conquer it for themselves, and not for him. To avoid this he had recourse to intrigue, and finally signed a peace with the Rajah of Tanjore, who engaged to surrender all the disputed districts to the nabob, pay him a large sum of money, defray all the expenses of the expedition, and to aid the nabob with his troops in all future wars. Enraged thereat, the presidency of Madras sent orders to the troops not to evacuate the fortress of Vellum, which they had captured, or withdraw their batteries from Tanjore, which they had invested, until the rajah should have made good one of his promised payments. This money was not forthcoming, and to prevent further hostilities, the rajah consented to give up the fort of Vellum to the English, and to cede to them two districts in the neighbourhood of Mandura. But this did not prevent the ravages of the English. In the year 1772 another army was sent to reduce the polygars of the Mara wars, who paid the Rajah of Tanjore a doubtful alliance, and the whole of the Marawars were put into the possession of the Nabob of the Carnatic. Nor did this satisfy the rapacity of Mohammed Ali and the English. Before this war was finished, the Nabob of the Carnatic complained to the presidency of Madras that the Rajah of Tanjore had violated the recent treaty, by delaying payment of money, and by seeking the aid of the Mahrattas and Hyder Ali, and although the company, by a treaty in 1762, had given the rajah security for his throne, he was hunted down by the English, taken prisoner with all his family, and his territories were annexed to the dominions of the Nabob of the Carnatic.

In this foul act the presidency of Madras had acted upon their own responsibility, without any reference to the court of directors in Leadenhall-street. Their act seemed, however, to meet with the approval of these directors; but in the year 1775 Lord Pigot was nominated Governor of Madras, and had full powers given him to reform the presidency of Madras, and to restore the rajah to his throne. Lord Pigot arrived at Madras, at the close of the year, and he immediately repaired to Tanjore, when the rajah was re-proclaimed in his capital. Fierce quarrels now arose among the civil authorities at Madras, and the council went so far as to arrest Lord Pigot, and place him in confinement. These proceedings excited great indignation in England, and though some of the directors in Leadenhall-street approved of them, or at least disapproved of Lord Pigot’s policy, he was restored to his office, and the members of the council were recalled. At the same time Lord Pigot was ordered to return home, and his old opponent, a Mr. Rumbold, was nominated his successor. Mr. Rumbold arrived at Madras early in the year 1773, when he found that Lord Pigot had been brought to his grave by the violence offered to his person. At that time Hyder Ali, who had formed an alliance with the French, again threatened the Carnatic, but before narrating his operations it is necessary to notice some important proceedings in other parts of India.

GEORGE III. 1786-1787

It has been seen that the government of Bengal was left in the hands of Mr. Cartier, and that it was notified by the court of directors to Mr. Warren Hastings, that it was their wish he should take upon himself the charge of the government on Mr. Cartier’s retirement. During Cartier’s administration, in the year 1770, a dreadful famine occurred in the province of Bengal; a famine which swept away the Hindu population by thousands. About the same time Syef-al-Dowla, the son and successor of Meer Jaffier, died of the smallpox, and his brother, Muharek-al-Dowla, was appointed musnud. Muharek-al-Dowla was a mere boy, and as soon as the court of directors heard of his appointment, they issued orders that the annual stipend of the young nabob should be reduced to sixteen lacs of rupees. When these orders arrived in India, Warren Hastings, who had now succeeded Mr. Cartier, immediately put them into execution: an act for which he was afterwards condemned, as though it had originated with himself. The reduction was made in order to effect a saving in the government, but it had no visible effect on the treasury at Calcutta. The exchequer was empty, debt was daily increasing, and every ship brought orders from the court of directors for money. In the midst of this dilemma, the Hindu Nuncomar, the rival of Mohammed Reza Khan, who had been appointed by English influence to administer both the civil list of the nabob and the revenues of Bengal, industriously propagated stories of the minister’s corruptibility. Mohammed Reza Khan was accused of acquiring enormous wealth; of having increased the calamities of the famine, by monoply of rice and other necessaries of life; and of entertaining an idea of turning his power against the English. These rumours, first spread in India, were at length carried to the ears of the magnates in Leadenhall-street, by the agency of one of Nuncomar’s creatures, and inflamed with cupidity, they resolved upon the minister’s ruin. A letter was sent to Hastings, directing him to take measures, and to issue his “private orders” for securing the person of Mohammed Reza Khan, together with his whole family, partizans, and adherents. Hastings had no choice left him, but implicit obedience to these commands, or dismissal from office; and unfortunately for his honour—for he was aware of the innocence of Mohammed Reza Khan—he chose to obey them. Mohammed Reza Khan was brought without delay to Calcutta, where he was placed in confinement, and the Rajah Shitab Roy, who had exercised in Bahar the same authority as Mohammed Reza Khan had exercised in Bengal, shared the same fate. Before giving directions for these arrests, the company had come to the determination, that, whether innocent or guilty, there should be no more in their offices, and that the departments of revenue and finance, together with the department of law and justice, should be placed in the hands of their own English servants. Accordingly, Hastings swept the treasury, and the courts of law clean of their old occupants, and the secondary direction of affairs was placed in the hands of men who were enemies to Mohammed Reza Khan, and creatures attached to his rival, Nuncomar. The clearance extended to the young nabob’s household, which was completely revolutionised and changed. Ahteram-ul-Dowlah, his uncle, and the eldest existing male of the family, petitioned to become his naib, or guardian, but this office was conferred on the nabob’s mother, Minnee Begum, who was originally a dancing-girl, and who had been Meer Jaffier’s concubine. At the same time, Rajah Goordass, son of Nuncomar, was appointed dewan to the nabob, whose duties were strictly to be confined to the household, and who was to have nothing to do with the public business or public revenues of Bengal. All these changes were effected without tumult, and the board of directors expressed their entire approbation of all the appointments which Hastings had made. After he had completed his reformation, Mohammed Reza Khan and the Rajah Shitab Roy were brought to trial in Calcutta, and although the court was of Hastings’ own forming, and extraordinary means had been adopted to prove their guilt, they were both honourably acquitted: a proof that the motives of the board of directors in ordering the arrest of Mohammed Reza Khan, and sanctioning that of the Rajah Shitab Roy, were to get the whole power and the government of the province into their own hands. From this time, indeed, the public treasury and the superior courts of justice were placed under English management, and the Nabob of Bengal was no longer nabob, except in name. He resided at Moorshedabad, where he lived upon his annual stipend, but the government of Bengal was conducted at Calcutta, which Hastings considered now to be the capital of the province.