{GEORGE III. 1786–1787}
Meeting of Parliament..... Bill for the Fortification of
the Dock-yards it Portsmouth and Plymouth..... Pitt’s
Financial Measures..... Debates on India, etc...... A
retrospective View of Indian Affairs..... Attempt on the
King’s Life..... Treaties with France and Spain.....
Affairs of the Prince of Wales.
{A.D. 1786}
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
Parliament reassembled on the 24th of January. In his speech, the king
expressed great satisfaction at the prosperous condition of the country,
in the extension of trade, the improvement of revenue, and the increase
of public credit, and said that he relied on their continued zeal and
industry for the further advancement of these important interests. His
majesty also informed the houses that the disputes which had threatened
the peace of Europe, had been brought to an amicable conclusion, and
that he continued to receive friendly assurances from foreign powers;
but at the same time, he recommended particular attention to our naval
strength. He added,—“But above all let me recommend to your attention
the reduction of the national debt.”
In the debate which followed upon the address, Fox condemned the whole
of our recent foreign policy. Ministers were reproached by him for not
cultivating continental alliances, and for their negligence in all
their foreign negociations. It was owing, he said, to their criminal
misconduct, that the House of Bourbon had been enabled to conclude their
advantageous compact with Holland, and he maintained that great danger
was to be apprehended from the union of three such maritime powers as
France, Spain, and Holland, in a confederacy against England. Fox also
attempted to prove that the accession of his majesty to the Germanic
confederation, as Elector of Hanover, would give mortal offence to
the Emperor Joseph, and would indispose him to an alliance with Great
Britain in the event of a future war. He argued, that it was our
interest to conciliate and captivate Austria, as the only power in
Europe able to keep France in awe. Fox next adverted to a favourable
opportunity for an alliance with Russia, which had been lost, and then
condemned a commercial treaty, which government had begun to negociate
with France. The experience of past ages, he said, proved that England
always prospered in proportion as she had relinquished her commercial
connexions with that country. He concluded his speech with making some
strictures on the Irish propositions and the India Bill. Pitt replied in
a cold sarcastic tone, and the address was carried without a division.
BILL FOR THE FORTIFICATION OF THE DOCK-YARDS AT PORTSMOUTH AND PLYMOUTH.
On the 27th of February, Pitt called the attention of the house to a
plan, which originated with the Duke of Richmond, for the fortification
of the dock-yards at Portsmouth and Plymouth. In the preceding session,
the commons had expressed their unwillingness to vote any money for
these objects, until they were made acquainted with the merits of the
plan by some competent persons; and in consequence of this intimation,
his majesty had appointed a committee of military and naval officers,
with the Duke of Richmond at then head, to investigate the plan, and to
send in a report upon it, with an estimate of the cost. Pitt had laid
this estimate, which amounted to £760,000 before the house on the 10th
of February, with the ordinary ordnance estimates, thinking that the
house would be disposed to consider it as a mere collateral question.
The report was kept out of sight, but General Burgoyne, who had been
one of the board of officers to investigate the plan, called for it;
alleging that it did not wholly sanction the measure. On a subsequent
day, Sheridan, in addition to the demand made by Burgoyne, moved “for
a copy of the appointment of the board of naval officers, and of such
parts of their instructions, and of their report, as his majesty’s
discretion might deem proper to be made public with perfect consistency
to the safety of the state.” In consequence of these demands, Pitt found
himself compelled to produce the papers, and in laying them upon the
table, he introduced the Duke of Richmond’s measure in the form of a
general resolution. He moved, that “it appeared to the house, that to
provide for securing the dock-yards at Portsmouth and Plymouth, by a
system of fortification, founded on the most economical principles, was
an essential object for the safety of the state; intimately connected
with the general defence of the kingdom; and necessary for enabling the
fleet to act with full vigour and effect for the protection of commerce,
the support of our distant possessions, and the prosecution of offensive
operations in any future war.” In his speech Pitt attempted to prove
that the fortification of Portsmouth and Plymouth was a measure of
absolute necessity; that the duke’s plan was the best that could be
devised; and that these fortifications would give a greater scope to
the operations of our fleets, and have a direct tendency to diminish the
standing army. The arguments were powerfully controverted by members
in opposition, among the most distinguished of which was Sheridan,
who argued, that the plan was, in itself and its consequences, both
dangerous and unconstitutional, and that the report itself did not
authorise or favour the plan. Sheridan remarked:—“These strongholds
maintained by numerous and disciplined garrisons, will afford tenfold
means of curbing and subduing the country more than would arise from
doubling the present army establishment. Can any one imagine that the
system now recommended will end with Portsmouth and Plymouth? May we not
figure to ourselves the same board of officers, acting under the same
instructions, and deliberating with the same data, while they take a
circuit round the coasts. The reasons which justify this measure in
the present instance, will apply to every port in the kingdom, which is
sufficiently important to require defence. But the whole plan proceeds
on two suppositions extremely improbable; first, that we shall be so
inferior on our own seas, as to permit an enemy to land; secondly, that
if they do land, they will choose to attack the only places which
we have fortified. If such be our defence, there must be a circle of
fortresses round our shores; but the safety of England rests on
the courage and enterprise of its people, not on ramparts and
fortifications. And after all the plan is unauthorised by the report
of the board; the opinion of naval officers has been withheld; and the
opinion of military officers is founded on hypothetical or conditional
suggestions, and on such data as were proposed to them, for the truth or
probability of which they refuse to make themselves responsible.” In the
debates, both Sheridan and all the orators on his side, treated the
Duke of Richmond as a renegade, and made the whole matter a mere party
question, and from this cause Pitt was doomed to suffer a defeat. Upon
a division there was an equal number of ayes and noes, and when the
speaker was called upon to give his vote, he gave it on the side of
opposition; the project therefore fell to the ground.
PITT’S FINANCIAL MEASURES.
On the 7th of March, Pitt moved for the appointment of a select
committee of nine persons, for the purpose of reporting on the state
of the public revenue and expenditure. The report of this committee was
highly satisfactory. The amount of the revenue for the current year
was estimated at £15,397,000, while the permanent expenditure and the
expences of the peace establishment would only require £14,478,000,
thereby leaving a surplus of more than £900,000. In consequence of this,
Pitt, on the 29th of March, brought under consideration the national
debt and his new sinking-fund. He thought that the surplus might be
increased to one million, without burthening the people, and he moved
that such a sum should be annually granted to commissioners, to be by
them applied to the purchase of stock towards discharging the public
debt of the country. The new taxes which he proposed, in order to raise
the surplus to one million, were an additional duty on ardent spirits,
and new duties on certain kinds of timber and perfumery. In making this
proposition Pitt showed that he was full of hope for the future. He
calculated that the accumulated compound interest of the one million
so appropriated, added to the annuities which would fall into the fund,
would, in the course of twenty-eight years, leave a surplus of four
millions per annum, to be applied, if necessary, to the exigencies of
the state. His entire conviction was, indeed, that this new sinking-fund
would rapidly reduce and eventually discharge the whole of our enormous
national debt! The commissioners he proposed under this act, were the
speaker of the house of commons, the chancellor of the exchequer, the
master of the rolls, the governor and deputy-governor of the bank of
England, and the accountant-general in chancery. The speech which Pitt
uttered upon this occasion was so convincing to the house, that all but
a few members ventured to enter the fairy car with him, and those who
dissented from his views were looked upon as little better than madmen.
Among those who dissented were Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and Sir Grey
Cooper, who endeavoured to show that the premier’s hopes were visionary.
Sheridan, indeed, asserted that there neither was nor could be any
surplus, and he said, that the only means which suggested themselves
to him were a loan of a million every year. “The right honourable
gentleman,” he wittily remarked, “might say with the person in the
comedy, ‘If you wont lend me the money, how can I pay you?’” In
conclusion, Sheridan moved a long string of objections, which were
all negatived without a division; but on the day for reconsidering the
report of the committee on the bill, an amendment, as moved by Fox, was
adopted, to the effect, “that whenever a new loan should hereafter be
made, the commissioners should be empowered to accept the loan, or such
proportion of it as should be equal to the cash in their hands; the
interest and douceur annexed to which should be applied to the purposes
of the sinking-fund.” Pitt declared this amendment to be an auspicious
omen of the ultimate success of the plan; and that its propriety and
necessity were so obvious as to overcome the spirit, and prejudice of
party, and to create an unanimity in persons, who, more from accident
than inclination, were so frequently of different-opinions. With Fox’s
amendment the bill passed both houses without a dissentient voice, and
on the 26th of May his majesty gave his assent to it in person.
In pursuit of his great plan of financial reform, Pitt next turned his
attention to the frauds committed on the revenue, in the article of
wine. At this time large quantities of wine were smuggled into the
country, and a spurious liquor was made and sold at home under that
name. To prevent these evils, on the 22nd of May, Pitt presented a bill
for transferring certain duties on wines from the customs to the excise.
This transfer was made, after several divisions, despite the exertions
of Fox to render the measure unpopular, and the obstruction given to it
by those in the trade, as well as by others, who urged the difficulty
of applying the excise laws to wine, and the impolicy of extending those
laws beyond their existing limits. It is probable that there were some
who conceived that this measure would tend to render the minister very
unpopular; and it must be confessed that the step was a very hazardous
one for him to take. Englishmen had never looked with complacency upon
the intrusions and interference of excisemen, and there was still a
strong national feeling against any extension of the excise laws. When
Sir Robert Walpole, indeed, brought in a bill which had a tendency to
extend these laws, although he was at the time he introduced it at
the very height of his power, it nearly cost him his place. But the
principles of commerce and taxation were now better understood, than
they were in the days of Walpole, and the well-disposed among the people
felt convinced that the state of the revenue required the adoption of
every measure tending to its improvement, whence Pitt triumphed. The
bill was followed by another, which had reference to frauds committed
on the customs, by false accounts of imported goods, and the re-landing
clandestinely such as had received drawbacks at their exportation. To
prevent such practices, Pitt brought in, and carried through parliament,
M’hat was called “The Manifest Act,” which enacted that no article
should be imported into Great Britain before the master of the vessel
had delivered to the custom-house officer a manifest, or declaration,
stating the place where they were laden, with a full description of
them, verified on oath; that no vessel should sail from any British
port, till the owner of the vessel had given a bond for two hundred
pounds, that he would not re-land any part of its cargo illegally;
and that no goods, entitled to drawback, should be put on board for
exportation, except by duly licensed persons.
At a subsequent date Pitt endeavoured to ascertain whether the
crown-lands could not be rendered more productive. To this end, and
in consequence of a message from the king, he moved, in the house of
commons, for the appointment of commissioners to inquire into the state
of woods, forests, and land revenues belonging to the crown, as well
as to sell or alienate fee-farm and other unimprovable rents. This
bill passed the commons, _netn. con._, after the adoption of certain
amendments, moved by Mr. Jollife, to protect title-deeds, and to bind
the commissioners to report their proceedings in parliament. In the
house of lords, however, it met with the stern opposition of Lord
Loughborough, who objected to the bill because it did not agree with
the king’s message; because it repealed two old acts, and created a new
power for the sale of those lands, without any exception of the rents
reserved in the former acts, for divers persons, and for other
purposes mentioned in those acts; and because the powers granted to the
commissioners were dangerous to the people and derogatory to the honour
of the crown. Notwithstanding this opposition, the bill was ultimately
carried and received the royal assent.
In the midst of his exertions for financial reform, and before the
Sinking-fund Bill passed into a law, a message was delivered to the
house from the king, by the minister, stating, that it gave him great
concern to inform the commons that it had not been possible to confine
the expenses of the civil list within the annual sum of £850,000, now
applicable to that purpose. This message was the more remarkable as, in
1782, when Pitt was chancellor of the exchequer, the king, in his speech
from the throne, had stated that he had so regulated his establishments,
that his expenses should not in future exceed his income. The sum now
required to free his majesty from debt, contracted partly before and
partly since that period, was £210,000; which sum, after considerable
opposition, in the course of which the necessity of economy was strongly
enforced, was ultimately voted.
DEBATES ON INDIA, ETC.
In consequence of the commutation tax, and the preventive measures taken
against smuggling, the sale of tea at the East India-house had by this
time increased nearly threefold. This enlarged trade, connected with
other circumstances, induced the company to apply to parliament for an
act, empowering them to make an addition to their funds. A petition
to this effect was presented on the 25th of May, and Pitt proposed
and carried a bill, which enabled the company to add £800,000 to their
stock, and also to sell a surplus of £36,000 a year, received from
the exchequer, over and above the annuities which they paid to their
creditors, which would produce a sum equal to that which they were
empowered to add to their stock. Previous to this, in consequence of
intelligence from India, Pitt felt called upon to adopt some plan for
amending the act of 1784. A bill was brought in for this purpose by
Mr. Dundas, which bill conferred on the governor-general a privilege of
acting in cases of importance, without the consent of the other
members of the council; enabled the directors to unite the offices of
commander-in-chief and governor-general in the same person; rendered
not only the present, but the farmer servants of the company, whether
resident in India or not, capable of being appointed to seats in the
respective councils; empowered the governors of presidencies to nominate
temporary successors to members of council who might die or vacate
their office; altered a clause in the former bill, which compelled
the company’s servants to rise by gradation; repealed another, which
required from them a disclosure of their property, on oath; and made
several changes in the court of judicature and mode of trial for crimes
and misdemeanors in India. This bill was strongly opposed by Fox and
Burke, with other members of opposition; but, after several debates and
divisions, it passed both houses, and received the royal assent.
The only other business of importance brought under notice during this
session, was the impeachment of Warren Hastings. This will be noticed in
the following section, where we propose to take a retrospective view
of the progress of the English arms, and our policy in that part of the
world. After much discussion on this subject which was left undecided,
on the 11th of July parliament was prorogued.
{GEORGE III. 1786–1787}
A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
Hitherto, to avoid embarrassing the narrative of the American war, no
notice has been taken in this “Continuation” of the progress of the
British arms in India. The last event recorded in the history, was the
capture of Pondicherry by Colonel Coote, by which event the French power
in India was destroyed. An attempt, however, was made to revive this
power in the province of Bengal, About the middle of the year 1760, the
year in which Pondicherry was captured, an adventurer, named Law, nephew
of the celebrated projector, at the head of some French fugitives,
persuaded the Mogul, Shah Zada, who had lately sealed himself on his
father’s throne, to invade this province. Law had previously rendered
some important services to the mogul against some native princes who had
opposed his elevation; and it was thought that nothing could resist the
progress of his arms. With his French fugitives and 80,000 natives, Law
made incursions into the province of Bahar, which province suffered so
severely that Major Carnac was sent by the council of the East India
Company to assist the rajah Ramnarrain in restraining his ravages. It
was in January, 1761, when Carnac advanced with 20,000 Asiatic allies on
this service, and in three days he arrived at Gyah Maunpore, where the
enemy was encamped. An engagement took place soon after his arrival, and
both the mogul and his rash adviser, Law, were taken prisoners. Law was
treated by his captors in a manner which his bravery on the field of
battle demanded, and which greatly exalted them in the estimation of the
Asiatics.
The fate of Count Lally, who had bravely defended Pondicherry against
Colonel Coote, was very different from that of Law. Though he had been
the most active partisan that ever attached himself to the French cause
in India, yet he was doomed, on his arrival in France, to suffer both
indignities and death. His sufferings are thus described by Mr. Mill:—
“By the feeble measures of a weak and defective government, a series
of disasters, during some preceding years, had fallen on France; and a
strong sentiment of disapprobation prevailed in the nation against the
hands by which the machine of government was conducted. When the loss of
the boasted acquisitions of the nation in India was reported, the public
discontent was fanned into a flame, and the ministry were far from easy
with regard to the shock which it might give to the structure of their
power. Anything, therefore, was to be done which might have the effect
of averting their danger; and, fortunately for them, many persons
arrived from India, boiling with resentment against Lally, and pouring
out the most bitter accusations. Fortunately for them, likewise, the
public, swayed as usual by first appearances, and attaching the blame to
the man who had the more immediate guidance of the affairs on which ruin
had come, appeared abundantly disposed to overlook the ministry in their
condemnation of Lally. The popular indignation was carefully cultivated;
and by one of those acts of imposture and villany, of which the history
of ministers in all the countries of Europe affords no lack of examples,
it was resolved to raise a screen between the ministry and popular
hatred by the cruel and disgraceful destruction of Lally. On his arrival
in France he was thrown into the Bastille, and this place being deemed
too honourable for him, he was subsequently thrown into a common
prison. An accusation, consisting of vague or frivolous imputations, was
preferred against him; and nothing whatever was proved, except that his
conduct did not come up to the very perfection of prudence and wisdom,
and that he had displayed the greatest ardour in the service, the
greatest disinterestedness, fidelity, and perseverance, with no common
share of military talent and of mental resources. The grand tribunal of
the nation, the parliament of Paris, found no difficulty in seconding
the wishes of the ministry, and the artificial cry of the day, by
condemning him to an ignominious death. Lally, confident in his
innocence, had never once anticipated the possibility of any other
sentence than that of an honourable acquittal; and when it was read
to him in his dungeon, he was thrown into an agony of surprise and
indignation, and taking up a pair of compasses with which he had been
sketching a chart of the Coromandel coast, he struck at his proud,
indignant heart; but his arm was held by one of the functionaries in
attendance. With indecent precipitation he was executed on that very
day. He was dragged through the streets of Paris in a dung-cart, and,
lest he should address the people, a gag was stuffed into his mouth,
so large as to project beyond his lips. Voltaire, who had already
signalized his pen by some memorable interpositions in favour of justice
and the oppressed, exerted himself to expose, in a clear light, the real
circumstances of this fearful transaction, which Mr. Orme scruples not
to call ‘a murder committed by the sword of justice.’”
In the meantime Colonel Clive, who had deposed the Surajah Dowla, Nabob
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and had raised Meer Jaffier Ali Khan to
that dignity, as recorded in a previous page in Smollet’s division
of this history, and who had rendered other important services to the
British cause in India, had arrived in England, where he was received
with all honour. He was raised to the Irish peerage by the title of
Baron Clive of Plaissey—the name of the place where he had defeated the
nabob—and was flattered by the prospect of a speedy elevation to the
English peerage, which would give him a seat in the British house of
peers. While in England he was involved in a dispute with the company on
the Jaghire rents, which had been conferred on him by Meer Jaffier,
whom he had raised to the throne of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. His most
active opponent was Mr. Sulivan, but Clive eventually gained his point;
and not only were the Jaghire rents confirmed to him for ten years,
if he should live that period, but he was nominated governor and
commander-in-chief of the British possessions in Bengal, with the
express understanding that no other officer, of whatever rank, should
have the power of interfering with his command.
Clive returned to India, where he arrived in May, 1705. On his return he
found everything in a complete state of confusion and disorganization.
Before his departure for Calcutta, the seat of his government, it was
rumoured that the Shah Zada had collected an army, and was advancing
against Patna, which was under the jurisdiction of the Hindu governor,
Itamnarrain. The Shah Zada pretended to take up arms against
Ghazee-u-Deen, the vizier and master at Delhi, and Ghazee-u-Deen,
enraged thereat, in a fit of desperation murdered the Great Mogul. After
this tragical event the Shah Zada took the state and title of emperor,
and conferred the office of vizier upon Soujah-Dowla, the powerful ruler
of Oude. The new emperor assumed the name of Shah-Alum, or “King of
the World,” and he had no sooner ascended the throne than he advanced
against Patna. Ramnarrain was defeated, but Colonel Calliaud soon after
arrived on the scene of action, with about three hundred English and one
thousand sepoys, and Shah-Alum was routed, and compelled to take refuge
in flight. The young emperor, however, being joined by Mr. Law, with his
small body of French, and by the sub-governor of Purneah, soon returned
to Patna; and the town being almost wholly destitute of troops, he
would have captured it, had not Captain Knox appeared to its relief. The
besiegers were driven, by the gallantry of Knox, from their works, and
a few days after he completely defeated the sub-governor of Purneah, who
fled northwards for his life. He was followed by Colonel Calliaud, with
his English soldiers and sepoys; the latter of whom were commanded by
Meeran Calliaud, under the belief that he was carrying all the treasures
of Purneah with him, pursued the sub-governor hotly; but on the fourth
day of the pursuit a tremendous storm occurred, in which Meeran was
struck dead with lightning, and the sepoys, from this cause, becoming
unmanageable, he was obliged to return to Patna. Meeran’s people
hastened to Moorshedabad, where, in order to obtain payment of their
arrears, they surrounded the palace, and threatened the life of the
nabob Meer Jaffier. Other bodies of men, also, about the same time, took
up arms against Meer Jaffier: and to complete his misfortunes, as Mr.
Vansittart, the new governor at Calcutta, found the treasury empty,
and the English troops and sepoys almost mutinous for want of pay, he
concluded a treaty with Meer Cassim Ali, son-in-law to Meer Jaffier and
general of his army, engaging that he should be invested with full power
as Nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, on condition that he made over
the fruitful provinces of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong to the
company. Meer Jaffier was compelled to resign, with permission to retire
to Calcutta, and Meer Cossim Ali was forthwith proclaimed nabob. Meer
Cossim procured six or seven lacs of rupees, which he sent to Calcutta,
and made professions of dependence on the council; but he soon exhibited
signs of a refractory spirit; and Mr. Vansittart, with the other members
of the council, found that they had made a mistake, when they imagined
that he would suit their purpose better than Meer Jaffier.
It has been seen, that in the month of January, 1761, Major Carnac, who
had succeeded Colonel Calliaud in the command of the company’s troops in
Bahar, defeated the emperor Shah Alum, and took Law, on whom he placed
his chief hopes, prisoner. The young emperor retreated towards Delhi,
whence he sent Meer Cossim Ali his investiture as Nabob of Bengal,
Bahar, and Orissa; and likewise offers to the English of the dewannee,
or receivership of these provinces, if they would send an army into
central India to secure him in possession of Delhi, and of a throne that
had been tottering for generations. Want of money prevented the council
from accepting these offers, and Meer Cossim had no more to give them.
Meer Cossim had, indeed, become as poor as Meer Jaffier had been when
he was deposed, and he cast his eyes on the wealth of Ramnarrain, the
celebrated Governor of Patna, At first, Mr. Vansittart instructed
Major Carnac to protect Ramnarrain, but he soon after listened to
the suggestions and promises of Meer Cossim; and in order to aid his
rapacious designs, Colonel Coote, the conqueror of Pondicherry, was sent
to supersede Major Carnac, at Patna; he being averse to the desertion of
a governor who had received so many pledges from, and had rendered many
services to, the English. Colonel Coote, however, had as high a sense of
honour as Major Carnac, and Mr. Vansittart, discovering this, recalled
him, and thus left Ramnarrain to the mercy of Meer Cossim. Ramnarrain
was in consequence thrown into prison, and his house was broken open and
plundered, while his servants were put to the torture, in order to
make them confess where his treasures, which chiefly existed in the
imagination of his enemies, were deposited. This base act on the part
of the council of the company met with its reward. All friendly
correspondence between the English and native nobility now ceased, and
Meer Cossim had offers of services and money made him on every hand,
if he would consent to resist the foreigners. Encouraged by this
circumstance, and conceiving that he would soon be able to defy the
English authority, Meer Cossim complained of the abuses of the dustucks,
or permits, by which he had been recently impoverished; and when no
notice was taken of his complaints, he ventured to stop and search
the company’s boats, as they sailed up the Ganges. Nothing was done to
prevent his conduct; and growing more bold by impunity, Meer Cossim at
length seized two boats that were proceeding to Patna with arms, and
made preparation for getting that place into his own hands. Apprised of
this, the council gave directions to Mr. Ellis, the chief at Patna, to
anticipate Meer Cossim’s designs by seizing upon the citadel. This was
done, and Meer Cossim, enraged thereat, murdered Mr. Amyatt, who had
formerly been chief at Patna, with two Hindu bankers attached to the
English interests, and then marched upon the town with a great army, of
which he took possession. The English troops at Patna fled by boats up
the Ganges to Chuprah, where they were surrounded, and taken prisoners.
About the same time, also, the troops of Meer Cossim attacked and
plundered the factory of Cossimbuzar, where likewise he captured many
English.
While these events were transpiring, the council at Calcutta entered
into new arrangements with Meer Jaffier, in order to restore him to the
musuud or throne of Bengal. Meer Jaffier not only confirmed the grants
of territory made by Meer Cossim, but also granted an exemption to the
company’s servants from all search, and from all duties, except upon
salt, and engaged to pay to the company thirty lacs of rupees for the
expenses of the war, and to maintain an army of 24,000 men at his own
charge. Having done this Meer Jaffier issued his mandates to the chiefs,
and to the cities of the three provinces, and then joined the English,
who were advancing upon Moorshedabad. In their route they were met by
three of Meer Cossim’s generals, whom they defeated, and arriving at
Moorshedabad they took possession of it without opposition. Another
battle was soon after fought with the troops of Meer Cossim, on the
plain of Geriah, when Meer Jaffier and his English allies were again
victorious. Those of Meer Cossim’s troops, who escaped the slaughter,
fled to an intrenched camp at Odowa, which, after three weeks, was
carried, and then the whole army of the nabob was scattered. Meer Cossim
fled with a few troops towards Patna, and the English laid siege to
and captured Monghir, recently made his capital in preference to
Moorshedabad, the old residence of the nabobs of Bengal. On hearing of
the capture of Monghir, Meer Cossim ordered the execution of all the
English who had been taken at Patna, and one hundred and fifty, with Mr.
Ellis their chief, were massacred in cold blood. Patna was soon after
taken by the English, and in the meantime Meer Cossim had taken refuge
at Allahabad, with Soujah Dowla, the powerful ruler of Oude. On his
arrival at Allahabad, Shah Alum was with his vizier, and the three
Indian rulers marched with a large army to Benares, and encamped not
many miles from the English. Major Carnac, who had by this time arrived
to take the command, thought it prudent to retreat to Patna; the more
so, because a mutiny had broken out in his own camp. The major was
attacked under the walls of Patna by the confederated Indians; but after
a severe contest, he defeated his assailants with great loss. Soujah
Dowla now opened a correspondence with Meer Jaffier, and offered to
support him in Bengal and Orissa, if he would cede the country of Bahar
to Oude; and about the same time Shah Alum offered to abandon both
Soujah Dowla and Meer Cossim, for English protection and alliance. These
negociations, however, were broken off; and in the month of October,
1764, Major Munro, who had recently assumed the command of the army at
Patna, led his forces against the enemy, which entirely broke the power
of Soujah Dowla, the only Indian ruler that the English had to fear.
Major Munro was now empowered to treat with Shah Alum; and a treaty was
concluded with him, by which it was agreed that the English should be
put into the possession of the country of Gazzipore, with all the rest
of the territory of Bui want Sing, and that Shah Alum should be put into
possession of the city of Allahabad, and the whole of the dominions
of Soujah Dowla. Thus deserted by the emperor, Soujah Dowla applied to
Ghazee-u-Deen, vizier and murderer of Shah Alum’s father, and this chief
descended into Oude with a great army of Mahratta horse. A battle was
fought in the month of May, 1765, near Corah, when Major, now General
Carnac, who again commanded the English forces, gained a great victory
over the confederate army, and chased them across the river Jumna.
On the very day that General Carnac gained this victory, Clive arrived
at Calcutta, with full powers to settle all disputes. Meer Jaffier had
recently died, and one difficulty in the way was thereby removed.
Clive set about his work in right good earnest. A few days after Soujah
Dowla’s defeat at Corah, that nabob having announced his intention of
throwing himself upon the mercy of the English, repaired to the camp
of General Carnac, by whom he was received with much distinction. On
hearing of these events, Clive set off for Allahabad, to settle all
disputes; and when he arrived, he decided that Shah Alum should rest
satisfied with the possession of Allahabad and Corah, and that all the
rest of Oude should be restored to Soujah Dowla, on conditions that he
should oppose the Mahrattas and defend the frontiers of Bengal. On his
part, Shah Alum, for the possession of Allahabad and Corah, granted the
collection of the revenues in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa to the English,
in return for which he was to receive twenty-six lacs of rupees per
annum, in addition to the revenues of Allahabad and Corah. The young
emperor, moreover, confirmed the right of the company to all the
territory which they possessed in any other part of India.
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 small-pox, 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.
In his treaty with the Emperor Shah Alum, Clive had guaranteed that
potentate the quiet possession of Allahabad and Corah, with the annual
stipend of twenty-six lacs of rupees. This sum from the first was not
punctually paid, and for the last two years it had been withheld
altogether. The ostensible reason for this was as follows: In the year
17713 Shah Alum, at the instigation it is said of Sujah Dowla, Vizier
and Nabob of Oude, who wished to recover possession of Allahabad and
Corah, threw himself into the arms of the Mahrattas. Towards the close
of the year 1771 the Mahratta chief carried the poor Mogul in triumph
to Delhi, and soon after he was hurried by them into the field of
battle. Supported by them he invaded Rohilcund, a country which was
equally coveted by the Nabob of Oude, to whom the Rohillas applied for
assistance. Sujah Dowla not only promised to assist them himself, but
likewise to gain for them the more potent co-operation of the company.
Accordingly he intimated to Sir Robert Barker, the general who
commanded the company’s forces, and to the governor and council at
Calcutta, that to allow Shah Alum any stipend would be only furnishing
the means of war to the rapacious and turbulent Mahrattas. Previous to
this the payment of the stipend had been suspended upon various pleas,
but this afforded ground for stopping it altogether. Shah Alum and the
English were therefore brought into direct collision. At this moment
Major John Morrison, who had previously resigned his commission in the
company’s service, repaired to Allahabad to try his fortune with Shah
Alum. Morrison was at once raised to the rank of general, and he soon
persuaded the Great Mogul to appoint him his ambassador and
plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty, George III., under the
promise of obtaining him a larger sum from the King of England than
that which the company had withheld from him. Morrison was furnished
with proposals, the chief of which were these:—“The Great Mogul, Shah
Alum, as undoubted lord and sovereign of Hindustan, &c., and as having
full right so to do, would transfer to his Britannic majesty, Bengal,
Bahar, and Orissa, with all that the company possessed in those parts,
and which was all forfeited by them, upon condition that his Britannic
majesty would pay the pecuniary homage of thirty-two lacs, and aid the
Great Mogul with troops and arms.” At this time the British parliament
were calling the territorial rights of the company in question, and was
even meditating the taking those rights to itself, and the reduction of
the company to a mere trading body. Had Morrison, indeed, arrived in
England with these offers, it is probable that parliament would have
taken such a step. Hastings seems to have been under this impression,
for when the adventurous officer arrived at the Dutch settlement of
Chinchura, on the Hooghly, and demanded a passage to England in one of
the company’s ships, he wrote in reply, that he would not allow him a
passage in any ship sailing from the port of Calcutta. Nor did his
opposition end here. Having heard that the major had engaged a passage
in a Danish ship, he successfully exerted his influence to prevent it;
and as no other ship sailed for Europe that season, Morrison’s
diplomatic career was brought to a premature close. Shortly after,
indeed, Shah Alum ceded both Corah and Allahabad to the Mahrattas,
which was considered as equivalent to a complete discharge from all the
obligations of Clive’s treaty. The Mahrattas signified their intention
of taking immediate possession of Allahabad and Corah, and the Nabob of
Oude claimed the assistance of the English against them, and a garrison
was placed in Allahabad for its protection. This, for a brief season,
checked the rapacious Mahrattas; and the attention of Hastings was next
directed to the inroads which the Bootans had made in Cooch-Bahar, and
the devastations of the Senassie fakeers in the country round Bengal.
Both the Bootans and Senassies were checked, and soon after Hastings
set out on a visit to the Nabob of Oude, who had solicited a personal
conference at Benares, in order to arrange new bargains and treaties
with the English. This conference had reference chiefly to the
annexation of the Rohilla country, which was threatened by the
Mahrattas, to the province of Oude, which was at first agreed upon, but
subsequently postponed; the nabob fearing that the price he had agreed
to pay for it was beyond his present ability, and Hastings conceiving
that such an enterprise would be open to severe animadversion in
England. During this conference, however, Hastings committed as glaring
an act of injustice as the conquest of Rohilcund would have been. This
was the sale of Allahabad and Corah, to Sujah Dowla, for fifty lacs of
rupees—twenty of which were paid down on the spot, and the other of
which were to be paid in two years. By this act Shah Alum was deprived
of his rightful patrimony.
The negociations between Hastings and the Nabob of Oude occupied three
weeks, and on his return to Calcutta, Hastings applied himself to the
administration of the province of Bengal. His chief attention was
directed to the establishment of a police; to the posting detachments
so as to prevent the incursions of the Senassie fakeers, and other
marauders; to the formation of local courts throughout the province; to
the regulation of taxes and collection of the revenue; to the removal
of impolitic taxes, duties, and fees upon native marriages; to the
suppression of the peculation and rapacity of the company’s servants;
and to other important objects, too numerous for detail. Although some
of the means employed by Hastings were not of the purest kind, and
others were inconsistent with more modern notions of political economy
and justice, yet it is certain that his measures were productive of
much benefit to the country, and that all classes of the community of
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa were satisfied with their results, and were
led to look upon him in the light of a benefactor. It seems to have
been to this period that he alluded, when, in after years, nearly all
England was accusing him of cruelty and oppression, he remarked:—“I
could have gone from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, and from Moorshedabad to
Patna and Benares, without a guard, without a sepoy, without any
protection but what was to be found in the goodwill and affection of
the natives.”
The Nabob of Oude was earnest in his desire to annex the Rohilcund
country to his own, and early in the year 1774 he applied to Hastings
for the troops with which he had engaged to furnish him for the
enterprise. Hastings was somewhat disconcerted at his request, but as
the nabob had on his part engaged to pay 210,000 rupees per month for
their services, and he wanted money, a brigade, under the command of
Colonel Champion, received orders to march into the country of Oude,
with the declared purpose of invading Rohilcund. Operations commenced
in April, and Colonel Champion gained a great victory over the Rohilla
chiefs, on the side of Babul Nulla, which placed the whole country at
the mercy of the conquerors. The Nabob of Oude made a cruel use of the
victory, by plundering and burning towns and villages which belonged to
the quiet Hindu inhabitants; and who, so far from making common cause
with the Rohillas, were ready to render all the services they were
capable of rendering against them. In this destruction, neither Colonel
Champion nor Hastings participated, but as it was by their means that
the conquest of the country was effected they shared in the odium of
the enterprise. That Hastings did not concur in the nabob’s cruelties
is clear from the directions which he wrote to Colonel Champion with
reference to the captive family of Hafez Ramet, one of the Rohilla
chiefs. He remarked:—“Tell the vizier that the English manners are
abhorrent of every species of inhumanity and oppression, and enjoin
the gentlest treatment of a vanquished enemy. Require and entreat his
observance of this principle towards the family of Hafez. Tell him my
instructions to you generally; but urgently enforce the same maxims; and
that no part of his conduct will operate so powerfully in winning the
affections of the English as instances of benevolence and feeling for
others. If these arguments do not prevail, you may inform him directly
that you have my orders to insist upon a proper treatment of the family
of Hafez Ramet; since in our alliance with him, our national character
is involved in every act which subjects his own to reproach; that
I shall publicly exculpate this government from the imputation of
assenting to such a procedure, and shall reserve it as an objection to
any future engagements with him when the present service shall have been
accomplished.” There can be no doubt that Colonel Champion complied with
these directions, for during the war a strife was kindled between him
and the nabob, partly on account of the nabob’s non-assistance in the
battle at Babul Nulla, and partly because he resolutely kept all
the plunder to himself. Still nothing can justify this war with the
Rohillas, and the annexation of the Rohilcund to the country of Oude. It
is the more unjustifiable, because money was evidently the chief motive
which induced Hastings to assist the rapacious nabob in his enterprise.
By it the Afghan race was almost rooted out of the country, for while
a few chiefs lingered on the frontiers, the majority, with their
followers, sought new settlements in other countries. The Hindu
population remained under the rule of the Nabob of Oude.