Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

mined the fate of a great kingdom, and of 30,000,000 of people, with the loss of CHAP. III. twenty Europeans killed and wounded, of sixteen Sepoys killed, and only thirtysix wounded.*

The army advanced about nine miles to Daudpore the same evening, with little occasion to pursue the enemy, who had almost entirely dispersed. At this place, Meer Jaffier sent a message to the English commander; that he, with many more of the great officers, and a considerable part of the army, waited his commands. The next morning Clive sent to conduct him to his quarters; and he arrived, under some apprehensions, which the Colonel, thinking it no time for reproaches, hastened to dispel. It was arranged, that Meer Jaffier should march to the capital immediately, to prevent the escape of Suraja Dowla, and the removal of his wealth.

and escape into Bahar, where The rowers, however, of his stopped at Raje Mahl, where He was there, at break of day,

That wretched prince had arrived at his palace the night after the battle, where, now apprized that he had not a friend on whom he could rely; and utterly uncertain what course to pursue he remained till the evening of the following day, when Meer Jaffier entered the city. Then his fears dictated a resolution. He disguised himself in a mean dress, and about ten o'clock at night went secretly out of a window of the palace, with his favourite concubine and a single eunuch, intending to join M. Law, he counted upon the protection of the Governor. boat, worn out before the morning with fatigue, he endeavoured to conceal himself in a garden. discovered by a man, whom he had formerly treated with cruelty; and who now revealed him to the Governor. Covered with indignity, he was hurried back to Moorshedabad; and presented to Meer Jaffier, who placed him under the custody of his son. The son, a brutal, ferocious youth, the same night gave orders for his assassination. M. Law, who received a summons to join the Nabob as soon as war with the English appeared inevitable, immediately began his march; but had not passed Tacriagully when he received reports of the battle of Plassy; and halted for further information." Had he immediately proceeded twenty miles further," says Mr. Orme," he would the next day have met and

* Lord Clive stated (Report, ut supra,)" that the battle's being attended with so little bloodshed arose from two causes; first, the army was sheltered by so high a bank that the heavy artillery of the enemy could not possibly do them much mischief; the other was, that Suraja Dowla had not confidence in his army, nor his army any confidence in him, and therefore they did not do their duty upon that occasion."

[blocks in formation]

1757.

BOOK IV. saved Suraja Dowla, and an order of events, very different from those which we have to relate, would, in all probability, have ensued." *

1757. Division of the spoil.

The battle was fought on the 23d of June, and on the 25th Colonel Clive with his troops arrived at Moorshedabad. On the next day a meeting was held to confer about the stipulated moneys; when the chief officer of finance declared that the whole of Suraja Dowla's treasures were inadequate to the demand. "The restitution," says Mr. Orme, "with the donations to the squadron, the army, and the committee, amounted to 22,000,000 of sicca rupees, equal to 2,750,000l. But other donations were promised, which have since been the foundation of several fortunes." The scantiness of the Bengal treasury was most unexpected, as well as most painful news to the English; who had been accustomed to a fond and literal belief of Oriental exaggeration on the subject of Indian riches. With great difficulty were they brought to admit so hateful a truth. Finding at last, that more could not be obtained, they consented to receive one half of the moneys immediately, and to accept of the rest by three equal payments, in three years. Even of the portion which was now to be received, it was necessary to take one third not in specie, which was all exhausted, but in jewels, plate, and other effects, at a valuation. Before the 9th of August, after a multitude of difficulties, the stipulated half, all but 584,905 rupees, was delivered and discharged.

[blocks in formation]

A piece of consummate treachery was practised upon an individual. Among the Hindu merchants established at Calcutta was Omichund, "a man," says Mr. Orme, "of great sagacity and understanding," who had traded to a vast amount, and acquired an enormous fortune. "The extent of his habitation," continues Mr. Orme, "divided into various departments, the number of his servants continually employed in various occupations, and a retinue of armed men in constant pay, resembled more the state of a prince than the condition of a merchant. His commerce extended to all parts of Bengal and Bahar, and by presents and services he had acquired so much influence with the principal officers of the Bengal government, that the Presidency, in times of difficulty, used to employ his mediation with the Nabob. This pre-eminence, however, did not fail to render him the object of much envy." (Orme, ii. 50.) When the alarm, excited by the hostile designs of Suraja Dowla, threw into consternation the minds of Mr. Drake and his council, among other weak ideas which occurred to them, one was, to secure the person of Omichund, lest, peradventure, he should be in concert with their enemies. He was seized and thrown into confinement. His guards, believing that violence, that is, dishonour, would next fall upon his house, set fire to it, after the manner of Hindus, and slaughtered the inmates of his harem. Notwithstanding this, when' Mr. Holwell endeavoured to parley with the Nabob, he employed Omichund to write letters to his friends, importuning them to intercede, in that extremity,

[ocr errors]

Upon the news of the seizure and death of Suraja Dowla, M. Law, with the CHAP. III. French party, hastened back, to join the Governor of Bahar, at Patna, the 1757.

with the prince. At the capture, though his person was liberated, his valuable effects and mer-
chandize were plundered; no less than 400,000 rupees in cash were found in his treasury. When
an order was published that such of the English as had escaped the black hole might return to
their homes, they were supplied with provisions by Omichund, "whose intercession," says
says Orme,
"had probably procured their return." Omichund, upon the ruin of Calcutta, followed the
Nabob's army, and soon acquired a high degree of confidence both with the Nabob's favourite,
and with himself. After the recovery of Calcutta, when the Nabob, alarmed at the attack of his
camp, entered into negotiation, and concluded a treaty, Omichund was one of the principal
agents employed. And when Mr. Watts was sent to Moorshedabad as agent at the durbar (court)
of Suraja Dowla, "he was accompanied," says Mr. Orme, (ii. 137,)" by Omichund, whose
conduct in the late negotiation had effaced the impression of former imputations, insomuch that Mr.
Watts was permitted to consult and employ him without reserve on all occasions.” He was employed
as a main instrument in all the intrigues with Jaffier. It was never surmised that he did not second,
with all his efforts, the projects of the English; it was never denied that his services were of the
utmost importance. Mr. Orme says expressly (p. 182) that "his tales and artifices prevented
Suraja Dowla from believing the representations of his most trusty servants, who early suspected,
and at length were convinced, that the English were confederated with Jaffier." When the terms
of compensation for the losses sustained by the capture of Calcutta were negotiated between Mr.
Watts and Meer Jaffier, 3,000,000 of rupees were set down for Omichund, which, considering
the extent of his property, and that "most of the best houses in Calcutta were his,” (Orme, ii.
128,) was probably not more than his loss. Looking forward to the rewards which he doubted
not that Jaffier, if successful, would bestow upon those of the English who were the chief instru-
ments of his exaltation; estimating also the importance of his own services, and the risk, both
of life and of fortune, which, in rendering those services, he had incurred, Omichund conceived
that he too might put in his claim for reward, and, according to the example of his countrymen,
resolved not to injure himself by the modesty of his demand. He asked a commission of five
per cent., on the money which should be received from the Nabob's treasury, and a fourth part of
the jewels; but agreed, upon hearing the objections of Mr. Watts, to refer his claims to the
committee. When the accounts were sent to Calcutta, the sum to be given to Omichund, even
as compensation for his losses, seemed a very heavy grievance to men who panted for more to
themselves. To men whose minds were in such a state, the great demands of Omichund appeared
(the reader will laugh-but they did literally appear) a crime. They were voted a crime; and so
great a crime, as to deserve to be punished-to be punished, not only by depriving him of all
reward, but depriving him of his compensation, that compensation which was stipulated for to
every body: It was voted that Omichund should have nothing. They were in his power, how-
ever, therefore he was not to be irritated. It was necessary he should be deceived. Clive,
whom deception, when it suited his purpose, never cost a pang, proposed, that two treaties with
Meer Jaffier should be drawn up, and signed: One, in which satisfaction to Omichund should
be provided for, which Omichund should see; another, that which should really be exe-
cuted, in which he should not be named. To his honour be it spoken, Admiral Watson refused
to be a party in this treachery. He would not sign the false treaty; and the committee forged

1757.

Book IV. capital of the province. Upon the assassination of the father of Suraja Dowla, Aliverdi had nominated Suraja Dowla himself to the nabobship of that important province; but appointed Ramnarain, a Hindu, in whom he reposed greatconfidence, to be Deputy Governor in the absence of the Prince. Ramnarain had administered the affairs of the province during the life of Aliverdi, and had continued in the government since the accession of Suraja Dowla. From him Meer Jaffier expected no co-operation, and displayed anxiety that the French party should be pursued. He suspected, however, the fidelity of any part of his own army; and a large detachment of the English were sent under Major Coote. They were detained too long in preparation; they were poorly provided with the means of expedition; and the European part of the detachment, exasperated at the fatigue they had to endure, behaved mutinously on the way. Before they reached Patna, the French had arrived; and, to obviate disputes, had been sent forward by Ramnarain into the territory of the Subahdar of Oude, with whom he had begun to negotiate an alliance. Major Coote was at first instructed to endeavour by intrigue and by force to wrest the government from Ramnarain; but while he was meditating the execution of these orders, he received further instructions which inclined him to an accommodation; and he returned to Moorshedabad on the 13th of September. The detachinent which he had conducted was stationed at Cossimbuzar, near Moorshedabad; the rest of the army was sent into quarters at Chandernagor as a more healthy situation than the seat of the Presidency; and on the day after the arrival of Major Coote, Colonel Clive left Moorshedabad and returned to Calcutta.*

his name.
When Omichund, upon the final adjustment, was told that he was cheated, and found
that he was a ruined man, he fainted away, and lost his reason. He was from that moment
insane. Not an Englishman, not even Mr. Orme, has yet expressed a word of sympathy or
regret.

* The chief authorities which have been followed for this series of transactions in Bengal, have been the Seer Mutakhareen, i. 298-772; the First Report from the Committee on the Nature, State, and Condition of the East India Company, in 1772, which is full of curious information; Orme's War in India, ii, 28—196; and the tracts published by the various actors in the scene, Scrafton, Watts, &c.

CHAP. IV.

Renewal of the war with the French in Carnatic.-Arrival of Lally.-
French power superior to the English.-English power superior to the
French.-Pondicherry taken—and the French driven out of Carnatic.

1756.

WHEN the English detachment for the recovery of Calcutta, and the French CHAP. IV. detachment for the relief of Bussy, left Carnatic, the contending parties were so far diminished in force, as to meditate quietness and forbearance: the English, till the troops which they had lent to Bengal should return; the French, till the armament should arrive, which they expected from Europe. In the mean time it was felt by the English as a grievous misfortune, that though their Nabob Mahomed Ali was now without a rival in Carnatic, its pecuniary produce was remarkably small. The governors of forts and districts, the zemindars, polygars, and renters, employed, as usual, all their means of artifice and force, to withhold their payments; and the rabble employed by Mahomed Ali, as soldiers, ill paid and weakly governed, were found altogether inadequate to the establishment of an efficient authority in the province. The notion which Attempts of the English to was early entertained of the great pecuniary supplies capable of being drawn reduce to more from Madura and Tinivelly, appears still to have maintained a determining profitable obedience, Mainfluence in the councils of Madras; and, notwithstanding the general resolution dura and Tinivelly. to remain inactive, Captain Calliaud, the commanding officer at Trichinopoly, before the end of the year 1756, received instructions to renew his attempts for the reduction of those dependencies. In the hope of prevailing upon the King of Tanjore to afford some assistance; a hope which, as usual, he took care to disappoint; Captain Calliaud directed his march through Tanjore, and crossing Marawar, arrived in Tinivelly. The troops who accompanied him, joined to the body of Sepoys who had remained in the country, and the troops of the Polygars who had espoused the English interest, composed a formidable army. But it was unable to proceed to action for want of money; and the utmost exertions of Calliaud produced but an insignificant supply. Intelligence that the rebellious polygars were treating with the Mysoreans, who had a station at the fort of Dindigul, presented in strong colours the necessity of expedition, yet

« ПредишнаНапред »