I.

1700.

directly comply, they fhould be obliged to storm the pa- CHAP. lace. Aftonished and terrified at this menace, he opened the gates, exclaiming, " That he was betrayed; that the English were guilty of perjury and breach of faith; that he perceived their defigns against his government; that he had friends enough to ftand at leaft one battle in his defence; but although no oaths were faered enough to bind the English, yet, as he had fworn to be their faithful friend, he would never fwerve from his engagement to them, and rather fuffer death than draw his fword againft them." He further defired to know, "What fum of money Coffim Ali Cawn was to give for the foubahfhip, and he would give half as much more to be continued. He hoped, however, if they intended to dethrone him, they would not leave him to the mercy of his fon-in-law, from whom he feared the worft; but wifhed they would carry him from the city, and give him a place of fafety in Calcutta."

"This laft requeft was confidered in the light of a voluntary refignation. Our troops took poffeffion of the palace; Mir Coffim was raised to the Mufnud, and the old nabob hurried into a boat with a few of his domeftics and neceffaries, and fent away to Calcutta in a manner wholly unworthy of the high rank he fo lately held; as was alfo the fcanty fubfiftence allowed him for his maintenance at Calcutta by his fon-in-law. Thus, was Jaffier Ali Cawn depofed, in breach of a treaty, founded on the most folemn oaths, and in violation of the national faith."

According to the fame account, the company's fervants, who were the projectors of the revolution, made no fecret, that there was a prefent promised them, of twenty Jacks of rupees from Coffim; who, it feems, was defirous of making the affaffination of Meer Jaffer the first act of his power, and was very much difpleafed when he found that the English intended to give him protection at Cal

cuttas...

It was fcarcely to be fuppofed that Coffim, railed to the fupreme power by fuch unfair means, would continue Mir Coffim faithful to thofe to whom he owed his elevation. At the refolves to commencement of the treaty, indeed, he had promifed reduce the whatever his allies, or rather mafters, required; but no power of the English. fooner was he invefted with an authority which he imagined would render him independent, than he began to guard against the overgrown power of the English, by every method he could devife. For this purpofe, he increafed the number of his troops, difciplined them in the European manner; and fuppofing Muxadabad, his capiVOL. V. D

I.

1760.

Offers of

to them.

CHAP. tal, to be too near the English fettlements, he fet about erecting a ftrong fort at Rajahmaul, that the place of his refidence might be at a greater diftance from thofe, whom he could at beft, but look upon as his pretended friends. Senfible, however, that the English would foon become jealous of his proceedings, he applied to the Mogul, infinuating to him that he was in danger from the English; hoping thereby to prevent his return to a ftate of dependency on the Mogul, and being obliged to pay the royal revenues to him. But though he fucceeded in this fo far, that the Mogul neither received any affistance from the English, nor was paid any part of the royal revenue; the monarch became at laft fo incenfed at his conduct, that he declared he would fuffer him to remain no longer in the Mogul the foubahfhip than he could prevent it; and, in the mean time, made an offer to the English of the dewanny, or collection of the revenues of Bengal. This office, as well as that of fubdarree, or command of the troops and jurifdiction in the provinces, the expences of which are paid out of the revenues by the dewan, had, for fome time paft, been affumed by the nabobs of Bengal; and, the prefent offer of the king, would have been worth to the company, fifteen lack of rupees, or 187,500l. annually. But, befides this, the king offered to confirm to them the lands of Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chittagong, and to establish the influence of the English not only in thefe provinces, but as far as Delhi itself. In return for this, the king required their affiftance to fettle him on the throne, and to recover fuch parts of his territories as were in the hands of rebels. For this purpose, Sujah Dowlah, one of the moft powerful men in the empire, offered to join the English with all his forces, in order to establish the king, who was then in the field, near Patna, and unable, by reafon of the difputes prevailing at that time, to profecute his journey to Delhi.

!

A treaty with the

The fervants of the company were at this time, in all probability, equally indifferent either to the mogul or nabob. The only queftion with them was, whether, by afMogul re- fiting the one or the other, they might more eafily acfolved on. complith the ends they had in view for their own interest. At last, however, the committee at Calcutta, unanimously confidering it as their intereft to fide with the mogul, a treaty was propofed, and letters fent to Sujah Dowlah for the purpose. The nabob, in the mean time, as has already been obferved, had taken care to use proper methods for withstanding the power of the English. At his acceffion, he had ceded to the company a tract of land worth no

lefs than 700,000l. a-year, together with 70,000l. annually CHAP. for the zemindaries of Calcutta, and of the 24th purgun- I. nah. Having known, however, by experience, the diftrefs incurred by his predeceffor, by reason of the English pri- 1760. vilege of carrying on the inland-trade without being subjected to any duties, he had probably determined, from the time of his acceffion, to deprive them of immunities fo contrary to his own intereft. But as this could not be done without a quarrel, he had used the means already 1762. mentioned for his fecurity; and, among the reft, had, in the true spirit of an eastern monarch, cut off or imprifoned every nobleman in his dominions who had shown any warm affection to the English.

refolves on

a war with

Though it is scarce poffible that matters could have remained long in this ftate, without very strong sufpicions Mir. Coffin and jealoufies on each fide, neither complaint nor remonftrance had been made on the part of the English; on the the English. contrary, by difbanding most of their feapoys before the end of the year 1762, they had weakened their force fo much, that Mir Coflim imagined he might fafely act openly against them. His revenue at this time was indeed on a much better footing than that of his predeceffor; but ftill it fell vastly short of its former limits. The free trade, which had been allowed to fuch an extent by reafon of the exigencies of Meer Jaffier, and augmented in confequence of his own, now threatened to annihilate his customs entirely, by drawing all the interior as well as foreign commerce of Bengal from his own fubjects into foreign channels. He, therefore, began every where to exact from the private English traders the payment of equal and regular duties; requiring, at the fame time, that their difputes, if beyond their own limits, fhould be Conference fettled by his magiftrates. This step produced fuch an between alarm, that, in November, this year, the governor himself, the nabob Mr. Vanfittart, thought proper to go along with Mr. Vanfittart. Haftings to Mongheer, his place of refidence, in order to have a conference with Mir Coffim.

On hearing their complaints, the nabob replied in the following terms: "If the fervants of the English company were permitted to trade in all ports, and in all commodities, custom-free, as many of them now pretend, they muft, of course, draw all the trade into their own hands, and my customs would be of fo little value, that it would be much more for my intereft to lay the trade entirely open, and to collect no custom from any perfon whatever, upon any kind of merchandize. This would draw a number of merchants into the country, and increase my reve

CHAP. nues, by encouraging the cultivation and manfacture of I. a large quantity of goods for fale; at the fame time that it would effectually cut off the principal fubject of disputes which have difturbed the good understanding between us, an object I have more than any other at heart."

$762.

and dif

avowed by

the council of Calcutta.

1763. Jan. 17:

This reply to the remonstrances of the English governor reduced him to a very mortifying dilemma. It was impoffible to avoid being ftruck with the force of the nabob's reafoning; he propofed nothing but what was certainly in his power to do, and which, if he had done, could have afforded no just matter of complaint; though it would effectually have cut off the private' trade carried on by the gentlemen of the factory, and even, as they said, prejudiced that of the company itself. Mr. Vanfittart, A treaty therefore, thought proper to fubmit to certain regulations concluded and reftrictions to be put upon the trade of the English is by Mr Vanfittart, general, which, as the Indian magiftrates began immediately to put them exactly in execution, produced complaints of partiality and rigour on the part of the English. The confequence was, that the council of Calcutta difavowed the treaty made by their governor, affirming, that he had affumed a power to which he had no right; that the regulations propofed by him were difhonourable to them as Englifhmen, and tended to the ruin of all public and private trade. They affirmed, that the prefident's iffuing out regulations, independent of the council, was an abfolute breach of their privileges, and therefore fent orders to all the factories to pay no regard to of the new any regulations. Mir Coffim was again applied to for a third treaty; but he not only refused to treat with their deputies, but caufed them to be murdered on their return, of which barbarous action the following account was fent home to England to the court of directors. "Meff. Amyatt and Hay, two gentlemen of the council, being furnished with proper inftructions, were deputed to wait upon the nabob, in order to adjust the differences in an amicable manner. They accordingly arrived at Mongheer on the 12th of May, 1763, and had many conferences with him, in which he fhewed a great averfenefs to an accommoda, tion, upon the terms offered to him. About this time, a fupply of five hundred ftands of arms, going to Patna, was flopped by the nabob's orders, and other acts of hoftility committed; and affairs being come to an extremity, a war with Coffim Ali was unavoidable. Meff. Amyatt and Hay were recalled, and measures were taken at the prefidency to carry it on in the most effectual manner. Mr. Amyatt having taken leave of the nabob on the 24th

Murder of

the deputies fent by the council to

the nabob.

I.

1763.

of June, and received the ufual paffports, fet out in boats CHAP. for Calcutta, accompanied with Meff. Amphlett, Wollafton, and Hutchinfon, Lieutenants Jones, Gordon, and Cooper, (Dr. Crooke, Mr. Hay and Gulfton remaining with the nabob as hoftages). As the boats were paffing the city of Moorfhedabad, they were attacked, on the 3d of July 3, July, by a number of troops affembled for that purpose on both fides the river, and fome of the gentlemen were killed in their boats. Mr. Amyatt immediately landed with a few feapoys, whom he forbid to fire, and endeavoured to make the enemy's troops understand, that he was furnished with the nabob's paffports, and had no defign of committing any hoftilities: But the enemy's horse advancing, fome of the feapoys fired, notwithstanding of Mr. Amyatt's orders; and, a general confufion enfuing, that gen-. tleman, and most of the fmall party who were with him, were cut to pieces.

claimed

tacked and

This inhuman and treacherous behaviour having cut off, Meer Jafall hopes of accommodation, war was formally declared fier proagainst Mir Coffim, and his predeceffor, Meer Jaffier, once Nabob. more proclaimed Nabob of Bengal in the beginning of July. Hoftilities had indeed commenced before this time. About 300 miles from Calcutta, up the Ganges, ftands the city of Patna, a place of very confiderable extent and great trade, where the English Eaft India company had a factory, with fome Indian and European foldiers. These fuddenly attacked and carried this great city on the 25th of June, though defended by a strong garrifon, with fortifications newly repaired. On the very firft attack, however, Patna fudthe governor and garrison fled; but the English, with the denly at utmost imprudence, having dispersed themselves in order taken by to plunder, the Indian commander fuddenly returned with the Enga reinforcement from the country, and either cut them lith, but in pieces, or obliged them to take refuge in their fort. In inftantly retaken, the latter, however, they did not now imagine themfelves fe- June 5. cure, and therefore refolved to abandon it, in order to fly into the territories of a neighbouring nabob. With this view, they croffed the Ganges; and during the first three days of their march, met with no oppofition; but being at length overtaken and attacked by a superior force, they were forced to come to an engagement. In the first encounter, they had the advantage, notwithstanding the fuperiority of the enemy in numbers; but in a second they were totally routed, and all of them either cut in pieces on the fpot, or taken prisoners.

The forces which took the field under Major Adams, confifted at firft of no more than one regiment of the