THE FIRST LANDINa OF THE ENGLISH,
TO THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SEPOY REVOLT;
INCLUDING
an outline of the early history of hindoostan.
By
henry BEVERIDGE,
Esq,
ADVOCATE.
ILLUSTRATED BY ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS.
VOLUME
L
lDi.*^cminamu.8:.<
LONDON:
BLACKIE AND SON, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS,
AND GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.
E.G.;
J
io
GLASGOW:
W.
G. BLACfeJE^^i^X) CO.,
V o^^o J
LL A FIELD,
^KT
;
PREFACE.
India, the most valuable de2)enclency of the British crown,
Even some
interesting portions of the globe.
its
physical features are on a scale of
The stupendous mountain chain along
unparalleled grandeui*.
rising gradually
of
from a plain of inexhaustible
one of the most
also
is
its
northern frontier
has snowy summits which tower
fertility,
nearly six thousand feet above the loftiest of any other country in either hemisphere
while over the vast expanse of
its
magnificently diversified surface almost every jiroduct
possessed of economical value grows indigenously, or ha\'ing been introduced
Nor
with success.
are
its
moral
less
remarkable than
nigged recesses and jungly forests various
inhabitants,
may
tribes,
though far advanced in
for ages lived
carried
most of the
civilization, at least in
supposed to represent
arts of
are subservient, shoidd be
common
life
new phase
full
of
and treated
as
That the dominant
is
class, to
deficient in natural acuteness,
culture.
Hindooism, though
not only counts
its votai-ies,
ledge,
its
that those
cities,
and
and slaves
which
all othei's
nothing more than might have been
mere outcasts whose very touch
is
aboriginal
The great
to high perfection, are yet the dupes
when
nature seems to be presented
submission the more extraordinary,
its
the ordinary sense of the term, since they
of religious zeal,
human
In
or rather aggi'egation of races, who,
is
those occupying
murmur
the lower grades of the social scale are seen submitting ^vithout a
over,
its
under regular government, dwelt in large and splendid
of a most childish and galling superstition.
expected, but a
I'ace,
cultivated
physical features.
be seen in a state bordering on absolute barbarism.
still
bulk of the pojiulation, howevei", consists of a
have
its
is
"What makes this
pollution.
who exemplify
to be lorded
it
are by no
means
and, on the contrary, often give proofs of intellectual
little
better than a tissue of obscene
and monstrous
fancies,
domination by thousands of years, but can boast of having had among
men who,
in the ages in
which they
lived,
extended the boundaries of know-
and earned some of the abstrusest of the sciences to a height Avhich they had
never i-eached before.
supei-stition,
nowhere
This remarkable combination of pure intellect and grovelling
dis})layed so strikingly
and unequiA'Ocally
as in
India,
gives a
peculiar value even to that part of its histoiy which, relating only to its social state,
is
necessarily the least fruitful in stirring incidents.
So long as the leading powei-s of Europe made India a kind of common
battle-field,
on which they met to contend for s\ipremacy, no one nation could be said to possess any
exclusive or peculiar intei-est in
its affairs;
but from the
forth, virtually if not formally recognized as the
tries
became in a manner
The
vast space which separates
identified,
them
moment when Great
paramoinit power, the history of both coun-
and ought therefore
is
Britain stood
to be studied as one gi'eat whole.
a mere circumstance which,
if it
have any weight
VI
J 'It
at nil, rm^^lit ratlicr to increase
to
new
iind sees tln-m in a
tlie
the int<;rcHtof the BritiHli
new modes
Hceues and
now
sjjirit,
given her
tlie
rca<ler,
who
is jiot
only intifxluced
of social existence, but follows his countrj'nien
same unrivalled
sjthere disjjlayin;;^ the
talents, civil
st<'p
and
by
military,
wiiich have placed Great Britain at the hea<l of nuxleni nations, and
and mightiest empire that the world has yet beheld.
largest
was placed under a kind of
and those intrusted with
tutelage,
Wliile India
administration, iiintcad
its
of encouraging, systematically repressed the public curiosity, there was doubtless
excuse for a feeling of apathy in regard to
its affairs
any adventitious
resources, as one of the
its
upon her loving
intervention, has called
welfare of all her dominions,
how can
most
some
but now that the anomalous fomi
;
own name without
of government has been abolished, and the Queen, ruling India in her
developing
Kt«'ii,
and perseverance, the same eidightened, humane, and
sanu! in(l<jniitabl(r courage
generous
L FACE.
subjects to unite with her in
means of promoting the general
effectual
the call be properly resjx)nded
to,
unless the actual
circumstances of the country, and the whole course of events by which these have V>een
formed
A
—
—are
in other words, all the details of its history
carefully studied ?
subject so impoi'tant and so attractive as that of India could not faU to engage
many
the pens of
writers,
and accordingly a number of works relating to
it
has appeared,
some of them by distinguished men, who bore no unimportant part in many of the
actions
which
To
tliey iian'ate.
all
these works, however, there
is
traas-
one serious objection,
which, without impugning their merits, goes to prove that so far from exhausting the
have
subject, they
Some
histories.
provinces
left
them
of
down
history, or after bringing it
very period when
work, which
it
differs
as far as
was practicable
from them in plan, and
at the time, stop short at the
is
it
due research, in a
ui-gency.
a Comprehensive History of IncUa, beginning with
its
it,
matei'ials as
it
eai'liest
much
as possible
from original and
official sources.
—
as its
period,
name
implies,
and continued,
In
The only part
is
of the
How far he has succeeded,
work on which he ventures
that of the maps, plans, and
which, independently of their merit as embeUishments, bring
the history
is,
the author has not trusted to previous compilations, but derived his
to anticipate the judgment of the public
its
campaigns,
most celebrated personages
much
It
felt,
omission of any transaction of importance, to the present time.
remains for his readers to decide.
tions,
pei'spicu-
might supply a want which had long been
and to which recent events had given much additional
composing
The present
more popular
also intended to be of a
in the belief that if written after
ous style, and with strict impartiality,
known
of the earlier
pai't
becomes at once most interesting and most instructive.
was undertaken
without the
comj)lete
are jjrofessedly confined to particular jjeriods or pailicular
while others of a more general description either omit
;
character,
them of the character of
imijortant blanks, which depiive
credit to those
perusal of the history
its
battle-fields, its
cities,
—immediately before the
and other
eye, in a
employed upon them, but must
itself.
all
numerous
illustra-
the leading topics of
localities,
and even
its
manner which not only does
gi-eatly facilitate
the inteUigent
—
CONTENTS.
VOL. L
PAGE
Introduction,
1
BOOK
CHAPTER
I.
Ancient India
—The pre-historic period — Native sources of information— Other accounts
— Invasion
Great
I.
of India by Sesostris, Semiramis, Darius
Hystaspes, Alexander the
— Subsequent state of India,
.
CHAPTER
— Arab conquests — First
Medieval India
of Scinde by
Sebektegiu
Mahomed
Casira
.
II.
Arabs
of the
— House
of
Ghuznee
39
.
CHAPTER
III.
— Altamsh— Sultana
Rezia — Mogul irruptions into India— Gheias-u-diu Biilbun — House of Khilji
Jelal-u-din— Proceedings in the Deccan— House of Toghlak — House of Lodi,
Medieval India continued- The Slave
Kings— Eibuk
or Kutb-u-din
.
Invasion of Tiraour or
Timour's deputy
CHAPTER IV.
Tamerlaue — Battle of Delhi — Sack
— Independent
monarchy — Proceedings
— Syud
successor
Lody
— Sikundur
of
— Life
Khizr Khan
Mahomed— Syud
— Khizr
62
Khan,
— His death — Moobarik, his son and
— Afghan Lody dynasty— Bheilole
Ala-u-din
Lody — Ibrahim Lody
and reign
of Delhi
.
kingdoms established on the ruins of the Delhi
and renewal of that of the Moguls
Mogul dynasty
15
appearance of Mahometans in India— Conquest
— Expulsion
— Sultan Mahmood,
.
— Extinction
of the
Lody Afghan dynasty,
in the person of Baber,
CHAPTER V.
of Baber — Hoomayoon— His
94
expulsion and return
—
State of India at his death,
105
CHAPTER VL
Reign of Akber
121
CHAPTER VIL
Modern India— Changes
establisheil
of the
in
the
mode
of
intercourse
by the Venetians, the Genoese, and other
Cape of Good Hope
with the East— Monopolies
Italian republics— Doubling
— Portuguese progress in India
U4
—
Mil
(JONTENTS.
CirAl'TER VIII.
Portuguese progress in the East
—The viceroyrthips
of Fntucisco Ahneida and Alfonuo
....
Alljiiquenine,
CHAPTER
by other routes than
Att'iiipts to reach India
iini tli-\v(
sL
and north-east
Superiority of
tlie
—The
IX,
of the Cape
tliat
—Their
fiiilure Vjy
the
south-west passage practicable, but circuitous
passage by the Cape generally recognized
— First voyages of the
lOO
English and Dutch by that route,
CHAPTER
X.
Association of merchant adventurers for a voyage to the East
Their memorial
—The
first
— Their
proceedings
—
224
English East India charter,
BOOK
II.
CHAPTER
The
1 S
I.
—Localities selected— Opposition from the Dutch and
the Portuguese — First English factory on the continent of India — Sir Thomas Roe's
embassy to the court of the Great Mogul — State of that court — Establishment of a
first
voyages of the
trade with Persia,
Company
.............
CHAPTER
238
II.
— Proceedings in the Persian Gulf— New joint stock
Arrangement with the Dutch — The council of defence — The massacre of Amboyna,
Progress of the Company's trade
CHAPTER
III.
— Establishment of a rival
— State of the Company under Cromwell,
Truce with the Portuguese
Dutch
CHAPTER
company
—Settlement
wdth the
267
IV.
Reign of Shah Jehan— His deposition by Aurungzebe
Mahrattas
258
— Rise
and
progi-ess
ot
the
— Reign of Aurungzebe,
251
CHAPTER
V.
—New general charter by Charles
Company's proceedings — Grant of the
Resumption of the history of the East India Company
II.
— Constitutional
island of
question raised by the
Bombay,
309
CHAPTER VI.
Administration and progress of Bombay — Difficulties— State of the other settlements of
the Company,
.
324
—
L
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
Marked change
the Company's policy ou
in
preparations
VII.
the accession
of
James
II.
— Hostile
— War with the Mogul — Disastrous results,
CHAPTER
New
IX
crown charters
— Hostile feeling of
scandalous disclosures— Rival
Company
of
Coramons
established
BOOK
successors of
act of parliament,
i
,
state of India
—The
and other native states
immediate
— Tlie
invasion
382
of Nadir Shah,
CHAPTER
The
351
I.
Company— Political
Aurungzebe — Tlie Mahrattas
by
—Wholesale bribery and
III.
CHAPTER
Actual position of the United
340
VIII.
House
tlie
PACE
])rogress of the
French
in
II.
India— War between France and England
— Naval
and
—The capture of Madras,
CHAPTER III.
repulsed — The
Proceedings of the French at Madras — An attempt of the nabob upon
terms of capitulation shamefully violated — Unsuccessful attempts of the French
David — Proceedings of the English
under Admiral Boscawen
upon Fort
Siege of Pondicherry — The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle,
military operations
407
it
fleet
St.
CHAPTER
The Carnatic
—Its
political state
—Transactions
IV.
in Tanjore
— Early
career of Clive
Siege of Trichinopoly,
42'.)
CHAPTER
Intrigues of
Mahomed
Trichinopoly
Ali
—Vacillating
— Mahomed
All's
toriuous
Attempts at negotiation
ments
—Arrival
of
proceedings
lost
Major Lawrence with a
1.
rein-
— Discontent of his allies
— Clive sails for England
471
of Dupleix,
superseded returns to France
of a British fleet— Return of Clive
the French
— New
— Destruction
arrange-
of pirates at
Gheriah,
Vol.
453
ground
CHAPTER VI
Bussy — Great accession of territory to
— Dupleix
of
VI.
— Arrival
Major Lawrence — New intrigues
Proceedings of Salabut Jung and
— Siege
..........
— Capture of Arcot,
CHAPTER
Attempts of the French to recover their
Successes of
V.
conduct of the Madras government
Continuation of the Siege of Trichinopoly
forcement
418
oOl
I,
CONTENTS.
CirAPTEK VIM.
PAMK
State of
;iiiJ
Honi^'.il
All
-Ailmiiiiatnitiou ul
J.-illit-r
Kliau, Sliujah-u-din
Khau, Serferaz
Rlrtii,
Verdy Kliau,
.OK;
CITAPTER
IX.
— His early career — First acts of his government—
against Piirneah — His suHpicion and hatred of the
East India Company — The factory of Cossimhazar seized and plundered — Calcutta
besieged and taken — The horrors of the Black Hole,
Stiijijah
Dowlah, N.bob of Bengal
rival claimant
— His expedition
CHAPTER
Deliberations at
Madras
— Armament
and military operations
factory at Chaudernagore
the nabob
sails for
— Treaty of
X.
Bengal
— Recapture
peace with the nabob
— Recommencement
'/.iO
—
— Naval
of Calcutta
Capture of the French
— Conspiracy
of Iiostilities
to depose
— The battle of Plassey,
547
CHAPTER
XI.
— Desultory warfare — Arrival of a French squadron
Lally, commander-in-chief of French forces — Naval action — Siege and capture of
Fort St. David — Siege of Taujore — Siege of Madras — French reverses— Forde in
Position of affairs in the Caruatic
the Northern Circars —Battle of
Waudiwash — Siege and capture
Destruction of Fz-ench interests in the Deccan,
CHAPTER
Meer
Jaffier nabob,
son
and Clive governor of Bengal
.......
of Pondicherry
594
XIT.
— Attempt
upon
it
by the Mogul'-s
— Hostilities with the Dutch— Departure of Clive— His successors, Holwell and
— Meer Jaffier deposed, and Meer Cossim appointed nabob — ^leer Cossim
Vansittart
deposed, and
second
Meer
— Dewannee
— Nugum-ud-Dowlah
titular
nabob— Clive's
..............
government
Company,
Jaffier reinstated
of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa granted
to
the
645
I
7
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOLUME
FRONTISPIECE.—Openinq
L
up of direct European Trade with India— Yasco de
Gama and the zamorin
fo
Calicut.
EXGRAVED TITLE.-The Rock
cut Temple of Kylas, at Ellora.
Sketch Mai' of India to illustrate the Uistory from the Earliest Period to the Battle of Pla.ssey.
Map to illustrate the Waks in Coromandel, 1744-178I).
Map to illustrate the Wars ix Mysore, 1707-1799.
Map of the Valley of the Ganges, from Caixjutta
Bbhar,
to Benabes, including the Provinces of noal,
iio.
Map of Malwah, includino Holkar's and Scindia'.s Dominions.
Map of the Maur.vtta Country and Adjacent Territories.
Map
Map
of the
....
Jummoodeep,
of India according to Ptolemy,
.
Interior of the Cave of Klephanta,
E.xterior of Great
.
Chaitya Cave, Salsotle,
Exterior of the Chaitya Cave, Adjiiuta,
Interior of the
Bisma Kiirm,
Ellora,
lUiius of Tyre,
.
.
.
.
.
of Alexander
the Great,
Silver Coin of Eucratidcs V.,
Ruins at Canouge,
Gates of the Temple at Somnautli,
Ghnznee,
Ajmeer, from near the Gogra Pass,
Tomb
Silver
and
Woman
Coin of Ala-u-din,
.
Huins of the Castle of Sehwan
.19
Mausoleum of Emperor Akber
.
.
24
25
.
.
.
....
.
Akber's Tombstone at Secuudra,
,
140
Palace of Akber, Futtipoor Sikra,
.
.
.
142
'Ihe Chalees Sitoon, Allahabad,
.
.
.
.
3-1
Portrait of Christopher Columbus,
38
Vievv of the
47
50
Portrait of Vasco de
Gama,
General View of Calicut,
.
Portrait of Alfonso de Albuquerque,
.
.
59
General View of Lisbon, a.d. 1574,
.
.
174
C3
Bird's-eye
.
175
View of Alexandria,
Thecity of Ormuz,
Baber, Cabool
Chunarghur, near Benares,
Bihistee, or
t-heer Shah's
....
Water Carrier of Bengal,
Mausoleum
at Sasseram, near
.
in the Persian Gulf, a.d.
1574,
General View of Din, A.D. 1574,
Portrait of Sebastian Cabut,
80
General View of Greenwich in 1662,
.
.
Portrait of Ferdinand Magellan,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
93
now
in
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
178
190
.190
Greenwich Hospital,
201
206
208
208
Jewel presented to Drake by Queen Elizabeth, in
possession of Sir T. T. Elliott Fulke Drake,
209
Bait
Thomas Cavendish,
107
Portrait of
110
Cape Comorin, from uear Calead,
Portuguese Residents at Bantam, circ. A.D. 1600
113
172
.185
7-5
.
.
Bird's-eye
View of Bantam,
circ.
.
.
a.d. 1600,
.
209
.
217
.
219
213
11:^
Governor of Bantam and Attendants, eir. a.d. 1600 221
114
Portrait of George, third Earl of Cumberland,
.
232
Manchc
.
.
237
.
.
239
.115
Benares
1574,
A.I).
162
.168
71
102
.
.
General View of Aden, A.D. 1574,
The Snowy Range of the Himalayas, from Marma, 89
Emperor Baber, near Cabool,
White Marble Mosque at the Tomb of Emperor
.
65
Portrait of Sir Francis Drake,
of the
156
.161
53
Drake's Astrolabe,
Tomb
.
.
.
89
.
.
.
(Native Boat), circa 1598,
86
Usbeks of Khoondooz, and a Khojah of Usbek,
View of Kandahar,
.153
General View of Cananore, A. D. 1574,
.
...
152
.
An Almadia
.
A Brahmin,
.
.
52
.
Part of the Serai, Toghlakabad,
.
.
52
.
Bin Toghlak,
.
.
Ship of Spain, Fifteenth Century,
Mausoleum
Mahomed
.
1574,
A. D.
143
147
149
Cape of Good Hope,
82
Khosrow, near Allahabad,
140
.
.
of
136
.
.
Ruins of the Palace of Hana Bheum, Chittoor,
Copper Coiu of
at Secnnilra,
Constantinople, end of Seventeenth Century,
.03
,
(Afghanistan;,
136
(Sciiule),
27
.
...
.
Armed Afghan
Yoosoofzye,
of Sultan Altamsh, Delhi,
Group of Ancient Indian Armour,
Khilji Chieftain
.
.
Futtipoor Sikra,
18
Miliar, Delhi,
Gheughis Khan,
.135
at
19
Mahmood's Tomb, Oliuzncc,
Sultan Mahmood's Tomb, Ghuznec,
Interior of the
.
...
...
....51
.
Silver Coin of
Attock, from west bank of the Ganges,
Tomb
.
E.xlerior of Sultan
Kutb
133
18
Selini's
.
Gold and Silver Coins of Sultan Mahmood,
Interior of
.
Sheikh
.
.
.
General View of the Kuins of Palmyra,
Pillars,
131
.
3
from a Silver
Tetradrachina of Lysiinaciius,
.Mahmood's
.
liuins of Goor, the old capital of Bengal,
Distant View of Cabool,
.
rian of Soor, the Ancient Tyre,
Head
.121
2
.17
.
PAOB
.
.
......
...
Ancient Indian Zodiac,
PAOE
1 1
of Calicut (Native Boat),
General View of Woolwich
in
1602,
.
LIST
Xll
(>V
View of Amboyiia
(Jfiicral
.....
Tlic I'owii and Volcano of
Java Junk, circa 1000,
M cell
a,
View
of Pointdc-Galle,
Tematc,
in
from the Nortli,
Tomb
of
Anns
of East India
tlic
Company,
Castle of AinboyiKi,
.
.
.
.
.
Krnpcror Jchangir
.
1005,
.
.
lCOO-50,
.
.
General View of iMasulipatam,
.
.
.
•
.
Seal used by Sir William Courteen's Association,
Gateway
to
tlie
Fort of Agra,
.
.
.
Huins of Old Delhi
Mahal
Interior of the Tiije
Tomb
of
at Agra,
Emperor Shah Jehan
.
in the Taje
Itock und
Pagoda
240
A
.
Mahal,
....
Horseback, with Attendants,
Wagnuck, or Tiger's Claws,
Tower of Victory, Chittoor,
.
.
.
.
,
.
.
riie
200
The Fort of Dowjelabad,
209
A Grab—a
The English
Bird's-eye
Fort,
Bombay,
circa
1672,
.
290
Musjid at Cuttack,
294
Ganges
535
.
538
300
View of
.
543
Monument
William, Calcutta, a.d. 1754,
F'ort
to those
.....
....
who
Hole, Calcutta,
Portrait of
perished in the Black
Admiral Watson,
Mocrshedabad, on the Ganges,
Cutwah, on the Ganges,
325
Portrait of Lieutenant-General Sir
327
Gateway
at Rajmahal,
.
on the Ganges,
Portrait of
Patna, on the Ganges,
343
347
352
The Old Eait India House, circa a.d. 1650,
Portrait of Thomas Osborne, first Duke of Leeds, 364
,
Jhalledar
— Palanquin
View of Boorhanpoor,
View of Joodpoor,
Portrait of Nadir Shah,
View
Emperor of
Persia,
Peons of ^Mysore,
Portrait of Major-General Stringer Lawrence,
Lord Clive,
Amboor, in ^lysore,
Portrait of Robert,
The
Hill-fort of
Plan of the Fort of Gingee,
.
.
Caparisoned Elephant with Howdah,
.
View
.
Fort of Madura,
.
607
.611
View of Conjeveram, near the Great Pagoda,
.
Sepoys of the Bengal Army,
395
Plau of Pondicherrj' and
395
Masula Boat of the Coromandel Coast,
398
The Chouk and Husseinee Delauu at Dacca,
.
047
401
Part of the City of Moorshedabad,
.
649
405
Feal Charra, or Elepliaut's-head State Boat,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Admiral
.
.
George Pococke,
Sir
its
.
.
.
022
.
625
.631
.
.
.
.
644
054
C54
— Grain Boats of Calcutta,
Fort of Chunarghur, near Benares,
Palace, Allahabad,
Fort of Allahabad,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
602
.
663
.671
.681
....
.....
....
Portrait of Sujah Dowlah,
Patile
619
.
View of Chinsurah, on the Hooghly,
Portrait of the Emperor Shah Alum,
455
.
Puukee, or Peacock's-head Pleasure Boat,
421
The
014
.
.
Wolacks
444
.
Environs, a.d. 1760, 639
Moor
423
.
.
415
.446
.451
.
gapatam,
409
.440
.
.
in the
,
.
.
Peer Musjid, and Hill near the Dolphins, Viza-
Plan of the Fort of Waudiwash iu 1759,
......
.
606
380
....
Eort St. George, Madras, a.d. 1754,
.
598
.
390
393
— Afghans Mounted and on Foot,
Portrait of Labourdounais,
.
596
.
.
at Sattarah,
Dooranees
.
.589
.
Portrait of
.
.
.
577
381
.....
in the Deccan,
587
.
.
used by Rajahs,
.
.
Plan of the Fort of Masulipatam, a.d. 1759,
....
Rajpoots on i'oot and on Horseback,
Mahrattas on Horseback,
.
576
379
380
Earl of (iodolphin,
Garool.uh, a Boat of the Persian Gulf,
574
.
.
View of Gombroon, or Bender- Abbaz, a.d. 1676
first
.
.
Thomas Arthur, Co.rite de Lally,
Plan of Fort St. Dadd, near Cuddalore,
View of Mount St. Thome, near Madras,
View of the Black Town, Madras,
545
54S
.
Eyre Coote,
The Fort of Monghir, on the Gauges,
Portrait of Sidney,
523
.Map of the Territorj- of Calcutta, A.D. 1757,
at
.
.
295
at
.
485
489
500
531
338
.
.
481
.503
,510
.5)8
Ganges,
335
Street of the Fountains, Bejapoor,
.
472
4*9
Ruins of the Rajah's Palace, Rajmahal, on the
Fort of Eaje Ghur, Gingee,
General View of Canton,
.
.
Ghaut
.
.
Jumma
Ghaut
.
.
.
314
....
....
.....
View of Trincomalee,
.
Bombay,
.317
.
.
.
.
Najar Nultoo Sing's Mh'jot at Dacca, on the
.310
.
.
28y
,
.
.
Mackerey, or Ballot k Cart of Bengal,
View of the Island
the Adjacent Coast,
.
.
The
304
Bombay and
.
282
308
of
402
,
....
Tanjore,
Vessel of
.
284
.
General View of Surat,
hiiij;lcput,
201
.
Map
Gnat Pagoda,
.
.
.
.Map of the Environs of Trichiooiwly,
.
.
View of Aurungabad,
(
45'j
.....
Scringham,
at
250
.
of St. Helena,
,
.
.
Armed,
I'olyger coinpletely
Gateway of Pagoda
.
View of the Fort of
Aurungzebe's Burial-place at Rozah,
of the Kings, Golconda,
Temple of Tricbioopo^j,
at Conjcverarii,
2.07
Founder of the Mahratta Empire, on
Sevajce,
Tombs
242
2415
.251
.253
at Laliore,
circ.
JLMJSTRATIONS.
— Boat of the Ganges,
692
693
702
707
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BtAClUR A SON.aLASOOW.KDNBrRCA & LOSnOS.
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KW«'JLrrJL->ii<ii-'i
THE
MAHRATTA COUNTRY, AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES
BUAOMB
t SON,
GLASGOW EBnTBTJKSH t LONDON
COMPREHENSIVE
HISTORY OF INDIA
INTRODUCTION.
dONG
after the
name
of India had become famiHar in the
uieas of In-
earliest seats of civilization in the Mediterranean, little
was known of the country designated by
was a region
more
than that
it,
'•'»» seo-
it
of vast extent situated in the far East, near
known
the outermost verge of the
^a
Ancient
world.
From
the in-
habitants themselves no satisfactory information could be
Accustomed to
obtained.
everything in mystery, they
veil
divided the terrestrial globe into seven deeps or islands, each
ii>^
human
of the
lifjr^-'"
•^1^
encompassed by
'
(.-onsists
most
and
his
own
Jummoodeep,
race in
above the
hiy-hly favoured localities.'
obscvu-ed
peculiar oce.an
;
and placing the habitation
whicli
is
nearest the centre, and Hmdooidea
partly of Meru, a mountain of gold of enormous height, reaching
as far beneath as
r
its
by
fancy to run
The notions of the Greeks,
were of a more definite description.
fable,
riot,
surface, appropriated to themselves
him, India was, as
consisted of
empire,
its
name
tliouffh disfirrured Greek
no-
Instead of allowing
result.
implies, the country drained
two great divisions
and formed the
siitrapies or
its
Herodotus diligently consulted the few sources of know-
within his reach, and honestly communicated the
leilge
one of
— a western,
by the
Indus, and
which was included in the
largest, as well as the
provinces into which that empire
According to
Per.sian
most productive of the twenty
was then
divided;
and an
eastern,
which, stretching beyond the limits supposed to be habitable, terminated in a
sandy
desert.-'
them, that
Crude as these ideas
when Alexander, dm-ing
Indus, he mistook
means
it to
it
are, so httle
by
to correct or enlarge
his celebrated expedition, first reached the Alexanders
for the Nile.
to undeceive himself,
was done
Fortunately he took the most effectual
fitting out a fleet,
Nearchus, who, after descending the river to
and giving the command of
its
mouth
in
tlie
ocean, con-
tinued his coui-se westwards along the shores of the Arabian Sea, and finally
'
»
Gladwin's Aycen Akhery, vol.
Herodotus, book
--Vol.
I.
iii.
iii.
p. 23, et scq.,
with
its
curious map, illustrative of Hindoo geography.
97-106.
1
-
IIISTOTIY
arrived in
tli(!
Persian Gulf.
OF INDIA.
AlexaTuler, ulio
had acconipanicd
his de-scent, afterwarrlH acconiplisliod the rest of the rliHtance
'^'^^'^
suaoa""
o^'^'^t
routes to India
.Nearclius in
overland
had thu« been simultaneously explored
latHZIItg
*f
An a
itDeO.liJt..
tASI
ST-
Map of the JrMMOODEEP.'
natural consequence, regular intercom-se with
figure
is
and dimensions began
furnished
that with
it
rapidly increased, and both
its
to be better understood.
Ample evidence of this
the works of Strabo and Ptolemy, and yet it cannot
be denied,
their industry and sagacity, they have ratlier
distorted than de-
by
all
lineated India.
The maritime
portion, in particular,
is miserably cm-tailed, and
characteristic projection, instead of forming the vertex
of a triangle, is' con-
its
'
This
map though
explanation.
sufficiently curious, could scarcely be
made more intelligible by any amount of
and all the attempts which have been made to find fixed localities
ranges of mountains, have failed. The ocean surrounding
Jummoodeep is
It is fanciful throughout,
for Its cardinal points,
and
its
only one which looks like reality, because it is
said to consist of salt water.
The other six oceai.s
beyond it consist
succession of milk, milk curds, ghee or clarified
butter, sugar-cane juice, wine, and
j
tlie
m
iresh water.
.
>
o
INTRODUCTION.
verted into the side of a square.'
blunder, which, indeed,
is
It
is
not
difficult to
many
only one of the
avoid, so long as the only accounts of the country
who
reached
it
by journeying
the infiincy of their
account for this serious
wliicii it
was impossible
to
were derived from travellers
across inhospitable deserts, or navigators who, in
art, effected
a long and perilous passage by following the
A
windino-s of the intervening shores
great advance
Portuguese doubled the Cape of Good Hope.
From
was made when the
that time, the Indian coast
Portuguese
di»tx)vei'ie».
became
accessible in all directions,
out the interior was a
covdd be
No
made while
sooner, however,
work
tlie
and
its
outline
of greater difficulty
was
easily traced.
—a work in which
little
To map
progress
struggle for supremacy in the East remained undecided.
were the foundations of
oiu-
Indian empu-e securely
laid,
India, ACCORDir^o to Ppolemt.
....
than the necessity of obtaining a tliorough
urgently
felt.
coimtry in
all
filled up,
tlie
its
surfiice
was
In
this
all
the aids which
tlie
refinements of modern
way, most of the blanks in Indian geogra])hy have been
advancing to completion.
course of the following work, the important })urposes to which the
by
Mo.iem geo
gniphj'.
length and breadth has been undertaken at the instance of
valuable materials accumulated
'
its
.
and a map, not unworthy of the vast and magnificent coimtry which
it delineate.s, is
In
knowledge of
Accordingly, in addition to district sm-veys, one embracing the
government, and carried on with
science supply.
.
these surveys are applicable will often be-
Forbiger's Ilandhuch dcr alien Geographic, particularly the illustrative majis in vol.
i
IflSTORV OF INTiTA.
4
come apparent; but
in the
meantime
it
Heems impossible to employ tliem to
the groundwork of a brief sketch, which, in
betttjr {iccount
than
exhibiting
leading features of the geography of India, will be at once an
tiie
in furnisiiing
appropriate introduction and a usefid guide to the study of
India:
it8
India, taken in its widest sense as a
ex-
I'uuudaiioa.
territories in Asia,
between
8°
common name
for all the contiguous
which are directly or indirectly subject
and 37" north
latitude,
and
GQ''
to British rule, lies
and 99" east longitude.
which extend north and south from the Himalaya
limits,
its history.
to
Within these
Cape Comorin, and
west and east from Afghanistan and Beloochistan to the Burman empire,
it
covers an area of a million and a half of square miles, and contaiiLS one hundre<l
and eighty millions of inhabitants. As these enormous numbers are not ea.sily
comprehended, a more definite idea may be formed, by considering that the
space
is
about twelve times, and the population six times greater than those
The portion
of the British Islands.
of Bengal, consisting chiefly of acquisitions from the Burmese, are only
Bay
politically associated
with India
may
be
for the present
left
which the name of India
and
Divisions,
of these va.st dominions lying east of the
is,
for the
most
is
;
and, having few features in
out of view.
more properly
part, well defined
division of ancient date,
it
The other and
consists of
common with
far larger portion, to
applied, forms one
by natural
it,
compact whole,
According to a
boundaries.
Hindoostan and the Deccan
—the former
meaning the Land of the Hindoo, and the latter the Land of the
The line of demarcation between the di\dsions is marked by the
desio-nation
South.
Vindhya Mountains, wliich stretch irregularly across the country from sea
sea, between the mouths of the Indus and the Ganges.
Hindoostan, thus defined, includes the whole of India which
to other parts of the Asiatic continent,
great river basins
and
lies
to
contiguous
consists almost entirely of
two
—that of the Indus in the west, and that of the Ganges in the
Both basins have a common and magnificent boundary in the north,
where the Himalaya, by far the loftiest mountain system in the world, with
snowy summits which, measiu-ed from the level of the sea, have more than five
east.
miles of vertical height, diverges as from a central nucleus in opposite directions
— on
Basin of the
the one hand, sloping north-west, and gi%'ing
ludus,
and on the
other, cm-ving
round toward the
its
waters chiefly to
east,
tlie
and supphing innu-
merable feeders to the Ganges. The basin of the Indus has its greate.st length
from north to south, and, with exception of the beautiful valley of Cashmere
and of the Punjab,
is
remarkable for a barrenness, which, in
becomes so great that cultivation
is
away
miles, has its occasional oases,
to the east
but
lower part,
confined to the breadth of a few miles on
either side of the river, while the adjacent country
This desert, stretching
its
is,
is
converted into a desert.
and north-east
for the
most
part, a
for several
hundred
sandy waste, mono-
tonous and dreary in the extreme.
On
entering the basin of the Ganges, a striking contrast
is
presented.
On
4
INTRODUCTION.
the north
by a
the Himalaya, descending
side,
5
series of magnificent terraces Basin
of the
with parallel or intersecting valleys, approaches the edge of an immense plain
of sm-passing beauty and fertility,
versed near
by a
centre
its
gently from west to east, and tra-
sl()[)ing
On
majestic river.
])oth
Himalaya, but partly also from the Vindhya range,
which so augment
tributaries,
bei'ed
with
and unable
its spoils,
volume that
its
to carry
Accordingly, in the lower part of
them along
its course, it
which form a kind of network across
little if
A
its delta.
The
at all inferior to its own.
from the
by numerous
a manner encum-
joined
in one amdivided channel.
throws off numerous branches,
municates with the Brahmapootra, coming from the
of water
it is
becomes in
it
chiefly
sides,
little
east,
down
lower
and carrying a volume
difficulty of discharge is
and can only be met by an additional number of
greatly increased,
com-
it
thus
outlet.s.
In the dry season, these flow witliin their banks, and have the appearance of
independent streams
but when the waters
;
and the whole country
A similar
tion.
consequence
is,
is
covered for
result is produced
rise,
many
a sudden overflow takes place,
miles around with one vast inunda-
on the lower
flats
of the Indus;
and one
that both rivers become far less available for navigation than
might be supposed from the volumes of water which they carry.
The channels
becoming shallow and attenuated in proportion to their number,
it
to find
any
which large vessels can safely
single one
is difficult
use.
The two great basins now described do not completely exhaust the whole
area included within the Himalaya and the Vindhya range; and therefore it is
.
central
ludia.
necessary to mention, that the ramifications of the range cover a considerable
tract of great
beauty and
Central India, and
is
fertility,
drained
the Taptee, which carry
its
but one, and
as a peninsula.
It
is
is
i^elongs to
by the independent
what has been
basins of the
called
Nerbudda and
waters west to the Gulf of Cambay.
The Deccan, the other great
all sides
which
division of India,
is
washed by the ocean on
The oeccin.
hence, though not with strict accuracy, usually described
an immense
in the form of
which
triangle,
rests
on the
and terminates in Cape Comorin as its vertex. Of
its two sides, one running S.S.E. in an almost unbroken line, faces the Arabian
Sea, the other, whose continuity is more broken, lies south-west, and faces the
Vindhya range
Bay
as its base,
of Bengal.
Names
so
common
as not to be
the lower halves of the sides
distinguish
—that
imworthy of
notice serve to
on the west being usually
designated as the Malabar, and that on the east as the Coromandel coast.
The
structm-e of the
extremities of the
exceed 3000
tions nearly
Ghauts,
between
it
is
feet,
Deccan
Vindhya
is
range,
two mountain chains proceed, and
parallel
to
10'
and
the coasts.
15°, rise to
far
whose greatest height
continued to Cape Comorin.
lat.
Not
very simple.
stretch
That on the west,
is
seldom recedes more than forty miles,
feet.
it
is
not supposed to
southward in
called the
Its loftiest summits,
about 6000
from the opposite
direc-
Western
which are situated
Towards the
sea.,
from which
very precipitous; towards the
westem
HISTORY OF INDIA.
6
land,
wliicli
in
nificent timbei-,
are not above 3000 feet,
tlie
descent
a
is
less
and
its
seldom abrupt.
is
li<;ight,
both sides
tinued to the extremity,
oeccan
table ir,id.
^^
^^^^^
^yi^j^jj^
Way
a
it
distance from the sea
In
its
stops about
and by which
feet,
ncw
Qf
j^\^^^
is
always
clothed with
is
it
elevated and tfimer ran^je.
'^
iiuig-
it
Its loftiest
so considerable that
Is
midway, and turning
gra^lually srjuth-we.st,
which have summits
Hills,
becomes linked with the Western Ghauts.
with sides composed of mountain
triangle,
summits
course sfjutliwards, instead of being con-
meets with a transverse range called the Neilgiieiry
exceeding 7000
slope
its
and displays much grand scenery.
Eastem Ghauts
"jj^g
Ohauts.
in
it
On
and occasionally imperceptible.
gradual,
i:a.<!terii
almost efjuals
parts,
ni;iii>
range.s, is
formed
Dcccau, and incloses an elevated table-land, which has a
\\^q
gradual but continuous slope eastward from the Western Ghauts to the
In accordance with this
slope, all the rivers of
any magnitude
sea.
—the Mahanuddy,
the Godavery, the Krishna, the Pennar, the Pelar, and the Coleroon or Cavery,
carry the drainage to
fertility of the
scorching heat,
Bay
tlie
This table-land cannot
of Bengal.
basin of the Ganges, because, while
it
it
is
has no streams fed by pei-petual snow.
h>oast the
expo.sed to a
The
more
torrents of rain,
however, which periodically descend on the Western Ghauts, compensate in
some degree
for this defect,
which, carried on
by
and provide the means of a system of
collecting the supei-fluous
made many
the rainy season, at one time
water in immense tanks during
parts of the
Unfortunately, in too
beauty and productiveness.
many
and more especially in those where native misrule
tanks are in ruins, and
sterility
seems to show that
its
All
other countries.
is
tlie
districts of the countr}',
continues,
many
of these
fully investigated,
but what
is
known
great mountain ranges are composed of the rocks
In the stupendous heights of the Himalaya
particularly predominant,
blende-schist, chloride-slate,
sula the
f<jr
leading features are less complicated than those of mo.st
usually classified as granitic.
gneiss
still
Deccan proverbial
has returned.
The geology of India has not been
Geology.
irrigation,
same rocks prevail
and
is
associated with mica schist, horn-
and primitive limestone.
In the chains of the penin-
—granite in the south-west and south, and
sienite in
the south-east, covering a considerable portion of the surface, and composing
some of the highest peaks.
and
its
One great exception to
accompanj'ing schists
is
spade,
predominance of gi'anite
in the southern portion of the
where these rocks disappear beneath the
species of iron clay, which, from its being
by the
this
and hardening on exposure
Western Ghauts,
and are overlaid by a peculiar
where it lies as to be easily cut
surface,
so soft
to the air so as to be
has received the name of laterite or brick-stone.
fit
for building,
This mineral, instead of being
a mere local deposit, almost assumes the dignity of a distinct formation, continuing with
little
interruption to the extremity of the continent, and even re-
appearing beyond
it
in the Island of Ceylon.
Another great exception
to the
predominance of granitic rocks
.
is
in the
INTRODUCTION.
7
upper part of the Western Ghauts, and the adjoining raniiiications of the
Vindhya range.
Hei*e basaltic
globular, tabular, porphyritic,
to
an extent
une(pialled,
it is
in its various forms of prismatic, columnar,
ti'ap,
and amygdaloid, spreads out as an overlying
rock,
A
very
believed, in
large portion of the table-land of the
in i)rcci})itous isolated
any other
Deccan
is
pai-t
of the world.
entirely covered
by
Not
it.
and the granite pierce the surface abruptly, and
unfreqiiently both the trap
Ba«iitic
rise
JMany of these standing
masses of considerable height.
out prominently from the surrounding plains and crowned with
hill- forts,
form
the most remarkable featm'es in the landscape.
The more
secondary and
regulfir
strata of the
*=
-^
tei-tiary iieriods are
"
larwly
"^
^
*
leveloped on the lower sides of the Himalaya, and occupy considerable tracts in
e:
various other
and
tertiary
strata.
and shales of the former period
i\Iany of the sandstones
localities.
secomiary
belong to the coal measm*es and coal has not only been fountl at several places,
;
actually worked, particularly in the valley
])ut is
of
Burdwan, where a
carefully explored,
this field to the capital,
facility of carriage
notice
;
Damooda
the
in the district
with a main seam 9 feet in thickness has been
coal field
and found
i)f
The proximity of
to extend over a large area.
from which
it is
by water, and now
about 150 miles north-west, and the
by
also
rail,
have brought
many
but there cannot be a doubt that there are
early into
it
other fields equally
demand about to
of railways. The teiliary
promising, and, at all events, productive enough to supply the
be created by the establishment of an extensive S3-stem
formation appears to obtain
greatest breadth in the north-west, towards
its
Scinde and the Punjab, from which, and the mountains of adjacent
fossil
districts,
remains of singular forms and gigantic dimensions have recently been
brought to enrich our maseums.
It nuist
title
be admitted
that, as
Though
to a pi'ominent place.
the Indian
a mineral country, India has not yet proved
in ancient times gold
was the oidy one of the Persian
that precious metal,
productive.
Its
it
has
now only a few
diamond mines
also,
satrapies
was
which paid
washings, wiiich are
its
tribute in
by no means
once so famous, have long been exhausted.
much economi-
value are copper, of which several mines are worked; iron, from which steel
of the finest quality
tant article of export
Of the
tropical,
it
^'"'erais.
so abundant, that
Besides the coal already mentioned, the only mineral products of
cal
its
is
;
manufactm-ed
and
\1\''
might be easy to give the theory of
how
case, as in
its
Taking
climate
many
;
intensely the sun during
its
but
it
its
would merely be
others, theory differs
from
climate
is
by which,
determined.
to
reality.
shows how long and
annual revolution will shine upon
gives no information as to the modifying causes
ciimate.
this fact only into view,
relatively to the equator, simply
than by degrees of latitude,
as to form an impur-
which India extends, 15^° are within the
within the tem])erate zone.
show how widely in this
The position of a country
abundant
said to exist in beds which are inexhaastible.
salt,
28° of north latitude over
and
nitre, so
;
it,
often far
but
more
In regard to India
J
HISTORY OF INDIA.
8
Mollifying
these causes are so numerous, and operate so differently in different
Ifxxilities,
ciiiiMes.
that
may Le
it
truly
.said
to
few degrees from the
tropic,
wanting; westwards,
it
have not one,
with the parclied
desei-t
of the African Sahara; eitstwards,
it
mean annual
Nortliwar<Ls a
climates.
j)lain«
has a deep alluvial
moisture; and southwards, while the isothermal
tity of
many
a region in which snow and ice are never
it h}j.s
has a
Ijiit
and
scfjrching heats
overcharged with
Ija-sin
indicating the greatest quan-
line,
heat on the surface of the globe, crosses
the Coromandel to the Malabar coast, the Neilgheiry
Hill.s,
it
obliquely from
situated nearly in
the same latitude, enjoy the climate of the finest part of the temperate zone.
Where
many
so
adequate description,
therefore the utmost
which, though
would obviously be impo.ssible t^> give an
without entering into numero as complicated details; and
anomalies
much
exist,
it
which can here be done
diversified
by
to point out a
is
circumstances,
may
few features
be considered charac-
teristic of the climate of India.
Heat
—
The most prominent of tliese features are heat and humidity heat produced
chiefly by the direct action of the sun's rays, but intensified in many districts by
alow
iiiunidity.
and sultry winds from other countries and
humidity, not derived, as in Europe, from moderate showers occurring more or
level,
a natm-ally arid
soil,
;
less at all seasons,
but the result of rains which occm* regularly at stated periods,
and are
and incessant as often to pour
than
so copious
falls
in
any part of England
4935°; in Calcutta
do%\Ti
more water in a month
In London, the mean annual tem
in a year.
-
79 37°; in Bombay, 819°; in Madras, Sii'.
perature
is
In order
to perceive the full effect of these differences, it is nece.ssar\'' to attend
it is
number
to the annual range of tempera|:,m-e, or the
greatest
mean heat and
the greatest
mean
cold.
of degi'ees
between the
In London, this range amounts
than 40 3° whereas in the above three cities it amounts respectively to
no more than to 11 -9° 10°, and 72° Inotlier words, heat is far more equally difto
no
less
fused in India than in our
which takes place in the
An
in the former.
The average annual
quantity has been
about 85 inches.
even
own
latter
e(T[ually
fall
island
fall is
and the complete cessation of vegetation
during the rigour of winter,
of rain in England
is
is
and the average has been estimated at 136
In Calcutta, the range of the
only a local extreme.
from 50 to 85 inches; and on the Coromandel
sn'eat
unknowTi
known to fall in twelve days, while the average of the year is
On the Malabar coast and many parts of the Western Ghauts,
This, however,
The
totally
In Bombay, as large a
32 inches.
hood of Madras, the annual average of England
Jlonsoons.
is
striking contrast appears in the degrees of himiidity.
this quantity is largely exceeded,
inches.
;
is
coast, in
the neighbom--
supposed not to be exceeded.
agents in reffulatino; the climate of India and fixing
are the periodical winds
its
known by the name of monsoons. With the
about a month, they divide the year between them
—
^the
character,
interval of
one blowing regularly
from the north-east from October to March, and the other from the south-west
from April to September. The noiih-east monsoon is, strictly speaking identical
INTRODUCTION.
with the north-east trade-wind, and would accordingly blow without inten-upmonsoons.
were
tion throughout the year,
This
counteracting cause.
is
not brought under the influence of a great
it
found on the central plains of Asia, which,
becoming immoderately heated while the sun
smTounding
it,
north of the equator, rarify the
is
and thereby disturb the atmospherical equilibrium.
air,
a current of colder air begins to rush in from the Indian Ocean.
struggle takes place
new
while the
tion,
—the north-east monsoon endeavouring
current endeavours to establish
monsoon
struggle, the north-east
is
its
To
A
restore
kind of
to maintain its direc-
In the
ascendency.
placed at great disadvantage, for at the very
when it is engaged with its opponent, part of its own forces are diverted,
and drawn off to the regions where the equilibrium has been disturbed. After
a month of warfare, in which all the elements seem to mingle, and thunderstorms and hurricanes rage with the greatest fury, the new cuiTent prevails,
time
and becomes established as the south-west monsoon.
new
half a year, a
state of the atmosphere
Asiatic plains are cooled
with
struggle,
its
down by
accompanying thunder and hurricanes,
effects of the
its
is
renewed, and in about
superiority, begins again to blow.^
monsoons in determining the climate of India are very
The south-west monsoon,
remarkable.
The overheated
the sun's departure for the south, the aerial
a month the north-east monsoon, recovering
The
After blowing for nearly
superinduced.
is
Their causes
Their
blowing over the Indian Ocean,
in
becomes surcharged with vapour, which, being suddenly condensed on the heights
of the Western Ghauts,
as fast as
at the
is
anives on the Malabar
it
Coromandel coast
Thus deprived of
discharged in torrents.
cis
contents
blows across the country, and arrives
coast, it
a dry wind.
its
This
cotist,
accordingly,
and the eastern
part of the Deccan, generally at this time receive no direct supplies of rain,
become in conse(|uence
impossible,
were
it
so parched, that the culture of the
filled to
overflowing,
and thus
})lains
means of carryWestern
limits of the
near the mouths of the Indus, and the sandy desert to
any moistm-e from the mon.soon, which
the east and north, are unable to attract
arrives well charged with water on the heights of the Himalaya.
here deflected,
])lains
it
of Bengal.
The south-west monsoon having
process,
fore unable to supply
it
I.
derived,
scale,
because the
of less extent, and there-
is
in India will
now
l)e
easily undei-stood.
other,
and the year performs
its
Maury, The Sia,
sec.
474 to
In the
summer,
round of grateful
In India an entirely different aiTangement takes place
'
Vol.
is
the north-ea.st
in the temperate zone generally, Avinter, spring,
and autumn succeed each
vicissitudes.
its course,
so copiously.
The course of the seasons
and
nm
though on a somewhat minoi-
of Bengal, from which the moisture
British Islands,
Beinf>-
descends into the basin of the Ganges, and floods the lower
monsoon repeats the
Bay
fui-nish the
Beyond the
ing on an extensive system of irrigation.
now
gromid would become
not that most of the rivers, having their sources in the West-
ern Gliauts, become
Ghauts, the low
and
;
and the
sec. 470.
2
seasons.
niSTORY OF INDIA.
10
Ijoations.
only seasons
hot.
can
wliicli
l)oiindaries
'J'h(;
rains, wiiicli
may
prf)perly recognized are the rainy, the cool,
l^e
between them are not very exactly
coast, for instance,
continent, at the
tiie
they are retarded
lea,st
As India
north
tin!
proceeding northwards, and liave copi-
in
of the efjuator, the
side
seasons should correspond nearly with our
out entering too nmcli into
districts, it is
would not
detail,
and
own
winter and
The
best
to select a particular locality,
fall
in others.
and the hot
co<;l
summer
;
btit witli-
.specifying the peculiarities of different
make any statement, in general
mode of illustrating the seasons will
almost impossible to
mislead.
Vjeji^in,
Mahibar
CJn the
period.
a month before they begin Uy
ously flooded some districts at
wholly on
same
tl)e
defined, becaiwe the
be considered as the commencement of the year, do not
even on the same side of
lies
and
and give a short description of
tenns, which
therefore be
Calcutta
its year.
being adopted for this purpose, the cycle wiU be as follows.
After nearly a
montli of storms, connected with the setting in of the monsoon, the rains com-
mence about the beginning of June, and continue,
vals, till
the middle of October.
November, the
first
air
the weather
is fair
and
pleasant,
and the sky, generally
free
till
the morning sun disperses
47''
them
to 78',
Both in
but the
winds from the north and west doubtless contribute to
the thermometer begins to
is
rise,
and generally before
this
is
month and
this result.
it closes
greatly relieved
by winds and storms
this disagreeable
month the season
till
In February,
the hot season has
increase,
May, when an oppressive
body and depressing the mind
closes,
and the annual
than
Cold but bracing
During the three following months the heat continues to
ness prevails, at once unnerving the
Vegetable
from clouds,
air feels colder
the lower of these numbers might be expected to indicate.
but
in
At
having previously cleared up, the cool season begins.
in January, the thermometer ranges from
commenced.
and then,
brief stormy period eiLSues,
In December, fogs become frequent towards evening, and con-
of a deep blue.
tinue unbroken
A
witli occasional short inter-
still-
With
cycle again begins.
In heat and humidity, India possesses the two main agents of luxuriant
products.
vegetation.
On
its
lower plains the most valuable plants of the tropics are indi-
genous or acclimatized, and on
several of
them
its loftier
heights forests of the noblest trees,
of a peculiar ty^Q, furnish inexhaastible supplies of the finest
timber, including the teak, which covei-s the rugged terraces of the Western
Ghauts.
which
Equally deserving of notice are the magnificent woody amphitheatres
rise successively
are approached.
while possessed
on the Himalaya,
the limits of the vegetable
till
Among the plants winch belong
in common ^\ith other countries, are
as to form a leading featm-e in its botany, are the
a grass, shoots up in one season to the height of 60
so consolidated in its textui-e as to supply
the ornamental purposes to which timber
variety, including the cocoa-nut ]ialm
—the
kingdom
exclusively to India,
so widely diffused over
bamboo, which, though
feet,
or,
it
tinily
and in another becomes
most of the ordinary, and some of
is
applied
;
palms in almost endless
most usefid of
its class
—the
sago.
1;
INTRODUCTION.
the areca, and
tlu;
great fan-palm
ordinary dimensions that a dozen
—a majestic
men
1
could take shelter under
one of the most beautiful and useful of acacias
tree,
with a leaf of such extra-
tree,
bearing plants and
among
trees,
including
among others
the babal
;
the sandal-wood tree, valued
;
East for the perfume, and in Europe for the dye which
in the
it
vegetaUou.
fields; spice-
it
the pepper- vine, which entwines
the cocoas and other palms of the Malabar coast, and forms a consider-
able article of export
the bread-fruit tree, the banana, and above
;
at once the finest
and the most widely
India can boast.
Among
diffused of all the fruit-trees of
which
the cultivated plants which are important as staple
wheat, millet, barley, varieties of pulse, yams,
articles of food, are rice, maize,
Among
sweet potatoes, &c.
the mango,
all
those most deserving of notice, from furnishing
raw materials of manufacture and export, are cotton, flax, hemp, indigo, and
various dyes cardamoms and other spices, sugar-cane, tobacco, and opium.
The zoology of India is no less rich and varied than its botany. Among
the
;
quadrupeds the
first
place
living wild in herds, has
(>mployed in
The
imquestionably due to the ele})hant, which, besides
from time immemorial been domesticated, and
numbers
employed to
also
been domesticated
in the west, particularly
traverse.
Among
and
;
for
usually
forms often humbling to
for swiftness, or
reared in
is
desert,
tiger,
human
size
and strength
is
the one-
leopard, panther, hyena,
lion,
pride,
some other property which
the argali, or wild sheep, the wild goat, the wild
numerous
singles
species of
them out
monkeys
for the chase,
stag,
nearly as
''arge
as a horse, the saumer, or black rusa of Bengal, the hog-deer, the
stag,
and many other
varieties of the cervine tribe.
and
and
the bear, the wild boar and
ass,
wild hog, the chickara, or four-horned antelope, the great rusa
species of the vidture
which
the animals which have not been subjected
horned rhinoceros; for ferocity, the
jackal
and the camel
;
on the borders of the
dominion of man, the most remarkable for
to the
is
labours in which strength and singular sagacity are required.
all
and yak have
buffalo
considerable
it is
is
The
eagle, wild peacocks, pheasants,
Nepal
birds include several
and in great profusion
and paroquets, of gorgeous plumage or singular articulating
powers.
Though not a permanent resident anywhere, the gigantic stork makes
its appearance in large flocks during the rains, and renders essential service by
cockatoos, parrots,
destroying snakes and other noxious reptiles, and
venger, for which nature evidently intended
of the animal kingdom, the transition
is
it.
by plying the trade
On
of sca-
passing to the lower orders
disagreeable, for
it
brings us to the
hideous alligators, abundant in most streams, and more especially in those of the
Indus and Ganges, and to large and venomous snakes which infest both the
land and the water, and are so numerous that forty-three varieties, including
the deadly cobra
Hastening
de
rapello,
have been described as of common occurrence.
li-om these to the fishes,
with numerous
varieties, often in
both the coasts and the rivers present us
unlimited abundance and excellent for food.
particularly distinguished in the latter respect,
it
As
may suffice to notice the leopard-
zuoiogy.
HISTORY OK INDIA.
12
inaitki'icl ;unl the,
4 feet in length.
iimn^o
fish,
Both frequently
of them
a place
on the
of Euroy)ean residentH.
tallies
;
mention that they consist mainly of two great
and Hindoos.
The
population, are far
otlier oc<:ii«ional)y
but a« a
be interwoven in the course of the work,
will necessarily
suffice to
finfl
fi;et, Jirid tlic
would next claim attention
Tlu! inhabitants of India
IiiliabitaiiU.
the one rnwusuring 3
former,
more
classes
full accrjunt
it
may
liere
— Mahometans
amounting only to about a tenth of the whole
than their numbers imply, because, having
influential
been the dominant race before European ascendency was established, they have
never entirely
most native
lost the
states are
wealth and power which this position gave them, and in
under the government of princes of their own
Hindoos, though classed under a
race,
but exhibit numerous
common name, by no meaas
varieties,
speaking the same language, have
the Sanscrit, which
is
even in physical form
dialects,
The
represent a single
and, instead of
founded indeed, for the most
part,
all
on
no longer spoken, but differing as much from each other
Europe which have the Latin
as those languages of
;
faith.
for their
common
basis.
In the preceding sketch, attention has been drawn only to the physical geo-
Political
geograpliy.
graphy of
upon
it,
India, or to the features
and the most remarkable
which
natiu-e herself has indeliVjly impressed
by
objects presented
its
mineral, vegetable,
and animal kingdoms. As yet nothing has been said of another department of
geography that which treats of the artificial divisions introduced for adminis-
—
These, though they
trative purposes, or in consequence of political changes.
necessarily partake of the instability
serve
many
important piu-poses, and, in
be used when particular
fact,
A
may
suffice,
arrangements,
furnish the vocabulary which mu.st
the events of which they
thorough knowledge of this vocabulary
only to be obtained by a diligent study of the
a more ciu^sory knowledge
human
to all
localities are referred to, or
have been the theatre are described.
is
which attaches
map but
;
for ordinary purposes
,
at least so far as to prevent the per-
by the frequent use of names of which no previous information had been given. With the \aew of fm-nishing such a knowledge,
and guarding against thLs perplexity, a summary of the political geography of
plexity which might be caused
India, in accordance with
actually subsisting arrangements,
within the narrowest possible compass,
Kuropean
At
present, not
much more than
rulei's in
India.
sion of Great Britain.
spots
Goa on
here subjoined.
the half of India
Two European
—the Portuguese at
is
and compressed
nations
still
is
in the undi^'ided posses-
linger at a
the west coast and at
few
insignificant
Diu on the north-west
between the Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay; and the French at Pondicherry and
Carricall, on the east coast, at Mahe, on the south-west coast, and at Chandernagore on the Hooghl3^ above Calcutta.
Two
Nepal, situated on the southern slopes of the Himalaya
pendent.
—Bhotan
native states
—are
M
and
nominally inde-
M
All the other native states are under a British protectorate oi greater
or less stringency.
Of
these states in the upper and inland portion of India,
the most extensive are Scindia's dominions, capital Gwalior, stretching fi'om the
J
i
INTRODUCTION.
1
Taptee north to the banks of the Chmnbul; Holkars dominions, capital Indore,
much
intersected
by those
bound them on the north
of Scindia, which
and
;
xative
**
"
''
Rajpootana, consisting of a great number of states, which, though individually
small,
to
have a large aggregate
area,
and reach from
In the south-west of
the frontiers of Scinde.
Scindia's dominions west
tlie
country, are the Guicowar's territories, capital Baroda,
tlie
most extensive native
Hyderabad, area 95,337
states are
by
scjuare miles,
single native chief, consisting of a
sular plateau,
— the
Nizam's dominions, capital
for the largest territory
imder any
compact and central portion of the penin-
bounded north by the Vindhya range, south by the Krishna, east
and north-east by the Godavery, and west by an
slopes of the
and the rajahship of
In the Deccan, or soutliern and maritime portion of
Cutch, capital Bhooj.
India,
same portion of the
indefinite line near the last
Western Ghauts; Mysore, the country of the famous Hyder Ali
and Tippoo Saib,
capital Seringa patam, area 30,886 square miles, consisting of
a lofty table-land within the angle which
Eastern and Western Ghauts
;
is
formed by the junction of the
and Travancore,
capital
Trivandrum, area 4722
square miles, forming the south-west portion of the extremity of the peninsula.
The whole of the native
states
and the Portuguese and French possessions
The
have an area of 631,470 square miles, and a population of 49,074,527.
whole of the remainder
British territory,
all
India,
and
is
—area 824,232 square
which has the seat of
comprehended
The presidency
its
miles, population 130,897,195
government at Calcutta, the
in the presidencies of Bengal, Madras,
of Bengal
— area
of the Burmese,
(^ast
It also includes
coast of the Deccan,
where
Circars, belonging to Maib'as.
it
them
is
Gantjes,
it
to the other.
i"^"^'^"^y-
territories
Ganjam, on the
far the largest
and most populous of
own
its
lieutenant-governor.
The
line
nearly in the direction of the meridian of 84°,
the whole of the presidency east of that line belonging to the one, and
of
Bengal
subdivided into Bengal proper and the
is
North-western Provinces, each having
of demarcation between
and
—
bounds with what are called the Northern
Being by
the three, the presidency of Bengal
to
is
and Bombay.
Assam and the annexed
and the province of Cuttack, extending south
^^^.^^
capital of
517,839 miles, population 38,883,337
includes all the British territories witiiin the basins of the Indus
with exception of Scinde.
—
j,,^^
i"-e«ideucies.
all
west
the North-western Provinces include
Strictly speaking,
only the six great divisions of Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Rohilcund, Meerut,
and
Delhi.
The Punjab and Oude are thus
left out, because,
though they are
doubtless destined to be formally incorporated with this subdivision, they are
still,
in
consequence of their recent acquisition, under a separate administration.
The presidency of Madras
—area 132,090 square miles, population 22,437,297
-^bounds with that of Bengal, near lai
and south-east coast of the peninsula
1
to
8^ and continues south, along the east
Cape Comorin, with no
interruption,
except from the interposed French districts of Pondicherry and Carricall.
Cape Comorin,
it
is
cut off from the sea
by
At
the interjected native states of
jia.inia
i"^"*''^«"'=y
HISTORY OF INDIA.
14
Travancore and Coohin; hut beyoMd
M;ulnui
tliern
it
becomes maritime, and
again
protiidency.
continues north along the coast of Malabar,
Bombay, near the
wiien
At
hemmed
Circars, it is so
in
first,
between
of Bengal and the east frontiers of the Nizam's dominions, that
narrow
consists only of a comparatively
west,
meets the presidency of
has a very irregular shape.
It
commences with the Northern
it
Bay
the
of Uoa.
di.strict
it
till
where
is
it
hemmed
similarly
belt.
The same thing happens
in Vjetween the
it
in the
Arabian Gulf and the west
Near the middle, between the mouths of the Krishna and
widens out and stretches so far west between these two native
frontiers of Mysore.
the Pennar,
states as to
it
approach the Western Ghauts.
Madi-as and Palk's Strait,
extends across the whole peninsula, from sea
—area 120,065 square
The presidency of Bombay
Bombay
prosidency.
it
Further south, between the city of
—
is,
sea.
population 14,109,067
from similar causes, as irregular in shape as the presidency of Ma/lras.
Beginning near Goa,
then widening
it
mile.s,
t^j
out,
continues northwards in a long and narrow
it
it,
Kurrachee,
is
its
and forms the three
by
and
becomes so intermingled with the native states as to make
almost impossible to define
added to
strip,
far its
The above sketch
boundaries.
Scinde,
which has recently been
collectorates of Sliikarpoor,
Hyderabad, and
most compact province.
of the physical and political geography of India seemed
necessary in order to furnish information which some might not possess, and
remove the
indistinct, if
in endeavouring to
and
is
not erroneous impressions which
it is difficult to
avoid,
form an acquaintance with a country so remote, so vast,
By
so extraordinary.
neither overpowered
exhibiting
by the
it
on a
scale so
reduced that the )nind
magnitiide, nor perplexed
singularity of its features, a kind of imity
is
given to
it,
by the
variety and
and
assumes the
it
appearance of a stage on which great actors are to appear, and wonderful
achievements are to be performed.
plicity
which
it
In this way, the history acquires a sim-
might not otherwise
possess,
a deeper interest
is
felt in
the
and the important lessons drawn from it become at once more
obvious, intelligible, and impressive.
an ancient, a
The History of India embraces tliree distinct periods
narrative,
Distinct
periods of
ludiau
tory.
his-
—
medieval, and a modern.
The ancient
period,
beginning with the earliest
authentic accounts, extends to the establishment of a ^Mahometan d\Tiasty.
The medieval period terminates with the doubling of the Cape of Good Hope,
and the consequent discovery of a continuovis oceanic route to the East. The
commencing with the great changes introduced by this discontinued down to the present time. The last of these periods,
modern
period,
covery,
is
forming the proper subject of the present history, will be treated with a
ness proportioned to
its
its
intrinsic importance,
and the
intimate connection with British history.
ful-
interest it derives from
The other two could not be
omitted without leaving the work incomplete, but being only subordinate, will
not occupy more than a few preliminary chapters.
I
—
BOOK
I.
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE YEAR
1600,
WIIKN THE FIRST CROWN CHARTER INCORPORATING
AN EAST INDIA COMPANY WAS GRANTED.
CHAPTER
Ancient India
— Tiie
of
India
Invasion
Subsequent
pre-historic
by
period
Sesostris,
— Native
I.
sources
Darius
Serairamis,
intormation
oi
— Other
Hystaspes, Alexander
accounts
the
Great
statu of India.
)N tracing the early history of a country,
tlie
apply to the sources of information which
be able to furnish.
Long
In
this respect India
rich.
to
emerge from barbarism,
it
was in
remarkable for the completeness of
and
been written in
tlie
country
for the
it.
is
itself
to No
may
proper
toryofin-
might be presumed to
before the nations of Western Europe had
be
copiousness,
natural course
begun
possession of a language
its
number and variety
grammatical forms,
of the
fcjr
works which had
Several of these works were of a scientific and
metaphysical character, requiring talent of a higher order than would
have been neces.sary for
historical compilation
;
and
yet, strange to say,
while the more difficult intellectual effoit was successfully made, the less
difficult,
tive,
was
the more useful, and, as one would have imagined, the more attrac-
work on Cashmere
so entirely neglected, that with the exception of a
of no very ancient date, the literature of India has failed to furnish a single
production to which the
of history can in
any proper sense of the term
In dealing with the past, ages are heaped upon ages
be applied.
amount
name
to millions;
of the sun
human, and
and endless
details are given of
and moon, and creatures
bestial forms
—but
men
still
short, the
more monstrous, combining
as they really hved;
had been moulded into some
subser\nent to an extravagant
and in many respects
if
they were unfit
fantastic shape.
mHhology,
skilfully framed, to secure their
own
divine,
and the events pro-
Brahmins, the only depositories of learning, abusing their
made everything
the years
gods and demigods, children
duced by their agency are entirely overlot)ked, or treated as
to be recorded until they
till
trust,
In
have
obviou-sly designed,
aggrandizement.
In the absence of direct information from historical records in India,
proper before abandoning the search there as hopeless, to in<|uire whether
it
it is sources of
may
not be possible to discover other native som'ces from which some amount of
tion.
;
TTTSTORY OF TXDIA.
16
DC.
—
may
authentic information
and
he ohtaincd indirectly hy meariH
In ancient W(jrkH, not jjroperly
timate deduction.
[Book
con.se(|uent degree of civilization at the period
for that special purpose;
the state of wK'iety,
when they were
often exhihited, not lens accurately, and perhaps far
had been composed
cautioiw and legi-
ol"
hiHt^jrical,
more
vividly,
and hence, provided
be fixed with any degree of certainty, much informati<jn of an
may be easily and
safely extracted
and
of aucicnt liymus
prayers,
known by
commentary upon them contained
in
written, are
than
they
if
their date can
nature
hist^jriwil
Of the writings which thas tend
from them.
to elucidate the primitive history of India, the
The vudaa.
I.
the
most valuable are the wjllectioas
name
of Vedas,
and the kind of
a compilation, which the translation of
made familiar to English readers under the title of the
The Vedas, four in number, prove by diversities both of
Sir William Jones has
Institutes of
style
and
Menu.
contents, that they are the productions of different periods,
which a considerable interval mvLst have
are a
little
elapsed.
more than 3000 years older than our
compared with that which
According to the Hindoos, they
era,
was able
tlie
is
short
it is
doubtless an
by a very ingenious and convincing
process,' has
cut off sixteen centuries from the Hindoo date.
antique form by which
but though this age
figures generally in their chronology,
Mr. Colebrooke,
exaggeration.
between
Founding on a calendar of
Vedas regulate the times of devotional
service,
he
to ascertain the exact position of the solstitial points in accordance
with which the calendar was regtdated and assuming, as he well might, that
;
the position was not hypothetical, he had only to compare
at present,
and
calculate
how many
The annual
the difference.
with the position
years must have elapsed in order to produce
precession of the equinoxes
and by counting backwards and deducting
whole amount of difference
it
is
an invariable quantity;
this quantity successively
exhausted, the true date appears.
is
till
the
In this way the
completion of the Vedas has been fixed in the fifteenth centm-y before the Chrisinstitutes
of Menu.
The Institutes of Menu, referring to the Vedas as productions venerable even then for antiquity, must be much more recent.
How much, is the important question and unfortunately a question which does not admit of a very
tian era.
;
definite answer.
The Institutes themselves give no
dates,
and any conclusion
which can be founded on internal evidence is little better than conjecture.
Still,
however, though a large margin must be allowed' as a kind of debatable ground
on which the
sticklers for
warfare, there
is
an earlier and a
later period
may carry on
their
wordy
enough, both in the comparatively pure and primitive form of
the religion inculcated, in the sanction of usages which are
known
to
have
become obsolete some centuries before the Cluistian era, and in the omission of
religious sects and controversies which would certainly have been mentioned if
they had then been in existence, to support the conclusion that the Institutes of
Menu must have appeared not later than the fifth, and probably as early as the
ninth century
B.C.
Either period would carry us back to a remote antiquity
'
Asiatic Researches, vol.
viii.
Chap.
KOCK-CUT TEMPLES.
I.]
IT
for it is
always to be remembered, that the laws and manners which the work
details,
and the coiTesponding
when
exist at the time
ages.
Every page of the
it
state of society
was
wiitten, but
which
it
able evidence that about 3000 years ago India
it
by
must be held
to furnish indubit-
was nearly
as far advanced in
scattered over the country in rural villages, but collected into large
was
gi-eatly
These, under the government of rulers
merely
towns and
extensively engaged in manufactures and trade, and forming a
of independent states.
—
several
civilization as in the present day, containing a dense population, not
cities,
c.
implies, did not begin to
must have preceded
Institutes, therefore,
b
number
whose despotism
modified by customs and laws, raised large revenues by a compli-
cated system of taxation, brought into the field powerful armies, and executed
many stupendous and
magnificent works.
Among
works are the
these
tem])les nock
temples.
of Elephanta, Salsette, Adjunta,
as the rocks out of
far short of that
and EUora, whose testimony,
which they have been hewn,'
tells of
an
as imperishable
age, which,
though
which was at one time extravagantly assigned, must
still
in
the most ancient be not less than 2000 years.
...m
Another testimony to the antiquity of Indian
its
astronomy.
mi
This testnnony,
consequence
n
civilization has
been found in
p
-I
oi the perverse attem})ts of
philosophers of the French revolutionary school to confront
it
aatrouorav.
some
with the Sacred
LvTERioR OK THE Cave OF Elephanta.— Froiii Griiidlays Scenery of India.
Records, for the purpose of bringing
them
into discredit,
a very rigorous examination, and did not come out of
'
As
tlie
celebrated works mentioned in the text
as a collateral evidence of ancient civilization, will
afterwards be referred to, along with other works of
a similar nature, under the head of Indian architecture, it is sufficient to observe here that they belong
to two distinct classes, both hewn out of the solid
rock, but differin- essentially in this respect— that the
one dass consists of pillared and sculptured caverns,
of which only the entrance is visible externally; whi'e
Vol.
I.
it
was justly subjected
unscathed.
The
to
astro-
the other consists of rock temples, properly so called,
because standing visible in the open air, and composed of masses of solid rock, which, fixed ininioveably in their original site, have been hewn down into
the form of temples (see view of the Kylas Tenijile
at EUora, on engraved title of vol.
i.), covered over
with sculptures and inscriptions, and accompanied
w itli numerous
statues, often of fantastic shapes
colossal dimensions.
8
niiuioo
and
:
18
B.C.
—
ov ixdfa.
insToj'.y
nomical
ward
tahles,
to a
[Boc
because fouiidcil on calcidationH wliich haxl been airried
very remote period, were erroneously atwumed to
Exterior of Great Chaitya Cave, Salsette.
and
bi
exliibit the rt
— From Ferguseon's Rock-cut Temples of Indin.
was gravely maintained that the Hindoo
Hindoo
of actual observations,
astronomy
nomer must have been sittmg m his observator\', surrounded by his instrum
and patiently committing the results of his obsei'vations to writing, nearly 1
.
.
it
.
,
Exterior of the Chaitya Cave, Abjtjkta.
years before
Noah
a.«
.
entered the ark.
—From Fergusson's Rock-cut Temples of ludia.
As usual
in cases of similar extravaga
a reactionary feeling was produced, and many, running to the opposite extre
Siiidtobe
ijxsisted
that Indian astronomy had no independent existence, and
was
at be
borroweil.
rude plagiarism from the Chaldeans and the Greeks.
now
More moderate views
entertained on both sides- and those best quahfied to judge, agree in hole
I
Uhap.
that,
INDIAN ASTRONOMY.
I.]
19
while recorded actual observations by the astronomers of India cannot be
carried farther
back than the sixth century
A.D., their science
bc.
had prol)ably made
some progress 200 years before there was any mention of astronomy in Greece.
Interior of the Bisma Kurm, Elloua.— From
One of the most pregnant
facts
Elliott's
Views in
In<lia
on which this conclusion
is
founded,
is
the
remarkable coincidence between the signs of the zodiac in the Indian and Ai-ab
systems
Indian
^<>^^-
—a coincidence which, while
it
proves that they must have had
ii
common
cannot be ex-
origin,
plained without admitting that the
system has the better
Intlian
to
be regarded as the original.
While there
thus abundant
is
show that India must
evidence to
have received
at
title
its first
inhabitants
no distant period after the
I)ersion of
the
human
come one of the
civilization,
tained;
of the
no
race,
first
dis-
and be-
cradles
^
of
distinct dates are ob-
and consequently the history
country cannot be said to be-
gin tiU
we
qiut
its
own
soil,
and
apply for information to the WTiters
of the West,
_eyen
who
when they
for the
6
^^i^:^
Oriental Zodiac.
K,^?-*^^ ^
—Maurice's Historvof Hindostan.'
most pait follow some sort of chronological
indulge in fable, have generally some foundation in
order,
and
fact.
The
Foreign
information.
^ Figa. 1-12 are the signs of the Zodiac, a, The
6, The Moon, r, Mars. (/.Mercury, e, Jupiter.
/.Venus. £/, Saturn. A, Dragon's Head, or ascending
Sun.
node.
is
?',
Dragon's Tail, or descending node. Thecentre
marked with the
the earth, surrounded by the sea,
four carilinal i>oints, E. (w),
W.
(x).
N.
(y), S. (z).
20
n.c. 1500?
HISTORY OF INDIA.
first
Greek writers who throw
the father of
firook
exists;
and
liistory,
,'iiiy
[BrjoK
li^ht on tlio history of India are Herodotiw,
wliose immortal work, written in the fifth century
Ctesias, wlio,
though
lie
may have
been
for
B.c,, still
a short time c^^ntemfK^rary
writers.
Among
with Herodotus, properly belongs to the immefliately succeeding century.
His
other historical work.s, he wrote one expressly on India.
Having been taken
obtaining materials were considerable.
some other way carried
xerxes by his
years preceding
many
but
B.C.
398.
fragments
of
it,
script,
because
the
which,
it
is
court during the seventeen
have been preserved, paiticularly by Diodorus
it
was written
a compilation, and in
more ancient
of
of India,
by
liLs
in the first years of the Christian
but possesses far more value as an autliority than
give
writers,
many
whose -works are
The
lost.
the nature of the
details
earliest accounts
—a gravity, however,
occasionally becomes
considered,
is
an exact tran-
these writers, and especially
are presented with aU the gravity of history
when
date might seem to
its
cases apparently
drawn from the materials furnished by
last,
prisoner, or been in
Unfortunately, his work as a whole has perished,
Siculus in his Bihliotheca, which
era,
opfioitunities for
to the Persian capital, he gained the favour of Artar
a phy.sician, and Uved at
skill as
I.
ludicrous.
An
Expedition
Egjq^tian king,
of Sesostris.
Sesostris,
and who
is
whom
now
Diodorus
calls Sesoosis
and most other writers
belonged to the nineteenth djTiasty, came into the world about 1500
happy omens which
who
generally believed to be identical with Rameses,
To prepare him
foretold his future greatness.
father caused all the male children
bom
B.C.,
for
after
his
it,
in Egj-pt on the same day to be
As they grew up they were
and formed a chosen band, bound to their j'oung
brought to court and educated along with him.
trained in
prince
all
by the
manly
exercises,
and prepared
strongest ties of affection,
com-age and fidelity wherever he might lead.
to follow with unflinching
During
his father's lifetime
he
began his military campaigns, and proceeding first into Arabia and then westward into Libya, subdued both. His ambition having been thus inflamed, he
had no sooner succeeded to the throne than he resolved on the subjugation of the
His first step was to conciliate the affections of his subjects his next to
world.
—
collect
an army adequate to the contemplated
infantry, 24,000 cavalry,
enterprise.
and 27,000 war-chariots.
It consisted of 600,000
The
commands were
chief
who had been brought up with him. The Ethiopians were
who were made to feel his power. Their country was adjacent to
given to the youths
the
first
Egypt, and could be reached by a land
necessity of a fleet
became apparent.
to maritime enterprise,
built the first ships of
400
sail.
He
but on turning to the east the
force,
Hitherto the Egj^^tians had been averse
but everji^hing pelded to the energy of
war which Egj^t
did not allow
it
to
remain
possessed,
idle
;
and
ere long
but setting
out,
the Ai'abian Gulf into the main ocean, which then bore the
raean Sea,
and then coasting along the shores continued
had a
who
fleet of
proceeded down
name
his
Sesostris,
of the Eryth-
voyage as
far as
Chap.
EXPEDITION OF SESOSTRIS.
I.]
India.
lead a
He
returned, but
was only
still
on
to the frontiers of India,
be erected in various
pillars to
and
his victorious career,
with
places,
new
inscri})tion3
and at the same time
lauthncj the courajje or stiifmatizinof
the cowardice of those
who had encountered
him.
narrative,
which Diodorus admits to be only the most probable
of several contradictory accounts circulated in Egypt, can'ies
on the face of
youths
tiiat
who
it.
One
of the most palatable of these
are said to have been born on the
monarch
more than a third of what
children born in Egy])t
and, consequently,
it
was
number
at
of the
When
Sesostris.
the
to
at forty years of age could not be
In other words, the number of male
fii'st.
on the same day with Sesostris must have been 5000,
At the
Founding on
which, besides being
would give Egypt a
a population so enormous as to be
usual rate of increase, this
bordering upon 40,000,000
utterly incredible.
somewhat
—
this discrepancy,
and some other
hypercritical, are stated
objections,
more strongly than
to justify, Dr. Robertson, in the first note to his Historical Disquisi-
tion concerning
Ancient India, labours
expedition of Sesostris to India
that,
same day with
number
adding female children, the whole number of births must
have been 10,000.
seem
the
Assuming that they were subject
sm*viving.
still
ordinary law of mortality, their
facts
some extravagances
and yet even then more than 1700 persons born on the
borders of forty,
population
Narrative of
on his Eastern expedition, he must have been on the
set out
same day were
is
imo?
ocean.
attestinij his victories,
The above
b.c.
but beyond the
he traversed the whole country and reached a
till
he caused
his return,
recommence
to
mighty army eastward, not only
Ganges, and
On
it
21
is
to prove that the
fabulous.
It
whole account of the
ought to be observed, however,
in this instance, Diodorus does not stand alone.
Herodotas,
whom
Dr.
Testimony of
Robertson not very fairly quotes against him, bears strong testimony in his
favour,
and
in fact confirms his statement in all that is essential to
distinctly refers
both to the maritime and the land expeditions of
He
it.
Se.sostris,
and
though he does not expressly use the word India, he says that in the one
Sesostris continued sailing
eastward
till
he came to a sea so shallow
a.s
to
be
no longer navigable, and that in the other he subdued every nation that came
in
his
way, and built
pillars
mentioned by Diodorus.
Haws
may
To
of the very kind and for the very piu'pose
reject a statement thus supported, because
be picked in particular parts of
it, is
some
to strike at the foundation of
luunan testimony, and countenance the captious quibbling process under which
all
ancient history, sacred as well as profane, runs some risk of being converted
into a mji,h.
The
fair conclusion
concerning the Indian expeditions of Sesostris
seems to be that they really took place, but that in the accounts given of them,
both the means which he emj^loyed and the extent of country which he
subdued or traversed are exasrcerated.
Of another Indian
expedition, also mentioned
authority of Ctesias, gi-eater doubt
may
by Diodorus Siculus on the
reasonably be entertained, notwith-
Expedition
amis.
IIISTOKV OV INDIA.
22
B.C. 1300?
[HfiOK
staiuling the minuteness witli vvhicli the 'letails are given.
India was the greatest and
country in the world, and wa.s ruled
riche.st
Kxpoilitinii
of
Suiiiir-
])owerful
iiiMiiJnch
(railed
Stauroljates,
who
and a great number of elephants trained
terror, slie
innumerable hosts of
re.st
till
m equipped as
and
}>y
a
wjldiers,
tfj
made proof
she had
that
insjtire
of her
She accordingly commenced preparations, and canied them
on uj)on so immense a
scale,
that tliough myriads of artificers were employefl,
three years were spent in completing them.
jire-
liad
to war,
determined to give herself no
j)roweas against him.
Great
Tl»e leafier of this
Having learned
expedition wivs the famoas Assyrian queen Seniirarnls
I.
All the country west of the Indus
but in order to cross that mighty
Avas already subject to her power,
river,
an
paratious.
immense number of ships was
sliip -builders
In order to provide them, she Ijrought
necessaiy.
no timber, she was obliged to procure
fiu-nislied
modem
Bactria, the
As
from Phoenicia, Syiia, and Cypms.
Here she
Bokhara.
it
the banks of the ln<las
in the adjacent territory of
and
establislied her building yards,
her ships in such a manner that she could afterwards transport them
fitted out
piece-meal on the backs of camels, and launch
them when they were
required.
In the number of her troops, which Diodorus, quoting Ctesias as his authority,
the fabulous
states at
number
of 3,000,000
500,000 cavalry, and
infantry,
100,000 war-chariots, each provided with a charioteer and carrpng a soldier
armed with a sword 6
more than a match
feet long, she considered herself
Staiu'obates; but she feared his elephants,
and
was a kind of
as this
which she had no means of coping with him, she had
HaAdnof collected 300,000 black
stratao;eni.
feed the countless
workmen employed
as to be readily
man
to guide
mistaken for
it.
it,
By
manner that
had not been
idle.
slaufjhtered
them
to
when a camel was
each,
bore such a resemblance to an elephant
this deAnce she
which they had imagined to be exclusively their own.
part,
recoiu-se to a singular
and
hoped that the Indians
would be ten'or-struck on seeing themselves opposed
on his
force in
in her vast arsenal in Bactria, she caused
skins to be sewe<:l together in such a
placed inside with a
cattle,
for
.to
a species of force
Meanwhile Stanrobates,
Besides a land force scarcely less nmnerous
than that of Semiramis, and headed by a formidable array of elephants, his
fleet,
composed of 4000 vessels constructed out of reeds or bamboos, covered
the river.
fought.
Here the
fii'st
encoimter took place, and a great naval battle was
Victory was long undecided, but at length,
superior naval skill of the Phoenician
the warlike queen.
EiicOTinter
with Staurobates.
and an immense
and
o\\'ing
mainly to the
C\'priot sailors, declared in favour of
Staurobates, with the loss of a large portion of his
carnasfe of his soldiers,
the passage of the river
free.
was obliged
to
fleet,
withdraw and leave
The queen immediately caused a bridge of
boats to be constructed, and crossing with her whole army, hastened fonvard,
with the hope of soon completing the conquest which she had so successfully
begun.
Staurobates, however,
for her approach.
At
first,
had no idea of submission, and stood prepared
in the general
engagement which ensued, the Indians
Chap.
EXPEDITION OF SEMIKAMIS.
I.]
were greatly disconcerted at the appearance of the
kind of panic took place
23
and a
fictitious elephants,
b.c. 520?
but the trick which had imposed upon them was
;
soon discovered, and the real elephants advancing to the charge, carried everything before them.
It
was now the tm-n of Semiramis
to
Most of her
flee.
army perished in the field, or in attempting to regain the right bank of the
She herself, severely wounded durinnj a personal encoimttr with Stauroriver.
bates, made her escape with difiiculty with a mere handful of troops, and retiring
01
''
^
into the interior
with humbled
by the conquest of
pride,
^
dreamed no more of crowning her fame
India.
Notwithstanding the circumstantiality with which the Indian expedition of
Semiramis
detailed, it is impossible to
is
and
colom'ed,
many
in
Semiramis
wounded.
doubt that the whole account
enormous army which she
is
have
said to
collected. Sir
highly
is
parts not less fictitious than her elephants.
xumiur
of
fabulous.
Of the
Walter Raleigh quaintly
and sln-ewdly observes, that no one place on the earth could have nourished so
"had every man and beast but fed on
vast a concourse of living creatm-es,
grass."
Similar exaggeration
'
apparent in other parts of the narrative
is
and
;
grave doubts have even been raised as to the individual existence of Semiramis,
whom some
others to
whom
maintain to have been a creation of Assyrian mythology, and
have been the common name of an Assyrian dynasty.
Diodorus borrowed the account,
records, it is
not improbable that
is
said to have extracted
its ba.sis
India
or west
right
is
Persian empire.
This position
it
figiu-es
of the
as a
when
Thus incorporated,
them
In
all.
it
than that which
is
by
assigned
felt in
satrapies,
and must,
more
if
not
rational
According to him, the Persian
Herodotus.-'
fitted out,
ivrsian
®"'^"^®-
regard to the Indus,
monarch was merely desirous to know where the river had
view caused some ships to be
'"'li'i"
paid nearly a third
this foct it is easy to find a
account of the curiosity which Darius Hystaspes
vScylax,
lying along the
be presumed to have been the wealthiest and most populous,
the most extensive of
tliis
it
the Ass}Tian empire
whole tribute which Darius levied from his twenty
therefore,
from Persian
satrapy or province of the
natm-ally assumed
was overthrown by Cyrus the Great.
from
tale.
next brought under notice, the portion of
bank of the Indus
it
Ctesias,
of fact has been overlaid with the
embellishments which usually adorn a Persian
When
As
its
mouth, and with
and gave the command of
a Greek of Caryanda, who, after sailing
down
tlieni to
the stream to the ocean,
turned west, and spent two years and a half in a tedious voyage along the
That Darius, when he
coast.
of enlarging his dominions
wl:
hich
I
fitted
out the expedition, entertained the thought
by new
conquests,
is
confirmed by the statement
Herodotus adds, that immediately after the voyage was comj)leted, he
maade himself master of the
ever, are so general, that
no
sea
and subdued the Indians.
definite limits can
These terms, how-
be assigned to the new territory
thus subjected to Persian nile.
'
Raleiiih's History of the
World,
p. 125.
=
Herodotus, b. iv.
c.
44.
•
xi>e<iition
24
OF INDIA.
llLSTOIiV
[li^XJK
Hitherto only a succession of ambitioas inonarchs has appeared on the scene,
B.C. 332.
and India has become the prey successively of devastating annies from
Assyria,
was
Plinmiiciaus.
i%
and
in the
been
The
I.
Persia.
An
intercourse of a
meantime carried on hoth
estaljlished,
more peaceful and pleasing
)>y luiid
by which the East and
VN'est
and
sea,
K<ry])i,
descrijjtion
and an active trade
hiul
exchanged their peculiar products
against each other, to the great advantage of both.
Tim
trade
was
chiefly in
the hands of the Phoenicians, who.se cajntal, T^tc, situated on the shores of the
Levant, had in consequence risen to be one of the richest, mightiest, and most
RiiNS OF Tyre.
splendid cities in the world. ^
Tyre.
vices,
and the day of
— From Cassas, Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie,
This unexampled prcsperity had engendered
retribution,
wliicli
Tyre had
its
original site
on the mainland, and
stretched along the Syrian coast, from the
mouth
of
the Leontes to the headland of Eas-el-Ain, a distance
from north tosouth of about seven miles. Immediately
opposite to the centre of the town, and separated from
it by a strait about 1200 yards or two-thirds of a mile
wide, was an island nearly three miles in circuit. It
is more than probable, that while the city on the
mainland was standing, the island also was partly
built upon; but it never became the proper site of
the city, which, in contradistinction to Old, was
called
New
Tyre,
till
the inhabitants, obliged to
flee
before the countless hosts of Assyrian conquerors,
found the necessity of placing the sea between them
and their enemies. They accordingly abandoned
the mainland and took up their abode on the island,
which, under the fostering influence of commerce,
soon rose to be one of the finest and wealthiest cities
Such was the Tyre to which Alexanin the world.
Nearly in the direction of a line
der laid siege.
drawn due north through the
already mentioned.
of the island, are
On
letter E,
was the
strait
the north and south sides
two curves which formed
liar-
many
prophets had been Divinel}' com-
missioned to denounce, was fast approaching.
1
ic.
"\Miile
Alexander the Great was
by a chain of rocky islets and seawalls or breakwaters from the surges of the Medibours, protected
terranean and the various prevailing winds.
The
north harbour, marked A, was the better and more
frequented of the two; but the commerce of Tyre
must have required the use of both, and additional
facilities were given by a canal a a, which established
a navigable communication between them.
Alexander having no ships, must have seen at once that there
was no possible way of taking a city thus situated, except by making a pathway across the strait. On both
shores the water was shallow; and near the centre,
where it was deepest, it did not exceed 6 fathoms.
With the immense force at his command, there could
be no want of labourers, while the materials necessary were within easy reach. The most formidable
obstacle to success was in the means of resistance
which the inhabitants possessed; and had Tyre been
having an Archimedes,
The mound of Alexander, once completed, formed a nucleus to which the
waves of the sea and the winds of the desert made
constant accretions, and hence, in coarse of time, the
as fortunate as Syracuse, in
Alexander must have
failed.
Cfi.vr.
THE SIEGE OF
I.]
making
his first
TYP.E.
'Zo
campaigns against the Persians, the inhabitants of Tyre had
taken part with the
and by
hitter,
B.C. 332.
their maritime superiority, kept the coast of
Macedonia and Greece in pei'petual ahirm.
Alexander, incensed, tm'ned back
from his Persian conquests, and after subduing several of the adjoining
The
riiu.iiic:iiri
cities,
To a mind capable of being repelled by ordinary obstacles,
the task would have been a sufficient dissuasive from attempt-
laid siege to Tyi'e.
difficulty of
tlie
To him it was only an additional incentive, because, if he succeeded,
It also appears from a speech which Arrian
liis fame would be the greater.
puts into his mouth,' that he was actuated as much by policy as by revenge.
ing
it.
While the Tyrians remained independent and maintained a hostile
he
attitude,
ventm-e
not
could
with safety to prosecute the am-
which
schemes
bitious
had
he
begun in the East, and was also
Hope-
contemplating in Egypt.
less,
as
therefore,
seemed for a
it
land
might have
army
to at-
tempt the captiu-e of a great mari-
by art,
stronger by its
time city strongly fortified
and rendered
still
natural position
on an
island,
and
the possession of a powerful fleet
commanding
it,
all
the approaches to
he at once commenced opera-
by constructing a mound,
tions
which, after the greatest difficulties
had been surmounted, connected
the island with the mainland,
B. Southern Harbour.
A. Northern Harbour.
C. Northern (or Sidonian) Roadstead.
and
D. Southern (or Eg.viitian) Roadstead.
E. Isthmus formed by Alexander the Great.
a a. Line of Ancient Canal, connecting the Northern and
Southern Harbours.
formed a highway for the passage
of his troops.
in
The
result
was
that,
about seven months. Tyre lay in
ruins
It
might have risen from them
acrain, for
the lucrative trade which
monopolized would soon have made wealth to flow in upon
means of repairing
I* was
not struck
till
its disaster.
fatal
blow which extinguished
its
greatness
The
site
was
so happily chosen that the
new city soon
features of the locality have undergone a re-
siderable depth of water, but are supposed to have
now
been originally built on the western shore.
Of the present condition of Tyre it is unnecessary
markable change.
What was
once an island
is
Other chan^'es have taken place; and
there is reason to believe that the island had at one
time a larger extent than now appears. In fact, the
encroachment of the sea is established by the appearance of walls, which are now coverea by a con-
a peninsula.
VoL.
and furnished the
Alexander, after a successful campaign in Egypt, laid the
foundation of Alexandi'ia.
pliy.-,ical
The
it,
it Fail of Tyre,
T.
to say
more than that it is little better than a fishing
composed of wretched hovels huddled together
village,
in narrow, crooked,
'
and
filthy streets.
Arrian's Anabasis Alcxandri, b.
ii. c.
17.
-<>
B.C.
s.'ii
JIISTOJtY
became the
central
was thus diverted
not be revived.
was
indirectly
because to
now
it
emporium
into a
of
OF INDIA,
tlie Eixnt
new channel, and
and
tlie
[liwK
tra/le
of the world
Plujenician i^rosjierity, once fallen,
amid
The downfall of Tyre has been dwelt upon here, both because it
the means of greatly extending the intercourse with India, and
proljaldy
be ascribed the determination which Alexander
to
is
While he was engaged
expressed to persevere in his E<istem conquests.
the siege of Tyre, Darius, humbled
by
told
him that
a decision by the sword.
spumed
his only alternative
is
all
in
the offer
ideas of compromi.se,
was imqualified submission, or
The war thus resumed,
within the limits of Persia,
made him
his previous defeats,
of a most advantageous peace, but he haughtily
and plainly
The
West.
I.
so long as
it
was
c<^>nfined
foreign to our subject, but the course which
subsequently took brings us at once to the most interesting period
it
in tlie
history of ancient India.
Flight of
After the battle of Arbela, which was fought
Darius.
.
.
.
.
.
B.C.
331,
.
and decided the
fate
.
of the Persian empire, Darias continued his flight eastwards into Bactria, through
by the name
a pass in the Elbm-z Mountains, kno^vn to the Greeks
Alexander, following in pursuit, was informed that Bessas, the
pian Gates.
satrap of Bactria, had not only thro\vn off
all
allegiance to the Persian monarch,
With mingled
but had made him his prisoner.
feelings of compassion for the
monarch, and indignation at the conduct of the satrap, he quickened hLs
fallen
and was
pace,
of the Cas-
flattering himself
with the hope of a speedy capture, when he
learned that Bessus, to increase his speed, and, at the same time, remove a great
obstacle to his ambition,
him on the
road,
L^m
°
spot,
Darius was breathing his
Determined to punish the
pm-sviit of
his royal ma.ster,
dying of woimds which he had treacherously
Alexander reached the
A]exander's
had disencumbered himself of
atrocity,
Alexander
A thorough
the perpetrator.
lost
his steps.
his escape,
no time in continuing the
him and
when Alexander was
Dm-ing the winter of
B.C.
AMien
inflicted.
knowledge of the coimtry gave
devastating, so as to interpose a desert between
left
last.
great advantages, and these he improved to the utmost,
seemed to favour
and
obliged,
by burning and
his piu^uer.
by a
Be-ssus
Fortime
revolt, to retrace
330, Bessus was, in consequence, left in
King of Persia. In the folloA\dng
spring, however, the pvirsuit was resumed, and the criminal having been
delivered up by his own associates, paid the forfeit of his crimes by a barbarous
imdistiirbed possession of the usurped title of
mutilation and an excruciating death.
In
seen a
aveno-ino- the
death of Darius, Alexander had advanced far to the
new world open
before him.
east,
and
For a time, however, sensuality seemed
to
have gained the mastery over him, and many months were wasted in Bactria in
Ambition did not re-assume its ascendency
ch-unken and licentious reveUings.
when he reached the banks of
with an army consistmg of 1 20,000 foot and
till B.C.
were
327,
Asiatics.
The point
at
which he
first
the Indus, and prepared to cross
it
About 70,000 of these
reached the Indus has been made a
15,000 horse.
Chap.
EXPEDITION OF ALEXANDER.
I.J
question
but
;
it is
admitted on
all hanels
now
Punjab, where the towTi of Attock
that he crossed
stands.
army
west monsoon had set
and the
in,
the passage been opposed,
whose
chief
^
territories lay
and
mission,
Uke
itself,
it
river
was
an enemy, proved a valuable
Ijetween the Indus and
hospitality, Taxiles received
its
Alexander
rains.
city,
crosses the
ludus.
Had
but Taxiles, the
;
in his sub-
In Taxila,
auxiliary.
unequalled by any situated,
nearest tributary, the Hydaspes or Jailum,
In return for this
an arbitrary grant of as much adjoining territory
he chose to ask.
If
Alexander expected that
moiis as Taxiles, he
bounded
tones
demand for
army on the
all
the Indian princes would prove as pusillani-
was soon undeceived.
those
of
Porus, a native
with
tribute
defiance,
bank of
left
it
he
materials,
Indus
the
to
be
more serious obstacle
taken
still
Hv.hili)es.
met a
his
On reaching
an undisputed
gi-eat
number
of
not furnishing the necessary
Alrxanuer the Great.'
the
caused
even
without a
The neighbom'hood
terri-
Passage
running broad, deep, and
that
passage could not be effected
boats.
whose
and lay with
the Hydaspes.
and inmiediately saw
rapid,
rulei',
Taxiles on the east,
_^_
the river, Alexander found
on
by the
could scarcely have been forced
Alexander and his army were hospitably entertained.
as
sent forward with
Alexander arrived, the south-
gi-eatly swollen
a populous and wealthy
3i
Here a bridge of boats had
on the eastern bank, had hastened to give
thus, instead of
his capital, described as
When
for that purpose.
^c
in the north of the
it
who had been
been constructed by Hephsestion and Perdiccas,
a division of the
27
to
and
pieces,
remained.
boats which he had used
transported
Porus kept
strict
overland.
The
watch on the bank.
His army appears to have been greatly outnumbered by that of Alexander,
for the
main body
consisted of only 30,000 infantry, with an inconsiderable
body of cavalry, 200 elephants, and 300 chariots; but placed as he was,
numl)ers counted as nothing against him, since he could easily, with a mere
handful of troops, overmatch any numl)er,
passage were
made
openly.
ceive this at a single glance,
to trust less to
open
force
provided the attempt to force a
Alexander was too
skilful
a tactician not to per-
and had, accordingly, from the very fii-st, determined
By
than to stratagem.
a series of movements and
comiter-movements, he distracted the attention of the enemy, and kept him in a
state of uncertainty as to the point
be made.
false
where the attempt at crossing was
likely to
Next, by selecting a number of stations along the bank, and making
alarms during the night, he obliged the troops of Porus to be always in
motion,
till
natm-e
itself
was completely exhausted by want of repose.
ordering provisions to be brought in from
all
that he
had abandoned the idea of crossing
sided.
Under
Silver tetradrachma of Lysimacbus.
by
quarters, he encouraged the belief
until the swollen waters
this impression, the vigilance of
'
Lastly,
Porus relaxed.
— From Briti.sh Museum.
had sub-
Meanwhile,
in
Aiex.uuier-s
IILSTOKY OF INDIA.
28
B.C. 327.
the course of reconnoitring, Alexander luul di.scovered a
was greatly contracted by an
Alexander's
[Book
the stream, and, to
nj>
nonc of his troops were allowed to be seen near
lull suspicion,
stationed considerably below, with the main
ing that there
der, selecting
where the cliannel
Hj)ot
was a good way
It
island.
tlie
greatest danger lay,
Craterus was
it
body of the army; and
was encamped
I.
oj»i)Osite
Poru.s,
think-
Alexan-
to him.
a body of chosen troops, amounting U) about 6000 men, quitted the
banks of the river and marched back into the
away by some sudden emergency.
When
interior, as if
he ha/1 been called
out of sight he bent gradually round,
and in the course of the night arrived on the bank opposite the island. The
boats of the Indus were hastily launched, and he was steering his way among
the foremost to tlie opposite bank, when the enemy's sentinels discovered him
and gave the alarm.
Porus
first
sent forward one of his sons with a small body,
but these being speedily routed, he himself, leaving only a few troops to watch
the motions of Craterus, hastened to the encounter.
was too
Alexan-
late.
der,
with a large portion of his detachment, had effected a landing, and stood on
the
bank among marshes,
into which the elephants, to
He
trusted, could not venture.
therefore
field in
which the
soldiers of
As
all its
q^q]^ q^
and
is
the
first battle-
arrangements, and will justify a fuller
than might have been necessary under different circumstances.
Porus stationed his elephants in
Battle of the
this
solid
Europe were arrayed against those of India, a
deep interest naturally attaches to
detail
which Porus mainly
withdrew to the nearest spot of
ground, and calmly waited Alexander's approach.
Hydaspes.
It
them.
in such a
cavalry,
The infantry were placed
way
and of the
as to
fill
with an interval of 100
front,
up the
feet
between
in a second line behind the elephants,
intervals.
The two
"wings consisted of
beyond them.
chariots ranged on either side
Alexander
commenced the battle by attacking the enemy's left wing with his cavalry and
mounted archers.
He had anticipated that this attack would compel the
enemy's right wing to move forward in support of its left, and had ordered that,
in that case, a detachment of his cavalry under Ccenus should move round to the
rear, and thus place the enemy's cavalry, as it were, between two fir&s.
The
result was as he had foreseen and the enemy's cavalry was obliged, in order to
meet the double attack, to face about and form two fi-onts. Taking advantage
of the partial confusion thus produced, Alexander brought up his phalanx to the
charge, and the enemy's wing.s, totally imable to sustain it, sought .shelter by
;
rushing into the intervals between the elephants.
By
these powerful animals
the fortune of the day seemed for a short time to be retrieved, as they pressed
forward and trampled
down everything
was only momentary.
their ranks,
The advantage, however,
The Macedonians, imder thorough
and then, as the elephants
down
that opposed.
passed, attacked
discipline,
opened
them on flank and
rear,
wounds which, without being mortal,
so galled them that they became utterly unmanageable.
Thus hunied back
among the Indian ranks, they produced irremediable confusion. At this critical
shooting
their guides,
and
inflicting
Chap.
I
EXPEDITION OF ALEXANDEE.
I.]
moment
who had
Crateras,
made
exhausted by
succeeded in crossing the river,
His troops were perfectly fresh, while the Indians,
and thinned
in spirit,
29
had
in numbers,
slaughter ensued, and Porus
saw
power of
lost all
his troops falling
by
his appearance,
fatigue,
A
resistance.
He
thousands.
b.c.
.!27.
broken
ch'eadful
still,
how-
roms
defeated.
kept the
ever,
During the whole day he
field.
mingled in the thickest of
hatl
the fight, and performed prodigies of valour.
His
which was almost
stature,
and the elephant on which he was mounted, made him a
gigantic,
object for the
Macedonian archers
and he must have
;
worn a coat of mail which no arrow coidd
only part exposed, and in
spot, for
he was
and 9000 taken
right shoulder
was the
His determination
About 12,000 of
fuo^itives.
The Macedonian
prisoners.
had he not
almost alone before his atten-
left
dants could induce him to minfjle with the
troops were slain,
The
pierce.
he was severely wounded.
it
seemed to be to perish on the
fallen early
consi)icuous
loss
was
his
trifling,
amoimting, at the utmost, according to Diodorus, to 700 infantry and 230 cavalry.
According to AiTian, the
loss of infantry
was only
eighty.
Alexander, struck with admiration of the valour which Porus had
was anxious
him
to save his
The
to surrender.
life,
and sent Taxiles
choice
was unfortunate,
long been at deadly feud; and Porus,
sight
of.
enemy,
his old
whom
after
when
him
dis]:)layed, S'»rrender
of Poms.
.
to endeavoiu* to induce
for the
two native
chiefs
had
overtaken, was so exasperated at the
he probably also regarded as a main cause of the
great disaster which
had just befallen him, that he aimed a blow which Taxiles
narrowly escaped.
A
second summons, by a more influential messenger, suc-
and Porus, finding escape impossible, yielded himself a
ceeded,
prisoner.
In the midst of his misfortunes, Porus displayed a manliness and dignity
which proved him worthy of a better
and seen three of
his sons fall in battle, b\it
of a suppliant, and,
how he wished
when
In one day he had
do for
lost his kingilom,
he disdained to assmne the attitude
Alexander, riding up at the head of his
"
to be treated, simply answered,
" I shall
Alexander,
ftite.
my own
sake, but
Royally."
what am
I to
do
officers,
a«ked
" That," rejoined
for youre?"
"
Do
was the reply. Soimd policy combined with Alexander's
natural magnanimity in making him desirous to secure the friendship of such a
just as I
have
He
man.
said,"
accordingly heaped favoiu's upon him, not only restoring his former
but enlarging them by
ungi-ateful,
and continued
I
territories,
i
many new
faithful to his
annexations.
Porus was not
Macedonian masters.
In commemoration of his victory, Alexander erected a city on the spot, and
Another city, which he erected on the site of
name of Nicrea.
his encampment on the right bank of the Hydaspes, he called Bucephala, in
honom* of his horse Bucephalus, which, after can-\dng him through all his cam-
gave
it
aigns,
ce
the
had recently died of old age or
been
identified.
in battle.
Neither of these
cities
has
After reposing for a time in the dominions of Porus, he
gain set out, and proceeded north-east into the territory of the Glaus?e, which
represented as densely peopled and covered with
cities,
many
of
them with
Alexander •>
'""°^'^"
I
30
BC.
327.
inSTOKV OF IM)IA.
•
more than lO.OOO
The
iiiliahitHiits,
the chiefs hastened to
make
fitted for the purpose,
and employed
in
Meanwhile
that, before quit-
for
on finding
down
cut
h>e
t^>
ambition urged him forward, and he arrived
banks of the Acesines or Chenaub.
at the
would weem
he caased innneiLse quantities to
his
1.
preceded him, and
building vessels, with which he proposed, at a later period,
descend the Indus.
Pa^aKoof
Jt
\iiu\
had been turned homewards;
ting the Hydaspes, his tliouglits
timber well
name
terror of his
their Hubmission.
[li'joK.
Thougli
much
l^roa/ler
impetuous than the Hydaspes, there was no enemy to dispute the
and more
pas.sage,
and
was crossed with comparative ea.se. It seems, however, that though no enemy
appeared, the country was in possession of one whose name, somewhat strange
it
to sa}^
was
He was
also Poras.
not only not related to the Poras of
whom
the
above account has been given, but was at open enmity with him, and, probably
under the influence of this enmity, had, prcAdously to the battle of the Hydaspes,
It appears, however, that the favour into
sent in his submission to Alexander.
which the other Porus had been received had offended or alarmed him
liim as a friend or oppose
cariying almost
all
him
as
fit
him
;
for
arms along with him.
Alex-
and in the course of the pursuit
arrived at another of the Punjab rivers, called the Hydraotes or Ravee.
it,
to
an enemy, he suddenly disappeared,
the youth of the country
ander, offended, endeavoured to overtake
crossing
and
on the news of Alexander's approach, instead of waiting either
therefore,
welcome
;
Before
he bestowed the tenitories of the fugitive Porus on his more deserving
The
namesake.
passage, which, according to Rennel,' took place near Lahore, he
appears to have effected without difficulty; but in the country beyond, he found a
formidable combination formed to resist him.
Three native
states,
of which that
was the most powerful, had united their forces agamst the invader.
In the campaign which followed, Alexander was di'awn far to the south, where a
strong city, which bore the name of Sangala or Sagala was situated, somewhere
of the Malli
Both from the description and the name of the
between Lahore and Mooltan.
inhabitants,
open
field
selves
it is
conjectured to have been nearer the
soon proved hopeless; and the confederates, as a last refuge, shut them-
up in Sangala, which occupied a commanding
as strono- as Indian art coiild
carried
it
resistance
Resistance in the
latter.
make
and was
position,
Alexander commenced the
it.
othei'wise
siecre,
and
much \ngour that the place soon feU into his hands. The
had exasperated him and forgetting the magnanimity which he had
on with
so
;
displayed in the case of Porus, he disgraced himself
by a
horrible massacre, in
which neither age nor sex was spared.
Anivai
'
sis.
at
From
tlus atrocity
Alexander tm-ned to make new conquests, and reached
Here he was met by an
the banks of the H3q)hasis or Beas.
His Em'opean
midable than any he had yet encountered.
long service, had become impatient
;
and,
when he
:'t
Eeune], Memoir of a
Map
troops,
more
for-
worn out with
formally intimated his inten-
tion to cross the river, broke out into loud murmurs.
'
obstacle
of Hindoostan.
In vain he harangued
I
EXPEDITION OF ALEXANDER.
Chap. L]
them, and pointed to the country beyond, where
new
victories
and
rich spoils
b.c. 327.
Their hearts were set on home, and they plainly declared their
awaited them.
Even
determination not to proceed.
Coenus, one of the generals
highest in his favom-, espoused the cause of the soldiers,
which,
31
if less rhetorical
own
if his
and delivered a speech
For a time Alexander was immoveable, and
countrjonen should abandon him, he would place
himself at the head of his Asiatic subjects.
and on finding that
stood
than that of his master, made a deeper impression, and
was received with acclamations.
declared that, even
who
his Greeks
This, however,
was mere bravado
were not to be worked upon, either by threats
or promises, he announced his intention to return.
Late in the autumn of
and found the
fleet
B.C.
327, he
had retraced
his steps to the Hydaspes, Alexanders
which he had ordered to be constructed, in readiness to carry
The voyage itself was not free from danger but the
greatest risk which Alexander ran, was during one of the frequent descents which
he made on land for the pm-pose of subjugating the adjoining territories. While
him down the
stream.
;
storming: one of the cities of the Malli, he found himself almost alone
He
on the
by a retrograde movement, but
di.sdaining to have it said that he had tiu-ned his back, he leaped inside, and
was for a time exposed to the whole fury of the defenders. Having gained a
tree and placed his back against it, he made almost superhuman exertions, and
kept his opponents at bay till an arrow pierced deep into his shoulder, and he
Another moment and his death was inevitable but the
fell down in a swoon.
rampart.
could easily have saved himself
;
time gained by his defence had been gallantly redeemed by his troops, and several of his officers
tirst
deemed
rushing
in,
placed their shields around him.
mortal, spread grief
and consternation among
The wound,
his followers;
but the
vigour of his constitution and the skill of his physicians prevailed, and he
make his appearance amid general rejoicings.
In proceeding down the river, Alexander formed his army
at
was
able ere long to
into three divi-
two of which marched along the opposite bank, while the third, under his
o^vn command, kept the stream.
He afterwards despatched Craterus with a
sions,
thii'd
of the
army by an inland
route across Arachosia and
Drangiana
Carmania or Kerman, and proceeded with the remainder down the Indus.
modern
arrival at Pattala, evidently the
delta,
he remained for some time
;
Tatta, situated near the
and, on departing, sent a
explore the adjoining coimtry, and afterwards join
rendezvous.
He
him
to serious danorer.
ing the estuary.
ranean,
what was
On
apex of the
body of troops
to
at a fixed place of
selected the west branch of the river for the remainder of his
voyage, during which his
I
him
to
want of
pilots
and ignorance of navigation exposed
This was not diminished but rather increased on reach-
Acciuainted only with
his astoni.shment
tlie
insignificant tides of the Meditei*-
and that of
his
magnificent tide of the Indian Ocean rushing
Greeks when they beheld the
in,
and, in consequence of the
sudden contraction of the opposite shores, moving rapidly along in one volume
Descent
*****
of
'"'*™'
32
DC.
:i2o.
IIISTOIJV OP' INF^TA.
of water several feet
lii^^li!
'J'lii.s
by the name of the
niai'iuers
to portend the destruction of the
damage was sustained
the necessary precautions could
The
sea had
These he
dangers.
the
fleet,
ever
more
seemed
it
considerable
taken.
he luul seen of the
become better acquainted with
desire to
its
Nearchas to encounter, by giving him the command of
left
with injunctions to skirt and explore the shore from the Indas west-
He
ward.
him no
j)roljably left
fact,
)je
little
well
because
ten'or,
In point of
Heet.
Here Alexanders maritime adventures ended.
Voyage of
"^"^
Ijefore
whole
wonder but
I.
known to
Indas with many othei-
and common to the
bore,
now
|jlienoinenori,
.sin;;ular
similarly situated, produced not only
rivei"s
[Br>oK
himself with the main body of the army, took leave of India for
by an inland
though he was not aware of the
route, which,
periloas of the two, as
it
led through the heart of a
sandy
fact,
was the
desert,
which
almost without inteiruption, from the eastern edge of the basin of the
stretches,
Indas across the south of the Asiatic and the north of the African continent to
the Atlantic Ocean.
The Indian expedition of Alexander cannot be
K.Tecuof
expedition.
on moral grounds.
justified
was dictated by a wild and ung jvernable ambition and spread misery and
death among thousands and tens of thousands who had done nothing to offend
It
;
him, and were peacefully pursuing their different branches of industry,
he made his appearance among them like a destropng demon.
once deemed the only avenues to fame, are
now judged more
Such
wisely.
when
exploits,
Still it Ls
impossible to deny that conquerors were often in early times pioneers of ciWlization,
commerce following peacefully along
sating for their devastation
by the
and compendiffused.
Such was
their bloody track,
which
blessings
it
and
certainly the result of the Indian expedition of Alexander;
while reprobating the motives in which
that
it
was
so overrviled
and valuable
by Pro\ddence
it
originated,
rejoice
results.
nominal Macedonian empire, which
Nicator.
we cannot but
as to be productive of mo.st impoi-tant
The conquests of Alexander were never
Selenois
therefore,
to pieces
on
his death,
and was
parti-
was given to Seleucixs Nicator,
who established himself in Babylon, and became the foiinder of the d}Tiasty of
tlie SeleucidsB, which lasted for two centmies and a half
In the early part of
his reign, the stiiiggles which he had to maintain with powerful competitoi-s
tioned
by
his officers.
The most
fell
and foimed only a
consolidated,
eastern portion
completely engi-ossed his attention
he
felt
but when, by the overthrow of Antigonas,
firmly seated on the throne, he appeai-s to have become animated with
an ambition
East,
;
to imitate the exploits of Alexander,
and caiTv
India, indeed, he natvu'aUy regarded as fonning
]-)art
his
of
arms
Ms
far to the
tenitory, and,
on hearing that the natives had risen in insmTection, killed Alexander's
and thro^vn
off*
the Macedonian yoke, he resolved to treat them as rebels.
Accordingly, after ha\'ing
and entered the
prefects,
made himself master
territories of
of Bactria, he crossed the Indus,
which Taxiles and Ponis were
still ridel's.
Neither
Chap.
of
SANDRACOTTUS AND SELEUCUS.
I.]
them
and he continued
disptited his authority,
country of the
Prasii,
over
whom
who
Chandragupta,
his progress
till
he reached the
This usurper, whose identity with
tigures in the traditions
and
also in a
drama of the Hindoos,
has been established, was of low origin, and, according to Justin,' the chief
classical
authority for
first
that
known
is
of him,
owed
his rise to a pretended zeal
His countrymen, believing him, placed power
for liberty.
the
all
use he
made
of
was
it
B.C. aos?
Sandracottus had usurped the sovereignty,
he had murdered their lawful king.
after
»JO
ti
in his hands,
Siimiracot-
c'lmiuira^"''*"*
and
to enslave them.
Unprincipled though Sandracottus had proved himself to be by the
mode
in
which he attained the throne, he soon showed by his talents that he was not
by force, fear, or persuasion, had extended his
dominions on every side, till he was able to bring into the field an army estimated
Such was the enemy with whom Seleucus was
by hundreds of thousands.
about to come into collision. We cannot wonder that the prospect made him
imworthy of
and
pause,
reigning, and,
that,
more
especially
on learning how much
his pre.sence
was required
s^n'iracottii3
in the
West, where
accommodation.
new wars were
was glad
Sandracottus, aware of his advantage,
that Seleucus obtained
all
raging, he
was 500
to propo.se terms of
made
elephants, in return for
the most of
it
;
and
Seieucus.
and
which he ceded
all
As a means of cementinfj the
The capital of the kingtreaty, Sandracottus married the daughter of Seleucus.
dom of the Px-asii, called by classical writers Palibothra, and by the Hindoos
Pataliputra, and believed to have stood on or near the site of the modern Patna,
formed a quadrangle of vast extent, inclosed by wooden walls loop-holed for
Indian territories on both sides of the Indus.
his
arrows.^
The
alliance
Meacasthenes,
a
between Seleucus and Sandracottus was not disturbed; and
who
Palibothra as ambassador from the former, wrote
loner lived at
work which, notwithstanding
its
excessive leaning to the marvellous,
great source from which ancient classical writers derived most of
knew concerning
the interior of India.
to the reign of Seleucus
light has
The period
been thrown upon
it
by the discovery
what they
of Indian history subsequent
very imperfectly known.
is
was the
Recently an unexpected
of large quantities of coins,
which show that the western portion of the country continued subject to the
Greek kings, who had the seat of their government
progress, also, has
iascriptions
seemed as
Lpuzzle posterity.
if
they had been designed not so
The key having
at length been found,
mation has already been obtained, and more
amount
lere
is,
lost
'
is
too scanty to justify
may
any attempt at
that after several of the Seleucid.B,
Justiu, IliMoriie I'lulippica; b. xv.
I.
c.
-1.
like the
much
Egyptian
to inform as to
some valuable
infor-
be expected; but as yet
detail.
All that need be said
among whom Antiochus
conspicuous, and several Kings of Bactria. which
Vol.
Con.siderable
been made in deciphering and interpreting certain monumental
which are written in an imknown alphabet, and,
liierogly|-)hics,
the
in Bactria
fii-st
the Great
is
became independent
'•'
Strabo,
.\v. 1,
5
35.
Cioek Kiiig«
34
U.C.
20.
OF INDIA.
nT.ST()l;\'
under
Tlieo(l<>tus
about
B.C.
had
200,
fB'^OK
sovereignty to a greater or
li(;ld
les.s
I.
extent
in India, a horde of Scythiaii.s, driven }>y the Hun.s from the 8hore.s of the JaxHuns ami
made
aites,
their aj>])earance ab^ut a century l>efore the Chri.stian era,
and
Hcythians.
Here they fonned what
gained a firm footing in the lower basin of the Indas.
has been called the Indo-Scythic province of Scinde, and were endeavouring,
against a bold and often successful oj^position from the natives, to force their
way
into the fertile ba.sin of the
when another horde
Ganges,
-"f^^i^W N',^,
'//
rived from Persia about
^nmJM
B.C.
ar-
26
under the leadership of Yu-chi,
who gained
them a temporary ascendency, and became
for
the founder of an Indo-Scythian
About the same time
dynasty.
Silver Coin or Eucratides.'
—From a specimen in British Hoseum.
a native prince called Vicramaditya,
Vicraina-
who
is
one of the greatest
heroes in Hindoo story, established an extensive sovereignty, which had the
ditya.
Nerbudda
for its southern
remarkable not only for
whom
boundary; and at Oojein, his
its
also, several
held a court,
number of learned men
the sovereign had drawn around him.
In
splendour, but for the
the enlightened liberality of
Southern India,
capital,
native sovereignties appear to have been estab-
Among
lished as early as the Christian era.
these the mo.st conspicuoas are
Pandya, which occupied a large tract in the south-west of the peninsula, and
one of whose kings, called Pandion,
to the
Roman emperor
is
said
by Strabo
to
have sent an ambas.sador
Augustus; and Chola, which, including the Camatic,
extended over a large portion of the south-east of the peninsula, and reached
They
north to the banks of the Godavery.
empty names,
as they do not furnish during their long duration
well authenticated as to entitle
Roman
in-
tercourse
with India.
are now, however, little better than
them
any
facts so
to a place in history.
somewhat remarkable that the Romans, though they boasted of being
the rulers of the world, never possessed an inch of ten*itoiy in India. On several
occasions during their wars in the East, they came into collision with sovereigns
It
is
whose dominions reached beyond the Indus, but the
invariably stopped, as
celebrated stream.
if it
It
had met an insuperable
was not ignorance
barrier, before it
On
^-ictoiy
reached that
Romans
the contrary, several of
most popular wTiters had made them well acquainted with the geography
and the leading physical features of
were exhibited for
enormous
'
Roman
or indifference that led the
thus to contract the limits of their eastern frontier.
their
tide of
prices.
Eucratides,
sale
The}'^
in their marts,
181)
was
Parthia,
many
of
its
peculiar products
and found eager pm-chasers, often
must often have longed
King of Bactria (about B.C.
I., King of
contemporary with Mitbridates
India, while
at
to be masters of a countr}-
and appears to Lave been one of the most powerful
of the Bactrian kings.
Chap.
ROUTES OF INDIAN COMMERCE.
l.J
3.">
which ministered so greatly to their luxury and comfort; and however much they
may have wished
had they believed that there was anything beyond to tempt
farther,
bition, it is sufficiently
obvious that India never
-
have carried their conquests
to be thought that they could
it
b.c.
felt
their
am-
the terror of their power,
merely because inhospitable deserts and warlike nations interposed to place
it
lieyond their reach.
While
impossible to give the
it is
from any attempt to conquer India,
illustration of the
carries
important
fact,
Romans
it
credit for moderation in refraining
pleasing to find in their conduct an
is
that the peaceful intercourse which commerce
on between distant nations, besides escaping
in
carries
train,
its
secures
and more than
all
all
war
the horrors which
all
the advantages
which
could have been hoped from the most absolute and least expensive form of con-
In
quest.
Rome and
all
dependencies, the rich products of the soil and the
its
looms of India arrived as surely, as abundantly, and as cheaply as they could
have done had the whole country from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin been
one vast
Roman
province.
Before leaving ancient India,
will not be out of ])lace to take a survey of Leading
it
_
by which,
the leading routes
routes of
_
at this early period, the traffic between the East
Overland the only practicable method of
and West was conducted.
by means of caravans, which,
ceeded directly to Bactria.
Indian com-
traffic w.is
after (quitting the western confines of India, pro-
made at Balkh, on
emporium was established. From Bactria
Here the
southern frontiers, and a great
first
great halt was
the
the
usual line of route
was toward Babylon, which,
great emporium.
In pursuing this line the shores of the Caspian were nearly
in like manner,
approached, and advantage was often taken of
carried north to a convenient spot,
it
to ship goods,
and then conveyed by land
by wiiich not only the countries adjacent
became another
which were
to the Black Sea,
to the coasts could be supplied,
but an
easy access could be had through the Dardanelles to the ports of the Mediter-
From Babylon
ranean.
the route westward led directly to Palmp-a, which, in imand
consequence of the mart thus
establislied,
situation in the heart of a desert,
much
difficidty,
and
ters of the globe,
!• against
its
and became the
all
the di.sadvantages of
capital of
called its
its
a powerful and
the coast of the Levant was reached without
harbours became places of exchange for the three quar-
bartering the spices of India and the frankincense of Ai-abia
the peculiar products both of Europe and Africa.
overland route
tbe
which
From PalmjTa
kingdom.
oi)ulent
overcame
now
traced, there
main trunk.
were many
Besides the direct
lines of divergence
from what
may
These were chiefly intended to supj^ly the places
lay at a distance on either side of
it,
and thus furnished the means of
transport for a very extensive inland trade.
The overland
impracticable,
less
was
route, which,
but for the camel, would have been altogether
necessarily slow, toilsome,
and expensive, and was therefore
extensively used than the maritime route, especially after a knowled<Te of
IIIsroKV OF INDIA.
36
B.C.
—
I
[Ii<^OK
the monsoons in the Indian Ocean liad emboldened navigaU^rs, even before the
compass was discovered, to humch
<.»ut int<j
way
the deep and steer their course directl}'
was accomplished
by the south-west, and the homeward by the north-east monswjn the fonner,
across from shore to shore.
In
tliis
the outward voyage
—
Maritime
consequently, in the summer, and the latter in
routes.
mode
a vast improvement on the earlier
discovered the trade
by
This was
winter months.
of navigation, but even }>efore
of Tyre princes, and a
it,
was
it
Mention ha« already
sea obtained great importance.
been made of the Phoenicians, who, by means of
made the merchants
tlie
acquired an opulence which
power which
it
took
prowess, and perseverance of Alexander the Great to overthrow.
the
skill,
As they
could
all
not communicate directly with India, and were unwilling to depend for transport
on the Egyptian.s, who might at any time, by declining to perform their
it,
yjart
of
have extinguished the trade, they, by force or negotiation, made themselves
masters of some convenient harbours on the Arabian coast, near the entrance
Red Sea,
TjTe by a land
of the
distance
was
for the trade
them
and, using
which they had
route, of
still
as entrepots, formed a communication with
so great as to be very inconvenient;
were obtained when
colura, the nearest port in the
tlie
The
.secured the entire cfjntrol.
and
Phoenicians took
lience
new
pos.se.ssion
Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
facilities
of Rhino-
It is true that
before the goods could reach Tyre a double re-shipment thus became nece.sRouteused
sary
;
but the diminished land carriage more than compensated for this
dis-
hy the
pucenicians.
advantage, and enabled tliem, by the abundance and cheapness with which
they could supply other nations, to establish almost a complete monopoly of
the Indian trade.
On
the destruction of Tyre and the foundation of Alexandria, the trade with
India entered a
new channel,
Route by
Alexandria.
to
see
which
it
continued afterwards to flow for nearly
Alexander had the merit of selecting
eighteen centuries.
too soon
in
its
advantages
realized.
in the erection of
played, that
it
which
so
capital,
much
and provided
officer,
its
on becoming master of
harbour with a light-house,
magnificence and engineering skill were dis-
ranked as one of the seven wonders of the world.
were followed out by his son and
endeavouring, but without
succes.s,
successor,
to
form a canal
acro.ss
made
difficulties,
was
ea.sily
after
to Alexandria,
From
this
which great exertions were
to surmount, brought the products of India to Coptos.
distance to Alexandria
^'ievvs
the istlimus of Suez,
founded the new city of Berenice on the west coast of the Red Sea.
unattended with
His
Ptolemy Philadelphus, who,
which would have given a continuous water communication
city a land carriage, not
but died
So thoroughly, however, had he
imparted his ideas to Ptolemy Lagu.s, that that
Egypt, made Alexandria his
this channel,
Tlie
remaining
completed by a short canal and the Nile.
Through the channel thus opened, the wealth of India continued to flow into
Egypt so long as it remained an independent kingdom. Outward vessels
leaving Berenice with such articles of European and African export as were in
Chap.
ROUTES OF INDIAN COMMERCE.
I.]
demand
in the East, skirted the
Arabian and Persian
37
taking advantage
coasts,
B.C.
—
of sucli prominent head-lands as enabled tliem to steer direct without following
the windings of the shore, and thus reached the Indian coast near the mouths
How
of the Indus.
was no
there
they afterwards proceeded south
far
obstacle in the way,
country lay in that direction,
is
not known; but as
and some of the most prized products of the
it is
presumed
to be
that, instead of confining
themselves to a few isolated spots, they formed a general acquaintance with the
To
whole sea-bord.
secure the
kings maintained a large
command
fleet at sea,
of
Egyptian
lucrative trade, the
tliis
which, while
kept
it
down
piracy, deterred
The nation which
other nations from entering into competition with them.
could have done so with most effect was Persia, which possessed the obvious and
From
very im})ortant advantage of a far shorter sea passage.
the Persian Gulf
they could have reached India in about half the time which the Egyptians must
have taken.
prise
their
great, that
and Euphrates
it
had long an aversion to maritime enter-
Persians, however,
—an aversion so
Tigris
may,
The
they are said to have erected barriers across the
Be
for the purpose of rendering it impossible.
this as it
Tiie Persians
maritime
'^"'*"i"''^*
seems established that the Indian produce which they obtained for
own
caravans.
use, or
the supply of adjacent countries, came mostly overland
by the
Another cause of the supineness of the Persians in regard to mari-
time intercom'se with India,
may
be found in the erroneous ideas generally
entertained respecting the proper limits of the Caspian Sea on the north, and
its
The Caspian was somewhat unaccount-
Black Sea.
relative position to the
ably imagined to be a branch of the great Northern Ocean, and
that
by means
of
it
was believed
a channel of communication might be opened up with
it
Europe, which might thus be
made
to receive the products of India
shorter route than the Indian Ocean,
and consequently at a
than they could be furnished by the Egyptians.
by a
far
Krrorein
^*°^'"'*'"y-
far cheaper rate
Ideas of this kind seem to
have weighed particularly with some of Alexander's successors in the East.
Seleucus Nicator, the
first
and one of the
ablest of them,
is
even said to have
contemplated a canal which would have joined the Caspian and Black Seas, and
thereby secured a monopoly of European and Indian
After the
30, the
Romans conquered Egypt and converted
channels of
traffic
received an impulse unfelt before,
Hippalus conceived the idea of cutting
the.
Red Sea and
India,
iutervenins: shores,
whicli
suggested
it
off"
by abandoning
and steering boldlv
very middle of the ocean.
so
it
into a province, in B.C.
with the East continued unchanged, while
was enormously increased both by land and
tlie traffic
traffic.
sea.
By
when a
the
its
amount
latter, in particular,
navigator of the
name
of
nearly a half of the voyage between
HippaUis
the timid track ])ursued along the rlnugoof
far out of sioht of
The plan seems
so natural,
obvious, that one finds
some
land throucrh the
and the considerations
difficulty in
recognizing
Hippalus as the inventor, or in giving him miich credit for the invention.
He
*''^ '^'°'^'
38
B.C.
HISTOItV OF INDIA.
choosing the proper seasons,
tlie
[Book
1.
one would carry him out and the other bring
him home.
riin/8account of tlio
voyage to
'^''Ik;
course of the voyage,
and even the time occupied
hv
^ r>
l
j
'
detailed
by the elder
it,
is
>
minuUdv
J
1'he cargo destined for India being endjaiked
Pliny.'
on
India.
the Nile, was conveyed by
At Coptos
it
and a short canal
the land carriage commenced, and
on the west shore of the Red Sea.
midsummer, and
final
From
to Copto.s, a distance of
was continued 258 miles
ta Berenice,
after a short halt near the Straits of Bab-el- mandeb, took its
an average, from the Mediterranean
three months, or ninety-four days.
Of
to India
was a
The
wliole time
little
thirty,
and the voyage
more than
these, the inland navigation to
occupied twelve, the land transport to Berenice twelve, the voyage
Red Sea
mih-.s.
Berenice the vessel started aljout
departure usually for Musiris on the Malabar coast.
occupied, on
303
across the Indian
Ocean forty
day.s.
Coptos
down
the
The time
occupied by the
Red Sea voyage seems out of all proportion to the other, but
may be accounted for partly by the difficulty of navigating a sea notorious for
RliNS OF Tai
baffling
.mvea.
— From Cassas,
Voyage Pittoresque
winds and storms, and perhaps partly
also
<le
la Syrie, &c.
by delays which may have
been occasioned by calling on both sides of the coast
for the pm-pose of
com-
The homeward voyage, commenced earl}'" in December,
appears to have been tlie far more tedious of the two.
Though the Persians had failed to take advantage of their maritime proximity to India, the Romans had no sooner carried their eastern frontier to the
pleting the cargo.
'
Plinii Historia Naturalis, b. vi.
c.
23.
Chap.
MEDIEVAL
II.]
39
INDIA.
banks of the Euphrates, than an important trade sprung up in the Persian Gulf,
and Indian produce was transported in large quantities up the
river,
west to Pahnyra, which reaijed the advantajije to such an extent
condescended at one time to com't
declined
and was tottering
which had been
to its
established,
expense of the Greeks,
fall,
even
Rome
I'x^'"" *™<^®
simiCuif.
the Persian monarchs continued the traffic
and by means of
who had made
and then
After this proud city had
alliance.
its
tliat
ad —
it
enriched themselves at the
Constantinople the capital of their empire.
As we have now touched on medieval
times, it
may
suffice,
sketch of ancient India, to mention that the great staples of
in concluding the
its
trade were then
nearly the same as at present, and consisted chiefly of cotton and silk goods,
dyes, drugs, spices
stones.
and aromatics,
These were paid
woollen cloth, lead,
ciiietiy
tin, brass,
])assage in the Institutes of
pearls,
diamonds, emeralds, and other precious
in the precious metals, but partly also
Though a
wine, and a few foreign perfumes.
Menu, which
voyages as well as land
refers to sea
journeys, implies that the inhabitants of India
in
had begun at an early period
to
navigate the ocean, they seem to have confined themselves to coasting, and to
have
to
left
the external trade entirely in the hands of strangers.
commit themselves
still
to the open sea
had
its
This aversicm
origin in superstitious
feai-s,
which
contiime to operate.
CHAPTEIi
Medieval India— Arab conquests
— First
Mohamed Casim— E.xpulsion
11.
appearance of Mahometans in India
of the Arabs
— Conquest of
— House of Ghuznee — Sebektegin — Sultan
'AHOMETANISM,
which had made
as persuasion only
was employed
sword than
little
to %vield the
side.
Before the death of Mahomet, in 632,
all Ai-abia,
it.
no sooner
spread rapidly on every
began
dued
Mahmood.
progress so long
to propagate
it
Scinde by
it
had sub-
and made a considerable impression both
on Syria and Persia; and iinder his successors
it
had, in the course of less
than a centmy, not only con-solidated these conquests, but established an empire
which stretched continuously from Arabia as a centre, west to the Atlantic,
engulfing
Spain and threatening the
fairest portion
of France
— north
and
north-east through Pei"sia, to the vast region which extends between the
—
and the Jaxartes, from the Caspian to Mount Imaus and east
banks of the Indus. Its progress in this last direction must now be
IB
I
tlie
As
Oxus
beyond the
traced.
early as the calijihate of Omar, the Arabs, coasting along the shores of
Indian Ocean, had made predatory descents upon Scinde, chiefly for the
Rapui
Mahuiiiu
tniiisiu.
40
AD.
CGI.
OF INDIA,
IIISTOIIV
[Book
purpose of carrying ofF the wouu-n, whose beauty was in
iiigli
the Arabian liarems; but no land expedition deserving of
Kirstapiiear-
Aral* in
Arab
664, wlien i)art of an
and gained,
it is said,
1
force
2,000 converts, wfis despatched
wards figured as a wan*ior
command
and Arabia, forced
in Persia
and returned with numerous
t^>
it)
julorn
nr)tiai t^jok phice till
which had penetrated from Merv
This detachment, under the
of the Punjab.
repute,
I,
t<^>
Ca>K>o!,
explore the lower part
of Mohalib,
its
way
who
aft<;r-
into Mooltan,
The next expedition was on a greater
scale, and led to more permanent results.
An Arab siiip had been seized at
Dewal, a .seaport of Scinde. Restitution was demanded, but Rajah Dahir, who.se
territories are said to
captive.s.
have included Mooltan and
all
to
and 300
Mohame.1
^^™"
The Arabs, thus refused redre.ss, determined
view, sent a body con.sisting only of 1000 infantry
subject to his authority.
compel
failiu-e,
some
by pretending that Dewal
adjacent plains, endeavoiired to evade compliance,
was not
Scinde, together with
it,
and, with this
horse.
It
was altogether inadequate, and
Exasperated at the
perished.
Hejaj, governor of Bussorah in 711, despatched a regular force of
mcu, uudcr the command of his nephew
Mohamed
youth of twenty, possessed great military
talents,
6000
Casim, who, though only a
and
The
after siuroounting all
commenced with an
attack on a celebrated pagoda contiguous to the town, and inclosed by a high
wall of hewn stone.
In addition to the Brahmins who XLSually occupied it, it
difficulties,
encamped under the walls of Dewal.
siege
The defence was
had a strong garrison of Rajpoots.
resolute,
and might have
had not Casim learned that the safety of the place was
conceived to depend on a flag which was flying from a tower. Acting on this
been
successful,
information, he directed all his engines against the
His capture
do\vn, than the resistance
struck
it
easy.
With barbarous
became
and on finding
seventeen to death, and
made
of
Dcwal
itsclf
all
it ineffectual,
slaves of the
and had no sooner
so feeble as to
fanaticism he circumcised
step to their conversion,
flag,
make
his entrance
the Brahmins, as a
put
women and
all
fir.^Jt
the males above
childreiL
The capture
soon foUowed, and Casim continued his victorious progress,
taking in succession, Nerun (the modern Hyderabad), Sehwan, and a fortress
called Salim.
A more
formidable resistance was, however, in preparation; and
the arrival of the rajah's eldest son at the head of a strong force, reduced
to the necessity of acting
on the defensive.
This continued,
till
him
the arrival of
2000 Persian horse gave him once more the superiority; and he began
advance on Alor, the
the
Hissubi^queiit coilquests.
capital,
to
which was situated in the north of Scinde, near
modern Bukkur.
The rajah himself being now,
make a
final stroke for his
50,000 men.
as
it
were, brought to bay, determined to
kingdom, and appeared at the head of an ai-my of
Casim again stood on the
defensive,
and
skilfully
compensated
for
numbers by the strength of his position. The rajah, advancing
boldly to the attack, was wounded by an arrow, and at the same time the
elephant on which he was mounted, being struck by a fireball, rushed oflT in
inferiority of
MOHAMED
CiiAP. II.]
CART^f.
41
The occurrence completely disconcerted the Indians and though Dahir mounted a horse, and displayed both
skill and courage in endeavouring to rally them, it was too late.
The fortune
and plunged with
terror
into the river.
liini
a.d.
714.
;
was
of the day
decided,
and
his gallant effort to retrieve
it
only cost him his
life.
The remains of the Indian army took refuge
in the city of
Brahmanabad.
neroic
ilefence of
Casim advanced against
The
anticipated.
rajah's
good while provisions
became
and met a
it,
widow
heroically
When
lasted.
they
Many
of
assumed the defence, and made
and
failed,
it
resistance in consequence
met
garrison, equally prepared for death,
tlie
Brahmana
and committed herself and children
hopeless, she erected a funeral pile,
to the flames.
which probably he had not
resistance
it
by
throwing open the gates and rushing out to perish by the swords of the
Those who remained had no better
besiegers.
were slaughtered; the
which had belonged to Rajah
would seem
It
in
the assault,
all in
arms
Casim, in pursuing his
were carried into bondage.
rest
conquests, took Mooltan without resistance,
tories
On
fate.
and became master of
all
the terri-
Dahii-.
that, beside the chikh-en
who
perished with their mother
singular
Brahmanabad, the rajah had two daughters possessed of great personal
They were among the
attractions.
captives
;
and seeming
fit
to grace the cali2)h's
harem, were accordingly conveyed to Damascus, which was at this time the
On
capital of the caliphate.
their arrival, Walid, the caliph,
On
had been excited, ordered the elder to be brought to him.
burst into tears, exclaiming,
"How
can
I
whose
cui'iosity
entering, she
be worthy of your notice, after having
been dishonoiu-ed by Casim?" Walid, consulting only his indignation, sent orders
him
forthwith to sew up Casim in a raw hide, and send
body
arrived, it
"Now
I
am
was produced
satisfied;
was the ruin of
my
to the rajah's daughter,
and
I
have had
After Casim's death in 714, the Arabs
Even those which he had
Ommeiad dynasty
all
in 7oO,
effected
when
my
the
who, overjoyed, exclaimed,
Casim was innocent of the crime
family,
When
forward.
imputed to him, but he
I
revenge."
made no new conquests
were maintained only
till
in India.
the downfall of the
the Hindoos rose in insurrection, and recovered
that had been wrested from them.
made to the Ai-ab conquest of the territory between the
Oxus and the Jaxartes. From its po.sition it is usually called by classical
writers Transoxiana, and by Arab writers Mawar ul Nahr, words literally
Reference has been
meaning beyond
the river.
fixed habitations,
and nomadic
Its inhabitants
Pei"sians,
the course of the eight following years,
first
entered in 706, and overran in
became
finally dissevered
empire about 820, and was ruled successively by the Tahirites
Sof\u-ides
till
iteresting,
Vol.
I.
892,
and the Somanis
because during
it,
living in
Tartars, the latter forming apparently the great
This territory, which the Arabs
majority.
were mostly
till
and owing
1004.
to
The
one of
its
last
from their
till
872, the
dynasty becomes
princes, the house of
6
^\™''
conquest
ofxians
42
AD.
970.
If'
[Book
Glmznce, wliich plays a most important part in
of India, was
hist^jry
tlie
I.
founded.
Alptcgin,
Aiptegin,
tho h.MHo of
Ghuznee.
tlie
founder of the hoase of Ghuznee, wa-s originally a Tinki
Abdulmelek, the
to
|.jj.^jj
was
^j^^^^
.slave
and had no higher
office
^^ amusing his master hy tumbling and tricks of legerdemain.
He
prince of the
fifth
capable, however, of
On
Khorasan.
much
better,
Somani
line,
and gradually
rose
be governor of
t^j
the death of Abdulmelek, in 961, he lost the favour of his
Mansur, by recommending that another member of the family should
successor,
be selected for the throne, was deprived of his government, and ran great
of losing both his liberty and his
life.
death,
in
976.
He was
been originally a Tm-ki
him
Sebektegin:
anecdote of
him.
slave,
and made him
him.self,
his
had
while a private horseman, he hunted
his heir.
said to have been early foretold.
is
.,
its
who, like
till
but had risen so much in his favour that he gave
his daughter in marriage,
he looked behind and saw
in maintaining it
succeeded by Sebektegin,
Scbcktegin's futurc Sovereignty
,
the mountains of Soliman.
and .succeeded
his independence,
he found an asylum with
talent,
among
a body of faithful followers at Ghuznee,
Here he declared
ri.sk
After a variety of narrow escapes, in
which he displayed much courage and military
down
a
fawn and was carrying
mother foUowino- with such sicms of
he was moved with compassion and
set
the fawn at
it
One day,
off, when
distress,
that
The joy and
libei-ty.
apparent gratitude expressed by the mother made so strong an impression upon
him, that
when he went
Mahomet appeared
to sleep
to him,
been
fulfilled,
it
The
prediction, if
it
for his
left
bank
of the Indus
had
of the
cruelty
and oppression which
their
filled
they saw a new Mahometan kingdom established on their
federation
agaiiiathim.
f^j.^
;
but they
forefathers
while subjected to an Arab yoke, and were naturally
Native con-
it fruitless.
for nearly three centuries
been living in the enjoyment of their recovered independence
enough
humanity
was made, had no sooner
than an event took place which threatened to render
The inhabitants on the
knew
had endured
with alarm when
frontiei"s.
It there-
or./
sccmcd to them good policy not to wait tiU the threatened calamity
J over-
took them, but to cndcavour by anticipating to prevent
it.
The
initiative in
was undertaken by Rajah Jeipal, who ruled over a large
Crossing the Indus, he
extent of territory, and kept his court at Lahore.
advanced till he came up with the troops of Sebektegin, who commanded
in person, and was accompanied by his son, who, then only a boy, gave proof of
the talents which afterwards made him celebrated under the name of Sultan
this bold enterprise
Mahmood.
After some time spent in skirmishing, the annies were on the eve of
fighting a great battle,
when
Both armies suffered
gi'eatly,
a fearful storm of wind, thunder, and hail occurred-
but not to the same extent.
Ghuznee soon recovered from the
at once less hardy
and more
1
became the subject of a dream, in which
and announced that as a reward
he was destined to be a king.
li[
^1
OF INDIA.
IIISTOItV
disaster,
The troops of
whereas those of Hindoostan, being
superstitiou.s,
were so dispirited that Jeipal was
]
Chap.
SEBEKTEGIN— SULTAN MAHMOOD.
II.]
Mahmood
glad to propose terms of accommodation.
43
stood out, and would be
a.d.
997.
with nothing short of a decisive victory; but his father, more prudent
satisfied
and moderate, was
the promise of a certain
to Lahore,
with a present payment in elephants and gold, and
satisfied
amount
and endeavoured
of annual tribute.
to hide his
Jeipal returned humiliated
shame by breaking
When
his promise.
the messengers of Sebektegin arrived to receive the tribute, he not only refused
it,
but threw them into prison.
Warlike preparations on a grander
scale
than before again commenced
bektegin advanced to take revenge; and Jeipal, aware
provoke
endeavoured to ward
it,
Se- war between
how much he had done to
by means of a confederacy, in which,
importance, he was joined by those of Delhi,
it off
in addition to other rajahs of less
amujiljah
"^'"''"''
Thus supported, he advanced at the head of
an army composed of an innumerable host of foot and 100,000 horse. In his
Ajmeer, Callinger, and Canouge.
when Sebektegin
Oriental phraseology Ferishta says,^ that
view the
in
forces of Jeipal, they
number
mayed
"appeared in extent like
like the ants or locusts of the wilderness
tlie
;"
a.scended a hill to
boundless ocean, and
but instead of beinsr
dis-
at his vast inferiority in point of numbers, "he considered himself as a
wolf about to attack a flock of sheep."
So
confident, indeed,
daining to act on the defensive, he commenced the attack
certain point in the enemy's line,
When
500 men.
in this
way
and charging
he had tlirown
assault,
and carried everything before him
only of
flight,
and
suffered
immense
The more permanent
plunder.
was acknowledged king of
and sent one of
all
it
by
was
by
singling out a
successive squadrons of
into disorder, he
it
he, that, dis-
made
a general
Tiie Hindoos, panic-struck, thought
The Indian camp yielded a
slaughter.
results of the victory were, that
the territory west of the Neelab or
his officers with 10,000 horse to
rich
Sebektegin
Upper Indus,
govern Peshawer.
Sebektegin died in 997, after a reign of twenty years distinguished by
His death was sudden, but during his
prudence, equity, and moderation.
Sebektegins
last
moments he named his son Ismael his heir. He appears, indeed, to have had a
better title than Mahmood, who, though elder, was illegitimate.
Ultimately,
however, after a war of succession, in whicli Ismael was worsted and imprisoned for
of sultan, which, though well
known
had not previously been borne by any prince of Turkish
origin,
life,
in Arabia,
Mahmood, assuming the
title
seated himself firmly on his father's throne.
Mahmood was
of an athletic form, but
.
pox,
a
and
glass,
was strongly marked with the
.
so deficient in personal beauty, that one day, on
he exclaimed,
"
The
sight of a
beholders, but nature has been so
unkind
forbidding."
This defect probably
ful pleasures,
and concurred with
fame by military
exploits.
He
•
small- smtan
iiii'i.
ic
beholding himself
•
in
king should brighten the eyes of the
to
me
made him
that
less
my appearance
positively
disposed to indulge in youth-
temper
his natural
is
in inducing
him
to seek
has already been seen ui-ging his father to reject
Brigg's FerislUa, vol.
i.
p. 18.
Mahmood.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
441
AD.
inoi.
[Book
the terms of accommodation ofl'eied l>y llajali Jeipal, and
prepared to see him enter
struggles,
which ended
a career of Indian conquest.
in the extinction of the
attention, but no sooner
His
(jn
/.
we are therefore
At first a series of
Somani dynasty,
engro.ssed his
were these settled than he turned his eye to India
expedition took phice in 1001, wlien, at Peshawer with only 10,000
first
enemy Rajah Jeipal at the heaxl of 1 2,000
horse, 30,000 foot, and 300 elephants.
The field was keenly contested, but at
hist Jeipal, witli fifteen of his chiefs, was taken pri.soner.
Mahmood, whose
avarice was at least equal to his ambition, was able to gi'atify l)oth pa.ssions by
the victory, which, in addition to its fame, yielded him a rich spoil, partly in
Jeipal's jewelled necklaces, one of which was valued at 180,000 dinars, or about
£81,000.
The value of tlie spoil was largely increased by the large ransom
chosen horse, he encountered his old
Defeat and
death of
Jeipal.
,
which he obtained
freedom.
for the prisoners.
Dispirited
by
his
two
Jeipal did not long avail himself of his
by them,
he resigned the crown
defeats, or, it is said, disqualified
according to a Hindoo custom, from any longer reigning,
to his son,
and placing himself on a funeral
Jn lOOl, ou
Defeat of
failure of the tribute
pile, set fire
to
it
own hand.s.
Sultan Mahmood
with his
promised by the Hindoo.s,
again set out, and passing through the province of Mooltan arrived at a city
called Bhateea.
Its position is
not ascertained
;
but
it
was surrounded by a very
high wall and a deep and broad ditch, and belonged to a Rajah Beejy Ray, who,
trusting both to its fortifications
country,
had
was not
and the
difficult
nature of the suiTOundincf
so skilfully seized the strong posts, that for three days he not only
Mahometans
He
afraid to mea.sure his strength against that of the sultan.
at bay, but inflicted
on them such severe
the point of abandoning the enterprise.
In
this
losses that
kept the
they were on
emergency. Sultan
Mahmood
displayed his wonted inflexibility of purpose, and in announcing his intention
to lead the
conquest or
main attack in person, added, " To-day I have devoted myself to
Both armies, indeed, had worked themselves up to the
death."
highest pitch of enthusiasm; Beejy Ray, on his side, performing religious services
by which he was
believed
by
his followers to
have propitiated the gods; while
the sultan, after turning his face to Mecca, and prostrating himself in sight of his
troops, started
suddenly up, exclaiming, "Advance! advance! our prayers have
found favour with God!"
An
obstinate struggle took place, but
Mahometan
prowess prevailed, and the Indians were pursued to the gates of the town.
Here, though a stand of a few days took place, resistance was found to be hopeless;
and the rajah being overtaken during an attempt
night, only escaped
and eighty
elephants,
which with
Sultan
Mahmood
encountered
its
numerous
captains,
Abul
had thrown
sword.
Two
hundi'ed
dependencies was annexed to Ghuznee.
'^
to chastisc
own
by
and a large spoil were taken in Bhateea,
Mahmood's next Indian expedition
took place
'
by Anangpal.
imprisonment by rushing on his
to lead off his troops
in 1005.
Its
main
object
"
was
Fattcli Lodi, the chief of 3*Iooltan, who, though a Mu.ssulman,
ii
it
i
i
off his allegiance and leagued with Anangpal, the son and succes.sor
i
•
•
•
p
chap.
mmf
I
sultan mahmood's wars.
ii.j
Not deterred by
the unfortunate Rajah Jeipal.
encountered
him
Mahmood
The
to take refu<xe in Cashmere.
its
He would
chief
doubtless have
made Anangpal
to repel the formidable invasion of a Tartar prince of the
make an
Khan, who had hoped to
feel
the
had he not been under the necessity of hastening
weiglit of his vengeance,
forces
a.d. 1005.
march to
victorious sultan continued his
exacted more rigorous terms than submission, and also
home
Anangpal
his father's fate,
near Peshawer, and sustained a defeat which compelled
Mooltan, and obtained the submission of
full
45
were beyond the Indus.
name
of Elik
easy comjuest of Khorasan while the Ghuznee
He had
miscalculated
;
and on the
sultan's arrival,
Oxus with only a few attendants.
On this occasion the sultan's victory was greatly aided by 500 elephants which
The Tartar horses would not face them and the
he had brought from India.
soldiers, who had never seen them before, were overawed by their huge bulk and
defeat, to recross the
was obliged, after a signal
;
strange appearance, especially after they had seen the one on which the sultan
himself was mounted seize Elik Khan's standard-bearer and toss
air
him
into the
with his trunk.
Anangpal's escape was only temporary, for
Mahmood was no
sooner lid of
.
.
coalition of
rajalis.
.
the Tartar invader than he hastened Ixick to India at the head of a formidable
army.
Anangpal meanwhile, anticipating the return of the
exertions,
and succeeded
common enemy
into the
in forming a powerful coalition of rajahs against the
of their freedom and their
faith.
Their united forces brought
Punjab a larger army than had ever been seen in
sultan seemed to hesitate
;
it
Even the
before.
and instead of advancing with the headlong courage
which he usually displayed, began
Peshawer.
had made
sultan,
to
entrench himself in the vicinity of
This sign of weakness added greatly to the strength of the confede-
who were daily joined by new auxiliaries, and received large supplies of
money from all quarters, even the Hindoo women selling their jewels and
meltinof down the gold of their other ornaments to assist in what was regarded
rates,
as a holy war.
Mahmood
kept within his entrenchments, well aware that
attacked, his position
would give him a decided advantage; and
Indians, through fear of this, refrained from attacking, their
force could not
if
be long kept together.
The
first
they were
tliat
if
the
immense tumultuary
skirmishes were not to his
advantage, for the Gukkurs, and other mountaineer tribes, rushing impetuously
among
the
knives that
Mahometan
hoi-se
and
cavalry,
riders
made such dexterous
tumbled
to the ground, and, to the
thousands, were despatched in a twinkling.'
'The Gukkurs, Guckers, Gakkars, Guikkers, or
Kahkares (for the name is spelled in all these different
ways, and not always in the same way by the same
author), are first mentioned in the history of the Arab
coiiquests in India, as forming a league with the Afghans, and, in union with them, wrestinij; a tract of
territory from the Rajah of Lahore.
Their e.\|iloit
i
use of their swords
Mahmood
still
number
and
of several
remained motionless,
mentioned in the text seems to indicate that, as their
mode of warfare bore a considerable resemblance to
that for which the Ghorkas of Nepanl have recently
distinguished themselves, they may have had a conimon origin. This, however, is improbable, as their
localities are very remote from each other. The Gukkurs, according to Elphiustone (Cabul, Introduction,
Defeat of
HISTORY OF INDIA.
4G
x.D. :oo5
watching
liis
opportunity.
came
It
arrows and frightened by the
fireballs,
The Hindoos, thinking themselves
and
resistance,
and
hy
deserted
dead upon the
field.
field.
their general, slackened their
time was given them to
The
rest
to his avaricioas
rally,
were so complet<dy
nothing more to do than gather the
The one most gratifying
victory.
turned round and hurried him off the
No
Mahmood had
I.
AnangfjaVs elephant, galled hy the
Ijust.
turned their backs.
ere long 20,000 lay
dispersed that
Tenii)le of
finally
at
[Book
fruits of his
temper was the capture of
the fortified temple of Nagarcote, situated on one of the lower ranges of the
NaKiircoto.
Himalaya.
ground
of
its
It
owed
its
sanctity to
a natural flame which issued from the
and, from the veneration in which
;
position,
was not only
it
was
held, as well as the strength
rich in votive offerings, but
To
depository of the wealth of the adjacent country.
it,
assist
the recent
in
had been withdrawn, and when Sultan Mahmood arrived
struggle, its garrison
before
was the common
he was met only by a crowd of defenceless Brahmins clamorou.sly
The inventory of its treasures was, according to Feri.shta,
700,000 golden dinars, 700 maunds of gold and silver plate, 200 maunds of
pxire gold in ingots, 2000 maunds of un wrought silver, and 20 maunds of pearl
The value mast have been fabuloas, and justifies
corals, diamonds, and rubies.
Ferishta's assertion, that it was greater than ever was collected before into any
imploring mercy.
s,
The
royal treasury.^
Splendid
banquet.
on his return to Ghuznee, gave a triumphal
sultan,
banquet, which was spread out on a spacious plain, and lasted three days.
The
spoils of India, exhibited
made a
on thrones of
gold,
and
and
tables of gold
silver,
display rivalling the utmost that has been told of Oriental wealth
i. p. 100) " once possessed the whole country between the Indus and the Hydaspes ( Jailum), but have
been driven out by the Siks." In his map, they are represented as occupying a considerable tract of the
Punjab east of the town of Attock, in the direction of
On his homeward journey lie passed
Cashmere.
through their country, in consequence of a letter of
invitation which he received from the .sultan, accompanied by a vast quantity of grapes, which tlieregrow
Shortly after passing Rawil Plndee, lie made
wild.
a circuit of about forty miles, and saw "the ruins of
some Gucker towns destroyed by the Siks, and those
of some others, still more ancient, which had suffered
the same fate from the Mussulmans." The only other
vol.
information he gives respecting them
is,
that they
"have still a high military reputation." Ferishta,
in narrating the exploit of the Gukkurs in their encounter with Mahmood, says, that they "repulsed
and followed them ko closely, that
no less than 30,000 Gukkurs, with their heads and
feet bare, and armed with various weapons, pene-
his light troops,
trated into the
Mahometan
lines,
when
a dreadful
carnage ensued, and 5000 Mahometans in a few
minutes were slain." Price, in his Chronological Retrospect, or
Memoirs of
hommedan
Historji, vol.
the
ii.
Principal Events in
borrowini,'from Ferishta, improvesupon his narrative,
it
still
of
more
Mahmood, and
"In
spite of the circmnspection
in the heat of the action, a
body
of 1000 Kahkares or Guikkers, bareheaded and barefooted, variously and strangely armed, passed the
entrenchments on both flanks
astonishing fury
among the
:
and
falling in
with
cavalry, proceeded with
the desperation of savages, and with their swords
and knives, to cut down and maim both the horse
and his rider, until almost in the twinkling of an
eye, between 3000 and 4000 men had fallen victims
to the rage of these infuriated maniacs."'
That
the}' had the cunning and vindictiveness of savages
will become apparent in the coufse of the narrative,
from an assassination which some of them committed
under singular circumstances; but that they were
under regular government, and ruled by princes
who occupied no mean place among their contemporaries, may be inferred from the fact that they
were recognized by the title of sultan, and that the
daughter of one of them was considered a fit match
for the celebrated Jelalu-din, son of the King of
Kharism, and the only prince in whom Gheniihis
Khan found a formidable opponent. See Bri^'g's
—
Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 415-418.
Ma-
p. 284, while professedly
apparently for the purpose of making
graphic, and says,
and
'
ling.
The value of the
only 11
is
about 9«. sterand the Persian
The latter seems to be the one which
Tlie Indian
lbs.
here intended.
.;olden dinar is
maund weighs
80,
\
Chap.
SULTAN MAHMOOD'S CONQUESTS.
II.]
Mahmood
splendoiu'.
forgot his avarice on the occasion
;
47
and while mjTiads
a.d.
loio.
of spectators were luxuriously feasted, splendid presents were bestowed on merit,
and
liberal
alms given to the poor.
The beginning of the year 1010 was employed by Sultan Mahmood
conquest of Ghor, situated among the branches of the Hindoo Koosh
Herat, but before the year closed he
For some succeeding
India.
is
in the
east of
again found pursuing his conquests in
years, his operations there
and interrupted by an important expedition
Suitan
comiuests
"' ^"'^'^^
were somewhat desultory
to Transoxiana, dm-ing
which he
extended his west frontier to the Caspian; but in 1017, determined no longer
he set out at the head of an army of 100,000
to confine himself to the Punjab,
foot
and 20,000
horse, for the purpose of penetrating into the basin of the
Ganges, and thus opening up a
way
into the very heart of Hindoostan.
ing from Peshawer, he kept close to the mountains
and then turning suddenly south, made
explained, took precedence of
writers,
at present, as
all
the other Rajahs of Hindoostan,
Hindoo and Mahometan,
magnificent of Indian
cities,
but
his family
most ffimous
diflferent
Mahometan
seats of
him.self
He
Hindoo
outrage on humanity
acknowledged
have been the largest and most
submission of the rajah,
upon
his mercy, left
it
it
who
uninjured,
next bent his steps towards Aluttra, one
The treatment it experienced
During twenty days of plunder,
superstition.
and licentiousness had their
was
is
unnecessary to give any description of
from that of Canouge.
fixnaticism
to
witli the abject
and threw
after a short stay of three days.'
was very
it is
Mahmood, delighted
came out with
of the
unexpected appearance before
— From Daniell's Oriental Sceiiorv.
Ruins at Canouoe.
all
he passed the Jumna,
This great capital, the rajah of which, for some reason not well
Canouge.
by
his
till
March-
perpetrated.
full
swing, and every kind of
In the midst of these horrors, Mahmood,
while struck with the maijnificence of the buildings, divided his thoughts between
them and the immense sums which
to the
'
governor of Ghuznee a
letter,
it
Its ruins are
now surrounded with
cost to erect them,
and
Nvi'ote
of which the following very characteristic
This once magnificent city has long since fallen
to decay.
must have
jungle,
and once formed a place of retreat for desperadoes
of all kinds.
jr«ttra
plundered.
A.D. 1022.
OF INDIA.
11IS'|-()|;V
•t'S
passage has been preserved:
— "Here there are a thfjusand
millions of dinars; nor could such another
two
M.iiionietan
'"
luOia""
is
spoil
and above 5000
respectively in 1022 and 102-3, the second only
a Mahometan garrison was, for the
it
beyond the Indus.
whose
several other
captives.
the two next Indian expeditions of Sultan
<Jiii'hig
coastructed und<'r a jxM'iod
waste a large extent of country, and then returned to Ghuznee, with
an incalculable am')unt of
Of
h»e
Mahmood stormed
After leaving Muttra,
centuries."'
town.s, laid
riist
as finn as the
likely that this city has attained its present condition but at the expense of
many
of
e«lifices
I.
innumerable temples; nor
faith of the faitliful, inost of thcin iiiarhle, besides
it
flJooK
Mahmood and
place
is
deserving of notice, becau.se
first
time, permanently stationed
This unenviable distinction belongs to the city of Lahore,
Jeipal
rajah,
Mahmood, which took
the
II.,
Anangpal,
of
submitting
after
to
some time on friendly terms with him, was tempted
living for
in an evil hour to
throw
have been
was the
foreseen,
successor
The
off his allegiance.
which might
result,
easily
were forthwith
loss of all his territories, whicii
annexed to Ghuznee.
Capture and
somtiauth.
We
liave
now
arrived at Sultan
Mahmood's
generally reckoned as his twelfth, and has
though
its political results
last expedition to India.
made more
were not important.
noise than
Its destined goal
all
It is
the
rest,
was Somnauth,
one of the most celebrated seats of Hindoo superstition, situated near the shore
To
of the Arabian Sea, in the south of the peninsula of Gujerat.
this expedi-
fanaticism and the love of plunder appear to have been the actuating
tion,
The way from Ghuznee to Somnauth lay for hundreds of miles
through a parched sandy desert. The army, whose numbers are not stated, set
motives.
out in Septembei',
1024<,
and reached Mooltan
camels had been provided
;
and
expedition
For
transport, 20,000
had moreover been ordered
as the soldiers
carry as large a supply as possible
difficulties of
in October.
of provisions,
and
water,
forage,
to
the
the desert were surmounted without any serioas disaster, and the
made
its
The
appearance in the cultivated country around Ajmeer.
Hindoos, though aware of the threatened attack upon their temple, had calcu
lated on a different route,
resistance, that their
and the
city of
Mahmood
easily
and were, in consequence,
only safety was in
Ajmeer was given up
have made himself master of
reached.
It
was
with the mainland.
it,
unprepared
for
The usual devastation
followed,
Continuing his
progi-ess,
to plunder.
entered Gujerat, and arrived at Anhulwara,
on higher game, and refused
was
flight.
so totally
for the rajah
to be turned aside
had
from
He might
its capital.
fled
;
At
it.
but he was intent
lencrth
Somnauth
situated on a peninsula, which a fortified isthmus connected
Here he was met by a
of the god, and menaced
him with
herald,
who
'
it
and implore
Brigg's Ferishta, vol.
its help.
i
him
in the
name
]\Iahmood only answered with
destruction.
a shower of arrows, and cleared the walls of defenders,
to prostrate themselves before
defied
p.
who
hastened to the idol
Meantime the
besiegers
.53.
•
Chap.
SOMNAUTH SACKED.
II.]
4.9
when the defenders returned and
unable to make good a footing, were forced
advanced, and had nearly effected an entrance,
fouglit so furiously, that their enemies,
The next day the attack was
to retire.
repeated,
The
was the same.
more
propitiously for the defenders, for several native chiefs having vuiited
tiieir
had advanced
forces,
new enemy was
and seemed
The
disposed of
day opened
third
Tiie attack could not be continued
to the rescue.
battle
1024.
and assumed the form of a
still
general assault, but the result
ad.
till
this Somnautu
which ensued was furiously contested,
at one time about to be decided in favour of the
Hindoos by the
sudden arrival of the Rajah of Anhulwara with a large body of fresh troops.
The Mahometans, who had previously been unable
now began
their ground,
sultan, recm-ring to
do more than maintain
to
and a general route was imminent, when the
a device which had succeeded with him on other occasion.s,
to waver,
prostrated himself in presence of his army, and then, as if confident that his
prayer had been heard, leaped to his horse, raised the war cry, and rushed into
tlie
thickest of the fight.
His
ashamed not
troops,
to follow
master would lead, followed close upon his track, and bore
down
before
all
moment was passed, and they had gained a com[)lete
No further attempt was made to defend the temple, and the defenders,
The
them.
where such a
victory.
critical
number
Mahmood, in the com\se of his
plunderings, had seen the interior of many Hindoo temples, but the magnificence
of Somnauth was so surpassing that it filled him with wonder.
The interior,
whose lofty roof was supported by fifty-six pillars curiou.sly carved and glittering
with precious stones, received its light, not from the sun, but from a lamp which
was suspended in its centre by a golden chain. The real object of worship at
Somnauth was simply a cylinder of stone, but Ferishta takes no notice of it,
to the
of 4000, took to their boats.
and says that the
idol,
15 feet in height, but six of them .sunk beneath the
Mahmood
sm-face, stood opposite the entrance.
when
but hesitated
to
spare
and
it,
offering
an immense ransom.
known
he struck the idol with his mace.
the blow,
till
at once ordered its destruction,
the Brahmins threw themselves at his feet imploring
exclaiming that he would rather be
idols,
the idol broke a.sunder.
It
and
The
delighted.
ransom which the
had
priests
as a breaker than as a seller of
His followers
in.stantly followed
was hollow, and
disclosed
and was regarded by him and
up
diamonds
Mahmood was
it.
treasure obtained far exceeded •the
offered,
him
After a momentary pause,
and other jewels of immense value hidden within
surprised
its ceiebrat-
equally
amount of
his followei-s
from the Prophet in return for the zeal which they had displayed in
as a gift
his cause.
Two
1^
^r ^
pieces of the idol
One of the
latter
sixteenth century,
was
were sent to
in the palace
when
]\Iecca
and Medina, and two to Ghuznee.
1
and another
Ferishta wi'ote his history.
1
•
1
1
at the
grand mosque in the
It is
somewhat remarkable
that he says nothing of the gates of the tem})le, which, according to a prevalent tradition,
were
also carried to
Ghuznee, and ultimately formed one of the
'
Vol.
I.
7
Tradition as
tothegatesof
somnauth.
L
m
HISTORY OF INDIA.
50
AD.
1024.
trophies placed on Sultan Mahinood's
consid(;rable
Tlie Rllence of Ferislita
douht on the authenticity of the tradition;
been there in his time, and
«
tfjrnb.
[Book
if there,
1.
throws
for the gates should liave
he certainly would have mentioned them.
Be
it
may, the
was
so fiiTnly
this as
tradition
when the
army
finally
believed, that
J
-k-
British
quitted Cabool, in 1842,
the gates were brought
away
;
triumph,
in
and
Lord Ellenboroujfh, then
Governor-general of India,
made them the
ject of a very
unchristian,
sub-
pompous,
and impolitic
proclamation.'
Mahmood, on
turn,
his re-
stopped for some
time at Anhulwara, with
which,
as
well
as
the
surrounding countrv", he
was
he
so
is
much
pleased that
said to have
had
some thoughts of adopting
Gates of Somnavth.
it
Many
— From Hart's Afghan Scenery.
as a
MahmooiVs
projects.
his mind,
but they
new
setting up a
all
capital.
other magnificent
projects
Sultan
new
passed tlirough
vanished in smoke, and he contented himself with
The person
rajah in Gujerat.
selected
was an anchoret of
the ancient royal stock, and seems to have recommended himself to ^lahmood
as the person
most likely to yield him implicit submission.
Another member
of the royal stock thought himself better entitled to the rajahship, and, to
prevent a disputed succession, his person was secured.
AMien Mahmood was
leaving Gujerftt, the anchoret rajah requested that his competitor might be
delivered up to
him
;
request was granted.
holy a
man
and, on the assiu-ance that his
The
hj-pocrite
life
woiild be spared, the
kept his promise to the
to be guilty of shedding the blood of
any
ear.
He was
living creature.
too
He
only dug a hole, in which he meant to have immured his prisoner, and regaled
'
Fergusson, in his
Hand-Book of
says that these gates are
the
wood
7iot
Architecture,
of sandal wood, but of
of the deodar pine tree;
therefore the
having been the gates of the
The decorations
temple at Somnaiith is wrong.
tradition of
tlieir
bear no resemblance to Hindoo work; and as the
ornaments are similar to those of the mosque of Ebn
Touloun at Cairo, they show the same date of conand that the like ornamentation was used
at the e.xtreme ends of the Moslem empire.
struction,
—
HAP.
SULTAN MAHMOOD.
II.]
By
ear with his groans.
lis
a
wliirl of fortune the position of the parties
and the anchoret, deposed from
reversed;
51
his rajahship,
was consigned
was
A D
1030.
to the
while the throne was occupied by his intended victim.
hole,
Though Mahmood had made his first passage across the desert without loss,
He had employed Hindoo guides, who kept
he was less fortunate in returning.
the army wandering for three days and nights over desolate tracts, where
Numbers of the troops died raving
neither forage nor water could be found.
mad, from the intolerable heat and
Mahmood, suspecting that
thirst.
had not erred, but led him wilfully astray,
him a
wrunof from
confession that he
])ut
Passage of
the desert.
the guides
one of them to the torture, and
was
one of the priests of Somnauth, and had
by misleading the army, to
destruction, and thereby obtain
sought,
insm-e
its
a rich
revenue.
On
the
homeward march, Mahmood was
greatly harassed
by a
tribe of Juts,
who
are
described as occupying a district intersected
by
rivers,
which form numerous
He determined
to chastise
islands.
them; and with
view took up a position at Mooltan,
this
where he ordered 1400 boats to be
S!^i
built,
and armed with iron spikes projecting from
bows and
tiie
them against
sides, to secure
being boarded, as the Juts were particularly
dexterous at this species of warfjire.
series of
A
naval enoragements were fought in
Mahmood's
Pii.i.aks,
Ghlzsee.'
neighbom-hood of the locality where
tlie
Alexander equipped his
fleet
thirteen
struggle the Juts were overpowered,
were carried
off"
Mahmood
After a desperate
centuries before.
and those who had not
fallen in battle
into slavery.
returned in triumph to Ghuznee, but had ceased to
l)e
capable of
Mabmood's
death
enjoying
l>im
off",
for
it,
he was suffering under an excruciating disease, which carried
April 29, 1030, in the sixty-third year of his age, and the thirty-fifth
of his reign.
Two
days before his death, he ordered
stones
which he possessed to be placed before him.
think
how
»
soon he must part with them for ever
The two minars or pillara outside the city of
Ghuznee were erected, aa appears from inscrii)tion8
in Kufic cliaractera upon them, the one nearest the
village of Kozah by Mahmood, the other (nearest
Ghuznee) by Masaood, son of Mahmood. The inscription on Mahmood's pillar is as follows:
" In the name
of God the most merciful
the liigh and mighty Sul'
—
—
,
the melic of Islam, the right
arm
of the state,
;
all
the gold and precious
He wept
with regret to
but he had not the heart to
trustee of the faith, the victory crowned, the patron
of Moslems, the aid of the destitute, the munificence
endowed Malimood (may God glorify
son of Sabaktageen, the champion
his testimony),
of champions,
the emir of Moslems, ordered the construction of
monuments; and of a cerhas been happily and prosperously comJownaJ of Asiatic Society of Beugnl, 1843.
this lofty of loftiest of
taintj- it
jdeted."
-
IIISTOIIV
A.D. loso.
bestcnv
any of tliem
OF
as fiirewell presents,
[liOOK
1NI>IA.
and
sirnply caused
them
1.
to be taken
The next day he ordered a review of the anny, and,
travellin;^ throne, saw all his elephants, camels, horses, and
back to the treasury.
seated on his
chariots pass before him.
and once more burst
corpse,
fesisted his eyes,
The day
into tears.
but could not witisfy his heart,
after, he-
lay on his bed a
lifeless
and an impressive example of the vanity of human wishes.
Avarice, which
Mahraood's
character.
He
was one of
his ruling pa.ssion.s,
incompatible with true greatness
;
and yet
is
generally supixj.sed to be
impossible to deny that Sultan
it is
Malimood, the founder of the Mahometan Indian empire, po.ssessed in a high
many
degree
procured for
He
Great.
otlier
gained signal
ability of his govern-
ment retained them,
with
name of
victories, made
sovereigns the
and by the
conquests,
have
of the qualities which
magnificent
adorned
buildings,
capital
his
and
ke]jt
splendid court, to which he attracted
a
many
of the most distinguished writers of his time.
He must
thus have been a munificent patron
of literature
greatest
and
on his reputation
blots
GoLD AND Silver Coins of Mahmood.'
treatment of Ferdusi.
His
treat-
ment of
Ferdusi.
though one of the
art,
was
his
That celebrated poet
long lived at his court, and was commissioned to write a poem, for which he
was promised
at the rate of a dinar a line.
There can be no doubt that a
golden dinar was understood; but Mahmood, on making pajTnent, had the
meanness to take advantage of the ambiguity in the term, and gave only
silver.
at
its
Ferdusi quitted the court in disgust, and took his revenge by launching
sovereign a stinging
_.
""
satire.
=^s^^^i^
s^—
.
.-d
Mahmood was magnanimous enough
not
only to forgive him, but to endea-
—
vour to make amends for the
by sending him a
was,
past,
rich present.
imfortunately,
It
too late, for
while Mahmood's messencrer enter-
ed at one door, Ferdusi was beinor
carried out on his bier at another.
Mahmood
legislator,
told,
Exterior of Sultan Mahmood's Tomb. — Hart's Afghan Scenery.
ally
made
but several anecdotes are
Avhich
show that he had a
high sense of justice, and occasion-
great sacrifices of personal feeling in administering
anecdotes will bear repetition.
An
it.
One
of these
inhabitant of Ghuznee, unhappy in a hand-
Gold coin of Malimood -weight, 76'8 grains.
On reverse, "MahoA.H. 33-5, British Museum.
'
does not figure as a
med, the apostle of God whom he sent with instruction and the true faith, that he might exalt it above
—
Chap.
—
SULTAN MAHMOOD.
II.]
53
i
1^
lome wife, complained to the king that one of his courtiers,
who had
conceived ad,
io3o.
a passion for her, took forcible possession of his house every night, and turned
him
where he was obliged
into the street,
He had
take his departure.
to
obtain
The
it.
hasten back to
long to wait.
to
remain
till
the intruder chose to
sought redress from the proper judges, and failed summary
sultan, indignant, ordered the
him the first time the
The sultan, on
1*1
man
gross outrage
justice
to say nothing, but to
was
He had
repeated.
not
being informed, wi'apped a loose
and was con-
cloak about him,
On
ducted to the house.
enter-
ing the chamber he found the
A
guilty parties asleep.
He
was bm-ning.
it;
light
extinguished
and then, going up
to the
bed, cut off the adulterer's
at
a
This
stroke.
called for a light,
amining
the
done,
he
and on
ex-
of
the
features
threw himself pros-
adulterer,
trate
head
on the ground, and gave
Interior of Sultan Mahmood's Tomb.'— iiiirt's
Al'ghaii Scenery.
utterance to his joy in thanks-
The audacious manner in which the offence was committed had convinced him that the offender must be one of his sons, or near relatives.
He
had extinguished the light lest natural affection might stay his hand from
giving.
doing justice; and
suspicions
now
that
it
was done, he was
were unfounded, and that he had not been under the necessity of
staining his hands with the blood of one of the
Sultan
Another
rejoiced to find that his
Mahmood
left
members
a will appointing his son
of his o^vn family.
Mahomed
his successor. Musaood
Musaood, Mahomed's twin brother, but born some hours
son,
conceived he had as good a
father's death,
title.
Both sons were absent at the time of
but Mahomed, on his arrival in Ghuznee, was crowned.
later,
their
JMusaood,
however, was the favourite both of soldiers and people, and the household troops
marched
off in a
body
to join him.
A
large force, headed
and composed principally of Hindoo cavalry, was sent in
encounter which took place, the king's party was defeated.
was hastening on to assert
Nishapoor.
all
his claim,
pursuit,
chief,
but in the
Meanwhile Musaood
and was met by the household troops
at
Before actually appealing to arms, he offered to divide the empire,
other creeds, even though unbelievers be adverse
and Ixi. 9). On the
obverse, " Dominion both past and future is of God,
and in that day the Faithful shall rejoice in the aid
of the Lord" (Koran, Surah xxx. 4, 5).
Silver coin
thereto" {Koran, Surah
ix. 33,
—
Mahmood — weight, 50 grains. On the Coins of
the Kings of Ohuzni, by Edward Thomas. Lon. 1848.
of
by an Indian
The inscription, in Kufic characters, on the sarcophagus of Mahmood'a tomb is to the following
efTect
" Jlay there be forgiveness of God, upon
liini who is the great lord, the noble Nizam-u-din
'
:
—
Abul Casim Mahmood, the son of Sebektegin. May
God have mercy upon him." Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, 1843.
54
A.D. 1030.
hy
ictaininj^ iiien;ly the portions wliich
condition he added
liis
name
sliould
Wcos,
be read
consent; and a civil
In-
[Br^oK
liiin.self
li;ul
I.
The only
conquered.
that in the Khootlja, or puljHc prayer for the soverei^,
within his
first
war broke
out,
own
Mahomed
dominions.
refused to
which tenninated in his overthrow and
According to the barljarous practice of the times, he wa« deprived
capture.
of sight, and imjtrisoned.
Miiaaood's
OF IXniA.
IIIS'I'OKV
able for personal strength.
Musa/jod mounted the throne.
He was
Ferishta says
" his
(vol.
i.
that
p. 98;,
remai'k-
arrow, after
l)er8onal
qualities.
piercing
tiie
mace was
He was
so {)onderou.s, that
distinguished
also
offended his father
The
by
man
no
of his time could
by valour and
his bold
liberality,
and independent
which here we have alone
among
situated
the hills of Cashmere,
It offered to submit,
garrison.
He
palace
at Ghuznee.
and not unfrequently
Of these
relating
took the route for Soorsooty,
summoned
the
di.sposed to grant easy terms,
till
and on arriving at
and he was
it,
seized,
and were then
Enraged at the information, he caused the ditch to be
up with sugar-canes from the adjoining
plantation.s,
planted scaling
The garrison to a man were put to
by storm.
the sword, and all the women and children were enslaved.
In 1036, when a new palace was finished at Ghuznee, containing a golden
throne, studded with jewels, and surmounted with a canopy, in which was a
golden crown, seventy maunds in weight, suspended by a golden chain, and
glistening with jewels, Musaood again set out for India, mainly with the
view of reducing the fort of Hansi, the ancient capital of Sewalik.
The
Indians believed it impregnable; and were confirmed in this belief by their
soothsayers, who assured them that it was not destined ever to fall into
Mahometan hands.
The result falsified their predictions, for in the coiu'se
The treasure found in it was immense.
of six days it was taken by storm.
Musaood next proceeded to Sonput, which he found abandoned. Lea^'ing an
ladders,
New
fort.
with one hand"
Vjearing.
he learned that some Mahometan merchants had been
captives in the
his iron
to do, the first de.serving of notice
an expedition to that country in 1033.
filled
rai.se it
transactions of Musaood's reign are not important.
to India, with
is
and
strongest mail, penetrated the hide of an elepliant;
and took the
ojSicer in
tries
charge of
he had
it,
place
he retraced his
left in his rear,
steps,
taking possession of
all
the coun-
and arrived at Lahore, the government of which
he conferred on his son Modood.
Defeat by
Musaood on
his return
found
occupation in repelling the Seljuks, who,
full
the Seljuks
iinder Togli-
rul Beg.
after passing to the left
bank of the
Jaxartes,
and residing
for
some time
in
Transoxiana, had settled and acquired considerable influence in Khorasan.
While they professed the utmost submission to
stantly
waning with
his lieutenants
his authority,
and ravaging
they were con-
his tenitories.
At
length,
in 1039, Toghrul Beg, a celebrated Seljuk warrior, mustered so strongly, that
Musaood fomid
was fought
it
necessary to take the field in person.
at Zendecan, near Merv,
The
decisive battle
and ended, in consequence of the desertion
Chap.
of
SULTANS MODOOD, AND MUSAOOD
II.]
After endeavouring to
Turkish followers, in Musaood's complete defeat.
liis
collect the
wreck of
awaited him
and, unable to repress the mutinous spirit of his troops, he began
;
to look to India as a place of refuge,
being able to retrieve his
No
ca})ital.
and
finally
withdrew
to
in the
it
hope of
Anarchy now reigned uncontrolled
affairs.
in his
own guards attempted to
army immediately followed,
sooner had he crossed the Indus than his
plunder the treasury
;
a general insui'rection of the
and Musaood, being formally
in prison,
was
A
restored.
depo.sed, his brother
Mahomed, whom he had kept
was
sovereign deprived of sight
totally unfitted to
rule in such troublous times,
and he devolved the administration on
Ahmed, one of whose
was
acts
first
to put
Musaood
Modood, son of Musaood, had, as we have
Lahore, but was at Balkh
moment he hastened
when
his father
east with his army,
seen,
his son
to death in lO+O.
been appointed governor of
was murdered.
and crushed
Ghuznee
his rivals.
of Delhi,
working on the
exertions.
At the head
in
1
i9,
He
in
had
Ghuznee and recovered
his absence;
and the Rajah
them
feelings of the Hindoos, roased
unwonted
to
army he recovered Nagarcote, overran
siege to Lahore, which, however, made good
of a powerful
great part of the Punjab, and Laid
defence.
still
who had married Toghrul
turned their attention more to the west, and Modood,
Begs grand-daughter, both maintained himself
Transoxiana.
In India advantage was taken of
Modood
Without losing a
lay open to the inroads of the Seljuks, but these formidable intruders
its
a.d. iiu.
Here new troubles
army, he returned to Gliuznee.
his
55
II.
Modood, meanwhile, was imable personally
to interfere
;
and died
without again visiting India.
left
an infant
son, wiio
was murdered by
his uncle
Abul
Has.san.
A
Musaood u.
by great crimes, now took place, and no
when Musaood II. ascended the throne. Durins:
series of usurpations, usually effected
name
of note occurs
till
1098,
the sixteen years of his reign, which ended with his death in 1114', he distin-
guished himself more as a legislator than a warrior, though his generals carried
his
arms beyond the Ganges.
On
the death of
Musaood
For some years
II.,
his court resided at Lahore.
another usurpation took
j)lace
in the person
The
of his son Arslan, who, to secure the throne, imprisoned his brothers.
unnatural act did not avail him; and he was, in his turn, deposed
by Behram,
Behrama
reign.
the only brother
who had
thirty-four years,
Behram's
e.scaped imprisonment.
was not more long than
brilliant,
reign,
which lasted
and he might have
trans-
mitted his power unimpaired, had he not been guilty of a crime which brought
its
pimishment along with
It will
I
it,
and
led to the extinction of the Gliuznee dyna.sty.
be necessary to go back a few years in order to explain the circumstances.
The
territory of Ghor, situated, as has already
northern ramifications of the Hindoo Koosh,
their original seat.
^ Arabs, and a
At a comparatively
it
regarded by the Afghans as
early period
large ])ortion of its inhabitants
the Arab dynasties were overthrown,
is
been mentioned, among the
it
was invaded by the
embraced Mahometanism.
resumed
its
When
independence, and
pi*e-
HISTORY OF INIMA.
5G
A.I). ni'<
servcfl
it
even while Sulbiii Muliiiiood was extending
Two
side.
generations
was
It
lii.s
I.
eonqueHts on every
was treacherously seized by Modood, and became
after, it
a dependency of Ghuznee.
who
[Book
still,
however, governed by
its
own
princes,
One
lived almost on terms of equality with the Sultans of Ghuznee.
of
these princes, called Kutb-u-din Sur, had married a daugliter of Sultan Behram.
Uehram'.s
This affinity might have been supposed to bring the houses of Ghuznee and
treaoliery to
tlif
houxo
of Ghor.
Ghor
most friendly
into the
It turned out otherwise.
relations.
and Behram, having obtained poaseasion of the person of
arose;
which he had acquired
sullied the reputation
brothers, Seif-u-din
death
among
His
The}'^ at
Kutb-u-din Sur had two
once flew
arms
t^j
avenge his
to
advancing upon Ghuznee, obliged Behram to seek an asylum
and,
;
and Ala-u-din.
his son-in-law,
and humanity by
for jastice
poisoning him, or putting him to an open death.
Differences
the mountains of Kerman.
Ghuznee, and
Seif-u-din, the elder brother, established him.self in
.sent
back
exinilsion.
most of
his army,
He
vmder Ala-u-din, to Feruz Coh, his former capital
thought he had gained the affections of the inhabitants, and only learned his
mistake when
to the
it
was
too late to
remedy
it.
dynasty to which Ghuznee owed
and, as soon as the winter
tion with Ghor,
Behram made
u-din, totally unprepared,
support from
had
tlie
A
strong attachment was
all its
prosperity and
prevent
set in so severely as to
his appearance at the
was about
inhabitants induced
to retire,
him
to
its
all
still
splendour;
communica-
head of an army.
when
felt
Seif-
treacherous promises of
march out and
risk a battle.
It
was no sooner commenced than the greater part of his troops passed over to
his enemy.
For a time he was able, by the aid of a small body of his o^v•n
people
who remained
stanch, to
maintain an unequal contest, but was at
length wounded, overpowered, and taken prisoner.
!
Behram, instead of availing
himself of the opportunity to wipe off the stain which he had brought on his
reputation
by the murder of the
eldest brother, acted
Seif-u-din, after being ignominiously
paraded round the
more
still
city,
atrociously.
and subjected
to
every species of indignity, was put to death by torture.
Ala-u-din, the third brother,
His
defeat 1)y
Ala
u-diii.
geance.
still
remained, and set out burning for ven-
In his eagerness, his preparations were imperfect
in insult or because the blood already shed
had
;
and Behram,
satiated him,
made an
either
offer of
was indignantly rejected, and the battle immediately began to rage.
Behram's superiority of numbers made the issue for some time doubtful, but
at last, when left almost alone, he turned his back and fled from the field.
peace.
Extinction
of
The
It
victor immediately advanced on Ghuznee,
Ghuzna-
vide dyuasty
ance.
Its
doom was
sealed.
which cordd
For three or seven days
(for
offer
no
resist-
accounts varj")
fire
and sword continued the work of destruction, and all the proud monuments
which attested the power, wealth, and splendour of the Ghuznavide kings were
laid in ruins.
had found
it.
Behram hastened to seek an asylum in India, but
His son Khosru was more fortunate, and reached
died before he
Lahore, where
iAP.
AND
ALA-U-DIN
IT.]
SUCCESSORS.
he was received with acclamations, and fixed the seat of
reigned
f
till
1160,
and was succeeded by
his son
liis
He
government.
\ d
iivs.
Khosru Melik, at whose death,
wreck of the Ghuznavide empire passed to the house of Ghor,
and the Ghuznavide dynasty became extinct.
in
186, the last
1
The two
resume
to
it,
last reigns
is
it
have anticipated the course of the narrative.
In order
necessary to return to Ala-u-din, and trace the history of the
house of Ghor through him and his successors.
After the signal vengeance taken for the murder of his two brothers, Ala-udin acted as
if
the heroic part of his
life
had been played out; and,
retiring to
the old Ghorite capital of Feruz Cob, he followed his natural bent
by giving
himself up to pleasure.
He found it even more perilous than war would have
been, for the Seljuks, under Sultan Sanjar, during an invasion of Ghor and
Ghuznee, made him prisoner.
He was soon, however, set at liberty, and
reinstated in his dominions, which he held for four years,
Sliortly before,
u-din,
confidence
set
them
was not
at liberty,
and replaced them
misplaced, but he
a.ssassin.
had reigned
He was
little
His
more than a year when he
succeeded, in 1157,
by the above
cousins,
ruled jointly and, contrary to the general rule in such cases, harmoniously.
attention to the east; and, from consolidating the
sometimes been thought to have a better
title
— Shahab-u-din
Mahometan power
gave
his
there,
has
even than Sultan Mahmood,
be regarded as the true founder of the Mahometan empire in India.
In 1176, he took the town of Ooch, situated at the point where the rivers
of the Punjab, united into one stream under the
bank
left
it
(^l^uliL
""'"'"'
but this
;
in their governments.
Gheias-u-din superintended the territories in the west
to
by
he had imprisoned his two nephews, Gheias-u-din and Shahab-
by the hand of an
who
udin
his death in 11.56.
with the view of securing the succession to Seif-u-din, his son
young prince
fell
till
.\ia
of the Indus.
proved disastrous.
name
of the Punjnud, join the
In 1178 he undertook an expedition to Gujerat, but
His next expedition, after he had marched twice to
Lahore, and obliged Khosru Melik, the last of the Ghuznavides, to submit to a
disadvantageous treaty, and give his son as a hostage, was to Scinde.
completely overrun
it,
he once more attacked Kho.sru Melik.
Having
This prince,
assuming the courage of despair, made an alliance with the Gukkm's, and opened
the
campaign with the capture of one of
diu, niuler the
pretext that he
his
was about
enemy's strongest
to
march
for
forts.
Shahab-u-
Khorasan, where
affairs
nad assumed an alarming appearance, increased his army, and at the same
time
made
overtures of peace to Khosru Melik, sending back his son,
whom
he
The stratagem succeeded. Khosru
Melik, thrown completely off" his guard, set out to welcome his returning son,
and was surpi'ised by Shaliab-u-din, who surrounded his camp with a strong
body of cavalry, and took him prisoner. The last of the Ghuznavides and his
held as a hostage, in proof of his sincerity.
family were sent to Gheias-u-din,
after
a long confinement, they were
Vol.
I.
who imprisoned them
all.
in a castle.
Here,
put to death.
8
Exploits of
"
di'n.'^
HISTORY OF
r^s
AD,
[Book
INI>I.\.
Sh;iliab-u-din, being tlius left in India witliout a
ll'.il.
mined
to extend his conquests.
difficulty,
It
as his army, diviwn Irom the warlike province of the west,
have been considered more than a match
to
The
it.
cessfully
rival, deter-
he did not anticipate much
prol^aljle
is
Mahometan
struggle, however,
was
for
I.
must
any that the Hindoos could oppose
Several of the Indian rajahs suc-
severe.
maintained their ground, while few of them yielded without a manful
resistance.
In this war of independence the Rajpoots particularly distinguished them-
Hindoo
struggle
for iiulo-
paiulence.
Belonging to the military
selves.
bom
were
soldiers,
and lived under a kind of military feudal system, not unlike
that of the clans in the
While
had
eacli chief
rajah as their
Highlands of Scotland and some other
common
some disadvantages.
head,
and were thus in the
At
most favourable
for
same time they laboured under
tiie
them
made
again.st political wile.s,
it difficult
and an indolence and love
keep them under regular
to
di.scipline.
Near the time of Shahab-u-din,' Hindoostan was mainly composed
Dissensions
among the
rajahs.
po.sition
Living almost secluded, they had a simplicity of manners
to protect
of freedom which
countrie.s.
his hereditary territory, all the chiefs held under the
united action and individual exertion.
little fitted
Hindoo system, they
class in the original
leading sovereignties
— Delhi, Canouge, Ajmeer, and
On
Callinjer.
of four
a failure of
heirs in the third, the heir-apparent of the first
had been adopted, and thus
Delhi and Ajmeer were united under one head.
This arrangement had given
who thought he ought to have been
when cordial union among the rajahs
great offence to the Rajah of Callinjer,
adoption; and thus,
preferred in the
The
constituted their only safety, considerable dissension prevailed.
disunion,
thus dangex'ous to them, was most opportune for Shahab-u-din, who, taking
advantage of
it,
made
on the newly amalgamated, but by no
his first attack
means firmly cemented rajahships of Delhi and Ajmeer.
He
1191, with the capture of Batinda.
scarcely left
when he
confederation,
the
Their victory over
Shahab-u-
enemy on
commenced
placed a garrison in
it;
in
but had
learned that the Rajah of Delhi, at the head of a powerful
was advancing against
with an army of 200,000 horse and
it
In retracing his steps to relieve the garrison, he was met by
3000 elephants.
Il
It
the banks of the Soorsooty, about eighty
immediately joined
battle,
mUes from
Delhi.
He
but with forces so inferior that both wings, being
outflanked, bent backwards tiU they
met
in the rear,
and gave
his
army
the
din.
form of a
that he
cut
was advised
down
lines,
While standing within
circle.
to provide for his safety.
This so enraged him that he
the messenger sent with the advice, and rushed into the enemy's
making
terrible slaughter.
The
smote, drove his elephant right against
time to frustrate
'
centre, affair's looked so desperate
its
it,
Ferishta gives his full
Mahomed. Ghoory, and
Rajali of Delhi, observing
him
;
and struck a blow with
name
speak.s of
as Moiz - n - din
him under the name
of
where he
but Shahab saw his intention in
his lance
Mahomed Ghoory,
which knocked out a
not as joint sovereign, but
onlv as the general of Gheias-u-din.
CnAP.
number of
The rajah returned the thrust by
his teeth,
He was
which pierced Shahab's right arm.
which his army had
at Lahore,
now
with
he returned to Ghor, and disgraced the
filled
them
of his
whose
officers to
to
walk round the
with barley, about their necks.
After a year, spent partly in pleasure and festivity, and partly in preparation
for
new campaign, Shahab
a
from Ghuznee at the head of 120,000
set out
shahab-a
veugeanco.
chosen horse, and took the road to India without disclosing his intentions.
At Peshawer an aged
trust
ill
much
sage, prostrating himself before him, said
the time of
among
my defeat
in
us."
On
my
Shahab
Hindoostan
but in sorrow and anxiety
recover
—
king,
"
we
thy conduct and wisdom, but as yet thy design has been a subject of
speculation
;
I
replied
— "Know,
old man, that since
have never slumbered
I Jiave, therefore,
honour from those
lost
in ease,
nor waked
determined with this army to
idolaters, or die in the attempt."
arriving at Lahore, he sent an ambassador to Ajmeer, offering, as the New
only alternative,
war or
conversion.
The rajah returned an indignant answer,
.\JMEER, from near the Gogra Pass.'— From Dixon's Sketch of Mairwara.
and immediately applied for succour to
readily granted
victory again
l)rinces,
their
;
and an army equal
all
to that
encamped on the same
"who had sworn by
1192.
off the field,
Having recovered
almost wholly deserted.
mouth-bags,
horses'
an arrow, ad.
on the point of falUng, when one
desertion he attributed his discomfiture, com])elling
city
letting tiy
up behind him and bore him
of his faithful attendants leaped
wound
59
SHAHAB-U-DIN,
II.]
the neighbouring princes.
It
was
which had recently given them the
In this army were 150 Rajpoot
field.
the water of the Ganges that they would concpicr
enemies or die mart}Ts to their
While the camps were separated
faith."
V
'
Ajmeer was occasionally the resilience of the
emperor, .Jehan>;eer, who was here visited, in IGIO,
by Sir Thomas Roe, the En;;lish ambassador.
In
1818 it was ceded to the British, and was then in a
ruinous state, from which, however, it soon recovered,
and
is
India.
now one
On
of the liandsonie.st cities in British
thesuniniit of the
stands a fortress,
named
in circumference,
hill,
in the back ground,
two miles
capable of containing 12U0 men,
Taraglinr, nearly
but fast going to decay.— /?n/f;'ia/ Gazetteer,
60
AD.
lur.
by
insTOIlY OF INDI.x.
Soorsooty, the Indian princes sent a measage to
tlie
if
in safety.
He was
humble
so
and, in the midst of
in
surprise; and,
tlifir joy,
gave themselves up to revelry.
confusion, they
tlie least
managed
continued the contest
till
near sunset,
to
to
Shahab,
in
when Shahab,
steel
Notwithstanding
and had
placing hiraself at the
armour,
The Indians were
do but slaughter them.
for a
in the camj) of
to bring their line into tolerable order,
which carried the day.
Mahometans had nothing
was
river,
notice of his approach.
head of 12,000 chosen horsemen, covered with
charge,
liini
it
would produce, prepared
by the early dawn, having forded the
the Indians before they had
HiiMioo
warning
answer that they at once attributed
his
anticipation of the effect wliich his mes,sage
tlie
Slialial>,
I.
he persisted, but at the same time offering to allow him to retreat
of his fate
fear,
fBooK
made a
and the
panic-struck,
Many
rajahs
furious
fell
on the
the Rajah of Delhi and Ajmeer was taken prisoner, and aftenvards
field;
The immediate
put to death in cold blood.
were the
results of the victory
surrender of the forts Soorsooty, Samana, Koram, and Hansi, and the capture
of Ajmeer, where
all
in arms were put to the sword,
and the
rest reserved for
slavery.
Shahab next turned
On
sents.
his
arms towards Delhi, but was propitiated by pre-
his return to Ghuznee, he
marched north to the Sewalik Mountairts,
plundering and destroying wherever he went.
Exi)ioits
Eibuk, the
officer
whom
he had
left
with a strong detachment in Koram, took
the fort of Meerut and the city of Delhi.
We
Indian
The
In the
shall afterwards see
1193, he fixed the
latter, in
and compelled the surrounding
seat of his government,
Mahometanism.
After he had reached home,
districts to
him make a prominent
embrace
figure in
affairs.
restless
spirit
Ghuznee, and he
is
of
Shahab would not allow him
to remain
His proceedings were not
soon again found in India.
unimportant, but the personal share which he had in them
of in consequence of the prominence given to Eibuk,
Viceroy of India, and to
are mainly ascribed.
whom
During
his future military
this visit to his
long at
is
whom
almost lost sight
he had
now made
achievements in this country
Indian dominions, he defeated
the Rajah of Canouge and Benares, took the fort of A.sny, where the rajah had
up
laid
idols in
with
his treasure;
and afterwards, entering the
more than a thousand
spoil, his
city of Benares,
broke the
After his return to Ghuznee, laden
temples.
conquests and \dctories were continued
by Eibuk. who,
in
1
194,
defeated and slew the Rajah of Hemraj, and took revenge in the capital of
Gujerat for the defeat which his master had there sustained.
In 1195 Shahab, retui'ning once more to Hindoostan, took Byana, and sent
the
His d«fMt
tena."'^'
new governor whom he
after a long siege.
appointed against Gwalior, which
The following year
Eibiik sustained in Rajpootana
is
chiefly
—a defeat
shut himself up in the fort of Ajmeer
;y-ielded
only
remarkable for a defeat which
so severe that he
Having again
was compelled
to
recruited his strength
CiiAP.
lie
SHAHAB-U-DIN.
ir.]
assumed the
offensive,
and took the
dencies,
During these
reduced the capital of Gujerat, with
Shahab received
Gheias-u-din, and returned to Ghuznee,
all its
depen- ad
intelligence of the death of his brother
where he was crowned
sole sovereign.
Y\'iien
he attained this additional elevation, his good fortune seemed to forsake
liiia
During a struggle with the King of Kharism, he sustained a defeat
wliich cost
him the
loss of all his
army
annihilation of a noble
Dn
was
left
treasure,
and
siege,
and was not
Gliuznee, he found
allow him to enter
;
fort,
of Samarcand.
in possession of one of his
it
the King of
'^'"*™"'
but had no
suffered to return to his dominions
Khan
he had paid a large ransom to the
an
so complete
simhabde-
with scarcely a hundred men.
escaping from the field of battle, he shut himself up in a
means of sustaining a
till
elephants and
that he
i.'Oj
and Budaoon.
forts of CaUinjer, Kalpi,
events,
61
own
officers,
and he was, in consequence, obliged
On amving
who would
at
not
to continue his route to
Having here been reinforced, he retm'ned to Ghuznee, and regained
possession.
Meanwhile, the Gukkurs had been laying waste the country around
Lahore.
They continued to ravage with impunity, for Shahab's disasters
left him without the means of chastising them, till a treaty which he had
concluded wnth the King of Kharism left him fully at leisure to bring all
Mooltan.
into
his forces
the field
against
He
them.
accordingly again set out for
and placed the Gukkurs between two
India,
Eibuk marched against them from the
west, while
fallen into their hands,
dispersed.
It
was
rescued,
and
engaging them on the
fires,
Lahore, which had
east.
their plundering hordes
would seem, however, that they, not long
after,
were entirely
again collected in
Ravages
of the
great
numbers at the
minating war
again.st the
and cut
crueltie.s,
and Mooltan.
off the
to
his
mountains of Sewalik, carried on an exter-
Mahometans, on
whom
cukkuw.
they exercised unheard-of
communication between the provinces of Peshawer
Their incm'sions continued
captive, con.sented to
much
foot of the
till
embrace Mahometanism.
influence with his people, that
many
their king,
On
who had been made
being sent home, he had so
of them, to
whom
religion appeai-s
have been very much a matter of indifference, were easily induced to adopt
new
Many
creed.
others,
not so easily pereuaded, yielded to
force,
and
Islamism became the prevailing religion of the mountaineers both east and
west of the Indus.
The
affairs
of India being settled, Shahab, in the end of 1205, set out from
Lahore to return to Ghuznee.
He was
meditating an expedition beyond the
Oxus, and had given orders to throw a bridge across
its
banks.
Meanwhile he had only advanced on
his
it,
and
collect
an ami}' on
homeward journey
as far
A
body of twenty Gukkurs, who had lost some of their relatives
during the war, and had entered into a conspiracy to avenge their death
by assassinating him, had been tracking his footsteps, and watching their
as the Indus.
opportunity.
Owing
to the excessive heat,
he had ordered the screens which
surrounded the royal tents in the form of a square to be struck, in order to
Assassina
hab-u-ain.
HISTORY OF IXniA.
62
A.D. 1200.
obtain a IVccr circulation of
a view of the interior so far
In the dead of
ment.
was
asleep,
tiie
fanned by two
Gukkur consjiirators had
know tlie position of Shahab's
;iif,
fis
fliooK
'I'Iil-
to
night they crept stealthily up
olttained
tliu.s
private apart-
H«
the tent door.
and before any alarm could ha given they
slaves,
had done the bloody deed so
tfj
f.
that
effectually,
his lifeless
body
la,y
pierced
with twenty-two wounds.
This tragical termination of Shahab's eventful
Disputed
took place on the 14th
life
sucoos-sioii
His
of March, 1206.
reign, including that of the joint sovereignty with hLs
The succession was disputed. The chiefs of
Baha-u-din, who was Shahab's cousin, and had been ap-
brother, lasted thirty-two years.
Ghor claimed it for
pointed by him governor of Bainian; the
vizier
and
officers
of the Turkish
mercenaries supported the claim of Shaliab's nepliew, the son of his brother
The
Gheias-n-din.
claimants, however,
decision, for Shahab's
had comparatively
little interest
in the
death was the signal for internal commotions, which were
by the dismemberment of his dominions. His nephew Mahmood was indeed proclaimed king, and held a nominal supremacy; but the
Eldoz at Ghuznee, and Eibuk,
real power was in the hands of two individuals
shortly followed
HI
Eidoz and
—
or,
as
he
is
often called, Kutb-u-din, in India.
have now to do
;
for
It is
with the latter that
we
vmder him India, dissevered from the governments beyond
the Indus, assumed the form of a distinct and independent kingdom.
first
heads of this kingdom were originally
slaves, their d3Tiasty is
As the
known as
that of the Slave Kings.
CHAPTETl
Medieval India continued
— The Slave
Kings
— Eibuk
—Altamsh— Sultana Eezia— Mogul
Khilji Jelal-u-din — Proceedings in tie
or Kutb-u-din
— Gheias-u-din Bulbun — House
— House of Lodi.
Toghlak
of
—
House
Deccan
irruptions into India
ijIBUK had been
III.
of
carried off in infancy,
and was brought
to
Nishapoor, where a wealthy citizen purchased him, and spent
some pains on
his education.
sold to a merchant,
who
On
presented
the citizen's death, he was
him
to Shahab-u-din.
the prince he became so great a favourite that he
into his confldence,
Eibiik or
Kutb-u-din.
talents
made him
and lived with him as
a friend.
at once his royal master's
His
fidelity
With
was taken
and military
most trusted and most successful
and he was ultimately dignified with the title of Viceroy of India. In
this character, he fixed his government at DeUii, which thus began the course
The longer.
of prosperity wliich it was destined to rmi under Mahometan nile.
general,
EIBUK OK KUTB-U-DIN.
CiiAr. III.]
and by
more
far the
became independent,
He
He
iiad
G3
brilliant part of Eibuk's career
finished before he
for he afterwards reigned only fom- years,
and died
in 1210.
displayed considerable tact in strengthening his position by
affinity.
ad.
1210.
Married the
'|;'"K''t«'-
"»"
himself married the daughter
who
of Eldoz,
Ghuznee
ruled supreme in
gave in
his sister he
;
:a-
marriage to Nasir-u-din Kubachi,
who
m
was
held a delegated sovereignty
Ctcmcie
Scindt
and
;
his
daughter he
gave in marriage to Altamsh, who,
though purchased with his money,
held
tlie
place in his esteem,
first
and possessed talents which
ulti-
mately made liim his successor.
Eibuk's
di<l
pated.
with
Eldoz
produce the cordiality
not
wliich
affinity
might have been
They not only
antici-
quarrelled,
but proceeded to open war, and
carri(Hl
it
on with a virulence
which brought each of them
ternately to the
al-
brink of ruin.
Nasir-u-din never thought
t)f
puting Eibuk's authority
and so
;
dis-
long as his brother-in-law lived,
was
KfTB
perfectly
with
satisfied
He was
delegated sovereignty.
deference to Altamsh,
lIiNAR, Ueliii.'— After
Diiiiiell.
a
not
dispo.sed,
however, to yield the same
and made himself independent
ruler of
Mooltan and
Scinde.
Shortly after Altamsii had secured his position as Eibuk's successor, the
whole of Asia was thrown into consternation by the appearance of Ghenghis
Khan."'
Originally a })etty
sovereign of
all
Mogul
Tartary, and, at
burst through
its
mountain passes
of Kharism,
at
whom
the treachery
the
first
and barbarity of
y««s3aigtv
^Jil^^
l^^^MW
^^^SZ^^*^
murdering the ambjvssadors of Ghenghis
the crime,
when he
fled
to die
;
^^^^
head of
with
its
countless hordes,
ii-resistible fury.
blow was
The Sultan
struck, deserved it for
which he had been
guilty,
in
and the penalty was not more than
broken - hearted on
The Kutb Minar is a column of victory, built by
Kutb-udiu, to celebrate his conquest of the Hindoos.
It is 4S feet 4 inches diameter at the base, and when
nieasuied in U'M, was 242 feet in height. The base.
'
he had become the acknowledged
chief,
a
solitary island of the
which is circular, forms a polygon of 27 sides, and
there are four balconies running round the pillar.
- Silver coin of Ghenghis Khan ;
weight, 47 grains,
From Thomas's
Coinn of the Kings of Ghuznt.
Aitamsiihi.s
successor
HISTORY OF INDIA.
T)!'
AD
i2.il),
Caspian.
His son Jdal-u din
Itore
ii])
iiioic inanl'iilly
[TV>ok
;
but
seemed to have no power either to intimidate or weaken
I.
after victf>ry
vicfc<')ry
his fearful a/lversary,
.\ppoaraiico
..ffihenghiH
and he only saved
showered
by swimmin;^ the Indu.s, while the enemy's arrow.i
him
Tlie Motfuls threatenirif; to cro.ss the river in
him.self
tliick ai'ound
Altamsh,
pm'suit, he continued his fliglit to Delhi.
for
t^j
wlwm
he here
applierl
an asylum, feared to expose himself to Mogul vengeance, and gave an answer
with whicii Jelal-u-din was
.so
dissatisfied, that
he
made a party
for him.self,
and, in alliance with the Gukkurs, roamed the country, plundering and devas-
and even making himself master of Scinde, while Nasir-u-din Kubachi
was glad to take refuge in Mooltan. To all appearance he might have ma/Ie
good his footing, if he had not been lured away by a brighter pro.spect, which
tating,
seemed opening in
army
crossed the Indus,
provisions compelled
Nasir-u-din,
Before he quitted Scinde a detaehment of the Mogul
Persia.
and commenced
them
who had
their barbarous warfare
;
but want of
to depart, after slaughtering 10,000 Indian prisoners.
detachment when
repulsed the Mogul
Mooltan, was less fortunate
when he was
it
attacked a second time
laid siege to
by Altamsh.
After retreating to Bukkur, he had, with the view of proceeding to Scinde,
embarked with
and
all
family on the Indus,
all his
on board perished.
Altamsh was thus
when
a sudden squall upset the boat,
This tragical event happened in 1225.
rid of a fonnidable competitor,
Another competitor, however, remained, in the person
accession of territory.
of Bakhtiar Khilji, the governor of Behar
and Bengal.
instrumental in conquering these provinces
;
acknowledging any supremacy in Altamsh.
Deiiii
the
Mahometan
to force,
He had
been mainly
and though he was contented to
hold them under Eibuk, one of whose sisters he had
had recourse
and obtained a large
The
mamed, he had no
latter, after
and Bakhtiar was not only worsted, but
Altamsh, throned in his capital at Delhi,
now swayed
idea of
persuasion failed,
lost his
life.
his sceptre over all
Mahometans had conquered in India. They were
enough to satisfy any reasonable ambition, but he was
the territories which the
empire.
j^rge
still
euough and
rich
bent on conquests, which, being wholly his own, might form the most solid
basis of his fame.
Six years, from 1226 to 1232, were spent in executing these
ambitious schemes; and in the end, after the conquest of Malwah, with
its
famous
had been completed, all Hindoostan proper, with a few isolated
and unimportant exceptions, did homage to Altamsh. The additional greatness
thus conferred on him was not enjoyed long, for he died fom' years after, in
capital Oojein,
Ap-'i,
1236.
It
may
Ilahometans of India
be mentioned, as a proof of the anxiety which the
still
felt
to
keep up their connection with the central
authority of Islamlsm in the west, that Altamsh, in the com-se of his reign,
LI
received his investitm-e from the Caliph of Bagdad.
'
Rnkn
unuorthy
reign.
Rukn-u-din, the son and successor of Altamsh, was a very unworthy represeutative of his talents.
women, and
buffoons,
was thronged with musicians, dancinghe was too indolent and effeminate to support the
Wliile his coiu-t
THE SULTANA
ITT.]
CiiAP.
government, and devolved them on
cares of
enough to undertake the task, but performed
assumed
make way for
the
She was not
father,
of
title
Sultana
l^is
"Rezia
so capriciously
and
ad.
viss.
tp'annically,
who
__^
__
..___
for her
his campaigns,
the administration
intrusted her with
in preference to
who was ambitious
mother,
Rezia.
new to government,
when absent on
Ferishta,
his sister,
it
liis
end of seven months, Kukn-u-din was
that a rebellion broke out, and, at the
de[)0,sed to
Go
KEZIA.
According to
sons.
Begum was endowed
with every princely virtue; and those
who
scrutinize her actions
most severely,
her no fault but that she
will find in
was a woman."
The circumstances under which she
assumed the government were difficult.
The two most powerful
state
i.r.Hr-.'l-
parties in the
were cordially united in deposing
them
her brother, but only one of
con-
The malcon-
curred in her elevation.
tent faction, lieaded by the vizier of the
two previous
reigns, at once appealed to
the sword, and, appearing before Delhi,
IXTKRIOR OK
From
defeated an
to its relief
army which was advancing
But though Rezia was weak
THfc;
ToMU OK ALTAMSH.
Lviiiril's
Views in India.
was powerful
in arms, she
in intrigue, uei
and succeeded so well in sowing dissensions, that the confederacy formed against
her melted
away of its own
Equal
accord.
Seated daily on her
administration.
skill
and
tin-one, she
success
was
marked her
accessible to
and
her reputation,
impartially.
Unfortunately, she had one failing which affected
and lowered her
in the estimation of her subjects.
a strong and undisguised favour for her master of the horse,
originally
appointing
an Abyssinian
slave,
she raised above
him commander-in-chief
It does
to
lift
her up
when
to excite a rebellion,
sinian
she
it
successful.
Here her blandishments again availed
he
fell
who had been
her,
1.
At
V>y
is,
that she allowed
was enough, however,
After a short struggle, the Abys-
and she
de.sperately in love with her, married her,
to the throne.
Vci,
It
She was confided
was murdered, and Sultana Rezia was deposed.
charge of a Turki chief called Altunia,
nol)ilitv,
not seem that her honour was
mounted on horseback.
and make
Sbe showed
whom, though
her other
all
compromised; for the utmost said against her in this respect
him
gave a
and dispensed
patient ear to complaints, redressed grievances, reformed abuses,
justice firmly
all,
internal
to the
the leader in the rebellion.
so
won upon
Altunia that
and attempted to
restore her
the head of an army, she advanced to Delhi, fought
9
two
skiii in
A
U. 1260.
OF IVDTA.
IITSTOJIV
6t)
bloody
I
with
She had reigned three years and a
half.
them,
.'ind
when Uczia was
In 1239,
Miiiz ii-din
t;iken jtrLsoner
Kittles, lo.st
put to death.
was
[Bof»K
lier
Both were
hiwhand.
Behnim was
brother Moiz-u-din
deposed, her
I.
Itelintm
Kucceeds
liezia.
He was
placed on the throne.
alto<:^etlier
unworthy of
rid himself of the importunities of tho.se to
He was
treachery and assas.sination.
reigned
was an
and
more than two
years.
The
to
he owed his elevation, by
imprisoned and put to death after he had
The only event of importance
Another
irruption of the Moguls into the Punjab.
in his reign
reign, equally short
was Ala-u-din Masaood, a son of Ilukn-uHis crimes were soon terminated by a violent death. During his reign
worthless, followed.
din.
two
little
whom
and endeavoured
it;
irruptions of the
niler
Moguls took place
;
the one into the north-west, and the
by a route which they had not previously attempted
other
— through
Thibet
into Bengal.
Reign of
Nasir-u-din
Mahmood, grandson
of Altam.sh, after a short
was
interval,
Nasir-\i-din
Mahmood.
He was
raised to the throne in 1246.
of retired
and studious
habits,
and
rid
himself of the cares of government by devolving them on his vizier Gheia.s-u-din
Bulbun.
The Moguls were now the great enemies
of Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, Cabool, and
Ghuznee were
as India
was constantly threatened by them,
standing
army along
the frontier.
to be feared.
it
was
portant.
generally.
pro\'inces
in their posse&sion;
and
keep up
nece.ssary to
a.
Several of the earlier years of this reign
were employed in suppressing disturbances which had
and the Punjab
The
The events
arisen, chiefly in ilooltan
of the latter years are, generally, unim-
In 1259, the Rajpoots of Meerut, ha\'ing risen in insurrection, the
Bulbun led an army against them; and, having obliged them to take
refuge among the mountainous districts, continued for four months to ravage
Vizier
by
the country
The
and sword.
fire
barbarities thus committed, however,
the Rajpoots desperate, and they nished
plain, attacking the
difficulty in
Mahometans
keeping his
men
down with aU
so suddenly
together.
and
their forces into the
fiercely that
Bulbun had great
Superior discipline finally prevailed,
and the Rajpoots were driven back to their fastnesses with great
Above 10,000 fell on the field; 200 chiefs, taken prisoners, were put
and the great body of
Embassy
from the
King of
their followers
made
were condemned to
slavery.
slaughter.
to death;
Shortly
before this formidable outbreak, an ambassador arrived at Delhi from Hoolakoo,
King
went out
in state to
these last were
is
fights
uncertain.
They may have been merely
style.
fii-e,
were then well acquainted.
then in the
for display,
with which the Mahometans,
A
series of
reviews and sham
and the ambassador was thep led through the city to
where everything was arranged for his ^'eception in the most gorAmong those who graced the ceremony, and stood next the throne,
were performed
the palace,
geous
east,
horse,
2000 elephants, and 3000 carriages of fireworks.
but more probably consisted of the Greek
even of the far
his approach, the vizier
meet him, with a train of 50.000 foreign
service of the Delhi government,
What
On
of Persia, and grandson of Ghenghis Khan.
Persia.
;
[
GHEIAS-U-DIN BULBUN.
Chap
TTT
were
many
]
67
There were present,
tributary Indian princes.
also,
twenty-five princes of Irak-Ajemi, Khorasan, and Transoxiana,
])rotection at Delhi
no fewer than ad.
who had sought
from the devastating hordes of Ghenghis Khan.
Nasir-u-din died of a lingering disease in 1266, after a reign of twenty years,
"abitaof
Naair
He makes
on the page of history; and was, both by nature and
figure
little
Though
adapted for a private than for a public
])arentage,
he had acquired parsimonious habits, and lived in the utmost sim-
When
imprisoned in early
of his pen; and,
as
much
as
when seated on
would
an-angements
is
the throne, he
made
it
his daily practice to wi'ite
Ferishta's account of his domestic
— "Contrary to the custom of other
He had but one wife, whom
of housewifery.
When she complained one
concubines
in
not to burden
was only a
m her duty with
kept no
day, that she had burned her fingers
assist her,
trustee for the state,
with needless expenses.
it
princes, he
he obliged to do every homely part
baking his bread, and desired he would allow a maid to
her request, saying that he
of royal
he maintained himself by the labours
purchase his food.
suffice to
curious:
life,
station.
u-(Jiii.
habit,
far better
plicity.
)2<>t)
He
he rejected
and was determined
therefore exhorted her to persevere
and God would reward her on the day of judgment."
patience,
by European writers Balin, had long
been virtual, and on his master's death, became actual sovereign.
He was the
son of a powerfid Turki chief, but, when a youth, had been carried off" by the
Moguls and sold to a merchant, who took him to Bagdad. Here he was bought
Gheias-u-din Bulbun, usually called
iJuiimn
by an inhabitant of Bussorah, who, on learning that he belonged to the same
Altamsh, toolc
tribe as
him
liberally that his previous
His
first
in
when
paid for him so
that monarch
master returned with an independent fortune.
emplo}Tnent wjis as falconer, because he was ])articularly
hawking;
the art of
to Delhi,
but,
by the
influence of a brother,
whom
skilful in
he found living
high favom' at court, he obtained a higher position and became a noble.
the reign of Rukn-u-diu, he
to return,
commanded
in the Punjab.
On
that remained,
life.
He
t_yTant,
and declared himself independent.
and was taken
prisoner.
who,
therefore took the only alternative
Wlien the Sultana Rezia
mounted the throne, he joined the confederacy which marched to Delhi
her,
In
receiving an order
he refused to place himself in the power of that worthless
he learned, had a design upon his
iiiseaiiy
to depose
After a time he effected his escape, and became
a leading supporter of Behram, during whose reign he held the government of
Hansi and Rewaree, and distinguished himself in suppressing the insun-ections
in
Meerut.
In the reign of Ala-u-din Musaood, he held the
Hajib; and at
last,
as has been seen, exercised
all
office
of
Ameer
the powei-s of sovereign,
though nominally only the \nzier of Nasir-u-din.
Bulbun began
his reign
with some acts of what he deemed necessary severity;
and having thus made his position secm'e, acquired a high reputation for justice
seems
Bidom.
He was
a liberal rewarder of merit, and a rigid coirector of crime;
to have attached
more imiiortance
to birth than mii^ht have been
"'"
i>at""n-
literature
OS
A.D.
1206.
HTSTOP.Y
expected in so wise a man; and,
Hindoo
to a place of trust
and power.
many
found
was the most
INDIA.
in i^articular, rnfule
of the most distinguished wiiters of
credit Ferishta,
<<V
polite
t<^>
apfK>int
and kissagoes or
tiie
period to his court, which,
and magnificent
in the
Khan Shaheed, another
Various other
societies,
story-tellers,
I.
any
His jjatronage of literature brought srnne
laneous but not less attractive descrijjtion, as
actors,
a rule never
world
met
society, of
we may
if
His example
imitators in the cajutal; and, while a society of learned
at the house of a prince called
Hook
I
men
a more miscel-
consisted of masiciarLS, dancers,
it
at the hoase of the king's seajnd
were formed
for similar purj)Oses,
inet
in
s^ni.
every quarter of
Not merely the literary tastes of the king, but his love of show wa.s
sedulously imitated and splendid palaces, equipages, and liveries became quite
Delhi.
;
a rage amonfj the courtiers.
love
warms
Ferishta
Unlbnii's
as he describes the
pomp and
i)f
l)oinp.
surrounded
and proceeds
him.self,
monies of introduction to
tlie
throne without a mixture of
Bulbun
less
as follows:
with which the monarch
imposing were the cere-
royal pre.sence, that none could approach the
awe and
splendid in his procession.s.
purple and gold tra])pings.
state
— "So
admiration.
Nor was Gheias-u-din
His state elephants were covered with
His horse -guards, consisting of 1000 Tartars,
appeared in glittering armour, mounted on the finest steeds of Persia and
Arabia, with silver
bits,
foot, in rich liveries,
and housings of
rich embroidery.
Five hundred chosen
with drawn swords, preceded him, proclaiming
his
approach
His nobles followed according to their rank, wuth their
and clearing the way.
various equipages and attendants."
His
zeal for
is
not unworthy of notice, that Bulbun took a very marked interest in
is
now known
It
temperance.
what
An
as the temperance cause.
officer
of rank, son of the
keeper of the royal wardrobe, and governor of the pro\'ince of Budaoon, had,
while in a state of drunkenness, slain one of his personal dependants, and, on the
complaint of the widow, was sent
Another
the whole court.
guilty of the
higli officer, the
and beaten to death in presence of
governor of Oude,
same crime under the influence of
whipping of 500
he had
for, tried,
lashes,
who had been
intoxication, received a public
and was given over as a slave to the widow of the man
These are not to be regarded as solitary instances of rigid
killed.
justice,
but rather part of a general system adopted for the purpose of putting
In the following statement of Ferishta, there
drunkenness.
an enactment of the
like
was addicted
a great
Maine-law: — "Gheias-u-din
to the use of wine, but
enemy
is
down
something very
Bulbun in
his
youth
on his accession to the throne he became
to the luxury, prohibiting the use
and manufacture of fermented
liquors throughout his dominions, under the severest penalties.'"'
Though fond of
Fits of
splendour, and
by no means
niggardly,
of economy.
During one of
Bulbun seems some-
economy
times to have been seized with
a
list
and
of
all
fits
these,
the veterans wdio had served in the preceding reigns to be
settled half-pay,
with exeni|)tion from active duty, on
all
he caused
made
who were
out,
reported
MOOUL INCURSIONS.
Chap. III.]
as
worn
of
modern times have adopted, gave great
til)
The arrangement, though one which the most enlightened
out.
dissatisfaction;
states
a.d.
1-270.
sheer
Khan
and the veterans
induced a magistrate of Delhi, venerable for years and character, and high in
He
favour, to represent their case to the king.
put on a face of great dejection.
to court, and, while standing in the presence,
The king observing
it,
magistrate, " that
in the presence of
if,
was
inquired the cause: "I
God,
accordingly went the next day
all
just thinking," replied
men were
the old
tlie
what
rejected,
The device succeeded, and the veterans were again
would become of me."
placed on full pay.
In the year 1270 the king's nei)hew. Sheer Khan,
Mooltan,
of Lahore,
Mogul
incursions.
ance.
It
them
;
Sirhind,
These
Batinda,
restless
&;c.,
and
all
He was
died.
governor
the districts exposed to
depredators immediately
made
their appear-
seems that several of the subordinate governors were in league with
and owing
to this cause, as well as to
mutual jealousies and
dis.sensions
made such head that Bulbun was obliged to
appoint his eldest son. Prince Mahmood, viceroy of the frontier provinces.
At
the same time he caused him to be proclaimed his successor.
The Moguls had hitherto been the only enemy against whom it was thought
in
other cpiarters, the Moguls
necessary to provide, but in 1279 a formidable insurrection broke out in a dif-
During a serious
ferent quarter.
liad died,
illness,
which led to a rumour that Bulbun
Toghrul Kiian, the governor of Bengal,
irregularities,
revolted, but,
for
which he feared he might be
assuming the
declared himself
King
scarlet
of Bengal.
who had been
called
army
At
Khan advanced
loghmi
" ''"'
to account, not only
roj^alty,
Bulbun immediately gave the government of
Ameer Khan, and
.sur-
the same time, he sent several generals with a large
Aluptujeen, thus reinforced, crossed the Gogi-a, and
to his assistance.
Toghrul
i.y
guilty of some
canopy along with other insignia of
Bengal to the governor of Oude, Aluptujeen, entitled
nametl the Hairy.
insunectiou
to
meet him.
This he did with the more confidence,
was aware that many of the Turki
army had
been gained by his largesses.
The consequence was that the royal army sustained a total overtlu'ow.
When the news reached Bulbun, he bit his own Hi'sh
with vexation, hung Aluptujeen at the gate of Oude, and sent Mullik Tirmuny
Toork with another army against the rebel. Not more successful than his prehecause he
decessor, he
was
Bulbun now
defeated, lost all his baggage,
and roads, however, occiisioned so
a large army, though
the risk of
all
and with
set out in pei-son, crossed the
dry season, and proceeded to Bengal
collect
chiefs in Aluptujeen's
an encounter
it
in the
his elephants, trejisure,
and
b}^
the public treasure.
Ganges without waiting
forced marche.s.
much
it
The
delay, that Toglirul
for the Ruibmrs
state of the river
Khan had time
to
did not seem to have been large enough to justif}'
open
field.
effects
king should return to his capitid.
;
He
therefore evacuated Bengal with
intending to keep out of sight
till
This .scheme he followed out with so
dexterity, that Bulbun, following close
tlie
much
upon the route which he was understood
,[,
Uengai.
70
A
I)
1270
to
OF
IIISTOI'.V
liJive
taken, could not obtain a inum
TNT)TA
(jf liini
The
saw some bullocks with pack -saddles.
when
last
Mullik
drivere were seized, but in aiLswer
to all inquiries, obstinately pretended ignorance,
off,
At
for several days.
I
Kolc, l;eing out witli a small ieconnoiti'ing party,
Mookudur, the governor of
was struck
[Book
the rest
the head of one of them
till
on their faces and confessed that they had
fell
jast left Toghrul Khan's camp, which
was four miles
Mullik going
farther on.
forward climbed a rising ground, from which he saw the whole encampment
spread over a plain, with the ele[)hants and cavalry picketted, and everything
in apparent security.
exploit,
Having
s tents, situated
camp, because
men
it
he had with him at
full speed,
he was allowed to enter the
was never doubted that he belonged
and ordering
for head-quarters,
"
tent of audience, shouting
his
men
to
draw
near
Advancing
the centre of the camp, he determined on a very daring enterprise.
with the forty
Toghrul
on Toghrul
fixed his eye
to
it.
He made
directly
their swords, rushed into the
Victory to Sultan Bulljun!"
Toghrul thought he had been surprised by the royal army, and leaped from
make way
his throne to
mounted
it,
and
fled
sight of him, pursued,
in
Finding a horse without a saddle, he
to the rear.
direction of the river.
tlie
Mullik, having cauglit
and shot him with an arrow while he was
in the act of
swimming the stream. Toglnail fell from his horee, and was seized by Mullik.
who di-agged him out by the hair, and cut off his head, leaving the body to be
carried down the stream.
He had just time to hide the head in the .sand when
They found Mullik bathing, and neveisome of Toghrul's people came up.
suspecting how matters stood, left him after asking a few questions.
The
confusion produced by the supposed surprise spread into a general panic, and
Mullik
the whole camp dispersed, every one thinking only of his own safety.
ever after bore the surname of Toghrul Koosh, or the Slayer of Toghnil.
Bulbun arrived next day, and finding that no enemy remained, returned
execute vengeance on the rebel's family, every
member of which he put
Before returning from this expedition, on which he
years, he appointed his son,
is
to
to death.
said to have spent three
Khurra Khan, King of Bengal, and gave him
all
the spoils of Toghrul, except the elephants and treasure, which he removed to
Delhi.
As soon
from Mooltan to
iiLvasion of
visit him,
of his father's ariival, he hastened
and was received with the greatest
affection.
The
two were almost inseparable; but they had not been three months together
when an event occui'red which was to part them for ever. The Moguls had
Mooltau by
tiieMogiuJ
Mahmood heard
as Prince
.
i
The prince made
invaded Mooltan.
on the borders of eighty, bitterly
probably was
tliat
The
i-r-.ii
i
haste to oppose them, and Bulbun,
the pang of sejiaration.
now
His presentiment
he himself was about to be gathered to his fathers, and that
the prince would survive him.
in counselling
felt
ii
all
him
Accordingly he spent much of the
as to the conduct he should pui-sue
counsels were wise,
and the
doubtless have acted upon
them
if
prince,
who had given
last interxdew
when on
the throne.
great promise, would
the succession had opened to him.
It
was
;
WARS WITH THE MOGULS.
Chap. III.]
As soon
otherwise determined.
Moguls, recovered
tlie
Cia.
as the prince arrived in Mooltan, he attiicked
had
the territories which tliey
all
71
seized,
A.D. 1285.
and expelled
them with great slaughter. These Moguls were subjects of Timour Khan, of
different
the house of Ghenghis Khan; and though not unknown to fame, a very
person from the still more ftimous Timour or Tamerlane, who did not make his
appearance
till
a century
after.
Khorasan to
of Persia, from
The present Timour ruled the eastern provinces
the Indus, and with the view of avenging the
expulsion of his Moguls, appeared next year in Hindoostan, at the head of
20,000 chosen horse.
in
After ravaging the country around Laliore, he advanced
Prince
the direction of Mooltan.
lay between them,
river
easily
A
hastened to meet him.
Mahmood
Defeat of the
Moguls,
and might
have been converted
an
into
inseparable barrier against the further
progress of the Moguls, but the prince
disdained to avail himself of this advantage,
and
left
passage
the
free.
After Timour had crossed, the armies
drew up and a great
battle
was
fought.
Both leaders distinguished themselves
but after contesting the
three hours, the
victory
foi-
Moguls were obliged
and the Indians followed hotly
pursuit.
Prince Mahmood, worn
to flee,
in
out with fatigue, halted on the banks
of a stream to qiiench his thirst.
iiad
He
only 500 attendants, and was spied
Groi'p of Indian Armoi'r.'
who lay concealed in
an adjoining wood with 2000 horse.
The prince had barely time
before the IMoguls were upon him.
With his small band he thrice
by a Mogul
chief,
repulsed his assailants
;
but at
la,st,
overpowered by numbers, he
wounded, and almost instantly expired.
of the
troops,
to wailing,
mortally
in pvu-suit
The voice of triumph was immediately turned
and every eye was in
and he only lingered
When
on,
a\
tears.
ishi
g
The dismal news broke
the old king's
for death to release him.
he found his end approaching, he recalled his son, Khurra Khan,
from Bengal, and nominated him his successor.
He
should appoint a deputy in Bengal, and remain with
'The suits of mail are in the Meyrick Collection
Goodrich Court, as also the battle-a.\e, paiscash,
and khanjar iu the foreground.
The rest of the
at
heroically
fell
who had gone
mount
flpng enemy, on returning with the shouts of victory, found their
prince weltering in his blood.
heart,
His
to
only sti))ulated that he
him
at Delhi
till
his death.
weapons are from Lan^les, Mnniimrnit Ancieps el
Mmlerncx ile 1' Thrtilnriatan, taken from an ancient
MS. of the Ayeen Akbery.
neatiiof
lili
;
72
A
I)
I2S0.
niSTOUV OF INDIA.
This event not
enough
Dentil of
Uulbuii.
so .soon
liappi'iiiiifj
a.s
for
Bengal without announcing
BuUxni, both grieved and indignant, went for
intention.
I.
Kliurra Kliaii oxpftcted, he wa-s unnatunil
become impatient, and depart
to
[Book
hi.s
his
Kei
gi-and.wn,
Khosru, Prince Mahmood's son, from Mooltan, settled the succeHsion on him,
and a few
day.s
aftei-,
for twenty-one years.
effect to
Delhi,
Bulbun's
1286.
Tliough
all
the officens of the court had swoni to give
no sooner was he dead than the chief magistrate of
will,
at variance with Kei
young prince with such
influence against the
Khosru s
effect,
father, exerted
was
that he
Keikobad, the son of Khun-a Khan.
for his cousin,
glad to escape with his
reigned with great succeh-
in
who had always been
make way
He had
exjjired,
life,
set aside
He was
of Moiz-u-din.
returned to his government.
remarkably handsome
mild in temper, of a literary
taste,
own master
and well informed.
and on Vjreaking
his
which
had kept upon him, he passed
;
Unfortunately he
from
loose
tlie
tight rein
to the opposite extreme,
His example was soon followed by his
became a debauchee.
title
in person, affable in his manners,
became too soon
his father
i/)
Kei Kho.sru,
Keikobad, on mounting the throne in his eighteenth year, assumed the
Keikobail
succeeds.
liLs
courtiers,
and
and
once more, to borrow the description of Ferishta, "every shady gi'ove was
filled
with
tumult
;
women and
parties of pleasure,
and every
rung with
sti'eet
At Kelookery, on the banks of the Jumna, he
fitted
players, musicians,
dill's
treacherous
(le.sigiis.
and
up a
—
palace where he might revel undisturbed amidst his only companion;?
u
and
even the magistrates were seen drunk in public, and music was heard
in every house."
singei-s,
buffoons.
Nizam-u-din, the chief secretary of Keikobad, seeing
Nizaiii-
riot
how
completely his
master was engrossed by pleasure, conceived the idea of usurping the throne
and having no
scruples as to the means,
he conceived to be the greatest obstacle.
to Ghuznee,
and
solicited
began by endeavouring to remove what
This was Kei Khosru,
Timour Khan, the Mogul
who had gone
viceroy, to aid
him with
troops for the purpose of driving Keikobad from the throne, which,
by the
will of his grandfather Bulbun, belonged of right to himself
He
attempt, but returned, notwithstanding, to his government.
Either thinking
that his attempt
enticed to
pay a
was unknown,
visit
to Delhi,
murdered by the hired
was
or hoping tliat
had been forgiven, he was
and before he reached
assassins of Nizam-u-din.
to procure the disgrace of Keikobad's \izier,
of the late King Bulbun.
it
They disappeared one
failed in the
was
w^aylaid
and
The next part of the
plot
and cut
it,
off all the old serv^ants
after another
by some kind
mysterious agency, and a general feeling of dismay was produced.
of
Nizam-u-din,
the real instigator, though not the actual perpetrator of the murdei-s, was not
even suspected.
Though the Moguls on the other side of the Indus were constantly crossing
it, and making predatory incursions into India, it is a remarkable fact that vast
numbers of their countrymen had voluntarily enlisted in the army of Delhi as
SULTAN KEIKOBAD.
Chap. Ill]
soldiers of fortune,
and were even understood
73
have done good and
to
Nizam-u-din, anxious to get quit of the Mogul mercenaries
service.
feared, mifjlit refuse to
be the instruments of his designs
—took
faitliful
A.D. 1287.
—who, he
advantage of a
Massacre of
tlie
recent
Mogul
inciu'sion, to
persuade Keikobad that
it
was impolitic
to retain
them, as in the event of a general invasion, they would certainly join their
countrymen.
was
It
atrocious.
Nizam-u-din was thus clearing away
was equally busy in the
them by any means,
assemble the Mogul chiefs, and
officers
connection
While
imaginary
obstacles, his wife
inmates at her devotion.
all its
who had
father,
who had any
off to distant garrisons.
real or
all
and had
seraglio,
Khurra Kiian, Keikobad's
hitherto been contented with
warn his son of his
No attention was paid to his advice and Khurra Khan, seeing the
danger.
crisis approaching, determined to anticipate it, by marching with a large army
upon Delhi. Keikobad advanced with a still larger army to oppose his progress.
Bengal, hearing of the state of affairs at Delhi, wrote to
;
The
father, feeling his inferiority,
proposed negotiation, but the son assumed a
liaughty tone, and would appeal to nothing but the sword.
Before mattere
were allowed to come to this extremity, Khurra Kiian made a
last effort,
wi'ote
a letter in the most tender and affectionate terms,
beijffinof
he
and
mifflit
be
Keikobad was melted, and a reconciliation
of which
~ ~r ~^^-r
his trea-
blessed with one sight of his son.
took place, the ultimate effect
was, that Nizam-ii-din
saw
all
cherous designs frustrated, and was shortly
after cut
oft"
by
poison.
For a time Keikobad seemed about
to reform
and
character,
new
but he had no decision of
;
facticms
his old habits returning,
were formed, and a kind of
anarchy prevailed.
fusion,
To
dissipation
his
constituticm,
increa.se
the con-
undermined
and he became
his
paralytic.
Every noble now began to intrigue
for
power, and two great parties were formed
— the
name
one headed by a Khilji of the
of JVIullik Jelal-u-din Feroze,
and
.iV-
the other
bv two
hijjh court oflicei's.
—
-.^
who,
Khiuti Chieftain- and
more loyally disposed, wished to secure
Afglian
the
crown
• The Khiljies
were in former times by far the
most
celebrated of the Afghans and though now
f
li
;
I,
Woman '—From
Hart's
Scoiier}-.
to Keikobad's only son, Prince
Keiomoors, an infant of three vears of age.
Vol.
aries.
therefore resolved to get quit of
The plan adopted was to
Even all other
massacre them by the guards.
with them were first imprisoned, and then sent
however
Mugul
mercen-
The
Khiljies, almost to a
among the races of their
fondly cherish a remembrance of
holding only the second rank
country, they
still
man,
10
Intervifiw of
Keikobad
with his
father,
Khurra
Kliaii.
w
A.D. 1288.
or
JiisToity
71-
took part with their countryman
whom
of the prince,
;
[Book
iNi^iA.
the Moguls were equally unanimous in favour
they canied off from the harem, for the
IiItu
upon the throne.
bed,
might continue
It
for
which the contending
was not yet vaamt,
a time to linger
{Kirties
I,
on.
purj-K^se
for Keikoba/1,
of seating
though on a sick-
This was a state of uncertainty
could not endure;
and
after
mutual attempts
at assas.sination, the emissaries of Jelal-u-din, having forced their
way
into the
palace of Kelookery, where they found Keikobad lying in a dying state, deserted
Keikobad's
death.
by all liis attendants, they beat out his braias with bludgeons, rolled up the
body in the bed-clothes, and threw it out of the window into the river. The
young prince was shortly after put to death; and Jelal-u-din having been proclaimed king, became the founder of the Khilji d_ynasty.
pened in
1
288.
Jelal-u-din Feroze
Jelal-ii-diu
had reached the age of seventy when he usurped the
succeeds.
The
throne.
This revolution hap-
footsteps to it he
had stained with
either remoi"se or policy induced
him
to
was seated,
Having no great
blood, but after he
become humane.
confidence in the people of Delhi, he fixed his residence at Kelookery, which he
and
fortified,
adorned with
also
gardens and terraced walls along the river.
fine
Numerous other buildings rapidly sprung up; and Kelookery, having thus
assumed the appearance of a city, was known for a time by the name of Xew
The year
Delhi.
after Jelal-u-din's usurpation, a competitor for the
crown
appeared in the person of Mullik Juhoo, one of the late Bulbun's nephews,
instigated
chiefly
by Ameer
Ally, governor of Oude.
After
an obstinate
engagement, Juhoo was defeated, and Ameer Ally and several other leaders
were taken
They were immediately sent off to Kelookery but
he saw them, ordered them to be unbound, and gave
prisoners.
;
Jelal-u-din, as soon as
them a
free pardon, while (quoting
a verse of which the purport
but he only
evil is easily returned,
great
is
who
Khilji chiefs could not understand this humanity,
sight, to deter
down
Ind '.X'*'
taken lenity
returns good for evil"
The
which they condemned as at
At all events," they observed, " the rebels should
them from further mischief, and as an example to
If this
the ordinary rules of policy
His humane
Evil for
was not done, treason would soon raise its head in every quarter
The king answered, " What you say is certainly according to
the empire."
others.
of
"
"
variance with sound policy.
be deprived of
—
is
;
but,
my
to the grave without shedding
fiiends, I
more
^q^^^ partaking
so
much
old,
and
I
wish to go
blood."
It is refreshing to be able to turn aside
in the course of the narrative
am now
from the massacres which we have
been compelled to witness, and
of the spirit of Christianity.
listen to senti-
It seems, however, that
the Khiljies were not altogether wrong, for the king's lenity was often mistaken,
their former greatness, ere the
Dooraunee dynasty
succeeded in wre.sting from them the sovereignty.
In the beginning of last century this tribe alone
After a hard struggle, the
conquered all Persia.
third Khilji
Shah.
The
King
of Persia was expelled by Nadir
territory occupied
by them
is
situated in
the north of Afghanistan, and forms a parallelogram
of about 180 miles in length, by 8.5 miles in breadth.
It is comprised more especially in the valley of the
Cabool River, from its source to the town of Jelalabad, and also in the valleys which descend from tha
Hindoo Koosh.
I
—
REIGN OF JELAL-U-DIN.
Chap. Ill]
and the hope of impunity produced numeroas
"
breaking, robbery, murder,
and every
The
streets
and
a.d. 1291.
House-
was committed by many
species of crime
Insurrections prevailed in every
subsistence.
numerous gangs of freebooters interrupted commerce, and even
province;
common
means of
as a
"
disorders.
were infested by thieves and banditti.
highways," says Ferishta,
who adopted them
io
Add
intercourse.
to this, the king's governors neglected to render
any account either of their revenues or their administration."
Crime, thus encouraged, did not stop shoit of treason, and two plots were
formed against the king's
conspirators,
One, in which some Khilji chiefs were the
life.
was no sooner detected than forgiven;
coiispiraciee
X.'"**
which was
the other,
headed by a celebrated dervis, called Siddy Mollah, wixs visited more severely.
Tins dervis, originally from Persia, after visiting various countries in the west,
arrived at Delhi, where his reputation for sanctity, joined to the liberality of
his alms,
made him a
great favourite, especially with the populace,
For a time he appeared to have no
constantly crowded around his gates.
higher aspiration than popularity
soul,
and an
intriguer, to
whom
him
that the people looked on
Khilji misrule,
and
bless
but at
;
who were
ambition took possession of his
last,
he had given his confidence, persuaded him
as sent from
God
to deliver the
kingdom from
Hindoostan with a wise and just government.
The throne having thus become
his object, he
determined to take the nearest
Piopoaed
trial
road to
it,
and sent two of
his followers to assassinate the
One
ceeding to the public mosque.
remorse,
and disclosed the
of the two, however,
Siddy Mollah and
plot.
by
king as he was pro-
was
seized with
his confidential intriguer
were apprehended; but as they persisted in their innocence, and no witness
appeared against them,
it
was determined
to
have recourse to the
that they might purge themselves of their guilt.
fiery ordeal,
Everything was ready, and
the accused having said their prayers, were about to plunge into the
Jelal-u-din,
who had come
to his ministers,
to witness the ceremony, stopped them,
put the question,
" Is it lawful to try
fire,
when
and turning
Mussulmans by the
fiery
They unanimously answered that the practice was heathenish, and
contrary to the Mahometan law as well as to reason, inasmuch as it was the
ordeal?"
consume, paying no respect to the righteous more than to the
nature of
fire to
wicked.
Siddy Mollah was ordered to
before he reached
it.
but was barbarously murdered
prison,
This murder was associated in the minds of the populace
with a series of public calamities which ensued, and particularly with two
the one a dreadful famine in the com*se of the
same year
(1291),
and the other
a Mogul invasion in the year following.
The invading force, headed by a kinsman of Hoolakoo Khan, Ghenghis Khan's
^'"^'i'
invasion
grandson, consisted of
100,000
advanced 'against them.
For
with a stream between them.
hoi-se.
five
On
Jelal-u-din collected his anny, and
days the amiies lay in sight of each other,
the sixth morning, as
if
by mutual
they drew up on an extensive plain, to fight a })itched battle.
consent,
After an
iei>eiie<i
fire.
HISTORY OF TNniA.
/^
AD.
i2fl3.
obstinate conflict, the Moguls were defcHted.
was not
gave
decisive, for Jelal-u-din
from his dominions, and excljanged
On
this occasion,
had
who were
rising
among
with them
in
withdraw
of amity.
t<jken
induced 3000 of his countrymen to remain in the service
who gave him
daughter in mairiage.
his
of Kurra, obtained in addition to
it
who had
pieviously V>een governor
the government of Oude, and began to
One
entertain schemes of conquest, with a view to ultimate independence.
his expeditions
Deccan.
who
is
is
was
It
directed against
after reaching the
Mahometans maxle to the
Dew, Rajah of Dewghur or Dowletabad,
Ram
Deccan
force,
Mahometans about
was
easily repulsed,
forward towards the
frontier, pressed
rajah happened to be absent, and hastened
the
composed
home
feet,
defence
Tlie
Having sud-
in great alarm.
chiefly of citizens
Ala-u-din,
capital.
and domestics, he encountered
four miles from the city; but, though he behaved gallantly,
and driven back into the
Its ditch,
fort.
now one
many places
which
of the most remarkaVjle sights of the Deccan, the scarp being in
100
of
interesting as the first which the
described as possessing the wealth of a long line of kings.
denly collected a
he
tliat
the numerous relations of that warrior
In 1293 Ala-u-diu, the king's ne[>hew,
Invasion of
by Ala-
of
still alive,
of Jelal-u-din,
j^resents
free permission Uj
Oghloo Kiian, a grandson of Ghenghis Klian, aware
chance
little
I.
It is prol»able that the vict^jry
Moguls
tlie
[Ik.oK
is
excavated in the solid rock, was not then in existence, and the chief
was a bare
The
wall.
city
was taken
at once,
and
Many
pillaged.
of
the inhabitants, after hea-vy contributions had been levied from them, were
The
cruelly tortured for the discovery of their property.
but
Ram Dew
present force
fort
still
held out,
began to despond, as the Mahometans had given out that their
was only the advanced guard
therefore offered a large ransom,
difficulties of his position in
of the
King
which Ala-u-din, who had begun to
feel
the
the centre of a hostile country, was fain to accept.
The terms had just been concluded when Shunkul Dew, the rajahs
son,
He
of Delhi's army.
was seen advancing with a numerous army.
eldest
His father sent a message to
him, intimating that peace was concluded, and ordering him to desist from
The youth
hostilities.
in
which he
said, " If
refused,
and sent messengers
you have any love
for
life,
and
to Ala-u-din with a letter,
desire safety, restore
you have plundered, and proceed quietly homeward,
rejoicing at
your happy
The Mahometan indignation was so roused that the messengers,
having their faces blackened with soot, were hooted out of the camp.
escape."
Defeat of the
Dowieta-
Ala-u-din immediately
moved out
to
meet the approaching enemy,
Only Mullik Noosroot, with 1000 horse, to
sally.
what
after
lea\Tiig
invest the foit and prevent a
In the contest which ensued, the j\Iahometans were overpowered by
numbers, and falling back on
Noosroot,
who had
sides,
when
the sudden aiTival of Mullik
station at the fort without orders, changed the fortune
The Hindoos, supposing that the royal army, of which they had
much, was actually arrived, were seized with a panic, and fled in all
of the day.
heard so
left his
all
TREACHERY OF ALA-U-DIN.
Chap. III.]
directions.
Ala-u-din returned to the
pressed for provisions,
77
the besiegers of which were
fort,
now
a. d. 1295
number of bags,
Ram Dew was obliged to sub-
liaving been ascertained that a great
it
supposed to contain grain, were
filled
with
salt.
mit to any terms; and Ala-u-din, besides obtaining the cession of Elliciij)Oor and
He had many
immense ransom.
dependencies, retired with an
its
difficulties
to
contend with, as his route lay through the hostile and powerful kingdoms
of
Malwah, Gundwana, and Candeish
safely at Kurra, where,
;
but he siu-mounted them
and arrived
all,
from the interruption of the communications, nothing
had been heard of him for several months.
Jelal-u-din,
on hearing of the immense booty which
nephew was
liis
was overjoyed, because he had no doubt that the greater
part of it would go to enrich the royal treasury at Delhi.
His more sagacious
servants thought otherwise, and hinted that Ala-u-din had ultimate designs
of a treasonable nature, and would use the booty as a means of accomplishing
them.
The king refused to entertain suspicions which might prove unfounded;
bringing with him,
and,
on receiving a
letter
KuiTa, and partly
crisis
When
him of his continued
was approaching.
fatal resolution of
ffivour.
Partly by flattering letters from
by the treacherous advice
was inveighled into the
aI^u jinf
^*'"'"^'
from his nephew, couched in the most submissive
terms, felt only anxious to assure
Meanwhile, the
Jeiain.iia
of counsellors at Delhi, the king
paying a
visit to his
nephew
visits .\ia""' '"'
in 1295.
the royal canopy appeared in sight, Ala-u-din di-ew out his troops under
pretence of doing honour to his majesty,
Almas was deep
forward to arrange for his reception.
suggested that
feared he
had
if
and sent
his brother
in the plot,
the king advanced with a large retinue,
incui-red the royal displeasure,
Almas Beg
and artfully
Ala-u-din,
might be alarmed.
So
who
plausible
was the tongue of Almas Beg, that the king embarked in his own solitary barge
with only a few select attendants, and, as
if this
had not been enough, ordered
them to unbuckle their armour, and lay their swords
state,
aside.
In this defenceless
he reached the landing-place, and ordered his attendants to
walked forward to meet
trate at his feet.
familiarly
The
his
nephew,
while he
who advanced alone, and threw himself proshim
old king raised
on the cheek, exclaimed,
halt,
"How
up,
embraced him, and, tapping him
could you be suspicious of me,
who
have brought you up from yom- childhood, and cherished you with a fatherly
affection,
holding you dearer in
my
sight, if possible, tlian
my own
oflspring?"
by the nephew by a .signal to his soldiers,
one of whom made a cut "with his sword, and wounded Jelal-u-din in the
shoulder.
He immediately ran to regain his barge, crying, "Ah! thou villain,
Ala-u-din I" but, before he reached it, was overtaken by another of the soldiers,
who threw him on the ground, and cut off his head, which was fixed on a
spear, and carried in triumph through the cam]).
The A\Tetch whose sword
This kind-hearted appeal was answered
completed the bloody deed
nation before he died.
is
said to have suffereil a thousand deaths in imagi-
He became
mad, and expired, screaming incessantly
is
murdered.
78
AD
12.10.
HISTORY OF TXDIA.
but
la.sted
When
din
UBurim tlio
AI;i
11
throuo.
Jelal-u-din Feroze wa,s cutting off his head.
tliat
murder reached
tidings of Jelal-u-din's
Kuddur Khan, a mere
tiien
This reign
is full
f
of incident,
only for the comparatively short period of seven years.
own accord, without
of her
[Book
con.sulting the chiefs, placed her
boy, on the throne.
He had
governor of Mooltan.
all
The
queen-dowager,
the
Dellii,
youngest son, Prince
real lieir
was Arkally
Klian,
the qualities of a king, but the queen's
proceedings disconcerted him, and he resolved, in the meantime, to take no
active steps to secure his right.
uncle,
aimed not at the throne of
pendent kingdom.
Ala-u-din,
Dellii,
new
inde-
he began
state of matters,
t<>
of the rainy season, set out at once
.spite
There was nothing to oppose his progress; and the queen-mother,
for the capital.
son,
atrociously murdered his
but at the e.stabli.shment of a
However, on learning the
entertain higher aspirations; and, in
with her
when he
having
with the treasure to Mooltan, he made a triumphal
fled
entry into the city in the end of 1296.
Ala-u-din began his reign with splendid shows and
Courts
popularity
festivities,
by which he
made them forget, or overlook, the enormity which
had placed him on the throne. At the same time, he conciliated tiie great by
titles, and the venal and avaricious by gifts.
The army, also, ha\'ing V>een
gained by six months' pay, he turned his thoughts to the rival claimants in
dazzled the populace, and
Mooltan, and sent thither his brother, Aluf Khan, at the head of 40,000 horse.
The
citizens, to
save themselves, betrayed the princes, and delivered up Arkally
Khan and Kuddm- Khan, on an
spared.
It
is
assurance that the lives of both would be
almost needless to say that the promise was not kept.
While the
princes were being conveyed to Delhi, a messenger arrived with orders from
Ala-u-din, that they should be deprived of sight.
was done, they were imprisoned
After this barbarous deed
in the fort of Hansi,
and shortly
after a.ssas-
sinated.
A Mogul
In
1
296, after Ala-u-din
inviision
defeateil
ling intelligence arrived that
had
finished the first year of his reign, the start-
Ameer Dawood, King of
an army of 100,000 Moguls, with a design
Transoxiana, had prepared
to conquer the
Punjab and Scinde,
and was actually on the way, carrying everything before him with fij'e and
Aluf Khan was sent against them and, after a bloody conflict on the
sword.
;
plains of Lahore, defeated
them with the
loss of
the numerous prisoners, not excepting the
12,000 men.
women and
Some days
childi'en,
after,
found in the
Mogid camp, were inhumanly butchered.
In the beginning of the following year, Aluf
Reduction of
Gujerat.
Khan, were sent to reduce Gujerat.
Rajah Ray Kurrun escaped into the
On
Khan and
the Vizier Noosroot
their approach to the capital, the
territories of
Ram
Dew, Rajah of Dewghur,
in the Deccan, but not without the capture of his "wives, childi-en, elephants,
baggage, and treasure.
to
Noosroot
Cambay, which, being a
booty.
With
this,
Khan
then proceeded with part of the army
rich country full of merchants, jdelded a prodigious
the whole troops were retm-ning to Delhi,
when
the two
Chap.
REIGN OF ALA-U-DIN.
III.]
by demanding a
generals,
fifth
of the spoil
79
among
they had already obtained, caused a wide-spread mutiny, especially
Mogul mercenaries.
who was
Aluf Khan narrowly escaped with
sleeping in his tent,
When
was mistaken
which ad.
in addition to the shares
for
his
1207.
the
His nephew,
life.
him by the mutineers, and
army reached Delhi, Ala-u-din gratified his passion by
taking into his harem Kowla Devy, one of the captive wives of the Rajah of
Gujerat, so celebrated for beauty, wit, and accomplishments, that she was styled
and his blood-thirsty revenge, by an indiscriminate
the "Flower of India"
massacre of all the families of those who had been concerned in the late mutiny.
murdered.
the
—
About
who had
Kootloogh Khan, son of the Ameer Dawood,
Their
Moguls took
this time, another great invasion of the
army
consisted of 200,000 horse,
entire comiuest of Hindoostan.
under
place,
led the former expedition.
and contemplated nothing
Kootloogh Khan, after
less
than the
Mogul inva-
Kootwgh
'^'""*
cro.ssing the Indus, pro-
ceeded direct for Delhi, and encamped, without opposition, on the banks of the
Zuffur Khan, the chief secretary and governor of the adjoining pro-
Jumna.
The
gradually retired as the Moguls advanced.
vinces,
dismay, crowded into the capital
inhabitants, fieeing in
and the supply of provisions being cut
;
Dismay
while the consumption was immensely increased, famine began to rage.
and despair were painted on every countenance.
In
this
emergency, Ala-u-din
a council of nobles, but, on finding them opposed to action, took his
called
way, and determined to attack the enemy.
With
off,
this view,
own
he marched out
by the Budaoon gate with 300,000 horse and 2700 elephants, and, proceeding
beyond the suburbs, drew up in order of
into the plains
Khan drew up
Kootloogh
in
to receive him.
Two
such armies had not mustered
Hindoostan since the Mahometans appeared in
the
it.
wing of the Delhi army was commanded by
greatest general of the age, and the left by Aluf
The
|)ost
right
in the centre, with
by the
front,
vizier,
Here, too,
battle.
Zufi'ur
Khan, considered
Kiian.
Ala-u-din took
12,000 volunteers, mostly of noble family, and headed
The
Noosroot Khan.
choicest of the elephants occupied a line in
Khan began the
which he l)ore away before
and a body of chosen cavalry guarded the
rear.
Zuffur
by impetuously charging the enemy's left,
him, breaking up the line by his elephants, and thus committing dreadful
slaughter.
The enemy's left flank, thus turned back, was di'iven upon his centre,
battle
and considerable confusion ensued.
to advance,
to Zufi'ur
but
he, dissatisfied
up
his
advantage as he could.
contimiing the pureuit for
of 10,000 horse,
him
;
Khan
because the place of honour had been given
Khan, of whose fame he was envious, meanly kept
rival to follow
to attack
Ala-u-din, seeing this, ordered Aluf
many mile.s.
A
aloof,
and
left his
This he did almost heedlessly,
Mogul
chief,
whose toman, or division
had not been engaged, seeing Zuffur Khan un.supported, resolved
and, at the same time, sent information to Kootloogh Khan,
who hastened forward with another toman.
attacked in front and rear.
Thus
Zuffur
Khan was
placed, he .saw his danger;
con.sequently
but as
it
was too
Pitched
HISTORY OF TXDIA.
80
A.D.
1299.
liite
to retreat,
drew up
he,
liis
having been cut through by a sabre, he
bow and
seized a
Most of his
})ut
liis
conflict.
The
leg of his horse
to the ground, but rose instantly,
fell
quiver, and, being a dexterous archer, dealt death around liim
soldiers
admiration of
were now
slain or di.spersed,
and Kootloogh Khan
would have saved him
valour,
—
called
him
to take
alive,
but
—who,
fioni
upon him to surrender,
On
he persisted in discharging his arrows, and refused quarter.
Mogul attempted
J
nuiuher not half those of the enemy,
forces, in
two squadrons, and continued the unequal
in
[BfjOK
thi.s,
the
could not be done, and he was at
it
last cut in pieces.
Notwithstanding
tliis
advantage, the Moguls did not venture to continue
the contest; and, abandoning
all
hopes of
evacuated India as fast as
succes.s,
Their departure was celebrated at Delhi with great
they could.
Ala-u-din, in consequence of the success which
Ala-ii din's
rejoicino-.
had attended
his
arms,
projects.
One
in-ojects.
became
of
so elated, that he
them was
to imitate
began to entertain some extraordinary
Mahomet, and become,
religion; another, to leave a viceroy in India,
Alexander the Great, to conquer the world.
he was so
illiterate,
new
like him, the founder of a
and
set out, in the
manner of
While meditating such schemes,
that he could neither read nor write.
The only part which
he executed, was to assume the
and
issue coinage impressed
name
A
of Alexander II.
ticable coui-se of action
when he
1299,
—
with the
more
prac-
was adopted
resolved to attempt
conquests in India.
Silver Coin- of Ala-u-din.' From Thomas's Coins
of the Patan Sultans.
title,
With
in
new
this view,
he sent his brother, Aluf Klian, and the
vizier,
Noosroot Khan, on an expedition
against the Rajah of Runtunbhore, or Rintimbore, a strong fortress in the
Rajpoot state of Jeypoor.
killed
stone thrown from an engine.
Tlie rajah,
marched out from the
fort,
hastily collected, drove
Aluf Khan back with great
Avail,
was
Humber Dew, immediately
and, placing himself at the head of a large army,
loss.
On
Ala-u-din, informed of the defeat, resolved to take the field in person.
Attempts on
his
by a
Noosroot Khan, going too near to the
life.
the way, he one day engaged in hunting, and having wandered far from the
camp, spent the night in a
his
nephew and
forest, witli
only a few attendants.
brother-in-law, tempted l)y the opportunity, thought he could
not do better than gain the throne in the same
assassinating his predecessor.
way
as Ala-u-din
had done,
b}-
Accordingly, having communicated his design
some Moguls, on whose co-operation and
to
Rukn Khan,
at suni'ise to the place whei*e the king was,
On obverse —The
fidelity
and
he could
rely,
he rode up
dischai'ged a flight of arrows.
most mighty
Ahul Muzafar
der the second, right hand of the khalifat, Biipporter
This
of the commander of the faithful. On margin
Mahomed Shah, the Sultan. On reverse, area — Sekun-
silver (was) struck at the capital, Delhi, in the year 712,
'
Weight, 170
sovereign,
grs.
Ala-ud-diinia-wa-iid-din,
—
REIGN OF ALA-U-DIN.
Chap. Ill]
Two
them took
of
sword to cut
effect,
and he
head
off his
and time was precious, he
fell,
Rukn
apparently dead.
but, as the deed
;
81
seemed already
desisted, and, hastening to the
Klian drew his
a.d. 1299.
effectually done,
camp, was proclaimed
king.
wounds were not mortal; and he was
Ala-u-din's
up, to reach the
able, after
camp, where, to the astonisliment of
Rukn Khan was
on an eminence.
all,
holdinfj his court
he suddenly appeared
when
news reached him, and had only time to mount his horse and
in pursuit, speedily
the {istounding
A
flee.
party sent
overtook him, and, returning with his head, laid
who
feet of the king,
they were bound
shortly after continued his
march
at the
it
and
to Rintimbore,
capture of
Hiiitimbore.
renewed the
The
was obstinately defended; and, after standing out
was only taken at List by stratagem. Humber Dew, his family,
siege.
a whole year,
phice
and the garrison were put to the sword.
turned traitor, and gone over to the
He no
the siege.
It seems that the rajah's minister
had
Mahometans with a strong party during
doubt anticipated a splendid reward; but met the fate he
deserved, wlien, with
all
justified the sentence
by
was ordered
his followers, he
observing, that "those
Ala-u-din
to execution.
who have betrayed
their natural
sovereign will never be true to another."
Ala-u-din, alarmed at the frequency of conspiracies against his
...
preventing
anxious to adopt some effectual means 01
life,
became
their recurrence.
tiT.
1
With
summoned his nobles, and commanded them to give their opinions
without reserve.
They spoke more freely than might have been expected and
mentioned, among other causes of treason, his own inattention to business, and
this view,
he
;
the consequent difficulty of obtaining redress of grievances
intoxictxtion
— the power of aristocratical
—and
—the
prevalence of
families in connection with the abuse
The opinion thus given
made a deep impression upon him, and he immediately began to act upon it,
though in a manner which left as much room for censure as for approbation.
of patronage
He
the unequal division of property.
applied himself to reform the administration of justice, and
first
intpiiry into the private as well as public characters of all officials.
made
strict
He
next
adopted a kind of universal spy system, by which he obtained a knowledge of
all
that
was said or done
the country.
Crime,
in ftxmilies of distinction in the capital, or throughout
also,
was
so rigorously punished, that robbery
and
theft,
common, became almost unknown; "the traveller slept secure on the
highway, and the merchant carried his commodities in safety, from the Sea of
Bengal to the Mountains of Cabool, and from Tulingana to Cashmere."
These
are Ferishta's words; but the description must be taken with considerable
formerly
allowance, as a portion of the territories within these limits
the jurisdiction of the
King
edict similar to that of
ctipital
offence.
pm])tied his
T.
own
of Delhi.
To
was not yet under
repress drunkenness, he issued
an
Bulbun, making the use of wine and strong liquors a
To prove
his sincerity
and determination on the
cellars into the streets,
and was imitated
subject, he
in this respect to
U
Aiau dins
a<lmini.str.iI
tive i-efonn
I
82
A.i).
imi.
OF
JllWTUitV
Huch
extent,
ail
\>y
classeH of jtcojilc,
;ill
1N1;1A.
tliiit
[I'AXJK
lor
Hcveral
I.
days the comiaou
sewers ran wine.
'rvTiiiiiiy
Al
1-11
As
of
too often happens under despotiHins,
radical refonns of Ala-u-din
tlie
din.
degenerated into unmitigated tyranny and rapacity.
the nobility in check, he emicUtd that they should
Vje
As a means
of keeping
incapable of contnicting
marriage without the previous consent of the crown, and prohibited them from
To such a
holding private meetings, or engaging in political discuasions.
was
this prohibition carried, that
written permission from the
private
no
man
vizier.
durst entertain his friends without a
His rapacity he gratified by seizing the
property and confiscating the estates of Mussulmans and Hindoos,
without distinction, and cutting down the salaries of public
were
filled
offices, till
the}'
only by needy men, ready to act as his servile instruments.
did he confine himself to
officials
;
for all classes
minute and vexatious regulations.
to
length
Noi-
and employments were subjected
His views in regard to
ecclesiastical
matters are evinced by a
common
no connection with
government, but was only the basiness, or rather the
civil
amusement of private
life."
In 1303, Ala-u-din having
Chittoor
saying attributed to him, "that religion had
set out to attack the strong fort of Chittoor, in
attacked.
Rajpootana, Toorghay Khan, a Mogul
chief,
took advantage of his
ab.sence, to
prepare a
new
ex-
pedition into Hindoo.stan.
He
cordingly
entered
at the
head of
it
ac-
twelve tomans of
horse
(120,000)
and,
proceeding
towards
directly
Delhi,
;
encamped
on the banks of
the Jumna.
u-din,
Ruins of the Palace of Rana Bheum, Chittoor.'
having been
made aware
— From Tod's Annals of Rajastlian.
intention,
Delhi
blockaded
by the
Moguls.
tened home by forced marches, and arrived before him.
ever, to take the
open
field,
as great part of his
He was
anny had been
Ala-
had has-
unable,
left
of his
how-
behind
was to entrench himself on a plain beyond the suburbs,
where he remained two months; wliile the Mogul, in possession of the surrounding country, cut off all suppUes, and phmdered up to the very suburbs of
From some cause never understood, and therefore ascribed to the
the capital.
All he could do
was also taken by Akbcr (1507); by Azim
of Aurungzebe (IGSO), by whom it was
son
Ushaun,
'
Cbittooi-
I
I
pluiiclered,
and
(1700),
by Sindia, from Blieum Singh,
Rana of Odeypoor.
the rebellious subject of the
Chap.
REIGN OF ALA-U-DIN.
III.)
miraculous intervention of a saint,
and never halted
panic,
Moguls were one night seized with a
tlie
own
they had regained their
till
83
The extreme danger which he thus
country.
so singularly escaped, convinced Ala- Minute nnu
u-din of the necessity of greatly increasing his forces, but the expense seemed
army on
could not support an
the scale proposed, for more than six years.
Retrenchment then became the order of the day, and
His
devised for that purpose.
many
curious plans were
resolution was, to lower the pay, but
first
own
according to the custom of that period, the soldiers furnished their
and provisions, a reduced pay was impossible, unless these
were lowered in
This, therefore,
price.
By an
to pursue.
reguiationa.
Large as his treasures and revenues were, he found that he
beyond his means.
arm.s,
a.d. 1304.
as,
horses,
articles also
was the course which Ala-u-din resolved
edict to be strictly enforced throughout the empire, he fixed
the price of every article of consumption or use, grain of every kind, horses, asses,
oxen and cows, sheep and goats, cloths coarse and
camels,
sugar and sugar-candy, onions, and garlic.
butter, salt,
ofjened a loan to furni.sh
fine,
ghee or
clarified
The treasury *Viven
merchants with ready money, with which they could
import manufactured goods from the cheaper markets of adjoining countries.
It is said that
"Very
prostitution.
classes,
a court favourite proposed, by
About
well," said the king, "that shall
scheme of
new irruption
make the conquest
a
40,000 horse and 100,000 foot; but
who
confinement at Delhi.
Amid
An
was
defeated,
so
joy, that the capital
was
the general rejoicings, there was one poor
imprison-
This was the Rajah of Chittoor,
Rajah of
had been kept
in close
made
a daughter celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and
inmate of his harem.
Be
much
insulting otter of liberty had, indeed, been
Ala-u-din wsis willing to give
consent.
a sample of
The rajah met him with
and his capital, Oojein, with
Sein, who, ever since the capture of his fort,
He had
is
of Malwah.
sat solitary in his prison, mourning.
Ray Ruttun
Such
of Moguls had been chastised, Ein-ool-
The news gave
were taken.
cities,
illuminated for seven days.
him.
be fixed also;" and three
finance.
1304j, after
Moolk was sent to
lajah
of joke, to fix a price for
with fixed prices for each, were actually formed.
Ala-u-din's
other
way
this as it
him
his release, provided she
It is said that
may, he sent
he consented
would become an
perhaps he only seemed to
;
for his daughter,
but his family determined
sooner to poison her, than subject her to the degradation intendeil.
took the matter into her
own hands; and adopted
The
princess
a scheme which, happily,
proved successful in both saving her ovn\ honour and procuring her father's
freedom.
Every arrangement having been made
to say that
for the proposed exchange, she
on a certain day she would arrive at Delhi with her attendants.
royal passport w<is inunediately sent her,
A
and her cavalcade, proceeding by slow
marches, reached the capital as the evening closed.
the litters
wrote
By
the king's special orders
were carried directly into the prison, without being subjected to
nis escape,
I'
84
An.
iiioit.
iriSTOHY OV INDIA.
any
inspecti(jn.
not then;, but in
jtrinceHs wa.s
I'lie
dependants of her family
[Book
comj)l(it(iIy arrned,
i.
several trusty
lier stea<J
who, as 80on as they were admitted
H
within the prison, cut
escape to the
hills,
down
the sentinels, and set the rajah
He made
free.
liis
from which he continued to make frequent desaints, and
avenge himself on the Mahometans
for the insults
and
sufferings
which he
harl
endured.
A new Mogul
invaBion dofeated
In 1305,
tlic
Moguls again, under the leadership of an
the namt^
officer of
,
ol
Elbuk Khan, crossed the Indus, and
after i-avaging Mooltan, proceeded to
Ghazy Beg Toghlak, aware of the route by which they would
placed himself in ambush near the banks of the Indus, and rusliing out
Sewalik.
return,
suddenly, defeated the invaders with great slaughter.
off,
Seeing their return cut
the survivors had no alternative but to return into the desert.
hot season, and, in a short time, out of 57,000 cavalry, and
outnumbered them, only 3000 remained
alive.
were trodden to death by elephants, and a
pillar
to pass in
followers
who
taken to Delhi, they
raised before the
after
was the
Budaoon
having met with no
Moguls were so discouraged, as well as exhausted, that they
not only desisted for
selves placed
was
Another invasion shortly
gate with their skulls.
better success, the
When
camp
It
many
years from entering Hindoostan, but found them-
on the defensive, Ghazy Beg Toghlak scarcely allowing a season
which he did not
cross to the
west bank of the Indus, and plunder
the provinces of Cabool, Ghuznee, and Kandahar.
Ala-u-din,
Conquest of
now
rid of his
conquests in the Deccan
;
most formidable enemies, had time to resume
and with
had been originally purchased
this
Rajah of Dewghur, who had neglected
The army, when
tribute.
view despatched Mullik Kafoor, who
a slave, with an
as
it set out,
army
for three years to
Ram Dew,
against
pay
his stipulated
mustered 100,000 horse, and was reinforced
on the way by the troops of the governors of Malwah and Gujerat.
Kafoor, after encamping on the frontiers of the Deccan,
opposed, that for a time he
made
his
little
progress,
was
Mullik
so strenuously
and had nothing
himself upon except the capture of a daughter of the beautiful
to
plume
Kowla Dey>%
who, from being the wife of a Hindoo rajah, as already mentioned, had become
The daughter had a similar fate, for she was
on the way to become the bride of a rajah when she was captured and afterwards, on being brought to Delhi, was married to Khizr Khan, Ala-u-din's son.
the favourite of the Delhi harem.
;
On
a second expedition to the Deccan, in 1309, Mullik Kafoor proceeded
way of Dewghur towards Wurvmgole,
a place of great strength.
at Indoor, about ninety miles north of
by
After appearing
Hyderabad, and causing great conster-
among the inhabitants, wdio had never seen the Mahometans before, he
down before Wui'ungole, which made a valiant defence, but was ultimately
nation
sat
taken by
assault.
In the following year he proceeded
still
further south,
reached the Malabar coast, and then, turning inland, continued his victorious
career to the frontiers of Mysore.
Much
of his time
was employed
in plundering
i
Chap
REIGN OF ALA-U-DIN.
III.]
the temples,
and the
which he brought back to
spoil
85
Dellii
was enonnous.
not mentioned as fonning any part of
curious that silver
is
seems to have been
tlie
It
is
a.v. i3io.
Gold, indeed,
it.
precious metal chietiy used at this time in India, as coin,
ornament, or plate.
Ala-u-din had
now
Though he had been
guilty of many crimes, fortune had never ceased to favour him, and his territories had extended on every side, till tliey assumed the magnitude and s})lenThe period of decline, however, had now arrived. Mullik
dour of an empire.
Kafoor, who possessed his utmost confidence, and used it for the promotion of
reached the zenith of his power.
among
treasonable designs, disgusted the nobles, and spread discontent
liis
His own health,
people.
gence,
too,
i\lullika
foTtu""'''
the
undermined by intemperance and vicious indul-
gave way; and his family, to whose training he
entirely neglected him,
Aia u ain-s
and spent
time in revelry.
tlieir
Jehan, was equally indifferent
and he found
;
liad
never attended,
His principal
him.self in tlie
wife,
midst of
a palace, glittering with gold and jewels, destitute of every domestic comfort.
He made
his complaints to Mullik
who turned them to good account,
sons Khizr Khan and Shady Khan,
Kafoor,
by insinuating that the queen and her
together with his brother Aluf Khan,
his
The brother was accordingly
life.
had entered into a conspiracy against
seized
and put to death, while the queen
and her sons were imprisoned.
During these domestic
various quarters.
it
Gujerat took the lead, and defeated the general sent against
with great slaughter.
metan
officers,
calamities, the flames of insurrection burst forth in
The Rajpoots of
Chittoor, rising against their
hurled them from the walls, and resumed their independence
Dew, the son-in-law of Ram Dew,
The
several of the Mahometan garrisons.
while Hurpal
stirred
>ixpelled
tidings
with rage, and so increased his
him
off in 1316, after
illness,
that
after the death,
son,
his
late
up the Deccan, and
made Ala-u-din mad
It
doubtful
is
if his
death was
Mullik Kafoor,
fiivourite,
was employed.
Mullik Kafoor produced a
will, said to
be spurious,
king gave the crown to Prince Oomor Khan, his youngest
and made Mullik regent during
his minority.
The young
prince, then in
seventh year, was placed upon the throne, while Mullik u.sed him as a
and proceeded to carry out his
out the eyes of Khizr
sultana's confinement.
own
wife.
He
schemes.
One
Khan and Shady Khan, and
of his
fii-st
acts
was
tool,
to put
increase the rigour of the
somewhat singular, as he was an eunuch,
mother, who had ranked as Ala-u-din's third
Anotlier act,
was to marry the young king's
meant, for additional security, to have put out the eyes of Prince
Moobarik Khan, the son of the second wife of Ala-u-din, and had even pro-
more atrocious step of sending assassins to murder him. The
prince succeeded in buying them off; and a lieutenant of the guards, on hearing
ceeded to the
still
uis death.
took a fotal form, and earned
conduct of his worthless
tends to confirm the suspicion that poison
by which the
it
a reign of twenty years.
natural, for the subsequent
The day
Maho-
>J>uiik
Ka-
sonabie pro
'^'^'^
"^
|l
8G
A.D.
1321.
of
IlISTORV
tlie
Ivliail
I
liiiii,
and several of
Prince Moobarik
d(!ath.
Hook
I.
soldiers to Mullik Kafoor's
lii.s
tiie princijjal
eunuchs in his
Khan immediately ascended
interest, to
the throne, and Prrnwi
Hlli:
ceodH.
Oomor, who had occupied
and imprisoned
FT is
iNlJJA.
attempt, proceeded at once with Heveral of
apartment, and put
Mootmrik
()!•
wicked
for
it
nominally for three montliH, was deprived of
sight,
life.
Moobarik's reign, which lasted four years,
a mere tissue of vices and
is
roigii.
The
crimes.
officer
his elevation,
upon
who had saved
was put
to
and been the main instrument of
death, merely because it was said that he j)resumed
his
life,
After this most ungi-ateful
his services.
act,
he began to show some
little
activity; and, besides sending Ein-ool-Moolk, a general of great abilities, into
and recovered the country of the
favourite, Mullik Khosrow, to whom he
Gujerat, proceeded in person into the Deccan,
Mahrattas.
On
returning, he sent his
had given the ensigns of royalty, as far as the Malabar coast. Here he remained
about a year, and acquired immense wealth by plunder. His ambition being
thus excited, he proposed to
make
With
himself sovereign of the Deccan.
He
view, he endeavoured to gain over the chief officers of his army.
succeed
;
and a formal charge of treason was made agaiast him
this
did not
who
to the king,
was, however, so blinded in his favour, that he punished his accusers, and trusted
him still more than before.
Moobarik no sooner found himself in quiet
possession of Gujerat, the Deccan,
and most parts of Northern India, than the little activity wliich he had begun
to display ceased, and he gave himself up to unbounded and shameless excesses.
Universal
Indecencies which cannot be mentioned, were his daily amusements.
discontent and disgust were in consequence excited
;
but the
first
attempt on
life
was made by
his favourite,
Khos-
He had
row.
liis
been
repeatedly warned
that
a
conspu-acy
was being hatched,
and the proofs of it
were
that
the
so
it
evident,
had become
common
talk.
StiU, his infatuation
was continued; and
he was not roused
from
it
tni the con-
spii-ators
Mausoleum of Khosrow. — From
He is
Daniell's Oriental Scenery.
were
ac-
tually on the stairs
endeavom-ed to make his escape by a private passage but
Khosrow, who knew of it, intercepted him, and a deadl}' struggle took place.
of the palace.
He
;
g
SULTAN GHEIAS-U-DIN TOGHLAK.
Ciur. III.]
87
Moobarik, being the stronger of the two, threw Khosrow on
could not disentangle himself from his grasp, as his hair
The other
enemy's hand.
barik's
conspirators
to
ground, but
a.d. 1321.
was twisted in his
come up, and Moo-
head was severed from his body by a scimitar.
Khosrow was not allowed long
throne in 1321, under the
tlie
had thus time
tlie
to profit
title
by
He, indeed, a.scended
his crime.
of Nasir-u-din, but a confederation of the
usun)ation
"
"**'""
was immediately fomied against him. It was headed by Ghazy Beg
Toghlak, who had acquired gi-eat renown by his expedition against the Mogui.s.
In the battle which ensued, Khosrow was defeated, captured, and slain; and
nobility
mounted the throne amid
universiil acclamations.
Tlie people saluted him Shah Jehan, " The King of the
Universe;" but he assmued the more modest title of Gheias-u-din, "The Aid
Ghazy Beg Toghlak, with some degree of
reluctance,
of Religion."
Gheias-u-din Toghlak reigned
wjis
resumed
his
fame as a warrior, and secured
the Rajah Luddur
themselves,
and the
who not only
losses
failed to
Dew
were
tlie
the defence.
severe, particularly
make a
his Reign
of
^in''''^g",.
'''''
king's eldest son, conducted
Both
sides greatly exerted
on the part of the besiegers,
practicable breach, but, in consequence of the
siege of
winds and severe weather, were seized with a malignant distemper, which
daily swept off hundreds.
home
to return
and
;
The
sm'vivoi"s,
suddenly during the night,
deserted,
completely
di.spirited,
were anxious
by the disaffected, caused
of which, a number of ofticers moved
sinister rumours, circulated
general consternation, under the influence
off
He owed
it
Prince Aluf Khan,
independence.
its
the siege;
iiot
j-ears.
by the better fame of a wise and
ruler.
The incidents of his reign are few. One of the mo.st important
the siege of Wurungole, which had thrown off the Mahometan yoke, and
crown to
just
more than four
little
with
had no alternative but to
all
Aluf Khan, thus
their followers.
raise the siege.
In the haste and
dis-
was pursued by the enemy with great slaughter. The
One died in a Hindoo prison, another
officers who deseiied suffered equally.
was cut off by the IMahrattas, and their whole baggage was captured. One
order of his retreat, he
of the
authors of
alive,
bm-ied
was the death of the king. The
the rumour having been discovered, were condemned to be buried
rumours which had been
circulated,
king jocularly but barbarously remarking,
the
him
alive
in jest,
"
that as they
had
A
new
he would bury them alive in earaest."
{u-my having been collected,
Aluf Khan renewed the siege of Wurungole,
and obliged
The news were
it
to suiTender.
new citadel of Delhi, which had
name of Toghlakabad.
in the
the
celebrated with great rejoieing-s
just been finished, and
had received
In 1325 Gheias-u-din Toghlak, after a journey to Bengal to inquire uito
complaints
his return.
made
against the governors hi that quarter, reached Afghanpoor on
His son Aluf Khan, who had previously arrived with the nobles of
the com-t to offer their congratidations,
had hastily erected a wooden building
T,.ghiak
'^
j^'th"
88
A.D. 1327.
OF INDIA.
JIISTOliy
Here a sj>k;ndid
for his recei)tion.
eritei'taininent ha<l
having ordered his equipage, was in the act of
1
lis
The cause
bute
some even
to accident:
it
been given; and the
liirn,
One
to design.
kinj^,
}m
with five of
Most
been variously explained
lias
I.
(quitting the building to wjiitinue
way and cnwhed
journey, wlien the roof suddenly gave
attendants, in the ruins.
[Book
attri-
author, not satinfied with either
explanation, offers one of his own, and asserts, " that the building had been
by magic, and
raised
solved,
Toghlak's
Hon succuods
iiiuler tlie
title
Mahomed
was
it
dis-
it fell."
Aluf Klian, the
He
Toghlak.
late king's eldest son, succeeded,
said to
is
of
Toglilak.
the instant the magical cliarm which upheld
title
of
Mahomed
have been the most learned, eloquent, and accomplished
He was
prince of his time.
under the
well versed in history, having a memorj'^ so reten-
tive that every date or event of
which he once
wrote good poetry; and had made
read,
remained treasured up in
it;
mathematics, astronomy, and medicine
logic,
The philosophy of the Greek schools was well known to him.
literary accomplishments, he was a skilful and valiant warrior,
his special study.
With aU
these
and thus united
qualities so opposite that his contemporaries describe
They
of the wonders of the age.
also extol
him
for his piety,
him
which he
as one
e\'inced
by a careful observance of the rites enjoined, and strict abstinence from drunkenThis is the fair side of his
ness and other vices forbidden by the Koran.
He was stem, cruel, and vindiccharacter for it had also its darker features.
:
tive.
Gods
As Ferishta
expresses
creatm-es, that
"
it,
So
when anything
little
did he hesitate to
occuiTed which excited
extremity, one might have supposed his object
was
spill
him
the blood of
to that horrid
to extinguish the
human
species altogether."
Mogul
incursions
resumed.
In
1
327 the Moguls, who
Ijad ceased their incursions for
many
years, resimied
them; and a celebrated leader, called Toormooshreen Khan, belonging to the tribe
of Choghtay,
made
his appearance in
Hindoostan at the head of a
va.st
Province after province was overrun, and he advanced rapidly towards
Mahomed
Toghlak, unable to meet him in the
field,
army.
Dellii.
saved his capital by the
and humiliating expedient of bujdng him ofi" by a ransom so large as to
be almost equal to the price of his kingdom. The Mogul withdrew by way of
Gujerat and Scinde, but plundered both, and carried off an immense number
fatal
of captives.
Mahomed 's
grinding
taxation
and cruelty.
To compensate
for
what he had thus
Deccan, the greater part of which he
is
with his dominions as the villages in the
lost,
Mahomed
turned his eyes to the
said to have as effectually incoi^orated
vicinitj^ of Delhi.
All these conquests,
however, were destined to be wrested from him in consequence of
taxation, cruelty,
levied
and inordinate ambition.
on the necessaries of
life,
vinces
fruits,
by rapine and
were desolated by famine.
;
gidnding
So heavy were the duties rigorously
that the industrious, having no security that they
would be permitted to reap the
the woods, lived
liis
ceased to labour.
The
farmers, flying to
the fields remaining uncultivated, whole pro-
The currency,
too,
was tampered with; and
—
MAHOMED
Chap. III.]
TOGIILAK.
89
Cm.
Mahomed
struck a copper coin, which, becaase
liis
name
wiis inij)ressed
ordered to be received at an extravagant imaginary value.
lie
said
by Ferishta
to
with the royal
of ready money."
lieu
A.D. 1330.
is
He
em-
tlie
seal aj)pended, in
shrewdly adds:
"The great calamity consequent upon
basement of the
This idea, he
it,
have borrowed "from a
Chinese custom of issuing paper on
peror's credit,
upon
this de-
from the known
coin, arose
inCorPER CoiK OF Mahomed bin Togiii.ak.'
stability of the
government.
Public credit could
not lonof subsist in a state so liable to revolutions as Hindoostan
the people in the remote provinces receive for
money
tlie
;
for
how
could
base representative of
a treasury that so often changed its master?"
In the midst of the discontent and ruin produced by these wretched financial
MalKHiiml'H
project of
devices,
Mahomed
conceived the idea of enriching himself by the concjuest of the
As a first
nephew Khosrow MuUik,
China
empire of China.
step to the realization of this idea, he despatched
his
at the head of 100,000 horse, to subdue Nepaul,
and the mountainous region on both
TiiF.
frontiers.
and
Snowy Range of the
sides of tlie
IIimalayas, from Marin.i
—From
This done, he was to follow in person.
faithfid counsellors assure
Himalaya, as for as the Chinese
G. F. White's Views in Him.ilay.is.
In vain did
his
him that the whole scheme was
more sagacious
visionary.
He
had made up his mind, and was not to be dissuaded.
'
ill
On tlie obverse— Struck as a piece of fifty kniii'«,
the time of the servant, hopeful (of Divine mercy),
iMahomed To^hlak.
Vol.
I.
On
the reverse
conquering
— He who obeys
tlio
king, truly
lie
obeys the Merciful (God).
13S grs.
H, Dowletabad. — Thoiuaa's Coins of the Patau
Svltans of Hindustan.
7^?-
A
12
^'^
^•"-
HISTORY OF INDIA.
Kho.srow MuUik miulc
"•''s-
way with
lii.s
[Book
gi(;at difficulty aoros,s tlni inountains,
buiifliug foits as he proceeded, in order to secure the road.
boundary
at the Chinese
Disartn.uH
tothe
fron"tIer
I.
witli forces fearfully reduced,
On
arriving, in 1337,
he found
liiin.self
in front
anny prepared to oppose his further progress. The sight struck
Indian army with dismay, and a precipitate retreat wa« commenced. 'J'hc
of a numerous
t'^6
ChinesB followcd
closely,
while the mountaineers occupied the parses in the rear
and plundered the baggage.
ous position, suffering
The
in torrents.
fall
For seven days the Indians remained
the liorrors of famine.
all
first effect
and Khosrow began
distance,
was
At length the
in this peril-
rain began to
to oblige the Chinese to retire to a greater
to conceive hopes of
making good
liLs
He
retreat.
was soon undeceived.
The low grounds became inundated, while the mountains
continued impervious. The result is easily told.
The wliole army melted awa}-,
and scarcely a man returned to relate the particulars.
Ouo
Tiarbanms
of a traitor,
of
tlic
king's ncphcws,
who was
called Khoorshasip,
and held a goveni-
luent in the Deccan,
was tempted by the general discontent which prevailed
to
aspire to the throne,
and
He
at
in
1338 openly raised the standard of
revolt.
gained some advantages, but was afterwards captured and carried to Delhi,
first
where he was flayed
and then paraded a horrid
alive,
spectacle
around the
city,
the executioner going before and proclaiming aloud, " Thus shall aU traitors
t<j
their king perish."
Bcfore this rebellion was suppressed, the king had taken the
Attempted
thTcIpitri
to
Dowle
tabad.
Dewghur.
fixed his head-quarters at
'^'^^
field in person,
and strength
Its situation
so pleased
him that he determined to make it his capital. His resolution once announced
was inflexible, and orders were forthwith issued that Delhi should be evacuated,
and all its inhabitants, men, women, and children, with aU their property, should
migrate to Dewghirr, the name of which was changed to Dovjletabad.
The
abandonment of Delhi, which was styled, in the hyperbolical style of the East,
" The Envy of the World," was productive of great misery and discontent, and
Mahomed began
his
was an exploit w^hich even all
energy and despotism could hardly accomplish. Having been led in the
to feel that the change of capital
course of an expedition to the proximity of the old capital, those of his
who
originally belonged to
army
were seized with such a longing to return, that
it,
they deserted in great numbers and took refuge in the woods, detenniued to
i-emain
till
army should have
the rest of the
were so thinned by
this desertion, that the
his residence at Delhi,
and
tluis lure
however, was not abandoned
;
left.
The numbers of the troops
king had no alternative but to
the deserters back.
polis of Delhi
Before he
occasion,
left,
"
ofi"
the
leaving the noble metro-
a resort for owls, and a dwelling-place for the beasts of the desert."
he was guilty of barbarities which are almost incredible.
having
district of
His original prnpose,
and at the end of two years he carried
whole of the inhabitants a second time to the Deccan,
fix
set out
On one
with an immense himting party, on arriving at the
Behram, he made the startling announcement that he had come
to
III.]
FEROZE TOGHLAK.
liunt not beasts
but men, and began to massacre the inhabitants.
Chap.
by carrying back some
and hanging them over the city
91
He
the barbarity
tliousands of the heads of
Deliii,
walls.
These atrocities were more than
on a greater or
less scale,
—
These two
Dowletabad.
capital,
seem to have somewhat cooled the king's partiality
permission was given to those
whom
Thousands made the attempt
Delhi.
only to die in
south.
It
was the
tiLs.
;
and
free
but a general famine w.is then raging,
many more
The most formidable
it.
various
rebellions
last
Deccan
for the
vm.
he had forced to migrate, to return to
;
and while many perished by the way,
on the Malabar
in Bengal,
.\.n.
slain to
tlie
nature could endure, and rebellion,
broke out in every quarter
and even in the new
coast,
human
com])leted
reached their beloved Delhi,
insurrection of
result of a confederacy
broke out
all
in the
formed for the express ])urpose of
Mahometans from the Deccan.
Tiie principal leaders were
Krishn Naig, son of Luddur Dew, who live<l near Wurungole, and Belal Dew,
Rajah of the Carnatic. So extensive and so successful was the confederacy,
that, in a short time, Dowletabad was the only place within the Deccan which
extirpating the
Mahometans could
the
was
portion of the lost territory
as before, into four
Ultimately, however, a considerable
their own.
call
Mahometan
recovered,
and the whole Deccan was divided,
Though
provinces.
scarcely a
month now passed
without a revolt, and everything seemed ripe for a general revolution,
Toghlak kept his throne, and at
last
descended to the grave by a death which
was not
violent,
number
of boats to be collected at Tatta,
to chastise the
Mahomed
and yet cannot well be
called natural.
He had
ordered a large
and proceeded thither across the Indus,
Soomara Prince of Scinde, who had given protection
to
MuUik
Toghan, when heading a formidable revolt of Mogul mercenaries in Gujerat.
When within
sixty miles of Tatta, he wjis seized with fever, attributed
l)hysicians to a surfeit of fish.
spirit
would not allow him
ensued.
to
The symptoms were
remain to complete
by
his
favom'able, but his restless
his recovery,
and a
fatal relapse
His death took place in 1351, after a reign of twenty-seven years.
After a short struggle, in which a re])uted son of the late king, a mere child,
was put forward and immediately
title
of Feroze Toghlak,
set aside, his cousin Feroze,
mounted the
tin-one.
known by
the
Considering the troubled state
two of the most remarkable facts of
years, and its termination, by a peacefid
of the country,
his reign are, its length of
thirty-eight
death, at the age ot ninety.
The empire of Delhi, however, was
The
and Bengal was so
evidcTitly in a rapid state of decline.
Deccan could hardly be said to be incorporated with
it;
completely dissevered, that in 1356 Feroze consented to receive an ambassador
from
its
king, Avith proposals of peace;
acknowledged
however,
as
of
it
<is
and thus
an independent kingdom.
virtualh',
if
not formally,
Both Bengal and the Deccjin,
Though Feroze does not figiu-e
a warrior, he obtained a high name for wise legislation, and a large number
public works, in which, while magnificence was not forgotten, utilitv was
still
continued to i)ay a small tribute.
nui-i. of
92
AD. vm.
OF
IITSTOJtY
Kpeciully
One
(-onsultfiil.
of
INI>IA.
works,
iIk^w;
tlie
I.
50,000 lahourers were
wliidi
in
a winal, iMtended to connect
enii)loye(l, wsis
[BrjoK
Soorsooty or Soorsa, a hiduII
tributary of the Sutlej, witli a small stream, called the Sulima or Khanjioor,
and thereby obtain a perennial stream
poor.
Tlie canal, if ever completed,
the remarkable
fact,
to flow through Sirhind
no longer
that in the digging of
exiHts
;
but
it
and Murisur-
deserves notice for
aVjout five centuries ago, fossil
it,
remains of a gigantic size were discovered and attracted much attentioiL
It Is
not easy to say to what animals they belonged; but Ferishta, adopting the
opinion which appears to have been formed at the time of the discovery, says
they were the bones of elephants and
fore
arm measured
men
;
and
some of
three gaz (5 feet 2 inches);
human
adds, "the bones of the
tlie
bones were
petrifiefl,
and some retained the appearance of bone."
Among
Public
FerozV'^
the other works of Feroze are enumerated
— 40 mosques,
30
20 palaces, 100 hospitals, 100 caravansaries, 100 public baths, loO
50 dams across
have been
rivers,
and 30
reservoirs or lakes for irrigation.
sufficiently conscious of his
some of them
to be inscribed
He
colleges,
bridges,
appears to
good deeds and rather pharisaically
;
causerl
on the mosque of Ferozabad, a city which he had
The following may be taken as a sample:
"It has been usual in former times to spill Mahometan blood on trivial
occasions and, for small crimes, to mutilate and torture them, by cutting oft'
the hands and feet, and noses and ears, by putting out eyes, by pulverizing the
built in the vicinity of Delhi,
—
;
bones of the living criminal with mallets, by burning the body with
crucifixion,
and by nailing the hands and
of hamstringing, and
feet,
by
by cutting human beings
goodness, having been pleased to confer on
me
flaying alive,
to pieces.
fire,
by
by the operation
God, in his infinite
the power, has also inspired
me
with the disposition to put an end to these practices."
Reign of
Gheias u-
Glieias-u-diu,
whom
his grandftither Feroze
government a year before he
unworthy of
reigning,
for the succession
died,
now became
and within
six
had associated with him in the
sole sovereign,
but proved utterly
months was assassinated
A
contest
took place between Abubekr, a grandson, and Mahomed, a
The former had been placed on the throne by the
as.sassins of Gheias- u- din; but in the coiu-se of eighteen months the latter
displaced him, and assumed the title of Nasir-u-din Mahomed Toghlak.
He
died in 1394, after a reign of six years and seven months, entirely barren of
son of the late Feroze.
great events, and fruitful only in intestine dissensions; and
was succeeded by his
son Hoomayoon, who assumed the name of Sikundur, and died suddenly, in
the course of forty-five days.
disorder,
These constant changes threw everji^hing into
and a kind of anarchy ensued
enough making no scruple of throwing
independent.
;
each chief
ofi"
who thought
his allegiance,
In Delhi alone there were two
parties, each
the one occupying Delhi proper, and the other Ferozabad.
pying the
citadel,
professed neutrality, but this only
himself strong
and declaring himself
with a separate king,
A third
party, occu-
meant that they were
Chap.
PEER MAHOMED JEIIANGIR.
III.]
93
endeavouring to hold the balance, with the view of ultimately selling themselves to the
and the
city,
During
most advantage.
Civil
streets freciuently ran
war thus raged
with blood.
this confusion, intelligence arrived, in 1396, that Prince
tan
by a bridge
was preparing
Peer Ma- New
The governor of Moolwhen Peer Mahomed, anticipating his
of boats, and laid siege to Ooch.
for the relief of it
movements, amved, just in time to surpnse the Mooltanies immediately after
they had crossed the Beas.
those
who
Their show of resistance was useless
A
escaped the sword perished in the river.
retreat to Mooltan,
but the victor was close at their
retire into the fort.
months, want of provisions obliged
him
fearfully
enemy
new
and the governor,
After a siege of six
to sun-ender at discretion.
The
pre-
Mahomed Jehangir was a dire calamity. H(jw
have been increased when lie proved to be only the
must the calamity
The event
is
of sufficient importance to
demand
(;hapter.
Ri'iss OF TooHr.AKABAT).
From
Uucoii'«
Vint
Toglilakabad wa.s named after its foiuuler, tlie
En\peror Glieias-ii-din Toghlak, who <lied A.n. l'i'2Ct.
A faw miserable huts contain all its present inhabi'
and most of
as Peer
forerunner of his grandfather.
a
;
few made good their
heels,
Sarung Khan, had barely time to
sence of such an
^^^\
in the very heart of the
liomed Jehangir, grandson of the celebrated Timour or Tamerlane, had crossed
the Indus
^^
Part of the Serai.'
linpresitoiis of India
taiits;
iiia.<!sy, and stiipendous ruins of
and subterranean apartments still
but the nule,
its walla,
palaces,
attract the notice of travellers.
M.>gia
91.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
CHAPTER
[Book
I.
IV.
Invasion of Tiinour or Tamerlane —Battle of Delhi— Sack of Delhi— Khizr Khan, Timour's deputy—
In(le[ien(lent
kingdoms established on the ruins of the Delhi monarchy —Proceedings of Khizr
—
—
Khan His death Moobarik, his son and successor — Syud Mahorned — Syud Ala-udin — Afghan
Lody dynasty— Bheilole Lody— Sikundur Lody— Ibrahim Lody— ilxtinction of the L<idy Afghan
dynasty, and renewal of that of the Moguls in the person of Baber.
IMOUR,
or
Timour Beg, usually
by the
called
Asiatics
Ameer
Teimoor, and by Europeans Tamerlane or Tamerlan, evidently
Lame Timour, an
a corruption for Timour Leng, or
epitliet
applied to liim on account of a certain degree of lameness,
was
born about 1336, in a village in the vicinity of Samarcand.
A.D.
139S.
According to some, he was only the son of a herdsman
accoimt
is,
that he
was the son
liimself traced his descent
Samarcand
his capital.
or grandson of a Tartar or
managed
He
Mogul chief
the downfall of the Moijul
to obtain the
supremacy, and
made
Possessing the ambition as well as the ttilents of a
and extended
conqueror, he had overrun Persia,
TamerLane
On
from Ghenghis Khan.
Dschaggatai, he
d}Tiasty of
but a more probable
;
his
dominions over Central Asia,
from the wall of China west to the frontiers of Europe, and even beyond, to
Moscow.
He was not yet satisfied; and in 1398, when his age miLst have
approaclies
the Indus.
exceeded sixty, he made his appearance on the west bank of the Indus, at the
The convulsed state of the country promising an easy
and the immense plunder which would necessarily follow, were his
head of a mighty
conquest,
host.
His grandson had, as we have
great inducements.
apparently to feel the way.
He
himself
now
seen,
been sent before,
crossed the river,
and commenced
Having arrived at
the junction of the Chenab and Ravee, where the town and strong fort of
Tulumba are situated, he crossed by a bridge and, entering the town, plundered it, and slaughtered the inhabitants without mercy. The fort was too
He therefore left it, and proceeded to a to^vn
strong to be taken by assaidt.
called Shahnowaz, where, finding more grain than his own troops required, he
a course of almost unparalleled massacre and devastation.
;
caused the rest to be burned.
tiful country.
His
ison
graiiil-
more
On
crossing the Beas, he entered a rich
Meanwhile, his grandson, Peer
obstruction.
Mahomed
Jehangu", had
and plen-
met with
After taking Mooltan, the rainy season commenced, and so
takes
Jlooltan.
many
of the cavalry encamped in the open country were destroyed, that he
under the necessity of lodging
became
so completely
hemmed
his
in
whole army within the walla
and cut
greatest danger of losing his whole army,
oif
from
supplies, that
when Tamerlane,
was
Here he
he was in the
after sending for-^ard
a detachment of 30,000 select horse, joined him with his whole army.
p
Chap.
I
INVASION OF TAMERLANE.
V.J
95
Tamerlane now marched to Bhatneer, which was crowded with
On
in terror from the siurounding districts.
driven out of the town,
their
his api)roach half of
to take shelter
under the
their lives as dearly as
fire to
After a
walls.
Tamoriane'a
tioiw.
the place, and, rushing out, sold
they could, by killing some thousands of the iloguls.
Tamerlane, in revenge, laid Bhatneer in ashes, after causing every soul in
to
1393.
which awaited them, killed
cruelties that the garrison, seeing the fate
wives and children in despair, set
ad
them were
from the governor, he forced his entrance, and committed so
short resistance
many
and obliged
j^eople flying
it
Soorsooty, Futtehabad, Rajpoor, and other towns, were sub-
be massacred.
These, however, were merely preludes to a
jected to similar barbarities.
more
general extermination.
Tamerlane's great object was Delhi, towards which he kept steadily advancing.
Having
at length
advanced opposite to
horse, to reconnoitre.
his minister,
Mahmood
he crossed the river with only 700
it,
Toghlak, then the pageant King of Delhi, and
Mulloo Yekbal Khan, tempted by the smallness of his attendants,
out with 5000 horse, and twenty-seven elephants.
sallied
Notwithstanding their
A
were repidsed.
superiority in numbers, the Delhi troops
siege of
number of
vast
were in the Mogul camp, and some of them, on seeing Tamerlane
prisoners
attacked at a disadvantage, could not refrain from expressing their joy.
The
by
order-
circumstance being reported to this cruel barbarian, he took his revenge
ing that all the prisoners above the age of fifteen shoiild be put to the sword.
In this horrid massacre, nearly 100,000 men, almost all Hindoos, are said to
have perished.
Having now forded the
on the plain of Ferozabad.
the encounter, but with the
river with his whole army,
The King of Delhi and
same
they mainly trusted, being, at
drivel's,
I'll-
king,
lleil
the
;
The
elephants, on
own
which
of most of their
ranks.
Tamerlane gave
!!•
and, following the fugitives u}) to the very gates of Delhi,
•
fixed his head- (quarters.
Consternation
instead of attein])ting to allny
in
his minister again risked
charge, depriv^ed
first
turned back, and spread confusion in their
no time to rally
thei'e
result as before.
Tamerlane encamped
the direction of Gujerat.
it,
now
1
spread over the city; and the
thought only of his
own
safety,
and
All idea of resistance being abandoned, the
chief
men
lane
was formally proclaimed emperor.
of the city, crowding to the camp,
made
A
their submission,
and Tamer-
heavy contribution having been
was found in levying it. On this pretext, a body of
soldiers were sent into the city, and immediately commenced an indisci'iminate
plunder.
It had continued for five days before Tamerlane was even aware of it.
ordered,
some
difiiculty
He had remained
victory,
he saw
and the
it
outside in the cjimp to celebrate a festival in honour of his
first
in flames
;
intimaticm of the proceedings in Delhi was given him
fi)r
the Hindoos, in despair, had murdered their wives and
children, set fire to their houses,
A
when
general massacre ensued,
and then rushed out
and some
streets
to perish
by the sword.
became impassable from heaps of
ooiin
flicked
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
no
A.D.
(lead.
1308.
Jiinount of pluixler
'I'lu;
own
hi.s
share of the
great Tinnil)er of curious animals
He
Toglilak had formed.
is
120
spoil,
return home, carrying with him,
elejihants,
twelve rljinoceroses, and a
a
menagerie which Feroze
h(;Ionging
also said to
ration at the mo.sque which that
hi.s
I.
Tamerlane remained
Ixjyond wilculation.
v\';us
at Delhi fifteen days, and then comm(;need
as part of
[Book
to
have heen so much struck with admi-
monarch had
and on the walls of which
built,
he had inscribed the history of his reign, that he took back the architects and
masons to Samarcand to build one on a similar
captuic of
He
plaiL
gan'ison, confiding in its strength, ridiculed the very idea of capture,
tained before
who
it.
The
officer,
seemed too slow to
scaling-ladders
his
sus-
without attempting anything, returned to Tamer-
it
and many other
modern
commenced running mines with
ultimate success was certain.
The process, however,
Moguls, who, haAnng filled up the ditch, applied their
and grappling-irons
put every soul within
as in
insult-
forthwith ap2)eared in person, and
such rapidity that his
in this
and
Mogul general had
ingly reminded the officer of the defeat which another
lane,
The
halted at Paniput, and sent a detachment to besiege Meerut.
first
by assault, and
The mines employed by Tamerlane
to the walls, carried the place
to the sword.
sieges,
were not intended to be
filled
with gunpowder,
warfare, but merely to sap the foundations of the
wall.s,
which,
while the process was being earned on, were supported by wooden frames.
When
walls, thus left
were
fi-ames
without support, necessarily tiimbled.
Mogul conqueror,
mines
wooden
the process was finished, the
wreak
to
after the place
his
vengeance more
set
on
fire,
and the
In this iiLstance the
effectually,
had been taken without them, and thus
completed Ids
entirely destroyed
its defences.
Tamerlane's
return.
Continuing
^ lus marcli, Tamerlane skirted the mountains of Sewahk, cros.sed
the Ganges, and laid waste the whole country with fire and sword along its
jj^
banks up
to the point
repassed
the river, and ultimately
Before he
left,
where
a Gukkur
bursts from
it
chief,
reached
city,
rocky gorges.
He
afterwards
Samarcand by way of CabooL
taking advantage of his absence, got possession
of Lahore, and refused to acknowledge
tachment against that
its
which
fell
liis
in a
He
therefore sent a de-
"NMiile
he halted at Jamoo,
authority.
few days.
Khizr Khan, who had submitted to him and become a favourite, was appointed
by him viceroy
Dismemberi)!u!i
•^"^
kuig^
of Mooltan, Lahore,
For two montlis
and Depalpoor.
was a prey
after Tamerlane's departure, Delhi
to anarchy,
and was at the same time ravaged by pestilence and famine. After a series of
sanguinary struggles, Mulloo Yekbal Khan, the old Mahometan ^'izier, gained
the ascendency, and something like regular govermnent was re-established.
This return to order induced
and the
city,
many
of the inhabitants
which had recently been a smoking
who had
ruin,
fled to retm'n
began to recover.
In
addition to a small district around the city, Mulloo Yekbal obtained possession
of the Doab, or the tract lying between the
Jumna and
Ganges.
Tliis
was now
MULLOO YEKBAL, AND KHIZR KHAN.
CiiAP. IV.]
all
that remaiued of
what had recently been a
own names
All the other ad.
gi-eat empire.
by the governors, who continued
provinces were seized
97
them in
to hold
1421.
theii'
as independent kingdom.s.
Khan was
Mulloo Yekbal
not contented that Delhi should be thus shorn of
usurpation
of Mill loo
its
He
greatness.
added considerably to
neighbouring governors
;
and made
Mahmood
that the ex-king,
atfau'S to
Toghlak,
territory
its
by
successfid attacks
still
who had found an asylum
first
1
ill
at ease,
was provided
for
by being put
at Gujerat,
Mulloo
401.
continued to retain the sovereign power in his
and Mahmood, feeling
Vekbai.
assume an appearance so promising
and then at Malwah, was induced, by his invitation, to return in
Yekbal, however,
on
own
hands;
in possession
Mulloo Yekbal, having thus got quit of him, ai)pears soon to have
of Canouge.
forgotten all the deference
victory wliich filled
which he used to show him;
him with ambitious
an army against his old sovereign.
Mulloo, unable to reduce
against Khizr
Khan, but
it,
in 140-i, after
a
longings, he did not hesitate to lead
Mahmood
raised the siege.
his
for,
sliut
He
himself up in Canouge
;
and
shortly after tm-ned his arms
good fortune forsook him, and he was defeated and
slain in 1405.
On this event, the officers who had been left in Delhi gave an invitation
to Mahmood Toghlak, who, leaving Canouge, came with a small retinue, and
was re-seated on his throne.
Mahmood had neither the sense nor courage
necessary to maintain his positions;
and
Rotumof
Mainnoixi
^''°''''''
after various vicissitudes, shut himself
up in Ferozabad, where he was besieged by Khizr Khan, who was, however, obliged
to raise the siege
from want of forage and pro\asions.
The
release
temporary, for having obtained supplies, he immediately returned.
was only
Meanwhile,
Mahmood had removed to Siry, the old citadel of Delhi. A similar cause
•l>ligt' d Khizr Khan to retire as before
but the deliverance proved as fatal to
Mahmood as the captm*e of the citadel would have been. The transition from
(
;
fear to joy,
and immoderate exertion during a hunting excursion, brought on a
fever, of wliich
he died in
slaves of SiUtan
liisted,
1
41
2.
With him ended
Shahab-u-din Ghoory.
His inglorious and disastrous reign had
with interruptions, twenty years.
Afghan, of the
for fifteen
Khizr
name
of
the race of Toorks, the adopted
The nobles immediately placed an
Dowlut Khan Lody, on the
throne.
He held
it
nominally
months, and Wfis then deposed by Khizr Khan, in 1416.
Khan had gained
and been appointed, a.s
already mentioned, governor of Lahore, Mooltan, and Depalpoor.
Hence,
thougli on the deposition of Dowlut Khan Lody, he assumed the reins of
the favour of Tamerlane,
government at Delhi, he refused to appropriate regal
himself as only the deputy of Tamerlane, in
tlie
Khootba was
Khizr
Khan
to
read.
Even
titles,
affecting to regard
whose name money was coined, and
after Tamerlane's death, the
acknowledge the supremacy of
same policy induced
his successor,
Shahrokh Mirza,
and even send tribute occasionally to Samarcand. His reign or regency, which
was terminated by his death in 1421, after it had lasted little more than seven
Vol.
I.
13
loiizr
KUan.
deputy.
HISTOliY OK INI>IA.
98
years, presents
(!iu.
few
imi)Oi'tant events;
but
liis
[Hook
I.
conduct contrawts favourably with
A.I). 14 K).
that of his predecessors, and the inliabitants of Delhi showed their respect ior
-
memory by wearing
liis
Khizr Khan's eldest
Mo()l)arik,
Mo()l)!irik
black, their garb of mourning, during three days.
son, succeeded him, in virtue of a
nomination
Bucoeoils
Kliizr
by
when he
his father,
Kh;i[i.
felt
his
end approaching.
in the Punjab,
were carried on
repeatedly defeated,
managed always
some other quarter as strong as
by forming an
in his favour
first
military (jperati'^ns
where he succeeded, but not without
The
suppressing a serious insurrection.
in
His
He
ever.
alliance
Jusrut Gukkur,
rebel,
to escape,
and
even succeeded
in creating a divei-sion
with Ameer Sheikh Ally, a Mogul chief
The King of Malwah,
ances, invested Gwalior, in the
him
in
make an
to
takinj; a^lvantajje of these di.sturb-
hope of adding
Moobariks
to his dominions.
it
was thus fully occupied and liis whole reign of thirteen years furnothing more important than a succession of revolts. HLs temper, said tf)
attention
nishes
though
to a|)pear unexpectedly in
the service of Shahrokh Mirza, governor of Cabool. and inducing
incursion into Scinde.
difficulty,
;
have been so equable that he never spoke in anger during his
iU fitted for the times in
which he
lived.
life,
was probably
A conspiracy, in which some
of
liLs
own
family were implicated, was formed against him, and he was basely assassinated
in the
new
city of Delhi, while at worship in a mosque.
Prince Mahomed, Moobarik's son, though not one of the actual perpetiu-
Uinvortliy
reign of
Mahomed,
tors of his father's mui-der,
his son.
turn
it
was
perfectly cogniztmt of
it,
and endeavoured
to
by immediately mounting the throne. His fu"st act was to
own shame and guilt, by rewarding the conspirators. The appoint-
to account
proclaim his
ment of the ringleader, Survui"-ool-Moolk, to the office of vizier, produced general
inchgnation; and a confederacy was formed, which soon broke out into open rebellion.
The malcontents marched at once upon Delhi; and Mahomed, seeing that
his vizier
him
was
chiefly
aimed
The
vizier,
to his fate.
at,
thought he might save himself by abandoning
however, was too crafty to be thus caught
;
and no
sooner learned that the king was in communication with his enemies, than he
formed a band of
He,
master.
who
Bheilole
into
fell
too,
it
assassins,
and broke into the palace
had been put on
and was cut to
his guard,
and had
in order to mui'der his
laid a trap for the vizier,
pieces.
Mahomed, now apparently on good terms
Avith the confederates
who had
laid
Lody aim3
at the
throne.
siege to Delhi, thought himself safe
;
and, throwing
ofi"
all restraint,
spent his time
The administration of affairs, thas neglected, fell into
disorder discontent prevailed, and an insiurection broke out in Mooltan among
Bheilole Lody, who had placed himself at their head, had previthe Afghans.
in sensual indidgence.
;
ously usurped the government of Sirhind, and
Lahore, Depalpoor, and
to cope with the royal
hills,
all
now made
himself master of
the country as far south as Panipiit.
army which was
sent against him,
Bheilole, unable
was driven
into the
and, abandoning open force, determined to try the effect of intrigue.
he managed so dexterously that the king, on his suggestion,
]iut
This
one of
bis
REIGN OF ALA-U-DIN.
Chap. IV.]
ablest
and most
(U.sturbances
faitliful
which
99
servants to death; and then, in order to suppress the
this imbecile
and
The
inic^uitous act
Afghan
had produced, had
summons,
and marched to Delhi with 20,000 horsemen iUTayed in armour.
'J'hough
this
made the
reinforcement
crafty
army
royal
superior to that of the insurgents,
refused to take the Held, and, like a coward, shut himself
lie
The brunt of the action which ensued
manfully
self
;
fell
upon
now
Matters seemed
which Bheilole had
all
up
in his ])alace.
who acquitted liimthat Mahomed adopted
Bheilole,
and, in consequence, rose into such ftivour
liim as his son.
ms.
recoiu-se
at once obeyed the
to Bheilole for assistance.
.\.i).
schemes
ripe for the execution of the
along contemplated.
He
accordingly strengthened his
army by numerous bodies of Afghans, and, throwing off the mask, marched
upon Delhi. The siege which he commenced proved more formidable than he
had anticipated, and he determined to wait a little longer.
Meantime the
weak and dissolute Mahomed was permitted, notwithstanding his crime of
to die a natm-al death, in 14-10, after a reign of twelve years.
jtarricide,
Ala-u-din,
Mahomed's
son,
mounted the
throne,
and immediately received
-Ma-w-diirs
feeble reign.
homage of all the
tlie
chiefs except Bheilole,
provoke a contest in which he
felt
who was
jn-obably not
unwillmg
to
confident that he would prove the victor.
Ala-u-din was too j)owerless or too mean-spirited to resent the insult,
and soon
into general contempt, the people not hesitating to say openly that
he was a
tell
man than
weaker
shadow of
its
(iujerat,
<tll
posses.sed scarcely a
former greatness; for the whole that could be considered as pro-
perly belonging to it
the rest of
The kingdom of Delhi now
his father.
was the
Hindoostan
wtis
city of Delhi
and a small
broken up into separate
Malwah, Jounpoor, and Bengal had each
})rincipalities.
its
All
tract in its vicinity.
The Deccan.
independent king
;
while
the other territories, though nominally subordinate to Delhi, were in the
At
hands of chiefs e(pially independent.
the head of these was,
tis
a.ii ions
kingdoms.
has been
already seen, Bheilole Lody, whose designs on the ca})ital had been re})eatedly
declared
by overt
acts, ;ind
were only postponed
to a fitting opportunity.
This
op])ortuuity soon arrived.
Ala-u-din had early taken a great ftmcy for Budaoon, where he had spent
He
some time in building pleasiu-e-houses and laying out gardens.
its
air
agreed better with his health than Delhi, and wished to
The remonstrances of
dence.
him
for a
time; but crafty
into disgrace,
of
him
thought
reeling,
corn-tiers,
and
having succeeded
at Delhi.
set off to enjoy him.self at
The
vizier,
The order to that
made
ett'ect
in
it
his lesi-
bringing the vizier
own
wi.shes, regardless
Budaoon, leaving a deputy to
still
alive.
The very
of his comisellors. tfiking advantage of the
policy
would
])e
to take the vizier's
was accordingly given; but the
his escape to Delhi,
make
the danger, dissuaded
though disgraced, was
made him uneasy; and some
persuaded him that his best
guard, and
who showed him
he immediately proceeded to follow out his
the consequences,
act for
his vizier,
thought that
Mas put on his
enough to obtain
vizier
where he had intiucnce
life.
Ai,iu<iiii'«
ii,„i;,.H,n.
100
A.D.
m:;1.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
possession of
capital
and
all tiio
The king
royul effects.
[JiooK
wsts urg(;(l
strike a decisive blow, but he only
made
to
to
baxrk
li}iHt<;n
I.
lii.s
frivoloas excas^jH for ihJay.
One day it was tlie weather, which made it fli.sagreeable to travel another day
it was the stars, whicli pronounced it unlucky.
The vizier made better ukc of
;
the time, and invited Bheilole
out at once, but gave a
Lody
assume the government.
to
new specimen
din that his only object in going was to expel the
even for the imbecile monarch to believe
which he saw he would soon be
Bheilole's favour,
He had
founds
the Lody
Afghan
dynasty.
his
to
by formally abdicating the throne
in
previoasly reigned seven years at Delhi.
The circumstances of
Lody Afghan dynasty, began
his reign in 1450.
were extraordinary, and being interpreted
his birth
portend his future greatness, very probably contributed to realize
was
bom
his
much
extending to nearly twenty-eight years, was
life,
Bheilole, the founder of the
Bheilole
This wa.s too
vizier.
and he voluntarily took the step
;
forced,
wi-iting to Ala-u-
on condition of being permitted to reside quietly at Budaoon.
Here the remainder of
spent.
by
of his Afghan craft
Bheilole set
mother was killed by the
fall
t<>
Before he
it.
Her husband, Mullik
of her hoase.
Kaly, governor of a district in Sirhind, immediately ordered her body to be
opened, and, strange to say, the
of the infant
who had been appointed governor
Sultan,
Khan, rewarded
him
life
his valour
by giving him
was
His
saved.
of Sirhind with the
uncle, Mullik
title
his daughter in marriage,
and making
Khan had
Islam
his heir, to the exclusion of his o^vn full-grown sons.
of Islam
The
usually retained 12,000 Afghans, mostly of his owii tribe, in his service.
The King of Delhi
greater part of these joined Bheilole.
by inducing Jusrut
roused as to the ultimate objects of the Afghans; and,
Gukkur
to take the field against them, drove
headed them, made
many
which he divided the
spoil,
Hissam Khan,
result, as
whom
them
to the
harl his suspicions
hills.
Here Bheilole
predatory incursions, and, by the liberality with
attracted great
numbers
The
to his standard
vizier,
The
the kinsr sent against him, was signallv defeated
has been ah*eady related, was that Bheilole foimd means to ingi'atiate
himself with the king, was adopted as his son, and at last succeeded in displac-
ing Moobarik,
who
retired into private
life,
and went to
reside, despised or
forgotten, at his favourite residence of Budaoon.
Aftei'
whom
Bheilole succeeded, he continued for a time to treat the vizier, to
he was mainly indebted for his elevation, with
wards, thinking he presumed too
his servants to seize him.
The
much on what he had
vizier,
had given, expected nothing but death
for past services,
\I
;
but
done, he caused
after-
some of
though not aware of the offence which he
;
but Bheilole told him
he had a security for his
life
;
that, in gratitude
the only thing necessary
that he should cease to intermeddle with public
insuiTection
gi-eat respect
affairs,
now
and spend the
was,
rest of
In 1451, during
o an absence of Bheilole in Mooltan. a formidable insuiTection broke out, headed by Mahmood Shah Shui'ky, King of
his life in retirement.
'
It
Jounpoor,
who advanced with
a large army, and laid siege to Delhi.
Bheilole
BHEILOLE AND HIS SUCCESSOES.
CnAP. IV.]
returned with precipitation
power on a firmer basis than
by putting down the
and,
;
began to think of
obliged to
tories
make a
new
rebellion, placed his
a.d. 1499.
then was, could not satisfy
FomiiiiHbie
before.
The kingdom of Delhi, contracted
who no
the ambition of Bheilole,
101
in extent as
sooner found himself firmly seated than he
conquests.
He was
bound him
treaty which
it
not very successful
;
for
he was
'""
j,"^'
|^f
^^^^-^^
to limit his possession to the terri-
which had belonfjed to Delhi in the time of Moobarik.
His most form id-
members of the Shurky family. Among them,
Hoossein Shah Shurky took the lead.
At one time he advanced against Dellii
with 100,000 horse and 1000 elephants; at another he obliged him to make a
able enemies
were the
by which he
treaty,
difierent
reliniiuished all right to
Ultimately, however, Bheilole gained so
Shurky
part of the
Bheilole,
any
many
territory east of the Ganges.
decided advantages, that a great
was incorporated with his own.
when he mounted the throne, had a family of nine
territory
advanced in years, and
felt
As he
sons.
the cares of government weighing heavily upon him,
he adopted the very injudicious measure of partitioning his territory
way
In this
them.
great object of his
among
Biieiioie'«
pnrtition
territories
the amalgamation of the conquests, which had been the
life,
was completely
arrangement he was seized with
illness,
Shortly after making this
frastrated.
and died in
1
488, after a reign of nearly
thirty-nine years.
He had
previously declared that his son
whom he had allotted
his successor.
He was not the
Nizam Khan,
Delhi and several districts in the Doab, should be
to
lawful heir; for the eldest son of Bheilole, though dead,
according to the ordinary rules of succession,
title,
Nizam Khan owed
of a goldsmith,
title
all o])position
His
of Sikundur.
at least
was
left
a son, whose
certainly preferaljle.
this preference to the influence of his mother, the
whose beauty had given her the
a short contest,
had
to the
daughter
place in the harem.
After
appointment ceased, and he assumed the
which lasted twenty-eight years,
reign,
compared with that of
first
neiiin nf
his predecessoi*s
able alike for the comeliness of his person
;
and he
is
wsis peaceful,
described as remark-
and the excellence of
his character.
In general, justice was administered impartially, but some remarkable instances
of intolerance
have
left
a stain (m his reputation.
One
of these desei^ves to be
recorded.
About
\4i99,
a Brahmin of the name of Boodlum, an inhabitant of a village
near Lucknow, being upbraided
defentled himself
Hindoos,
if
by some Mahometans on account of
by maintaining
" that the religions,
was
was publicly discussed before the cazis of Lucknow.
.agi-ee
excited,
He
argued
and the subject
These judges did not
and the governor, as the best way of settling the
sent the Brahmin and all the other parties to Sumbuhl, where the court
in their conclusion
matter,
both of the Moslems and
acted on with sincerity, were equally acceptable to God."
the point so ingeniously that considerable attention
his faith,
then happened to be.
;
The
king,
who was
well informed on religious subjects,
Mahometan
anTintoiCTaiice.
102
Cm.
AD.
1600.
HISTOIIV or INDfA.
and was fond of
to assemble
and
licaiiii;^ tlit^iu
deljate with
iiis('u.s.s(;(i,
tli(;
oidercd
[Book
luoHt learned of
t\u-
At the very
Braliniin.
liis
I.
subjects
outset of the pro«;ed-
ing then; was thus a considerable want of fairness, as the lirahnjin wa>* uiiKupported, while no fewer than nine of the al>lest
The
against him.
result
Mahometan
doctfjrs
were arrayed
was that the chosen nine found themselves perfectly
and the Brahmin altogether
in the right,
As a
the wrong.
natural consequence, they
were rewarded with
Iteen well if these
gifts;
had
and
satisfied
had allowed their opponent
Uj
it
would have
them, and they
The Brah-
maintaining that the Hindofj faith
in
was
A
go his way.
very different course was followed
min,
in
rank on a footing of equality
entitled to
with the Mahometan, wa.s
sulted the Pro])het;
to have in-
lield
and the only alternative
left
was
Mahometan
or suffer death.
He
prefeired the latter, and
was accordingly
to turn
executed.
The king appears
-=r" "II
to liave been as fond of
and often
as of religious questions,
judicial
Some
sat in ])ei'son in tlie coui-ts of law.
A Brah.min.— Friira
Sikuiiclur
Belnos' Smidhva.
,
i
i
•
i
i
the decisions which
brated.
Two
brothers,
during a
siege,
become possessed of
private
•
had,
soldiers,
i
i
lie
among
of
i
i)ronounced are celeother booty obtained
celebrate<l
as a juilge.
One
tw(j large i-ubies of different shapes.
of the brothers having determined to
qviit
the service and retui'n to his family
him with his share of the plunder, including
one of the rubies, and told him to deliver it to his wife. The soldier who had
continued to serve, on returning after the war was ended, asked his wife
for the ruby, and was told that she had never seen it
The brother, (jn the
at Delhi,
the other intrusted
was brought
before the court, produced a number of witnesses who swore that they had seen
hiiu deliver it.
The judge, acting on this testimony, decided against the woman,
telling her to go home and give the ruby to her hiLsband.
Her home was thus
contrary, declared that he
had delivered
it;
and
vrheii the case
rendered so uncomfortable that, as a last resource, she laid her complaint before
the king.
})arties
He
listened patiently to her statement,
strengthen
it,
wax
all
the
%vitnesses repeated their e\-idence; and, in order to
affirmed that they perfectly recollected the size and shape of the
ruby, which they
piece of
The
before him.
and then summoned
had seen given.
On
this the witnesses
were separated, and a
being given to each of them, as well as to each of the
were told to mould
it
into the form of the gem.
On
the soldiers agreed, but that of all the othei-s differed.
soldiers,
they
examination, the models of
The king drew the
infer-
ence that the soldiers alone had seen the ruby, and the witnesses had been
REIGN OF IBRAHIM.
Chap. IV. ]
suborned to
perjiu*e themselves.
103
added that a confession
It is
to this effect wits a.d.
isiz.
afterwards extorted from them.
Sikundur was succeeded iu 1517 by
and
father, the
Afghans had regarded them.selves as a dominant
besides monopolizing
chiefs,
presence, while all others
them mortal
all
his grandfather
race,
and
their
were constrained to stand.
make no
sikiuIaMr.
Ibrahim accordingly gave
between
distinction
his
They did
the weight of their indignation.
and
officei-s,
his
said publicly,
He was
soon made
not, indeed,
attempt to
have no relations nor clansmen."
that "kings should
ibrai.im
the great offices of the state, sat in the royal
when, at the connnencement of his reign, he announced
offence,
determination to
to feel
Under
his son Ibrahim.
dethrone him; but endeavoured to partition his temtories by placing his brother,
Julal
Khan, on the throne of Jounpoor.
king, appointed his
own
eastern provinces.
The Afghan
and was acknowledged by
vizier,
their followers
the officers of the
all
themselves as against Ibrahim.
again.st
formed a small minority of the population, and nothing
but perfect union could enable them to maintain their ascendency.
by
they would fain have retraced their
this consideration,
steps,
the
Influenced
but Julal
Khan
war ensued. In
end, Ibrahim, having regained the confidence of the Afghan chiefs, crushed
rebelHon of Julal Khan, who, having fallen into his brother's hand.s, was by
had no idea of resigning his newly-acquired honom-s, and a
the
Afgimn
began to discover that the revenge
chiefs soon
which thev had taken told as much
They and
J\dal accoi'dingly assiuned the title of
civil
his private orders assassinated.
This rebellion was no sooner suppressed than another,
vizier,
whom
Islam Khan, brother of Futteh Khan,
broke out.
believing that Ibrahim had
of his influence as governor
vowed
and
The
first
suffered a very severe
and
The
loss.
man
in
fell
insurgents, in conse-
so reinforced that they mustered
in sight of each other, but, instead of fighting,
Sheikh Rajoo Bokhar}', a
his
imme-
detachment sent against him
The armies arrived
40,000 cavalry, 500 elephants, and a large body of infantry.
came
to a i)arley,
on the sugges-
universal esteem for his reputed
Terras of accommodation were proposed and agreed to; but the king-
sanctity.
was only
He had
plaj'ing a part.
the governor of Oude, to advance,
amu-sed
till
when
it
was too
terras,
chose the latter.
Ibrahim
sent orders to the collector of Ghazipoor, and
and
his object
he should be able to ovei'power them.
dictated rather
respite.
made
Julal had
the ruin of his family, availed himself
quence, advanced, flushed with victory,
tion of
more formidable,
of Kurra, to form a strong party, and
diately raised the standard of revolt.
into an ambuscade,
still
late
;
The
issue
himself secure
;
keep the insurgents
flee
was not long doubtful.
by despair than by any ho]ie
now thought
to
They discovered
and having no alternative but to
Bahadur Khan, on the death of
inunediately
was
their error
or fight on unequal
After a resistance,
of victory, they fled in
all directions.
but he had only obtained a short
his father,
declared himself independent,
and
who was governor
a.'^sumed
the
title
of Behar,
of king.
a
civii
war.
s
HISTORY OF INDIA.
101
AD.
1626.
Keiwiii..!.
govoniors
ami Lahore
[Book
I.
Numeroas malcontent cluefs joined him; and, at tlie head (;f 100,000 horw^, he
made himself master of all the country as far {is Sumbuhl, defeating the Delhi
army in several engagements. A still more fatal step wa« taken by Dowlut
Klian Lody, the governor of Lahore.
'^^^^
He
had at
first
bccame alamicd at the repeated instances of
taken part with the king,
his pei-fidy.
Not
seeing
any
seemity for his family in any temis of accommodation which Ibrahim might
induced to
in the
gi'ant,
open
field,
and
conscious, at the
same time, of
his inability to
he entered into a communication with Baber,
That prince had long kept
reigning in Cabool.
his eye fixed
)>('
meet him
who was
then
on Hindoostan,
which, as a direct descendant of Tamerlane, he regarded as part of his inheritance.
Nothing, therefore, could be more in accordance with his wishes than Dowlut
Khan's invitation.
He was
country
very time Ala-u-din, the brother of Ibrahim, was living in
;
for at this
exile at his com-t.
])rince,
well acquainted with the convulsed state of the
Before taking the field in person, Baber sent forward this
who was immediately joined by Dowlut Khan.
distinction also rallied around his standard,
Delhi, with the intention of laying siege to
and
lie
Many
other officers of
continued his march towards
His army mustered 40,000
it.
Ibrahim went out to oppose him, but suffered himself to be surprised
when
night, and, after a tumultuous conflict, found,
the day dawTied,
hor.se.
in the
tliat
most
The troops, however, had remained
faithful, and an opportunity of regaining more than he had lost immediately
presented itself.
The troops of Ala-u-din, thinking they had secured the
victory, had dispersed to plunder.
Ibrahim, before they were aware, w^as on
them with his elephants and as many of his soldiers as he had rallied, and
of his officers had deserted to the enemy.
drove them from the
lost,
made a
Invitation
with great slaughter.
precipitate retreat to the Punjab,
Delhi in triumph.
to
field
discomfitm'e was to
Ala-u-din, giving
up
all for
and Ibraliim once more entered
was of .short dm-ation for the only effect of Ala-u-din'
bring Baber across the Indus in the end of 1525. As the
It
;
Baber
must be left for another chapter, it is sufficient here to mention the
result.
The kings met in the beginning of the following year, on the plain of
Paniput, and a sanguinary battle was fought, which teiininated the life of
Ibrahim, and extinguished the Lody Afghan dvTiasty.
On its ruins the far
details
more celebrated dynasty of the Great Mogul was
erected.
Chap V.]
OF BABER.
ItEIGN
CHAPTER
Mogul dynasty -Life
Y.
-Hoomayoon — Ilis
aiul reign of Ilaber
10^
expuUiuii and return —State of India at
his death.
ABER
was the
Abu
fathei',
Said Mirza,
was
among wliom
eleven sons,
left
Omar Sheikh
extensive dominions were divided.
fom*th son,
His grand- ad
sixth in descent from Tamerhine.
uss.
his
Mirza, the
some time i^overnor of Cabool, but was
for
transferred to Fergliana, situated on the upper course of the
This province, of wliich he was in possession
Jaxartes
was afterwards
lield
l)y liim
Jis
an independent sovereignty.
Mahmood Khan,
ried the sister of
He had
a descendant of Dschaggatai
Baber was
him connected with CJhenghis Khan.
tlu-ougl»
when Abu Said
lier
died, unVw, bom
mar-
lusorifrin
Khan, and
"i""^,'".'^
son,
and was,
somewhat singular that, in
Ills own Memoirs, lie always speaks with contempt of the Mogul race, though the
tlvnasty which he was about to e.stablisii in India was destined to take its name
from it.
Tiie exphmation is, that the title Great Mogul was not chosen by
liini, but was applied, in accordance with the Hindoo ciustom of giving the name
by
conseciuently,
Moguls to
(»f
the
all
mother's side, a Mogul.
tlie
Mahometans
When
the Afghans
It is
of the north-west, with the single excei)tion of
his father died,
Baber was only twelve years of
was thus de])rive(lof
his natural protector before he could
to act for himself
To add
enough
position.
liis
On
room
learning his father's death,
As the
the succession
eldest son, he
It Wiis necessary,
for tUs])ute.
Mirza, ruler of
to re.sent a (piarrel
But Baber had
command
servant
;
if
you
ap]>oint me,
toiy manner."
'i'his
answer was returned
to
your purpose
])lain
The uncle
lie
had had
took immediate steps to secure
whom
to
title to
it,
and there was no
I
you must place one of your
;un at once
your son and your
answered
in the mo.st satisfac-
will be
dealing gave
wius, in fa<:t,
Ahmed
the .suiu'emac}' belonged; and
plain
is
of this country;
honest but
tliey
however, to consult his uncle. Sultan
Baber sent an embassy to him. to say, "It
servants in the
which
have
talents equal to the difliculties of
had the best
Samarcand and Bokhara,
He
be expecteil to be able
to the misfortune, his uncles, wh(^ ought to
befriended him, were \ingenerous
with the father, on the son
age.
dis.sati.sfaction.
and a
hostile
already on the marcli, determined
complete the conquest which he had begun while Baber's father was alive, and
make himself
sole
friendless youth.
unele's troops,
Thi.s
I.
On
this occasion fortune favoured the
In crossing a river, the bridge, which was crowded with his
gave way, and great numbers of men,
was regarded
Vol.
master of Fertrhana
as ominous, particularly
jus
hoi-ses.
a defeat
and camels
])erished.
had been sustained at the
14
iiis mes-sagfi
;
106
At)
iifli;
OF INDIA.
TIFSTOIJV
snmo spot
struck,
tliree
The anny,
or four years before.
and showed the utmost reluctance to
r.
in consequence, Ixicarne panic-
While they were
axlvance.
tating, the horses
were seized with a
fatal di.sease,
appearance.
these circumstances
made
All
[iiooK
hesi-
and Baber's arrny marie
its
the invaders disposed to listen to
terms of accommodation, and patch up a hasty peace, when a resolute a/lvance
of a few miles would probably have put them in possession of Indijan, Baber's
capital.
No
Raber'H
sooner was this danger escaped, than another, of an equally formidaljle
(lilfilMllt
positiuu.
The Sultan Mahmood Khan made
nature, thrcatejied him.
and
north,
his af)[»earance in the
After re[)eated
laid siege to Baber's fortress of Akhsi.
which
ftssaidts,
were repulsed with great valour, he abandoned the attempt as hopeless, and
the best of his
A
way home.
and devastating
He
as he came.
enemy advanced from
third
was, however,
more
still
the
jilundering
efist,
easily disposed of than
the others, having brought himself into a position out of which,
had been taken, he could not have extricated himself
ma<^Ie
Balder,
if full
advantage
thus freed from
the perils wliich had environed him, turned his leism-e to good account, and
Alteniate
success
many important internal
He had hitherto been
made
improvements.
contented to act on the defensive, but in 1495 he found
and
himself strong enough to change his
defeat.
It
had at one time belonged
self entitled to
take
he
it if
on Uratuppa
vender, thus
was about
to hLs father,
it
and on
ground he thought him-
this
The task proved
could.
and he gained possession of
and attempt the conquest of Kliojend.
tactics,
His next attempt was
almost without resistance.
but as the inhabitants had canied home
;
making
it
to set in, he
Samarcand having been
the country in
tloi-ee
him
impossible for
was obliged to
disputed, three
their grain
all
to obtain s\ipphes,
In
retreat.
diff'ei'ent
different directions.
than he anticipated,
easier
and
and pro-
as the winter
1496, the succession to
claimants appeared, and invaded
Baber was one of them
but as none
;
them was able to establish an ascendency, they all three retired. In the following year Baber renewed the attempt, and conducted his operations with so
much skill and valour, that, before the year expired, both the city and teiritory
of
of Samarcand
were in
his
possession.
acknowledged by most of the nobles
was anxious
;
He
this,
His serious
illne-a
went
off in a body,
who was
and
this time,
dispei-se.
Others, not satisfied
offered their ser\-ices to Jehangir Mu-za,
treacherous enough to listen to their overtm-es, and
on Indijan, one of the leading
At
The troops
to conciliate the inhabitants, he forbade all plunder.
Baber's brother,
seize
accordingly crowned, and
but as the city had capitulated, and he
were gi-ievously (Usappointed, and began to
with
wjis
when aU
districts of
Ferghana.
the talents which Baber possessed would scarceh^
and
luisfortuiies
have
sufficed,
verge of ruin.
he was seized with a dangerous
and foimd
his affairs
Samarcand was held by a most precarious tenure
obvious that the
would
illness,
moment he
lose it altogether.
He
ceased to overawe
it
by
liis
;
and
on the
it
was
personal presence, he
resolved, notwithstanding, to
make
this sacrifice
FORTUNi:S OF BABEH.
Chap. V.]
for his paternal
domiuions were dearer to hini than any new conquest, however M)
HO!)
and he could not brook the idea of having them dismembered by the
valuable,
He
perfidy of a brother.
oidy in time enough
intrusted,
accordingly set out towards Indijan, but he arrived
had been induced, by a rumour of
lost.
Baber
wiis
maternal uncle, Sultan
the defence of
his death, to surrender,
it
wa«
and that
Both Samarcand and Indijan were
now in the utmost distress, and applied
Mahmood Klian. His brother Jehangir
same time, and Mahmood, unwilling
gave no assistance to
whom
learn that the officers to
t(^
Jehangir had actually mounted the throne.
thus
107
for aid to his
applied at the
to interfere in the quarrels of his nephews,
Ultimately, however, he departed so far from this
either.
MaliiiKMMl
8\l|>I><>l'ts
resolution as to take open ]>art with
Baber, who, after various vicissitudes,
recovered his paternal kingdom in 1499.
He
recovery of Samarcand, but was only on the
way when he
H.ilicr.
even set out to attempt the
received the morti-
fying intelligence that the Usbeks had anticipated him, and
made themselves
masters both of Samarcand and Bokhara.
The consequence was, that he was not
only
frustrated
Samarcand,
in
again
but
which had been oveiTun
^
hope of taking
the
lost
Ferghana,
in his absence.
His only resource was to betake himself to the
mountains, and wait there
should
fortune
again
smile
upon
While almost disconsolate at the
him.
disasters
which had Wallen him, he lay down
grove to
sleep,
He
in a
and dreamed that AbdoUah,
a dervis of grwit
iiou.se.
till
invited
re])ute,
him
cjxlled
to sit
at
his
down, and
ordered a table-cloth to be spread for him;
but the dervis, apjiarently offended, rose
to
go away.
While Baber endeavoured
to
Usbeks of Khoondooz, and a Kiiojaii ok Usbf.k
Taktarv.— From Rattmy's AfKh&ni5tan &iid Klpliiiistoiie's Cabool.
detain him, the dervis took hold of his
arm, and lifled him up towards the sky.
.significant;
fortune,
The ch'eam
but Baber and his followers regarded
and determined,
The captm'e
in consequence, to
of the city
was one of the
it
is
neither striking nor
as a promise of future good
make another attempt on Samarcand.
exploits on which
Baber particularly
neniarkal)l8
rv covery of
j)hnned himself, and he dwells on
Here,
it
with evident exultation in his ^femoil•s.
His small
however, only the leading facts can be mentioned.
])arty
mustered only 320 men, and yet with these he succeeded in making himself
master of a large
ca])ital,
occupied by warlike Usbeks,
a veteran general of high rej)utation, commanded.
whom
Having
Sheebani Khan,
secretly arrived in
the vicinity at midnight, he sent forward <-ighty of his party to a low part of
the wall, which they immediately scaled
by means
of a gi-ap})ling-rope.
Going
Sainarcaiid
108
Tin.
A.D.
1000.
HLST(;JiV
OF INDIA.
[lirjoK
afterwards round, they surjiriHed and over[)owor<id the guard
of the gates, opened
They immediately
immediately
let in
a charm with
rallied
place, ignorant
and
it
charge of
Baber with the 240 wlio were with
i-ushed along the .streets, proclaiming Baber's
It carried
passed.
it,
in
to the ears of
many
name
on<;
hiin.
as they
who
of the inhabitants,
around him, while the Usbeks ran c^mfasedly from
plH/;e to
When
both of the position and numbers of their assailants.
I.
the
alarm reached the head-quarters, Sheebani Khan, who occupied the fort with
7000 men,
set out
with a small body to reconnoitre, and on finding that Babei'
had gained some thousands of the inhabitants, who were rending the
was
acclamations,
so frightened that he took the opposite gate,
Baber obtained quiet
Bokhara.
and
fled
with
air
towards
possession.
Baber was aware that the victory was only half won so long as the Usljeks
Baber
defeated
hy the
Uabeks.
maintained
theii*
footing in the country, and he laboured to unite the neighbour-
Owing
ing chiefs in a general coalition for the pm'pose of expelling them.
dissensions
and
jealousies,
tight single-handed
for
him
liis
exertions were unavailing, and he
the walls.
Here he defended himself
and saw no resource but
100 faithful attendants.
foes.
till
Here
and escape with about
This flight took place in the beginning of loOl, and
Mahmood Khan, who gave him
his relentless
he suffered aU the horrors of famine,
to take advantage of the night,
He
he was once more a homeless wanderer.
Sultan
left to
They proved more than a match
which obliged him to shut himself up within
with his formidable
and he sustained a defeat
;
was
the
foTind
town
an asylum with his
uncle.
of Aratiba for his residence.
enemy, Sheebani Khan, found him
out,
and he removed to
At
Tashkend, where he remained for some time in a state of despondency.
length an opening appeared in his hereditary kingdom, and
two uncles he obtained
to
by the
aid of his
possession of Akhsi, one of its strongest forts.
only a gleam of sunshine before the coming storm.
appeared, and conquered as before.
In addition to
his
Sheebani
own
It
Khan
was
again
misfortune, Baber
had the misery to see his imcles involved in his fate. They were both taken
prisoners, and released only at the expense of their kingdoms.
Sultan Mahmood
Khan was
One
unable to bear up imder the stroke, and his health began to decHne.
of his friends, hinting that Sheebani
tiriak of Khutta, a medicine
The sultan
replied,
taken away
Khutta
Becomes
master of
Cabool and
Kandahar.
my
Khan had
which was then in high repute as an antidote.
"Yes! Sheebani Khan has poisoned
kingdom, which
it is
me
indeed!
He
has
not in the power of yom- tiriak of
to restore."
Baber had at one time some thoughts of trying
own
poisoned him, offered some
liis
fortune in China.
country, at all events, seemed shut against him, and he qmtted
HLs
it for ever.
Though he had seen much of the
world, and experienced many reverses, he had only attained the age when most
men begin to make their appearance in the public stage of life. He was httle
more than twenty, and was borne up by tlie behef, which conscious talent and
But he had no intention of
closing his career.
BABER INVADES INDIA.
Chap. V.J
great natural buoyancy of
s})irits
suggested, that
In 150i he took the direction of the
east,
109
some great destiny awaited him
where he saw no
ad.
ists.
field of enterprise so
promising as Cabool, which had fallen into a state of anarchy.
had once
It
been ruled by his father, and subsef^uently by his uncle, Ulugh Beg, who had
died in 1501, leaving an infant son.
into his
own
The minister took the whole government
convulsions followed, and Cabool became a
and
invcision
He
arrived.
from without.
found
A
and ruled
it
in his
common
foreign usurper
alive,
still
own name.
pi-ey to dissensions within,
him and though his cousin, the
he regarded the kingdom as a la\\i"ul
His ambition was n(jt yet satisfied,
;
and, taking advantage of favourable circmnstances, he
Kandahar.
It
would seem that at
Hindoostan, and the invasion of
court.
made himself master
this early period his thoughts
it
Groat
assa-ssinated.
was on the throne when Baber
in displacing
little ditiiculty
above son of Ulugh Beg, was
conquest,
was
hands, but soon disgusted the nobles, and
of
were turned to
was openly talked of and discussed
in his
Various circum.stances, however, concurred to po.stpone any actual
preparations.
The
earliest of these
Sheebani Khan,
was the appeai'ance of the
who drove Baber from Kandahar, and
Siieebani Khan, having ultimately
Persia,
was defeated and
met
his
and
restless
re-seated the former ruler.
master in Shah Ismael Sophi of
Baber immediately proposed an
slain.
alliance
the shah, Ijy whose aid he hoped to regain his former dominions.
disappointed.
With an army
of 60,000
im[)lacable
hoi-se,
partly furnished
n;i'«>- •'"•'"^
«itii tiie
perel,,'
with
Nor was he
by the Persian
monarch, he took Khoondooz, subdued Bokhara, and in 1511 was seated for the
third time on the throne of Samarcand.
Here he fixed
his residence,
Cabool to be governed under him by his brother, Nasir Mirza.
prosperity
was
short-lived;
for he
and
left
This return of
was inmiediately engaged
in a series of
sanguinary struggles with the Usbeks.
These were generally to his disad-
vantage; and in 1518 he arrived, shorn of
all
government of Cabool.
his
new
conquests, to resume the
His brother Nasir Mirza returned to
his
government
of Glniznee.
Baber had now been nearly twenty
yeai's
King
long period had often turned a wistful eye to India.
had rejieatedly started up and tempted him to try
the ditticulties had proved insurmountable,
\ipon him, that if his
name was
of Cabool,
and during that
Other objects of ambition
his fortune in the
of
Afghan
chiefs,
to descend to posterity as a great conqueror
iiis
the affections of the people,
While thus requiring
all
series
the aid which union could give,
much by
by court intrigue, ftxction, and assassination.
wretched system the kingdom had been broken up into fragments,
the ordinary rules of relationship, as
this
and
and ruled
interminable feuds prevailed, and the succession was regulated not so
Under
but
laurels.
The throne of Delhi had been occupied by a
who had never gained
only by the sword.
;
and the conviction had been forced
mighty monarch, the east was the quarter in which he must gain
The times were favourable.
west
Pie|vir.»
imUa.
10
A.D. 1824.
IIISTOlty
and
Dell)i exhibited
merely a sliadow of
sible not to pereeive that
facilities
furnish
;
and
and the only wonder
inroad into
first
Baber's
former
grasiUieHH.
and
fairest,
It
I.
was impos-
richest regioiLs of the globe, pre-
attractioius to the con(jueror far greater
Baber should have remained
Baber-s
its
[Book
a country thus ruled, and acknowledged at the same
time to be one of the grandest,
sented
OF INDIA.
is,
than the west could
that a }>rince so talented and w) ambitious as
so Ion;; on its fiontiers without makiiiir
an actual
it.
first
Indian cami)aign took place in 1519.
On
that occasion, after
overrunning the territory between Cabool and the Indas, he crossed over into
the Punjab, and advanced as far as Bhira.
to
From
this place
he sent a mes.sage
Ibrahim Lody, the King of Delhi, reminding him that the Punjab had been
frequently possessed
by the house of Tamerlane, and demanding that
as a branch of that house,
it
should be voluntarily resigned, miless he was pre-
pared to see the war carried farther into India.
the Chenaub, and then returned to Cabool.
made
in the course of the
to him,
same
In this cainj>aign he reached
His second Indian campaign
Avas
His main object was to reduce Lahore,
year.
but after reaching Peshawer, and advancing to the Indus, intelhgence of an
invasion of Budukshan
by
the
King
of Cashgar compelled
him
to retmii.
He
marched a third time against India in 1520, and had reached Sealkote when he
learned that his presence was immediately required to defend hLs capital against
an invasion from Kandahar.
He had
not only repulsed the invader, but pur-
sued him to Kandahar,
^
-—^^^
^^^=^^
^^d captured
in 1524,
it,
when,
Dowlut Khan
sent the tempting in-
menIn compHance
vitation formerly
tioned.
with it, Baber advanced
to
the neighbourhood
of Lahore, which he en-
tered in triumph, after
gaining a signal victory.
Dowlut Khan having
.,..-,.,r--«<5.
Kandahar.
— From Sale's Defence of Jelalabad.
afterwards
turned
acrainst him,
he found
his prospects of success
so
seriously
affected,
that he rested satisfied with app(jinting governors over the districts \\hich he
had conquered, and again
Defeat
retvu*ned home.
Ala-u-din Lody, the brother of Ibrahim Lody, King of Delhi, had been
i>f
Ala-u-iliii
in
command
of the Cabool forces,
pushed forward to the vicinity of
and
for
Dellii.
left
a time was so successful, that he
Here he seemed
to
have gained a
1
BABER'S SUCCESSES.
Chap. V.]
victory,
own
his
till
carelessness
and obliged him
plete defeat,
and the want of
1
disci[)line
turned
into a
it
1
com- ad.
1526.
Baber, on
to retire })recipitately into the Punjab.
hearing of the disaster, immediately bestirred himself, ami made his appearance
This was his
in India.
His
fifth,
and proved
was comparatively
force
After crossing the Indus on the
small.
horse.
considerable reinforcement.
Dowlut Khan, and
King
of the
oth
Hater's
his
it,
The fii'st ajipearance of opposition was on the part
son Ghazy Khan, who had again espoused the ciiuse
encamped on the banks of the Ravee,
of Delhi, and were
army
Lahore, with an
They were
of 40,000.
Baber advanced, retreated
—the former
to
neiir
afraid to risk an action, and, as
Malwat, and the
Baber immediately invested Malwat, and obliged
On
1
and found that he had only 10,000 chosen
At Sealkote, however, he was joined by Ala-u-din, and thus obtained a
of December, 1525, he mustered
of
most decisive Indian cam})aign.
his
latter to the
hilLs.
to capitulate in a few (hiys.
it
Dowlut Khan, and exerted himself
this occasion he generously forgave
in
restraining the rapacity of his troops, who, as soon as the gates were openeil,
broke
and commenced an indiscriminate plunder.
in,
Rushing
among them,
in
he at great ]>ersonal risk rescued a lady belonging to Dowlut Khan's family,
whom
a ruffian had seized, and saved a
fine library
Ghazy Khan, who was a poet and a man
The dissensions which prevailed at
Delhi,
received from
him
experienced
the malcontents, induced
serious opposition
little
at the head of 10,000 horse
of this
number
;
but every
and resolved
to his chief,
man
in
it
of learning.
and the invitations wliich he
elephants.
was a
Babers army was not a
whereas the Delhi force was a
to conquer or die;
among
not long doubtful, and Ibrahim him.self was
wjis fought
Baber did not
his son
tail
on the 20th of
to
Hoomayoon
on Delhi,
wliile
make
to
The
result wjus
This battle,
the slain.
April, 1526, decided the fate of Hindoostan.
the most of his victory.
occupy
fifth
soldier highly discii)lined, attached
hetei'ogeneous mass, composed of the most discordant materials.
which
He
to advance without delay.
Ibrahim himself advanced to meet him,
till
and 1000
which had been collected by
Agi-a,
He
inmiediately despatched
and another detachment
he followed with the main body.
to
march rapidly
His entrance wjis unopposed,
The fort of Agra offered some
Mogul arms was now so general, that the
and he took formal possession as sovereign.
resistance
Rajpoots
but the terror of the
;
who defended
it
offered to capitulate.
Instead of levying a ransom
from individuals, Baber consented to accept of a diamond, weighing 672
which he presented to
his son
On
Hoomayoon.
carats,
entering the Delhi treasur}',
he appears to have been a,stonished at the amount, and immediately began to
distribute
Not
satisfied
chants
who
countries,
the
with the greatest profusion, as
it
with making rich presents to
followed his camp, he
made
if
he had imagined
all
his chiefs,
it
inexhaustible.
and even
to the
mer-
large donations to holy places in various
and caused a skarokh to be given to every man, woman, and child
kingdom of Cabool, without
distinction of slave or free.
The
in
gift to eiich
capture
Deii.i.
..r
"
IILSTOKY OF JNIHA.
112
A.D. 1630
was rather
less
than a
His prodigality on
,sliilliii<^,
this occasion
a religious order whose rule
iiaber
Had Babcr
makes
pennaiient
oi the trcasurv
might
^^j.
^jj^ folly
.
i^^j^
that he from the
make
is
procured
smallness of his
must have been enormoufi.
kuiii
the nickname of "Callender," after
])rovision
Tamerlane,
tf)
f<jr
([uit
the morrow.
India, this wjuandering
of the proceeding seems extreme,
regarded
it
as a
when
it is
considered
permanent conquest, and determined
The question had midergone formal
Delhi his future capital.
and many of
after the capture,
I.
have been explained, and even jastined, on grounds
easily
first
liini
make no
to
becii intending, like
lusK tnoo
pQjj^,^,
hut the a<^gregate
fUooK
most expeiieuced
his
di.scassion
contrasting the
officers,
army with the threatening appearance which
to
the Afghans
still
continued to present in various quarters, were urgent for his return to Cabool,
or at least retreat to the Punjab; but he at once put an end to
strances,
by
exclaiming, "
whom
say of a monarch
Hisdiffitni-
lUmgers.
What would
all
the
all
Mahometan kings
their
remonworld
in the
the fear of death obliged to abandon such a kingdom
!
The idea of departure being abandoned, it required all Baber's skill and
eiicrgy to make good his position
Several Afghan competitors connected with
the late i-oyal family were set np against him and sanguinary l:)attles were
fought, generally, however, to his advantage.
As a necessary consequence, liis
cause advanced, while that of his enemies rapidly declined
;
and many who had
made
stood aloof with the intention of ultimately joining the winning side,
But
their submission.
who feared
to encounter
to be successful.
were not in the
his gi*eatest dangers
him
there, cUd not scruple at
any means
most flagrant attempts made on
(>ne of the
mother of Ibrahim Lody, the
field
he had treated her with great respect and kindness
for tho.se
wliich promised
his life
She had become
late .sovereign.
;
was by the
his captive,
and
but the destruction which
;
he liad brought on her family was not to be forgiven, and she bribed Baber's
taster
and cook
took of
it,
to poison
some hare-soup intended
<ieath.
him
He
but the poisoning having been overdone, affected the
desisted in time to save his
Preiaatuve
old age and
for
Baber was
still
taste,
and he
life.
in the full vigour of
have been expected to have
actually par-
and might,
life,
a long career before
him
;
in the course of nature,
but he had crowded the
events of a lifetime into a comparativ^el}' short period and began to exhibit
symptoms
of a premature old age.
Fever after fever attacked him
lieginning to feel his end approaching, he sent for his son
appointed him his successor.
1530, he breathed his
last.
A
few months
He had
it
is
wonderful
new
Hoomayoon, and
on the 21th of December,
how much had been
Considering the .shortness of the
Not only had
whole Mahometan population
accomplislied in
Afghan insurrections been put down, and the
reconcileil to the
and,
reigned thirty-eight years, but of the.se
only five were spent on the throne of Delhi.
period,
after,
;
it.
dynasty, Init great battles had been fought, and great
victories gained over in.surgent Hindoos.
had been subdued, Behar, on both
After Mewar, M;ilwah, and
sides of the Ganges, w;is overrun,
Mewat
and the
BABER'S CHARACTEIL
Chap. V.]
King of Bengal barely saved
be fu"mly
The
and
independence by submitting to an ignominious
liis
The throne of the Great Mogul was thus not only
|:)eace.
to
113
wo.
I.
but seemed
establislied.
love of natm-e, which Baber retained in
all its
freshness to the very
last,
which
of
many
set up,
A.n.
touching
instances are re-
corded by himself,
a[)peared in
his
selection of
a
final
was
It
place.
the
restingin
of
vicinity
on
the
banks of a
clear
Cabool,
running stream,
at the foot of a
liill
commanding
Tomb of Kmperor Babkr— From
Atkinson's SketcJies in Afghauittiin.
a noble prospect.
There his tomb
still
stands,
and
His character
white marble.
but chaste mosque
in front of it a small
is
Memoirs
best learned from his
or
ol' nabei'situt.ibiogiai>hy.
A ufo-
hiography, in which his oi)inions and feelings are candidly expressed, and a
<jiven
into the conduct both
full
insijxht
Few
lives so full of vicissitudes
investigated,
is
and
sulfer so little
of the monarch
and temptations would bear
his varied
to be so
Take him
from the investigation.
in
and the num.
minutely
all
in
and seldom combined
capacities as a writer, a soldier,
a ruler,
all,
and
nuist be admitted that his
it
proper place
men whom
among
is
the greatest
the Eiist has j)roduced.
It is almo.st needless to .say that
and
his public
both
his private life exhibit
Among those of the
description may be mentioned
blemishes.
former
his folly in sqiiandering the treasiu'e
found in Delhi
WuiTi-
Marble Mosque
at tlie
From Vtum'i
Tomb
Vi.-it to
of
the
Kmperor naber
which he
doned
they had
till
Baber
'
four
made
son.s.
serious inroads
The
second,
Tlie sm.-iU but very ole^'aiit white niaiUle iiios<|Uc
at tlio
tomb
Vot,.
I
left
I.
of Sultan Baber,
his
latter,
(ihuzin.
was built
in
KMO, by
is
I
bacchanalian habits,
said not to have aban-
on his constitution.
Kannan. who
|
and among those of
;
Rliali Jehai), in
at the time of his father's
l.onour of liis great ancestor.
Vi^il to Ghuziii.
15
— Vigne's
114
AD
1530.
JSiiber.
[Book
death was governor of Cabool and Kandahar, not only retained \)f>memi(>n
them,
nonmavoon
OF INDIA.
JIISTOItV
l)iit
iriade
good a chiim to
tlie
Contented to hold governments in
son,
and by Babers
it
The two youngest sons were at
India under Hoomayoon, who, an eldest
special appointment,
anything but a bed of
Kamran, without any
effort
mounted
roses.
preserve
t<j
it,
The
tlie tlirone
of Delhi.
He
Punjab to
cession of the
was a kind of premium
offered to
which was accordingly attempted in varioas quarters.
aggression,
ol'
Punjab.
first
soon found
I.
The
first
was with Bahadur Shah, King of Gujerat, who had rendered liimself
formidable by the annexation of Malwah, and the establishment of his supremacy
contest
over several adjoining
])rotection
given by Bahadur Shah to
refuge with
Siege of
Cliviiiiir.
teiritories.
him
The
was the
Mahomed Zuman Mirza, who had taken
ostensible cause of f|uarrel
after a rebellion against his brother-in-law,
failed
During a
Bahadur
first lost,
series of struggle.s,
and then recovered
Hoomayoon, had
with various alternations of
success,
his kinfjdom.
The next formidable opponent who appeared was Sheer Klian Sur, who
had made himself master both of Behar and Bengal.
Hoomayoon advanced
The Chunar-ohcr, from
against liim from Agra, and
the South-west.
amved
— From Hodge's Views in ludia.
with a powerful army before the fort of
Chunar, near Benares, in the beginning of 1538.
somewhat by
surprise,
Chunar strongly
and as
garrisoned,
Sheer
his object, therefore,
and
was
Khan had been taken
to gain time, he left
Hoomayoon
retired farther into the interior.
enemy possessed such a place in his rear,
He was thus detained for several months, and
did not venture to advance while the
and resolved to lay siege to
it.
only succeeded at last because the provisions of the garrison were exhausted.
This siege derives importance from the regular manner in which
ducted,
and
Hoomayoon
and the great use made of gunpowder and
artillery,
it
was
con-
both by besiegers
besieged.
Hoomayoon now advanced along
the Ganges, but Sheer
Khan
continued to
pursue his tactics of not risking a general engagement, and only offering such
FORTUNES OF IIOOMAYOON.
Chap. V.]
115
Hooniayoon ought now
resistance as miglit suffice to protract the advance.
have become perfectly aware of the trap which was laid
some strong
satisfied to select
Instead of
this,
])osition, at least till
to
AD
1540.
and been
the rainy season was over.
for him,
he found himself in the lower basin of the Ganges when
its
whole delta was Hooded, and every brook had swollen into an impassjible
Meanwhile Sheer Khan, by a dexterous movement,
torrent.
his rear,
and cut
The King of Delhi was
off his retreat.
])erilous condition,
and endeavoui'ed
to elude his
enemy by
himself to be completely surprised, and had barely time to
for the river.
him nobly
He
immediately plunged
had not a water-carrier, who was
])re paring
boats to
in,
momit
his horse
and
but his steed, after bearing
His fate would have been the same,
a while, sunk exhausted
for
at last alive to his
While thus occupied, he allowed
cross over to the other side of the Ganges.
make
i)laced himself in
crossing,
XaiTow
escape of
HooniayooH
by the aid of the water-skin, which
he had inflated for that purpose, seized him
before he
and carried him
He reached Agra
sunk,
opposite bank.
end of June, 1539, but
jierished,
and
his
queen
his
to
the
in the
whole army had
Wfxs
Sheer Khan's
captive.
Hoomayoon made the best use of his
escape; and, by the aid of his brothers,
Kamran and Hindal, who, after taking
very suspicious measures, had become cordially imited with him. kept the
bay.
By
at
the spring of 15-tO he thought
himself strong enough for a
The armies came
and continued
till
enemy
for
new campaign.
in sight of each other,
some time manoeuvring,
Hoomayoon, alarmed
at
BmiSTEE OH Water-carrier —From Luard's
some symptoms
'
Views
iti
liidta.
of desertion, determined to risk a general
engagement.
It
proved disastrous; and in the
His
as extraordinary as before.
hoi-se wsis
flight
which ensued,
his escape
was
wounded, and he was on the point
when he found an ele})hant, mounted it, and htistened
The driver hesitated to swim the river, and gave place to an
of being Icilled or taken,
to the Ganges.
eunuch who undertook the
on account of
its
'
is
The bag
He
reached the opposite bank in
whioli the Hiliistee carries
on his back,
called a luushk of p.inee, or skin full of water.
It
a goat -skin carefully sewed up, and made perfectly
open at one end, which he
tight; a valve being left
holds in his hand to enalde
siifety, but,
two soldiers who hajipened
turbans, and throwing one end to him, drew him up
height, could not land,
present joined their
i.*
task.
him
to guide the water
into porous earthenware bottles, in which
it is
placed
till
to be
His
Some Bihistees go about leading a bullock
with two large skins of water for sale, slung acros.s
the animal's back, and nearly reaching to the ground.
In tiie baik-ground to our engraving, men are represented filling skius so slung. BihisUc means Itcato cool.
venly.
His sticoud
lefeitt
and
HISTORY OF INDIA,
I<>
A
I).
1.-.40.
situation
was now
treasure from
reception
lio[)ele.ss;
Agra and
was not very
ami
Delhi,
and
cpf
HoomayoKii
it.
He
failed;
To
Marwar.
Here
his
Kamran feared he might prove
preparing to make Ills ])eace with .Sheer
Punjab
to him.
liis
brother, turned his thouglits to Scinde,
and endeavoured, partly by {)ersuasion and
of
his
gracious, as his brotiier
Hof)mayoon, thus abandoned by
Siibsefiuont
fortunes
tlie
I.
and
itMiiovt; his fauiily
with them to Laliore.
liasten off
a dangeroas competitor, and was also
Khan, by ceding
only time to
luil
Ik;
[Hook
j)ajtly
by
obtain possession
force, to
and then tlirew himself on the protection of the Rajah of
accomplisli
was obliged
this he
and even
to cross the de.sert,
there had the mortification to perceive that the rajah
was only meditating how
Flight into the desert was again his
he might best deliver him to his enemies.
While wandering
only resource.
encumbered with the women of
here,
his
body of horse was seen approaching They were headed by the son
of the Rajah of Marwar.
Nothing short of death or captivity was foreboded
family, a
;
but after a great show of
He
reaches
hostility, the rajah's
son apparently
I'elented,
furnished
them with water, and allowed them to proceed The horrors of the desert were
still before them
and at last Hoomayoon, with only seven attendants, reached
Amerkote. Here he was not only hospitably entertained, but furnished with
;
Ameikote.
the means of making a second attempt upon Scinde.
but the rajah
insult
who accompanied
which he had
to
with
all his
and he was only too glad
despei-ate,
ment which permitted him
might have succeeded,
him, indignant at obtaining no redress for an
received, suddenly withdi'ew
His position was now
It
withdraw from Scinde and
to
Hindoo
make an
set out for
This province belonged to Kamran, and was then held for him
younger brothers.
Hoomayoon,
travelling with his wife
followers.
arrange-
Kandahar.
by one
of his
and an infant
child,
afterwards the celebrated Emperor Akber, had arrived within 130 miles of his
when one
destination,
of his old adherents rode hastily up, and gave
startling intelligence that his
him the
brother Mirza Askari was at hand, with the
making him prisoner.
He had only time to mount the queen
behind him, and take to flight. The infant could not be thus carried, and fell,
with his attendants, into the hands of his im^cle. Hoomayoon contiimed his
intention of
flight
with a few followers
was sent
Slieer
Khan
to
till
he
amved
Herat to await the shah's
Sheer Khan, on Hoomayoon's
within the Pei-sian dcjminions.
He
orders.
flight,
made a kind
of trimnphant progress,
seated on
the throne
and was soon in possession of
all
the territories which had acknowledged the
of Dellii.
authoi'ity of the
called,
1
540.
though
King
his title
of Delhi.
was
His
at least as
reign, or usurpation as
it
is
sometimes
good as Baber's, had been commenced
in
During the three following years he made himself master of Malwah.
Marwar, and Mewar, and was carrying on the siege of
Callinjer, in loio,
he was killed by the explosion of a powder magazine.
Khan, had previously been recognized by him as
of his character induced the chiefs to set
him
His eldest
his successor;
aside,
son,
when
Adil
but the feebleness
and give the
throiie to his
THE USURPER
Chap. V.J
117
ADILF.
Tib.
Khan, wlio
brother, Jelal
lasted nine years, durinor
a.ssnineJ the title of
Selim Shah.
Hi.s reign,
which
a d
i.w.
which several important internal improvements were
He
made, and public works erected, was on the whole peaceful
a son of
left
succeo-u.
age of twelve,
tlie
but he was nuu'dered
his
uncle,
Ma-
homed
Khan,
who
by
usurped the throne,
and
known by the
is
His
of Adili.
title
conduct on the throne
was such
miglit
as
have been expected
after the atrocity
by
which he had oained
it,
and he made himSuKKH
From UiinicUs
SiiAU's .Mausoleum at tSA.s.sKKAii.'
Oriental .\iinunl.
self universally odi-
by his follies and ini([uities. For a time, however, the abilities of Hemoo,
a Hindoo oi low origiji, to whom he had committed the government, kept him
ous
TT-
1
1-
on his seat
treasury,
1
1
and he pm'sued a course of utter lawlessness,
;
means of indulging
was formed against him.
succes.sful
was
scjuandering
liLs
his subjects, in
.an assassin,
It failed in the first instance,
•
and low debauch-
in his extravagances
After he had naiTOwly escaped the dagger of
eries.
first
and then indiscriminately confiscating the property of
order to procm'e the
1
1
a confederacy
but other revolts were
and Ibrahim Sur, making himself ma.ster of Delhi and Agra, Adili
;
Ibrahim, having in his
possession only of the eastern pro\4nces.
left in
turn been driven out of Delhi and Agra
by Sikundur
who
Sur,
h.ad
proclaimed
himself King of the Punjab, endeavoured to compensate himself by wresting
some more
not at
all
territory from Adili, but
was repulsed by Hemoo.
This success did
improve his condition, for intelligence immediately arrived that Bengal
and Malwah had both
defeated Sikundur, and
proved the most
revolted,
and that Hoomayoon, who had returned, had
was once more seated
fatal of all
;
for
in Delhi.
Tiiis la^t intelligence
though Hoomayoon soon
died, his son
Akber
and brought the Mogul empire to its highest pitch of glory. Adili
was maintained for some time by Hemoo but on that Hindoo's death his
succeeded,
;
success
was
at
an end, and he
Hoomayoon's
Kings of
'
Pei"sia,
rece])tion
lost his life fighting in
by Shah Tamasp, the second of the Safavi or Sophi
had been (m the whole favourable, though accompanied with
Sheer Shah's mansoleu'.ii .at S-is-scram. near ]?ebuilt in the midst of .v hirge tank, altoiit a
iiavaa. is
niile
iit
circumference.
to decay,
age.
and the stone
Bengal.
Tiic I'uiUling
i.s
The remains of Sheer
now
is
r.ipidly falling
grsafly di-icolonred hy
Sliah,\vitli those of several
nicnilier.s of
lii.s
faniilj-
were dei>osited
story of the mausoleum.
an octagon, 100
The
in the
feet in diimeter, standiiig
sivo square terrace, each angle of
with an octagonal kiosk.
lower
central apartment
which
is
on a
is
nias-
ornamented
u»uri«tioii
of
iMaliiiiii.-il
Kiian^.r
118
A.I). I'.is
TTISTORV OF INDIA.
many
niortityiug circuia.stances,
Before
lie
[Bf^oK
couM obtain any
a.s.siHtance,
he wa.s
Maho-
obliged to cede the province of Kandahai', and a/lopt the Shiite form of
metanism.
After these conceasions, he
mustered oidy about 700.
reached in March,
154:5.
his other brother,
Kamran.
recovers
Kandaimr.
furnished with a body of H-,00()
under the command of the whah's son, Morad Mirza.
horse,
Hoomayooii
\va,s
It
first
was
in possession of Mirza Askari, as governor
proceeded agaiast Kamlahar, whicli he
was immediately commence^l, Vjut prothe end of which desertion and famine
cceded languidly for five montlis, at
obliged Mii'za Askari to surrendei'.
i>i'
siege
,
Hoomayoon, probably soured by misfortune,
humanity which had formed the best feature
forgot the
His own followern
He
The
F.
in
liis
character
;
and,
disregarding the promise of pardon which he had given, subjected his brother
to the
most contumelious treatment, and then kept him nearly three yeara as a
He
prisoner in chains
Kandahar
He
to himself,
and maltreating
From Kandahar he proceeded
recover
agreement with the shah, by keeping
also violated his
his Persian auxiliaries.
Kamran, who
against Cabool, and e.xpelled
Cabool.
was obliged
that
it
to take refuge in Scinde
The capture was the more gratifying
enabled him to recover his son Akber,
After a time
of age.
Kamran
returned,
now
and a
a child of about three vears
took place,
series of struggles
dm'ing which the greatest barbarities were perpetrated on both
and Akber,
sides;
who had again fallen into the enemy's hands, escaped almost miractdously, after
Ms uncle had. with savage cruelty, exposed him to the full tii"e of his fathers
cannon.
Kamran was ultimately defeated and obliged again to tiee but, by
the aid of the Usbeks, obtained possession of Budukshan
Tliither Hoomayoon
;
He was
followed
154)8.
His
affairs
victorious,
and returned in triumph
now assumed
so promising
battle \vith
On
a total defeat.
soldier
New
;
but his bad fortune retmiied,
Kamran, who had once more taken the
this occasion
end of
an appearance that he began to
talk of attempting the conquest of Transoxiana
and in a
to Cabool in the
field,
he made another of his remarkable
he sustained
A
e-scapes.
had wounded him. and was about to repeat the blow, when he was
confounded by the sternness with wliich Hoomayoon exclaimed, 'Wretch!
vicissitudes
dare you?" that he dropped his
arm and
let
him
escape.
He
lied Avith
so
how
only
Akber again fell into liis uncle's hands. Another tm*n
in the wheel of fortune placed Hoomayoon in the ascendent, and Kamran
became his prisoner. The manner in wliich he disposed of him is a great blot
on liis memory. At first he gave him a most friendly reception, seated him on
eleven attendants, while
his right hand, feasted him, shared half of lus shce of
and
sjjent the
evening with lum in "jollity and carousing."
peremptory orders were to put out his brother's
Kamran exclaiming during
ever sins
I
passion on
to
end
water-melon with him.
eyes.
the agony of the tortm-e,
"O
have committed have been amply punished in
me
in the next."
his days.
He
In the morning his
They were
Lord,
my
executed,
God! what-
this world;
have com-
died soon after at Mecca, where he had wished
DEATH OF IIOOMAYOON.
CuAP. v.]
119
In the meantime circumstances in India had become favom-able, and Hooma- ad.
yoon, setting out from Cabool in January, 1555, at the head of 15,000
issc.
liorse,
After some delay he continued his march, noomayoon
invaded the Punjab and took Lahore.
agfiiii iiins-
Shah
obliged Sikundur
and made
liimself
to take refuge
among
master of Delhi and
Agi*a.
the lower ranges of the Himalaya,
He had
thus regained possession
ter..f ueiiu
""
'^^'^
was not destined long
to enjoy them
His life had been the sport of fortune his death was to
resemble it.
He had only been six months in Delhi, and was one day, after a
walk on the terrace of his library, descending by the stair, which wjis placed on
of his capital and a portion of his original ten-itories, but
—
the outside, and consisted of narrow steps, guarded only
foot high.
Hearing the
call to
prayer from the minaret, he stopped, as
down
repeated his creed, and sat
by a parapet about a
to wait
till
made
the muezzin had
is
usual,
his round.
by which he was supporting himself slipped, and he fell
headlong over the parapet. He was taken up insensible, and died four days after,
In
rising,
his staff
on the 25th of January, 1556, at the age of
fifty-one.
He had commenced
Hia
dentil.
his
reign twenty -five years before, but sixteen of these had been spent in exile from
his capital.
As Hoomayoon's
may be
It
reign reached to the middle of the sixteenth century,
considered as forming the link between medieval and
modern
it
India.
be proper, therefore, before continuing the narrative, to take a survey
will
of the political condition of India at this period.
Mahomed
In the reign of
Toghlak, which commenced in
1
325, almost the
—understanding
by that name both Hindoostan and the
Deccan was subject to Mahometan sway. The chief territories not thus subject
were a long narrow tract in the south-west of the ]ieninsula, the kingdom of
Orissa, consisting of an unexplored and densely wooded region, stretching for
whole of India proper
—
about 500 miles along the coast from the Ganges to the Godavery, with a
width of about 350 miles
number of independent
assigned, as they
and Rajpootana
chieftainships,
in the north-west, consisting of
a
of which the lunits cannot easily be
were constantly changing in their dimensions, according as the
Mahometan invaders
termination of
;
medium
or the native chiefs gained the ascendency.
Mahomed Toghlaks
reign, in 1351, the extent of his
had shrunk exceedingly, in consequence of his inisgovernment.
tlirew off its yoke,
Before the
and became an independent kingdom;
In
1
dominions
3 10 Bengal
in 1344, the
example
was imitated by the Rajahs of Telingana and Carnata, the former recovering
Wurungole, and the
liis
capital of
(»n
the Toombudi-a
frontier
;
latter establishing
ca])ital at
Eijanagm*,
which extended no farther south than the banks of the Krishna, and
still
across the
in the
new
while the Mahometans were obliged to rest satisfied with a
no farther east than the meridian of Hyderabad.
on a
a
more extended
Nerbudda.
scale
In 1347, a Hindoo movement
took place, and the ^lahometans were driven
Hassan Gangii, the head of
this last
movement, founded
Deccan the extensive kingdom of Bahmani, which continued to subsist
Political
india.
;
1:20
A
I).
I'lM
II1S'J'()IIV
170 years.
lor
the
VVliiN;
strove in vain to regain
tliey
[Hook
INIJIA.
mjaliM roinaincd
II'iikIoo
what
or
had
iinitx'fl.
F.
the Maljoinetans
and ma<le scarcely any impression;
lost,
wJKin they began again to indulge in internal dissensions, the Mahcnnetans
V>ut
again extended
tlieir
conquests, subdued Wurungole, and oljtfiined jx^ssession of
the country between the Krishna and the Toombudra,
In Hindoostan and the adjoining
ii.dupcna.jnt
sdViM'eignties in uiii-
<>i
territories, various
11*11*Among these, one 01/'ithe
Uellii wcrc established.
x»Tvii"
kingdoms independent
vvas Gujerat, which, instead of
being confined
1111
<lui-able
•
1
mo.st exteiLSive
and
which bore that
b> the teiritor}^
name, extended over Malwah, which wa.s twice concjuered, and finally annexed
to
The Rajpoots of Mewar
it.
acknowledged
its
soon recovered
Malwah, before
supremacy.
itself,
it
also repeatedly bent Ijefore
Hoomayoon
occupied
and was inde[)endent
fell
it
for
it,
and Candeisii
a short time, but
at the acceasion of his son Akber.
under the power of Gujerat, had long maintained a
was under the domination
who, though not the nominal, was virtually the real sovereign, and
separate independence, and for some time
highest offices wath his
and, besides
it,
own countrymen.
Bengal
ha.s
Of
of a Hindoo,
the
filled all
been already mentioned
Candeish, Jounpoor, Scinde, and Mooltan were
at Akber's succession.
it
all
independent
the Rajpoot states, the most important wliich were
independent at the same period, are Mewar, ruled by the Ranas of Odeypoor,
though at one time reduced to a kind of vassalage under Gujerat
held
by
tlie
— ^larwar,
Rhahtors, who, after being driven out of Canouge, vv^here they had
early established themselves, retired to the desert between the table-land and
the Indus, subdued
the Juts, the onginal
dominion over a large
teriitory,
formed the separate
throwing
state of Bicanere
off a
inliabitants,
and extended
then-
younger branch, wliich afterwards
—Jessulmeer, where the BhattLs had made
their settlement in tlie western part of the desert, at so early a period that their
history
waha,
is lost
in fable
who do not
Je\q)oor, possessed
and along the east of the table-land
north, along the slopes of the Himalaya, fi-om
which overlook the delta of the Ganges,
coiiinieucc-
ment of a
new era.
Sucli
was the
tribe of Cach-
much in early times, but have a proof of their imporAkber married their rajah's daughter. Besides these are
states in the desert
own independent
by the
figure
tance in the fact that
many minor
—and Amber, or
all
In the
Cashmere east to the highlands
the petty states were i-uled
by
their
sovereigns.
when Akber came
forms a new era in the
state of matters
His long and prosperous reign
to the throne in
history of India.
556.
1
It
is
remember that before it commenced, another event,
in which the future destiny of India was more deeply involved, had occurred.
The route to the East by the Cape of Good Hope had been discovered moi-e
of importance, however, to
than half a century before; and the Portuguese had set the
first
example of those
European settlements which, imitated and improved upon, were afterwards to
expand, under British energy and prowess, into a magnificent empire.
great event, therefore, were
we now to
give om-
first
attention
we
To
this
should only be
;
OF AKBER.
IIEIGN
VI.]
CiiAp.
following' the order
ot"
time, but .some atlvaiitage.s in respeet of arriuiociiieiit will
Mahometan
be gained by continuing the thread of
Akbers
conclusion of
The empire of the
reign.
Hoomayoon,
guished during the misfortunes of
re-established, but raised to a degree of splendour
and
121
narrative unbroken to
a.u. 1&42.
ti»e
(Jreat Mogul, almost extin-
will thus
which
it
be seen not oidy
never attained before;
ni consequence, be unnecessary, in tracing Eiu'opean progress, to be
it will,
constantly turning aside in order to contemplate the internal changes which
were at the same tune taking
place.
CHAPTER
YI.
Peifrn of Akber.
KBER
at
might be
called a child of the desert,
Amerkote, on
after his
tlie
])arents.
edge of
it,
having been born
on the 14th of October,
with a few followers, had traversed
154-2,
it
homeless wanderers, under almost unparalleled privations.
fore
he was a year old he became a captive
uncle with wiiom his father
was
at
war; and, while
barously placed in the most exposed position on
tlie
still a
m
as
Be-
the hands of an
mere
was
child,
bar-
ramparts of Cabool, wliich
was besieged, in the malicious expectation that some
ball
from the cannon of
the besieijers would de-
him
prive
of
life.
His
caj)tivity was afterward'^
renewed
repeatedly
b\it,
had been
as if he
reserved for something
he
great,
harmed
])assed
in tlie
danger, and
hair-breadth
vui-
midst of
made many
escajies.
If
anything had been wantconfirm the belief
insj to
C\ii>'LlL.
that a
liigli
waited him,
at
it
would have been found
an early age, to display.
and the confidence reposed
mand
.-.
ll^tan.
.
in the remarkaltle talents
which he began,
Such were the expectations which he had
in him, that
excited,
he was sent into the Punjab in the com-
At this time
died he was only in his
of an army, and gained distinction on the field of battle.
he must have been a mere boy, for
Vol.
— .MkllL-iUll
destiny a-
I.
when
his father
16
Akbei
s
history.
122
A D.
1660.
IirSTORV OF TNDTA.
(Ml
this coinuiaMd.
forthwith
liis
13elirain
riiJea in
Ak
ber'a uuiiiu.
Wl H'M
fourteeiitli yeai'.
own
tl le
luflaiicholy tidings readied
i)r()claiined as hiwf'ul
had stood hioh
were
Tlu; necessary steps
family to dispute
it
fB^JOK
ho wuh
liiui
iinine<liately taken,
possessor of the throne.
aWnt
and he waH
Tliere wa.s no rival in
with him; hut in Jieiiram Khan, a Toorkoman
and
in his father's confidence,
also
1
been his
own
tutor,
who
he found
who seemed determined to leave him little more than a nrmiinal
sovereignty.
Behrams talents were of the highest order; and he probably
a minister
retained the power not for
any treasonable purpose, but merely because he ha/1
persuaded himself that the interest of his youthful sovereign would thereby be
most effectually promoted.
Akber was not the kind
of person to be long kept in leading-strings, though
he had prudence enough not to take any decisive step
ing from thraldom
At
first,
till
he was sm-e that he would be able to give
Behram
therefore, he left
much
to extricate
very outset of
Akber's
thvoiie in
danger.
and declared
liis
;
for
It
Behrams
Akber from
reign.
effect to
undisturbed, and readily consented to
measm-es which he rertommended.
considerable gainer
for the purpo.se of escap-
is
probable that in this
all
it.
the
way he was
a
experience was great, and mast have done
the difficulties which encompassed
In the Punjab, Sikundur Sur
his determination to be satisfied
still
with nothing
him
at the
kept his gi-ound,
.short
of the throne
made a sudden in-uption,
and made himself absolute master and from an opposite direction, Hemoo, the
talented Hindoo minister of the usurper Adih, was advancing towards Agi'a at
of Delhi; in Cabool, Mirza Soliman of Buduk.shan had
;
the head of a powerful army.
Behram and
last,
as the
young sovereign immediately took the
his
too late; for the
Against the
Mogul generals had sustained a severe
most pressing danger,
It
field.
defeat,
was almost
and Hemoo had,
in consequence, not only captured Agra, but forced his entrance into Delhi.
The contest now about to be waged wore a very ominous aspect for Akber.
His army at the utmo.st mustered only 20,000 horse, wdiUe that of the enemy
exceeded 1 00,000. No wonder that many of the ofiicers urged an instant retreat
in the direction of Cabool.
The minister and
they resolved to risk the encounter.
He
gains a
signal
victory at
Paniput
Some
his sovereign stood alone
addition was
made
when
to Akber's force
by the arrival of soldiers who had belonged to the defeated detachments, but
when the armies met his was still far inferior in numbers. The decisive battle
was fought near Paniput, on the 5th of November, 1556. Hemoo began the
action with his elephants, and pushed forward with them into Akber s very
centre but these powerful and unwieldy animals acted as they almost invariably
Furiously attacked
did when their first charge failed to produce a general panic.
on all sides by the Moguls, who galled them with lances, aiTows, and javelins,
they L'ecame unruly, and carried confusion into their own ranks. The day was
thus quickly decided in Akber's favour but Hemoo, mounted on an elephant
;
;
of procUgious size,
still
bravely continued the action, at the head of 4000 horse.
An arrow pierced his eye and he sunk senseless into his howdah.
•
A few moments
Chap. VF.)
REIGN OF AKHER.
after, liaviiig coine to himself,
he
out the
|)hicke(l
brought the eye out along with
12.",
which
arrfivv,
and in the midst of
it;
this
is
said to
have
He
line.
On
deserved to succeed, but unhappily
Khan
and was taken
failed,
iscio.
agony had the
energy and presence of mind to attem}>t his escape by breaking through the
enemy's
\.v.
ueroigm
aiiiiidoo.
Akber to gain the
envied title of Ohazy, or Champion of the Faith, by killing him with his own
He had too much spirit to do the executioner's office. It would have
hand.
been pleasing to add that he went a step farther, and magnanimously interpose(i
prisoner.
being brought back, Behram
Hindoo's
his sovereign authority to save the
life,
lu-ged
irnfoitunately, he left liim
Behram Khan, who cut off" his head at a stroke.
Innnediately after the victory Akber marched upon Delhi, and entered it
He had not remained hmg when his presence was imperawithout opjjosition.
to the will of
tively recpiired
U'enerals,
On
and
Sikundur Shah,
the Punjab.
in
jum
oblio-ino-
to take refuo-e in Lahore,
after defeating (me
who had been
Shah,
commenced, and
and give
his son as
to be thus rid of his
Behram Khan,
it,
accord to
he regarded
fus
i)ass
galling,
lie
own
The
tei'ms
power
in India
his sovereign Anogimce
sis
began to presume more than ever on his
of
tiie
whom
persons
if
to
whom
he banished was
make
the act more
which he had thus rendered vacant by
Akber was gTeatly
})rece[>tor in his stead.
a
bomid
ho.stage for his future behaviour.
preceptor; and, as
at once tilled ui) the office
immediately prepai'ed to adopt
The
when Sikundur
most formidable opponent
One
his private enemies.
appointing another
of his
it.
sentence of death and banishment on individuals
Molla Peer Mahomcul, the king's
i>eiiii.
had not been worth the asking, proceeded
services; and, as if Akber's consent
own
an
instead of gradually retiring from
became more capable of exercising
of his
lasted six months,
severely wounded, offered to ca})itulate.
liim to evacuate the fort,
Akber was happy
liad
re-enter.
had advanced to Kalanoi-e.
Akber's approach he retired to Mankote, and shut himself up in
siege wa,s immediately
'^^^^
mejwure which
it
is
incensed, ami
probable he had long-
meditated.
Having gone on
a hunting party in the beginning
(tf
1560, he received, or no
is
ilisiiiissoO
])reten<led to
ill,
have received, a message from Delhi that his mother was extremely
and wished
to see him.
announciiiiT that
in
Immediately cu
lie
future no orders
ai
riving he issued a prochunatiou,
had taken the government into
Init
those issued
liy
his
his
own
hands, and that
authority weiv to be oluyed.
Hehi'am at once saw what was intended, and endeavoured to avert his downfall,
by sending two of
terms.
Akber
his principal friends to
most by
his submis.sion in the
humblest
refused to see them, and shortly after imprisoned them.
disgraced minister soon found
fited
make
his prosperity,
how
and
little
he could trust to those
.saw himself rapidly deserted.
who
The
ha<l pro-
Various schemes
At one time he thought of proceeding to Malwah and
setting up an independent sovereignty; at another, of making this experiment
in Bengal, where it might be eas}- to expel the Afghans.
The prospect, in either
passed through his mind.
jui.irebeu.
I2t
A.D.
1500.
HISTOIIY OF INDIA.
not
case, did
designs,
altle
very hopcfiil
scciri
he set out
;
and at
as
if Ik;
had abandoned
I.
treaw^n-
all
avowed intention of taking
Having halted at Nagore, in the
Gujerat with
for
and making a pilgrimage
shipping-
last,
[Book
tiie
to Mecca.
hope that the kings i-esentment might be withdrawn, he was deeply mortified
on receiving a message which dismissed him from office, and ordered him to
continue his pilgrimage without delay.
terms: —
following
"Till
now
But
concerns
it
said to have been in the
was our royal
you should regulate
will that
being our intenti(jn henceforward to govern
it
own judgment,
our people by our
is
our mind haa Ijeen taken up with our education
and the amusements of youth, and
the affairs of our empire.
The message
let
our wellwisher withdraw from aU worldly
and, retiring to Mecca, far removed from the toils of public
;
spend
life,
the rest of his days in prayer."
Behram'i
It
seems that Behram
Khan had been
travelling with
all
the insignia of
i'el)eIU(ii
fails.
office
;
on receiving this message, he retiuTied his state elephants, banners,
for,
and drums, and
a
new thought seemed
and gave such decided evidence of treasonable
Here he began
retired into the
and perhaps
also
to thi'ow himself
intentions, that
As they approached he
openly raised the standard of
and
on arriving at Bicanere, he
to have struck him, for,
stopped short and retraced his steps to Nagore.
of troops against him.
Suddenly
shorn of his public honours, for Gujerat.
set out,
He
revolt.
Akber sent a
but
battle,
He was
it,
combined
;
it,
cause,
in determining
at once forgiven
and
lost
Here the hopelessneas of Ms
remorse for having engaged in
Vjody
retired into the Punjab,
even fought one
mountains of Sewalik.
on Akbers mercy.
to collect troops,
him
and some of the
him into the
On entering the court he hung Ms
leading officers of the court were sent to receive him, and conduct
[)resence
with every mark of distinction.
turban round his neck
He
is
;
and, advancing rapidly, threw himself in tears at the
Akber, giving him
foot of the throne.
Ms
hand, caused him to
l)ai'doued
him
in his former .station at the head of the nobles.
given him
;
and the king, addressing him,
court, a provincial
government, or
escoi't suitable to his
witli a lai'ge retinue
rank.
offered
libei"ty to
Behram
and placed
A splendid dress was then
him the
choice of a place at
continue his pilgrimage with an
preferred the
last,
and
set out for
and an annual pension of about £5000.
Gujerat, he halted in the suburbs of Puttun,
rise,
Mecca
After reaching
and turned aside to
visit
a
cele-
Having
hired a boat and a band of musicians, he spent all mght on the lake in company
with his friends. As he was returning in the morning he was acco.sted by an
Afglian, who, pretending to embrace him, drew a dagger and pierced him to the
brated spot, called Sahasnak, from the thousand temples in
lieart
It
battle }»y
was an
its \'icinity.
act of revenge for the death of his father,
who had
fallen in
Behram's sword
Akber soon showed that, in taking the government into his own hand, he
had not presumed too much on his own talents. While success almost invariably
attended liis arms, his internal measui'es exhibited a model of liberal and
(
CiiAP
REIGN OF AKBER.
VI.]
When
enlightened administration.
he succeeded
125
possessed
lie
more than
little
a.d. i56i.
the territory aroimd Delhi and Agra, together with an imperfect and precarious
During Behram's regency Ajmeer was added to
hold of the Punjab.
his
dominions without a contest, the strong fort of Gwalior wjis captured, and the
Afghans were driven as
and a large
of
Juanpoor, after being dispossessed of
far enst as
tract of country
and with that view despatched an army under the connnand of
The
Atka.
was then
princi[)ality
success-
Lucknow
desire perhaps to signalize his full assumi)tion
resolved to attempt the contjuest of
of the reins of government,
ana
In loGO, shortly after the dismissal
on the Ganges.
Behram Khan, Akber, from a
Akber's
vigorous
Adam Khan
Baz Bahadur, who
possession of
in the
Malwah,
kept his court at Sarungpoor, where he had become so much the slave of indo-
and
lence
Moguls were within twenty miles of
pleasure, that the
Even then
before he could be roused to action.
his troops
his
having been routed at the
and family behind.
propert}'
Adam
He
Khan.
first onset,
be
at once disposed of tliem as if he
who was
without delay to
liim
call
account.
to
was
feeble
;
and
Boorhanpoor, leaving
fled for
These immediately
sending only a few elephants to Akber,
set out
his resistance
his capital
fell
into the
hands of
had been absolute master,
so
much
Adam
dissatisfied that
Khan,
if
he
he really
them completely frustrated by Akber's
make his peace.
He had previously, by the
entertained treasonable designs, found
ex])edition,
and hastened to
indulgence of unbridled passion, been the cause of an aft'ecting catastrophe.
One
of the inmates of the
harem
a Hindoo of surpassing beauty, highly
wtis
accomplished, and celebrated as a poetess.
the importunities
and violence of
When
the hour of meeting.
Adam
it
dress, sprinkled the richest perfumes,
attendants, seeing her
lie
down on
her couch and cover
asleej),
on the khan
they attempted to waken
Akber retm-ned
to
Agi-a,
lier
and fixed
her corpse.
chamber, put on her
and taken
poison.
lier face witli
and did not become aware of the
thought she had fallen
s a))proach,
yield,
Wcis only to behold
Immediately after the appointment she had retired to
most splendid
Her
her mantle,
real fact
till,
her.
and shortly after made Mahomed Khan Atka.
governor of the Punjab, his prime minister, and confeired the government of
Malwah on
in
a
fit
his old preceptor,
Peer
Mahomed Khan, whom
of jealou.sy, driven into exile.
In 1561, while on a
Behraiu
visit to
Khan
had,
a celebrated
Akber married the daughter of Poorunmul, Rajah of Je^qwor,
This
and enrolled botli the rajah and his son among the nobles of his court
is said to be the first instance in which a Hindoo chief was ennobled or ])laced
Akber,
in any position of high ti-ust under the government of the Great Mogul.
shrine in Ajmeer,
before (putting Ajmeer, despatched Mirza Shurf-u-din Hoossein to invest the
fort of
Merta, belonging to Maldo, Rajah of Marwar; and then set out for Agra
with such ex])edition
interruptitni.
that,
by taking only
tivigiciU
After endeavouring in vain to resist
Khan, she pretended to
he arrived
a
six attendants,
and travelling without
he pei-foi-med the distance of above 200 miles
in three da>'S.
Aki>er
niiuioo.
;
20
A
1).
ir,in.
of Mt'ita proved nioic
sicgi!
'I'lic
of the principal Rajpoot
Sie^j of
OF INDIA.
III.STOl;^'
Lliaii
liu'l
l.ct-ii
I.
Two
anticipated.
Marwar had thrown themselves into it, and
much skill and valour that the mirza's ojierations,
cliiefs
conducted the defence with so
(lifHi.i.ilt
[i;ooK
of
Moi'Cu.
though carried on with great vigour, were completely baffled, Aft<ir carrying
mines under one of the bastioas, and making a prfK;tiwi])le breach, he advanced
to the assault,
but was
i-enew the assault, he found that in the course of
built
Some
up.
one of
tlie
to
provisiorts
Favourable terms were given; but
capitulate.
disdaining to accept of them, collected 500 of his followers,
fajalis
and, after burning whatever they could not take with them, rushed out
cut
tlieir
to
night the breach had been
tlie
had thas passed away when want of
montlis
compelled the garrison
when he was preparing
In the morning,
re))ulsed.
way through
About
the enemy.
half the
number succeeded
and
the rest
;
perished.
The war with Baz Bahadur,
Malwah.
last so closely pressed that
Still,
and not only kept the country
was enabled
and
all
Malwah
in
1
ferment and alarm
561
Ijy fre-
with the rulers of Candeish anrl
Mahomed Khan
officers,
lost his life in
Baz Bahadur continued the pursuit
of
alliance
Peer
it
when, conti-ary to the advice of his
defeated,
however, he had no thoughts of peace,
to take the field with so powerful an
were obliged to retreat before
He was
continued, though he was at
in a con.staut state of
by means of an
(juent incursions, but
still
he was obliged to seek a refuge at Boorhanpoor,
within the limits of Candeish.
Berar,
Malwah,
in
army that the Moguls
fell
back on Beezygur
he resolved to risk an engagement.
attempting to cross the Nerbudda
as far as Agra,
while
;
and once more became master
His triumph was short-lived, for the governor of Kalpee,
.
being appointed to the command, expelled him a second time, and obliged him
to flee to the mountains.
Rivalship
among
Akber's
One
rivalry
of the greatest difficulties with which
and
strife
among
Akber had
to contend, arose from
Mahomed Khan
his leading officers.
Atka.
who had
officers.
been appointed minister at Delhi with the
favour at court
For
this
voured to undermine him
only issued in his
the minister
was
own
;
he was hated by
and
disgrace.
sittino- in
title
Adam
for this pm-pose
was high
of Shahab-u-din,
had
Klian Khoka,
who
endea-
recoui-se to intrigues,
He determined on revenge;
antl
in
one day,
which
whUe
the hall of audience reading the Kc)ran, entered and
The minister continued, as was visual in such circumstances, to
read on without taking any notice of his enti^ance, and Adam Khan, whether
from momentary im])ulse or premeditation, drew his dagger and stabbed him
Akber was sleeping in one of the inner apartments, and, liearing
to the heart.
saluted him.
the noise and ascei-taining the cause, rushed out in his sleeping dress.
lay the minister weltering in his blood, while the murderer
Akber s
by his own atrf)city, on an adjoining teiTace.
draw his sword and put him to death, but, recollecting
the sword to
its scal)bard.
Adam
stot)d,
first
There
as if stupified
impvdse was
t(»
himself, he letm-ned
Klian took advantage of the interval to clasp
KEKJN OF AKIJEU.
Chap. VI.]
the king's
and
liaiul
his attendants to
About
tliis
l)eg fur
127
mercy; but he shook him
off in disgust,
do summary jastice by flinging him over the
time Akber himself narrowly escaped
and ordered
parajjct.
A
assfussination.
famous
chief of Tm'kestan, called Mirza Shurf-udin Hoos.sein, arriving from Lahore at
Agra, was received at court with great distinction
but shortly
;
I'oyal
army he
who happened
of his retainers,
One
retreated to the frontiers of Gujerat.
neighbourhood of Delhi when the
to be in the
it;
and, looking upwards, fixed
bow and pointed
in the air.
The
.sky,
as if he were going to shoot
at
in his
some object
towards the
it
bow and
did not inteifere, and he had time to lower the
and
tlie
arrow was with some
was aiming
attendants, thinking he
The
in the flesh of Ak])er"s shoulder.
Nissi„atioii.
On
royal retinue was pa.ssing along the road, joined
an arrow
-^kber
being
after,
suspected of treasonable designs, fled to Ajmeer and went into rebellion.
the advance of the
a.u. isor
assassin
at a
lodge the arrow deep
was immediately cut
I'he
difficulty extracted.
l)ird,
to pieces,
wound, though deep,
did not prove serious, and healed over in about ten days.
Shortly after Akber set out from Agra on
ostensible object, but his real design
was
a
hunting excui'sion.
to nij) in the
This was his
bud an insurrection which
was meditated by Abdollah Khan Usbek, the governor of Malwah.
ingly turned suddenly aside, and, in spite of the r.ainy season,
He had
Usbek
He
made an
accord-
incursion
when Abdollah Khan, taking
guilt to himself, marched off with his forces and treasure for Gujerat.
Akber
chivalrously pursued with a small body of hor.se, but met with so much opposiinto that province.
only reached Oojein
The annoyance caused by this
U.sbek was said to have given Akber a rooted dislike to the whole race and it
was generally rumoured that he meant to seize and impri.son all the Usbek chiefs.
was obliged
tion that he
to fall
back on Mando.
;
The consequence was a general Usbek
mustered 40,000 horse,
In a short time the insurgents
revolt.
which they ravaged
witli
tlie
teriitories of
Berar and
was Asuf Khan Heroy, governor
Juanpoor.
One
of Kurra.
Shortly after his a])pointment he obtained permission to sulxlue a
of the leadei-s of the revolt
country called Gurrah, which was at the time governed by Doorgawutty, a ranee
or
Hindoo queen,
to
have been un])rincipled, for the only reason assigned
as celebrated for beauty
sis
for ability.
The
aggi-ession appears
for it is that
Asuf Khan
After several predatory excui'sions he invaded
had heard of the riches of Gurrah.
The queen opposed him with
an army of 8000 horse and foot, and 1 500 elej)hant.s. The battle was sanguinary
antl well contested, till the queen, who was mounted on an elephant, was struck
it
with a force of about GOOO
by an arrow
into the
driver
in the eye
hor.se
and infantiy.
and disabled from giving
ordei-s.
Determined not to
fall
hands of the enemy, she plucked a dagger from the girdle of her elephant ^",1^
Her
and stabbed herself
her infant son trampled to death.
capital
A.suf
was immeiliately taken by storm, and
Khan obtained an immense booty in
gold and jewels, but sent only a small part to the royal treasmy, and was thus
able,
i)e,itiiof
on joining the
revolt, to
add largely to
its
pecuniary resources.
^"^"^^
.
128
A.U.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
Akljcr, liiuUug that littN;
I5<jr,.
was uvula by
|)ro;rn;s.s
the revolt, detenniiied to take the field in person.
Campaign
against
seized, obliged
him
this
Usbuka.
to retuiTi to Agra,
then resumed the campaign.
forced
in the
A
lii.s
select
fever,
body of
liOOK
I
officers in suijpressin;^
where he remained
Taking a
march toward Lucknow,
'
with which he
April,
till
w{i.s
and
lofifi,
by a
horse, he j)roceedefl
hope of surjjrising Sikun<lur Khan;
Ijut
that rebel chief, having received warning, evacuated the place and joined his
Several of these, worked upon by emissanes from Aklicr,
confederates.
who
always displayed great dexterity in breaking up any confederacy formed against
made their submission but a formidby Bahadur Khan Seestany, who, after crossing
him, abandoned the cause as hopeless, and
;
was still offered
the Jumna and raising disturbances in the Doab, encountered the royalist
general, Meer Moiz ool -Moolk, in the open field.
The royalists were at first
successful; and, in the full confidence of victory, commenced the pursuit without
observing any order.
Baliadur Khan immediately seized the advantage, and
able opposition
changed
resvilt
his defeat into a victory, so complete that
Akbers
tidings of the
first
were received from Meer Moiz himself, who never halted in
his flight
till
he joined him at Canouge, witli the wreck of his army.
A
The
serioiis
repaired
—
was greatly aggravated by its indirect effects ^some of the confedwho had made their submission, conceiving new hopes, and again joining
reverse
erates,
loss
the revolt.
Among
these
was Khan Zuman, who immediately occupied Ghazi-
poor and the adjoining country.
Akber
set out against
him with
all
expedition,
but Bahadm* Khan, taking advantage of his absence, advanced to Juanpoor and
captured
it
by
This disaster seeming the more serious of the two,
escalade.
Akber retraced his steps, and, by the junction of forces from the loyal
was soon at the head of an army strong enough to crush the rebellion.
Khan
provinces,
Bahadur
accordingly evacuated Juanpoor and fled toward Benares, from wliich he
Akbers leanings
were to the generous side, but on this occasion his leniency was carried to an
extreme.
When the king, after having given his royal word of pardon, ordered
The
sent an offer of submission.
liim
and
shame
till
his brother
Klian
Zuman
for his past offences alone
offer
was accepted;
for all
to appear at coui't, the latter
answered "that
prevented him from appearing in the presence,
tima should have convinced his majesty of his loyalty; but that when the
king should return to Agra, both he and his brother Bahadur Khan would, at a
future time,
pay
their respects."
There was no sincerity in these words, for the
brothers were only endeavouring to gain time, and took the
first
opportunity of
revolting and seizing upon GuiTah.
The next quarter
Proceedinga
in Cabool.
It
was
in
to
which Akbers attention was
the hands of his half-brother,
.specially called
Mahomed Hakim
was Cabool.
Mirza,
who was
threatened by Suliman Mirza, chief of Budukshan. and sent a message to Akber,
earnestly soliciting his aid.
A strong
arrived the struggle
was
reinforcement was accordingly sent
Suliman Mirza had made good
before
it
threat
by attacking Cabool, and Mahomed Hakim
over.
;
Mii'za
but
his
had been compelled
REIGN OF AKBER.
Chap. VI.]
to evacuate
I
In his retreat he took the direction of the Indu.s, and wa.s
it.
ungratefid enoiigli to endeavour to compensate himself for the loss of Cabool
seizing u{)ou
The attempt
u])on
ances were so alarming that
Usbeks
Doab, and
in the
Lahore was made; and, though
Akber
the noise of
by
in
November, 1566, directed
drums and trumpets
appear- An
i.aiioio
the
mju'ch into
his
i.titnii't
Hakim Mirza was awakened by
and, calling to ask
;
it failed,
by the
po.stponed a projected expedition against the
In the dead of the night ]\Iahomed
Punjab.
a.d. loce.
This he was more readily tempted to do, because he
Lahore.
believed that Akber's hands were fully occupied in the eastern provinces
Usbeks.
2<)
what
it
meant, was told
that the citizens of Lahore were manifesting their joy at the intelligence they
had received of Akber's approach.
his steed in the
to
;
for
ab.sence of
Akber
in the
it
his
enemy, Suliman Mirza, had retired
Cabool very imperfectly defended.
for the winter, leaving
consequence was, that he recovered
The
mounted
Fortune was far more favourable to him than he
on arriving he found that
Budukshan
to learn more, he
utmost alarm, and, taking his cavalry along with him, was off
on the instant for Cabool.
deserved
Without waiting
as quickly as he had lost
The
it.
Punjab was no sooner known to the Usbeks
than they put themselves in motion, took Canouge and Oude, and extended
He
their conquests in all directions.
He
of Sheergur.
Seestany,
who was
inunediately raised
Khan Zuman Khan, when
was engaged
in laying siege to the fort
and, with his brother
it,
besieging Kurra, crossed the Ganges in
intending either to join some insurgents
who had
full retreat to
and finding no boats
his haste that,
in readiness,
Malwah,
Akbei', fully alive to the
magnitude of the danger which thus threatened, determined,
Such was
Bahadur Khan
a])peared in that province,
or to form an alliance with the kings of the Deccan.
overtake him.
revolt.
and
therefore hastened back to Agra,
having collected his troops, set out for Juanpoor.
this startling intelligence reached him,
Progress of
if possible,
to
on arriving at the ferry of Muneepoor,
he mounted his elephant and plunged into the
One hundred of his body-guard imitated his example; and though
the water was then high, they all reached the opposite bank in safety.
At the
head of this small party Akber proceeded, and had actually come in sight of the
enemy's camp before he was reinforced by the garrison from Kurra.
The enemy, never imagining that Akber would venture to cross without his
stream.
army,
felt perfectly secure,
They were
first
and had accordingly passed the night
brought to their
mikara, or kettle-drum.
numbers that the contest
sen.ses
in festivity.
by the ominous sound of the
Though completely
was for some time
surprised, they
doubtfid, and
royal
were so superior in
Akber was
in great
personal danger; but his elei)hants, advancing rapidly into the midst of the
enemy no time to rally. Khan Zuman, while endeavouring to extract an arrow which had wounded him, fell with his horse, and was
His brother, Bahadur Khan, was taken
tram])led to death by an ele]>hant.
prisoner; and on being bronght before the king, who asked him what injury he
confused mass,
Vol.
I.
left
the
17
lurap
A
IX
LIT-.'
liad susttiiuL'(l to justify
be to
OF INDIA.
IlJSTOJiV
:]{}
God
drawing the sword,
in uguiii
liiiii
that he has rescued
me
[Hook
ill-judged leniency, put
once more to see your majesty's wmntenance."
Siege of
it
now
provi;d
perhaps of a renewal of the kings
officers, afraid
The
to death without orders.
i-evolt
of the Usbeks
Akber returned to Agi"a in July, 1.jG7.
Akber next marched against Rana Cody Sing, who had hitherto refased to
acknowledge the Mogul supremacy. He immediately directed his steps against
The rana quitted it before his arrival, and retired
Cliittoor, in Rajpootana.
being
Cliittoor.
now
him
"Praise
siinj>ly replied,
This impudent hypocrisy had saved him on a former occasion, but
unavailing; for some of the
I.
considered at an end,
into the mountains, but left
8000 Rajpoots.
said to
am])ly provisioned and strongly garrisoned Ijy
it
was immediately invested by
It
have been made in the most
scientific
AkVjer, who.se ap[jroaches are
manner, in the mode recommended
by Vauban, and practised by the best engineers of modem times. After arriving
near the walls by means of zigzag trenches and stuffed gabions, two mines
were carried under bastions, filled with gunpowder, and fired. The stonning
party advanced, and, finding a practicable breach, di\'ided, with the view of
From some
entering both breaches at once.
was
exploded, and the second division
close
cause only one of the mines had
upon the other when the second
explosion took place, and 500 of the Moguls were blown into the
consequence was, that both attacks
Akber shoot;
Akber's
spu-it generally rose
The
air.
failed.
with the
difficulties
he encountered, and he
.lagmul.
immediately began to run new mines and carry on other works.
One
even-
ing while they were in progress, he perceived Jagmul, the governor, superin-
tending the repair of the breaches by torch-light.
one of his attendants, he
with so sure an aim as to lodge the
fired
The garrison were
Jagmul's forehead.
at once seized with despair,
a funeral pile for the dead body of their
along with
it.
chief,
Not a
soul appeared,
The Rajpoots had
the fort without opposition.
cliildi-en
had hitherto died
;
men
cliildren
forward to
and they entered
retired to their temples,
there, disdaining to accept of quarter, perished to a
Akber's
ball in
and erecting
bm-ned their wives and
Akber, aware of what was going on, ordered his
the breaches under the cover of night.
Sheikh
Seizing a matchlock from
and
man.
but in 1569, shortly after he had made
Seliiri.
a pilgrimage to a celebrated shrine at Ajmeer. and paid a
Selim
\dsit to Sheikli
Chishty, in the village of Sikra, his favourite sultana gave birth to his son
In the following year another
Selim.
him.
As both
births
whom
had taken place in the
particularly propitious spot,
period received the
son,
name
and
selected
it
he called Murad, was
village of Sikra, he regarded
as the site of a city,
which
Having
for all the chiefs
as a
of Futtipoor.
who had
therefore resolved to
ber, 1572.
it
to
at a later
Gujerat had long been torn by intestine factions, and also become a
asylum
bom
common
risen in rebellion against Akber's government.
march against
Puttun and Ahmedabad
fell
it
in person, he set out in Septem-
into his hands without a blow.
At
Chap
REIGN OF AKBER.
VI.
131
Baroach and Surat matters wore a more threatening appearance, Ibrahim ad.
Mahomed Hoossein Mirza
head of an independent army. On Akbers approach
i67-.>.
Hoossein Mirza being near the one, and his brother
near the other, each at the
uujorat.
towards Baroach, Ibrahim suddenly quitted the place, and set
by a
out
hoped to
where
Punjab,
the
reach
route to
circuitous
he
an insurrection.
raise
Akber, informed of his inten-
immediately adopted one
tion,
those
t)f
resolutions
chivalric
which, notwithstanding the suc-
which
cess
usually
attended
them, cannot be justiiied against
the charge of rashness.
nine o'clock at night
It
was
when he
SiiFiKH Sklim's
I'Voiii
heard of Ibrahim's departure.
Tomb at
Ki'TTirooit Sikra.*
un Oriental tlrawing, Kist Indiu House.
Immediately, taking only a small body of horse, he hastened off to intercept
On
his retreat.
reaching the Mhendry, which runs by the town of Surtal,
he found his i)arty reduced to forty troopers, and saw Ibrahim on the opposite
1)ank with 1000.
He
troopers.
river,
At
moment Akber was
this
expected more, but refused to wait for
Many
he advanced to the charge.
])erformed, i)articularly
by some Hindoo
which Akl)er had placed
of his enemies single handed,
rajahs,
himself,
;
were
acts of individual heroism
who, proud of the confidence
were eager to justify
in them,
more chivalrously than the king
by seventy additional
them and crossing the
joined
who
it
but none behaved
;
repeatedly engaged the bravest
and charged right against Ibrahim, who, shunning
by the
the encounter, only saved himself
fleetness of his horse.
Satisfied with this achievement, Akber, instead of attempting to pursue the
fleeing
Sui'at.
enemy, waited
A
till
his
valiant resistance
army
arrived,
was at
first
and then ])roceeded
threatened
were ready to open, the inhabitants surrendered.
;
to lay siege to
but as soon as the batteries
Meanwhile Ibrahim Hoossein
Mirza carried out his scheme of attempting an insuirection in the Punjab.
learning his arrival, Hoossein Koolly Khan, Akber's general,
who was
On
besieg-
ing Nagarcote, immediately raised the siege and pursued him through the
He
Punjab to Tatta on the Indus
escape, or believed
continuing his
'
Tliis
tomb
Koolly
flight,
Khan
probably thought
to be
lie
he set out on a hunting excm'sion.
waserecteil by .Xkber to Slieikli Selim,
in gratituile for the prayers of the holy
man.
a very beautiful little building, in
centre of a
tiue
more distant than
tliat
tlie
It is
quadran;j;le575feet square, surrounded by a lofty
wall, with a magnificent
it.
he had made his
was, for instead of
Oji his retiu'n
cloi.'ster all
he
around witliin
The sarcophagus containing the body
is
inclosed
within a screen of marble, carved into lattice work,
and inlaid with niother-ofjiearl.
suppression
voit in
""^"
tiio
'
FTTSTORY OF TXT)TA,
l:{2
A.U.
1.073.
found
lii.s
caiiip
stormed, and
Itrotlier
lii.s
Miusa/jod Hoossein a prisoner.
resolved to retrieve the day or perish, and
being repulsed at every point,
severely
wounded and taken
who
governor of Mooltan,
made many desperate
desi.sted, an«l fled
shortly
alt<.'r
He
onsets; hut
was delivered up
to tlie
His head was sent
beheaded him.
I,
Here, after being
to Mooltan.
prisoner l>y a Beloochee, he
Agra, and by Akber's order jilaced above one of
Nuw troubles
[Rook
to
its gates.
In July, 1573, the affairs of Gujerat were again thrown into disorder by
in Uujorat.
the union of one of
former chiefs with ^lahomed Hoossein Mirza.
its
These
enough to attempt
confederates, after overrunning several districts, felt strong
The presence of Akber seemed absolutely necessary,
but a foi^midable obstacle was in the way. The rainy season had commenced,
and the march of a large army was impracticable. In these circumstances, he
made one of those decisive movements for which he had become famou.s. Sending
Ahmedabad.
the siege of
off
a body of 2000 chosen horse, he followed rapidly with a retinue of 300
mounted on camels and accompanied by led hoi"ses.
Having come up with the main body at Puttun, he found that his whole force
mustered 3000.
Without halting he set forward for Ahmedabad, while a swift
persons, chiefly nobles,
messenger hastened before to make the gan-ison aware of his approach.
enemy
first
learned
it
by the sound of
measure, prepared for action.
vent a
sally,
Mahomed
set out
his
drum
and though astonished above
Leaving 5000 horse to watch the gates and pre-
Akber
with 7000 horse.
at first waited, in the
him but on learning that this was not
and drew up on the plain. The battle was
expectation that the garrison would join
to be expected, he crossed the river
fiercely contested,
;
and was not decided
;
till
the king, with his body-guard of 100
men, made an attack in flank on Mahomed, who, losing
turned his back and
in the face
The rout now became
fled.
and mounted on a horse which had
leap a hedge, but both
fell,
and he was made
claim to the honour of the capture,
took you ? "
He
general,
also
liis
all
presence of mind,
^lahomed, wounded
been wounded, attempted to
prisoner.
Akber put the
Mahomed, holding down
of ingratitude overtook me."
The
Several persons laying
—
(question to himself
head, replied, " Nobody.
spoke truth, and paid the penalty
The
^
"
Who
cirrse
for before
Akber had given any orders respecting him. Rajah Ray Sing, in whose charge
he had been left, put him to death. The siege of Ahmedabad was immediately
raised, and Akber entered it in triumph.
Revolt in
Bengal.
In the com'se of
Bengal, took up arms.
him
Dawood Khan, son of Suliman Kirany,
Moonyim Khan, sent by Akber against him,
this year
in several actions,
and compelled him to sign a
the terms, refused to ratify
it,
and
expelled or obliged to pay tribute.
to gain time;
hostilities.
insisted that
He
latter,
defeated
Akber, disHking
treaty.
Dawood Khan
promised the
ruler of
should either be
but
it
was merely
and as soon as he thought himself strong enough, he resumed
Moonyim Khan again
defeated him, took his fleet of boats, and,
after crossing the Ganges, laid siege to Patna.
Akber, thinking his presence
;
REIGN OF AKBER.
Chap. VI.j
required, left
Agm
in the
embarked
as could be
middle of
tlie rains,
in 1000 boats.
On
and
i;j3
set out
with as
many
troops
it
was
Hajeepoor, on the opposite side of the Ganges,
Dawood Khan,
without resistance.
also yielded
a.u. 1579.
arriving within a few miles of Patna
he had the satisfaction to learn that, in consequence of Moon^'im's success,
on the point of being evacuated.
.
thus defeated at
points,
all
iio^-mt in
wished to make terms; but Akber insisted on his unconditional submission, at
the same time observing to his messenger, " Tell Dawooil
sand
men
my army
iu
as
good as
issue in single combat, 1 will
manner
this
he,
and
if
he
myself meet him."
of settling the contest,
Dawood
take
Kiian
refuji'e
1
have a thou-
disposed to put the point to
Dawood Khan had no
idea of
and made a precipitate retreat to Bengal.
In the pm-suit 400 of his elephants were taken.
and Moonyim Khan, continuing
is
Khun
Akber now returned
to
Agra
to prosecute the subjugation of Bengal, obliged
to
in
S?
r"*"-
Ultimately
Orissa.
was overtaken
he
on the shores of the
Bav
of Bengal, and
obliijed
The
submit.
to
terms
were
that he should relinquish
preten-
all
sions to
Bengal and
Beliar,
but
Orissa
retain
and Cuttack.
Moonyim Khan was
RuiN8 OF GooR '— DanieU's Oriental Scenery.
appointed governor
and removed the seat of government from Khowaspoor Tanda to
Goor, which had been the capital till it was abandoned on account of its in-
of Bengal,
He had
salubrity.
better have left matters as he found them, for he soon
a victim to the climate, and was succeeded by Hoossein Koolly Khan, a
fell
Toorkoman, who bore the
title
Before Hoossein Koolly
of
Khan
Jehan.
Khan had taken
actual possession of his government,
itss'ippressioii
'
"Takin? the extent
of tlie ruins of
most reasonable calculation,
it is
not
Goor
at the
than
fifteen
less
miles in length (e.\tenfling along the old bank of the
Ganges), and from two to three in breadth. Several
villages stand
on part of
its site; tlie
remainder
i.s
cither covered witli thick forest, the habitations of
tigers and other beasts of prey, or become arable
laud,
whose
soil
Tlie principal
is
chiefly
composed of
brick-ilust.
ruins are a mosque, lined with bl.ick
marble elaborately wrought, and two gates of the
citadel, which are strikingly grand and lofty. These
fabrics, and some few others, appear to owe their
duration to the nature of their materials, which are
marketable and more difficult to separate, than
those of the ordinary brick-buildings, which have
been, and continue to be an article of merchandise,
and are transported to Moorshedabad, Malda, and
other places, for the purposes of building. The situation of Goor was higiily convenient for the capital
of Bengal and Behar as united under one government, being nearly centrical with re.spect to the
populous parts of tho>e provinces and near the
junction of the principal rivers that, compose that
less
e.vtraordinary inland navigation for which those pro-
vinces are
famed."— Major Reunell, quoted
ton's Oazettecr of Indiit.
in
Thorn-
A D 1585
DawooJ
Kliau,
of 50,000
liavin;;^
hor.se,
and retook the greater part
for,
taken prisoner, and put
Afghan
in
<^t"
chiefs,
Bengal,
The
to death.
was
defeated,
hea<led
stilJ
by some
were fought; but ultimately the
battles
The
Moguls proved everywhere trium{>hant.
possession, however,
after, lie
was
iiLsuirection
I
appeared at the hea«l
ili.s
a battle fought shortly
and several sanguinary
chiefs,
[Hook
leagued with several ^Vfgliau
was only momentary;
l!oii?al an.l
OF INDIA.
IIIS'IOHV
:; !
which
fort of Khotas, in Behar,
JJehar incoi'poratail
had long held
was obliged
out,
to surrender;
and Bengal and Behar were
in the
Mo-ul
empire.
formally incorporated with the empire of the Great Mogul, though they both
4
continued to be, from
time to time, the seats of fonnidable insurrections.
These had hitherto for the most part originated with Afghans,
thither
when
when
the
who had
J
fled
Afghan dynasty was driven from the throne of Delhi; but
had ceased
their hostility
to be fonnidable, the
began to give considerable trouble,
Mogul
quarrelling with
first
chiefs themselves
Akbers
arrangements, and then making open war by appearing in the
with an army of 30,000 men.
financial
1579.
field in
After an intestine war, which the Afghans again
endeavoured to turn to account, tranquillity was restored.
While Akbers
Akber
advances on
tlie Punjab.
to
march
officers
were thus occupied in Bengal, he was himself obliged
to the north-western provinces, in consecjuence of a
new attempt by
his half-brother,
the
Punjab.
Mahomed Hakim Mirza, to make himself master of ])art of
Mahomed had advanced as far as Lahore and laid siege to it, when
the
arrival of
Akber
He had
to Cabool.
mined not
at Sirhind disconcerted all his schemes,
to let
him
march upon Cabool
now
so often before escaped in the
off so easily
itself,
and
making
and was left
set out
on
its return.
On
same way, that Akber deter-
after crossing the Indus, continued his
which he entered
at his mercy; but, on
terms than he deserved,
army
;
and he hastened back
in trixunph in
1
579.
his submission, received
Mahomed was
more favourable
in possession of his capital, wlule the royal
Akber
this occasion
built the fort of
Attock
;
a
Jumna
short time after he built the fort of Allahabad, at the junction of the
and Ganges.
New trouMi!
After MoozufFur Shah, the former ruler of Gujerat, had been forced to
iu Gujerat.
abdicate, he
was taken
to Agra,
and
he was presented with an extensive domain, and allowed to
seemed
satisfied;
but in 1581,
worked upon by some of the
when new
insurgents,
troubles arose
and suddenly quitted Hindoostan
the purpose of attempting to recover his lost throne.
rection soon
Akber that
reside upon it.
He
in Gujerat, he was
so far ingratiated himself with
Thus headed, the
became formidable, and the royal generals were obliged
for
insur-
to retreat
northwards to Puttun, leaving MoozufFur in possession of Alimedabad, Baroach,
and nearly the whole of the province.
of
tlie late
Behram Khan, recovered a
An
army, sent imder Mirza Khan, son
large portion of
what had been
lo.st
;
but
MoozufFur, retiring into the more inaccessible parts of the peninsula, maintained
himself in a kind of independence for several years.
In 1585,
Mahomed Hakim Mirza havmg
died,
Akber immediately
set out
In this he found no
to take possession of Cabool.
after
135
REIGN OF AKBER.
Chap. V[.]
difficulty;
undertook another task, which brought him into
but he immediately
collision
with tribes of a
more warlike character than he had previously encountered, and
called for his Aki^rt
.
utmost
and
skill
Cashmere, with
pi'owess.
ambition, and he resolved to
ftivourable
;
for dissensions liad
make a conquest
broken out
kingdom was torn asunder by contentling
<piest
beautiiui valley,
its
of
it.
canii)aigns
•
1
1
tempted
his
The circumstances were
in the reigning family,
But the
factions.
a.u. i5s7
ill C'al)(Kil
atul Cashluere.
and the whole
facilities for con-
thus afforded were greatly counteracted by the physical features of the
embosomed among lofty mountain chains, and is accessible
only through perilous pavSses.
At first Akber, then at Attock, was contented to
country.
It lies
AiTouK, from West Bank of the Gauges. —Viguu's Visit to Olnixui
send forward a detachment of his armv.
pass which had not been guarded
sudden setting
in
command
in of
;
It succeeded in i)enetratin<; throu-'h
but a threatened want of provisions, and the
winter with a heavy
of snow, so intimidated the officers
fiiU
that they hastily concluded a treaty
acknowledged the Mogul su]>remacy, but was
possession of
its
a
by which Cashmere nominally
left,
in every other respect, in full
former independence.
This treaty was utterly at variance with AkV)er's views; and he therefore
Cashmere
eoiHUierwl.
not only refused to ratify
it,
but, in the following year
(1587), sent a second
mvading army, the commander of which, by dexterously availing himself of the
intestine dissensions, was admitted within the pas.ses without a struggle, and
made an easy
among the nobles
afterwards
enrolled
in
Behar.
The
conquest.
king, having been
captured,
of Delhi, and sent to live on a domain
Cashmere, rob1)ed of
its
indo])endence, which
a.s.sirnu'd
was
him
had maintained
it
for
nearly 1000 years, became merely a i\logul ])rovince.
The
struggles in this quarter were not yet over;
t,o
mountain
districts
Afghan
which encircle the plain of Peshawer.
tribes in this direction
rise
above
it
and
stretch
back
to the
snowv
The most powerful
and the mountain terraces
ridires
of the
Campaign
against
Af'dian
were the Yoo.soofzyes or Eusofzeis, who
possessed the northern part of the Peshawer plain,
which
Akber's ambitjon
the subiuixation, not nierelv of Ca.shmere, but of the
extended
of the
for
Hindoo Koosh.
tlio
Y<H>s<K>fzyes
and Rosbiiyes.
;
HISTORY
136
A.u. iMi.
The
Mi)<^ul iiriiiy
('iii[)l(»y(;(l
in
INI»IA.
OF'
the expedition a^^uinst thiH AI';L^han tribe
commanded by Zein Khan Koka, who allowed
and had great
difficulty in
[Book
I.
whh
himself to be wm|)letely defeat<id,
reaching the royal camp at Attr)ck.
Rajah Beerbui,
a special favourite of Akber, perished on this
occasion
;
and the monarch had thus
to endure,
not merely the mortification of defeat, but the
deep
grief,
which he could not but
one of his most valued
loss of
Yoosoofzyes,
victory,
having
to
at the
friends.
The
improve
their
were ultimately obliged to make some
sort of submission,
more formal than
nias,
failed
feel,
which appears to have been
real.
The Roshnyes or Rooshe-
another of the mountain
a leader of the
name
of Jelala,
tribes,
headed by
made a
more
still
valiant defence, but were also at last oblicred to
Afghan contest was being
waged, Akber was extending and consolidatincj
submit.
his
While
this
empire in other directions.
Taking advan-
tage of dissensions in Scinde, he in 1591 sent
Mirza
YoosooFZYE.
— Elphiiistoue's Kingdom of
Cabool.
sciiide raado
province,
to enter it from the north,
fort of
in Sciiidc, advanccd with a
with
Sehwan.
and lay
Lahore,
siege to the
Mirza Jany Beg, then ruling
numerous army and a train of
arriving within twelve miles of the
filled
Khan with an invading army from
artillery.
After
Mogul camp, he sent forward 100 boats
artillery-
men and archers,
to make an attack.
Mirza Khan had
twenty - five
only
command
boats at
but, taking advan-
tage of the night,
came upon the ene-
my by
surprise,
and
compelled him to a
precipitate
flight.
i
Mirza Jany Beg became,
in
future,
more cautious; and
having
down
his
Ruins of the Castle of Sehwan.
—Jackson's Afghanistan.
bronslit
whole
inaccessible.
fleet,
landed on a
Here he
swampy ground,
which, at high water, became
successfully resisted all attempts to dislodge
him
;
and
KEIGN OF AKBER.
Chap. VI.]
at the
same
time, while he kept his
lo7
own commimications
open, so interrupted
those of the Moguls, that they were unable to obtain the necessary supplies.
Khan had no
these ciremnstances, Mirza
taking part
(^f
it
to Tatta, while the
may
soldiers,
and
alternative but to divide his army,
remainder cojitiimed the
Mirza
siege.
be regarded as the
It
have had 200 natives dressed as Eui'opeans.
to
first
Sepoys
and ceding
it
to that
and kept the contjuest to himself
making the compiest
Kandahar passed
fulfil
from
Persia,
his agreement,
but the circumstances afterwards became
;
to Persia shortly after Akber's accession.
remained in
this position
till loy-t,
to account,
was able
make
to
monarch, refused to
Kand.ihar
Internal troubles prevented the shah from
resenting the injustice at the time
favom'able, and
These
Akber's father, after obtaining
military aid from the vSliah of Persia, on condition of
of Kandahar,
'i'i>f fii-st
in India.
how Hoomayoon,
has been mentioned
1594.
In
Jany Beg, thus tempted to assume the offensive, lost the advantages of his
])()sition, and was finally caught in a trap, which compelled him to accept of
any terms of peace that the Moguls chose to dictate. His kingdom became a
Mogul province, and he himself exchanged his position as a king for that of
an officer in the Mogul service. In this war he is said to have employed some
Portuguese
ad.
when
It
Akl)er, turning the Pei-sian dissensions
himself master both of the town and temtory
without being obliged to strike a blow, the Persian prince
who
held the fort
being contented to exchange his possession for the government of Mooltan and
a
command
in the
Mogul
ai'my.
In the whole of India north of the Nerbudda, Mogul supremacy was
completely established.
now earnestly
Akber's attention was
an opportunity
was otherwise
It
m
the Deccan
;
and to
now
therefore,
it,
In 1586 he had availed himself of
turned.
to interfere in the internal concerns of
Ahmednuggur
;
and had
endeavoiu'ed, though without success, to aid a claimant in obtaining the throne.
In 151)0 he had recourse to a
much more
formal proceeding, and sent aml)assa-
—Asseer and Boorhanpoor, Ahmednuggur,
modern Hyderabad— demanding an acknowledgment
dors to four different courts
and Bhagnagur, the
his
supremacy.
Bejajjoor,
When a common
which he had anticipated, and
was given, he only received the answer
which he was })repared. For the avowed
refusal
for
purpose of reducing them to subjection, Mirza
He
of
Khan was immediately
sent
Mando.
Meanwhile a messenger
had arrived from Boorhan, King of Ahmednuggur, who had lived for some time
south with an army.
in exile at
after, in
to
15f)4.
name
of
Ahmed,
jMurad Mirza, then in Gujerat.
immediately put his army
in
His death having
and his son and successor having
a disputed succession took place, and the minister,
claim of a boy of the
Prince
fii-st
Akber's court, announcing his entire submission.
taken place shortly
battle,
proceeded
who favoured
ap])lied for assistance to
The
]>rince,
by
fallen in
Akber's son.
his father's orders,
motion and marched for the Deccfin, taking the
direction of Ahmednuixonir.
Vol.
I.
the
18
Akbercinims
in the
'"^^""
HISTORY OF
l.'i.S
A
I).
The
1090.
the
Siego of All
miniHter, Mceaii Muiija,
and therefore prepared
.step,
to
called in this {orei;^ri aid,
meet the prince a«
I.
had repented of
he had wjnie not oh an
if
Having provisioned and otherwise prepared
but as an enemy.
ally,
who
[Book
1NI>IA.
for the
ludUiiuggur.
defence of Alimednu<ro-ur, he jjave the
who had been queen and dowager-regent
Beeby,
of the army.
met the
Chand
Beeby.
of
Chand
the neighbouring kingdom
it
to the
Princess
frontier with the remainder
Murad Mirza and Mirza Khan having united their forces,
circumstances by laying aside their o.stensiljle character as
Prince
altered
and assuming that of
auxiliaries,
of"
and marched toward the Bejapoor
of Bejapoor,
Heroism of
command
principals in the war.
Chand Beeby, equally j^repared to act her part, and when the Moguls opened
the siege of Ahmednuggur, made a most resolute defence, counterworking their
mines, superintending the repairing of breaches, and often
sword
ance,
in hand, to
animate the garrison when their
contented with thus resisting in the
neighbouring kings
tlie
;
and,
by
making her appear-
spirits
began to
Not
fail.
she entered into correspondence with
fort,
vivid description of the
common danger by
which they were threatened, succeeded in forming a confederacy which levied
a powerful army for the purpo:!e of advancing to her relief
to effect a capture before this
up about eighty
army could
feet of the wall,
The Moguls, anxioas
arrive, fired their mines,
which blew
and threw the garrison into such consternation
that they would have given
up the plase had not Chand Beeby, appearing
on her face and a naked sword in her hand, animated
among them with a veil
them to new exertions. She caused gims
and stones
ants,
to be hurled
and did not depart
she had seen
till
longer practicable.
It
to renounce
built
its
in the
Dec?an.
filled
with their
to such a height as to be
which
left
Ahmednuggur and
native sovereign, and only required
sooner was this treaty ratified than the dissensions
the Deccan, which had only been suspended
no
to be disheartened;
some obsolete or unavailable claim on the throne of
personal
campaign
up
to conclude a peace
dependencies entire in the hands of
No
Akber's
it
was now the turn of the Moguls
and Prince Murad was glad
him
was
so that the ditch
assail-
During the night she stood by the breach, superintending the workmen,
dead.
its
upon them,
on the
to be brought to bear
by a common
among
Berar.
the princes of
danger, again broke out.
Among
other
Mogul
and, in the very face of their recent engagement, marched a hostile force
;
into Berar.
follies,
they voluntarily assumed the offensive against the Great
Akber had thus only
too good ground for interfering;
accordingly resolved, in 1599, to take the field in person.
resolution
grief
is
said to
which he
the loss of his second son. Prince Murad,
and treated
ungrateful return.
its
influence
who had
died
Another care weighing heavily upon him was the miscon-
duct of his eldest son, Prince Selim.
cessor,
cause of this
have been the desire to divert his thoughts, and lighten the
felt for
of a sudden Ulness.
One
and he
liim
He had
him
his suc-
with the utmost indulgence, but met with a most
The prince had become the
was hurried
formally appointed
into several crimes.
slave of intoxication,
One
of these
was
and imder
treason, wdiich
J
EEIGN OF AKBEll.
CfiAP. VI.
he carried so far
tliat it
had assumed the form of open
second and better thouglits induced him to
ever,
stains
memory,
his
had long been
torian of his
is
share he
tlie
had
and
from which, how-
revolt,
celebrated
is still
the his-
cis
him, at the instigation of Prince Selim, and
fell
been aware of the share which his son
in this atrocity,
have taken effectual steps to disinherit him
since,
without this additional
bitterly,
and
days and
over, he
vowed
and took
without
niglits
it
by
sleep.
on Narsing Deo
inflicting
\"',lif,^_i
he would probably
aggravation, the tidings so affected
him that he wept
This first paroxysm
laid for
Assassina-
Had Akber
fighting valiantly.
;
into
fell
an ambuscade, which Narsing Deo, Rajah of Orcha, in Bundelcvmd, had
iiad
ioo6
murder of Abulfazl, who
was returning from the Deccan when he
Abulfa^sl
ad.
Another crime wliich
desist.
in the
his father's favourite minister,
re'vnx.
13!)
two
])assed
siud all his race severities of
revenge,
which
his
reign happily affords few examples.
In the south Akber's usual good fortune had attended him
his arm.s,
;
though
Akiwrs
''
not uniformly, were so generally successful, that most of the princes hastened to
make
their submission;
retui-ned to
Agra
in 1602, so satisfied
with the
""'^'^"'•
that in a proclamation wiiich he issued, he tissumed, in addition to his
result,
other
and he
i„ t'ho
titles,
emj)ii'e,
that of Prince of the Deccan.
of which he had himself been the
magnificence which few
was
declining years,
second son,
when
far
While thus at the head of a mighty
main
architect,
any sovereigns have ever
if
from happy.
He had
his third son, Piince Daniel,
and surrounded by a
Akber, in his
eiiualletl,
scarcely cesised to
whose marriage
mourn
for his
in 1601< he
had
celebrated with great festivities, died within a twelvemonth, the victim of his
own drunken
habits.
But
his
sorrow for the dead members of his family was
His domestio
not so distressmg as the shame and agony produced by the misconduct of the
Selim, his only surviving son
living.
and destined
successor, after a promise of
reform, had sunk deepei- than ever in his vicious courses, acting habitually with
madman and
the caprice of a
soi\
Khosroo had such an
self
by poison
seems
now
to
the cruelty of a tyrant.
effect
the thought of being succeeded
(|uarrel
life
to his future arrangements.
by Selim, and yet
He had entwined
Khurram
own
manifested the gi-eatest decision,
in
He
shuddered at
Khosroo, Selim's eldest son,
he beheld the very passions which disgraced Selim himself
son,
with his
on that youths nxother, that she destroyed her-
Akber, who had through
have hesitated as
A
There wtis a third
himself around the heart of his grandfather,
but the fearful consetiuences of a disj)uted succession appear to have deterred
him from making any
and
per{)lexities,
during the
last
tlestination in his favour.
his health
Amid
these distressing trials
began visibly to give way, and after an
illness,
ten days of which he w;is confined to bed, and employed
of his time in giving good counsels to his son, he expired (m
t!ie
much
13th of
Of the sixty-foiu" years of his life, fifty-one had been spent (jn
the throne. He was l)uried near Agra, in a tomb consisting of a solid pyramid,
surrounded by cloisters, galleries, and domes, and of such innnense dimensions,
October,
1
605.
nisUeatu.
JIISTfJiiY
lO
A.n. 1605.
that for a year or two after
tlie
OF
(IJOOK
ISI>\.\.
coii<[ue.st f>f
the surrounding t<jrritory hy the
a whole European regiment of dragoons was quartered
Britisl),
I.
in
it.
iy_J'.ii::ij.il
Mausoleum of Emperor Akber at
Akber
Akber'sper-
is
— From an Oriental drawing in East India Hoose.
described as of a manly, athletic, and handsome form, fair com-
son, talents,
andcha-
SectsiJitA.'
^
plexion, pleasing features,
_
and captivating manners.
racter.
i
In early
i
• <»
i
life
•
his tastes
were
somewhat
curean,
and he indulged
in wine;
yeai-s
in
epi-
his latter
he was abstemious,
both in meat and drink
He
had no
ness in
liis
\Tndictive-
nature
;
and,
however much he migh t
have been provoked, was
always ready to extend
pai'don to every one wlio
asked
Akber's Tombstone at Secundha.'— Oriental drawing, East India House.
to
amount
to rashness
;
and the chivalrous prevailed
"
The tomb of Akber at Secundra, near Delhi,
and doings, exceptional, and
unlike those of any of his race, but still of great magnificence.
The tomb is pyramidal in external form.
The outer or lower terrace is .320 feet square by 30
feet in height, and its architecture is bold and massive.
On this terrace stands another far more ornate, measuring 186 feet on each side, and 14 feet 9 inches in
height.
A third and a fourth of similar design, and
respectively 1.5 feet "2 inches and 14 feet 6 inches high,
stand on this, all these being of red sandstone. Within
and above the last is a white marble inclosure 1.57 feet
is,
like all his buildings
e.ach
way,
or, e.Kternally, just half
the length of the
so
His
it.
t
•
i
t
coiu-age
n
was
so decided as oiten
much
in Ins temper, that
lowest terrace. The outer wall of this is entirely composed of marble trellis-work of the most beautiful
patterns.
Inside it is surrounded by a colonnade of
the same material. In the centre of this cloister, ou
a raised platform, is the tombstone of the founder, a
splendid piece of the most beautiful arabesque tracery
(see accompanying engraving).
This, however, is not
the true burial place; but the mortal remains of this
great king repose under a far plainer tombstone, in a
vaulted chamber in the basement, 35 feet square,
exactly under tlie simulated tomb that adorns the
summit of the mausoleum."
of Architeciure.
—-Fergusson's Iland-Book
]
REIGN OF AKBER
Chap, VI.
he often underwent great
His
love of adventure.
toils
though not of the
intellect,
great
hinisell' to
from a mere ad
perils,
first order, wiis
1005.
remarkably
and nothing pleased him more than discussions of a metaphysical and
acute,
When
[)uzzling nature.
to be present at
them
not actually engaged in these discussions, he delighted
and amused himself with the wianglings of
whose leaders he on varioas occasions summoned
as a listener
philosoi)hical or religious sects,
took place
when he
of the most remarkable of these discussions
held a meeting of Maliometan doctors and Portuguese mis-
and deluded the
sionaries,
;
One
to court for this veiy purpose.
latter
by pretending
The truth seems
a Christian convert.
of
and exposed
141
any kind, and employed
to
have some idea of becoming
to be, that he
his acuteness,
had few serious convictions
not so much for the purpo.se of disco-
vering, as of evading truth.
In private
he was a kind and imlulgent parent, and a generous, warm-
life
and strongly attached
hearted,
Indeed,
friend.
only real griets which he suffered through
As a
relations.
many
lost
life
may
it
be truly
had their
that the
said,
soui'ce in these
He
military commander, he takes high rank.
Akbers
two
did not fight
great battles, but often, after some of his ablest officers had fought and
made
them, he no sooner
his appearance in the field
than fortune, which
had forsaken them, seemed to return, and defeat was converted into victory.
In the cabinet he
was
the
the art of winninii the affections of all with
hiijliest degfree
in contact,
and rendering
advancement of
seen,
still
more
successful than in the field;
and possessed in
whom
he came
their varied talents antl influence subservient to the
his service.
For the
first
time Mahometans and Hindoos were
during his reign, working harmoniously together, while holding places of
lionour
and
Akbers
trust near the throne.
best fame
is
founded on his internal administration, into wliich so
many important inn)rovements were
enumerate them.
Suffice
it hei'e
introduced, that
to say, that in every
it
would be
difficult to tum.
department of the
state,
business wtis conducted on rational, liberal,
and tolerant
was administered impartially among
of subjects, without reference to
birth or religious profession;
all chiases
and the revenue was
posed to be mo.st equitable and least oppressive.
standard
principles; justice
raised in the
Having
inteniai
nilniinistra-
^
,
first
manner sup-
fixed a uniform
meivsurement, he carefully ascertained the extent and relative pro-
t)f
amount
room for
ductiveness of each landed tenement, and then fairly apportioned the
of taxation which each ought to bear.
iavouritism
sive in its
;
ami
a burdtMi wliieh,
while
In this
it
way
there
was
lay equall}' upon
all,
little
was not
exces-
amount, was borne easily and without gnidging.
In connection with Akbers revenue sv.stem
may
be mentioned his adminis-
trative divisions of the empire into pro^^nces or suhihs, each of
governed by a head
those of a viceroy,
officer called
all
being vested in him
which wjis
a suhahdar, whose powers were equivalent to
authority, civil as well as military, within the province
Subordinate to the subahdar,
tliougli a])|)ointed
not by
Division
<.f
einpire int..
U2
AT),
um.
OF INDIA.
HrSTOI'.V
him,
}>y
l)iit
t!i(!
king,
was an
had the sn[)erintendence of
all
with
officer,
tlic;
[Book
title
of
dewan
or diwnn,
The
matters of revenue and finance.
I
who
subahs,
originally fifteen, were, in consequence of additional conquests, raised to eigh-
Of
teen.
spirit of
bers
these twelve were in Hindoostan
Among
Liberal
Ak-
rule,
and
six in the Deccan.
Akber which deserve notice for their humane and
liberal Spirit, and at the same time throw some reflection on the tardy legislation of the British government on the same subjects, are his prohibition of the
burning of Hindoo widows against their will, and his permitting them to
marry again, though the Hindoo law expressly forbids it. The same humane
and
the enactments of
liberal spirit appears in his prohibition of the jezia or capitation tax
infidels,
which had placed an enormous,
irresponsiVjle,
on
and much-abased power
Mahometans and in the aboHtion of the practice of
making slaves of prisoners taken in war a practice under the cover of which
not only the wives and children captured in camps or fortified places, but the
peaceable inhabitants of any hostile country, were seized and earned off into
in the hands of fanatical
;
—
slavery.
These enactments gave grievous offence
beino- odious to the
infidel
A
still
by the
is
beard,
and m-ged
Mollahs,
stronger proof
court etiquette, on wliich
than
affecting the
Hindoos
Brahmins, and those which laid restraints on the Mahome-
tans being seized upon
was an
—those
as a proof that
was supposed
Akber seems
Akber
him.self
to be found in a matter of
more pertinacity
He had a dLslike to the
to have insisted with
easily reconcilable with his usual moderation.
and would scarcely admit a person who wore
it
to his presence.
Unfor-
tunately his feeling in this respect was in direct opposition to an injunction of
the
Koran
;
and
several of the
more zealous Mahometan
Palace of Akber, Puttipook Sikra. — From an
forego the honours
original
chiefs chose rather to
drawing by Capt. R. Smith, 44th Regiment.
and pleasm-es of the court than conform to a
regulation, the
observance of which seemed incompatible with orthodoxy,
"^
works"
Among
the public works executed dm-ing the reign of Akber, are the walls
Chap. VI.
and
REIGN OF AKBER.
1
citadels of
on the
site of
Agra and Allahabad, the
own
city for his
touudatioii
oi"
the city of Futti[)(X)r
the village of Sikra, for which, as the birth-place of two of
he had conceived a strong partiality
sons,
143
residence,
and near
it
;
palace of Agra, in
its
iiis
the splendid })alace erected in that
architecture;
Another work of Akber, though not
'
— DauieU's Oriental Scenery.
tomb of
his father Hoomayoon at Delhi.
Its commanding position, its magnitude and
solidity, and its stupendous dome of white marble, have long made it celeln'ated
strictly of
as one of the greatest of his structures
;
while a
a pubHc nature,
new
King of
Delhi.
formances of Akbers
It
reiffn,
the
is
interest has recently
as the scene of the capture of the last and,
most worthless representative of the Great Mogul
so-called
1G06.
a mosque remarkable for the beauty and
Chalees Sitoon, Axlauauao.
it
I).
and the white marble mosque and
both of which simplicity and elegance are happily combined.
majestic proportions of
given to
A.
all
—the
would be unpardonable,
Akters
lie
,.iii,-
worKs,
been
things considered, the
present (January,
1
858)
in referring to the per-
not to mention anotiier work which, though of a
very different nature from any of the above, might have shed gi-eater lustre on
his reign than the
^
•
L
-r\
most celebrated of them
This work was a translation of the
i»ii'
It was undertaken by Akbers
T
•
gospels nito Persian.
1
1
-IT
special directions,
-
in-
trasted to a Portuguese missionary, who, unfortunately, in.stead of executing
committed what
faithfully,
translation, disfigured
sequence
is,
that a
is
called a pious fraud,
and adulterated by lying
work which,
issued under
tlie au.spices
might have given a knowledge of pure Christianity in
it
and produced a spurious
Popi.sli legends.
The sad con-
of the Great Mogul,
influential quarters
could not otherwise be reached, has only had the effect of presenting
it
which
under a
debased and ])olluted form.
'
"
The most
beautiful tiling [at Allaiiabadl
was
the pavilion of the Chaleea Sitoon, or forty pillars,
RO called from having tliat number on the principal
floor, ilisposeil
one internal of
in
two concentric octagonal ranges;
si.\tcen pillars,
the other outside of
twenty-four; above
this,
supported by the inner colon-
nade, wa.s an upper range of pillars crowned by a
dome.
This building has entirely disappeared,
its
materials being wanted to repair the fortifications."
— Fergussou's Hand-Iiook of Architecture.
His order for
!•"
and
Persian
translation
gosp'^u.
—
JIISTOHY OK INlJlA.
Iil<
[PjfJOK
I.
CTTArTKPv YIT.
Modera India -Clianges
in
mode
the
of intercourse with
tlie
East
— M'^napolies
c^itahlLiihed
by the
Good Hope
Venetians, tho Genoese, and other ItaUan republics- Doubling of the Cape of
Portuguese progress in India.
N
the time of the
establishing a
led
wJien the Pei-sians,
Ju.stiiiian,
to Constantinople,
had raised the price of
A.D. MO.
how an
adequate supply might be obtained at home.
labours as Christian missionaries, they
Indian
traile
silk eiKjr-
opportune arrival of two Persian
in that luxurious capital, the
Wi monks dissipated the alami which had begun
C.R.
by
monopoly of the Indian trade along the route whicli
most directly
mously
Roman emperor
had penetrated
by showing
to prevail,
In the course of their
and become
into China,
acquainted with the whole process of the sUk manufacture, from
its
commence-
under
Justinian.
ment
in the rearing of silk- worms, to its termination in the finished product.
Their information attracted general attention
its
and the emperor,
importance, determined immediately to act upon
monks, under his auspices, paid a second
Silk-worm-i
;
a supply of the eggs of the
it.
visit to Cliina,
silk -worm, concealed in the
With
fully alive to
view the
this
ami returned with
The
hollow of a cane.
first
brought to
Europe.
worms hatched from
these eggs being carefully reared, multiplied so rapidly
that in a short time Greece, Sicily, and Italy were both producing
manufacturing
thus
ill
on an extensive
it
scale.
One branch
raw
silk,
and
of the Indian trade
was
some degree superseded, but the others which remained were
cient to create a large
of supplying
it.
partially opened,
demand, and excite to strenuous exertions
In this
way
for the purpose
the ancient channels of intercourse were again
and Indian products were beginning
to flow into
Europe by
when new
the inland and maritime routes which have been already described,
obstacles of a very formidable character
The Mahometan imposture,
Changes in
the route of
Indian
traflRc.
were suddenly
whole
and soon placed both
Pema
and Egypt under the absolute control of
mosities thus engendered, left no
tor.
regarded
Mahomet
room
as a prophet,
its
fanatical adherents.
for friendly intercourse
and those who knew him
Exterminating warfare alone was thought
the utmost fury.
interposed.
after spreading like wild-fii-e over the
of Arabia, continued its conquests in all directions,
who
still suffi-
of,
The
fierce ani-
between those
to be
an impos-
and continued to rage with
In these circumstances, as the demand
for
Eastern products,
more wealthy, had become generally diffused among all
the only alternative was to endeavour to obtain them by a channel which
originally confined to the
classes,
lay so far to the north as to run
tan fanaticism.
little
risk of being interfered with
Mention was formerly made of the commercial
by Mahome-
route,
which
after
EARLY INTERCOURSE WITH EUROPE.
Chap. VII.)
and then sent a branch north
crossing the Indus continued west,
now adopted
This route, with a slight modification, was
and continued
practicable,
J
for a long period to be the
45
to the Ca.s{)ian.
as the safest
w
109.3.
and most
main trunk by which the
commerce between Em-ope and the more remote regions of Asia was main-
Two
tained.
one from the western frontiers of China, and
lines of caravans, the
met
the other from the western frontiers of India,
Amoo
or Oxus, where that stream
became available
fii".st
goods by both lines were here embarked
at a connnon point of the
down
being carried
;
Lake Aral, they were again conveyed by land
the stream into
carri.age to the Caspian,
by water to the mouth of the Kur, and up the stream as
The
for transport.
and thence
An-
far as navigable.
them to the Phasis, down which they were tranand thence to Constantinople, which thus became a
other land conveyance brought
sported into the Black Sea,
At a
great commercial emporium.
a direct caravan route brought
later period
the products of the East to Astrakhan, from which they were conveyed either
down
or
the Volga into the Caspian, thereafter to follow the same route as before,
by land
to the Don,
This route, with
and thence to the Sea of Azof
all its
obvious disadvantages, was the best which Europe
Houtebytiio
Persian
possessed for
more than two
The
centuries.
cfiliphs
They were
ing to renew the ancient channels of commerce.
the riches which
would thus
enough to keep their
sacrificing tlieir
was confined almost
to extend
it,
when
both by affording
by founding the port and
made
and both from
;
aware of
politic
could not be indulged without
own subjects, they carefidly endea\^ured
new facilities at home, and encouraging the
entirely to their
it
In this way, at an early period, the caliphs
Bagdad had provided a new emporium
Tigris
it
ouif.
Accordingly, even while the Indian trade
interests.
exploration of foreign coimtries.
of
perfectly
poured into their treasury, and were
l)e
f\inaticism in check
pecuniary
would not have been unwill-
tiie
for the trade of the Persian Gulf,
city of Bussorah, at the junction of the Euj^hrates
Persian Gulf and the
Red Sea numeroiis voyages were
to both sides of the peninsula of India, to Ceylon, to Malacca,
shores of countries lying far beyond
By means of these
it.
and
voyages
all
and
to the
the valued
productions of the East Indies arrived in their ports, and found ready purchasers in merchants,
The
who earned them
friendly intercourse
for distribution into the interior.
between Christian and Mahometan nations seemed
on the point of being renewed, at least commercially, when the })reaching of
and myriads of Crusjiders hastened
from every quarter to wrest the holy sepulchre from the hands of infidels
War
Peter the Hermit set
all
Europe
in a flame,
accordingly began again to rage with
new
fury
;
and the exasperation which had
been gi'adually softened by time, became more bitter and imiversal than
had ever been
doned
;
and
bef(»re.
was now
necessarily aban-
])eriod did the trade of the
West make more
All idea of peaceful trade
yet, perhaps, at
no
rapid progress than during the Cnisades.
The armies destined
brated expeditions never could have reached the East without
Vol.
I.
it
for these celetlie
aid of the
19
i:ffect.<<oftiio
1
A
1)
12(11.
lllS'lOliV
1()
Genoese, the
and the Venetians, whose
Pi.sans,
march along the nearest
their
the incaiis of transport.
them
shores, 8uj)j)lied
accompanying
whom
causc,
t!i(;nj
].
in
with provisions and
b<jth
naturally shared
they had assisted, ami, when vahialde harbours
hands of the Crusaders, obtained many imfjortant
into the
Italian
maritime
fleets
i
•
privileges.
engaged
Tlic maritime states of Italy, while thas ostensibly
Pro-ieasof
tlio
[Book
In return for these services they
in the success of those
fell
OF IM>IA.
in
a wjinmon
wcre by no means prepai-ed to admit that they had a common
i
i
i
i
i
interest,
and were hence disposed to act towards each other on the narrowest and most
The old maxim, that the commercial prosperity of a state
was best promoted by depressing the trade of its neighbour, though now exploded, was then universally received and in acting upon it, there was no injustice or perfidy of which the rival Italian republics scrupled to be guilty when
illiberal principles.
;
it
seemed possible in
able illustration of
I'lie
tliis
way to
fact wiis
tliis
establish a maritime ascendency.
given in
1
204,
when
tlie
Venetians induced the
avowed
leaders of the fourth crusade to turn aside fi-om tlieir
One remark-
object of warring
Venetians.
with
wrest Constantinople from the hands of a monarch,
infidels in order to
who, whatever his demerits might
of motives
step
;
may have
be,
was by
profession Christian.
A variety
influenced the Crusadei-s in taking this unwarrantable
but the subsequent conduct of the Venetians leaves no room to doubt that
their only object
was
After Constantinople had been
aggrandizement.
selfish
stormed and plundered, the dominions which had belonged to the Greek emperor
were partitioned among
ders \^as placed
upon
his unprincipled conquerors
;
and while an Earl of Flan
his tlirone, the Venetians obtained a chain of settlements
from the Dardanelles to the Adriatic, and made them virtually
wliicli stretched
masters of the navigation and trade of the Levant.
In Constantinople, which,
from the cause already mentioned, had long rivalled Alexandria as an emporium
for the traffic
which made
furnished
between Europe and India, they obtained exclusive
it
privileges,
impossible for any maritime state to compete with them, and
them with the means
The ungenerous
efiect of greatly
coui'se
of lording
it
over
all their rivals.
pursued by the Venetians had undoubtedly the
extending their trade generally, and of giving them an almost
monopoly of that large portion of the Indian trade which had its
centre in Constantinople. The superiority they had thus acquired remained with
them for rather more than half a century; and the injustice to which they owed
it seemed almost to be forgotten, when the day of retribution arrived, and thenexclusive
own
tactics
were successfully employed against them.
The Greeks had never
been reconciled to the Latin yoke, which had been fraudulently imposed upon
them, and were therefore prepared to avail themselves of the
The Genoese,
opportunity of shaking
it
off".
Had
they been
left to their
own
fii'st
favourable
resources they
could scarcely have hoped lor success, but they had powerful auxiliaries in the
Genoese, wlio wei'e animated at once by a feeling of revenge for the injustice
which they had
suffered,
and a
desire to
become
mastei's of a traffic, the posses-
!
VENETIANS AND GENOESE.
Chap. VTL]
sion of
which had given the Venetians an immense superiority over
settled.
were to supplant the Venetians in
objects
all their
Cm.
A.u. xaso.
The terms of alliance between the Greeks and the Genoese were easily
The former were again to be ruled by their own dynasty, and the
rivals.
latter
147
A
were accomplished.
exclusive privileges.
Both
Greek emperor once more mounted the throne
and the Genoese,
of Constantinople,
all their
in addition to other imj)ortant privileges,
took formal j)Ossession of the suburb of Pera, subject only to the condition of
holding
It
it Jis
a
flef
of the empire.
was now the turn
of the Venetians to be depressed; while the Genoese,
Gonoeee
as-
cendoiicy at
not contented with their supremacy in the harbour of Constantinople, extended
it
to the Black Sea, where,
particularly
by
Coimtaiiti-
erecting forts on various points of the coast, and
on commanding positions in the Crimea and within the Sea of Azof,
they secured a monopoly of the extensive and lucrative trade carried on with the
East by
way of the
In virtue of this monopoly Genoa became for a time
Caspian.
the greatest commercial power in Europe.
to
The Venetians
at first attempted
compete with the Genoese, even in the harbour of Constantinople, but soon
;t;
'.
i4.
CoNSTANTiNOPLK, end of Scveuteeiith Century
—
!•
rcnn a print
by noniann.
found the terms so unequal, in consequence of being burdened with heavy duties,
from which their rivals were exempted, that they abandoned the struggle as
hopeless.
Their only alternative
now was
or endeavour to re-open
its
met
by deep-rooted
at the very outset
to resign the Indian trade altogether,
ancient channels.
In prefeiTing the
prejudices,
which made
latter,
it
they were
unlaAvful
even impious to enter into alliances of any kind with Mahometan rulers
;
and
but no
sooner were these prejudices overcome than the remainder of the tivsk was comparatively easy.
as
on many
With the sanction
others, allowed the
who on
this occasion,
supposed impiety to be committed in considera-
tion of the profit anticipated from
the Sultan of Egy^it.
of the pope himself,
it,
a commercial treaty was concluded with
It contemplated the caiTying
on of the Eastern
traffic
Venetians
the'luiun.'
JH
A.D.
1453.
IIISKJJCV UJ' 1NJ>1A.
(liooK
way
i
Red Sea. With
this view the Venetian senate was empowered to appoint two eoiwuLs, with
mercantile jurisdiction, tlie one to reside at Damascus and the other at Alexboth by the overhind
rijute across Syi'ia, Jiiid Ijy
Both of these
andria.
cities
the
of the
were accordingly resorted to
Ijy
Venetian mer-
chants and artisans; while at Beyrout, as the port of the former, and in the
harbour of the
at
mercantile vessels bearing the Venetian flag far outnum-
The Genoese, contented with their undisimted
Constantinople, seem not at this time to have made any attempt to
bered those of
monopoly
hitter,
all
other countries.
share in the advantages which the Egyptian sultans had conferred on the VeneTlie Floren-
by the conquest
tians; but the Florentines, after they had,
of Pisa, in 1405,
tines.
acquired the seaport of Leghorn, turned their attention to the Indian trade, and
succeeded, in 1425, in concluding a treaty which placed
as the Venetians in respect of commercial privilege.
made
them on the same footing
Tlie earnest attempts thus
would of themselves lead
to share in the trade to the East Indies,
under that
conclusion that a taste for the products of the- regions included
name must no
general
longer have been confined, as at
few countries
to a
fii'st,
on the eastern part of the Mediterranean, but must have spread
The
north, so as to include a large portion of Europe.
there
is
not
much
difficulty in
accounting for
leaders of the Crusades, with their followers,
European
demand
far
west and
really so
;
and
Many of the most distinguished
it.
came from those
home with them new
their return brought
was
fact
to tlie
new
ideas and
quartei-s
;
and on
To
wants.
theii"
for
Indian com-
astonishment they had found that in several points, usually considered as tests of
modities.
civilization,
tomed
they were far surpassed by the
to regard
they had
respects,
as
mere barbarians.
little difficulty in
infidels
Galled
whom
by
their inferiority in
these
and imbibed
tastes
learning to sm-mount
and formed habits which they could not
it
;
indvilge in the absence of Eastern pro-
The demand naturally produced a supply; and
ducts.
they had been accus-
Italian ships, freighted
with these products, were frequently seen in the English Channel, in the Gennan
Ocean, and even within the Baltic.
North was completely roused and
;
visits,
sent
theii-
own
In course of time the maritime
its
Genoese.
In
hand from the
and there became pur-
Florentines, Venetians,
and
was taken by the cities of the Hanseatic
by Bruges, which in consequence became one of the
this traffic the lead
League, and ])articularly
most populous and
Capture of
merchants, instead of waiting for Italian
vessels into the MediteiTanean,
chasers of Indian produce at second
spirit of the
floui'ishing
The Genoese were
still
marts in Northern Europe.
in 1453,
when an
and was followed by a
series of
in possession of theii-
monopoly
Constanti-
nople by
the Tuiks.
event occurred which abruptly terminated
disasters
was the
which ultimately annihilated
it,
their maritime greatness.
This event
and the extinction of the Greek empire, by
They made an effort to escape the destruction
captiu^e of Constantinople,
the Turks under
Mahomet
II.
which threatened them, by attempting
Mameluke Sultans
of
Egypt
;
to
form a commercial treaty with the
but the monopoly which they had held at Con-
;
CIUIISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
CiiAP. vir.
stantinople under the
negotiation proved
The Venetians,
fruitless.
in a false position,
accordingly, were once
and the
more
fill.
A.IJ. 1460.
in the
Their most formidable rival had been obliged to resign the contest
ascendent.
new
to rmi a
and they began
foresight reached,
coui-se of prosperity, to whicii, as far as
At
no limit could be assigned.
Venice was tottering to her
])rosperity
The
Greek emperors, placed them
4!)
revival of learning
this period of
human
unexampled
fall.
and the discovery
of printing
had at once awakened a
I'logrcss of
the art of
and furnished the most
spirit of in(][uiry,
effectual
means of
diffusing
departments of literature and science rapid progress was made
;
Among
footsteps.
the arts thus improved was navigation.
the shore was lost sight
vessel at sea
there had been no
of,
means of
were con-
life,
to follow in his
when
Hitherto,
dii'ecting the com'se of
a
and the utmost which the boldest and most experienced navigator
;
was
attem})ted,
and stimulating others
iiavigntioii.
and discoveries
leading to practical results in some of the m)st important arts of
stantly rewarding the diligent inquirer,
In aU
it.
to steer from headland to headland without
hugging the
inter-
vening shore, or to take advantage of a wind which blew regularly like the
monsoons of the Indian Ocean, and thus use
which
blew
it
for traversing a
When
voyage.
it
according to the direction from
wide expanse of sea on an outward or a homeward
the compass was discovered, the greatest obstacle to a voyage
out of sight of land was at once removed
;
and there was even
less
danger in
launching out on the wide ocean than in
following the windings of the coast, exposed
to rocks
and
shoals,
and the many
dangei's
who proposed
to tui'n
of a lee shore.
Among
the
first
the use of the compass to jjractical account
in the discovery of
new
brated
Christopher
become
satisfied,
lands,
Marco
grounds
scientific
and from the accounts of
cele-
He had
Columbus.
both on
ticularly those of
was the
par-
travellers,
Polo, that as the
continent of Asia extended
much
further
eastward than had been generally imagined,
it
would be
possible to arrive at the East
by sailing west across the Atlantic.
The immense importance of such a passage,
Indies
once proved to be practicable,
was
perfectly
Chuistopher CoLVMBrs.
obvious.
dispense with the tedious and expensive overland routes
of the East
noi8.«.ir.i.
would at once
by which the produce
to those
;
of Christians.
Europe, and transfer the most valuable
infidels
These were the grand objects at which Columbus
but so much were
iiis
Cliristoiilier
Coluiubua.
to
with which the world was yet acquainted, from the hands of
traffic
aimed
was then brought
It
— From
views in advance of his n^e, that
manv
vears
a
UISTOKV or INDIA.
!.">()
A
u.
i4o.i.
passed
away
whiuli
would
before he couid induce
Im!
necessary in
oi-d<;r
[Book
any Euroj)can
state to incwr the expenm:
Spain at
to realize tljem.
New
the task, and was rewarded with the discovery of a
more than even Columbus had
were
more accurate than
far
underrated
which he
tlie
first
undertook
la«t
World.
wan
Tliis
TJKMigh his geographifxil ideaK
anticipated.
he had greatly
crmtemporaries,
of his
tho.se
T.
magnitude of the globe; and hence, imagining that the land
reached belonged to Asia, he gave
name
the
it
of
West
Indies.
In this name he informs us of the goal after which he had been striving, and
which he was so confident of having actually
attainecl, that for
would scarcely believe the evidence of
and
which he saw was Indian.
The
his senses,
India,
Columbus thas laboured
delusion under which
and of the eager longings of the maritime
share in
that everything
in.si.sted
now
a striking proof of the general interest which was
is
a time he
regard to
felt in
Europe to obtain a
states of
without being fettered by the monopolies which the Maho-
its trade,
metans and Venetians had established in the Levant.
ProUabie
Tliougli
Columbus faded
routes to
the East
to discover
_
_
_
an oceanic route to
_
pointed out the direction in which
It
it lay.
India, he clearly
was previously known that the
Xiidiss
by the continents
Atlantic was bounded on the east
The
west.
was
conclusion, therefore,
obvious, that
Europe by a continuous sea voyage,
it
these continents to
and then
with
tliis
termination,
its
As
Portugal.
;
but the
the only one with which
Trince
if
it
and
on the
India was accessible from
sailing
round
In accordance
it.
conclusion, four lines of passage presented themselves as possible
subsequently attempted
of
Africa,
could only be by tracing one or other of
and a
north-west, a north-east, a south-west,
Henry
and
had now proved that an equally insurmountable barrier bounded
lie
is
of Europe
last,
The
south-east.
tliree first
—
were
which was certainly the most promising,
we have now
to do.
more than twenty years before Columbus was bom,
early as 1415,
_
Prince Henry, fourth son of John
at the capture of Ceuta,
I.,
King of Portugal,
on the coast of
after distinguishing himself
with a determination
Africa, returned
to devote himself to maritime discovery,
by employing navigators
to trace the
western coast of that continent, and thereby perhaps solve the great proljlem of
a practicable route to the East Indies,
He had
him
all
by
sailing
round
the talent and scientific acquirement necessary, in order to qualif\'
for superintending the great task thus undertaken,
proof of his inflexibility of purpose
by
Avithdi'awing from
residence in the seaport of Sagres, not far from
erected an observatory,
of youth,
southern extremity.
its
whom
Cape
and gave a striking
coiu"t,
St.
and fixing
Here he
Vincent.
and established a school of navigation
for the training
He was
he might afterwards employ on voyages of discovery.
not destined to solve the grand problem
;
paved the way
for
called because
no previous navigator had
it,
by
fitting
Madeira and the Cape Verd
but before his death, in
1
out expeditions, which, leaving Cape
Islands,
pavssed
it)
and penetraf ed as
far behind,
fiir
his
had
463,
Non
(so
discovered
south as Sierra Leone.
"
PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY.
Chap. VTT.]
The
him
and under Alonso
;
was explored ahnost
coast
which Prince Henry had fostered was not allowed
spirit of enterprise
to expire with
•
•
151
V.,
who was then
John
to the equator.
/•
1
T
Alonso, continuing the progress of discovery,
ultimately be reached, that, in
was
H8i, he took a
ordinary nature, appears to have been dictated
II.,
so
a d. uso.
reigning, the African
the son and succe.ssor of
-11
convinced that
discovery
India would
step which, though of an extra-
by sound and
Progicfisof
far-sighted policy.
un.ier
a,,!!"*"
'"'"'
Great exertions had been made by the government of Portugal in fitting out
expeditions for maritime discovery
crowned with
success, tlie
on sharing in the
sadors to several of
tiie
means of preventing
and furnishing men and money
this,
them the
to
own
would be awarded them, or leave him
entire resj)onsibility,
and of
anil insist
{i«sist
fair
alternative
in the con-
proportion
to proceed as hitherto,
common
course, in
to be
he sent ambas-
which he was contemplating, on the understanding that a
of the benefit
his
best
leading European courts, and offered
of either uniting with him,
(juests
and now, when they seemed about
danger was, that other states might step in
As the
fruits.
;
fairness, for his
on
own
exclusive benefit.
This attempt to form what
may
be called a joint-stock company, in which
kings were to be the only sluu'eholders,
to,
declined to entertain the proposal
;
failed.
All the
crowned heads
Grant from
ap|)lied
and John took the additional precaution
of calling in the aid of the pope, who, in the plenitude of an arrogant power,
then undisputed, but soon after to be shaken to
an imaginary
line
from north
to south,
its
very foundations, drew
by which he divided the world into
west to east
and decreed that discoveries of new countries made from
should only be competent, and shouUl belong exclusively to the
Portuguese.
It
two
halves,
eipial
discoveries
grant
futile,
From
seems not to have occurred either to the king
made from
to
eixat
and convert
this period the
it
ai'
the pope that
west might be carried so far as to
into a great
make
this
bone of contention.
King of Portugal assumed the
additional title of
Lord
of Guinea, and evinced a detennination to turn his grant to the best account.
Besides fitting out an expedition, under Diego
Cam, who,
in
1481, reached
and must consequently have been within 12^ of the
22" of south latitude,
southern extremity of the African continent, he sent two messenger overland
with instructions to discover the country of Prester John, then believed to be
though since ascertained to have had only a fabulous existence.
a great reality,
They were
to ascertain
also
Venetians traded
in,
reaching
letter
India,
conveying
and whether there
One
Africa to India
whence the drugs and
wjis
any
spices
sailing
from the south of
of these messengers, Pedro de Covillam, succeeded in
and obtained much im}M)rtant information;
it
came which the
but before the
reached Portugal, the great problem had been solved by
Bartolommeo Diaz, who had
sailed south with
thive ships in 1486.
After
reaching a higher southern latitude than any ])revious navigator, a storm arose
which drove him out to
.sea.
His direction under such circum.stances could not
Overiand
journey to
tiieEiisi
HISTORY OF INDIA.
A.I).
ltii:i
1)6
Diaz duublo^
tlio Cape of
Good Hope.
from hot
to cold,
steering eastward.
He
that the land which,
when he
and
south,
lie
readied
it;
but, to his gi-eat a.stonlshment, discovered
quitted
was now stretching
east
it,
lay on his left hand, nearly due noith
and west, and trending
round the soutliern extremity of Africa, and was now on
and he was obliged
south-eastern coast.
which Africa terminates.
Cape of Good Hope.
him
to give
it
the
much more
name
his crews in forcing
name ominous,
appropriate, and, in allusion to the great promise
which
Cabo de Buena Esperanza,
it
Cape of Good Hope.
Arrival of
It is singular that,
though John survived
this cUscovery nine years,
Columbus
in the
him
of Caho de Todos los Tormentos,
the doubling of the promontory held out, called
or
and.
—From an old print.
or Cape of Storms, but the king, on his return, tliinking this
chose one
He was
The weather he had met with.
remembrance of the conduct of
perhaps, also a painful
to return, determined
to turn his face homewards.
few days brought him in sight of the magnificent pro-
so far rewarded, for a
in
been carried
anxious to prosecute this auspicious commencement, but his crews
refused to follow him,
montory
its
The
north-east.
He had
cause was too apparent to leave any room for doubt.
He was most
T.
knew it to he southerly. After tossing about
arul suffering much by a sudden transition of the tJ^niperature
he attemjjted, when tiie st^jnn abated, to regain the land by
accurately ascertained, but
for thirteen days,
[Book
no attempt to follow
Tagus.
it
up.
One
cause of the indifference thus manifested
been the mortification wliich he
liave
he made
felt at
the
still
more
may
brilliant success
which Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain had achieved by the emplojTnent of
Christopher Columbus.
of a
had
New
This renowned navigator, returning from
World, arrived in the Tagus in 1493.
offered his services to Poiiugal,
and been
discovery
Before applying to Spain, he
refu.sed.
now have given
to be able to recall that refusal?
counsellors base
enough to suggest that the remedy was
He had
liis
It
"\iMiat
was
would John not
too late
;
stiU in his
but he had
own
hands.
only to assassinate Coliunbus, and take po.ssession of his papers; his
'
VASCO DE GAMA'S FIRST VOYAGE.
Chap. VI I.]
discovery would thus die with
infamous suggestion
able to
his
;
and Columbus,
giver than
tlie
hiiii.
John was succeeded
imbued with the s])irit
for his owii
in l-i95
by
Emanuel, who was thoroughly
his cousin
of enterj)rise
which had animated
and not run the
what
it
was,
predecessors, under
to rest satisfied
with the
seen, in the third
avowed purpose
it
of not only doubling the Ca])e of
till
Good Hope,
the coast of
In this expedition, which consisted of three small
India was reached.
new
year of his reign, fitting out a
but afterwards continuing the voyage without intermission
ships,
carrying 160 men, Bartolommeo Diaz held only a subordinate station.
had he even the
satisfaction of seeing his discovery prosecuted
on arriving at the
""'"^
'
was impossible to foresee the
resolution had been formed, and there could be no doubt
when he was
expedition for the
his
Portuguese
risk of impoverishing his hereditary
dominions by expensive expeditions, of which
but his
honour-
to the court of Spain.
discoveries already made,
;
less
1497.
to the receiver, continued
Timid counsellors were not wanting who advised him
final result
fame he spurned the ad.
becoming reception, not
after a
must have been gratifying
it
triumphant progress
Happily
15;3
fort of
by
others
Nor
for,
;
El Mina, he wsis sent back to Portugal, and not long
after his return perished at sea.
The command
of the expedition, thus rather ungenerously withheld from
was conferred on Vasco de Gama, a
gentleman of the royal household, who had
Diaz,
previously done good sei*vice at sea, and,
by his subsequent conduct,
choice which had been
a
made
pompous ceremonial, more
justified
of him.
the
After
in accordance
with the great object contemplated by the
expedition than with the very inadequate
means furnished
for
its
accomplishment,
the three small ships left the port of Belem,
on Saturday, the 8th of July, 1497-
They
were accomjxinied by a small l)ark cam-ing
provisions,
was
and a
captain.
encountered
caravel, of
Ofi" tlie
a
which Diaz
Canaries the vessels
storm,
which
separated
Vasco de Gama.
From Vincent's Voyage
them, but they met again at Cape Verd,
of Nearchu*.
Ha\nng next day anchored
at Santa Maria, on the African coast, they repaired their damages, and took
the other vessels
in water.
Diaz, proceeding no farther, returned homewards
which had been fixed as the place of rendezvous.
;
pursued their voyage.
Another storm,
still
more violent than
tlie
former, over-
hope of weathering
o it, when it
abated, and they took shelter in a bay, to which they gave the name of Santa
Elena.
Vasco de Gama attempted to hohl communication with the natives, but
took them
;
^
given up
and they
1
J had almost t>
all
I
De canm
enters the
^
Vol.
I.
20
bayofsanta
l.Jt
A
\).
1408.
met with an
He
stay.
reception, wliicli left
iiiliospital^le
set sail again
Good Hope, which,
[Book
no ineiination
liini
tf>
I.
ju'olong Iuh
on the HJth of November, liaving already been more
than four months at sea; and two
of
OF TNDTA.
lIlST(JliV
<
came within
lays after
sight of the
Cape
about in consequence of baffling winds,
after tacking
they doubled on the 20th of November, amid the sound of music and general
rejoicing.
I)e
Gama's
They were now
launched on the Indian Ocean, but instead of steering
fairly
course along
east coast
right across
of Africa.
vations,
it,
continued for a time to follow the coast, making careful obser-
and daily discovering some new object
Christmas,
they saw land, which, in honour of the day, they called
1497,
Tierra de Natal;
and which,
whom
retaining
still
its
The next land
importance as a British colony.
with
On
to excite their wonder.
name, promises to
rise
into
visited belonged to the KafFres,
they had much friendly intercourse.
In proceeding farther north, the expedition was much impeded by currents,
which induced De
Gama
to give the
name
of Caho de Corrientes to a prominent
headland, and to keep far out to sea in order to avoid the risk of being embayed.
Owing
to this, Sofala,
which was then the great emporium of
this part of Africa,
was passed without being seen. The natives appeared now to be more civilized
than those who had previously been seen, and instead of the timid and suspicious looks which others had manifested, made themselves as familiar with the
Portuguese as
if
they had been old acquaintances.
As
their language wa-s not
by signs was necessarily confined within very
narrow limits, but enough was communicated to satisfy Vasco de Gama that
they were accustomed to mingle with people in a still more advanced state of
civilization.
Two chiefs in particular, who paid him a visit in their own boats,
gave him to understand that they had seen ships as large as those of the Portuguese and after they had returned to the shore, sent two pieces of calico on
understood, the conversation
;
board for
usual
sale.
This cloth, which
name from the town
it
was the
fii'st
with in their voyage.
It
is
almost needless to mention, takes
it,
perhaps erroneously, to be the product of
specimen of Indian manufacture which they had met
was regarded
great undertaking, and hence Vasco de
as
His proceedings at Mosair)bi(iue.
Good
Having again
their
an omen of future success in their
Gama
of which these transactions took place, the
or River of
its
of Calicut, excited a particular interest in the
Portuguese, because supposing
that city,
it
gave to the stream, at the mouth
name
of
Rio de Buenos Slnays,
Signs.
set sail
on the
2^i\\ of
February,
14?98,
the vessels continued
voyage along the coast through the channel of Mosambique, and on
town of that name, were hailed by a number of little
The vessels cast anchor,
boats, the crews of which made signs to stay for them.
and the boatmen, without showing the least fear, leaped at once aboard, made
themselves perfectly at home, ate and di'ank freely, and conversed in Arabic
with one of the crew who understood that lanouaore. The intercourse at first
arriving opposite to the
VASCO DE GAMA'S FIRST VOYAGE.
Chap Vrr.]
promised to be very friendly, but
oii its
1 •'55
being discovered by the sheikh or
that the Portuguese were not, as he had originally supposed, Turks
but Christians, his manner suddenly changed, and
metans,
was
friendship
Ultimately open
at an end.
all
chief,
ad.
w.is.
and Mahoseeming
his
were declared, and the
hostilities
Portuguese avenged themselves by bombarding and destroying the town of
Mosambicpie.
The
weighing anchor, continued their course northwards, and
vessels again
arrived at the island
ot
Mombas, with a town
seeming friendship of the Moors proved as
Mosambique
oi
same name.
Here the
false as that of the inhal)itants of
by dropping hot bacon upon
liiida
their flesh,
that a plot had been formed for his destructicni, hastened his departure,
not again halt
till
and did
he arrived off Melinda, which delighted the Portuguese, as
reminded them more of home than any African city they had yet
seated on the level part of a rocky shore,
built of stone, three stories high,
the inhabitants,
seen.
It
it
was
amid plantations of palms and orchards
of orange and other fruit trees, covered a large space,
first
and Me-
and Vasco de Gama, believing, on the confession of two Moors,
;
wlu^in he barbarously ])ut to the torture
At
rrocoe<iiii(;8
and with terraced
and consisted of hoases
roofs.
who were probably acquainted with
the transac-
Mosambique and Mombas, kept aloof, but a good understanding wa.s
eventually established; and the king, though a Mahometan, so far forgot his
tions at
]M-ejudices that
visions,
It
he afforded the Portuguese every
and even made a formal
was now unnecessary
the African coast.
facility for
obtaining pro-
visit in his barge.
for the Portuguese to continue their course along
Their object had been to obtain such information as might
enable them to proceed with safety across the ocean towards India.
furnislied
lying in
them with
its
Four ships from India were then
that they requu-ed.
all
harbour, and
little diffijulty
Melinda
was found
in obtaining a pilot capable
named Melemo Kana, was a native of GuThe compass, charts,
jerat, and had a thorough knowledge of his profe.ssion.
and quadrants were quite familiar to him and an astrolabe shown him seemed
This
of acting as their guide.
pilot,
a Gujemt
gaged.
;
so inferior to other instruments
which he had seen used
that he scarcely condescended to notice
for the
same purpose,
De Gama
Before leaving Melinda,
it.
by persons belonging to the Indian ships. He imagined them to
be Christians, because on coming aboard they })rostrated themselves before an
was
visited
image of the Virgin, probably mistaking
])lain,
women,
gowns
own
after a prosperous
May.
leagues,
of white calico, wore their hair, which
plaited under their turbans,
The expedition
of
one of their
idols
from the description given of them, that they were Hindoos.
clothed in long
of
for
it
sailed
and
rose high
Malabar
it is
They were
was long
from Melinda on Tuesday, the 22d of April,
off the
but
like that
and ate no beef
voyage of twenty- three
They were
;
day.s,
coast,
and bold from the
saw
India,
l-ti)S,
and
on Friday, the 17th
which was at the distance of eight
sea.
Their destination was Calicut,
Arrival on
olst.
lIISTOIiY C>r INDIA.
i:)f;
A
I)
1498.
and
as tliey were con.siderably nortli
east.
On
they
tlie 20tli
belield,
]>artially
tlieir
tlieir uii.speakuble delight,
on the open
after ca«t anchor
course to Houtli-
the lofty wofxled
about two leagues
without roadstead or harbour, though
inside of
which small vessels
— Bran et Hogenburjj, Theatre des prmuipale^s Villes de tuus
was then the
sheltered,
l>each,
by a rocky bank,
protected
CALicax.
Itszamorin.
changed
r.
it.
Calicut, situated
Calicut,
tliey
it,
and shortly
terraces rising behiml that city,
below
tf>
of"
fHooK
capital of a
Hindoo
les
tolerably
lie
UniveiB, 1574.
sovereign, who, under the title of
samiry or zaniorin, ruled a considerable extent of country in the south-west
This
of the peninsula.
title is
probably the corruption of Tamuri, the
name
of
whom, according to popular tradition, a prince called Cheruman. after
dividing his territories among his other cliieftains, had nothincr more remainincj
a rajah on
to bestow than his sword, " with all the territory in
small temple here could be heard
singular nature of the grant, the
'^
The
name
in course of time
was metamorphosed
aside as fabulous
but
;
it is
which a cock crowing at a
territory thus assigned took,
from the
of Colico-du, or the Cock-crowing, which
into Calicut.
certain that in whatever
the territory was acquired, the sword of
may
This account
way
be
set
the original nucleus of
Cheruman proved the most valuable
part of his bequest, and enabled Tamuri to place himself at the head of
all his
and transmit his power to a series of successors. One of
these had been converted to Mahometanism " by some pilgrims who had been
wrecked on his coast while proceeding to visit Adam's Peak in Ceylon and,
Ijrother chieftains,
;
with the zeal of a new convert,
set out
on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
He
never
returned; but the favour shown to Mahometans during his reign, and the
encouragement which, in consequence of his recommendation, they received
from his
them
'
^
successor,
to acquire
had induced them to
much
settle in great numbei"s,
influence in Cranganore, Calicut,
and enabled
and the surrounding
Buchanan, Narrative of a Journey frora Madras, tJirouyh Mi/sorc, Canara, and Malabar,
vol.
ii.
p.
47i.
Brigg's FcrUhta, vol. iv. p. 531, 532.
i
DK GAMA AND THE ZAMOTIIN.
Chap. VIL]
Such was the
districts.
necessary to attend to
De Gama having
by some
it,
key
as furnishing a
the Portuguese arrived, and
many
to
it is
was immediately
visited
small fishing-boats, and imder their guidance sailed as near to Calicut
would
He had
allow.
whose sentence had been remitted
of these criminals
i-in-t
land-
Portuguese
in consideration of the danger to
to hold intercom'se
the natives, under circumstances too hazardous to justify
One
hos
brought several criuiinals from
which they were to be exposed by being sent ashore
any of the crew.
ad
subsecjuent proceedings.
anchored, as ah'eady mentioned,
as the depth of water
Portugal,
when
state of matters
157
tlie
with
em])loyment of
was accordingly despatched along with
him might enable De Gama to
shape his futm-e com'se.
He was immediately surrounded by a crowd whose
curiosity could hardly be satisfied, though it was more importunate than rude.
As his ignorance of the language made it useless to ask him any questions, they
took him to the house of two Moors, one of wliom, called Monzaide who, from
the fishermen, in order that the reception given
—
knew him
being a native of Tunis,
to be Portuguese
astonishment by exclaiming in Spanish,
and on approaching De Gama,
Many
luck!
for
and
all
What brought
devil take you!
rubies,
many
cried aloud in Spanish, "
emeralds!
having brought thee wliere there are
with
The
utterance to his
After some exj)lanations, Monzaide went off with him to the
you hither r'
ships,
"
—gave
Thou
art
all sorts
bound
Good luck
to give
of spices and ]irecious stones,
De Gama and his crew were so
meeting with one who could speak their language so
home, that they wept for
good
God thanks
the riches of the world."
affected at
1
surprised
far
from
joy.
Having learned from Monzaide that the zamorin was then at Ponan}^ a
village at the mouth of a river of same name, about thii-ty-six miles south from
Calicut, De Gama immediately announced his arrival, intimating at the same
time that he was the bearer of a letter to him from his master the King of
Portugal, a Christian prince.
The zamorin, in aaswer, bade him welcome, and
DeCanm
"shore.
sent a pilot to conduct the ships to a safer anchorage, near a village called
Pandarane.
He
avail himself of
accepted of the services of the
pilot,
but demurred at
first
to
an invitation by the cotwal or chief magistrate, to go ashore
by land to Calicut. On second thoughts, however, he became convinced that tliis was a risk which he ought to run and while his brother Paul,
who commanded one of the ships, and the other officers, reminded him of the
and
})roceed
;
danger to be apprehended, not so much from the natives,
whom
they insisted
on regarding as Christians, as from the Moors, whose deadly enmity they had
already experienced on the African coast, he announced his determination, let
what would
treaty of
On
betide him, to go a.shore and leave no
commerce and
i>er{)etual
means
luitried to settle
a
amity.
the 28th of May, after leaving orders that in the event of any accident
befalling him, the vessels
were to return home with the news of
uisfiret
"
liis
discovery,
he set out in his boat, attended by twelve of his company, with flags waving
zilmorin.
;;
nrSTOUY
l-'jS
A.i)
ii.is
trumpets Houndinj^.
jtiid
fii-st
visit to
thozamo-
Two
assemblage.
°
Mobility of
tlx;
had been
palantiuias
^
^
[Book
was waiting
Tlie ootwal
nairs, understoorl to he
DeG.ama'8
INDIA.
()]•
one for
T)rovided,
'
made
sliip,
hung seven
In front of
with 200
on
De Gama and
another
During the jour-
foot.
a temple built of freestone, covered with
visit to
large as a great monastery.
a
liini
country, and a large [jroniis^mouH
tlte
for the cotwal; the rest of the attendants followed
ney they paid a
receive
tf>
T.
tiles,
and a«
stood a pillar as high as the ma.st of
it
of wire, with a weather-cock on the top, and over the entrance
The
bells.
was
interior
full
images
(jf
and
;
these, as well as
some
of the ceremonies, confirming the Portuguese in their previous belief that the
natives were Christians, they began to
the light did not allow
them
pay
The dimness of
their devotions.
to see the kind of figures they
were worshipjnng,
but on looking around they discerned monstrous shapes on the walls, some
with great teeth sticking an inch out of their mouth, others with four arms and
such
which he was making
fore
is
that one of the Portuf^uese, on beholdinc; one of them, be-
faces,
frio-jitful
God
On
I worship."
his genuflexion, exclaimed, " If this
be the
devil, it
approaching the city the multitude became immen.se,
who was waiting, along with
a number of nairs, to conduct De Gama with all the pomp of an ambassador
into the royal presence.
Though almost stifled by the press, he was so much
and the cotwal halted
gratified that
at the house of his brother,
think in Portugal what honour
nisreception at
i.aiacd
'pjig
tike
"
he could not help observing to those around him,
palacc,
at
^
little
done us here."
is
which they arrived an hour before
by
trees,
had a handsome
sunset,
-^
appearance, and was surrounded
They
and gardens adorned with
fountains.
was entered by a series of five inclosm-es, each having its own separate gate
and such was the eagerness of the populace to S(^ueeze themselves in, that
At the grand entrance De Gama was received
several were crushed to death.
It
by the
chief minister
and
high-priest, a little old
man, who,
him, took him with his attendants into the presence.
set
round with
velvet,
seats, rising as in
a theatre
and the walls hung round with
;
wrought with
gold,
and a
rich
He wore
roses of beaten gold
calico
;
and
;
legs, left
a large, stout
and with something majestic in
the buttons were large pearls.
reached to his knees.
and both
He was
a short coat of fine caHco, adorned with branches and
A
cious stones, covered his head;
kind
years,
the head of
with a covering of white
canopy overhead.
man, of dark complexion, advanced in
his appearance.
At
silks of diverse colom's.
sofa,
embracing
The hall of audience was
was carpeted with gi-een
the floor
the hall the zamorin lay reclined on a kind of
silk
after
his finders
Another piece of white
kind of mitre, ghttering with pearls and preliis
ears
were stning with jewels of the same
and toes were loaded with diamond
rinofs.
His aims
Near him stood two
the one bason contained betel and areca nut,
naked, were adorned with gold bracelets.
gold basons and a gold fountain
;
which was handed him by an attendant, the other received
it
when chewed
the fountain supplied water to rinse his mouth.
i
DE GAMA AND THE ZAMOKIN.
Chap. Vll.J
After
De Gama
the country,
entered and
by bowing
made
his obeisance accordinjr
& to the
body three times and
his
lo9
lifting
up
custom of
hands, the
liis
zamorin looked kindly at him, recognized him by a scarcely perceptible
nation of the head, and ordered
by signs
liini
The attendants being admitted, took
him.
On
regaled with fruits.
was brought, but
tliey
the vessel with their
advance and
to
a d hus
iiu-li-
iheiuur-
down near
sit
their seats opposite,
and were
calHng for water to drink, a golden cup witii a spout
were told that
it
was considered bad manners
The awkwardness of the Portuguese,
li{)s.
to touch
wlio, in at-
tempting to drink by the spout, either choked themselves with the water or
upon
spilled it
their clothes,
gave much amusement
to the court.
De Gama
having been asked by the zamorin to open his business, gave him to understand
custom of princes in Europe was to hear amba.ssadors in the i)resence of
tliat tiie
only a few of their chief counsellors.
and the audience took place
only
De Gama and another
side,
and the zamorin,
his betel-server
with what
in another
Portuguese,
apartment similar
who
to the former,
where
acted as his interpreter, on the one
his cliief minister, the comptroller of his household,
on the
object,
was immediately adopted,
Tlie suggestion
When
otlier, Avere present.
De Gama answered
of Portugal, the greatest prince in
were Christian princes
that he
and
asked whence he came, and
was an ambassador
King
of the
the West, who, having heard that there
all
in the Indies, of
whom
the King of Calicut was the chief,
had sent an ambassador to conclude a treaty of trade and friendship with him.
He
King
India by
added, that for sixty years the
been endeavouring to discover
the
intrusted
and had
sea,
In anticipation of this success,
time.
first
him with two
letters,
his
welcome, made
made a
till
his predecessors
had
at length succeeded for
master, had
the king, his
the delivery of which, as
would, with the zamorin's permission, defer
reason to think he had
and
of Portugal
it
was now
late,
he
De Gama had
to morrow.
favourable impression, as the zamorin repeated
as to the distance to
incjuiries
Portugal,
and the time
occupied by the voyage, and declared his willingness not only to recognize the
King of Portugal as
his fiiend
and brother, but to send an ambassador
to his
coiu-t.
De Gama,
after passing the night
with his attendants in a lodging specially
.
provided for them, began next morning to prepare a present for the zamorin.
He was
not well supplied for that purpose
scarlet, six hats, four
of sugar,
two
branches of
barrels of oil
wal to ask their opinion.
and
told
present.
but after selecting four pieces of
coral, six almasars,
and two of honey, sent
On
A
He
arose,
and
to the port
at last the factor
he would not
visit the
king
made a
arrived,
cot-
and he complained of
better
and cotwal depaiied,
till
they returned to
waited the whole day, but they never appeared.
when they
and
looking at the articles they burst into a laugh,
kind of altercation
go with him.
a parcel of brass, a chest
for the royal factor
him that the poorest merchant who came
after taking his promise that
following,
;
On
the day
their behaviour, they
made
De aama's
proposed
present.
liiO
A
I).
1108.
IIIS'I'OKV
light of
and Ijegan
it
they had been gained
[liOOK
The
to talk indiffereDtly of other matters.
})y
new
of a
uj)
sequent decline of that which had
to leave
fact
J.
wa8 that
the Moorn, who, fearing that their interests might be
seriously affected Ijy the opening
were determined
OF 1M>1A.
ti-ade
with
l>een carried
hith(;rt<j
and the don-
?^iro[»e,
no meaas untried to fnistrate the
on hy the Red Sea,
of the Portu-
oVjject
guese expedition.
When De Gama went
Do (Jama's
to the palace to
pay the
visit
which, according to
Hoooiul visit
to tho zai"<iriii.
appointment, should have been paid a day sooner, the effect of the Moorish
was very apparent. He was kept waiting for three hours anrl when at
last admitted, was told angi'ily by the zamorin that he had waited for him all
He was then asked how it was that, if he came from so great
the day before.
intrigue
;
rich a prince as he represented his
and
king to
be,
he brought no pr&sent with
him, though in every embassy of friendship that must be regarded as a neces-
De Gama made
sary credential.
by
the best excuse possible in the circumstances,
referring to the uncertain issue of his voyage,
provide a present which there might
mising that
if
V)e
which made
it
imprudent to
no opportunity of delivering, and pro-
he lived to carry home the news of his discovery, a suitable
The zamorin, not yet satisfied, observed, "I hear
you have a St. Mary in gold, and desire I may have that." De Gama, taken
somewhat aback at this demand, replied that the image was not gold, but only
wood gilded; and as he attributed his preservation at sea to its influence, he
must be excused for not parting with it. The zamorin, quitting the .subject,
present would certainly arrive.
asked for the two
cate,
letters,
which indeed contained only the same thing in dupli-
the one written in Portuguese and the other in Ai-abic.
— "As soon as
preted by Monzaide, was in pui-port as follows:
King of Por
the
King
of Portugal that the
King
The
latter, inter-
was known
to
of Calicut, one of the mightiest princes of
all
it
tiigal's
letter.
the Indies,
was a
with him,
for the
Christian, he
was desirous
to cultivate a trade
and
friendshi]:)
conveniency of lading spices in his ports; for which, in
exchange, the commodities of Portugal should be sent, or else gold and
in case his majesty chose the
same
;
referring
make a further report." This letter, and
Gama, who throughout the interview behaved
to
character which he claimed, disabused the
it
silver,
to the general, his ambassador,
the noble bearing of Yasco de
in a
manner becoming the
higli
mind of the zamorin of the impres-
him throvigh the intrigues of the Moors, who had sedulously
circulated a rumour that he was no ambassador, but merely a pu-ate. He therefore conversed with him in the most friendly manner, and gave him full liberty
to bring any merchandise he had with him ashore and dispose of it to the best
sion received of
advantage.
Effect of
Moorish
intrigues.
The next day, the 31st of May, De Gama prepared to return to his
and was actiially on the way to Pandarane, when the Moors, fearing that
once got
away he would not again
to hasten after
and detain him,
if
he
by a
large bribe,
them an opportunity
of disposing
return, induced the cotwal,
so as to afford
ships,
;
DE GAM A AND THE ZAMORIN.
Chap. VII.]
of
him summarily.
Gama
luistening
The cotwal accordingly
"Yes;
I
am
him
if
till
and continued
he reached the
I)e
a.d. urn.
The cotwal
He
answered,
his journey, the cot-
was sunset before
It
village.
The cotwal
immediately for a boat.
up, but he called
and found
his attendants.
he was running away.
running away from the heat;'
wal keeping close by him
men came
set out in pursuit,
on considerably in advance of
ralKed him on his haste, and asked
IGl
his
at first endea-
voured to dissuade him, but finding him resolute, pretended to send for the
boatmen, while at the same time he sent another messacre, orderin<j them to
keep out of the way.
The consequence was that no boat appeared, and there
was no alternative but
to pass the night
lu the morning matters assumed a
on
shore.
more threatening appearance.
still
The
i>eGain.i
forcibly
cotwal, instead of bringing a boat, told
him
to
ilo-
tiiiued ushore
order his ships nearer shore, and on his refusal,
threw
off all
disguise,
him that
telling
as he
would not do what he was ordered he should
De Gama was
not go on board.
The doors of
tents a prisoner.
shut,
in-
all
his lodging
were
and several nairs with drawn swords kept
guard within.
Coello
and, fortunately,
De Gamas
by communicating with one of
sailors,
was apprised of
still
meantime had come with
within a short distance of the shore
his boats
he
thus to
who had been
his situation.
The
left outside,
cotwal, while
detained him, seemed afraid to proceed
to violent
extremes; and after finding that he
could not lure the vessels into the harbour, so
as to give the
Moors an
oppoi't unity of destroy-
ing them, changed his tactics and asked only
merchandise should be sent ashore.
that the
Ship of Spaik, Fifteenth Century
EpiiloUk Crutoferi Colom..
His object apparently was to appropriate
himself;
and
as
De Gama's
it
presence interfered with this object, he
—From
I9.S.
him
was
easily His
but took care by his
more celebrated Bartolommeo, who
the zamorin ^vith the
first
unworthy treatment
to depart.
to
factor,
Diego Diaz, brother
doubled the Cape, to acquaint
which he had been subjected.
and promised both to punish the offenders
and send merchants to purchase the goods. He could scarcely have been sinand the goods, which they took
cere, for the insolence of the Moors increased
The zamorin seemed much
incensed,
;
A
every opportunity to depreciate, found few purchasers.
ever,
was
established
;
and
after permission
was given
to
kind of
traffic,
how-
remove the goods from
Pandarane to Calicut, as a more suitable market, much friendly intercourse took
Vol.
1.
I.
release,
once free of the cotwal and his associates, determined not again
to place himself in their power,
of the
1
to
induced, as soon as the merchandise arrived, to allow
De Gama,
Ac.
21
Traffic
commencoi..
H)2
AC.
1498.
JIIS'IOIIV
OF INDIA.
between the Portuguese and the natives.
place
[Book
They were not
I,
how-
destined,
ever, to part so amicaljly.
Tiie
zamoriii
liooomes
hostile.
More than two montlis had elapsed since the arrival of tiie Portuguese
vessels, and as the north-east monsoon, on which they depended for their return
homewards, was about to
set in,
De Gama, on
Diaz to the zamorin with a present of
admission, and
He was
obliged
t^.)
things,
and
wait four days
The
was then received with a frowning countenance.
mind had been completely poisoned and he regarded the Portuguese
pirates, who had come for plunder, or .spies, who, after acquainting
zamorin's
;
either as
themselves with the country, intended to return with a
fleet .sufficient to
invade
Accordingly a guard was set over the house which the Portuguese had used
it.
for
and other
scarfs, silks, coral,
a notification of his intention to depart.
for
the 10th of Augast, sent Diego
a factory, preventing
egress;
all
and a proclamation
prohibiting
i.ssued
all
intercourse with the Portuguese ships.
De Gama, on
mined
what had happened, was much incen.sed, Vjut deterand employ craft against craft. Two days after the
learning
to proceed warily,
proclamation,
arrived
with
sale.
four
an
in
lads
almadia,
preciotLS
.stones
for
They were suspected
to be spies
;
but
De Gama
spoke to them as
he
if
were entirely ignorant of
what had taken place in
Calicut, and allowed them
to depart, in the hope that their return would induce other persons of more consequence to pay him a visit. Nor was he mistaken. For the zamorin, convinced
by De Gama's conduct that he was ignorant of the detention of his factor Diaz,
An
and
over
Almadia.
— From
Hughen's Discours of Voyages in Indiistan,
his secretary Braga,
it,
who were both
sent people on board to keep
the destruction of his
sliips
De Gama
retaliates.
when
six
when
in the factory
him amused
by preparing a
one from Mecca for that purpose.
15S5.
till
the guard was set
he should be able to
own ports,
own coiinsel,
fleet in his
De Gama kept
his
effect
or bringing
till
one day
He
of the principal inhabitants arrived with fifteen attendants.
immediately seized them, and sent a letter ashore, demanding his factor and
secretary in exchange.
and the
After some parleying, Diaz and Braga were sent aboard,
principal inhabitants,
who were
nairs,
were returned.
The
attendants,
however, were detained, on the plea that some of the Portuguese merchandise
was
stiU
unaccounted
for.
This was mere pretence on
had already determined to carry
off"
them
as the vouchers of his discovery.
ment
to those
who had been
De Gama's
part, for
he
the poor natives to Portugal, and exhibit
Immediately after making
sent for the natives,
this
and desiring them
the zamorin that he would shortly return and give
him
full
announceto inform
means of judging
PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION UNDER CABRAL.
Chap. VII.]
Ido
whether the Christians were thieves, as the Moors had persuaded him, he weighed
anchor and set
Two
isou.
.\.ij.
on his homeward voyage.
sail
days after their departure, wlien the ships were lying becalmed a league
De Cawn
attiicked
from Calicut, the zamorin's
was seen approaching,
fleet of forty vessels
of
Their object was obvious; but the Portuguese, by means of their
soldiers.
ordnance,
managed
they got clear
De Gama,
for
otf,
to keep
them
bay
at
and that in
though not without being pursued
a short time, kept near the coast
all its
sea.
tiio
tiaet.
for
an hour and a half
and when within twelve leagues
;
whole coast was in motion,
harbours vessels were being fitted out for the purpose of inter-
Longer delay,
cepting him.
by
a gale fortunately sprung up, and
till
of Goa, received the alarming intelligence that the
out to
full
therefore,
seemed dangerous, and he at once put
The voyage home was tedious and
disastrous; but ultimately
Belem
Anive-sin
Portugal.
was reached
Of the
in September, 1499, after
an absence of two years and two months.
The news of
original crew, only fifty returned alive.
their arrival
was
kingdom and
De Gama, after being conducted into Lisbon in triumphal procession, was raised
to new honours and liberally pensioned.
So elated was King Emanuel with the
hailed with extraordinary demonstrations of joy throughout the
success of the expedition, that
forthwith added to his
lie
titles
;
that of Lord of
the Conquest and Navigation of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and the Indies.
No
time was
lost in fitting
out a
expedition on a more extended
on the 9th of March, 1500, under the
command
of Pedro Alvarez Cabral.
first
little
1
8th
but from them the
;
new
land they reached was a
was
Brazil.
coiu-se
was
The expedition again
Good Hope, but was thrown
sailed
The
so far west-
continent, the discovery of
importance ai)pears to have been attached to
lUtimately proved the most valuable acquisition
It
rvpciitioi.
Bartolommeo Diaz, the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope,
Canaries were seen on the
which, though
.socond
Amonjr
and his brother, Diego Diaz, who had been factor to Vasco de Gama.
ward that the
scale,
containing 1200 men, and sailed from Belem
It consisted of tliirteen vessels,
the captains were
new
made by
the crown of Portugal.
on the 2d of
into considerable alarm
at the time,
it
May
for the
Cape of
by the appearance
of a
comet, which continued to increfise for ten days, and shone so brightly as to be
visible
both day and night.
The
runner, seemed to be realized
and fury
di.siisters,
by the bursting
that, before the sails could
commanded by Bartolommeo
others were so shattered
and
of wliich
it
was dreaded
as the fore-
of a storm with suoli suddenness
be furled, four of the
vessels,
one of them
Diaz, simk, with every soul on board,
and the
with water that, had not their
been so
filled
.sails
torn as to leave nothing but bare poles, they
Dreadful as the storm was,
on
its
abating, that the
Cape of Good Hope was already doubled.
along the south-east coast of
Sofala.
taken.
it
must certainly have foundered.
was ultimately weathered, and Cabral found,
Africii,
They took fright and made
They proved to be Moorish
he
fell
in
vessels
Continuing *g3
with two vessels at anchor near
for the shore,
bound
but were pursued and overfor Melinda.
As
^>torm <>n
the Portu-
Hope,
Kit
AD.
1M)0
Jil.ST(JllV
guese were on IViendly terms with
more
liappened,
OF
its
INJJIA
fli^WK
I.
Cahral was sorry for what liad
chief"
most valuable part of the cargo coasisted of
especially as the
gold, which, during the teiTor of the tiight,
had been thrown overboard.
On
expressing his regret, the Moorish captain gravely asked wliether he ha/J not
some wizard with him, who might conjure
it
up from the bottom of the
At
sea.
Melinda, where the chief proved as friendly as before, Cabral wa,s funiished
with two Gujerat
Under
pilots.
and
across the Indian Ocean,
their guidance he
made a prosperous voyage
cast anchor within a league of Calicut
on the
1
3th
of September.
Shortly after his arrival several nairs came on board, bringing the zamorin's
Cabral
arrives at
Calicut.
welcome, and making great
take his ships nearer the
Gama had
carried
from Portugal purely to
some delay and
Cabral ventured ashore.
till
and friendship
;
came
by De Gama's
This demand produced
but, taught
last six of the principal natives arrived,
The interview took
purpose, near the water-edge.
Vasco de
sent a messenger, intimating that he
hostages were given.
but at
altercation,
whom
and sent ashore four natives
settle trade
he refused to land
expei-ience,
Interview
city,
He afterwards
off.
Cabral was thus induced to
offers of friendship.
and
place in a pavilion, erected on
The zamorin, dressed nearly
when De Gama
as
witli tlie
zamoriii.
visited him, dazzled all eyes
sapphires,
and
pearls,
covered his fingers and
silver,
with the
size
which studded
toes.
and
his girdle
His chair of
state
curiously wrought, glistened with
articles
brilliancy of the diamonds, rubies,
and hung from
and palanquin,
all
precious stones; and,
liLs
ears,
of gold and
among
composed of the precious metals, were three gold and seventeen
trumpets, and various silver lamps, and censers smoking with perfumes.
after delivering his credentials,
and stating the
desire of the
King
or
other
silver
Cabral,
of Portugal
t<j
enjoy the zamorin's friendship, and establish at Calicut a factory, which should
be supplied with
pay for them
all
kinds of European goods, and take spices in exchange, or
in ready
money, caused the present to be brought
of a wrought silver basin
gilt,
in.
It consisted
a fountain of the same, a silver cup with a
gilt
two cushions of cloth of gold, and two of crimson velvet, a cloth of state of
the same velvet striped and bound with gold lace, and two rich pieces of arras.
cover,
Mutual
So
far all things
had gone on smoothly but beneath
;
this
seeming friendship
ilisti'ust.
mutual distrust was at work, preparing for a
final rupture.
First, the hostages,
on learning that Cabral was preparing to retm-n, began to suspect that they
might be detained altogether, and endeavom-ed to escape by leaping into the
sea.
Some
harshness.
succeeded, while those re-captured were treated with .some degree of
Before the misunderstanding thus occasioned was completely cleared
up, Cabral proposed to send a message to the zamorin, to ask
willing to finish the aoreeraent which he
conviction
among
So strong was the
the Portumiese that this message would onlv
worse, that Fiancisco Correa
volunteer to carry
had begun.
whether he was
it.
was the only man
make
matters
in the fleet bold enough
to
Contrary to expectation, Correa met with a friendly
;
CABRAL'S EXPEDITION.
Chai'. A'II]
reception,
165
and completed an arrangement by whicli a regular Portuguese factory
was established
in Calicut,
under the charge of his brother, Ayres Correa
seems to have been very inditlerently qualified for his
factor
himself to be imposed upon at
had never ceased
made
all
their intrijjues
At
their appearance
hands, and
from the
their instigation
stood out to
The zamorin
sea.
at the cause of Cabral's removal,
This
and allowed
especially
some
hostile manifestations
made, particularly by Khoja Comireci, the admiral of Calicut
became so alarming that Cabral deemed
liou.
by the Moors, M'ho
moment when the Portusfuese
more
first
office;
a.d.
;
were
and appejwances
necessary to quit the harbour, and
it
expi'essed deep
and apparently
sincere regret
and showed a willingness to take whatever
He gave orders to prevent the
ijiterference of the Moors, removed an officer whom he had placed in the factory,
and substituted another, who, he thought, would be more acceptable. He even
steps miglit be necessaiy to restore confidence.
took the
more decided step of removing the factory from a
still
locality whicli
and gave the Portuguese a perpetual
The
grant of a new house more conveniently situated near the sea-shore.
gave the Moors too great control over
good
it,
measures was soon visible; and the Portuguese walked
effect of these
the streets of Calicut as safely, and as free from molestation, as if they had
been
in Lisbon.
The
Mooi-s,
whose resources
were inexhaustible, determined to
in intrigue
break up this understanding, and tried to effect
it
by a
rather singular expedient.
Availino- themselves of the vindictive feelings of the officer
removed horn the Portuguese
factory,
Moorish
who had been
they employed him to persuade Correa
that Cabral could not confer a greater service on the zamorin than to capture
Cambay
a large ship, which was bound from Ceylon to
elephants.
and
as he
One
whom
of these animals, which the zamorin coveted, had been refused
had thus been unable
glad to obtain
it
or Gujerat, with
to obtain it
The Moors
anyhow.
by
means, he would be very
ftm-
calculated that the master of the vessel,
they had put on his guard, would be more than a match for the Portu-
guese admiral, and, at
events, that the Portuguese,
all
by attacking a
vessel with
which they had no proper ground of quarrel, would justify the reputation M'hich
they had given them as mere depredators.
thus laid for him
could,
by
;
but, ai"ter discovering the trick,
fell
too easily into the snai*e
made
the best reparation he
restoring the vessel to its owners.
The Moors, disappointed
1
•
threw many obstructions
1
Cabral
•
in their object,
1
in the
i>
1
way of the
resumed
T«
their former practices,
1
and
•
Portuguese; who, in consequence, saw
the time for their departure a]iproaching while their ships remained unladen,
Cabral complained to the zamorin, and was authorized to search the vessels
of the Moore and take whatever spices were found in them, only paying the
The Moors were too numerous and influential to be thus
with and on one of their ships being seized, obtamed permis-
original cost prices.
summarily dealt
;
sion from the fickle zamorin to retaliate.
They took
measui-es accordingly; and
rortuguefactory
stormed,
:
166
A D \:m.
IIISTOIIY
having excited n
stormed the Poi-tugue.se
riot,
and among others Ayres Correa,
principal
tlie
any apology
Cabral, not having received
i.i.i„o,u.i8
Calicut.
OF INDIA.
own method
determined to take his
made a
and
possession of the cargoes
opened
and
from the zamorin,
for this outrage
without note of warning,
which were lying in the harljour
600 of the Moors and natives perished, gained
on
set the ships
Many
upon the town.
his fire
of the inmates,
their lives.
fsicUjr, lost
On a sudden,
furious onset on ten large ships
after a contest, dm-ing wliicli
Many
fjictory.
I.
of revenge, without giving him.self any
concern as to the lawfulness of the means.
he
[B/jok
;
of
fire.
Not
with
satisfied
this,
he
public buildings were destroyed,
its
and the inhabitants, becoming crowded in their flight, fell in great numbers.
The zamorin him.self made a narrow escape, as one of his nair.s, who was
immediately behind him, was struck down
Peace was
Fiieiidshii)
of Cochin
now
guese, however,
Vjy
a cannon-ball.
out of the question, and open
had no idea of abandoning
war was declared
their Indian traffic;
dispossessed of one factory, immediately looked out for another.
than Calicut, and bounding with
It recognized the
supremacy of
and was therefore
was the kingdom
Calicut,
new
these
recent contest with the zamorin
;
and on being
Farther soutli
or rajahship of Cocliia
but had often aspired to independence,
easily induced to listen to proposals of
The power of
guese.
it,
The Portu-
visitors
amity from the Portu-
had been signally displayed in
and the King of Cochin could
their
scarcely doul>t
that,
were their powerful aid secured, the yoke of Calicut might soon be shaken
off".
Accordingly,
make
when Cabral appeared
off"
the coast, and stated his desire to
town and harbour of Cochin the seat of Portuguese commerce, the
terms were easily arranged. The rajah, whose name was Truimpara or Trimumthe
para, at once agreed to give hostages as a security that the Portuguese should
not be treacherously dealt with
whom
when
ashore, only stij^ulating that the
he sent for the purpose should be changed daily, as they
shipboard without becoming unfit for the royal presence,
or,
coiild
two
nairs
not eat on
in other words,
losing caste.
The harbouT of
The Porturemove
coast,
and have
Cocliin,
forming one of a
occasional openings
to that of Calicut
;
first
;
which here
ships can enter,
was
line the
far superior
to congratulate themselves
but recent experience made them cautious, and
an
who were
interpreter,
and four criminals
to act as servants.
whom
he had brought
Their reception was very gracious
but the court presented none of the dazzling state conspicuous at Calicut.
soon appeared, however, that
promise
vessels
made was
it
fulfilled. to
possessed
more valuable
the letter; and
qualities.
It
For every
the lading of the Portuguese
with the spices which the country produced in abundance, was accom-
plished without delay.
so
all
ventured to do Avas to land a factor of the name of Gonzalo
Gil Barbosa, a clerk,
from Portugal,
by which
and the Portuguese saw reason
on their change of locality
that Cabral at
series of lagoons
much
This difference of treatment was probably
to the personal qualities of the sovereigns of Calicut
omng, not
and Cochin, as
to
f":
1C7
THIRD PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION.
Chap. VII.]
tiieir relative
positions
—the former considering himself strong enough
make ad
to
looi
his will law, and, if so disposed, to play the tyrant, while the latter, writhing
under a galling yoke, was convinced that his best chance of escaping
tlu-ow himself into the hands of
tiie
Tiiis feeling of
Portuguese.
a
it
was
to
common
and a common danger naturally smoothed down many tlifficulties, and
made friendship, when once established, firm and lasting.
The impression which the Portuguese had produced, both by the terror of
Fnendiy
.1
.,
their arms and the extent of their commercial transactions, was strikingly
from other
interest
/.
•
.
1
evinced by the anxiety which several native states
From
their alliance.
the chiefs of
two of
these
now
,
.
manifested to secure
^'^^'^ "*
— Cananore, situated consider-
north of Calicut, and Coulan, or rather Quilon, situated considerably south
ably^
of Cochin, in the state of Travancore
—mes.sengers
amved
to invite the Portu-
gne.se to their harbours,
promising them
be obtained at Cochin.
Cabral was, of course, inchned to open communications
many quarters as possible, with
in as
it
overtures
was impossible
a view to subsequent
do more than promise a future
to
y)osed of twenty-tive large ships,
visit,
avenge the injuries
inflicted
traffic;
as he
but at the time
had more
the assi.stance in his
tiiis
his fidelity to his
new
power but Cabral, thanking him
;
that he would prove
to be destined to
allies
by
offering
them
all
for the offer, felt confident
them single-handed. It would seem,
somewhat shaken, for after some manoeuvring
more than a match
confidence v/as
and
com-
fleet,
appeared off the
vessels,
boai'd,
serious
This information was furnisiied by the
on Cabcut.
who proved
Rajah of Cochin,
and many smaller
have 15,000 soldiers on
It wjxs said to
however, that
on cheaper terms than they could
Just as he was completing his cargo, a formidable
work on hand.
coast.
.spices
for
with the view of bruiging the enemy to action, he suddenly changed his mind,
and
saileil
ho.stages
away
whom
in such haste, that he did not even take time to restore the
he had received from the rajah.
To
increase the
he was pursued a whole day by the Calicut
flight,
at night he appears to
fleet.
ignominy of the
When
it left
him
cabrai
by the
*
^^t""'
have availed hhnself of the darkness to regain the Mala-
bar coast, and anchored in front of Cananore, where he took in 400 quintals of
cinnamon.
the reason
credit
1>\-
;
The
why
rajah
was
so friendly that, supposing the
want of money
to be
he did not take more, he offered him any additional quantity on
and showed how anxious he was
to cultivate the Portuguese alliance,
actually sending an amba.ssador with Cabral to Europe for that purjiose.
Nothing of much
interest
occun-ed on the
an-ived in Lisbon on the 31st of July, 1501.
homeward voyage, and Cabral
Of the ships which originallv
formed the expedition only six returned.
Before Cabral
It
had
s ari'ival
sailed in IMarch,
a third Portuguese expedition
and consisted only of three
was on
sliips
its
and a
way to
India.
caravel,
with
+00 men, under the command of an experienced seaman of the name of Juan de
Nueva.
His instructions, proceeding on the assumption that Cabral had established factories at Sotala
and at
Calicut,
were to leave two of the vessels with
TUini
expedition.
168
A.D.
1501.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
their cargoes at the fonner,
[lioOK
and proceed with the two others
I.
to the latter town.
As a precautionary measure the experlition was to call at San Bhis, situated east
of the Cape of Good Hope, and wait ten days to give an opportunity of meeting
with any of Cabral's ships which might be on their way home.
Here they
found a
letter
which had been
left for
them, detailing the events which
taken place
Calicut
at
and Cochin.
liad
In
corLse-
«juence of this informa'
Juan
tion,
-
^'
deemed
W-%'
Nueva
de
imprudent
it
to
separate his vessels, and
proceeded with the whole
India,
for
in
arrivinir
j*S%'iti?.:
November
a
small
coast
at Anchediva,
on
i.sland
south
of
tlie
Goa.
Shortly after he anchored
off
Cananore.
— Bnin et Ho^jenburg,
Cananore, the rajah
of which
1574.
was very urgent
that he shoidd lade there;
but anxiety to learn the state of matters at the factory induced liim
t(j
decline
and hasten on to Cochin.
De Nueva
On
arriving, he learned that the rajah,
though greatly offended with Cabral
arrives at
for leaving
Cocliin.
ally,
without notice and carrying
and given
full
protection to
Moors had carried their
all
the
off his hostages,
members
hostility so far as
had proved a
of the factory
on one occasion to
;
faithful
but that
set fire to
it,
tlie
and
by depreciating the value of their merchandise, had prejudiced
the native traders against them to such a degree, that they refused to part
with their spices except for ready money.
As this was a commodity witli
which Juan de Nueva was very scantily provided, he immediately retiu-ned to
Cananore, where tlie rajah dealt with him much more liberally, and furnished
him with 1000 (quintals of pepper, 50 of ginger, and 450 of cinnamon, together
in various ways,
with some cotton
had lodged
cloth, to
for sale in
be paid out of the proceeds of the goods which he
a Portuguese factory established there.
While occupied
with these commercial transactions, Juan de Nueva received intelligence that a
Defeats
tlie
large fleet belonging to the zamorin
was on the way
who sent
make an
him
was not
the intelligence advised
to
to attack him.
land his
men and
The
ordnance, and
enti'enchment on shore, as the only effectual means of defence.
SO casily intimidated
;
and,
on the next da}^ when
1
rajah
He
00 vessels were seen
zjimoriii s
fleet
entering the bay, he advanced to meet them, and poured in his shot with such
good
effect,
that the zamorin's
commander hung out a
parley, agreed to quit the bay,
flag of truce, and, after
a
and make the best of his way back to Calicut
!
EXPEDITION UNDEIi DE GAMA.
Chap. VII.]
169
made such an impression on the zamorin that he proposed terms of
accommodation. Juan de Nueva, probably feeling that his powere were not
sufficient for transacting basiness of so much importance, set sail for Europe.
This failm-e
His homeward voyage was prosperous, and he arrived safely with all his ships.
The accounts brought home by Cabral satisfied the King of Portugal that
he must either
desist
out his expeditions on a scale of greater magnitude, or
fit
from the attempt to establish a trade in the East.
was not
native
to be
thought
for
of;
even under
stances the profit had counterbalanced the
tlie
It
loss.
The
a.d
1502,
~
Expidition
d"'cr!.nr"
latter alter-
most adverse circum-
was
therefore determined
that the next expedition would be more adequate to the objects contemplated.
These were not merely to overawe any of the native Indian princes who might
be disposed to be
hostile,
but to chastise the insolence of the Moors by attacking
then* trade in its principal seat.
Accordingly, the expedition
consisted in all of twenty-
The c(jmmand,
shii)s.
now
fitted out
at first offered to Cabral,
was
Gama, who was to proceed directly to India with
Stephen de Gama, and Vicente Sodre, were each to
ultimately given to Vasco de
ten ships
;
while his brother,
have the command of a squadron of
five,
and
scouring the Malabar coast, and the other
Ked
clear the sea of Moors, the one
by cruizing
off"
by
the entrance to the
Sea.
Gama, honoured with the
Viisco de
title
of Admiral of the Eastern Seas, set
«'» "
"'
title
sail
with Vicente Sodre on the 3d of March, 1502, before Juan de Nuevas
Stephen de
i-etm-n;
Gama
did
Having
not leave before the 1st of May.
doubled the Cajie of Good Hope, and sailed up the east coast of Africa, for the
purpose of establishing factories at Sofala and Mosambique, Vasco de Gama,
after waiting
till
he was joined by his brother, continued his course
Indian Ocean, and had arrived within sight of Mount Dilly, a
of Cananore,
Egypt.
when
lie
was richly
It
laden,
and wealth, bound on a
anil ca])tm'ed
it
in
fell
or in goods.
They
Mecca.
To
Going on board, he
to produce
He
liis
immediately attacked
di.sgi-ace
all
called the principal pa.ssengers
whatever property they had
He
to his
own
all
events to have been satisfied with
I.
and
but
threat-
it.
In.stead of this
he had thrown aside every feeling of humanity, and resolved
tiie
plunder
ship, in order to
jirofit,
but merely for the plea-sure
it
afforded.
among his crews, and removing all the children
fulfil a vow which bound him to make monks of all
the males he should thus ca])ture, he forced
Vol.
sea,
;
had thus secured a rich prize by questionable
to ])lay the barbarian, not for the
After dividing
money
the others in the same way, they became temfied, and
means, and ought at
if
in
declared that most of both had been left in Calicut
yielded to his demand.
he acted as
it,
he made an atro- "« capt.-.res
on his throwing one of them bound hantl and foot into the
ening to treat
north
and had on board many Mahometans of rank
after a vigorous resistance.
and onlered tliem
before him,
little
the
with a large ship belonging to the Sultan of
jiilgrimage to
eious use of his victory
acro.ss
all
the jiassengei's and crew of the
22
shiji
HISTORY OF
170
A.D. 1502.
on
it
[Rook
the hatches upon thern,
Had
they been the
wretches possible, instead of being for the most part inoffensive
had now surely done enough to save their
had been ordered, and Vasco de
who proved
hi8
was executed; but the unhapjiy
made superhuman efi^orts, and having broken o[)en
the liatchcs, succecdcd in (juenching the flames.
Stephen,
t^jld
[.
Tiie fiendish (jrder
fire.
victims, rendered desperate,
DeGama's
down
Moorisli vessel below, and, iiaving nailed
brother to set
INF'IA.
But
lives.
Gama was
giiiltiest
pilgi-ims,
they
Their destruction
no.
not to be satisfied with
less.
himself no unwilling instrument in his brother's hands,
and made the attempt, but met with such a reception
from the Mahometaas, when they saw that no mercy was to be expected, as
was told
to board,
compelled him to
passion, he
had now
could be done
order
:
tliirty
all
full
time to
been acting tmder a sudden burst of
for night
cool,
Wlien he
moi-ning.
till
rose, it
were women, were burned
who were
in the vessel
whom
when
this
came
on,
was only
the vessel .was again boarded and set on
except the children,
His arrival
at Gauanore
Had De Gama
retire.
fire,
to death, or
and nothing more
to repeat
and 300
liis
inhuman
persons, of
whom
drowned, or slaughtered-
Of
the capture was made, not a soul escaped
bloody baptism initiated into the Romish
faith.
name
After this iufamous transaction one almost shudders to mention the
of
Vasco de Gama, but the course of the narrative cannot in the meantime proceed
without him.
thought
it
In his next proceeding, the caution which he used, when he
own life might be in danger, contrasts strangely with
he showed when iniquitously di.sposing of the lives of others.
possible that his
the recklessness
Having anchored
off"
Cananore, he desired an interview with the rajah
the captivity he had suffered at Calicut on his
first
voyage seemed
;
but as
still
upper-
most in his mind, he adopted the device of having a wooden bridge, which
projected a considerable
was covered with
way
carpets,
into the water.
At the end
of this bridge, wliich
a pavilion was reared to form the
hall of audience.
The rajah made his appearance first, attended by 10,000 nairs, and advanced to
the pavilion amid the beating of drums and floiu-ishes of trumpets.
De Gama
came accompanied by all his boats, adorned with flags, and took his place in the
The result of the interview was a treaty
pavilion, under a salute of artillery.
of amity, and the estaljlishment of a Portuguese factory at Cananore.
His pro-
From Cananore De Gama
continued his course to Calicut, and, making his
ceediiigs at
Calicut
appearance unexpectedly in the roads, captured several small boats, containing
about
fifty natives.
Whatever just cause
of quarrel he
may have had
with the
zamorin, these poor creatures were not implicated, and yet, on not obtaining
redress for the destruction of the Portuguese factory,
sioned
their
by it, he hung them up
arms and
zamorin, that
breaches of
feet,
at the yard-arm, and, after they
and caused them
similar treatment
faith.
and the
loss of lives occa-
were dead, cut
oft'
to be carried ashore, with a message to the
was
in reserve for himself for his repeated
To show that he was
in earnest, he ordered three ships to
stand in as near as possible to the town, and open their
fii'e
upon
it.
The royal
DK CxAMA RETURNS HOME.
Chap. VII.]
171
•
was one of the many buildings thus demolished.
palace
Without waiting
tt^
ad.
i5u3.
ascertain the effect, he left Vicente Sodre with a squadron to scour the coast
and destroy the Moorish
and
trade,
Here matters were
set sail for Cochin.
on their former friendly footing, mutual presents were ex-
easily re-established
changed, and a commercial treaty of a more formal nature than that previously
existing
was concluded.
The next proceeding
as
if
was very
of the zamorin
inexciLsable, and, indeed, looks
m
he had determined to put hnnself entirely
De Gama was
him
lading at Cochin, he sent a messenger, iii\ating
be so desu-able that
felt to
more to secure
and
it,
De Gama determined
out alone, leaving
.set
other
all his
to Calicut,
his entire satisfaction
This was rather a slender foundation on which to negotiate
Calicut was
Hearing that
the wrong.
and promising that everything would be arranged to
;
to
but peace with
make one
effort
behind.
The
shij)s
temptation was too strong for the fickle and tortuous court of Calicut
Gama, instead of the friendly reception which he had
by a
large fleet of small vessels,
and very narrowly
Treachei-y of
and De
;
anticipated, wjis set
esca])ed being
made
upon
prisoner.
Fm'ther negotiation was of course impossible, though he ought certainly to
have disdained to take the petty revenge of putting the zamorin's messenger
to deatli.
The
them De Gama,
two
after putting to flight a large
large Moorish ships,
whicii
weight, with emeralds for
its eyes,
cious stones for its covering,
triple alliance, for
his squadron, sailed for
Portugal
till
Rotun. of
of small vessels, captured oanm
prizes,
both of them being
to
"'"'**
a robe curiously wrought and set with pre-
and on
and united with
visited Cananore,
number
proved valual)le
In one of
little interest.
on board one of them was an image of gold of thirty pounds
richly laden, wliile
kind of
which ensued possess
details of the conflicts
its bi'east
its
Having again
a large ruby.
rajah and that of Cochin in forming a
mutual defence, De Gama, leaving Vicente Sodre with
Europe on the 20th of December, 1503, but did not reach
He had
the following September.
again proved himself an able
navigator; but his proceedings had rather tarnished than increased
His sovereign, however, was
satisfied
;
and rewarded him with the
title
fame.
liis
of Count
of Vidogueii-a.
Before
De Gama
tlireatening messages
which a
ally
faithful
consideration than
zamorin's revenge.
ture
was
it
which
lie
had received from the zamorin.
was thus exposed,
received,
Nor was
it
entitled his case to a
and he was
long before
left
it
too favom-able an opportunity to be
most formidable
had made him aware of
departed, the Rajah of Cochin
scale
lost,
and
were immediately commenced.
about sixteen leagues north of Ctn^hin.
.')0,000
more
to
careful
fmy
of the
De Gama's
depar-
exposed to the
overtook him.
Ihe penl
full
hostile preparations
on a
In the vicinity of Ponany,
men were
assembled.
Before
commencing operations the zamorin asked nothing more than the siuTender
of the Portuguese
who had
fixed
tlieir
residence in Cochin.
The population
xiie
zamorm
attack
^
'"'
172
AD
1501.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
were urgent that the demand
and, though his force
The
till
was too unequal
last obliged to
I.
be complied with, but the rajah stood finn,
was comparatively
contest, however,
he was at
slioulfl
[Book
abandon
insignificant,
;
advanced to the
enc^junter.
and he was driven from post
his capital,
to post,
and seek an asylum
in the
island of Vaipi, or Vipeen, in its vicinity.
While iu
Arrival of
Alfonso Al-
bunuorquB.
.
this extremity
,
,
.
he received no support from Vicente Sodre,
who
.
Kept cruizmg about raakmg captm-es, but on some shallow pretext or other
refused to give
ing.
any
direct assistance.
Nine ships had
sailed
Powerful
aid,
however, was approach-
from Lisbon, in three equal .squadroas, under the
commands
respective
of Alonso or Alfonso
Albuquerque, Francisco Albuquerque, and
Antonio Saldanha.
in the
mouth
was
Tlie last
Red Sea
of the
were to proceed directly
Albuquerque arrived
the others
;
to India.
first,
to cruize
Franci.sco
and with a con-
siderable addition to his squadron, in con-
sequence of having fallen in with some of
the ships belonging to Vicente Sodi-e.
This
powerful reinforcement completely changed
the a-spect of
and
affairs,
defeated at every point.
zamorin wa.s
tlie
Triumpara, in the
joy of his heart, not only conferred
privileges
on the Portuguese, but gave them
permission to build a
Alfon'so de Albuquerque.
From a print after Silva.
On
operations,
The
sea.
and many
made a voluntary
the establishment of a factory;
The
.\lbu-
(luerqnes
sail for
Europe.
the
was compelled
offer to lade
two
ships,
to sue for peace.
It
sail for
by a
series of
was granted, but on
first
pretext for a
For some reason not explained
at this very time, wdien
necessary than ever, set
and consent to
while the zamorin, dispirited
and was soon again at open war.
two Albuquerques,
of these wa.s
eflfect
terms so disadvantageous, that he availed liimseLf of the
rupture,
successful
In the south Coulan, or Quilon, then under
manifested in various ways.
disastrous defeats,
fort.
the arrival of Alfonso Albuquerque
new energy was thrown into the Portuguese
expeditions were made both by land and
female government,
new
theii'
presence seemed more
Europe, lea^^ng only Duarte Pacheco with
the ship which he commanded, two caravels, and 110 men, for the defence of
Cochin.
Francisco Albuquerque appears to have perished in a storm, for he
was never more heard
safety,
of;
Alfonso, reserved for greater things,
amved
in
bringing with him for the king forty pounds of pearls, a diamond of
remarkable
size,
and two
horses, a Persian
and an Arab, the
first
of the kind
which were imported into Portugal.
The zamorin had become convinced that he would never be able
single-
LOPE SOARE/.
Chap. VII.]
handed to overcome the Portuguese; and
the
made
field,
coalition
173
therefore, in again preparing to take
by entering
his first business to strengthen himself
it
with neighbouring
In
states.
this
he found
sea,
attacking and making prizes of
of what-
all vessels
ever country, whenever they found any pretext for stigmatizing tliem
name
We
of Moors.
have already met with instances of
confessed, or rather complacently dwelt
doubted that
lie
Tiumerous.
Be
in.stances
tlie
this as it
;
it
terror,
can scarcely
still
provided with nearly 400 cannons,
sea,
an army, estimated at 50,000, begun
overwhelming
desei't.
force,
for not only Heroism
but his subjects, under the influence of
the greatest alarm,
Paeheco made
out with so
retire
much
with a severe
all his
arrangements with so much
resolution, that the confederates
loss.
to
him
him
This was no empty
and spoke of surrender, scouted the
that a valiant defence woidd certainly prove successful.
boast.
i-acheco.
The only person whose courage remained luishaken
was the Portuguese captain, Duarte Paeheco, who, when the rajah came
in
more
larul.
in
began to
by the
fleet,
Triumpara was dismayed, and apparently with good reason,
was the enemy
coalition
may, the coalition soon assumed a very formidable
prepared to bomlmrd Cochin from the
by
upon by themselves and
The zamouu
kind candidly
which they have not recorded were
appearance; and while a niunerous
to apj)roach it
this
idea, assuring
skill,
and carried them
were ultimately obliged to
Attempts were repeatedly made to renew the attack,
but the result was always the same
and the zamorin with
;
his allies
had the
by a mere handful of Europeans.
example of what one daring spirit can
mortification of seeing all their efforts baffled
Seldom has there been a more striking
accomplish than was furnished by Paeheco in this struggle.
the zamorin had lost 18,000 men, and
was now
so
In the course of
humbled
again meet with Paeheco,
A
fleet
we may
As we
here conclude his history.
It
is
having arrived under the
command
government of El Mina, on the west coast of
his private fortune, to
which he was too
would be improved.
first
not
a melancholy
of Lope Soarez, Paeheco,
though treated with merited distinction, was superseded, and invested
which
shall
of thirteen ships, of larger dimensions than had ever before been
built in Portugal,
tion,
it
as gladly to accej)t
of terms of peace from his o^vn tributary Rajah of Cochin.
one.
1505
for the
little difiiculty,
Portuguese were not only viewed with jealousy as strangers, but had pursued a
very reckless course at
ad.
into a
Africa.
Here
it
heroiccilly dispo.sed to
Avith the
was thouijht that
give
much
atten-
This object was entirely defeated by a violent faction,
thwarted his measures, and then had the audacity to seize his
person on a false ciiarge, and send
him home
in chains.
After languishing for a
time in prison he obtained an honourable acquittal, but
it
was too
late.
The
ungrateful return for his di.stingaished services had broken his heart, and he
died either in prison or shortly after he
Lope Soarez, soon
after his arrival,
was
released from
moved up
messenger from the zamorin, who was
now
it.
to Calicut,
willing
to
and was met by a
com])ly with every
His
fate,
of
IIISTOHV OF INI>IA.
174
A
I)
I.
mi:
[Book
made upon liiiii except one. This was t<> deliver up an Eur<;p«ian, a
of Milan, who liad entered his service, and taught him the art of aisting
(lemaiKl
native
cannon, along with other important naval and military improvements.
llulioill'.'ihli.'
conduct
I.
honour the zamorin demurred to
tlie
To
his
delivery of an individual who.se only
i)f
was the
ability
and
fidelity
with which he had served him
Soarez
the za-
offence
moriii
unable or unwilling to appreciate the hoiK^ur and justice of the zamorin's refusal,
immediately bombarded the town, and laid the greater part of
This
it in ashe.s.
of destruction accomplished, he immediately proceeded to another, and
work
town of Cranganore, which had adhered to the zamorin, in the same
His next exploit began more ominously, but ended still more triumph-
treated the
way.
In sailing north from Cranganore to attack Ponany, he was met
antly.
zamorin's
peril
fleet,
the
Here he found himself in imminent
before which he had been obliged to retiie,
and driven into a bay.
for in addition to the fleet
;
V>y
seventeen large Moori.sh ship?, well provided with cannon, and carrying 4000
He
is
do
f Jilted l)y
Lape
Soarez.
men, were waiting to receive him
a very
trifling loss to the
lading were destroyed.
A fierce
Portuguese,
all
conflict
the ships of the
Soarez, thinking he
remainder.
enemy with
had now done enough
his return, left four ships at the fort of Cochin,
Lisbon.
ensued; but ultimately, with
and
— From Bnin et Hogenburg,
set sail for
their rich
to justify
Europe with the
1.574.
His arrival at Lisbon, on the 22d of July, 1506, was gladly wel-
comed, as no richer cargo in goods and prizes had ever retuiTied from the East.
Don Fran
The next Indian armament
ciiico .VI-
nieidas
arrival
:is
viceroy
scale
than any which preceded
fitted
it.
out by Portugal was on a more magnificent
It consisted of
twenty-two
ships, cari-}ing, in
addition to the crew, 1500 fighting men, and
was placed under the command
Don
time the proud
Francisco Almeida,
India.
who
bore for the
first
His arrival in India took place in 1507.
island of Anchediva, where, as
it
occupied a
and had become a common station
The
first
commanding
title
of
of Viceroy of
land reached was the
position
on the
for Portucruese vessels, he built a fort.
coast,
On
arriving at Cochin, where he intended to have rewarded Triumpara, the old and
Chap.
NATIVE COMBINATION.
VI I.]
faithful ally of the Portuguese,
had brought from Portugal
liad retired
with a crown of gold, set with jewels, whicli he
for the purpose,
1507
he was astonished to find that he
in his stead,
and received the crown from the
hands of Almeida during a pompous ceremonial.
understand
A.D
from the world, to spend the remainder uf his days as a solitary
His nephew was reigning
devotee.
175
all
that
was meant by
it,
for
It
is
probable that he did not
from that day he was to be regarded,
not as an independent sovereign, but a vassal holding his crown during
tlie
|)leasure of the Portuguese.
Before Almeida arrived, the zamorin had once
more placed
fortunes
Native coin-
aware that the struggle in which he was about to
.'igiiiiist tlii-
all his
tiiiiation
on a venture; and, as
if fully
engage would prove decisive of his
At
.success.
tiie
no means unemployed to insure
Portuguesc.
time a powerful dynasty was reigning in the Deccan over
which included a considerable
territories
while
this
fate, left
kingdom
of Gujerat or
tract of sea-coast,
Cambaya had
risen to
from Goa northwards,
be a great naval power.
Both of these states had been wantonly attacked by the Portuguese, and their
commerce had
to
provoke
suffered severely before they
hostility.
were aware of having done anything
Naturally exasperated, they entered with readiness into
.;<!!
HiRDs EYE View ok Alexandria
— Kroni
Bnui
et
Uogenburg, 1&T4.
a combination intended to banisli the Portuguese for ever from the E<istern seas.
Even with these auxiUaries the zamorin did not feel secure. He therefore
extended
liis
views much further, and entered into communication with the
Sultan of Egyi>t.
The Mameluke
sultan at once responded to the call thus
made upon
him, Thcsiun
and the more readily that his attention had previously been di-awn to tlie sub- S^t."
ject from another quarter.
The success of the Portuguese in tlie East was
already telling powerfully against the lucrative trade wliich the Venetians had
long been accustomed to regard as their special monopoly.
Goods brought into
the Levant, either overland or
by way of Alexandria,
liad so
heavy
a
burden of
;
176
AD.
1507
OF INDIA.
lIISTOilV
transport and taxation to
they could not possibly wjmpete with
l^uar, tliat
comparatively inexpensive
[Book
I.
tiie
a single voyage, however long, from the
i)rocess of
The Venetians thas found themselves
every European market, and became perfectly aware that they
port of lading to the port of delivery.
Intrigues of
undersold in
theveue-
by
either destroy the Portuguese trade or be destroyed
j^yj^t,
tiaiis.
it.
Their
first
endeavour was to work upon the fears of the King of Portugal and the pope, by
instigating the sultan to send a tlireatening letter
mating that
if
t(^
Lisbon and Rome,
the Portuguese did not forthwith relinquish the
new
inti-
course
by which they had penetrated into the Indian Ocean, and cease
from encroacliing on a commerce which had been carried on from time immemorial between Asia and his dominions, he would put to death all the Christians in Egyi^t, Syria, and Palestine, bum their churches, and demoli.sh the
of navigation,
holy sepulchre itself
An
This menace having failed to produce the effect anticipated, the Venetian.s
Egyptian
flejt fitted
out.
did not scniple to urge the sultan to take the remedy into hLs
own
hands, and.
by the zamorin, become a powerful
auxiliary in the crusade against the Portuguese.
There was only one difficulty.
The Egyptian fleet in its actual state was overmatched by that of Portugal. If
the war was undertaken, the first thing necessary would be to build a new fleet.
Egypt had no proper timber for the purpose. How, then, was it to be obtained
in accordance with the invitation given
?
The Venetians were not
to be balked of their object
by such an
Had
ob.stacle.
they not whole forests of naval timber in Dalmatia? and ha\'ing gone so far
why
need they scruple to place them at the disposal of the sultan, who. after
hewing down
route to the
much as he required, might easily transport it by a well known
Red Sea?
Such was the plan actually adopted; and Europe
as
saw the maritime power which had taken a prominent part
in the cnisade of
Christian piinces against Mahometans, as zealously engaged in promoting a
Mahometan crusade
By
It^ arrival in
lii:lia.
built
against Christians.
these extraordinary
and
means a
fleet of
fully equipped, set sail for the Indian coast in 1507.
men, and was commanded by an experienced
Hoosseiu, and the Portuguese
Mullik Eiaz, admiral of
that kingdom,
double
its
Meer Hashim.
Mahmood Shah
was prepared
numbers and
to join
it
streng-th.
of the danger which threatened liim
tactics obviously should
In this
detail.
late.
I.,
whom Ferishta
Ameer
It sailed first to Gujerat,
where
who was then
reigning sovereign of
with a squadron wliich would more than
Almeida seems not to have been aware
till
he was almost overtaken by
have been to attack the Tirrkish
had resolved
to pursue this obvious course
His son Lorenzo,
intercept the sultan's
fleet,
whom
It carried 1500
calls
officer,
fleet
way it might not liave been difficult for him to beat
He may have been prevented by obstacles of which we
for after he
too
twelve ships of war ha^^ng been
it
on
its passage.
his enemies in
are not aware
was found
he had despatched with eleven
having been detained,
first
off
His
it.
to be
sail
to
Cananore, where he
LORENZO KILLED.
Chap. VIT]
attacked and, with scarcely any
loss,
177
destroyed a native squadi'on far larger than ad.
isot
own, and afterwards at Anchediva, where sixty Moorish and native vessels
his
had made an attempt on the
fort,
arrived in the harbom- of Choul, or Chowul,
about twenty-three miles south of Bombay, jast in time to see the Egyptian
admiral enter
A
it.
tierce conflict
without any decided advantage
till
immediately ensued, and was continued
Mullik Eiaz with the Gujerat
renewed the
battle,
fleet.
to
Ameer Hoossein by
Lorenzo,
the arrival of
undismayed, immediately
still
but found the Egyptian admiral a much more formidable
antagonist than he had been accustomed to deal with.
After another day's
were so much
fighting had left the victory undecided, the Portuguese ships
shattered that
niijht
and
it
was determined by a council of war
who had
previously incurred his father's displeasm'e,
^
.
one occasion to lorce the
fleet oi
and continued
when he began
it
to linger
on
till
sell
to follow, his ship grounded,
He might
have escaped in
his life as dearly as possible,
and
his boat,
after
method of keeping
having been struck by a
at a distance
ball,
men
and
him
left
to
The enemy
at first
that he adopted the more
and pouring
which broke
ineffectual efforts to
his post.
resisted,
another ball broke his back and killed him.
crew of 100
some
this
but at )uce made up his mind
in his shot.
his thigh, ordered
placed against the mainmast, and there remained,
its
Lorenzo,
himself to be
encouraging his men,
Tiie shij)
shortly after sunk.
till
Of
only nineteen escaped.
According to Faria y Sousa, the
of the Portuguese amounted only to eighty-one men, while the
whole
loss
enemy
lost 600.
The Mahometan account given by Ferishta
is
very
different.
After mentioning that the Portuguese flag-ship, valued at a crore of rupees
(a million sterling),
the
Mahometan
was sunk, and every man on board
fleet
returned
victoriously;
for
perished, he adds, that
although
400 Turks were
honoured with the crown of mtu'tyi-dom, no fewer than 3000 or 4000 Portuguese
infidels
Vol..
son. i,o-
Unfortunately
sail.
their flight,
and die at
attempted to board, but was so bravely
cjiutious
He had by
the day began to dawn.
the rest of the squadron continued
off",
his fate.
to
Heroism of
Almeida's
the zamorin to action, wtis very reluctant
time consented to retreat, and several of his vessels had set
tow
by declining on
.
a step which would justly be considered as an acknowledgment of
to take
defeat,
to take advantage of the
a retreat.
effect
Lorenzo,
Next day
night separated the combatants.
an immense preponderance was given
a navai
were at the same time sent to the infernal regions.
r.
His death,
HISTORY OF INDIA.
178
CHAPTER
Portuguese progress
l
in the
UE
East
VIII.
now
committed to their career of
fully
and successive armaments, on a grand
One
Lisbon for the East.
of
consisted of thirteen vessels,
the.se,
and
A.D.
1508,
scale,
quitted
under Tristan da Cunha,
1*300 fighting
command
of twelve vessels, sailed under the
CiR.
I.
— The viceroyships of Francisco Almeida and Alfonso Albuquerque.
Portu^iese were
oiK^uest,
I
[Book
men.
Another,
of Alfoaso Albu-
querque, who, after performing sevei'al exploits on the African coast, and taking
~~ effectual
measures to cripple the trade from India by the Red Sea, continued
along the coast of Arabia, and entered the Persian Gulf, determined to stiike
Alfonso Al-
a
still
more
biKinerqiie
returns to
India.
There the Mahometan
fatal blow.
Albuquerque, in
active.
whom
bined, at once perceived liow
with India was
still
great military and political talents were com-
an
effectual interdict
Ormuz, situated on an island
in the
mouth
might be
make
only thing necessary for this purpose was to
of
traffic
upon
laid
The
it.
himself master of the city
of the gulf
J^
way he could
command
completely
In this
the passage, and
the trade at
After
mercy.
liis
capture
the
and
Muscat,
jjlace
of
several
other places of minor
importance,
he
pro-
ceeded to the execution
of his grand enterprise.
His design had been
penetrated; and in.stead
of being able to take
Ormuz.
11 is
expedi-
tion to tlie
Persian
Uuif.
found
it
— Brun
defended by a
the city
et
sui'prise, as
he had anticipated, he
fleet of
an army of 30,000 men.
by
Hogenbiirg, 1374.
400
vessels, sixty of
To show how
far
them of
large size,
and by
he was from being dismayed at
these preparations, he immediately advanced into the harbour, and anchored
among
five of the
largest ships,
firing his
cannon as
if in
defiance.
After
waiting for a message from the king, but receiving none, he sent him his
ultimatum, which, considering the relative position of the parties, was certainly of a very extraordinary
that
lie
had come with orders
and arrogant
to take the
description.
King
of
It
was
Ormuz imder
to the effect
his protection,
ALMEIDA SUPERSEDED.
Chap. VIIT.]
'ITU
on the condition of paying a reasonable tribute to Portugal, or to treat him as a
d^'iooo.
an enemy by declaring war against him.
There was
room
little
doubt which of the alternatives, thus arbitrarily
to
Ormuz would
])laced before him, the sovereign of
tions
were not yet completed,
it
was important
Aibuquer-
'l"® attacks
c
n
accept, but as his fortinca- onmu.
1
to gain time;
and
•
•
solely
with
that view, instead of sending a resolute defiance, he entered into negotiation.
Albuquerque saw what wtis intended, and at once brought matters to a point,
by
telling the
messenger that when he next came,
acceptance of peace, or a declaration of war.
for choice,
and made two furious onsets
destroyed
all
were the
walls,
The
;
Persians, in the meantime,
loss of
were not
idle,
but neither in weapons nor discipline could they
is
said to have l^een coloured with their
only ten men, Albuquerque burned, sunk, or otherwise
the ships of Ormuz, and received a tiag of tiiice with an offer
comply with
to
commencing a
in
feaiful slaughter, as not only
cope with the Portuguese, and the sea
With the
moment
crowded with combatants, but even the tops of the houses
vessels
were covered with spectators.
blood.
either an
There had never been any room
Albu(iuerque lost not a
cannonade which must have caused
and
must be with
and the message accordingly was, that Ormuz was in use not to pay,
but to receive tribute.
shore,
it
all
his
demands.
The terms
were,
the annual pajTuent of
Siii)mi8«ioii
Persians.
bout £2000 as tribute to the Kinfj of Portuo-al, and trround on which to build
SI
a
No
fort.
sooner were the terms arranged, than the fort was immediately
commenced, and carried on with such
ra])idity, as to
assume
shai)e in the course
of a few days.
Khojah Attar, who governed Ormuz
minor, had no sooner
in the
name
made the arrangement than he
of Sailaddin,
re})ented of
it.
who was a
From the
destruction which Albuquerque had caused, he had formed an extravagant idea
of the force under his
that
it
tilities,
command and was
;
did not muster above 460 men.
and dexteroush'
astonished above measure, on learning
He
av^ailed himself of a
therefore prepared
mutinous
Portuguese commanders, to escape the consequences.
his rage
feelinsr
amonjj the
for hosinferioi-
Albuquerque, after venting
by some very barbaroas proceedings, was obliged
to depai-t
the winter at Socotra, which had become a Portuguese conquest.
returned, he gave formal notice of his arrival to the
anew
and
si)end
Having again
government of Ormuz, and
was immediately informed that the tribute stipulated would be paid, but that
he would not be j^ermitted to build the fort.
He would fain have resumed the
siege, but more important interests required his presence in India.
He iiad been
appointed viceroy.
Almeida, in the midst of his preparations to avenge the death of his son,
received the mortifying intelligence that he had ])een superseded in his govern-
ment.
Obedience to the royal mandate
wsis,
of course, his duty; but both
ri'vengeand ambition pointed to an opposite comvse, and he detennined to follow
it
at
all
hazards
On
the pretext that the ])nblic iutere-t would not allow him.
Almeida
avenge
*"*
hu
180
A.a"i509.
HISTORY OF
in present circum.stanceH, to
demit his
of office; and leaving Albuqueique,
who was
powerful armament.
(Book
he refased to resi^ the
autliority,
devour his disappointment as he could,
tilTrol
Dabiu
TNT)TA.
no condition
in
set out
t<j
fleets,
there received information which determined
insigriiu
force him,
coast, in search
he stopped at Anchediva, and
him
make
to
the important com-
mercial city of Dabul, situated on the coast about half-way between
Bombay, the
who had
first
object of attack.
belonged
It
t^;
note of warning, he suddenly
In
ship.s.
any severity; and, without any
ju.stify
commenced
Goa and
a king of the Deccan,
joined the zamorin's confederation, and assisted him with
Almeida's view this was sufficient to
i(}
without him at the head of a
While proceeding northwards along the
of the combined Egyptian and Gujerat
1.
by sea and land,
and never desisted till he had laid Dabul in ashes. An immense plunder
might have been obtained; but fearing the effect upon his troops, he chose
i-ather to
11.;
From
dufeats
the Tui-kish
ami Gujerat
his attack both
hurn than to preserve the booty.
which certainly added
this achievement,
-^
little
Almeida
to his laurels,
'
_
procecded to Diu, finely and strongly situated on an island of the same name, on
the southern shore of the peninsula of Gujerat.
and Mullik
Eiaz, with their fleets.
Had
Here he found Ameer Hoossein
they remained in their position under
the batteries of Diu, as the Gujerat admiral strongly urged, Almeida,
ventured an attack at
all,
must have made
it
if
he had
under great disadvantage; but
Egyptian admiiul, who was naturally of a chivalrous temper, and perhaps
tlie
also
when Lorenzo was slain, disdained
when he could meet his enemy in the open sea,
rendered over-confident by his recent success,
to
be cooped up in a harboiu",
and
sailed out, displaying
more valour than
some time, terminated
furiously for
guese, who, however, converted
massacre.
they murdered
possible excuse for the atrocity
an indelible
into
coiild
Eiaz that he
and the only explanation given
not otherwise be satiated.
made
overtures of peace.
The
defeat
They were
might have obtained advantageous terms,
if
it
He
retains
a peremptory
is
no
that Almeida's
so dispirited ]\Iullik
readily listened to
;
and he
As much
to his
honour as
Portuguese for making such a demand, he at once gave
refusal.
Almeida, liaviug returned to Cochin, was again pressed by Albuquerque to
the viceroyship.
had
is,
There
he would have stooped to the
meanness of delivering up his Eg}^)tian colleague.
to the disgrace of the
raging
by the Portu
disgrace, by an atrocioas
and they had sailed away
prisoners in cold blood.
all their
;
conflict, after
in a glorious victory gained
Several days after the battle was fought,
for Cananore,
revenge
it
The
discretion.
,
resign the viceroyship,
mandate of
,
,
his sovereign.
So
far
,
.
from complying, he took the extraordinary
step of seizing the person of his competitor,
the fort of Cananore.
,
which he had persisted in holding, in defiance of the
He would
and sending him as a prisoner
to
probably have completed the treasonaljle
was now committed, by declaring himself independent, had
not the ojjportune arrival of Don Fernando Coutinho, witli a lai'ge fleet and
course to which he
DEATH OF ALMEIDA.
Chap VIII.]
181
The
extraordinary powers, enabled him to act with effect as a mediator.
Almeida abandoned
was, that
of
him that he was not destined
pa.ssed
it,
d. isio.
Before leaving, a native conjuror had
make merry with
when an
The three
the prediction,
event took place which terminated his career somewhat ignobly.
him anchored
in
Saldanha Bay, a
One
and sent ashore a watering- party.
He had
Cape of Good Hope.
to pass the
however, and had begun to
ships he had with
a
idea of resistance, and, resigning the insignia
took his departure for Em'ope.
office,
told
all
result
little
north of the Cape,
of the ex-viceroy's servants insulted
one of the natives, and wa.s roughly handled by tliem in return.
Almeida,
Death of
contrary to his wish and better judgment, was induced to take part in this
petty stpiabble, and having gone ashore, was returning with the cattle carried
oft
in
a foray, when
tlie
They were armed only with pointed
upon him.
efiectujdly,
stakes, but tiiese they used so
of the Portuguese soon lay dead at their
tliat tifty
them was the ex-viceroy
liis
been lying in ambuscade, rushed out
natives, wlio liad
himself, morttdly
wounded by
Among
feet.
a thrust whicli ])ierced
throat.
Albuquerque,
now
fully installed as viceroy,
was bent on following out
his
Aii,u<iuer-
que's attack
career of con(iuest, and sailed for Calicut, before which he appeared on the 2d
of January, 1510, with thirty vessels
natives
who
and 1800 men, together
airived from Europe with an earnest longing for Eastern
the opportunity offered, he
had
800 men, after administering
forward as
if
all tiie
it,
iiad
renown and now that
;
heart on signalizing himself as the captor
cautions which his superior talents and expe-
Unfortunately Coutinho thought only of his
prize,
he had been running a race rather than fighting a
looking behind him, he forced his
liimself in
iiis
Coutinho
Albuquerque indulged him by giving him the command of
of the royal palace.
rience suggested.
set
a number of
witli
followed in boats, allured by the hope of plunder.
on caikm
for the purpose of
way
to the palace,
and
set
and rushed
Never
battle.
about installing
His infatuation was
celebratmg his triumph.
who took advantage of it so silently and
not awake to a sense of his peril, till he found
soon perceived by the native troops,
Coutinho did
effectually, that
himself
hemmed
in
by thousands of
natives,
Albuquerque, in exerting himself for his
and dei^rived of every
•^
relief,
was
head by a stone, and in the throat by a dart, that
shore.
lie
fell
escape
wounded
was borne
Coutinho, and several young nobles from Lisbon,
in the
senseless to the
in the palace fighting
ami the whole detachment would have perished to a man, had not
hirge body of reserve arrived and obHged the enemy to retire.
Notwith-
desperately
a
so severely
outlet, """""'ow
standing
;
tills
disastrous retreat, the inhabitants suffered
much more
than the Portuguese, and saw the greater part of their city laid in
Ormuz was
severely
ruins.
the next place to which Albuquerque turned his attention.
had there been baffled by the supineness or treachery of his
officers,
He
particularly
Lope de Soarez and Juan de Nueva, and obliged, in consecpxence, to leave one
of the
main avenues of Mahomet<iii trade
still
open.
He
accordingly began to
>82
AD.
1510.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
make such
when his
preparations for a
new
attack upon
was attracted
attention
employ
lilies to
become the seat of Portuguese government
armament against Goa.
was
history,
have proved
it a.s inu.st
I.
Hucce.s.sfuJ,
another quarter, and he resolved
to
Mi.iiiuoi-
his
[Book
t^>
This town which, from having afterwards
makes some
the East,
in
figure in
on an island at the mouth of an estuary, forming one
finely situated
of the very few good harbours which occur on the western coast of the Indian
At
peninsula,
kings of
time (1510;
this
Deccan,
tlie
who had
it
was included
in the territ<jries of
and
his capital at Bejapoor,
is
asually called
Portuguese writers Sabay or Savay, though his proper name or
Adil Shah.
He had
recently wrested
of Albuquerque's quarrel with
that he did not
was
object
it
deem
it
it
worth
;
wliile to inquire
and
;
if
by
Yasuf
The grounds
and
it is
probable
His only
neces.sary either to allege or invent any.
to extend the Portuguese rule
as scarcely
title wa.s
from the Rajah of Onore.
Yusuf are not very apparent
one of the
he could succeed, he regarded
whether the means which he employed
One inducement may have been, that, as a new conquest,
Yusuf s possession of Goa must have been somewhat insecure. Another inducement was, that the Rajah of Onore, the legitimate ov/ner, was ready to assist to
could be justified.
the utmost in recapturing
still
more
He
it.
foimd a third auxiliary capable of rendering
who figures sometimes as Rajah of
which was bounded by Goa on the north, and .sometimes
in Timoja,
effectual assistance
Canara, a district
simply as a privateer, roaming the seas with a powerful
fleet,
and lising
b\-
plunder.
Thus
Ciipture
assisted,
ning of 1510.
Albuquerque made
At
first
his appearance
ofi'
the
coa.st in
the begin-
nephew
which was weU
anticipating a valiant resistance, he sent his
They discovered a
along with Timoja to take soundings.
fort
provided ^vith guns, and defended by 400 men, and not only had the hardihood
to attack, but the
good fortune to capture
commencement, and proved only the
first
This seemed a most auspicious
it.
of a series of fortunate events which
followed rapidly, and put Albuquerqiie in possession of this most important
locality, before
accounts,
he was required to strike a blow.
some conjuror or
According to the Portuguese
whose predictions were implicitly believed,
fakir,
had announced that Goa was destined shortly to become subject to
On the
faith of this prediction, the inhabitants
thought
instead of enduring the miseries of a siege which
to
make a voluntary
surrender.
it
foreigners.
a stroke of good policy,
must ultimately be
successful,
Accordingly, to the gi'eat but most agi'eeable
was received ashore by the population
had
Reception
surprise of Albuquerque, he
ciuerque.
becu their native prince, conducted in state to the gate, when he received the
keys,
and thereafter put in
posses.sion of the palace.
says nothing of the conjuror
;
and with
may have
and thus rendered defence
The Mahometan account
far greater probability represents the
capture as the necessary result of a surprise.
Albuquerque's nephew
The
fort captured
given them complete
impossible.
as if he
by Timoja and
command
of the city,
GOA CAPTURED.
Chap. VIII]
At
this time, however,
Yusnf Adil Shall having
it \v;i.s
died,
lo.st
183
almost as easily a«
was succeeded by
had been gained, ad.
it
his son Ismael Adil JShah,
who,
abont four months after the hasty surrender of Goa, collected an army estimated
Kumal Khan,
at 60,000.
whom
the general to
this
army was
denly made his appearance, and conducted the siege with so
Albu(i[uerque,
twenty days, finding
after
was glad
seriously threatened,
finally
from Cananore with a
.sail
iruich ability, that
fleet
fleet of
which had arrived from
twenty-three ships, and 1500
After landing at Onore, to assist at the celebration of Timoja
righting men.
taken.
In the course of the same year, having
prize.
collected all his forces, including several additional ships
Portugal, he set
^oa takeu
nnd le-
But he had no idea of
to evacuate the place.
abandoning so valuable a
intrusted, sud-
communication with the
his
1511.
s
marriage with the daughter of a native ([ueen, he h.ustened off to Goa, and,
anchoring before
a second time, immediately prepared for the
it
It
.issault.
took place before daybreak, and with such success, that the Portuguese entered
the city along with those of the defenders
who had been
a time every inch of gi'ound within the city
at the palace the fight
their retreat to the
was
alive
left
;
was furiously renewed,
mainland might be cut
The enemy
confusion.
was
lost
6000
;
.stationed outside.
disputed,
till
the defenders, fearing that
the Portuguese only
but the natives were
ti
and more especially
([uitted the place in the
off,
For
utmost
Not one Moor
fifty.
eated with great moderation.
Besides
recovering theu' property, they had the satisfaction of being placed under the
government of
their
countryman Timoja, who ruled more equitably than might
have been anticipated from his predatory habits.
dechired his intention to
The remaining
make Goa
Before departing, Albuquerque
the capital of Portuguese India.
exploits of Albuquerque, though they
had not India
for their Aibuqner-
theatre, are so intimately connected witli its history, that a short account of
them
is
here subjoined.
After returning to Cochin he began to prepare another
armament, and gave out that
was destined
to act against
Aden, which was
then, as it is
now, the key to the navigation of the Red Sea.
The importance
of the object
was
sufficient to justify all the preparations
but while preteiuling to
The
tion.
it
l(K)k to
the west, his eye
city of Malacca, situated
long been the most important
was
tion iigainst
^^'^
which he was making;
fixed in an opposite direc-
on the peninsula of the same name, had
emporium of the
rich countries lying further east
The Moors were still carrying on a lucrative traffic in that quarter
by means of it were almo.st able to compensate themselves for all the losses
than India.
;
:ind
which they had sustjiined from the Portuguese.
,
sufficient
wiiich he
to determine
ships
itself
Albuquercpie to undertake the important expedition
was now meditating, though the
might expect to derive from
On
This consideration was of
it
direct benefits
were of themselves a
which
sufficient
his
own country
inducement.
the 2d of May, 1511, Albuquerque set sail from Cochin with nineteen
and 1400 fighting men,
Of
these, however,
600 were natives of India.
Malacca was at this time under the rrovemment of a king of the
name
of
capture of
HISTORY OF INDIA.
IcSl
A
D. 1513.
Miihomcd, whu
by an
('ai>tureof
liad trcacherou.sly
officer called
iiiij)risoii(;il
a number
osteiisible object of Albu({uer(jue's expedition.
and was now defended by 30,000
these
means of
defence,
with, did not feel secure,
if
tliis
was ready
it
With
enemy he had
of the kind of
command
at his
boldest he
tlie
and 8000 cannon.
and sent a messenger to the viceroy
he came for merchandise,
commanded
outrage was the
have contained 100,000 inhabi-
soldiers,
Mahomed, aware
I.
Portugues*.',
waH one of
It
itself is said to
tants,
of"
To avenge
Diego Lo[)ez de Siqueira.
had ever undertaken, as the city
[Book
t^>
all
deal
to intimate that,
Albuquerque replied
by Siqueira,
and that on the delivery of them he would be prepared to say what more lie
wanted.
After some parleying, the captives were delivered, and Albuquerque
It demanded compensation for the outrage, and for the
sent his ultimatum.
expenses incurred in obtaining redress, and a site for the erection of a Portuthat the merchandise he required
guese
This
fort.
last
was some Portuguese
proposal the king refused to entertain, and Albuquerque
The Malays
immediately prepared to compel him.
but
it is difficult
artillery,
to believe
it
;
for
with
all
are said to have fought well,
the aid which they could derive from
poisoned aiTows, poisoned thorns, and mines of gunpowder laid in the
streets, their tens of
way
thousands gave
before a mere handful of Portuguese,
and the viceroy took triumphant possession of the
received and sent several embassies
He
to Pegu.
of these
there
left
is
;
among
the
also sent out several navigators
said to
While here he both
city.
latter,
one to Siam, and another
One
on exploring expeditions.
have been commanded by Magalhaens,
whom
to
it
suggested
the idea of his subsequent celebrated circmnnavigation.
On
•\i'"i^
iieroisraaud
the voyage home, Albuquerque lost his finest ship, which was nearl}' cut
across the kccl
position he
on a sharp rock
was obliged
otf the coast of
to pass the night
;
girl
whom
in India, he
In this perilous
and when the morning dawned, was
seen peiforming an act of humanity and heroism,
young
Sumatra.
by
sheltering with his
he had saved in the midst of the confusion.
When
found that advantage had been taken of his absence.
arms a
he arrived
Adel Khan
Goa with an army of 20,000 men, and the zamorin
was again in arms. Goa was easily relieved and the zamorin, despairing of
The subversion of the Mameluke djTiasty in
success, retired from the contest.
Egypt had deprived him of any fui-ther assistance from Ameer Hoossein, and
on looking round he saw no quarter to which he could appeal for new aid.
had resumed the
siege of
;
According to Ferishta,
tiiis
humbling conviction so completely overwhelmed
him, that his health gave way, and he died of a broken heart.
Hisexpedi
tion against
Aden.
fhe attack on Aden, which Albuquerque meditated, had been postponed
that of Malacca, but by no means abandoned.
Accordingly, on the 18th
^
to
,
February, 1513, he appeared before
board
1
it
with a
fleet
700 Portuguese, and 800 natives of India.
and hastened forward, in the hope
he might gain possession of the
that,
place.
by applying
He had
of twenty
He
lost
sail,
having on
no time in landing,
scaling-ladders to the
underrated
of
its
strength,
w^alls,
and the
ORMUZ CAPTURED.
Chap. VIII.
valour of
defenders,
its
and was obliged
to retire with a loss too severe to leave
He
him any inclination to renew the attempt.
degree by entering the Red Sea, which then,
on
vessel
compensated himself in some
for the first time,
saw an European
After re-
several valuable prizes.
maining; for some time at the island
of
a.d isu.
made
bosom, and
its
18;")
„
Kamaran, he returned and again
looked
upon Aden, but found
in
that
in the
tions
had been
that
it
interval its fortifica-
much improved
so
would have been madness
to attack
He
it.
therefore passed
Aden.
and continued
on,
On
India.
— Bruii et Hogenburg, 1574.
voyage to
his
reaching Gujerat he
made an
ineffectual application for permission
but did not attempt to enforce
to build a fort at Diu,
another project, on which his heart had long been
nestly that his attempts to accomplish
project
it,
as he
and
set,
had hitherto been
it
all
This
frustrated.
His
was the command of the Persian Gulf by the capture of Ormuz.
third attempt
upon
it
was made
in March,
The circumstances were
1514.
opportune; and when he demanded permission to complete the
though disposed to
nor,
was intent on ^^^^ °^
the more ear-
The name
comply.
of
resist, felt
the gover-
fort,
he had not the means, and was obhged to
Albuquerque was now famous
all
over the East; and
even Ismael, the I'ounder of the famous Persian dynasty of Sophi, sent him
an ambassador with valuable presents, and concluded a treaty with him.
Before leaving Ormuz, Albuquerque not only finished his
king to lodge
in inducing or forcing the
way Portuguese supremacy was completely
Under Albuquerque the Portuguese
more firmly
an empire, as
it
but succeeded
cannon within
In this
it.
established.
])ower extended
more widely, and was
It cannot, however,
seated, tiian before or since.
[)riety styled
all his
fort,
be with any pro-
was not composed of contiguous
immense
rather consisted of a vast niunber of isolated forts, scattered over an
extent of coast, and situated at wide distances from each other.
for the
gi-eat
this
The
sites
most part admirably chosen, and gave a complete control over
maritime thoroughfares from the East Indies to Eurojie.
mode
of rule
easily acquired,
stability
is
lias its
advantages over
territorial
but
teiTitories,
were
the
all
In some respects
possession.
It
is
more
and admits of being maintained at a cheaper rate; but
very precarious.
necessarily extinguished.
(juerque's regency, there
The moment the command at sea
This, however,
were no
is
lost,
its
it
is
was an event of which, during Albu-
s^Tn})tonis;
and the
fact that they
began to be
manifested not long after he disappeared from the scene, serves to impress us
with a higher idea of the wisdom and vigour of his government.
countrymen hailed him
Vol.
I.
as " Great."
all
When
his
impartial observers of his exploits were
24
Porttieuese
tha kuh.
:
mSTOilY OF INDIA
186
A.I),
i&i.":
ready to
[Book
His greatness, however, was
eclio their acc-lamations
1
now drawing
to a close.
Albuquer-
While at Ormuz
had suffered much from
lie
sickness,
que's Ul1163:;.
become
make him hasten
sufficiently serious to
and seemed unbroken
year,
grief tliat killed iiim.
Duke
of
title
It
In
in constitution.
is
ti-uth,
had applied
said that he
There was no
his departure.
He had
reason, however, to suspect a fatal termination.
and the sympUjms had
only passed his sixtieth
it
was not
disease but
to his sovereign for the
His enemies took advantage of the circum.stance to
of Goa.
was cherishing schemes of ambition, and had manifested, by
insinuate that he
the arrogance of his application, the treasonable purpose which he had at heart.
Once Duke of Goa, he would
whole East as
rule the
establish him.self in tliat Eastern metropolis,
There was
ab-solute master.
was enough
insinuations; but there
to form the
little
plausibility in these
groundwork of a
successful
court intrigue.
Albuquerque, wliile oppressed by sickneas, was yet dreaming
of a ducal
when he
title,
received the mortifying intelligence that the only
reward which he was to obtain
He was
no longer viceroy
seded to
make way
than he could bear
was
for all his services
and
;
as if this
for his mortal
and when the
;
On
in a dying state.
how
exclaimed, " See
it is
the
vessel in
first
which he
news of
my
To the
grave, then, old man, for
his last acts
mending
wliich
is
was
The shock was more
sailed arrived off Goa, he
his dismis.sal, he
is
fellow-men has brought
now
high time
to write a touching letter to
his son to his protection, he says:
of small
impose, and this
him and
it is
amount but
;
for me."
It
was thought he
advanced with such rapid
after the vessel
strides,
had crossed the
buried with great
pomp
at
Goa
said to have
me
my
into bad
fellow-men.
to the grave
!
"
One
of
in which, recom-
my property,
obligation which my ser\dces
"I bec^ueath to
affairs of India,
liim
they will speak for
micrht be able to reach Goa, but death
that he breathed his last almost immediately
bar,
;
:
King Emanuel
Mm the
In regard to the
great.
is
I also leave
dLsmis-sal.
was not enough, he had been super-
enemy, Lope Soarez.
Love to
!
was a summarj'
odour with the king, and love to the king into bad odour with
His death.
and
on the 16th of December, 1515.
He was
but in accordance with a request in his
will.
his remains, in 1566, v/ere transported to Lisbon.
Lope Soarez
After the death of Albuquerque, the Portuguese power began visibly to
succeeds.
decline.
"Up
to this time," says Faria
y
Sousa, "the gentlemen
had followed
the dictates of true honour, esteeming their arms the greatest riches
;
from
time forward, they so wholly gave themselves up to trading, that those
ought to have been captains became merchants."
and eager scramble
for riches,
There was, in
from the highest to the lowest
and public was held subordinate and made subservient
very
first
sail,
a general
to private interest.
fleet of thirteen sail, and, ha\'ing increased it
to twenty-seven
who
class of officials
proceedings of Soarez gave evidence of his incapacity.
brought with him a
ments
short,
this
by
He
The
had
reinforce-
proceeded, in accordance with the orders which he
DIEGO LOPEZ DE SEQUEIRA.
Chap. VIIL]
187
had received at Lisbon, on an expedition to the Red Sea, with the view of ad.
encountering a large
at Suez.
On
arriving
the keys.
Egypt was
Aden, he found a large breach
ott"
consequence of a siege which
(Tovemor of
the Sultan of
fleet wliicli
had
it
lately sustained
defenceless condition, that he actually
its
The compliments with which they were
his vanity, that
he returned
said to be fitting out
in the fortificsitions, in
and
;
so conscious Wi\s the
made Soarez an
offered
were
ofter of
so soothing to
keys thas tendered, and desired the governor
tlie
.
to
keep them
him
for
He
which admitted of no delay.
was at present on an expedition
as he
his return,
till
1521.
accordingly entered the
cruizing about to no purpose, retraced his .steps to Aden,
Red
ineffectual
atteiii))t
uiion .\<ien
Sea, and, after
and was very much
astonished when, on announcing his arrival to the complimentary governor, he
proud defiance to come and take them.
received, insteatl of the keys, a
The
explanation was soon given.
visit,
A bold
had, in the interval, been thoroughly repaired.
have put him in pos.session of
and he moved
it;
which were defenceless on
walls,
off to
attempt some petty
mitted him, for nearly a third of
liastened
back to Goa with
Tlie native princes,
tlie
fleet
liis
Even
captiu-e.
was destroyed
his former
stroke might yet
man
but Soarez was not the
tlie place,
The
this
make
to
was not
in a storm,
per-
and he
remainder.
who had been overawed by Albuquerque, were not
Ill
/.|.
to duscover the character of his .successor,
and take advantage
.slow rortupiew
(••T->i/^
of
Both Goa
it.
build a fort
at
Colombo
and Malacca were seriously threatened, though as much of ancient discipline
still
remained to ward
ott'
the danger.
these disasters were the submission of
to
become tributary
to Portugal,
The only occuiTences to compen.sate for
the King of Ceylon, who, in 1517, agreed
and allow a
fort to
be built at Colombo
;
and
the successful voyage of Fernando Perez de Andrada, who, in the same year,
penetrated to Canton, and laid the foundation of a lucrative trade.
Diego Lopez de
who
Se(iueira,
succeeded Soarez, was a
man
of a similar
temper, and instead of doing anything to retrieve the honour of the Portuguese
arms,
tarnishetl
appearing before
them
it
further
still
by a dastardly
manned by 3000 Portuguese, and 800
natives.
MuUik
Febniary, 1521, he sent a mes.senger to
permission to build a
fort,
The Gujerat admiral
much
from Diu, after
with one of the largest armaments which had ever sailed
under Portuguese colours in the Indian Ocean.
it.
retreat
and a menace, that
told
him
to
He had in all forty .ships,
On his arrival, on the 9th of
Eiaz, with the old re([uest for
if it
were
do his worst
;
refused, he
would
force
and must have been as
pleased as sur]irised when, instead of being attacked in the style of which
Almeiila and Albuipierque had given examples, he
saw the Portuguese
fleet
weigh anchor, and gradually disappear from the coast.
The fortiflcations, it
seems, had been strengthened and Lopez, after endeavouring to .shelter himself
;
the protection of his batterie.s at Diu, and, sailing out, converted the Portuguese
)>iii:it.i(>us
:i(?iiiii«t
tlie
retreat into a Hight, taking one of their ships
and disperaing the
Not
rest.
I'ortugueso.
with this
satisfied
he continued his course to
success,
where the Portu-
(Jlioul,
guese were engaged in building a factory, again defeated them, and remained
off the port
fni-
twenty days, cutting
and the Portuguese
communication Vjetween the
which kept iiovering
fleet,
or attemi)ting to force a
outside,
run much
risk,
but
The
the adjoining territory
all
without offering
became emboldened, and Adel Khan,
appearance once more in the vicinity of Goa.
his
fact^jry
battle,
In ])roportion as Portuguese pasillanimit\
pa.s.sage.
increased, their assailants
to
ott' all
city
was
1522, ma«L'
in
was too well
occupied,
fortifier 1
and once more
acknowledged the supremacy of the King of Bejapoor.
Naval
off
In
fight
1
527 the hopes of the Portuguese were much revived by a decisive
victors'
Choul.
gained at Ohoid over the Gujerat
Of
these, seventy-three
fieet,
which consisted of eighty-three
were burned, destroyed, or driven ashore.
Silveira, the victor, following his advantage,
Bombay now
bay, where
stands, to
ve.ssel.-s
Hector de
proceeded up to the head of the
Tannah, and then northwards to
Bas.sein,
levying contributions from both places, and compelling both to become tributary.
Three years
Antonio de
his brother,
after,
vessels, crossed the
sacked and burned
with a
Silveira,
bar of the river Taptee, and, forcing his
of fifty-one
fleet
way up
to Surat.
In the following year Daman, a large town situated on
it.
the same coast, shared the same
fate.
These, however, were only desultory attacks, preparatory to a gi-eat
Kxpeditioii
effcjrt
against Diu.
The King
about to be made for the capture of Diu.
of Portugal, iiTitated at
having been so often baffled in his attempts to take
it
The expedition had
attempted.
sent out peremptory
The preparations were on a
magnitude anything that the Portuguese had ever before
orders to obtain possession of
scale far exceeding in
it,
on any terms!
its
rendezvous in
Bombay
harbour, where
mustered 400 vessels of aU descriptions, having on board 22,200 men.
3600
soldiers
and 1400
sailors
were Europeans.
On
it
Of these,
the 16th February, 1531,
commanded by Nmino de Cunha, governor of India, arrived
Nine days before, it had attacked the town and island of Bet, or Be}t,
the expedition,
off"
Diu.
which
lies
not far from the south side of the entrance to the Gulf of Cutch.
and was strongly
of 18,000
Its faUure.
men
men and
sixty cannon to the enemy,
to the Portuguese.
disaster.
Among
both by nature and
fortified
The
art.
It
was taken with a
and with the
loss of
victory, however, great as it seemed,
loss
only twelve
was
in fact a
the twelve slain was Hector de Silveira, the hero of the
fleet
while the time lost was so diligently improved by the enemy, that Diu was
rendered
all
The defence was conducted by Mustapha Khan,
much courage and ability, that all the efforts of the
but impregnable.
an European Turk, with so
besiegers proved fruitless,
and they found
it
necessary, at the end of a month,
4
J
BAHADUR SHAH.
Chap. VIII.
According to the Portuguese accounts,
to retire.
the sole cau.se of
failui-e
;
Mahometan
but the
180
tlie
strength of the place
was
ad.
1534
add that the immediate
historians
cause of raising the siege was the approach of Bahadm- Shah, then ruler of
This so frightened the Portuguese,
Gujerat, at the head of a formidable army.
that they
made a
tiiese is said
to
precipitate retreat, leaving their
"
have been
avenge themselves
and committed
coast
One
of
the largest ever before seen in India, and recjuired
a machine to be constructed for conveying
ti)
gmis behind them.
for their defeat,
it
to
The Portuguese,
Champanere."
bm-ned a great number of towns upon the
fearful devastation
Notwithstanding their discomfiture, the Portuguese had not abandoned the
naiu-uiur,
k"
make themselves masters of Diu. If direct force
failed, policy might yet succeed.
Chand Khan, a brother of Bahadur, was at
first set up as a competitor for the throne, and when this failed, a league was
liope of
being yet able to
f
Gujemt
formed with Hoomayoon, King of Delhi, who, regarding Bahadur as a revolted
make
Bahadur, thus pressed on
had invaded Gujerat.
vassal,
his choice
between submission
He
the Portuguese.
King of
to the
preferred the latter;
was obliged
to
and submission
to
all sides,
Delhi,
and accordingly,
in 1534, concluded
a treaty by which he ceded Bassein, which was thenceforth to be the only port
at which vessels sailing from India were to
He
pay duties and take out
clearances.
further engaged not to assist the Turkish fleets in the Indian seas.
made the Portuguese
his friends, but made him more obnoxious than ever to the King of Delhi, who,
following up the advantages which he had gained, obliged him to take refuge
This treaty gave him only a very partial relief
It
.
.
.
.
^ir
aiii.an.-e
vrith thu
portugtieso
Here, as the assistance of the Portuguese was indispensable to him, he
in Diu.
was obliged
by giving them permission to build a fortified factory.
As the work proceeded Bahadur became more and more uneasy, and besides
to purchase
it
entering into communication with the Turks,
the destruction of his Portuguese
allies.
The
is
said to have formed a plot for
stjxtements on the subject
Portuguese and the Mahometans vary so much, that
it is difficult
by the
to pronoimce
The probability is, that both parties were anxious to be quit
and that thus there were plots and counter-plots. All that can
between them.
of each other,
now
be considered certain
was on a
visit to the
is,
tlmt a frav commenced, and that Bahadur,
Portuguese admiral, having fallen or leaped into the
who
sea, a
Portuguese sailor threw a boarding-pike at him, which pierced his skull, and hu
killed
ciii
him on the
spot.
bono, the decision
wlille
Bahadur
Were
would necessarily be given against the Portuguese;
lost his life,
from them.
It has
for
they gained the island of Diu.
They had not been long
it
the question to be decided on the principle of
when an attem])t was made to wrest
been mentioned that when Bahadur repented of his
in possession
Solyman the
The application
cimcession to the Portuguese, he applied for aid to the Turks.
Magnificent was then upon the throne of Constantinople.
therefore could not
have been made under more favourable circumstances.
death
HISTORY OF INDIA.
190
AD.
1537.
[Book
Solyinan was a great and a successful warrior, and his irnajrination fired at
idea of estahlisliing an additional emj)ire in the Eant
Turkisii ox-
news of Bahadur's death
taken, the
arrived, but
tliis
inination to
fit
For
of Diu.
out an armament on such a
this pur[)ose instructions
8tep.s
tlie
were
only confirmed the deter''
peditioii to
Gujerat.
Before any
I.
.scale
as
would insure the conquest
were given to Solyman, the Egyptian
P^=9^-_
General View of Diu.
pacha, to
— Brun et Hogenburg, 1574.
commence preparations immediately
of seventy-six galleys, having 7000 Turkish soldiers on board,
fleet
equipped; and, sailing under the
command
There a
in the port of Suez.
was forthwith
of the pacha, arrived off
Diu
in the
beginning of September, 1537.
Portuguese
Thouo'li the dano-er
had been
foreseen, the Portucjuese councils
were at
this
besieged
in Diu.
time so dilatory and distracted, that no adequate preparations were made to
meet
it.'
The government of India had just been conferred on Garcia de
Noronha, and the time which ought to have been devoted to the supply of
Diu with everything necessary to
its
was spent
defence
in petty squabbles
The consequence was, that when the
between the old governor and the new.
Turki.sh fleet arrived, the garrison consisted only of about 600 men,
them
sickly.
Nor was
so deficient, that nothing could save the place
which the Portuguese had to
was
fear.
A
Nor was
from capture
if
the siege
the Tm-kish the only
was
armament
Gujerat army, estimated at 20,000 men,
in the vicinity, ready to co-operate
Such was the apparently desperate
Heroic
of
Both ammunition and provisions were
this the worst.
persisted in or relief did not arrive.
many
with the besiegers.
state
of matters
when
the governor,
defence.
Antonio de
in
the
fort.
Silveira,
unable to maintain a footing in the town, shut himself up
In himself, however, he was equal to a host, possessing not only
military talents of the highest order, but also the rare gilt of infusing his
own
who were under
Not only was every
soldier within the garrison prepared to do his duty, but the women, forgetting
the feebleness of their sex, fearlessly encountered every danger, and worked with
their own hands in repairing the walls as they crumbled beneath the jwwerful
lieroic spirit into all
his
command.
SIEGE OF DIU.
Chap. VIII]
Turkish
It is told of
artillery.
by night she viewed
that
instead of giving
retin-ned to lier post,
jiside,
all
way
Anna
posts,
tlie
She even saw
encouraofino- the soldiers.
ball, but,
one lady,
to the
and only
191
Fernandez, wife of a physician,
and during the
own
lier
stood by
assaults
down by a cannon-
son struck
agony she must have
after the assault
a.d. 1545.
drew
felt,
body
his
had been repulsed went to
bury him.
It
was
however,
imi)ossible,
the
that
defence
could
much
last
The
longer.
°
Every new
assault thinned the
numbers of the
siege ot
Diu
.
garrison,
and
raised
many
scarcely as
remained as could make even a show of resistance, when a breach was nuide.
The governor saw
way
was
nothinij befoie
him but death or surrender, and was
to the gloomiest forebodings,
when, to his uns])eakable delight, the siege
The Turkish commander, when
raised.
by the
dispirited
his greatest efforts, received the startling intelligence that
fleet
was
at
hand
and, without staying to ascertain
;
the utmost precipitation.
circulated, strange to say,
who commanded
It
ffivino-
its
failure of
one of
a powerful Portuguese
accuracy,
made
with
ofi'
turned out to be a false rumour, invented and
by Khojah Zofar, a renegade Turk, of Italian
the Gujerat forces.
origin,
His pride had been repeatedly offended
by the arrogance of Solyman Pacha; and he had, moreover, ascertained that the
Turks were determined,
if
they gained the place, to retain
There was thus only a choice of mastere
])ossession.
;
as a
it
permanent
and as the Portuguese
seemed the more tolerable of the two, Zotar had given them the preference.
After Khojaii Zofar had rid himself of his Turkish
by
allies
this stratagem,
^
he entered into friendly communications with the Portuguese, but at the same
Attcinptto
the
gmrisou.
I'Oisoii
time took several steps whicli convinced them that enmity was rankling at his
He was
heart
in the highest possible
favour with the King of Gujerat; and
feeling satisfied that that sovereign's complete
ascendency in the peninsula
own aggrandizement, was
prepared to adopt any means,
wouUl best secure
his
however unscrupulous, that promised
attempt was an infamous
an immense
When this
cistern
from the town
Portuguese.
laid,
His
first
which he endeavoured to poison the water of
to the magazine.
fire
which would have comj)letely
The Portuguese objected
and the foundation
;
he had no sooner completed his preparations,
than he made an open declaration of war.
Mascarenhas, the
m
the
which supplied the garrison, and to set
a quarrel being thus
in 1545,
expel
plot failed, he attempted to build a wall
isolated the fort
foi-
plot, in
to
the cn-cumstances
commander
;
of Diu,
made
the best aiTanorements
but his means being inadecpiate, he
lost
iios-sible
no time
in
acquainting Juan de Castro of his danger. Zofar, at the same time, aware of his
advantage, resolved to assault the place before succour could an-ive.
With this
view he prepared an immense
lery,
caused
it
it
with heavy
to be steered opposite to the .sea-bastion, in the
such a breach in
clumsy device,
floating battery, and, filling
it
as
would give him access into the
for before
he could bring
it
artil-
hope of making
It
proved a very
to bear the garrison
made a night
fort.
R<^'»»'^' »«
;
192
A
D. 1.04V
HISTORY OF INDIA.
atta-k upon
and, settin;^
it,
fire to
blew
it,
to complete the wall already mentioned,
kept up
an incessant and crushinf;
*
"^
Zofar's
efforts to
was of extraordinary
takb uia
size,
killed the
it nit/j tlie air.
and
on the
his great
come and witness
fort to
'
said Uj
it is
Happily
fly.
gun did more harm
killed
was
far
It proved hotter
it.
I)usillanimous prince
neiskiiie.i
fort.
Every shot from
have shook the
for the besieged,
was
on the way back
success, that
to the Portuarrived.
;
and the
which lighted on
his tent
and never looked behind him
fled,
A
to his capital.
ball
still
more fortunate shot
This gave the exhausted garrison some respite; but
short duration, for
Roumi Khan,
Zofar's
.son,
It
he hafl invited him to
work than he had anticipated
by a chance
so terrified
one of his attendants, that he
Zofar himself
till
killed
was
it
of
succeeded him, and, not satisfied
with the slow process which had hitherto been pursued, made a general
It failed,
island,
one of their shot
own party than
to his
seems that Zofar had become so confident of
lie
mount it with cannon, which
One of the nieces of ordnance
t<>
While the siege was thus proceeding, the King of Gujerat
guese.
was
Frenchman, and the gunner who succeeded him managed so awk
wardly that
and
Zofar's next plan
i.
and bein^ managed by an expert French renegade,
did con.siderable damage.
and made pieces of the
fire
[B<jok
new attempt
but scarcely a day passed without some
assault.
to force an
entrance into the place.
The
had now lasted several months, while the preparations at Goa
siege
proved so dilatory, that the only
progiess of
commanded by Fernando de Castro, the
govcmors son, and the other by Don Alvaro. The latter consisted of 400 men,
and brought supplies of ammunition and provision, when they were just on the
point of being exhausted.
The Portuguese were so elated that they disdained
to
be cooped up any longer in the
against his better
ness,
judgment
to lead
and retreated with such
and almost compelled Mascarenhas
fort,
them
out.
They paid dearly
precipitation, that they
had the greatest
This domestic misfortune seems to have had the effect of hastenincr
De
enemy
fi'om entering the fort along
was the governor's own
but
it
with them.
son.
Castro's departvu-e from Goa.
What
the cause of delay
possessed in the East,
any
other,
first
was
and the
in the
acquisition of
not exjDlained
is
_
_
tlirce Sail, lost
coast,
but at
doul)tful.
course,
.
^
cost
them more than
His
fleet,
which consisted of
some time in committing barbarities at various
last,
in
loio,
was observed from Diu.
and gained a signal
and the Portuguese
for the
ninet}'
.
After relieving the garrison,
of his troops
which had
which the Portuguese
most imminent danger, Ms prepai-ations were
time considered to be complete.
l)y
L'astro
was
gives a poor idea of his energy and resources to learn, that at the end of
eight months, while one of the most important stations
De
difficulty
the
slain
relieved
for their rash-
Among
in preventing the
Dill finally
two
detachments, the one
insignificant
the siege
relief sent to the garrison consisted of
De
victory.
The
localities
result
on the
was not long
Castro marched out at the head
The
fall
of the
town followed of
acted, as they almost invariably did
on such occa-
DEATH OF DE
Chap. VITI.]
by indulging
sions,
" Tlie
in horrid atrocities.
193
CASTliU.
women
e.scaped not the fate of
ad
1570.
the men, and children were slain at their mothers' breasts."
The victory which De Castro had gained was not very remarkable. His
troops bore a considerable proportion to those of the enemy, and with the superiority of discipline which they possessed, it would have been disgraceful to him
But the Portuguese,
not to have succeeded.
had
their power,
;i
for several years before
in consequence of the decline of De
enjoyed few opportunities of celebrating
feelings of the governor,
and therefore entered readily into the
victory,
who
a Roman
thought himself entitled to be received at
The gates and
triumph.
streets
c-wtro-s
ceiei.rati...,
"l^y""^"'
Goa with all the magnilicence of
were hung with silk, all places
resounded with music and salvos of cannon, and vessels gaily adorned covered
The governor on arriving
the harbour.
presented with a crown of laurel,
branch of
with a
it
which he carried
he had borne
crucifix, as
the royal standard
like
in the
;
walked one Friar Anthony,
in front
and
fiofht,
windows throwing
On
him with sweet water.
Queen
hand
The governor walked on
the ladies from the
Catherine,
it
was
with which he encircled his head, and a
besi(ie
behind was Jazar Khan, a Moorish
;
captives in chains.
silks,
in his
at the gate, under a rich canopy,
him an
chief,
leaves of gold
officer
bearing
followed by 600
and
and
silver,
rich
upon him, and sprinkling
flowers
reading the account of this pompous procession,
"De
of Portugal, shrewdly remarked, that
He
a Christian and triumphed like a heathen."
Castro had overcome
did not long .survive his
His death
and charac-
trunnph
;
and was on
his death-bed
when
the honours sent out from Portugal to
reward his victory were announced to him at Goa.
man, but
this
failing
He must have
was compensated by many good
t«r.
been a vain
He was
qualities.
so
zealous for the public service, that gi-ief for the miserable condition into which
it
had
his
fallen is said to
have broken his heart
honesty by dj-ing in extreme poverty.
and he gave the best proof of
;
One
of his last acts
was
to
make
a
formal protest, which he desired to be recorded, to the effect that "he had never
made
u.se
any other man's money, nor driven any trade t<»
The practices of which he thus solemnly declared his
of the king's nor
increase his
own
stock."
innocence, undoubtedly prevailed to a great
officials,
and go
far to account for the rapidity
extent
among
the
with which Portugal
Portuguese
fell
from the
From time to time, however, .she
and showed how much she might .still have
high place which she once held in the East.
seemed to resume her ancient
spirit,
been able to accomplish, had
men
intriguers,
In
of spirit and integi'ity. instead of mere court
been placed at the helm of
1570,
when
affairs.
Luis de Ataida was \'iceroy, one of the most fomiidable
combmations into which the native princes had ever entered, was triumphant!}defeated.
It
was headed by the Deccan Kings of Ahmednuggm* and Bejapoor,
and a new zamorin, who, undeterred by the fate of his predecessor, was bent on
recovering all that had been wi-ested from him.
Their common object was to
expel the Portuguese from the country, but each had his
VoL.
I.
own
separate griev25
^'"m'""''
tivepmices.
—
194
A.D
li70.
HISTOKVr OF INDIA.
ance; and hence, thovigli the attack was
important stations
—
V)y tlie
is
the only one to which
Ally Adil Shah,
who
was mafle
it
at Choul
—by
I.
at thret
tlie zarnorin,
which overawed his capital at Calicut
and by the King of Bejapoor, at Goa.
memorable,
.siiiiultaiieons,
King of Ahniednuggnr,
at Cliale, wliere a fort liad been erected
l'\)niii(lable
[?K,f,K
The
it is
as in every respect the
last,
most
necessary liere to advert.
then sovereign of Bejapoor, having assembled an
wfis
attack on
(ioa by Ally
army
of 100,000 foot
and 35,000
2140 elephants and 350 pieces of
horse,
Adil Shah.
cannon, suddenly descended from one of the passes of the Western Ghauts
intfj
the Concan, and then, turning south, marched without of)position upon Goa.
No
preparations had been
made
for this formidable attack
;
and the governor, on
mustering his European troops, found that they did not exceed 700.
these he
had about
1
300 monks, whose zeal and fanaticism compen.sated in some
number
degree for their want of discipline, and a considerable
of natives, on
whom
no great confidence could be placed.
His great security was
in his insular
position, which, so long as
command
impo.ssible for
enemy
the
to attempt
the mainland.
he held the
Against this
the Portuguese, aware that
it
Ally Adil Shah directed
side, accordingly,
if
all his
heroic valour
was
It
was only a temporary
and by one great
wliich the
effort, in
a short time, took his
for
;
into
and, after lingeiing
;
More than 12,000 of
final departure.
most
them
displayed, cut their assailants to pieces, or drove
Ally Adil Shah had no heart to renew the combat
sea.
succeas
they made good their footing the place must sur-
render, mustered all their strength,
for
made
an approach on any side but the one which lay nearest to
succeeded in passing over into the island.
the
at sea,
and with such overpowering numbers and perseverance, that 5000 men
efforts,
It is repulsed
Besides
his troops
had
The attacks on Choul and Chale were equally unsuccessful. New
lustre was thus added to the Portuguese arms and many who looked only at
the surface imagined that their power had never been established on a firmer
perished.
;
Those
basis.
who
looked deeper could not but see that the whole fabric wac
undermined and tlireatening
Causes of
Portuguese
decline.
It
ruin.
would be out of place here
to
examine in
detail the various causes to
which the overthrow of Portuguese supremacy in the East
few, however,
may
One
be briefly mentioned.
and
By
all
attributable.
of the most obvious
parative indifference of the Portuguese themselves.
the Cape of
is
Good Hope, India was the great goal
for
When
they
the com-
is
first
which they were
doubled
stiiving,
the exertions of which they were capable were exclusively devoted to
the discovery of Brazil a
new
interest
was
created,
A
it.
and gradually became
the more absorbing because the more lucrative of the two.
A
smaU
state like
Portugal was unable to superintend the affairs of two mighty empires, situated
at the opposite extremities of the globe
;
and experience seems to have proved
that in giving the preference to the American continent she
choice.
own
Both empires, indeed, are now
race of kings
still sits
enthroned.
lost to
her
;
made
the wiser
but in that of the West her
Chap.
PORTUGUESE DECLINE.
TX]
may be
Another caase of Portuguese decline in the East
Eui'opean
and became subject
Cardinal, Portugal lost her national independence,
bigoted and t^Taimical rule of Philip
wake
of
II.
While her domestic
see all her interests
interests
were
sacrificed,
decline
cause of rapid decay in the hostility which
Pliilip's
not to be
it is
In connection
to.
we
with the degrading bondage to which Portugal was thus reduced,
see a tliirJ
an'ogance provoked in other
The United Provinces of Holland,
states.
Causes of
from which she could not possibly reap
supposed that those of her colonies were duly attended
European
a.d. isso
to the
She was thus obliged to
of Spain.
more powerful neighbour, and
lier
sacrificed in the prosecution of objects
any advantage.
found in the state of
In 1580, after the short and inglorious reign of Henry the
politics.
follow in the
195
throwing
after
off his yoke,
continued at open war with him, and saw no quarter in which they could so
effectually resent the wrongs,
To the same quarter the eyes
suffered, as in the East.
been turned
was
to
and
;
and indemnify themselves
establish
an independent
moment when
had she been
Rome,
the friendly or prudential con-
all
had prevented them from claiming a share in the Portuguese
Indian monopoly ceased
left
to
have any weight, and their determination to
traffic
was openly avowed.
in the East
Thus, at the
Portugal Wfis scarcely able to maintain her position, even
own
alone to deal with native powers after her
herself brought face to face with
these
of the English had long
have en.slaved tliem by a double yoke of the most intolerable description
siderations wliich
saw
they had
they had triumplied gloriously over the Armada, which
after
—the yoke of Spain and the yoke of
very
for the losses
two most formidable
fashion, she
competitors.
To
we now tmn.
CHAPTEll
Attempts
to roach India
north-east
—The
IX.
by other routes than that of the Cape —Their
south-west passage practicable but circuitous
Cape generally recognized
ENRY
1
tlie
failure
— Superiority
"of
the passage by the
— First voyages of the English and Dutch by that route.
VII.
of Enghind had the reputation of being one of
ii'i
most enlightened
1
accordingly.
1
monarchs
Columbus hoped
/!•
of
lus
vance the fvmds necessary for carrying
all his talents,
was of
age,
i-iand ni lum,
to find a patron at once able to
appreciate his grand scheme of discovery,
tunately Henry, with
by the north-west and
it
and disposed
into effect.
to ad-
Unfor-
a penurious, avaricious temper,
and
remained so long in suspense between the advantages to be gained by the
enterprise if
it
should succeed, and the pecuniary
loss to
which
it
would subject
Maritime
enter|)ri»e
inKngiaui.
HISTORY OF JNDIA.
196
A
I)
1408.
him
if it
I.
should prove a failure, that he lost the opportunity, and only Kignified
his intention to accef)t the services of the great
no longer
(BrjOK
possiVjle for
him
Genoese navigator when
it
was
Before Bartolommeo ColumljUK wjul'l
to obtain them.
return to announce the success of his mission to England, the discovery of the
New World
had ah-eady been achieved, and
his illustrious Vjrother
was
prose-
cuting a second voyage.
The
(^harter
disappointrn.:;nt
which Henry
appears in the readiness with which
felt
granted by
Henry VII.
he entered into a rival scheme of maritime discovery.
A
Venetian of the name
John Cabot, or Giovanni Caboto, had been settled for some time at Bristol,
and to him and his three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sanzio, the English
of
monarch, on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a charter, empowering them, in the
most unlimited terms,
to
make voyages
no great liberality in the grant, for
to bear
it
cost
him nothing
any part of the expense, he was niggardly enough
of the whole profit.
Simply
There was
of discovery in his name.
for the privilege of sailing
and while he
;
refu.se<l
to stipulate for a fifth
under the Englisli
flag,
and becoming governors under the English crown of any lands which might be
discovered, they
another to share
enterprise in
were to bear the whole
it
with them
England at
for
Newfoviiul-
profit allow
maritime
even when subjected to such rigorous
his three sons,
were able
to
out five vessels
fit
an experimental voyage to the West.
As a mercantile specvilation the voyage entirely failed but by the discovery
Newfoundland and of the west coast of North America, a foundation was laid
;
land (liscov
ered.
and
and in the event of
It gives a high idea of the spirit of
this period, that
terms, a Venetian stranger,
loss,
of
for the series of colonies or plantations which,
under the united influences of
have made
freedom and commerce,
the language and not a few of the
most valued
institutions of
triumphant in
western
the
England
world.
The accounts of the early proceedings
of the Cabots are so indistinct, that
it
to say
is difiicult
whether one or
two voyages were made.
If,
as seems
most probable, there were two, the
latter,
which took place in 1498,
commanded by
Sebastian,
w^as
whose fame
as a navigator ultimately thi'ew that
of his
shade.
Sebastian Cabot
Sebastian
— Syer's History of Bristol.
small, that he quitted the service of
At
and brothers into the
this
encouragement
England
Cnbot.
the high sense entertained of his merits
the Indies.
father
time,
he
received
for that of Spain,
by giving him a
however,
was
the
so
which showed
seat in the coimcil of
CASPAR CORTEREAL.
Chap. IX.]
About the same time when EughuiJ
and faltering
Columbus
steps, to follow
in
197
wa.s attempting,
liis
though with slow ad
i.mh.
was
career of discovery, Portugal
not so entirely absorbed in the prosecution of discoveries in the direction of Africa
•^
rortug\iese
which might be anticipated from the
as to be insensible to the vast changes
^
covery of a western world.
If,
,
dis-
according to the idea then generally entertained
by geographers, the northern extremity of America formed a rocky headland,
with an open sea beyond
iliscover
then
it,
the efforts which Portugal had
all
attempts to
discover the
,
,
made
north-west
^"^^®
to
a passage to India by the south-east must prove in a great measure
abortive, because a
Western Europe
much
nearer passage would enable the maritime nations of
to secure
the advantages for which she had been striving.
sill
This was a danger too obvious and imminent to be overlooked
the Portuguese no
and therefore
;
New
sooner were acquainted with the discovery of the
World, than they determined on an exploratory voyage to the north-west, for
the purpose of ascertaining whether such a practicable passage existed, and
it
did, of securing
a monopoly of
it
on the grovunl of priority of discovery.
The only Portuguese navigators wliose names
•ii'taken with this view,
were a father and
house of Cortereal.
Of the
11
three
/>
ftither,
known, and hence, probalily because
for fact, it has
Jolin
1
sons,
Vaz
voyages under-
figure in the
•
^
belonging to
I'llthe illustrious
Cortereal, scarcely anything
fiction has
made
New-
The proceedings of
his first voyage.
his
In 1500, having been furnished by King
Emanuel with two
first
he touched,
C'ortereal.
is
son Caspar are better authenticated.
ships,
Caspar
been employed as a substitute
been confidently maintained that he reached the shores of
foundland even before Columbus
if
at Terceira, one of the Azores,
and
then sailed north-west, in the ho]ie of finding an open ocean, by which he could
Having reached land in tlie ^jarallel of 50°, he
Both fi-om its po.sition, and the
course northwards along the coast.
penetrate directly to India.
pursued his
description given of
it,
must have formed part of Labrador, which, accord-
it
ingly, in the earliest
maps, bears not this name, but that of Corterealis.
advanced to latitude
60°,
fioating
mountains of
natives,
and canned them
but being deterred
from proceeding
ice
the rigour of the climate an<l
b}'
farther,
he seized fifty-seven of the
off to Portugal, whei*e, to his disgrace
sovereign, they appear to have been
employed as
He
He
slaves.
and that of
his
arrived at Li-sbon
on the 8th of October, 1501, and immediately resolved on another voyage.
Early in spring, having completed his preparations, he again set
two
vessels,
reached.
and steered directly
So
far the
for the
sail
with his
most northerly point he had previously
voyage was prosperous; but immediately
a
\'iolent
storm, in a sea covei'ed with icebergs, obliged the vessels to separate.
That
in
which Ga.spar
after,
sailed Wivs never heard of
As .soon as tidings of
name of Miguel, hastily
tlie
disaster reached Lisbon, a
fitted
out three vessels, and set
object of searching for the missing ship,
which Gaspar had began
younger brother, of the
On
sail,
with the double
and following up the course of discovery
arriving at that
arm
of the Atlantic which
Miguel
^^^
A.D. 1517.
lll.STOJJV
]>iaiiches
off"
OF INDIA.
[Book
I.
between the coasts of Greenland and Labrador, the vessels parted
comi)any, in order that each mi<^ht explore a separate entrance.
dient seemed judicioas, ])ut the result jjioved
vessels returned 'to Portugal:
A
fate as Gasj)ar.
The expeOnly two of the
disa.stroas.
Miguel appears to liave met the same
in the third
third h)rother, Vasco Eanes, inspired
by the
heroic spirit of
his family, volunteered to
head a new expedition
enough had already been
sacrificed in enteq)ri.ses the .succe.ss of
now more than
problematical, refased
liis
;
consent,
but the king, tiiinking that
which seemed
and the Portuguese
desisted
from any further attempt to discover a north- we.st [)assage to India.
Henry VIII.
Shoi'tly after the accession of
British
attempt was made to revive the
to the
during the latter years of his
more congenial
tions
had allowed to
his long reign English
to the
maritime
The only important exception
discovery presents an almost continuous blank.
an expedition
but other occupa-
langui.sh,
to his taste, though less conducive to his honour, soon
began to engross Henry's attention, and during
is
England an
maritime enterpnse, which his father
spirit ot
life
to the throne of
Sebastian Cabot had probably
north-west in 1517.
expected that Spain, to which he had transferred his services, would employ
them
If
an endeavour to ascertain the practicability of a north-west passage.
in
tliis
was
Spain was
his hope, it
ac(][uiring in
was disappointed
the more genial
;
for the magnificent territories
and the immen.se
latitude of Mexico,
wealth which had in consequence began to flow into her treasury,
inclination to prosecute a hazardous
little
regions of the North.
satisfaction to learn that
He was
confident of success
on the
fair
Thomas
ordinate
memorial
Peart,
in the frozen
;
liis
and
it,
and returned to England, where he
services,
again volunteered, were accepted.
after entering
Hudson's Bay, considered him-
to Cataia, or China, to which, according to his
own
strong
under whom, as Vice-admiral of England, he held only a sub-
command, and a
him to retui-n.
The failure
to
way
her
"both could and would have gone," when the opposition of Sir
expression, he
Robert
abandon
to
had the
self
and doubtful enterprise
left
Cabot, however, having gained his earliest laurels in
was determined not
this field,
which
failure of courage
on the part of
Henry
of this expedition seemed to justify
liis
crew, obliged
in the a^^athy he
had prcviously manifested, and ten additional years had passed away, when
his attention was once more called to the subject by an English merchant of the
name
of Robert
settled in
Thome, who,
London.
after a long residence at
the practicability of reaching the East Indies
from the Atlantic.
had
finally
This gentleman, while in Spain, had formed a close con-
nection with Sebastian Cabot, and become thoroughly
to
Se\Tlle,
Seeing
how completely the
imbued with
his ideas
by some northern
subject
had
a.s
outlet
fallen into abeyance,
he presented a memorial to the king, in which, after adverting to the natural
desire
which
all
princes have to extend their dominions,
and which
himself had evinced by his recent expedition to France, he thus proceeds:
Hemy
—
——
THORNE'S MEMORIAL TO HENRY VIIL
TX]
Chap.
Now
"
I,
considering
your noble courage and
tliis
199
desire,
and
by a
ceiving that yoiu' grace may, at your pleasiu-e, to your greater glory,
godly raeane, with
subjects, amplifie
and
duety to mamfest
hath beene hid; which
discovered divers
winne
shall
new
grace,
number of
that with a small
is,
and your subjects
may
ships there
Thorne«
memorial to
Henry vi 11.
be
infinite profite.".
thus announced rather more pompously than the com-
paratively trite ideas composing
seem to
it
justify,
way
one
is left
was simply the
possibility
The memorial accordingly thus
by a voyage northwards.
of reaching the East
1527.
lands and kingdomes, in which without doubt your grace
perj3etual glory,
continues: — "There
your
secret unto
so-called " secret,"
The
know it is my bounden
i'ii-i
T
which hitherto, as I suppose,
inrich this youi* sayd realme, I
•/>!•
this
^ d
"
labour to your grace, or any of your
cost, perill, or
little
per-
also
which
to discover,
into the Northe; for'
is
by other
the Indies and Seas
that of the foure partes of the worlde, three partes are discovered
For out of Spaine they have discovered
princes.
Occidental!,
by
and out of Portingall
this part of the Orient
Tiie
the Indies and Seas Orientall; so that
all
and Occident they have encompassed the worlde."
North being thus the only
field of
maritime discovery not foreclosed,
the memorial, after adducing several pithy reasons
diately occupy
The
really the
why Henry
sliould
imme-
enters into an explanation of the different courses which
it,
might
vessels fitted out for discovery
cipated.
all
first
crowning
take,
object, of course,
results that
to pass the pole
is
Thome makes
Mr.
difficulty,
and the
"If they will go toward the Orient, they
light,
;
might be
but of
this,
though
and then proceeds:
shall injoy the region of all the ins
mid - day,
and from thence they
may
goe and proceede to the land of the Chinas, and from tlience to the land of
Cathaio Orientall, which
of
is
all
the maine land most Orientall that can be
And
reckoned from our habitation.
navigation, following the coasts that
fsill
in with Malaca,
lowing
tiie
and
if
from thence they doe continue their
retume toward the Occident, they
so with all the Indies
way may retume
hither
which we
by the Cape
And
they shall compass the whole worlde.
if
of
call
Orientall,
Buona Speransa
;
shall
and
fol-
and thus
they will take their course after
they be past the Pole toward the Occident, they shall goe to the backe side of
the
New
untill
And
found land, which of
was discovered by your
grace's subjects,
they come to the backe side and South Seas of the Indies Occidentall.
so continuing their voyage,
Magellan to this countrey
And
late
if
;
and
may retume
they
so they
through the Streight of
compass also the world by
tliis
way.
they goe the thirde way, and after they be past the Pole, goe right
toward the Pole Antartique, and then decline toward the lands and islands
situated between the Tropikes
shall
and under the Equinoctiall, without doubt they
find there the riciiest lands
stones, balmes, spices,
and
islands of the world, of golde, precious
and other thinges that we here esteeme most
out of strange countries, and
may
views as
to a iiorth-
,
Tartarians that extend toward the
anti-
returne the same way."
;
which come
The conclusion
is:
em
passage
*> r.'
.'»
200
A.D. 1547.
HISTOIIV OF INDIA.
"By
this
it
appeareth, your grace
liatli
[liOOK
not onely a great advantage of
but also your subjects shall not travell half of the
riches,
way
tliat <jther
I
tin;
doe
which go round about as aforesayd."
This memorial, though containing
Etrectsof
that
little
new and
is
mucli
tliat
Is
Tlioriio'a
memorial.
eiToneous, seemed
worthy of quotation, both becaase
of the views entertained
by the
best geographers of the period,
appears to have had the effect of bestin-ing
maritime discovery.
As
led to
it
are scanty in the extreme,
it
gives a good account
it
is
Henry
no important
make a
to
silence lies buried another expedition, undertaken, a
it
further.
few years
expense, not of the crown, but of a wealthy inliabitant of London,
an appearance
for the task
it
In similar
after,
at the
who gave
it
and fortune were induced
associates were well qualified
so attractive that the youths of family
embark along with him.
to
it
final effort of
and the accounts of
results,
unnecessary to notice
and because
Neither he nor his
which they had undertaken; and
disa.ster
famine reduced them to the dire necessity of cannibalism.
to cast lots for the next victim,
when
followed di.saster
till
They were preparing
the capture of a French ve&sel furnished a
small remnant with provisions and the means of regaining their native land.
On
Maritime
the accession of
Edward
VI., in
1547. an era
more favourable to mari-
enterprise
uiuier Ed-
time enterprise was anticipated, and would doubtless have been realized had his
w.ird VI.
been prolonged.
life
Sebastian Cabot, as ardent and sanguine as ever, had
and the youthful monarch, smitten with kindred enthusiasm, had appointed him grand-pilot of England, with a liberal .salary.
Under the stimulus
arrived
;
thus applied, a
new scheme
of discovery
by London merchants, "men
ported
was soon arranged and zealoasly sup-
of great
wisdom and
graxity."
Robert
Thorne, in the memorial above quoted, had pointed out three different du*ections
in
which experimental voyages might be made.
been
tried,
Hitherto only one of them had
but the results were most discouraging and
;
it
was
therefore resolved
that the next voyage should change the direction, and endeavour to discover a
passage to the Indies
by the
north-east.
amoimting to £6000, were raised in shares of £25 each,
apportioned among the members of a kind of joint-stock companj' formed for
the purpose.
With this sum three vessels were built, and fitted up in a style
The
requisite funds,
with which Sebastian Cabot,
who was governor
of the company,
and undertook
management of its nautical afFau's, was so well pleased as to declare that
" the like was never in any realm seen used or known." The chief command was
Under him,
given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, who sailed in the principal vessel
the
Sir Hugli
wiiioughby.
^^^
.^^
command
of the second vessel,
was Richard
Chancellor.
Besides a series
drawn up by Cabot for the guidance of the officere and crew, the
expedition was furnished by King Edward with a letter addressed to all "kings,
princes, rulers, judges, and governors of the earth," requesting them "to permit
unto these om- servants free passage by your regions and dominions, for they
shall not touch anything of yours unwilling unto you," and promising " by the
of instructions
EXPEDITION OF
Chap. IX.]
God
life
of
we
tranquillity of oiu- kingdoms, that
}'Our servants if at
]\Iay,
any time they
shall
1553, the three vessels dropped
Greenwich,
a vast {Assemblage from
artillery
201
things that are contained in heaven, earth, and the sea, and
all
and
WlLLoriJHBV.
n.
Sill
all
in 1662.
come
down
—Cruden's
will with like
1553.
On
the 10th
where the court and
History of Gravesend.
(juarters witnessed their dejjarture
and the shouting of the mariners,
ad.
humanity accept
to om- kingdoms."
to Greenwich,
by the
" in
amid salvos of
such sort that the sky rang with
the noise thereof"
After leaving the river, the vessels were detained on the Essex coast
till tlie
23d, when, the winds becoming favourable, they began their coui'se across the
Departure
aition
German Ocean. On the 1-tth of July they had reached lat. 68°, among the
islands of the Norway coast, and not long after came within sight of the North
Cape. Their intention was to remain together but in the event of their being
obliged to part company, Wardhuys. in Finmark, was appointed as the port ol"
rendezvous.
The contingency thus provided for happened sooner than any had
;
anticipated,
weather
the
and with very
becair-v, so
fatal results.
Shortly after passing the cape, the
stormy that the vessels were forced out to
mercy of the winds.
Willoughby, whose
been equal to his courage, carried so much
keep up with him, and never saw him more.
some Ru.ssian
land.
On
sailors discovered
two
that Chancellor
lifeless
date, that the
crews were alive in January, 1554.
able to land
deeper into the abysses of the Arctic
they retraced their
steps,
have
was unable
to
till
bodies of Willoughby and his
Along with the journal of the voyage was a
Nova Zembla without being
at
frozen in on the coast of Lap-
companions.
of
to
His fate remained unkno^^^l
tall vessels
entering them, they found the
and caution seem not
skill
sail
and driven
sea,
upon
note, showing,
by
They had reached the
it,
and then penetrated
Oceaa Convinced
its
coast
still
at last of their mistake,
and in returning westward unfortunately missed the
opening of the White Sea, within which they might have found a sheltered
anchorage.
On
reaching the coast beyond, they had resolved to
make
it
their
winter- quarters, intending to prosecute their voyage in the ensuing spring
Before
it
Vol.
I.
arrived the intense cold had frozen
them
to death.
26
Fate of
202
AD,
1568.
^
Chancellor
HISTORY OF INDIA.
By keeping
Chancellor was more fortunate.
Wardhuys without much
tluit tlic
near the coa«t
after waiting seven
othcr vesscls might arrive, continued his course "
to the place
where he found no night at
ness of the sun, shining clearly
was
and
difficulty;
[IVk>k
carried into the
learning that
White
had reached
lie
days in the hope
till
he came at
and anchored
Ultimately
sea."
lie
On
in the harbour of Arcliangel.
formed part of the vast dominions of the Czar of Muscovy, he
it
determined on visiting his capital of Moscow
he carried from his sovereign, and his
own
and by means of the
;
letter
Muscovy
the foundation of the
Company
l
J on very
J
or Ru.ssian
•'
which
address, obtained such a favourable
reception from the reigning sovereign, Ivan Vasilovitsch, as enabled
The Russian
Company.
hi.st
but a continued light and hright-
all,
upon the great and mighty
Sea,
I.
him
to lay
advantajreoas
ts
_
The important
by this company withdrew attention, for
a time, from the north-east passage; and many were even so sanguine as to
imagine that by this company alone it might be possible to establish an interterms.
secured
traffic
by which the
course with India,
necessity of
any other passage would be
in a
great measure superseded.
Attempts to
reach India
through
fhe plan
was
^
Volga where
make Archangel
»
to
it first
Russia.
.
the starting
and then, strikincj
o the
& point,
1
becomes navigable,
.
.
>
>
down
sail
into the Caspian,
and thus
-
,
form a commumcation with the ancient overland routes from the East.
neys, with a
luidertaken,
view to the establishment of
and several of the
communication, were actually
employed penetrated
The whole scheme, however, was a
terior of Asia.
when
travellers
this
in complete
command
of the overland traffic
convenient routes, had been driven from
the Portuguese.
How,
all
The Venetians,
delusion.
by much
far into the in-
shorter and
least
more
the leading markets of Europe
then, could the Russian
Company hope
2000 miles of expensive transport, part of
by
to compete with
them, when, in addition to the carriage paid by the Venetians, they were
dened with at
Jom--
it
biu--
over an ocean
always dangerous, and during half the year rendered inaccessible by mountains
of ice
North west
?
These considerations soon opened men's eyes to the hopelessness of estabhsh-
passage.
ing a profitable traffic with India
tion of the north-east
ever.
The
sibility of
of the
latter passage, indeed, continued to
using
it
as
White
Sea,
and the explora-
and north-west passages was resmned more ardently than
be explored long after the impos-
an ocean thoroughfare to the East was universally recog-
nized; and even in our
passage,
by the way
own
times, in the formidable task of exploring this
some of our most distinguished British navigators have earned
their
The north-east
passage, which at one time seemed the more hopeful of the two, was sooner abandoned, but not before the utmost skill and hardihood both of British and Dutch
best laurels,
and some of them,
seamen had been expended upon
too,
it
in vain.
as preliminary steps in the process
collision
have unhappily perished.
Some
of their attempts, considered
which eventually brought them into direct
with the Portuguese, are here entitled to at least a passing
notice.
203
NORTH-EAST PASSAGE.
Chap TX.j
About the time wlien the Muscovy- ludiau scheme proved abortive, some ad
accui'ate knowledge was obtained of the great Asiatic rivei-s, the Obe and
Yenisei
and Gerard Mercator, the celebrated cosmographer, when consulted
;
isso.
cerani
Mercator.
on the
subject,
gave
it
beyond the point
as his opinion that at no great distance
which navigators had already reached, a great headland, then supposed to form
This headland once passed,
the north-east extremity of Asia, would be found.
nothing more was necessary than to turn south, and steer directly for Japan and
This was an enormoas blunder, for
China.
cut
it
a foLU-th of the whole circumference of the globe
to observe, that
it
was not
so
much
but
;
more than
at one sweep,
off,
it is
his blunder as the
only
fair to
Mercator
common blunder
of the
time, for all his contemporaries shared it with him.
In accordance with Mercator's opinion, the great problem of a north-east passage to India
now seemed on
two English
vessels,
sailed for
tliey
1
580,
again at-
under the command of Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman,
A
Wardhuys, which they reached on the 23d of June.
continued their voyage eastwai-d, and on approaching
rowly escaped being embedded in a
by taking a very
In
the eve of receiving a favourable solution.
Noiti. ea«t
had no possible outlet except by retracing their
had a most favourable wind, but found
it
Nova Zembla
nar-
open passage, and had
formed a kind of cul de
it
after,
After disentangling themselves
field of ice.
circuitous route, they proceeded along an
the mortification to discover that
few days
sac,
from which they
This accomplished, they
steps.
impossible to avail themselves of
it
in
consequence of enormous icebergs which blocked up the course, lea\'ing no space
between, and along which they could not steer without risking almost certain
destruction.
Thus obstructed, and
with patience, "abiding
Straits
furtlier
till
tiie
obliged, as they piously express
Lords
the middle of August.
eastward,
and the expedition
was consequently too
years from
idl
advance
The English, having found
in another quarter, desisted for
many
The
task,
further attempts to discover a north-east passage.
however, instead of being abandoned, was only transferred to
The United
late to
returned without having added one
particle to the inlbrmation previoasly possessed.
more necessary and hopeful emplojnnent
to wait
they did not arrive at Vaigatz
leisure,"
It
it,
Provinces, after a long, arduous,
and noble
new
struggle,
hands.
had achieved
Att^-mpts
tilts
their independence,
and
rid them.selves for ever of the galling
Even while groaning under
and the narrow scope
tiiat
yoke of Spain.
yoke, the untiring industry of the population,
for exercising
in a
it
country
hemmed
in
on
all sides,
and
constantly threatened by the sea, hail turned their attention chiefly to commerce.
On
the broad expanse of
and gradually
ro.se
ocean they found their true thoroughfare,
tiie
to a foremost place
among
own consumption was not great, but
acting as common carriers for other nations.
Their
large share in the Indian trade,
;^oods
which had
were brought from the East
b\-
the maritime nations of Europe.
their vessels
its
In
this
were found in
way they had
emporium
all
seas
obtained a
at Lisbon, to
which the
the Portuguese, and from which they were
..f
Dutch
sot
AD
iMo.
HISTOItY OF INDIA.
At
afterwards diffused over Europe.
tlie
[Pkjok
very time when the Dutch
Portuguese were deprived of their independence, Philip
crown of Portugal, and incorporated
usur[)ed the
its
the
s<^cur(;d,
of Spain having
II.
dominioas with Ids own.
Lisbon having, in consequence, fallen into the hands of their vindictive enemy,
Dutch were,
their trade
in
1
oSi, completely excluded from
was at
first
severely
a determination not to rest
till
but
felt,
tlie
The injury thus
it.
[.
only effect was to
tlie
inflicted
on
them with
in-syjire
they had .succeeded in e.stablishing a direct com-
The route by the Cape of Good Hope was now well
the Portugue.se po.ssessions had fallen under the power of
munication with the East.
known; and
as all
enemy, they covdd have no
their declared
instance, however,
an independent route by
The
expedition, undertaken
first
tlie
1594,
first
north-east.
by a private company, with the sanction but
without any direct assistance from the States, consisted of four
command
In the
they imitated the example of the English, and endeavoured
to discover
William
attacking them.
.scruple in
vessels,
under the
They sailed from the Texel on the 5th of June,
and on approaching Nova Zembla separated, two of the vessels taking the
old route
of William Barentz.
toward Vaigatz
Straits,
while the other two, under the
command
of
Barentz, adopted the bolder course of sailing northwards, with the view of
Iceeping clear of the masses of ice
which clustered round the island
Barentz
By
the 1st of
does not seem to have justified his high reputation as a seaman.
August he had not advanced beyond the north extremity of Nova Zembla, in
lat. 77°,
and
by the
then, deterred
violence of the
wind and the
large ma&ses of
The other detachment was
more persevering. After working their way through Vaigatz Straits, and succeeding, with much difficulty, in sailing round some immense icebergs which had
threatened to bar their future progress, the two vessels arrived at a blue open
floating
ice,
prematurely determined to return.
and saw the coast trending rapidly southwards.
sea,
It
was only the Gulf
of
by Mercator's blunder, they believed that they had doiibled
the north extremity of Asia, and consequently discovered the passage of which
Obe
;
but, led astray
they were in search.
fied
with
.sure,
this,
It
might have been expected, that instead of resting
conviction they would have endeavoured to
and prevented the
possibility of mistake
leagues into the sea, which,
them
directly to Japan.
if their
make
satis-
assurance doubly
by advancing some himdred
opinion had been correct, would have carried
Instead of this they immediately retraced their steps,
and having again joined Barentz on the coast of Russian Lapland, arrived in the
Texel on the 10th of September.
False hopes.
The
general,
tidiugs whicli they brought diffused universal joy;
no longer
in fitting out a
vessels,
satisfied
new
and the
with giving a bare sanction, took the
expedition on a more extensive
scale.
belief,
was about
lead, in 1595,
It consisted of six
intended not merely to explore, but to commence the
according to the general
States-
traffic
which,
to be permanently established,
pour the wealth of the East into the ports of Holland.
and
Such being the expecta-
]
EXPEDITION UNDER BARENTZ AND RYP.
Chap. IX.
arrangements were adapted to
tion, the
it;
and the
manner
the
instead of being
vessels,
constructed as before to bear the rude shocks of the polar
205
were framed
ice,
a
d. i-we.
in
best adapted for the rich cargoes of merciiandise with which they
The very idea of such an expedition had originated in a gi*oss
error but, as if this had not been sufficient, the period of saihng was protracted
to the 2d of June, when nearly two months of the season most favourable for
a northern voyage were already past. The vessels never got farther than the
were
laden.
;
eastern entrance of the Straits of Vaigatz.
met by immense bodies
till
of floating
Then
the end of September.
it,
they were
against which they struggled manfully
upon them
and that nothing more remained than
to turn
homewards.
Not one
of the results so confidently anticii)ated
/»
1
•
proportion to the extravagance of the expectation
The States-general
appointment.
project,
they reached
at last the conviction forced itself
that they were labouring in vain,
their face
ice,
When
and deemed
dual or association
it sufficient
who
was
had been
to hold out a pecuniary
Disarpoi"t"lent.
of the distiie
reward to any indivi-
The town of Amsterdam
vain.
the gauntlet which the government had thus in a
which they
manner thrown down
The command of the one was given
to
up
at once took
wisely, in the meantime, renouncing all idea of traffic, fitted out
solely for exploration.
•
/»
at once disconnected themselves with
.should first succeed in eflfecting the pa.s.sage
had themselves attempted in
In
oVjtained.
11the bitterness
two
;
ami
vessels
William Barentz,
whose previous voyage has already been mentioned; and of the other to John
As some
Corneliz Ryj).
security against that longing for home, under the influ-
ence of which the previous expeditions were supposed to have returned prematurely, all the individuals belonging to the expedition
The
vessels sailed
dangers of the
coast,
were unman-ied.
on the 10th of May, 1596; and, in order
sailed nearly
due
noi'th.
to avoid the
Currents and easterly winds
them so far west that they came in sight of the Shetland Isles on the
Here the commanders, who appear to have had equal powers, differed in
carried
22d.
opinion.
Barentz wished to tack about, and steer due
argued that in this
tions,
among
His
way they would
while Ryp,
ea.st;
who
only become entangled, like previous expedi-
the fioating icebergs of the Vaigatz Straits, insisted on .sailing
They were soon in the depths of the Arctic
Ocean, and after a dangerous and dreary navigation, constantly obstructed by
fields of ice, reached the coast of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80°.
They now changed
N.N.E.
oi)inion prevailed.
their coui-se, and, sailing south, arrived at
Bear Island, which they had
]>re-
Here the captains again (littered in opinion and, as on this
occasion neither would yield, the vessels parted company. Ryp proceeded north,
with the view of following the east coast of Spitzbergen, and was ultimately
viously passed.
;
obliged to retrace his steps without doing anything which his contemporaries
deemed worthy of being
series
recorded.
of adventures which,
Barentz sailed E.S.E., and met with a
though they form a most interesting narrative.
K.\i..-.iitioii
alui
Ryp.
A.I)
1.0(17
OF INDIA.
JIISTOllY
2()(i
would here be out of
place, as
ship
embedded
obhged, in
and
in the ice,
the climate had destroyed
liis
tlie
tlie
on the shore of
year, to leave his
survivors of his crew, to
make
the
Anxiety, fatigue, and the severities of
boats.
and he died by the way.
health,
I.
the attempted north-
June of the following
with
set out,
voyage homewards in two small
after
new hght on
Suffice it to say, that, after wintering
east passage to India.
Nova Zembla, he was
they throw no
[Book
His companioiLS,
enduring almost unparalleled hardships, reached Kola, where, to their
astonishment and delight, they found the other vessel from which they had Vjeen
so long parted,
Henry
Hudson
The
and proceeded
in
it
to
Amsterdam.
though subsequent explorations took
Henry Hudson, who was employed
the English, and on another by the Dutch,
reasonable
men were now
tically available for the
virtually disproved;
place, particularly
gator,
choice
was now
existence of a north-east passage
satisfied that
by the
celebrated navi-
for this purpose on one occasion
it is
unnecessary to trace them.
by
All
no north-east passage to India, prac-
ordinary purposes of commerce, existed
now remaining was between
and
;
and the only
the old beaten track of the Portuguese
by
Good Hope, and a south-west passage by the southern extremity of
Of the latter passage a brief account must now be
the American continent.
the Cape of
given.
South-west
The
practicability of a south-west passage to the East
passage.
was proved
at a com-
Fex'nando de Magellan, or more properly MagalhaeiLS,
paratively early period.
a native of Portugal, after serving
five
years in the East under Albuquerque, and
distinguishing himself at the taking of
Malacca, being dissatisfied with the nig-
gardly maim^er in wliich his services had
been rewarded, made an
Emperor Charles
the
ofi'er
V.
of
them
to
They were
accepted; and he immediately presented
by which he proEast Indies by sailing
the project of a voyage,
posed to reach the
south-west.
The great
in that quarter
grew the
Ferdinand Magellan.— From
a portrait
in such high
there
These were then
and general
request, that
Portuguese trade of which a share was more
There was one great obstacle in the way. The pope had
was no branch
eagerly coveted.
was the Moluccas, which
finest spices.
by F. Selma.'
object of attraction
of the
divided the world into two halves.
How
could Charles, as a professed cham-
pion of the church, appropriate any portion of the half which his holiness had
given to the Portuguese?
The
true
way
of loosing the knot
was
In Relaeion del ultimo Viage al estrecho de Magellanes, Madrid, 1787.
to cut
it,
and
MAGALHAENS' VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE.
Chap. IX.]
many
to maintain that, in this instance, as in
and arrogantly made
free
207
pope had ignorantly ad.
others, the
yet arrived
and Magalhaens undertook to
;
The
with a property which did not belong to him.
time for such a solution of the difficulty was rai>idly approaching, but
it
had not
by proving
rid Charles of his scruples
He
that the Moluccas were not in the Portuguese but in the Spanish half
was wronir
in fact,
but correct according to the idea then entertained of the
dimensions of the globe.
difficult to .satisfy, as
It is probable,
Be
On
when they
of the
this as it
On
and 236 men.
La
who deemed
By
])ru<lence
occjisions,
any
interfered with
how
easily he
of his favourite
his wish.
command
he sailed from Sanlucar in
of
Maguiiiaeiw'
circumiiavi-
mouth
the 12tli of January, 1520, he reached the
for
degradation to obey one
it
Poituguese.
1.519,
where he was detained
Plata,
many
may, Magalhaens obtained
the 20th of September,
^
five ships
however, that the emperor was not
he afterwards showed, on
could dispose of Papal claims
political objects.
lass.
some time by a mutiny of
whom
gationof
^'1*6
.
globe.
men,
his
they stigmatized as a renegade
and resolution he regained
and
his ascendency;
towards the end of October began to enter the strait which has since borne his
name.
On
November he obtained
the 27th of
steering directly across
again saw land for the
missed
it,
first
all
his first
view of the
the islands by which
Pacific, and,
studded, and
it is
time on the 6th of March, 1521, when he came in
view of the islands which, from the thievish practices of the inhabitants, were
named
Continuing onwards, he arrived at the archipelago of
the Ladrones.
Lazarus, afterwards called the Philippines, in honour of Philip
he induced the chief of the island of Zebu to
make a
IL
i)rofe.ssion
island of Matan.
liaens unfortunately lost his life
tion which he
who
had
so
ftir
In
on the 26th of
assisted in his
Magal-
fulfilling this condition,
April, 1521.
successfully accomplished,
here,
of Christianity,
and become tributary to the King of Spain, on condition of being
war with the chief of the
While
St.
The circumnaviga-
was completed by Sebastian
him in the command, and arrived at Saiducar on the
22d of September, 1522, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope from the eastward.
Magalhaens' voyage gave proof of two important facts first, that there was
no physical impo.ssibility of reaching the East Indies by sailing we.st; and,
del Cano,
succeeded
—
secondly, that, mider ordinary circumstances, this route never could
ocean thoroughfare from Europe.
It
might be used
become the
for special purposes,
but
being far more circuitous, was also necessarily both more tedioas and more
expensive.
Further notice of
it
would hence
an adventitious interest has been given to
it
l>e
unneces.sary,
as the route
were
which
it
not that
first
led the
British to the East,
and fm-nished the information which determined them not
to rest satisfied
they had obtained a direct share in
voyages
are,
on
till
this account, well entitled to special
its traffic.
mention
—the
Two
of the
one by Sir
by Mr. Tliomas Cavendish.
After the acces.sion of Queen Elizabeth, in 1 558, and the decided refusal of
her hand when impertinently Jisked by Philip II the frientlly relations between
Francis Drake, and the other
,
its resnita.
—
208
A
0. 1679
IlISTOilY
OF INDIA.
[liOOK
and Spain ware entirely at an end; and though
Eii;;flaiid
oi)enly declared,
it
was
howtilities
I.
were not
perfectly understood that, at least on the part of Spain,
they were only delayed in order that
preparations for carrying them
the
on with
effect
more complete.
that,
might
be rendered
It is not surfmsing
under these circumstances,
fre-
rencounters took place
and
([uent
;
the natives of either country, when-
ever favourable opportunities occur-
made no
red,
scruples
of
treating
those of the other as open enemies.
In this kind of irregidar, predator}warfare, Francis Drake, who, originally of obscure parentage
from the
vicinity of Tavistock, in Devonshire,
had won a high name
seamanship, particularly distinguished
Sir Fraxcis Drake.
After a picture in the CoUection of the Blarquis of Lothian.
liimself.
tSir
P'rancii
and
for valour
cruises against the Spaniards,
and acquired
He had made two
much wealth
so
that he
successful
was
able,
Draki
in 1577, to
The
men.
smallest
out a
fit
fleet of five
small vessels, with an aggi'egate crew of 164
commanded by himself, did not exceed 100 tons;
tons.
With these he set sail from PhTnouth on the
the
largest vessel,
was only
of December,
5
1
3th
1577, and steered directh' across the
On
Atlantic.
1
the 20th of August, 1578, he arrived
in the Straits of Magalhaens, passed them,
and then
continued his course northwards alongf the west coast
of.
America
till
he had reached 48° N. latitude.
had probably proceeded thus
covering some opening
pass into the
pectation,
then,
Atlantic.
far in the
hope of
round
dis-
by which he might again
Disappointed in this ex-
he retraced his steps for about
with the only vessel
10°,
now remaining
original five, shot boldly across the Pacific.
sails
He
and
of his
On
the
29th of September, 1579, he came in sight of the
the globe.
Moluccas.
Ternate,
among
On
He
November he cast anchor at
afterwards wound his way westward
the 4th of
origiD&l in
the islands of the Indian Archipelago, doubled the Cape of
Among
the many relics of England's naval heroes
enshrined in that appropriate repository, Greenwich
'
Drake's A.stkolabe.i
From
Hospital, few are more interesting, few attract
more
attention, than the subject of the above engraving
Greenwich Hospital.
Good Hope.
the astrolabe, or instrument for taking the altitude
of the sun or stars once belonging to the famous
Drake, which was constructed for him prior to las
first expedition to the West Indies in 1570.
—
—
VOYAGES OF DRAKE AND CAVENDISH.
Chap. IX.]
209
and, on the 26th of September, 1580, cast anchor again in the harboui" of
ad
isss.
Plymouth.
It
is
government, but
as WtU-
it
it
declared,
was
elated
to profit
was
easier
by
were certainly of a
His proceedings,
it.
piratical
The
nation, however,
was
so
and the determination
his achievements,
by the information which he had brought home
Queen
Elizabeth, after standing-
some time, threw aside
him on
visited
acknowledge
disavow his authority than to
to
so unanimous, that
aloof for
to
and when the Spanish court complained of
apologize for his conduct.
much
had an understanding with the
set out he
was not deemed poUtic
had not been
character;
them,
when Drake
presmned, that
publicly
reserve,
all
boai'd his ship at Deptfoi-d,
and attested
her approbation of his conduct by confemng upon him
A
the honour of knighthood.
few
yeai"s later, Sir
Drake again awakened the public mind
of the trade with India
Francis
to the importance
by the capture
of a Portuguese
whose cargo of almost fabulous value inflamed
carrack,
Jewel presented to Drake
HV
the imagination, while
its
papers and journals furnished
KKN
<l
Elizabbtii.
most important information as to the means by which a direct trade
might be most
easily established,
and most
^ Front
oriRinal in Nulwel. Couit
India
witli
successfully carried on.
In 1586, about two years before Drake had made this capture, Mr. Thom.us
Thomas
Cavendish commenced the other voyage by the Straits of Magalhaens above
refeired
to.
His
out at
fitted
fleet of three
own
his
manned by 1 26
officers
expense,
and
whom
wiien
he circumnavifjated the
had accompanied Drake
The expedition
;
was
sailors, seve-
ral of
July
ships,
sailed
globe.
on the 21st of
and, following the coiu'se which
sails for
Pacific.
Drake had taken, proceeded through the
Straits of Magalhaens, skirted the west
making many
coast of America,
captm-es,
tifiable
rich
and committing much unjus-
devastation
;
and then steered
across the Pacific for the Ladrones, which
were reached on the 3d of January,
1
Thomas Cavendish. — From
a print by
587.
is
self
The future
coui-se of the
voyage
Pa<.-<
thus
summed up by Cavendish him-
In a letter to Lord Hunsdon, lord -chamberlain, dated 9th September,
1588, he says,
"I am humbly
Vol.
I.
to desire yovu*
honour
to
make kuowen unto her majesty
the desire T have
27
""
HISTORY OF INDIA.
210
A.D. 1588.
liud to
doe her majesty service in
tlie
performance of
to give lier tlie victory over part of her enemies, ho
all.
now
For the places
of their wealth,
perfectly' discovered
s[ioile of
them
all.
and
;
if it
tliis
1118
voyage.
Esperan9a.
And
voyage.
hh
trust yer long to see her overthrowe
I
Almighty
me
to suffer
may take
to circompasse the
and returning
]>y
them
their warres, are
please her majesty, with a very smal ix)wer she
It liath pleased the
I.
hath pleased (iod
it
whereby they have maintained and made
of the worlde, entering in at the Streight of Magellan,
Cavendish's
[Hook
the
whole globe
the Cape of Biiena
In whicli voyage I have either discovered or brought certain intelligence of
all
knowen or discovered by any Christian. I naviPeru, and Nueva Espanna, wliere I made great spoiles I
the rich places of the world that ever were
gated alongst the coast of Chili,
;
burnt and sunk nineteen sailes of ships, small and great. All the villages and townes that ever
I landed at I burnt and spoiled
and had I not bene discovered upon the coast I had taken
;
of most profit unto me was a great ship of the king's
which ship came from the Philippina.s, being one of the richest
of merchandise that ever passed those seas, as the king's register and merchants' accounts did
shew; for it did amount in value to
Which goods (for that my
in Mexico to be solde.
From
ships were not able to conteine the least part of them) I was inforced to set on fire.
The matter
great qiuxntitie of treasure.
which
I took at California,
the Cape of California, being the uttermost part of
islands of the Philippinas, hard
upon the coast
of
all
Nueva Espanna,
China
navigated to the
I
which country
of
;
I
have brought
such intelligence as hath not been heard of in these parts. The statelinesse and riches of
which countrey I feare to make report of, least I should not be credited for if I had not
:
knowen
sufficiently the
incomparable wealth of that countrey, I should have bene as
credulous thei'eof as others will be that have not had the like experience.
islands of the Malucos,
our countrey
where among some
men may have
of the heathen people I
trade as freely as the Portugals
if
was well
island of St. Helena, where the Portugals use to relieve themselves;
suffered
me
to return into England.
prostrate at her majestie's feet, desiring the
for at this
day she
is
intreated,
where
From
way homeward the
they will themselves.
thence I passed by the Cape of Buena Esperan9a, and found out by the
God hath
in-
I sailed along the
and from that island
humbly
among us;
All whicli services, with myself, I
Almighty long
to continue her reigue
the most famous and victorious prince that liveth in the world."
In returning homewards, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled on the
1
6th of
March, 1588; and Plymouth harbour was reached, after a prosperous voyage, on
the 9th of September.
While the information thas flowing
was pavinfj
^ in from successful na\-igators
*
Establish-
mentofthe
Levant
_
the
way
_
for the establishment of direct trafiic
.
with the East Indies, other
dents were contiibuting powerfully to the same end.
.
inci-
Notice has been repeatedly
taken of the important Indian trade which had been carried on, almost from
time immemorial, by the
way
For many
of the Levant.
English
centiiries the
had been contented to receive then- suppHes of Indian produce at second hand
from some one or other of the Italian maritime
after the accession of
;
but
latterly, particularly
Queen EHzabeth, they had agents of
different ports of the Levant,
active
cities
and lucrative trade in
their
own
in the
and thus procured the means of carrjdng on an
their
own
such extent and consistency as to entitle
vessels.
it to
When
this trade
had acquired
be regarded as a national
interest,
the queen entered into a commercial treaty with Tm-key, seciu-ing for her subjects all the
after, in
tion
advantages which other nations enjoyed; and immediately there-
1581, granted a charter of exclusive pri\dleges to a mercantile associa-
which assumed the name of the Levant Company.
satisfied
with confining
its
This company, not
connections to the ports of the Levant, extended
—
—
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LEVANT COMPANY.
Chap. IX.]
them
into
far
furnished,
travels
Indian
many
the interior, and sent out
agents,
211
whose journals and ad
issi.
from time to time, valuable inforaiation with regard to
traffic.
It has
sometimes been alleged that the immediate occasion of the formation
Venetian
argosy lost
Levant Company, was the
of the
the
Goodwin Sands.
derived the name,
lo.ss
of a vessel laden witii Indian })roduce on
The argosy which
common
to all vessels of its class,
in Dalmatia, belonged to the Venetians,
as
much Indian produce
a whole year.
referred
is
and
as supplied the
The wreck of this
vessel
ceased thenceforth to pay their annual
to,
and
thought to have
is
from the
tovvTi
on
ti.e
>,^„|i^
of Ragusa,
sufficed to carr}', at a single voyage,
demand
of the
kingdom
of England for
proved so disastrous, that the Venetians
The. English, thus cut off from the
visit.
supply on whicii they had been accustomed to depend, had no alteraative but to
send for the goods which they could not otherwise obtain
tion of the
dance with
of the
Levant Company.
is
it, it
Such
is
and hence the forma-
;
the theory propounded
and, in accor-
;
added that the same circumstance which led to the formation
Levant Company, suggested
to Shakspeare the idea of the
"Merchant of
Venice."
The
lo.ss
of an argosy on the
usually assigned to the
well-authenticated fact
says (act
ii.
scene 8)
before the date
representation of Shakspeare's immortal play,
first
;
Goodwin Sands, about ten years
and he speaks with
the tnith of history
all
is
a
when he
:
" I reasoned
Who
told
with a Freuehiuan yesterday,
me, iu the narrow seas that part
The French and English, there miscarried
A vessel of our country,
And
again (act
iii.
scene 1)
"The Goodwins,
richly fraught."
:
I
think they
call the place
Unfortunately, however, for the theory,
it is
a very dangerous
flat."
impossible to connect the loss of
the argosy with the foundation of the Levant
The
;
Company without committing
a
company was granted in 1581 the
argo.sy was not lost till 1587.
If the Venetians sent no more argosies after this
date, the fact was prol^abl}' owing, not to any hon-or of "the naiTOw seas that
part the French and English," for they were well inured to brave far greater
[)alpable anachronism.
dangei-s,
chai-ter of the
but to their inability to derive any
;
profit fi-om a traffic
which could
never have been very lucrative after the Portuguese had fairly entered the
European market, and
in
which they had recently been brought into competi-
company powerful iu itself, and enjoying the special favour
The retirement of the Venetians was only one of the signs from
tion with a native
of the crown.
which a sagacious merchant might have inferred that
Indian trade had
ancient channels, and that England had become too well acquainted
deserted
its
with
nature,
its
tlie
and too much
alive
to
longer monopolized by Spaniards and
its
impoi-tance, to allow
it
to be an}-
Portuguese claiming the monopoly on
-xnachron-
—
212
A.U. 1582.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
the ground, not so
by the execrable
much
of priority of di.scovery, as of a
brutum
I.
fuLritea issued
pope, Alexander VI.
Queen Elizabeth had
Queen
[Book
early struck at the root of
claims to monopolize the
all
Rlizabeth's
eiiliglitened
navigation of the ocean by declaring, in answer to
tlie
complaints of the Spanish
views.
ambassador against the
was
free to
all,
the Indian
En<?li.sh for navigatinfj
seas, "
fora.smuch as neither nature nor regard of public use do permit
the exclusive possession thereof;" and again, " that as to
Indian
seas, it
that the ocean
was as lawful
the sea and air are
common
for her subjects to
do so as
Drake
for the
sailing on the
Spaniards
;
since
This latter declaration was made in
to all men."
1580; and evidence was soon given that, instead of being maintained merely
as
an abstract
principle, the justice of
which could not be disputed,
754-757, there
was hence-
In the third volume of Hackluyt,
forth to be carried into practical operation.
pp.
it
a paper dated 9th Apiil, 1582, and entitled, "Instructions
is
given by the right honourable the Lordes of the Counsell to Mr. Edward Fenton,
recommended
Esquire, for the order to be observed in the voyage
to
him
for the
East Indies and Cathay."
It appears
Fenton's
from these "Instructions," which are twenty-four in number, that
direct
voyage to
the East.
the direct, and, indeed, the exclusive route, intended for this voyage to "the
East Indies and Cathay," was by the Cape of
tion
is
as follows
:
—
You
"
ampton with your sayd
of Aprill,
and
so goe
Good Hope.
The ninth
shall use all diligence possible to depart
ships
and
Instruc-
from South-
vessels before the last of this present
moneth
on your course by Cape de Buena Esperan9a, not passing
by the Streight of Magellan
either going or returning,
except upon great
by the advise
the least." The tenth
occasion incident that shall bee thought otherwise good to you,
and consent of your sayd
assistants, or foure of
Instruction, following out the
same
them
says, "
route,
at
You
shall
not passe to the
northeastward of the 40 degree of latitude at the most, but shall take your right
course to the isles of the J\Iulucos, for the better discovery of the north-west passage, if
get
without hinderance of your trade
any knowledge touching that
sitive,
as occasion in this sort
means of
Instructions
this voyage,
and within the same degree you can
passage, whereof
may
It does not exactly appear to
;
you
shall
do wel to be inqui-
serve."
what extent government had furnished the
but the language employed clearly implies that the lords
of council possessed the entire control over
it.
Thus, at the very outset, they
for the
voyage.
say (Instructions
"First,
you
1, 2,
3)
:
shall enter as captaine-generall iuto the
charge and government of these
Bonaventure, the barke Francis, and the small frigate,
or pinnesse.
Item, you shall appoint, for the furnishing of the vessels, in the -w hole to the
number of 200 able persons, accompting in that number the gentlemen and their men, the
shippes, the Beare gallion, the
Edward
which sayd number is no way to be exceeded, whereof as
many as may be to be sea-men and shall distribute them into every vessels, as by advise here
before your going shall be thought meete. Item, for the more and better circumspect execution, and determination in any waightie causes incident in this voyage, we will that you shall
take unto you for assistants, Captaine Hawkins, (Viptaiue Ward," and six other per.^oii.s
ministers, cliirurgiaus, factors, &c.,
;
—
—
Chap. IX.]
named, "with
whom you
FENTON'S
VOYAGE TO THE
shall consult
and conferre
213
EAST.
in all causes, matters,
portance, not provided for in these Instructions, touching this service
all
—
—
and actions of
now
ira-
And
in hand.
ad.
15s-j.
in
such matters so handled, argued, and debated, wee thiuke that convenyent alwayes to be
executed which you shall think meetest, with the assent also of any four of them, the matter
and so assented unto
iiaving bene debated
The
in the presence of
Instruction proceeds in the
sixtli
your
saitl assi.stauts."
same peremptory
style
:
you shall not remoove Captaiue William Hawkins, your lieutenant; Mastei'-capLuke Ward, your vice-admiral, or captaine of the Edxoard Bonaventure ; nor Caj)taine
Carlile from his charge by land, whom we will not to refuse any such service as shall be
appointed to him by the generall and the councill nor any captaine of other vessels from these
charges, but upon just cause duely pi'ooved, and by consent of your assistants, or of four of
" Item,
taine
;
them
...
at the least."
From
appointment of a military
tlie
him, and in regard to
and enterprises that
Carlile shall
whom
maj'^fall
it
is
uHicer, of course
added (Instruction
23),
out to bee upon the lande,
have the generall and
cliief
having soldiers under
charge thereof,"
wee
it
"in
all
instnictions
partly
occasions
miiitiir>-,
will that Captaine
might be supposed
that the government had undertaken the entire responsibility of the expedition.
This impression
lains
strengthened by Instruction 24, which shows
is
had been appointed by public authority.
With
chaj)-
tlijit
reference to them,
it
is
said:
"And
end God
may
and prosperous successe you
shall have an especiall care to see that reverence and respect bee had to the ministers
ajjpointed to accompanie you in this voyage as appertaineth to their place and calling and to
see such good order as by them shall be set downe for reformation of life and manners duely
obeyed and perfourmed, by causing the transgressours and contemners of the same to be
severely punished
and the ministers to remove sometime from one vessell to another."
to the
blesse this voyage with happie
;
;
;
It is plain, liowever,
from other Instructions, that the expedition partook
of the character of a mercantile adventure.
"
You
make a
Tims
it is
said (Instruction 8)
:
and true enventorie, in every ship and vessell appointed for this
and furniture belonging to them, at their setting foorth
hence, and of all the provisions whatsoever and one copie thereof under your hand, and
luidcr the hands of your vice-admirall and lieutenant, to be delivered to the Earle of Leicester,
and the other to the governour of the companie for them, before your departure hence .and
the like to be done at your returne home of all things then remaining in the sayd ships and
vessels, with a true certificate how and by what meanes any parcell of the same shall have bene
shall
just
voyage, of all the tackle, munition,
;
;
spent or
lost."
The mercantile character
is
still
more
fully
brought out both by
inci-
dental mention of merchants and factors in various passages, and particularly
in
the
following
Instructions,
in
which equity, soimd
policy,
and worldly
prudence are so happily combined, that they seem not unworthy of being
(quoted entire:
" 12. Item, we do straightly enjoin you, and consequently all the rest employed in this
voyage in any wise, and as you and they will answere the contrary at your comming home by
the lawes of this realme, that neither going, tarrying abroad, nor returning, you doe spoyle or
take anything from any of the queen's majestie's friends or allies, or any Christians, without
]iaying justly for the
such, excei)t in your
owne safegard
to
do
same
owne
it.
;
nor that you use any maner of violence or force against any
if you shall be set upon, or otherwise be forced for your
defence,
paniy
;
214
A.D.
108:;.
HLSTOIiV OF IS III A.
" 13.
[Book
I.
Item, wee will that you deale altogether in
thi.s voyage like good and lioucHt nierand exchanging ware for ware, with all courtewie, to the nationw you Hhall
'^^'*'^^ with,a3 well Ethuiks aa others; and for that cause you shall instruct
all those that shall
^^^ ^'^'' i'^^h tliat whensoever you, or any of you, shall happen to come in any place to coufei-ence with the people of those parts, that in all your doings and theirs, you and they so
behave yourselves towards the sayd people as may rather procure their friendhhij; and good
liking toward you by courtesie than to turne them to offence or misliking; and especially you
shall have great care of the performance of your word and promise to them.
" 14. Item, wee will, that by the advise of your a.ssistants, in places where you and
they
shall thinke most fit, you settl, if you can, a beginning of a further trade to be had hereafter:
and from such places doe bring over with you some fewe men and women if you may; and do
also leave some one or two, or more, as to you and your assistants shall seem convenient, of
our nation with them for pledges, and to learn the tongue and secrets of the countreys, ha\nng
diligent care, that, in delivering and taking of hostages, you deliver not personages of more
value then you i-eceive, but rather deliver meane persons under colour of men of value, as the
infidels do for the most part use.
Provided that you stay not longer to make continuance of
further trade, then shall be expedient for good exchange of the wares presently carried with
chants, trafHckiiig
Instructions
continued
you.
" 15. Item,
you shall have care, and give generall warning, that no person, of M'hat calling
soever hee be, shall take up or keepe to himself or his private use, any stone, pearle, golde,
silver, or
other matter of commoditie to be had or found in places where you shall come but
such stone, pearle, golde, silver, or other matter of commoditie,
;
he, the said person, so seased of
shall
with
your
selfe,
all
speede, or so soone as he can, detect the same,
and make
deliverie thereof to
or your vice-admirall, or lieutenant, and the factor appointed for this voyage, upon
paine of forfeiture of
the recompense he
have for his service in this voyage by share
and further, to receive such punishment as to you and your assistants, or the
more part of them, shall seeme good, and otherwise to be j^unished here at his returne, if
according to the qualitie of his offence it shall be thought needful.
or otherwise
all
is
to
;
" 16. Item,
if
the captaines, merchants, or any other, shall have any apparell, jewels,
any other thing whatsoever, which may be desired in countreys where
it shall not be lawful for them, or any of them, to trafRque or sell
any thing thereof for their private accompt but the same shall be prized by the most part
of those that shall be in commission in the places where the same may be so required, rated
at such value as it may bee reasonably worth in England and then solde to the profite of the
whole voyage, and to goe as in adventure for those to whom it doeth appertaine."
chaines, armour, or
they shall traffique, that
;
;
Interest
attaoMngto
the voyage,
This vovasre, as the first in which a direct attempt was made by any Euro°
pean powcr to break up the Portuguese monopoly of na\agation by the Cape of
''
.
Good Hope,
to its
natiu'ally excites
a deep interest
and hence even the
instructions
commander, from the insight they give into the motives with which the
voyage was undertaken, deserve
them.
The voyage
itself ought,
of com'se, to have been
it
meaofre in the extreme, and does
proved a complete
failure.
tions does not appear to
the space which has above been allotted to
all
but unfortunately the account of
is
;
.
written
Little
still
more interesting
by Luke Ward, the
more than
The good sense apparent
vice-admiral,
establish the fact that
in
drawing up the
instruc-
have been employed in making the appointments
the expedition had not proceeded far on
its
way when
Fenton,
it
;
and
who com-
manded it, appears to have betrayed, if not incompetency, at least indecision.
The four vessels, consisting of the Beare, which changed its name to the Leicester,
the
Edward Bonaventure,
the Francis, and the Elizabeth, sailed on the 1st of
May, but spent a whole month before they
finally quitted the English coast,
and
FENTON'S
Chap. IX.]
launched out to
.sea.
VOYAGE TO THE
215
EAST.
In the beginning of August, they reached the coast of ad.
and then the commander, instead of deciding on his own responsibility
as to the propriety of taking in water, deemed it necessary to summon a formal
1
meeting of his a.ssistant.s, or councd, and submit two pomts for decision first,
Guinea
;
.
whether they ouglit to water at
all
;
.
—
/»
and, secondly, assuming this
while
unanimously approved of watering, only a majority agreed in thinking
all
but had gone so
locality,
in finding it
in
They accordingly proceeded
ought to be at Sierra Leone.
it
what
;
seems, occasioned long debates;
it
far out of their
proceedings.
and
what place?
These points,
c'ouree of
was resolved
upon, at
that
i582.
for this
reckoning that they were several days
and the council was again summoned
to decide, after long debate,
direction they ought to steer.
After leaving Sierra Leone, they appear to have acted as
their instructions overboard
;
for
if
they are afterwards found far south, on
coast of Brazil, not considering, in terms of their instructions,
best double the
they had thrown
Faiiura
tlie expedition
how they might
Cape of Good Hope, but debating on the expediency or inexpe-
diency of passing the Straits of Magalhaens, though this was the direction which
they had been expressly forbidden to take.
have taken
it,
It seems, however, that they
would
On
had they not feared an encounter with the Spaniards.
this
ground alone they abandoned the idea of prosecuting their voyage, and had
determined to retrace their
pany.
did
by
steps,
when
the vessels were obliged to part com-
The Bonaventure was the only one which reached England; and
this it
Vincent, and then across the Atlantic.
The
sailing
northwards to
St.
blundering manner in which the expedition had been conducted,
explain the silence which has been kept respecting
entitles
state
of
it;
and yet
England to claim the high honour of having been the
may
it
perhaps
undoubtedly
fii*st
European
which entered into competition with the Portuguese on their peculiar
traffic,
and sent a regular expedition
by the way of the Cape of Good Hope.
owing to
projectors; and,
its
line
for the purpose of trading witli the E<ist
The
however much
failm-e of the expedition
it is
to
was not
be lamented, cannot derogate
from their merit in having both devised the expedition, and liberally furnished
it
with everything deemed necessary to insure
its success.
Nine years passed away before any expedition intended
.
,
the Cape quitted the shores of England.
})e
to reach the
East by
This apparent supineness, however, must
imputed, not to indiff*erence to the object or despair of being able to accom-
pUsh
it,
but to
political causes.
Philip II. of Spain
was engaged
in fitting out his
boasted Armada, and Queen Elizabeth, in her heroic efforts to defeat him, could
not spare a single seaman
;
but no sooner Wcis the battle of national independence
fought and won, than the determination to establish a trade in the East was
resumed. Accordingly, in October,
1
589, the verj^ year after the invincible
was discomfited, a body of English merchants presented a memorial
in council, in which, after
East, for the purpose of
Armada
to the lords
a rapid survey of the Portuguese settlements in the
showing
that, in the countries
Preparations
for another
.
bordering on the Indian
voyage.
IILSTOIIY
2l(.i
A.D. 1589.
and Ciiina
and Eastern produce
permission to
with
[B«;OK
ports in which a trade in English rnanufactnre.s
be advantageously established,
rni<^iit
I.
prayed
tiiey
for
out three ships and three pinnaces to be employed in this trade,
fit
queen's
tlie
many
were
tliere
.sea.s,
OF INDIA.
liceiLse
and
protection,
and subject
to
no other c^jndition than
the payment of the usual customs on their return.
Petition to
Before presenting this petition, the memorialists had
the queen.
had actually obtained, or at
success that they
meant
of the vessels which they
felt
bargained
least
confident of
.so
for,
pos.sessioii
mentioned in the
to employ: these are hence
EdvMrd
memorial by their names as the Royal Merchant, the Susan, and the
These names are of some consequence,
Bonaventuve.
as,
in the absence of
information as to the answer given to the memorial
direct
we
council,
are enabled to infer that
it
V.)y
any
the lords of
was favourable from the
fact that,
1591, less than eighteen months from the date of the application,
in April,
three ships, of which
two were the same as those named,
sailed
on this wery
voyage.
Sailing of
a
^g
new
expedition,
in the former case the accounts are
than prove that a second
enced.
The leading
failm-e,
ship, the
very imperfect, and do
though not so complete as
Penelope, was
more
little
before, ^vas experi-
commanded by George Bajinond,
by Abraham Kendal, and the Edward Bonaventure by
They sailed from Plymouth on the 1 0th of April, reached the
the Royal Merchant
James Lancaster.
Canaries
by the
25th,
were
off
Cape Blanco on the 2d of May, passed the
of Cancer on the 5th, and continued with a fair
when they were within
13th,
which obliged them
passed the hne.
from Lisbon to
necessaries.
many
Its pro-
to lie
oli"
in the sea
at north-east
till
the 6th of June,
They had previously captured a Portuguese
Brazil,
These
and loaded
last are said to
chiefly
till
the
Here they encountered a gale
8° of the equator.
and on
wind
tropic
with wine,
oil,
when they
caravel,
olives,
bound
and divers
have proved better to them than
gold, as
of the crew had previously fallen sick.
An E S.E. wind prevailing,
carried
them
far
west
till
within 100 leagues of the
ceedings.
i-ound to
saw
for the first
from douliling
as the
when the wind, veering
steer for the Cape of Good Hope, which the}28th of July. Being prevented by contrary* winds
They had reached
the north, enabled them to
coast of Brazil.
number
it,
time on the
they cast anchor on the 1st of August in Saldanha Bay.
of hands
had been reduced by
attacked with scurvy, had become
liack the
26° south latitude,
Royal Merchant with the
Penelope and the Edivard.
On
death,
inefficient, it
sick,
and many, from having been
was deemed expedient
and continue the voyage only
to send
"wdth the
reaching Cape Corrientes, on the east coast of
Africa, near the tropic of Capricorn, a hiu'ricane arose, during
parted company.
Here,
The Penelojoe was never afterwards heard
who
continues the account, persevered in the voyage.
and
losing a large part of his crew
by an attack
which the
of;
vessels
but Lancaster,
After coasting northward,
of the Mooi"s,
who came
sud-
denly upon them while procuring water, they sailed directly for Cape Comorin,
EXPEDITION UNDER RAYMOND.
CnAP. IX.
meant
wliere the}^
to cruise witli a
view
to intercept
217
and capture the richly
a
n. 1592.
laden vessels from the Indian peninsula, Ceylon, Malacca, the Moluccas, and
The south-west
Japan.
'*?€.*--
mon.soon having set
they foimd
culty
great
in,
diffi-
doubling
in
the
Cape, but at length suc-
ceeded
May,
in
Six days
rived
at
after,
they ar-
the
Nicobar
and
Islands;
1692.
then, after
plying off and on the
of Sumatra,
coast
pro-
ceeded to the coast of
Cape Comorin, from near Calcad
— Fnun
Daiiieil's
Views
in India.
Malacca, where they de-
termined to pass what Lanciister
They were now reduced
season.
calls
the winter, meaning thereby the rain}'
to thirty-three persons in all
but, towards
;
the end of August, having espied three vessels, each of about seventy tons, they
were bold enough to attack and capture the whole of them.
Pegu
released because they were the property of merchants in
which they understood
to belong
was transferred
They next
;
of
them they
but the
third,
"to certain Portuguese Jesuits, and a biscuit-
same nation," was considered lawful
l)aker of the
Two
Pre.iatorj'
prize.
Its cargo of pepper
Edward.
to the
sailed for the Straits of Malacca, still
bent on privateering, and
made two important captures, the one a Portuguese ship of 250 tons, laden with
rice from Negapatam to Malacca, and the other a Malacca ship of 700 tons,
that came from Goa.
The latter carried fifteen brass Ciinnon, and had on board
300 men, women, and children, but made scarcely any defence against Lancaster's
She was laden
mere handful.
but had no treasure
was sent
On
now
the 21st of
to the
with wine and European goods,
so rich a prize as
goods had been taken
spread, they
and returned
locality,
and thus proving not
;
adrift after the choicest
presence being
chiefly
deemed
it
out.
was
anticipated,
The alarm of
their
dangerous to remain longer in
this
Nicobar Islands.
November they departed
for the
island of Ceylon, and,
anchoring at the Point de Galle, waited in the hope of intercepting the Portuguese
fleets
from Bengal, Pegu, and Temisserim.
iiregular
and predatory
mutinous
spirit
ness to
life
which the crew had
began to appear
;
for
Owing, doubtless, to the
some time been
and advantage was taken of Lancaster's
announce their determination that they would stay no
their direct com'se for England.
and the
Tiiere
;
wards, returning as
had come by the Cape of Good Hope
1.
it
vessel
sick-
longer, but take
was no means of i)reventing them from
having weighed anchor, set sail home-
doing as they pleased
Vol.
leading, a
Here the weather
28
voyage
218
A.D. 1504.
HISTORY
was
weeks were spent
so stormy that four
On
arrived at St. Helena.
of Brazil,
leaving
and kept wandering
for
among
of Paria, and afterward
tlirown off
OB^
it
INDIA.
[Book
in doubling the Cape.
West India
the
At
tr>
the wajst
first in
the Gulf
The
Islands.
subordination, did as they pleased.
all
In April they
they were carried westward
a time under great hardships,
I.
having
crew,
on the 15th of
last,
November, 1593, while the captain and sixteen of the crew were ashore searching for provisions, the car[)enter cut the ship's cable, and she drifted
only five
men and
as the only
a boy in
her.
Lancaster and his peo[)le separated into parties,
means of obtaining even a scanty
French
six others got off in a
away with
su-stenance.
which took them to
vessel,
Ultimately, he and
St.
Domingo.*
Here,
leaving the rest to follow, he embarked with his lieutenant in another French
vessel for Diejjpe.
he landed,
Expedition
Houtmann.
24)th
Having reached
it
He had
May, 1594.
in safety, he crossed over to Rye,
where
been absent three years and six weeks.
The Dutch, though they did not attempt the passage by the Cape of Good
Hope SO early as the English, appear to have been more careful in preparing
for
and were accordingly rewarded with more abundant
it,
voyage, undertaken
first
name
of the
Company
who had assumed
of merchants,
for Distant Countries, sailed
The expedition
of April, 1595.
tons,
by a number
Their
success.
tlie
from the Texel on the 2d
consisted of four vessels
— the Maurice, of 400
men; the Holland, nearly of
the Maurice; the Amsterdam, of about 200 tons,
carrying twenty cannon and eighty-four
the same size and strength as
men and a pinnace, of about 30 tons,
cannon and twenty men. The command of the vessels was given
carrying sixteen cannon and fifty-nine
carrying eight
to captains of
was intrusted
;
high naval reputation; but the general commercial superintendence
to Cornelius
mation, the voyage
is
Houtmann,
said to
at
whose suggestion, and on whose
have been luidertaken.
He had
infor-
spent some time
in Lisbon acquainting himself with the nature of the Portuguese traffic to the
East; and, in the course of his inquiries, had incurred the saspicion of the
Portuguese government,
him
to
till it
who imposed
should be paid.
a heavy fine upon him, and imprisoned
He had no means
of doing so
;
but,
ha\dng managed
communicate with some merchants of Amsterdam, induced them to pay the
fine
and obtain
his release, in consideration of the valuable information
which
he would be able to communicate.
On
Its pro-
the 19th of April, the four vessels reached the Canaries, and on the 14th
ceedings,
of
June they crossed the
line.
They had previously
fallen in
mth
several
Portuguese vessels, which they might have taken as lawful prizes; but, with
a moderation in which
much good
policy
was combined, they met and parted
They now began to long anxiously for land, as the crews were
They had
suffering much by scurvy, and reached it on the 4th of Augiist.
passed the Cape of Good Hope without seeing it, and had anchored in a bay
called the Aguada de San Bras, situated about forty-five leagues beyond it.
like friends.
After some intercourse with the natives, they continued their voyage on the
]
EXPEDITION UNDER HOUTMANN.
Chap. IX.
219
11th of August, but were again obliged, by the ravages of scurvy, to seek
refreshments on the coast of Madagascar.
ing them
;
Tliey
had some
and, in the meantime, were so reduced
scarcely muster
twenty men
by
ad.
159a.
difficulty in obtain-
sickness, that they could Houtmann
reaches
for service, while
fit
Having somewhat recovered by means
they obtained ashore, they again set
various adventm*es not possessed of
they had actually
of the fruit
sail
much
and
lost seventy. Madagascar.
fresh provisions
which
on the 14th of December; and,
interest, directed their course
after
towards
the southern islands of the Maldive
group.
They were thus canied
yond the Indian peninsula, and
saw land on the
1st of June,
befirst
1596.
Tliey were off the coast of Sumatra.
Continuing southwards, they arrived,
on the
11th, at the entrance of the
Straits
of
Sunda,
and
proceeding
through them, much impeded by contrary winds and cmi'ents, aiTived at
Bantam, on the north-west extremity
of Java.
On their arrival
by
six Portuguese,
they were visited
with their
slaves,
who assumed the character of deputies, sent by the governor and people
visit.
Tlie
;
intercom'se
commenced,
Bantam
to ascertain the object of their
Under
their only object.
aixl
a
full
all
this impression
cargo of pepper, at a very
moderate
have
rate, miglit easily
been
obtained;
but
Houtmann, determined
to
do everything at the cheapest, wsis
the
induced to wait for
new
crop,
wliich
was
represented to him as so very
abundant, that
it
would be
obtained at almost nominal
prices.
This
injudicious
delay gave the Portuguese
Bird'8-eve
View of Bantam
Arrival at
Bantam.
England, particularly Cavendish and
but the Dutch endeavoured to dissipate
by declaring that commerce was
a friendly
of
previous navigators from
Lancaster, had spread great alarm
fear,
PORTUQUESB RKSIDENT3 AT B.4NTAM.'
time to prepare a series of
intrigues,
by means of which
the good understanding with the natives was on the point of being broken up.
'ITrom Uistoirc de la Xarigation aiu Iiulcs One7ifales par hs Hollandais, par G. in A.
W.
L.,
Amst. 1C09.
220
A.D.
1590.
IIISTOKY OF INDIA.
Ultimately, however, a treaty, offensive and defensive,
though
natives,
was
The immediate corisequence
to be expected from them.
Houtmann,
injudicious
still
tlie
nothing but enmity in every form, secret or open,
j)retend,
the establishment of a
Houtiniinii's
I.
was formed with the
evidence was given, that whatever friendship
sufficient
Portuguese might
conduct.
[Book
was
of the treaty
Dutch factory at Bantam.
continuing to wait for the anticipated reduction in the price
of pepper, began to di.spose of his merchandise, to be paid for in pepper, at the
which
price
it
when
should bear
new
the
crop should be delivered.
terms he found ready purchasers in the governor and
.several of the
On
other
these
officials
Meanwhile, the Portuguese continued their intrigues, and very
of the town.
Houtmann was
plausibly maintained, that the irrational course which
could only be accounted for
that his real object
was
to
by assuming that commerce was only a
make
pursuing^
and
pretext,
himself thoroughly acquainted with the loca-
lity,
with the view of afterwards returning and taking forcible
The
effect of these insinuations
A
soon became apparent.
posse.ssion of
pilot,
who had
it.
all
along manifested great friendship for the Dutch, was barbarously assassinated,
and the pepper due on the purchases which had been made was not delivered.
The Dutch, after uttering vain complaints, had recourse to menaces.
Tliese
were not
lost
upon the
All the
tions.
Java
inhabitants,
vessels in the
At the same
time, the
a large
destined to act against
fleet,
Dutch were
who immediately took
harbour cut their
all possible
precau-
and ran
ashore.
cables,
by the alarming intelligence that
them, was being prepared in a neiglibour-
startled
ing harbour.
Houtnianii
made
Houtmann, though thus put upon
had the rashness to go ashore
his guard,
j)ri-
iier.
with only seven attendants, and pay a visit to the governor.
might have been foreseen immediately followed
;
The
result
which
and the whole party, as soon
The Dutch immediately attempted
reprisals, by seizing the governor's interpreter and a number of his slaves.
Houtmann's position was now precarious in the extreme; and he only saved
himself from the death with which he was threatened, by sending a letter to
as they entered the palace,
the
fleet,
Threatened
It
arrested.
ordering the interpreter to be delivered up.
were accordingly
himself
were
still
released,
Five of his companions
and an appearance of trade was resumed, though he
remained in captivity.
was impossible that matters could long remain
in this position;
and
retaliation.
it
was therefore formally
resolved, at a council held on board the Maurice, to
intimate to the governor, that
if
the captain,
Houtmann, and
all
his people,
with
everything belonging to them, were not delivered on the following day, the
utmost force which they possessed v/ould forthwith be employed to obtain
redress.
No
answer having been returned by mid-day, the four
near the town, and anchored in three fathoms.
On
proceeding, the governor, in a rage, ordered the arrest
the factory.
They were
all
carried
off,
ves.sels
drew
news of this
of every Dutchman in
the
Houtmann along with
first
tliem, to the place
EXPEDITION UNDER HOUTMANN.
Chap. IX.]
221
and nothing but excruciating deaths were looked for, when
consequences, recoiled from them,
the governor, who had begun to calculate the
of public execution;
proposed
and
It
was
1597.
negotiation.
spun out
so
A.D.
that
Dutch once more lost
patience and commenced
the
which
in
hostilities,
their
became
superiority soon
so
apparent, that the governor
saw the
necessity of yield-
Many delays were
ing.
but
interposed,
still
idtimately
an arrangement was come
Governor of Banta.m and AiTENDASrs.— iiistoire de
to.
by which
sum
agreed to pay a considerable
and Houtmann and
la Navigation, ic.
Dutch
the
liis
money
of
for the
damage they had
caused,
companions regained then* freedom.
Friendship seemed about to be re-established,
when a
.Portuguese deputy
""J^'^JI"^"''!"
and the promise
of one still more valuable, provided he would shut the port against all commerce
with the Dutch.
The bribe was too tempting to be resisted and an order was
arrived from Malacca with a large present to the governor,
i.roceedii.i;8
;
by the governor which
issued
left
no doubt as to his
mann, convinced that negotiation was now
and
his people
Hout-
hastened to remove with
useless,
Immediately
their effects.
hostile intentions.
after,
it
was decided by a
all
council
held on board the Maurice, to give full scope to their resentment and take a
Second thoughts proved
signal revenge.
could be gained, and
much might be
lost
and
better,
by the
reflecting that nothing
indiscriminate carnage which
they had contemplated, they weighed anchor, and proceeded eastward along the
were
lives
After a fearful encounter with the natives, in which
of Java.
cojust
lost
on both
sides,
and
all
hopes of establishing a friendly
were destroyed, the vessels quitted the north-west
the
isle
coast,
and
many
intercour.^^e
sailed north to
of Lubok, which they reached on the 9th of December.
They now
c-hanged their course to west, but, on the 2.5th, after they had beaten about,
obstructed
by contrary
selves
within sight of the island.
still
remaining,
many
of
Avinds
them
and
so
were astonished to find them-
Here, as they had only ninety-four
imfit for service,
Amstenkim, which had become
kept
currents, they
it
was resolved
to
men
abandon the
leaky that she could with difficulty be
afloat.
On
the
1
2th of Januarv,
1
597, anchor
was again
°
proceeded tor the eastern extremity of Java.
On
weisched,
and the
vessels Return
°
the 1 Sth they came in sight
of an active volcano, and, a few days after, entered the strait which separates
Java from
Bali.
latter island,
After some friendly intercom^e with the inhabitants of the
they tiu-ned their face homewards on the 26th of February, and
tlie
of
Dutch
expedition
;
222
A
u. 1598.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
began to steer for the Cape of Good Hope.
had been reduced
eiglity-nine
negi-oes
of Java,
now
to tliree
Their
[Book
veaseLs,
and of the 249 men who
;
a.s
I.
alrea*ly mentioned,
ha<l quitted Holland,
only
Besides these, however, they had with them two
survived.
taken up on the coast of Madagascar, a Chinese, two Malabars, a native
and a
volunteered to
make
the coast of Natal
was
wlio
pilot,
the voyage to Europe.
was reached on the
Sailing
on the
5th,
luid
by the south of Java,
24!th of Apiil, St.
Helena on the
of May, the island of Ascension on the 2d of June, the Azores on
July, the English Channel
and
said to be originally from Gujerat,
tlie
25tli
12th of
and the port of Amsterdam on the 14th
of August.
Results of
voyage.
Though the results of Houtmann's voyage were by no means brilliant, his
arrival was hailed with loud acclamations.
He had successfully performed a
voyage in which the English had twice failed, and made it plain that, with due
circumspection, a direct and lucrative trade with the East, by the way of the
Cape of Good Hope, might easily be established.
The Portuguese would
doubtless throw every possible obstacle in the way; but their power of mischief
was greatly abridged by the
loss of their independence,
and more was
to
be hoped from the victories which might be gained over them, than feared from
the injm'ies which they might be able to
The native powers,
inflict.
too,
had
evidently no love for the Portuguese, of whose tyranny and bigotry they had
too good reason to complain,
with any foreigners by
or finally overthrown.
whom
Even
and were disposed
to
form friendly connections
the Portuguese supremacy might be undermined
the returns
by Houtmann's voyage, though
ob-
tained under the most unfavourable circumstances, nearly covered the expense
and there was therefore every reason
to hope, that in proportion as the na^i-
gation and the nature of the trade came to be better understood, great profits
would be regularly
Newexpe
realized.
Influenced by these and similar considerations, Houtmann's return was no
"^
ditiODS.
sooner announced than aU the principal ports of Holland were eager to share in
new Indian traffic; and various companies, having that object in \dew, were
formed.
As before, the Company for Distant Countries, which had sent out
Houtmann, took the lead, and made all haste to fit out four ships. Other four
were fitted out by a rival company. The leading merchants in both, afi-aid of
the injury which they might inflict on each other, by appearing in the Indian
the
market as competitors, proposed and
vessels thus fitted out at the expense of private individuals,
cannon by the government,
remarkable for
its
sailed in
1598.
Four of them made a voyage
rapidity at that early period,
occupied more time, but appear to have turned
Amboyna, Banda, and
which yielded an immense
profit.
Ternate, came
eight
but provided with
and
in the course of fifteen
months returned from Bantam with a valuable cargo of pepper
visiting
The
an amalgamation.
eflfected
it
to
;
the other fom-
good account
home laden with
During another voyage,
fitted out
;
and
rich
after
spices,
by Middel-
THE DUTCH EAST INDIA TRADE.
IX.]
Ch-AP.
burg merchants, also in
Houtmann, who had been intrusted with
598,
1
was again unfortunate, and
in and,
King
the part of the
223
of Acheen, in
The Dutch East India trade
lost his life
by an
com-
tlie
act of gross treachery
had originated in private
liave
on
now be
miidit
°
considered as fairly
established.
"^
enterprise,
and had the times been
,
peaceful,
might
rr.«icw
the
ot
DuKh
KastinUia
been successfully carried on by the same means but the Spaniards and Por;
tuguese having
at all hazards,
tlie
1602.
island of Sumatra.
tlie
.
It
ad.
means of
left
it
no doubt of their determination to cling to their monopoly
became necessary
by
repelling force
for the
Dutch
At
force.
first
to provide themselves with
the States-general contented
themselves with granting the necessary authority for this purpose
appeared that separate companies, pursuing different, and
adverse interests, could not well co-operate in repelling a
two
circumstances,
it
it
soon
might be
also
common
coiu^es lay open to the government.
but
;
foe.
In these
might adhere
It
to
the system generally followed in Europe, and, while permitting individuals or
jissociations full freeilom of trade in
protection against foreign enemies
wiiere danger
was apprehended
into one great
its
by
it
stationing ships of
might, by uniting
and exclusive company, enable
not only to maintain
become in
or
;
every region of the East, provide for their
its
in every quarter
private associations
all
to acquire sufficient strength
who might assail it, but even to
and make new conquests. The latter was the
ground against
turn the aggressor
it
war
all
plan adopted; and on the 20th of March, 1602, a general charter
was granted,
incorporating the chfferent companies into one gi'eat association, and conferring
upon
it
the exclusive privilege of trade to the East.
merits or demerits,
was not
original, for the
The
plan,
whatever be
model had been furnished
its
fifteen
months before in a charter granted with a similar object by the crown of England.
To
must now
this charter,
and the preparatory measvu-es taken
to procure
it,
we
turn.
If those
who
took the lead in the expeditions of Fenton and Lanca.ster had
been deteired by their
ftiilure
direct trade with India, they
when they became
from persevering in the attempt to
must have been ashamed of
accpiainted with the success of the
Dutch
estaljlish
a
their ])usillanimity
;
and
nuist have felt the necessity of immediately bestirring themselves
at all events
if
they were
not prepared to allow a rival nation to forestall them in what was then imiversally,
world.
though not very accurately, regarded as the most lucrative market in the
The proceedings thus originated must be reserved
for the
next chapter
liret charter
oftheUiitih
p:a8t India
224
OF 1M)IA.
HlhiTOlJV
CHAPTER
Association of merchant adventurers for a voyage to the
The
^^^;jN
^^ ^;|
first
X.
East— Their proceedings— Their memorial
many
j^relirninaiy conferences,
merchant adventurers was formed in London
At
purpose of prosecuting a voyage to the East Indies.
a
D. 1599.
"
to be
-
an
for the
first, tliougli
permanent company was evidently contemplated, only a
voyage was proposed.
A
I.
English East India charter.
September, 1599, doubtless after
association of
[booK
single
Accordingly, their contract simply pur[)orts
The names of suche persons
owne
as have written with there
venter in the pretended voiage to the Easte Indias (the whiche
it
handes, to
male please
As.iDciatioii
of merchant
the Lorde to prosper) and the somes that they will adventure, the xxij Sep-
adventurers
The aggregate sum amounted
tember, 1599."
sented 101 adventures or shares, varying in
At
Petition to
the
first
was resolved
to £30,133,
8d.,
6-s.
amount from £100
and
repre-
to £3000.
general meeting, held two days after the date of the contract,
to petition the
queen for her royal
it
a project "intended
as.sent to
the queen.
for the
honour of their native country and the advancement of trade and mer-
chandize within the realm of England
;
and
voyage to the East
to set forth a
On the following
whom the management
Indies and other islands and countries thereabouts."
when
the fifteen committee men, or directors, to
been intrusted, held their
first
day,
had
meeting, the petition was read and approved.
After stating that "divers merchants, induced by the successe of the viage
performed by the Duche nacion, and being informed that the Dutchemen
prepare for a
new
viage,
and
to that ende
have bought divers ships
here, in
Englande, were stirred with noe lesse afieccion to advaunce the trade of their
native countrie, than the
Duche merchaimts were
to benefite theii'e
wealthe, and upon that afieccion have resolved to
Indias," they pray to be incorporated into a
make
common-
a viage to the Ea-st
company, 'for that the trade of the
Indies being so remote could not be traded on but on a jointe and united stocke."
They
also
prayed to be permitted to export foreign
deficiency, to
have bullion coined
for
them
coin, or, in the
at the queen's
mint
;
event of a
and, lastly, to
be exempted for several years, as the Dutch merchants were, from payment of
export or import duties
Voyage to
the East
approved
On
the 16th of October, the queen having signified her approbation of the
voyage, the committee were exerting themselves to obtain permission for the
vessels to proceed
on their voyage \vithout further delay, when an insurmount-
able obstacle arose from an unexpected (quarter
during her late wars that she began to
Spain had suffered so much
feel the necessity of peace.
Philip
II.,
—
too,
MEMORIAL OF ENGLISH MERCHANTS.
X]
Chap.
whose bigotry and ambition were the great obstacles to
to his account;
and
was
sincere in the matter,
government took
Were anything wanting
result.
it
might be found
•
^
•
1
and
;
•
ri
to prove that
1
1
•
The committee of adventurers, fearing such a
and elaborate memorial,
ment of all the
in
localities in
ad.
1599.
EnghuKj
Its approba-
impression
luider the
yet,
voyage miglit give umbrage to bpain, that approbation was
drawn.
called
the retrograde step which
in
voyage to India.
in regard to the projected
had been formally declared
tion
had been
it,
were commenced under circumstances which
nejjotiations
promised a favourable
225
result,
that the
1-1
expressly with-
Approval
withdrawn.
presented a long
which they endeavoured to show, by a careful
state-
which the Spaniards could, with any show of reason,
claim an exclusive right of trade, that the projected voyage would be so con-
ducted as not to interfere in the least with the })rogress of the pending negotiations
;
but the lords of council answered that
" it
was more
beneticiall fur the
generall state of merchandize to enterta^nie a peace, then that the
by the standing with the Spanische commissioners,
be hindred
same should
for the
mayn-
tayning of this trade, to foregoe the oportunety of the concluding of the peace."
To
answer no
this
lest,
after they
effectual reply could be
made; and the adventm'ers, "fearing
were drawen into a charg, they shuld be required to
viage, did proceede noe further in the
desist their
matter for this ye re, but did enter into
the preparacion of a viage the next yere foUowinge."
Tlie
memorial above referred
to,
furnishing an excellent
summaiy
of the
grounds on which the adventm-ers claimed and ultimately obtained permission
to establish
historical
an East Indian
trade, possesses,
independent of
document, intrinsic merits which justify a very
is entitled,
"Certayne Reasons
why
its interest
as an
liberal ([notation.
the English Merchants
may
It
trade into the
East Indies, especially to such rich kingdoms and dominions as are not sub-
King of Spayne and Portugal together with the true limits of the
Portugals conquest and jurisdiction in those Oriental parts;" an<l proceeds as
jecte to the
;
follows:
Whereas, right houorable, upou a treatie of peace betweene the crownes of Eiighind
and Spayne like to ensue, that is not to be doubted, but that greate exception will bee taken
ngaynst the intended voyage of her majestie's subjects into the East Indies, by the Cape of
Kuena Speran^a therefore the adventurers in the sayd intended voyage most liuinblv crave,
at your honors" liands,t<i take perfecte knowledge of these fewe considerations underwritten.
'•
;
"
Fii-st,
they desire that
Si)anishe jieaee to ])ut
it
wold please your honors to urge the commissioners
downe under
their hands, the
names
of the
of all such islands, cities, townes.
l>laces, castels, and fortresses, as they are actually, at this present, possessed of, from the sayd
("ape of Biieua Speran^a, along the cost of Africa, on the cost of Arabia, in the East Indies,
the Malucos, and other Orientid parts of the world: which, if they may bee drawne truly anil
faythfully to put downe. so that wee cannot be able, manifestly, to prove the contrarie, then
wil wee be content, in noe sort, to disturbe nor molest
them, whei-soever they are alreadie
oommandei-s and in actual authoritie.
" Secondly,
your
if
they wil not, by any meanes, bee drawne to this themselves, then wee, for
lordshi|)pes' j)erfect instruction in this behalfe, wil take the
That may please your honors, therefore,
Vol.
I.
paynes to doe
it
for them.
to luulei-stand, that these bee al the islands, cities,
29
Memoiiai of
merchants
ooundi'"^'^*
—
—
'
HISTORY OF INDIA.
22f>
A.D. 1599.
—
[Book
I.
townes, places, castlfs and fortresses, whereof they be, at this present, actual commauixlerH,
beyond the Cape
After a
of ijueiia Sjjeranfa, eastward."
of Spanish and Portuguese pos.sessions, arranged according to
list
"On
their positions
Mouth
the Coste of Africa," "In the
and "From the Persian Golfe along the Coste of
of the Persian Golfe,"
India, .southward," the
memorial
proceeds:
Memorial—
tion third,
« Thirdly, All the places which are under their
govemement and commaund being thus
by many evident and
that there remayueth tliat all the
invinci1)le proof es, and some eye-witne.sses, if need recjuire
rest rich kingdoms and islands of the East, which are in number very many, are out of their
power and jurisdiction, and free for any other princes or people of the world to repayre unto,
whome the soveraigne lords and governors of those territories wil bee willing to adniitte into
their dominions
a chiefe parte whereof are the.se here eusuinge."
Here follows a catalogue
under the title of "The names of the chiefe knowne islands and kingdoms beyond the Cape of
Buena Speranca, wholy out of the dominion of the Portugalls and Spaniards, in the east,
south-east, and north-east parts of the world."
exactly and truely put downe, and wee being able to avouch
it
to be so,
:
:
As
Catalogue of
chief lino wn
islands in
the East.
—
this Catalogue furnishes, in the
brilliant results anticipated
.
IS
,
i
•
•
i
i
very terms employed, a vivid idea of the
from the establishment of an East India trade,
it
•
i
here subjomed verbatim
:
" The Isle of Madagascar, or San Lorenso, upon the backeside of Africa
—
The kingdoms of
and might ie kingdome of
Pegu The kingdome of Jun9alaon The kingdome of Siam The kingdome of Camboia
The kingdome of Canchinchina The most mighty and welthy empire of China The rich and
gouldeu island of Sumatra The whole islands of Java Major, Java Minor, and Baly The
large and rich islands of Borneo, Celebes, Gilolo, and Os Papuas
The long tracte of Nova
Guinea and the Isles of Solomon The rich and innumerable islands of Malucos and the
Spicerie, except the two small isles of Tidore and Amboyno, where the Portugals have only
two smal forts The large islands of Mindinas and Calamines The gouldeu islands of the
greate and smal Lequeos The manifold and populos sylver islands of the Japones The
counti-y of Coray newly discovered to the north-east."
Orixa, Bengala, and Aracan, on the Gulfe of Bengala
—
—
—
— The
rich
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Immediately after
that " in
riches,
—
—
all these,
and
—
this catalogue,
the memorial reiterates the statement
infinite places more,
abounding with
the Portugales and Spaniards have not any
or commaunderaent,"
and appeals
in proof of it to
sisting of " Portugalle authors printed
in Spayne,
'
"Italiens,"
castle,
gi'eate
forte,
numerous
blockehouse,
authorities, con-
and written," "Spani.sh authors printed
"Englishmen," and "Hollanders."
The
last two,
—
which
now pos.sess much interest, include under the former head "Su* Francis
Drak's men yet living, and his own writing printed," "Mr. Thomas Candishes
alone
Authoritie.s
welthe and
Companye, yet
living,
and
his writings printed," "Mr.
Ralph Fitche's Travayles
through most of the Portugal Indies, in print," and "Mr. James Lancaster's
and
his
Companye's voyage
head— "John
in India,"
Huygen de
"The
first
"The second voyage
as farre as Malacca, printed;'
and under the
latter
Linschoten's worke, which lived above seven yeres
voyage of the Hollanders to Java and
to Java,
in
Balj^, in printe,
Dutch and English," "The testimonie of
William Pers, Englishman, with them in the sayd voj^age," and "The third
returne of the Hollanders from the East Indies this
3^ere."
After this
anay
—
—
;
REPORT BV FFLKE GREVILLE.
Chap. X.]
227
of authorities, the memorialists, confident that they had triumphantly estaLlislied ad.
continue thus:
tlieir case,
" Fourtlily,
why they
let
these shewe any juste and laweful reasons, voyd of afteetion and partialitie,
should barre her
vaste,
wyde, and
many
free ])rinces, kings,
soveraign
infinitely
commaund
niajestie,
and
open ocean
and
al
sea,
other Christian princes and states, of the use of the
and of
acces.s to
the territories and dominions of so
whose dominions they have noe more
jjotentates in the East, in
or authoritie, then wee, or any Christians whosoever."
The point thus argued could not be
and yet
rationally contested,
was
it
They claimed in
virtue of a Papal grant, which had arrogantly bestowed upon them exclusive
riofht to all new lands which mijjht be discovered either in the East or West
(juite clear tluit
and hence,
the Spaniards woitld not consent to yield
until
this
were doing
little
"
always ready to answer,
we have
We
discovered, or
claim not merely what
may
Elizabetli,
of the
'
^^^"
the
that every
to all
of the memorialists, their opponents were
we
occupy, but the whole
yet be discovered in those regions."
so extravagant could not be acquiesced in
Queen
when they argued
by the Spaniards and Poi-tuguese was open
To every such argument
Extravagai.t
between them and such claimants,
better than beating the air
locality not actually occupied
the world.
it.
claim was set aside, or voluntarily relinquished,
memorialists, in so far as the question lay
tliat
i509.
A claim
by any Protestant government
;
but
though she had doubtless determined that the maritime enter-
prise of her subjects should
n\ the cautious spirit in
have
full
scope in the East, dealt with the memorial
which she usually
rej)ort to
be made upon
Brooke.
In this report,
acted,
and before
deciding, caused a
by the celebrated Fidke Greville, afterwards Lord
which was made to Sir Francis Walsingham, who had
it
names of such kings as are absolute in the East, and either have
or traffique with the Kinge of Sj^aine," Greville entei-s very fully into
refpiested " tlie
vvarr
detail,
fii-st
commencing rather superfluously on the
south to
tlie
coast of Barbary,
Cape of Good Hope, and then north to the mouth of the Red
It is here only that his report begins to
Sea.
and proceeding
Though he acknowledges
it
to be
bear properly upon our subject.
merely a compilation from two or three
authors,
"having neither meanes nor t3-me to seak other
entitled,
notwithstanding several geographical blunders, to more than a passing
notice.
After tiacing the east African coast as far as the Cape of Gardafuy, he
helpes," it
is
well
thus proceeds:
" At the said cape the Portugalls yeerly lye in wayte for the Turki.sh shippes, which
adventure to traffique without their licence, houldinge themselves the only comraaunders of
From the cape to the mouth of the Red Sea are also many small dominions of
white Mahometans, rich in gould, sylver, ivory, and all kynd of victuuUs and behind thes
these seas.
:
mayue, lyeth the great empire of Prester John, to whom the Portugalls (as
some write) doe yeerly send eight shippes, laden with all kynde of merchandi.se, and also furnish
themselves with many .'?ayllei-s out of his coa.st townes in the Red Sea. In the bottom of
cuntries, in the
this sea, at a place ealletl Sues, the
Jis
Turekes build gallies which scoure all that coast, as far
Melinde, and everie yeere annoy the Portugalls exceedinge much. Beyond the Red Sea.
Arabia
land
;
governed by manie sidtans of greate and absolute jwwer, both by sea and
iippon the pointe thereof standeth the riohe and stronge cittie Aden, wher both InFa'lix is
Report by
crevuie.
—
—
228
A.D. 1590.
lllSTOKY OF INDIA.
tlians, Persians,
I
Ethiopians, Turkes, and Portugals, have exceadinge greate traffique.
the Gulf of Persia that kinge possesseth all the coast, and
Portugals, with pearles, carpetta,
mouth
the
forte in
it,
of this golf,
and ther
the
is
lie
subject to the Persians, but so that
India, Arabia, Persia,
staj)le of ai
Beyond
great traffique witli the
The
rich commodities.
i.
of
tlie
Orinus lyeth
in
Portugals liath a
and Turkic, whither Christian
resort, from Alepjjo and Tripolis, twyse in the year."
merchants do also
Report by
FiUke
is
and
and other
lialh
Book
Continuing eastward he arrives at India, of which he says:
"Beyond the Persian
Greville.
lieth the
and hath exceedinge greate
in
kingdome
trafficque
of
Cambaia, which
is
the fruitfullest of
all
India,
the Portugals possesse ther the towne of Dieu, scituatv
:
an iland in the mouth of the Indus, wher he hath great trade with the Cambaians, and
jiartes.
Next is the cuntrie of the Malabars, who are the Vjesi
and greatest enemies of the Portugals it was once an entyer empier, now
divided into many kingdoms part is subject to the Queen of Baticola, who selleth great store
of pepper to the Portugals, at a towne called Onor, which they hould in her state the rest of
Malabar is divided into fyve kingdoms. Cochin, Chananor, Choule, Coulon,and Calechut; the
last was the greatest, but, by the assistance of the Portugals, Cochin hath now prevailed
above him.
Beyond the Malabars is the kingdome of Narsinga, wher the Portugals also
traffique
then the kingdom of Orixen and Bengalen by the ryver Granges, as also of Aracan,
Pegu, Tanassaria and Queda."
all
other nations in these
souldiers of India,
:
;
:
:
The
latter part of the report is less carefully
drawn
up,
and commits the
egregious blunder of confounding Taprobana, or Ceylon, with Sumatra.
It
continues thus:
Sumatra or Taprobuna is possessed by many kinges, enemies to the Porthe King of Dachem, who besieged them in Malacca, and with his gallies
stopped the passage of victuails and traffique from China, Japan, and Molucco, till, by a
mayne ileete, the coast was cleared. The Kinge of Spaigne, in regai'de of the importance
of this passage, hath often resolved to conquer Sumatra, but nothinge is done.
The Kinges
of Acheyn and Tor are, in lyke sorte, enemies to the Portugals.
The Philippinas belonged
to the crowne of China, but, abandoned by him, were possessed by the Spaniards, who have
trafficque ther with the merchants of China, which yeerly bring to them above twenty shippes,
laden with all manner of wares, which they carry into New Spaine and Mexico. They
trafficque also with the Chinois at Mackau, and Japan.
And, lastlie, at Goa, there is great
resort of all nations, from Arabia, Armenia, Persia, Cambaia, Bengala, Pegu, Siam, Malacca,
Java, Molucca, and China, and the Portugals suffer them all to lyve ther, after their owne
manners and relligions only for matter of justice they are ruled by the Portugal! law. In
the yeere 1584, many ambassadors came to Goa from Persia, Cambaia, and the Malabars, and
"The
tugals
;
iland of
the cheif
is
;
concluded peace with the Portugals
This report
English prefor
an
em
voyage.
east-
old,
but
1
is
1586, the Arabians slew above 800 Portugals."
dated the 10th of March, in the year 1599, according to the
600 accorduig to the present mode of reckoning, and must have had a
f.^^Q^^j.g^|j|g effect,
as the queen's approbation of the projected
voyage was shortly
and a general meeting of the adventurers was held at Founders'
on the 2od of September, when it was resolved " that they would goe
after signified
Hall,
;
;
management was
forwards with the voiage."
Tlie
they were then
called,
tors, or, as
committees,
intrusted to seventeen direc-
who met
for the first
time on the
very same day, and two days after made a purchase of the ship Susan for the
sum
of £1600.
The economical
spirit in
which the pm-chase was made appears
by which the sellers agreed to take her back at half-price
on her return. The next day (26th) the purchase of two other ships, the Hector
a,ud Ascension, was agreed to; and a call was made upon the subscribers for
in a stipulation
I
'
ARRANGEMENTS FOR
Chap. X.J
229
FIRST VOYAGE.
payment of a third of the whole stock on or before the
On
30th.
day a
this
draft of the patent of privileges, or charter, to be submitted to the crown,
read and approved.
.\
d
leoo.
was
had been prepared by a Mr. Altham, who received a
It
fee of £4.
In the com'se of these preparations, the directors were somewhat startled by
'
•'
'
spirited cou
duct of the
_
an application from the Lord-treasm-er Burleigh, recommending the employment
Edward Michelbome
of Sir
The ground of the application
in the voyage.
directors,
is
not stated, but various circumstances lead to the conclusion that the possession
was
of court favour
The
Sir Edward's highest qualification.
directors
were
only petitioning for their charter, and must have been perfectly aware of the
they ran in refusing to comply with the wishes of such a statesman as
risk
Lord Burleigh.
much both
It says
for their firmness
and
their prudence, that
they managed to place their objection to his lordship's nominee not on personal
"
but on public grounds, declaring their resolution
in
any
place of chai-ge,"'
and requesting
men
theire business with
of their
"
own
not to employ any gentleman
that they might be allowed to sort
qualitye,
the suspiccion of the
lest
employment of gentlemen being taken hold upon by the
a great
number of the adventurers
Were
which
is
their contributions.
the
in
sense
usually attached to them, the answer would not only afford
Mr. Mill thinks he finds in
the times,"
withdraw
and gentlemen here employed
the words gentleman
now
to
do dryve
generalitie,
it,
what
Quaiifica-
,,ioyniei.t
"a curious specimen of the mode of thinking of
but indicate a narrowness and illiberality of mind sufficient to
prove that the directors were unworthy of the honoiu^able
iiad
been intrusted.
of a
company
It
is
office
with which they
impossible to believe, that in laying the foimdations
which one of the leading objects contemplated was, to use their
in
own expression, " the honor of theii' native countrie," they intended to lay it
down
a general and inflexible rule, that a man, however well qualified he
ixs,
—liowever
— however expert as an
accountant— however slu-ewd and experienced as a merchant— was
be deemed
might be
in other respects
unfit
employment
skilful as
a seaman
to
l>i>rn
for
of a good family,
entitled
language
ill
" in
him
to
may
making
place of charge," if he happened to have been
and to possess the manners and accomplishments which
move
sound,
any
in
its
the
first
circles
strange the
meaning evidently went no further than
their appointments the directors
and were determined
sional ability,
However
of society.
to
would be guided
s(»lely
this,
by
that
profes-
have nothing to do with those who,
pluming themselves on being gentlemen and nothing more, would only draw
the profit, without performing the duties of any office to which they might be
appointed.
Though
tiie
of obtaining
charter
it,
was not yet granted, the
directors,
proceeded with their arrangements.
vessels luus already
been mentioned
Malice Scourge, and double the
On
size of
having
now no doubt
The purchase
of three
the 5th of October, a fourth, called the
any of the
othei-s.
was purchased
fi-om
Arrange
firetvoylge.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
2;j()
A.D.
1000.
[BfKJK
the Eai'l of Cumberlanfl, after some liiggling, for £3700.
'Jo
I.
these purchasfjs tliat
of a pinnace was added; and the whole exjjedition, as tlien projected, Ht<jod thas:
—The
Malice Scourge, whose name was subsequently changed to
twenty months' voyage at £6600,
scription of £30,133, 6s.
of the vessels
8cZ.,
all colours,
with smaller
stuffs,
and the provisions
of
tlie
for a
original sub-
under deduction of the pui'chase and equijtment
and other payments, was
to be
taken out in
bullion.
The.se
and afterwards, as
will be
underwent considerable modifications.
seen,
On
the 30th of October, the same
attoniey-general for his opinion,
turers.
day on which the charter was sent
to the
a general meeting of the adventurers was
and the important resolution was adopted of increasing the number of
held,
directors
and
;
The remainder
4s. lOcZ.
calculations could only be considered conjectiural,
General
meeting of
adven-
Ascen-
and a pinnace, 40 men,
60 pieces of Devonshire kerseys, and 100 pieces of Noi'wich
articles chiefly for presents,
tlie
Tiie investment, consisting of iron
tons.
lead,
tin,
of the
tliat
from
fifteen to twenty-four.
their names, along with that of
honour of being the
first
the anticipated charter.
That number was accordingly
elected,
Alderman Thomas Smith, who had the
governor appointed, were ordered to be inserted in
Another resolution was that each adventurer
On
sliould
whose Annals of the East
India Company furnish the only printed information, makes statements whicli
pay up
his subscription.
are very obscure,
he
says, " It is
this subject Bruce,
and apparently
iiTeconcilable.
(vol.
i.
p.
130;
remarkable that these pajTnents were made by the whole of
the adventurers, with the exception of four only,
Immediately after he speaks of
tions."
In one passage
" the
who withdrew
their subscrip-
funds of the society being thus pro-
vided for;" and yet he afterwards quotes from the minutes of another meeting
Subscrip-
of the adventurers,
"summoned on
the 8th of December, to
make up
the fund
tions paid
up.
with which the voyage was to be
fitted out,"
and
at
which
"it
was agreed
sum subscribed by the adventm-ers should be paid in by
month and declared, as the ships were now ready to proceed
that the whole of the
the
1
3th of that
;
to sea, that such of the subscribers as should not, at the preceding date, have
paid in their proportions, should be held to he liable for any losses that might
happen in consequence of the stipulated subscription not having been made
good by them."
original
could
it
These statements cannot easily be reconciled.
subscriptions,
If all the
with the exception of four only, were paid up, how
be necessary to hold out a general menace threatening
with actions of damages?
Tlie
original list of 101 subscriptions
most probable explanation
was completed, other
parties
is,
all defaultei^s
that after the
had been tempted,
by the near prospect of obtaining a charter on advantageous terms, to come
forward and put down their names. It is almost certain that something of this
CHARTER GRANTED.
Chap. X.]
231
kind must have been done, since the number of persons actually incorporated ad.
by the charter
not confined to those of the original
is
but amounts in
list,
leoo.
all
to 218.
Among
made previoas to the date of the
appomtments of Captam James Lancaster
other arrangements
be mentioned
the
Dragon, with the
of general or admiral of the
title
Davis to the second command, with the
officers
the
Red
to
Appointofficers to
ti^J^^
Both of these
had previously made the voyage: the one under Captain Raymond, in
the unfortunate expedition which has already been described
1
may
and of Captain John
fleet,
of pilot-major.
title
charter,
598, as a pilot, in the
and the other
;
in
The terms of agreement with
employment of the Dutch.
the former are not mentioned; but those with the latter deserve notice, in
was undertaken, and
The terms were £100 wages, £200
furnishing a good idea of the spirit in which the voyage
of the hopes entertained as to
its success.
on credit as an adventure, and a commission on the
profit,
rated alternatively
at £500, £1000, £1500, or £2000, according as the clear retm-ns on the capital
should yield two for one, three for one, four for one, or five for one.
ing object in this arrangement
was
to give Captain
The
lead-
Davis a personal interest
The same object was kept steadily in view in
other parties.
Thus the factors or supercargoes, thirty-six
in the success of the voyage.
arranging with
in
all
number, were arranged in four different
of which the
classes:
first
received
£100 wages, and £200 advanced as an adventure; the second £50 wages, and
£100 adventure; the third £30 wages, and £50 adventure; and the foui-th
£20 wages, and £-lr0 adventure. Even the common seamen were treated on
the same principle, and received four months' pay, of which the half only was
paid
{IS
wages, while the other half was advanced as an adventure.
The charter was
on the
gi'anted
day of the sixteenth century, 31st
last
,
December,
1
Like
600.
deeds of the same kind,
all
^''•'^'"ter
grauted.
_
it
is
spun out to such a
length by verbiage and vain tautology, as to occupy twenty-six pages of a
printed quarto volume.
tunately
it
is
It
is,
of course, impossible to give
it
at length.
unnecessary, as everything of importance
also
in it
For-
may
be
C(mipressed within comparatively narrow limits.
Proceeding
/v.
all
our
this
.
officers,
name
in the queen's
,
.
in the
.
form of
mmisters, and subjects, and to
our realm of England as elsewhere,"
it
letters- patent,
addressed "to
all
other people, as well within
begins with stating that "
Our most
dear and loving cousin, George, Earl of Cumberland, and our well-beloved subjects, Sir
Sir
John Hart, of London, knight.
Edward
Sir
John Spencer, of London, knight,
Michelborne, knight, William Cavendish, esquire.
of London, and other individuals specially named, amounting in
"been petitioners unto us
own
adventiu-es, costs,
for
our royal assent and licence,
and charges, as well as
El) gland, as for the increase of our navigation,
merchandize, within our
sjiid
'*^
*'o™
and
,
for the
"
'
nine aldermen
all
to 218,
have
that they, "at their
honour of our realm of
and advancement of trade of
realm, and the dominions of the same, mi^ht adven-
object.
;
2;32
A.D.
1600.
IliSTOKY OF INDIA.
[liOOK
ture and set forth one or more voyages, with convenient
pirmaces,
by way
of trafHc
and merchandize
number
i
of ships anrl
to the East Indies, in the countries
and parts of Asia and Africa, and to as many of tiie islands, ports and cities,
towns and places, thereabouts, as where trade and traffick may by all likelihood
be discovered, establi.shed, or had divers of whicli countries, and many of the
;
islands, cities,
and ports
have
thereof,
long since been discovered by others
of our subjects, albeit not frequented
in trade of merchandize."
In accordance with this petition,
her majesty, 'greatly tendering the
honour of our nation, the wealth of
our people, and the encouragement of
them, and others of our loving subjects
in their good
the increase of
enterprises,
oiu- na\'io:ation,
the advancement of la%vful
the benefit of
George, Earl of Cumberland.
—Lodge's
traffic,
to
"body
deed and
petitioners a
corporate and politick, in
in
and
commonwealth,"
oiir
constitutes the
for
name, by the name of The Gover-
nor
and Company
of the Merchants
Portraits.
of London, trading into the East
Indies,"
empowering them and
to possess or dispose of land, tenements,
seal,
to sue
and be sued; and,
and hereditaments,
in general "to do
by the same name,"
other things
name and
in that
their successors,
as fully
and
to have a
and execute
freely as
all
capacity,
common
and singular
"any other our
liege
people."
The
Mode of management
affairs of
the company, fixing
called committees,
who
it
in
are to have "the direction of the voyages of or for the
belonging, and also the sale of
all
merchandizes retm-ned in the voyages
in general, " the
managing and handling of
said company."
Thomas Smith, alderman
" first
" first
(^f
all
of the city of London,
and,
is
nominated
and present governor," and twenty-four other members as the
as these nominations
in force only for a year from the date of the charter, the
electing their successors in office is next pointed out.
the company, or a majority of those "present at
monly
'
;
other things belonging to the
and present committees" of the company; but
to continue
of
and the provision of the shipping and merchandizes thereto
said company,
as the
mode
management of the
a governor, and twenty-four other members
charter then goes on to prescribe the
called the court, holden for the said
For
were
mode
this purpose
any public assembly, com-
company," the governor always
being one, are empowered to elect a deputy to act in the governor's absence
CONDITIONS OF THE CHARTEK.
Chap. X.J
thereafter, " every year
and
on the
first
2^3
day of July, or at any time within
six
a.d. leoo.
days after that day, to assemble and meet together in some convenient place,"
and twenty-four
and, while so assembled, to elect a governor
the ensuing year.
In the event of the death or deprivation by misconduct of
any of the persons thus
to
connriittees for
elected, the
company, again met in
court, are authorized
supply the vacancies thus occurring, but ordy for the time of
Not only the
remained unexpiretl.
and truly"
office
company,
others to be here-
all
to take a corporal oatli before the
governor of the said company, or his deputy for the time being, to such
said governor
and company, or the more part of them,
freeman of the
In this
alluded
sjiid
last
to.
A
shall be allowed or
admitted to trade or
quotation the important point of membership
more
several ages of one
effect,
any public
down
set
traffick as a
company."'
is
incidentally
Quaiifica-
which
member-
explicit statement occurs in a subsequent clause, in
that are or shall be of the said company,"
" all
in
manner
court to be held for the said company, shall be in reasonable
and devised, before they
well
committed to them, but "as well every one
to execute the offices
after admitted, or free of the said
by the
"
thus elected were to swear
officials
above named to be of the said company or fellowship, as
MS
which
and
all
and twenty years or upwards," and
factors, or servants," "
which
shall hereafter
their sons, " at their
all
"
'^*'
their " apprentices,
be employed by the said governor
and company, in the trade of merchandize of or to the East Indies," are em-
powered
freely to traffic during the period
company.
tiie
The period
an extension to other
is
and within the
limits assigned to
restricted to " fifteen years," ^vith the promise of
fifteen, if
asked by the company and approved by the
crown, but the charter might be recalled at any time after a notice of
two
years.
The space over which the company might trade
is
of enormous extent
though spoken of under the general name of the East Indies,
larly described as including " the countries
is
more
jjarticu-
and places of
Asia, Africa,
and America, or any of them beyond the Cape of Bona Esperanza
or had."
in
seas,
which
any trade
or traffick of merchandize
Within these limits the company are empowered to
may
to the
be used
traffic freely "
by
and by such ways and passages already found out and discovered, or
shall hereafter
be found out and discovered, as they shall esteem and take
to be fittest;" the only restriction being, that
"the same trade be not under-
taken nor addre.ssed to any country, island, port, haven,
place,
and,
and parts of Asia and Africa," and
"all the islands, ports, havens, cities, creeks, towns,
Streights of Magellan, where
;
city,
creek, town, or
already in the lawful and actual possession of any such Christian prince
or state, as at this present
British crown,
and
"
is
or shall hereafter be in league or amity" with the
who doth
not or will not accept of such trade, but doth
overtly declare and publish the same, to be utterly against his or their good- will
and
liking."
Vol.
I.
30
ceographi-
;
23
HISTORY OF INDIA.
!•
1'li<i
A.D. 1600.
more
powers.
tutions, ordcrs,
to time,
and make "such and
ners,
tr-ade
and other
;
many
so
officers;
and
for the better
and not only to make such
I.
are authorized U)
reasonable laws, coasti-
and ordinances," as may seem "neces.sary and a>nvenient"
good government of the company, and of
t,he
company
effectually to can-}- on this trade, the
meet from time
a!^ju!iidai
[Book
for
their factors, masters, mari-
all
advancement and continuance of the
laws, but to enforce the observance of
them
by inflicting upon offenders "pains, punishments, and penalties, by imprLsonment of body, or by fines and amercements, or by all or any of them," it being,
however, always understood that "the said laws,
ordei-s, constitutions,
orders
and ordinances be reasonable, and not contrary or repugnant to the laws,
customs" of the realm.
statutes, or
The
Exclusive
privilege of trade within the limits above described
is
declared to
privilege
of trade.
bclong exclusivcly to the company; and
what degree or quality soever they
our prerogative royal, which
we
all
subjects of the English crown, "of
be," are strictly forbidden,
will not in that behalf
"by
virtue of
have argued or brought
in question," to "visit, haunt, frequent or trade, traffick or adventure,
any of the
of merchandise, into or from
the islands, ports, havens,
persons presuming to
and the
indignation,
cities,
by way
said East Indies, or into or from
towns, or places aforesaid,"
any
—every person
or
in defiance of this prohibition "shall incur our
traffic
forfeiture
and
loss of the goods, merchandizes,
and other
things whatsoever, which so shall be brought into this realm of England, or anv
of the dominions of the same, contrary to our said prohil^ition, or the purport or
true meaning of these presents, as also of the ship and ships with the fui^niture
One-half of the forfeitures thus incurred
thereof"
the other half
is
granted to the company.
their said contempt, to suffer
punishment as to
us,
them
the
sum
shall
of
pleasui'e,
and such other
our heirs or successors, for so high a contempt, shall seem
become bound
£1000
reserved to the crown
offenders are, moreover, " for
imprisonment during our
meet and convenient, and not
of
The
is
to be in
to
any wise delivered
imtil they
pay unto the said governor
for the
and every
time being
at the least" not to repeat the offence.
These severe enactments against interlopers strikingly contrast ^vith the
large discretion given to the company, who, in addition to
of
traffic
carefully guarded against encroachment,
an exclusive right
are empowered,
better encouragement of merchants, strangers, or others, to bring in
dities to
own
"for the
commo-
our realm," and "for any consideration or benefit to be taken to their
use," to "give license to
any person or persons
or from the said East Indies."
to sad, trade, or traffick into
To enhance the value
power, the queen gratuitously binds
herself,
of this large discretional'}-
her heirs and successors, not to
grant Hcense of trading within the limits of the charter to any person whatever
"
other privi-
without the consent" of the company.
Qj^ ^}^g
ground that the company "have not yet experienced of the kinds
of commodities and merchandizes which are or aahU be vendible" in the East
—
PRIVILEGES CONFERRED.
Chap. X.]
"and therefore
Indies,
outward,
shall
be driven to carry to those parts, in their voyages ad.
and sundiy commodities which are
divei's
235
leoo.
likely to be returned again"
into the realm, the exports of then* four first voyages are declared "free of
On
custom, subsidy, or pomidage, or any other duties or payments."
imports,
during the whole period of the charter, credit of six months on the one
and of twelve months on the other
half,
of the duties exigible,
after sufficient security for ultimate pa}Tnent has
company "are
like to bring to this our realm a
commodities" than can be required
for
been given
much
;
is
half,
to be allowed
and
bfecause the
greater quantity of foreign
home consumption,
tlie
duties which
might have been exigible on the export of such commodities as are afterwards
reshipped for transport to other countries are to be remitted, provided the
reshipment take place in English bottoms, and not later tiian thirteen months
The only other
from the date of import.
is
the permission annually to export the
privilege necessary to be
sum
of £30,000 in bullion or coin, of
£6000 should previoasly be coined
which at
least
permission
—which,
owing
to the crude
at the royal mint.
first
— was
voyage a sum at
Tliis
idea« then generally entertained
the subject of the cm-rency, was probably regarded at the time
defensible of all
mentioned
fis
on
least
tlie
granted only on the express proviso, that after the
least equal to that
exported should previously have been
imported.
Though the
parts
several
original adventurers contemplated trading on a joint-stock,
of the charter seem
original intention
gi-eatest
obscmnty.
there
nothing in
is
the charter
was
to be carried out, the subject
was granted possessed any higher
remains involved in the
became bound by
it
proceeded.
(qualification
It
is
known
than that of liaving
that 101 individuals or
their subscriptions to adventiu*e
on an experimental
voyage, sums which, in the great majority of cases, amounted to £200 each, and
fonned an aggregate of £30,133,
8d; but whether these were the only sums
subscribed at the date of the charter, or whether all the new parties who con6.s'.
curred in petitioning the cro\vn had previoasly qujilified themselves for membership
by
subscribing, are points
The only
of certainty.
wiiich
makes
it
it is
impossible to decide with any degree
clause in the charter
optional for the
slu)uld fail against a certain
follows
which
day
company
to
pay up
which bears on these points
is
one
members who
The clause is as
to disfranchise those
their subscriptions.
:
" Proviiled
always that
to be free of the said
if any of the persons before named and appointed by these presents,
Companif of Merchant of Lomhm, trading into the Etvut Itulics, shall
not before the going forth of the
appointed for this
first voyage, from the poi-t of
London, bring in and deliver to the treasurer or treasurers appointed, or which, within the
space of twenty days from the date hereof, shall be appointed by the said governor and
company, or the more part of them, to receive the contributions and adventures, set down
fleet
svibscription
this mentof
The words joint dock do not once occur in tl»e charter; and
any part of it to indicate that the 218 individuals to whom
signed the petition on which
firms
framed on the understanding that
and
stock.
:
—
:
IirSTOIlV
2:}G
A.D.
1600.
[Book
I,
by Iho several ailveiiturers in this lu.sl and pro-scnt voyage, now in liand to be Bet fortli, such
sums of money, as liave been, by any of the said peraon.^ by these presents nominated to be
of the said company, expressed, set down, and written in a l>ook for that purpose, and left in
the hands of the said Thomas Smith, governor of the said company, or of the said Paul
Banning, alderman of London, and subscribed with tlie names of the same adventurers,
under their hands, and agreed upon to be adventured in the said first voyage, that then, it
shall be lawful for the said governor and company, or the more part of them, whereof the
said governor or his deputy to be one, at any their general court, or general assembly, to
remove, disfranchise, and displace him or them, at their wills and pleasures."
Letter of
In order to
Queen
Elizabeth
OF INDIA.
tries
facilitate
communication and friendly intercourse with the coun-
which might be visited during the
commander was
fiu-nished
with duplicate
voyage under the
first
letters,
their supposed sovereigns in the following tenns
in
charter, the
which the queen addressed
:
"Elizabethe, by the grace of God, Queene of England, Fraunce, and Ireland, Defenrler
of the Faithe, &c.,
—To
the greate and mightie
King
of
,
our lovinge Brother,
gi'eetinge
"
Whereas Almightie God, in his infinite wisdome and providence, haith so disposed of
his blessings, and of all the good things of this world, which are created and ordeined for
the use of man, that howesoever they be brought forthe, and do either originallie gi'owe, and
are gathered, or otherwise composed and made, some in one countrie, and some in another,
yet they are, by the Industrie of man, directed by the hand of God, dispersed and sent out
into all the partes of the world, that thereby his wonderfull bountie in his creatures
appeare unto
all
may
nacions, his Divine Majestic havinge so ordeyned, that no one place should
all things apperteyninge to man's use, but that
one countrie should have uede of another, and out of the aboundance of the fruits which
some region enjoyeth, that the necessities or wants of another should be supplied, l)y which
enjoy (as the native commodities thereof)
men of severall and farr remote countries have commerce and traffique, one
with another, and by their euterchange of commodities are linked togeather in amytie and
meanes,
friendshipp
Queen's
letter.
"This consideration, most noble king, togeather with the honorable report of your
majestic, for the well enterteyuinge of strangers which visitt your countrie in love and peace
(with lawful traflfique of merchaundizinge) have moved us to geave licence to divere of our
subjects, who have bene stirred upp with a desire (by a long and daungerous navigacion) to
finde out and visitt jonr tei-ritories and dominions, beinge famous in theise partes of the world,
and to offer you commerce and traffique, in buyiuge and euterchauuginge of commodities
with our people, accordinge to the course of merchaunts of which commerce and interchanging, yf your majestic shall accept, and shall receive and entertayne our merchaunts with
favour, accordinge to that hope which hath encouraged them to attempt so long and daungerous a voiadge, you shall finde them a people, in their dealinge and conversacion, of that
justice and civilitie, that you shall not mislike of their repaire to your dominions, and uppou
further conference and inquisicion had with them, both of theire kindes of merchaundize
brouo-hte in their shippes, and of other necessarie commodities which our domminions may
afforthe, it may appeare to your majestic that, by their meanes, you may be furnished, in their
next retourne into your portes, in better sort then you have bene heretofore supplied, ether
by the Spauyard or Portugale, who, of all other nacions in these partes of Europe, have onlie
;
hetherto frequented your countries with trade of merchaundize, and have bene the onlie
impediments, both to our subjects, and diverse other merchaunts in the partes of Europe, that
they have not hitherto visited your countrie with trade, whilest the said Portugales pretended themselves to be the soveraigne lordes and princes of all your territories, and gave it
oiTt
that they held your nacion and j^eople as subjects to them, and, in their stiles and
do write themselves Kinges of the East Indies:
"And yf your majestic shall, in your princelie favour, accept, with good
titles,
likinge. this
;
THE QUEEN'S LETTER.
Chap. X.|
237
fii"st
repaire of our merchauuts unto your countrie, resortinge thether in i)eaceable traftique,
and
shall entertaiue this their first voiage, as
an iutroducion to a further contiuewaunee of
friendshippe betvveeiie your majestie and us, for oomniorce and intercourse betweene your
subjects and ours, wee have geaven order to this, our principall merchaunt (yf your niajestie
shall be j^leased therwith) to leave in your countrie some such of our said merchaunts as he
shall make choice of, to reside in your domminons, under your j)rincelie and safe proteciou,
untill the retourne of another fleete, which wee shall send unto you, who may, in the meane
tyme, learne the language of your countrie, and
to converse with
your majestie's subjects,
entertayned and begun, the same
how
instructed
"
And
may
to
apjilie their behavior, as it
may
best sorte,
the end that amitie and friendshii)p beinge
when our people
your countrie.
the better be continewed,
to direct themselves accordinge to the fashions of
shall be
becawse, in the consideraciou of the enterteyninge of amytie and friendshipp, and
in the establishinge of an intercoui-se to be continewed betweene us, ther may be required, on
your majestie's behaulfe, such promise or capitulacions to be ])erformed by us, which wee
cannot, in theise our lettres, take knowledge of, wee therefore pray your niajestie to geave
eare tlierein unto this bearer, and to geave liim creditt, in whatsoever he shall promise or
undertake
in
our parte),
in
our name, concerniiige our aniitye and eiitercourse, which jiromise, wee (for
the word of a prince, will see performed, and wilbe readie gratefullie to requite
anie love, kindness, or favour, that our said subjects shall receive at your majestie's handes
Itrayinge
your
niajestie that, for our better satisfaciou of
your kinde acceptauuce of
this our
i)ve and amytie offered your highenes, you would, by this bearer, give te.stymonie thereof,
by your iiriiicelie lettres, directed unto us, in which wee shall receive very great contentenient.
And
thus," &c.
.Manche of Caucut,
A boat
U9<->I
on
ttu'
M
t.:vl>ar
c^&st,
tlip
having a
biri at thf
tlat
bottom, renderinit
mouths
of
rlvi-rs.
it
suitable for croii:ng
ad
igoo.
;
BOOK
H.
FROM THE DATE OF THE FIRST CHARTER TO THE AMALGAMATION
OF THE LONDON AND ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANIES,
UNDEB THE NAME OF THE
UNITED COMPANY OF MERCHANTS OF ENGLAND, TRADING TO THE EAST INDIES,
CHAPTER
The
f^J
first
voyages of the Company
— Localities
L
— Opposition from the Dutch and tie
of India — Sir Thomas Roe's embassy to
selected
— First English factory on the continent
the court of the Great Mogul — State of that court — Estabhshment of a trade with Persia.
Portuguese
fyxv-rc--i^o-i^-rs>TN
1-s.
»-,vrv-x^
HE
interest
which naturally attaches to the
under an East India charter,
-will
first
voyage
justify a larger detail
than would be due to the incidents tliemselves, wliich are
The Red Dragon, Hector.
comparatively uninteresting.
^
Ascension, and Susan, already mentioned, together with
^'^S^^^^^^^p
the Guest, of 130 tons, added as a victualler,
the
1
3th
of
at Dartmouth, that they
when they
the 2 2d of April,
of Guinea they
A.D. 1601.
1601,
but
fell
her.
sailed for the Canaries.
scurvy,
down her upper works
making a quick
While
and took
of the victuals
from England,
sailed
and
for firewood,
and began
which prevailed to such an extent, that some of the
till
off the coast
in the English Channel,
voj'^age;
de-
of arrangements
Having afterwards unloaded the Guest
During their long delay
the opportunity of
long
so
in with a Portuguese ship, outward bound,
they dismantled her, broke
lost
Woolwicli
were not able to quit the English coast
which they had been unable to take on board when they
a floating hulk.
were
by contrary winds and the completion
tained
and plundered
February,
left
left
they had
to suffer
vessels
her
from
had not
hands enough to manage them, and the merchants on board were obliged
Details of
to act as
common
seamen.
On
the 9th of September they reached Saldanlia
the Company's
first
voyage.
Bay, where the sick rapidly recovered
:
the previous mortality,
however, had
been so great, that the number of deaths amounted to 105, or more than a
of the whole crews.
On
Sunday, the 1st of November, the Cape was doubled
and they proceeded northwards along the
new
fiftli
attack of scm-vy again proved very
east coast of Madagascar,
fatal,
and
oljliged
them
to
where
a
spend some
'
EXPEDITION UNDER LANCASTER.
Chap. I]
On
time on shore in the Bay of Antongil.
Indian Ocean, they arrived, on
tlie
continuing their voyage across the ad.
sail for
the island of Sumatra; and, on
tlie 6'th
After a short stay
of June, cast anchor in
Here
the road of Acheen, on the north-west extremity of that island.
and were
the language
visited
by two Dutch merchants, who had been
and mannei's of the country.
reception;
ho.spitable
tliey
from Bengal, Mahibai", Gujerat, and other quar-
f()und about eighteen vessels
ters,
1602.
9th of May, 1602, at the Nicobar Islands,
without having seen any part of the continent of India.
they set
239
Everything gave indication of a
and a deputation was immediately sent
nounce that the commander of the
fleet
to learn
left
was bearer of a
letter
to an-
ashore,
from the most
famous Queen of England to the most worthy King of Acheen and Sumatra.
The day
after his arrival,
Lancaster himself went ashore, and, having been
conducted with great ceremony to the king's presence, delivered his
along with
it
a present of considerable value.
Tlie interview
was formed,
in
was of the most amicable nature
istering justice
among
liberty of conscience.
their
life
;
and ultimately a treaty
.1
obtanied
*
by the English were,
and property, the power of admin-
which the leading privileges
perfect freedom of trade, protection to
own countrymen
according to English law, and
But while the natives displayed
The Portuguese had an ambassador
Friendly reception at
Acheen.
full
this friendly spirit, all
the proceedings of the English were w<itched with the utmost jealousy
third party.
and
letter,
and
at Acheen,
by a
soon
it
J.
,
I ;
11
•wry"*
Woolwich,
in
became apparent that he was
lurv of Gr.ivcaoud.
.
deterinineil to leave no
means imtried
to pre-
vent the establishment of a trade, which he naturally regarded as an unjustifi:i1)le
invasion of the Portuguese monopoly.
hiiving failed, he determined
on open
Attempts to prejudice the king
hostility,
and with that view despatched
messengers to Malacca, to inform the authorities in the Portuguese settlement
there of the arrival of the English ships,
and urge the necessity of immediately
sending a sufficient force to capture them.
covered; and
Mjilacca
his
messengei's
Fortunately his plans were dis-
having been apprehended, the Portuguese in
were not even made aware that the Euirlish had amved.
Lancaster determined to turn this ignorance to good account
;
and, leaving
the Susan, which had been sent round to Priaman, on the south coast of the
island, to
take in a cargo of pepper, set out with his other
tlu^ee vessels,
and a
Predatory
240
A.D. 1003.
OF INDIA.
ni.STOIlY
Dutcli
Hilip
(Book
of about 200 tons, which had obtained permission to join him, on a
Such an expedition was certainly
privateering cruise to the Straits of Malacca.
in accordance with the purely mercantile spirit in
little
which the voyage had
been professedly undertaken, and goes far to justify the account given by
William Monson, who
ment was
says, in his
Naval
by violence
as well to take
Tracts,^ that Lancaster's
by
as to trade
was "unworthy the name of an honest
that this
merchants should not be stained or polluted with
taken.
Sii-
"employ-
;
sufferance "
and adds
for the
hands of
design,
theft,
for in such case
all
The English commander
people would have liberty to do the like upon them."
Portuguese
II.
^as uot restrained by any scruples of this natiu-e, and, when a large Portugues(i
ship made her appearance, somewxiat grotesquely expressed his thankfulness to
Providence for having thus fiu-nished him with the means of lading his ships,
and supplying
Though the
other wants.
all his
ship
and had above 600 persons on board, the capture was
a carraek, bound for Malacca, from
Coromandel
coast,
and
the vacant room in his
dise,
was puzzled how
lade as
many more
to Aclieen,
St.
was of 900 tons burden,
easily effected
vessels
after
occupying
had had them.
where he ingratiated himself
which would have
On
Arrival at
new
fleet
all
sufficed to
Ultimately he resolved to retur.!
still
farther with the king
by hberal
what he could not take with him,
from England
presents of the prize goods, and deposited
await the arrival of a
th'^
with caUcoes, pintados, and other merchan-
to dispose of the residue,
ships if he
proved
Thom^, a Portuguese factory on
so fully freighted that Lancaster,
own
It
leaving Acheen on the 9th of November, the Ascension, in which
to
all
Bantam.
the pepper, cinnamon, and cloves which had previously been purchased, were
loaded,
was despatched
England.
for
The Dragon and Hector continued
their
course in an opposite direction along the south coast of Sumatra to Priaman,
where the Susan was found taking in her
cargo.
sail
homewards
two
vessels through the Straits of Sunda, and,
as soon as
it
Leaving her with orders to
was completed, Lancaster proceeded with the other
on the
1
6th of December, arrived
in the road of Bantam, on the north-west extremity of the island of Java.
Here, after the dehvery of the queen's letter and a handsome present, his
reception
was
as favourable as
it
had been
at
Acheen
;
and he found no
diffi-
culty in disposing of his prize goods to such advantage, that he had soon sold
more than would pay
ruary
fidl
for the lading of both the ships.
cargoes of pepper were taken in
;
and on the
By
the
1
0th of Feb-
20th, after a regular
had been established at Bantam, and a pinnace despatched to the
Moluccas, for the purpose of attempting to seciu-e a trade which might be
factory
available to the next ships from England, he took his final departure.
The voyage home was very stormy and the Dragon,
The voyage
;
in particular, having
home.
lost
her rudder, became so unmanageable, that Lancaster privately gave orders
'
Churcliill's Voyages, vol.
iii.
p. 2.31.
—
Chap.
SECOND VOYAGE TO THE EAST.
I.]
him
211
which had hitherto kept by him, to continue her voyage and
to the Hector,
leave
;
to his fate.
confessed, that in taking this step he dis-
must be
It
At
played singular resolution and devotedness.
he believed to be his
a.d. leos.
the time
the captain of
final orders to
tlie
when he gave what
voyage
Hector, he hastily ad-
dressed a letter to his employers in the following terms:
"
I
Right Worshipful,
have
settled for
— What
hath passed in this voyage, and what trades
Company, and what other events have
tliis
shall
understand by the bearers hereof, to
must
refer you.
as
with
1 will strive
that are with me.
any pinnace
And
1
cannot
tell
1
(as occasion
take in
my ship and
venturing my own life,
where you should look
you
hath happened)
diligence to save
all
you may perceive by the com"se
whom
befallen us,
for me, if
to seek me, because I live at the devotion of the
I
her goods,
and those
you send out
winds and
seas.
God to send us a merry meeting in this world,
if it be his good will and plejvsure.
Your loving Friend,
"James Lancaster."
The captain of the Hector^ unwilling to leave his commander in de.sperate
circumstances, still managed to keep him in sight; and ultimately, after
redoubling the Cape of Good Hope during the storm without seeing it, both
thus fare you well
;
desiring
—
Three months
vessels readied St. Helena.
vessels
and
Both
;
and
on the 11th of September,
The Ascension and Susan had
1603, they cast anchor in the Downs.
viously an-ived
after,
though numbers of the crews had perished,
thus,
all
pre-
the
their cargoes returned safe.
experiment under the charter, and in a pecuniary view, the
as a first
successful
result
voyage was eminently
established
successful.
Two
factories at
important stations had been
imder the most favourable circumstances; and the clear
estimated at ninety-five per
adventured.
It
cent.,
profits,
were nearly as large as the whole capital
ought to be observed, however, that these
perly be considered mercantile, as a large portion of
profits
cannot pro-
them had been obtained,
not by legitimate trading, but in the course of a predatory
cruise.
Before Lancaster returned Queen Elizabeth had paid the debt of nature
but the deep interest which she took in the proceedings of the
previously been manifested
for
by a
letter,
in
Company had
which she remonstrated with them
having allowed a second year to pass without entering into a new subscrip-
tion
;
and plainly
the Dutch did,
hinted, that " in not following
it
seemed as
if
little
up the business
tiU the success of the firet
Strange to say, the remon-
and no preparations were made
was
for a second
commands were
different
voyage
actually ascertained.
In the second voyage the same vessels were employed as in the
the
manner
regard was entertained either for her
majesty's honour, or the lionom- of the country."
strance proved unavailing,
in the
—Captain
Henry Middleton
first,
sailing in the
Draf/on ns admiral, and Captjiin Sufflet in the Hector as vice-admiral.
subscription,
Vol.
I.
which appears
to
but
Red
The
have been mainly advanced by the same parties
31
secon.i
;
2i2
A..D. 1604.
HISTORY" OF INDIA.
[Book
as before, since botli voyages were afterwards entered in one account,
Of
to £60,450.
absorbed no
less
this sum, the repaii-, ec^uipraent,
may
amounted
tiie
vessels
than X48, 140, whereas the amount carried out in goods was
only £1142; the remainder was bullion.
goods
and provision of
II.
The very paltry sum allowed
perhaps be accounted for by the large quantity of Portugue.se
goods which Lancaster had
left for
future sale in the factories of
for
pi-ize
Acheen and
Bantam.
The
Gravesend on the 25th of March, 1G04; and by
vessels left
this early
departure avoiding the blunder by which they had formerly lost the proper
Bantam Road on the 20th
season, arrived safely in
Here they found
with
Attempt to
trade with
the Spice
Islands.
whom
At Bantam
of the castle of
sail for
In
the Portuguese.
this intercourse
remained undisturbed
their cargoes about the middle of
this
England.
having so for succeeded as to compel the surrender
Amboyna, the Dutch immediately
Amboyna. — Churchill's
there
good ground
is
;
but
not the proper parties to
it
altered their tone to the
Collection of Voyages.
and formally debarred them from trading
Dutch thus assumed
by a
to the Dutch,
The Red Dragon and Ascension prothe Moluccas, from which the Dutch were then endeavoming to expel
February, 1605, set
principles,
folio win f.
time a friendly intercourse was kept up, the Dutch admiral
for a
and the Hector and Susan having completed
English,
December
and three or four pinnaces belonging
six ships
dining aboard the Dragon.
ceeded for
of
On
to that island.
for disputing the exclusive title
seems impossible to deny that the
call it in question, as
which the
Company were
they were expressly prohibited,
clause in their charter, from attempting to establish a trade at
in the actual possession of
object to
it.
general
any
place
any friendly Christian power which should openly
But there were other
islands of the
Molucca group, to which, as
the Dutch could not pretend to be in possession of them, the objection could not
apply
Temate,
Tidore,
Uaiida.
;
and the English
vessels
were only exercising a right which undoubtedly
and
belonged to tliem,
Tidore,
and Banda.
when they endeavoured
to carry
on a
traffic
Circumstances, howevei", were unpropitious
;
with Ternate,
and the Dutch,
Chap.
SECOND VOYAGE TO THE EAST.
I.]
when they
213
did not dare to use force, scrupled not to avail themselves of intrigue
and misrepresentation, which were almost equally
a.d. 1604.
seeming the great
effectual in
object of their ambition
—a complete monopoly
of the spice trade.
^^^
The lied Dragon
and Ascension,
after
remaining
some
for
time in the Moluccas,
though not in company,
met again
in the road
of Bantam, from which
they sailed
for
Europe
— From Nietthof.'
Tern ATE
on the 6th of October,
The Susan, which had
1G05.
some time
sailed
but the other three vessels, the
Red Dragon,
was never heard
before,
of; Rcsiutsof
Hector, and Ascension, after
the second
voyage,
rendezvousing in Saldanha Bay, proceeded home in company, and cast anchor
Downs on
in the
the 6th of May, 1606.
Notwithstanding the
loss of the
Susan
the returns were favourable; and the two voyages, thrown, as already mentioned,
into one account, nearly doubled the capital
which had been adventured in them.
remember that a considerable portion of it was derived not from trade, but from privateering and
that the ninety-five per cent, said to have been returned was not realized in
one year, but after a series of years, partly occvipied with the voyages, and jiartly
It is still necessary, however, in calculating the profit, to
;
spun out in long credits allowed to purchasers.
In
James
60 1, shortly after the vessels had sailed on their second voyage, King
1
I.
Edward Michelborne, whose recommendation
emplo^nnent by the Company has been already mentioned,
granted a license to Sir
by Lord Burleigh
for
to trade to " Cathaia, China, Japan, Corea,
tries,
and Cambaya, &c."
These comi-
though the Company had not yet visited them, are within the limits of
and the
their charter,
conferred by
sented.
Sir
it.
It
license wjvs therefore
was
Edward was
not,
a
an interference with the rights
however, so indefensible
member
of the
to the full use of all the privileges
a,s
it
Company, and was
which they enjoyed.
is
usually repre-
therefore entitled
The
intention,
no
was that a joint' stock should have been established, but the attempt had
yet failed and the voyages hitherto made, though carried on in the name
doubt,
as
;
of the Company, were truly for the benefit only of individual adventm-ei-s.
these circumstances,
was not
In
might have been made a question whether every member
entitled to claim a similar privilege in his o^vn name,
own behoof
'
it
Even assuming
and
for his
that the aftirmative of this question could not be
GesancUchaf von der IloUandischc-Oalindischcn Campagnie an den Kaiser in China, 1655.
iie«"9e to
Sir Kdw;ird
,
Miciieibomo.
JIISTOKY OK INDIA.
S^-^
A.D.
iGi)8.
(Book
maintained, another important consideration remaias behind
renounced the right of granting a
pany; and before
violation of
tlie
it
can be
Company
it
ing,
if,
by Queen Elizabeth
The
refused to consent.
;
but,
was a
was
licease
might be withdrawn at any time
two
after
given,
probaVjility is that they
knowing that they had the power of
and were not afterwards
direct
London
to the
from prudential considerations, they refrained from exercising
foreclosed themselves,
Com-
of the
"
that "this license
must be shown not only that the
not considted on the subject
Tiie crowii only
without the coasent
said, witii Bruce,
exclusive privileges granted
East India Company,"
but that the
license "
entitled to complain.
years' notice
;
JI.
and
were
objectit,
they
Tiie cliarter
not to be
it is
presumed that the Company would have ventured, by withholding their consent,
to oppose
their
any of the wishes or even whims of the crown, and thereby imperilled
very existence.
However, the Company
may have
felt
they acted wi-sely
to
make
the most of his license.
trade,
his
Though he covered his design with the name of
whole conduct showed that his only object was to enrich himself by
priva-
in refraining from remonstrance,
teering.
In
and allowing Sir Edward Michelbome
this he so signally failed as to give the
Company
the best security
that no such licenses would again be gTanted.
The
'^'^^^^
third voyage
o
•'
voyage.
—undertaken
on a subscription of £53,500, of which
£28,560 was expended in equipping three
Dragon, the Hector, and
ships, the
the Consent; £7280 on goods, and £17,600 in bullion
command of Captain Keeling. The Consent, a
commanded by Captain David Middleton, was first
the
—
sailed in 1607,
sliip
imder
of 115 tons burden,
despatched, and
made
the
Weighing
voyage by herself without afterwards joining her companions.
Hope on the 12th of March, she made a prosperous
voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, which was doubled on the 30th of July,
and reached Bantam Road on the 14th of November. Having here landed
anchor from Tilbury
the iron and lead which formed the cargo, refitted the ship, and taken in
some goods
for barter.
Captain Middleton sailed for the Moluccas, which he
reached in the begimiing of January, 1608.
After experiencing considerable
obstruction from the Portuguese, who, as a condition of trading, insisted that
he should join them in their hostilities against the Dutch, he set
having obtained a cargo, but had the good fortune, while
Purchase of
Boutoug, near the south-east extremity of the Celebes, to
fall
sail %vithout
off the island of
in with a
Java
cloves.
_
junk laden with
whole cargo
cloves from
for sale,
Amboyna.
The master of the junk
and Middleton pm'chased
which was afterwards sold in England
for
for £36,287.
£2948,
The
15s.,
ofiered his
a quantity
object of his voyage
having been thus accomplished, he hastened back to the factory at Bantam,
landed the supercargoes
set sail for
who had accompanied
liim to the Moluccas,
and then
England, which he reached in December.
The Dragon and Hector, the one commanded by Captain Keeling as admiral,
and the other by Captain Hawkins, quitted the Do^VTls on the 1st of April,
THIRD VOYAGE TO THE EAST.
CiiAP. I.l
]
245
and encountering very tempestuous weather, during which many of the
607,
a.d. 1609.
crew became diseased, took shelter in Sierra Leone, doubtful whether to prose-
The bolder course was
cute the voyage or retrace their steps to England.
adopted
ultimately
and,
;
after doubling the Cape, the
voyage was continued north-
wards along the east coast
of Africa as far as the island
where
of Socotra,
24!00 lbs.
of aloes were purchased at
the rate of 5
The two
lbs. for
ships
a
dollar.
afterw.ards
separated.
Captain
i
I
'
Hawkins
'^
,
,
Java
Junk.
— Krom vNieuhof.r
,.
1
proceeding directly to Surat
with the Hector, which was thus the
of the
first vessel
Company that anchored
*^
'
in
tho
a port of the continent of India; while Captain Keeling, in the Dragon, pvu'sued
the track taken
and taking
road of
in
in
by
and
his predecessors,
some pepper, passed the
Bantam on
the 5th of October.
after calling at
Straits of Sunda,
It
^^'^^ ^'sit of
Priaman
in Sumatra,
and anchored in the
Com-
i)aiiy'8 siiipa
tineiitof
India.
had been resolved that the Dragon,
consequence of her unsatisfactory condition, should forthwith be despatched
England with the cargo which had been procured but before she sailed a
vessel hove in sight, and proved to be the Hector.
She had been rather unfor-
to
;
tunate, for the Portuguese
had attacked
her,
captmred eighteen of her crew,
including some of the factors, and seized her goods to the value of 9000 dollars.
Captain Hawkins, however, had found the prospect of opening a trade at
Surat so promising that he had preferred to remain ashore, and send forward
the vessel under the
command
oi his
first officer.
The arrangement
wtis so far
opportune that Captain Keeling, who, by the departure of the Dragon, might
liave
been
left
without a command, immediately assmned the
command
of the
Hector, and proceeded with her, on the 1st of January, 1609, for the Moluccas.
The Dutch were now carrying on
their trade
with great
spirit,
and made no
secret of their determination, as soon as they should establish their su})remacy
in
the
Spice Islands, to exclude
Keeling, in his single vessel, found
ceedings,
voyage.
it
Captain
impossible to resist their arbitrary pro-
and was obliged to carry on a precarious trade under a kind of
ignominious sufferance.
cloves,
others from trading to them.
all
He
succeeded, however, in obtaining a cargo of pepper,
and nutmegs, and, returning
to
Bantam, prepared
for the
homeward
Before departing, he placed the factory there upon a more regular
footing than before.
and even sordid
The
spirit in
Augustine Spalding, the
paid monthly, as follows:
salaries
allowed strikingly illustrate the economical
which the Company made their
factor, received
— Francis
£50
a-year.
fii-st
The other
Kelly, surgeon, £2, 5s.;
arrangementa
officials
were
John Parsons,
30s.;
Dutch
hostiutV.
;
insToRV
2^(j
,
AD.
1009.
Ro))ert O'Neal, 298.
or'
Augustine Adwell,
;
Driver, 208. each; VVillium
24«.
The Hector reached the Dovvas
two
vessels, the
vessel
Subsequent
Etlieldred Lainpre
;
II.
and William
Juan Seram and Adrian,
on the 9th of May,
fitted out.
Company, had a subscription
Ascension and the Union.
The
one,
J fj
Before she
1
which
lOs. each.
ranked as
Is
of £33, 000, and wa.s confined to
proved a total
It
loss,
the fonner
having been cast away in the Gulf of Cambay while attempting to make
fop Surat
'
'
Acheen and Priaman, having been wrecked as she was
success at
Bay
and trading
o with some
aiid the lattei-, after arriving
o in the Ea.st,
;
voyages.
the
in safety
two other voyages had been
the foui'th of the
[Book
Wilson, 228.; William Lamwell and Philip Ba/l-
nedg, 168. each; Francisco Domingo, 128.;
arrived,
INlJlA.
The other voyage, usually
of Biscay.
classed as the
fiftli
returninf; in
of the
Com-
pany, though properly only a branch of the third already described, was more
fortunate.
It consisted only of a single vessel, the Expedition, for
which the
was £13,700. It sailed on the 24th of April, 1609, under the command of Captain David Middleton, who had previously made the succe.s.sful
voyage in the Consent; and after reaching Bantam on the 7th of December,
subscription
continued onwards to the Moluccas, where, notwithstanding the opposition of
the Dutch, he managed, with considerable dexterity, to oljtain a valuable cargo,
and bring
with the
it
home
safely
This voyage, thrown into one account
to England.
third, yielded the largest return
which the Company had yet obtained,
the clear profit on both voyages being no less than 234 per cent.
Tlic result of tlicse expei'imental voyages
Obstacles to
moiintea.
made
it
impo.ssible to doubt, that
Under the Company's charter a most lucrative trade might be established. There
were, however, several formidable obstacles in the way.
islands the
Dutch were attempting
evidently meant to exclude
all
Among
to establish a supremacy,
the Eastern
under which they
other nations from any share in the spice trade
while the Portuguese, by their conduct at Surat, had shown that before the
English could hope to
traffic
with any port on the continent of India they must
be prepared to repel force by
Company
for the
to carry
vessels which, while
In future, therefore,
force.
it
on their operations on a larger
mainly adapted
for mercantile purposes,
would be necessary
and employ
scale,
might at the same
time be able to maintain their ground against any enemy that should presume
to attack them.
required
;
but
it
In order to accomplish
was doubtfid
duct of the monarch
left it
if
these
this,
additional subscriptions were
would be forthcoming
so long as the con-
doubtful whether he considered himself bound
charter which his predecessor
had granted.
His conduct
in giving a license to
Edward Michelborne justified suspicion; and it was therefore almost vain to
hope that new risks would be run until assurance was given that he was prepared to recognize the validity of the charter by adopting it as his own personal
deed.
Accordingly, in 1 609, when of course six years of the original fifteen
n
rr
t
Were still unexpired, the Company succeeded in obtaining from King James a
new charter so nearly identical in its terms with that of his predecessor that a
Sir
New
charter
by King
James.
by the
.
•
•
•
Chap.
NEW CHARTER BY KING
I.]
separate analysis of
notice
are,
it
number
amounted
of
to 218, in
247
The only points deserving of ad.
altogether superfluous.
is
that while the
Elizabeth's charter
JAMES.
leio.
members specially named in Queen
that of King James it is increased to
276; that the provisions against interlopers are rendered more stringent, by
an authority given to the Company
any
of contraband traders in
or
and
ministers, shall trade
tlie
whether within the
place.s,
"
dominions
Bi-itish
factors
and
letters-patents;"
and
Company,
by virtue of these our
traflic
and goods
confiscate the ships
their
duration of the privileges of the charter, instead of being restricted
to fifteen years,
and a conditional renewal
should have expired,
ai)parent importance
to the
and
provided they be places where the
not,
that
to seize
crown
is
made
This
perpetual.
by a subsequent
to recall the charter at
other fifteen after the former
for
clause loses
last
power
provision, in whicli full
any time "after three
much
is
of
its
reserved
years' warning."
In the preamble to this charter. King James declared that he had found
i""en«ed
subscription
"
by
Company and
certain experience, that the continuance of the said
not only be a very great honour to
and dominions, but
In
wealtli."
there
was
also in
many
trade will
umier new
our heirs and successors, and to our realm
us,
respects profitable unto us
and our common-
this declaration, as well as in the provisions of the charter itself,
certainly an additional security that the exclusive privileges of the
Company would not be
To
rashly infringed.
owing that the subscription
for the sixth
been made, amounting to £82,000.
this
may have been
it
partly
voyage was the largest that had yet
Three
ves.sels
were
fitted out,
one of them,
Trades Increase, of 1000 tons burden; and the command was given to Sir
Henry Middleton, who had made the second voyage. He set sail in the .spring
the
Bay on
of 1610, arrived in Saldanha
Cape, sailed northwards to
Sea,
and not
India,
island of Socotra.
tlie
was the
the 2-ith of July, and, after dou))ling the
oiiginal ilestination
It
for the
;
of continuing his course across the Indian Ocean,
second largest
c^f
his vessels, at
wa-s induced to believe a
left
to procure a pilot,
distance within
Babelmandeb without
came aboard, professing great
Red
the
commander, instead
the Pepper-Corn, the
ready market would be foimd for
Straits of
tiiat
Aden, and then steered for Mocha, where he
At Aden he had been unable
tlie
would seem
skill in navigation.
all his
merchandise.
and had ventured
one.
At
Having been
last
for
some
two Arabs
f Sir
intrusted with
the pilotage, they ran the Trade's Increase on a sandbank shortly after the
town of Mocha had been descried. The subsequent proceedings leave little
doubt that it was wilfully done.
Sir Henry Middleton seems to have been little qualified for his command.
When
the ship could not be got
off",
the most valuable part of her ciirgo
sent ashore with the view of liglitening her.
of his people without taking
Arabs had completed
in
their hands.
He
any precautions
afterwards landed with
was
many
for safety, and, as soon as the
their treacherous preparations, found hiuLself a prisoner
Ultimately, after losing
many
of his
rroceedings
men and remaining
a
Henry
'jiid.'Uetun.
248
A.D. iGii.
OF INDIA.
1IIST(JJIY
[liooK
considerable time in captivity, he obtained his release, reajvered his ships, and
sailed
Surat, the road of which
for
was
on the 26th of Septemh»er,
refiched
Here he found a Portuguese squadron,
1611.
cfjrLsLsting
of .seven
lying outside, and of thirteen smaller vessels inside the bar.
Arrogant
claima of
the Porta
IF.
of
liis
frigates
They had heard
though the English were not then at war
arrival in the lied !Sea, and,
_
witli Portugal,
now made him aware
that they disputed his right to trade
and would not even allow him to communicate with the Englishmen
at Surat,
who had been
left
there by Captain Hawkiu.s.
This arbitrary proceeding the
Portugue.se admiral justified on the ground that he
of captain-major, an ofiice which
was invested with the
made him guardian
office
of all the ports in the
north of India, and warranted him in seizing aU ve&sels which presumed to
trade with any of them without his carta or permit.
appears,
it is
not to be denied that the possession of
long been recognized even
by the native
major, whose income
chiefly derived
was
courts
;
if
they
coiild
from the
rather
by the
claim
Poi-tugue.se
fees
paid for these permits,
when he
them
to trade.
between Spain, Portugal, and England,
insisted that the
The peace
so far
existing
from weakening
strengthened the captain -major's claim, because the charter of
Company
expressly prohibited
possessed
by
them from encroaching on the
On
European powers.
friendly
had
not produce a letter jfrom the King of
Spain, or his viceroy at Goa, authorizing
at this time
it
tliis
and that therefore the captain-
had, if not justice, at least prescription on his side,
English vessels should retire
Arrogant as
the other hand,
it
the
rights actually
may
be argued
that the prohibitory clause in the charter applied only to the actual possession
of places, and never could have been
to its extreme,
nations from
meant
would have warranted the Portuguese
wonder that
therefore
determination not to recognize
Sii'
little
aU other
Such a right
better than waste paper; and
Henry Middleton
at once declared his
it.
In the correspondeucc which ensued he told the captain-major that he had
Reply to the
major.'
in excluding
with any part of the continent of India.
traffic
would have made the Company's charter
we cannot
to recognize a right which, pvLshed
been sent by the King of England with a
letter
and
rich present to the Great
Mogul, in order to establish the trade which his countrymen had already com-
menced
;
and
Mogul nor
that, as
his people
India was a country free to aU nations, and neither the
were under vassalage, he was determined to persevere, at
When he gave this
by force.
answer he was in the belief that an extensive and lucrative trade had been, or
was about to be established by the Company at Surat, but the information
which he shortly after received convinced him that, for the present, all idea of
all
Captain
Hawkin.s
court of the
Great
1,..),
'ni
hazards, and,
if
necessary, to repel force
establishing
" such a trade
It has
must be abandoned.
bccu ah-eady mentioned that Captain Hawkins, who commanded the
Hcctor in the Company's third voyage, had, on arriving at Sm-at, foimd the
prospect so flattering that he gave
up the command
to his first officer, and,
Chap.
HAWKINS AT THE MOGUL COURT.
I.]
249
ordering the vessel to proceed for Bantam, resolved to remain for the purpose of
He had
establishing a factory.
a.d. leoo.
brought a letter from the King of England to
Agra and
which he proceeded was somewhat
the Great Mogul, and believed he could not do better than proceed to
deliver
ambiguous
The character
in person.
it
;
though he speaks of himself as an ambassador, he does not seem
for
have been furnished with
to
sufficient
and
;
as one of
his powers.
his reception at court
was
The
leadiny; favourites
its
in
His
credentials,
however, were deemed
was soon regarded
this time was Selim,
so gracious that he
reijxninrj
Mo(;ul at
by
the eldest son of the great Akber, who.se latter days had been so embittered
his
mounting the throne
or
On
misconduct that he had made an ineffectual attempt to disinherit him.
in 1605,
Selim had assumed the pompous
Conqueror of the World, but did nothing
capricious tyrant, of low, dissolute habits,
the crown, not to
for his father's
any
to ju.stify
who owed
He
it.
of Jehangir,
title
was, in
fact,
a
his continued possession of
talent or virtue in himself, but to the re.spect entertained
memory, and the good order which, during
his long reign,
had
been established in every part of the empire.
Hawkins, who must have had some previous knowledge of the Mogul's
"''wkins
becomes
_
and could not have been long at court withoiit obtaining a thorough
cliaraeter,
insight into
liarity to
it,
ought to have been upon his guard
but, elated with the fami- Mogul
;
which he was admitted, he deluded himself with the idea that he was
about to make his fortune.
Not long
April, 1609, Jehangir, after
after his arrival,
promising to grant
nsi.ieut
at the
,
court.
which took place 16th
the privileges of trade which
all
he asked for the Company, proposed that he should remain permanently with
was to begin at £3200 and
increa.se yearly.
The bait was tempting, and Hawkins at once swallowed it.
His motives are best explained by himself in a letter addres.sed to his employers.
" I, trusting upon his promise, an«l seeing it Wivs beneficiall both to my nation
him, as the Englisii representative, at a salary which
and myselfe, being dispossessed of the benefit which
I
should have reaped,
gone to Bantam, and that after halfe a doozen of yeeres, your
if I
wor.sliij)s
had
would
I should feather
my
neast and do you service; and further, perceiving great injuries offered us,
by
send another
man
of sort in
my
reason the king
is
so farre
did not think
it
ami.ss to yield
I
When
lie
had thus
court favour.
many
place, in the
from the
meane time
which causes above
ports, for all
specified,
unto his request"
yielded, he
began to
feel
some of the inconveniences of
Being regarded as a mere upstart, his elevation gave umbrage to
of the nobility, while several Portuguese Jesuits,
who
pos.sessed consi-
derable influence at Agra, intrigued with the greatest zeal and perseverance
for the purpose of defeating the gi'eat object of his mi.ssion.
they were so unscrupulous that Hawkins thought he had
conspiracy to poison him.
Jehangir,
who
T.
still
me
1.
to take a white
.sufficient
proof of a
high in favour, he stated his fears to
proposed a rather curious remedy.
•1
very earnest witli
Vol.
Being
In these intrigues
1
mayden out
"The
r
^
•
of Ins
king," he says,
111
palace,
"was
••jii
promising that
32
.xcceptsa
^'^"^
from
the
MoguL
1
2>0
AD.
1009.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
would give her
lie "
Christian,"
them, and
tilings necessary,
all
and "by this meanes
I
.slaves,"
my meates and
tume
objected to the maiden pro-
was a Moore," but he added,
Christian found, I would accept
that " sliee should
II.
drinkes should be looked into by
Hawkias
should live without feare."
posed, " in regard she
with
[Book
" if so
bee there could bee a
Jehangir took him at his word, and pro-
it."
duced the orphan daughter of an Armenian Christian, a captain who had been
highly esteemed by Akber.
daughter could bee found
having passed
my
fore I tooke her
;
word
and
;"
"I
thought," says Hawkins,
little
but now,
" I
seeing she
to the king, could not
want of a
for
ryed her: the priest was
my man
was of
Chri.stians
so honest a descent,
my
withstand
"a
Where-
fortunes.
minister, before Christian witnesses I mar-
Nicholas,
which
I tliought
had beene
lawfull,
met with a preacher that came with Sir Heniy Middleton, and hee
shewing mee the error, I was newly manyed againe: so ever after I lived
content and without feare, shee being wilHng to goe where I went, and live as
I
till
I lived."
Ultimate
t rcti t
m6
Tliis marriage,
though entered into under unpromising circumstances, appears
11
of Hawkins,
to
have provcd happy.
If
was the only good thing which Captain Haw-
Instead of being able, as he had hoped, to feather his
kins obtained at Agra.
nest,
so, it
he ultimately found that he had only been building castles in the
salary promised
him was never paid
;
and
courtiers,
The
air.
bribed by the Portuguese,
having succeeded in convincing Jehangir that a breach with them would prove
more pernicious than a league with the English promised
fickle
and unprincipled monarch cancelled
made
the promises he had
all
ferring commercial privileges on the English,
to be beneficial, the
and
left
Hawkins
of con-
to find his
way
to the coast as he best could.
Return of
Middleton
to the
Red
Sea.
Sucli
was the information which made
If he
able to establish a factory at Surat.
Sii*
Henry Middleton despair
had continued
the subject, they would have been dissipated
to
of being
have any doubts on
by the natives themselves, who,
while they assured him of their anxiety to trade, confessed that so long as the
Portuguese retained their ascendency, they durst not venture to incur their
displeasure.
Their advice therefore was, that the English vessels should quit
Surat for the port of Gogo, in the Gulf of Cambay, where,
and
liis
left at
At
was
said,
the Por-
Henry Middleton had another
view; and, after succeeding in taking on board Captain Hawkins
wife, who had arrived from Agra, and the Englishmen who had been
tuguese would be less likely to interfere.
plan in
it
Sir
Surat, called a council for the purpose of determining their futm-e course.
this council, says Sir
Henry,
" I
propoimded whether
hence directly for Priaman, Bantam,
&c., or to
commodities
at their
fitting their countrie,
owne
doores,
nowhere
were best
returne to the
meete with such Indian shippes as should be bound
would not deale with us
it
tliither
;
Red
and
from
Sea, there to
for that
wee having come
else in
to goe
they
so far with
India vendable, I thought
we
should doe om^selves some right, and them no wrong, to cause them barter with
Chap.
US
PROCEEDINGS IN THE RED SEA.
I.]
—wee to
and they
2ol
take their indicoes and other goods of theirs as they were worth, ad.
The
to take ours in lieu thereof."
though carrying
latter proposal,
was unanimously preferred by the
of a Company, invested by the crown with exclusive
injustice
and spoliation on the very
council;
and the ships
face of
privileges for the purpose of carrying
it,
on a legitimate
icu.
violent
proceedings.
trade, deliberately set out
on a marauding expedition which virtually made every
man
connected with
it
a pirate.
While Sir Henry Middleton was thus detaining and
from India which were so unfortunate as to
vessels
—the Clove, Hector, and
Company,
sailed
Thomas
—
into his hands, other three
fall
fitted
rifling all the vessels
out under the auspices of the
from England on the 18th of April, 1611, under the command
of Captain
John
destination
was the Red
Like those which Sir Henry commanded, their
Saris.
Sea.
As a means
first
of securing a favourable reception at
the different ports with which trade might be attem})ted, a firman or pass had
been obtained from the sultan at Constantinople, by the intervention of the
In this document, addressed to
English ambassador there.
roys and beglerbegs
who
are on the
way
(both
by
sea
happy and imperial throne, to the confines of the East
and
all
the " great vice-
land),
from
my
Captain
witim
Turkish
firman.
most
Indies," they are strictly
enjoined " kindly and courteously to entertain and receive the merchants and
subjects of Great Britain,
coming or passing through or by any of our dominions,
with a view to trade to the territories of Yemen, Aden, and Mocha, and the parts
adjoining,
by
selves, their
assisting
men, and ships
humanity as
;"
and, in general,
things necessary for them-
all
by yielding unto them
"
such
offices
and
benevolence
of
and relieving them with
shall
be
-^^^ir.y^L-
meet and convenient
be
yielded unto
honest
men and stran-
to
gers
undertaking so
long
and
painful
a
voyage."
Foitified with this
recommendation Cap,
tain Saris
pated
in
had
little
antici-
difficulty
opening a
traffic
— « -iti _^;»-
^1^
with the subjects of
the sultan in the
Sea,
Red
Mocha, from the North.— From Capt.
C. F.
and was therefore mortified when, on arriving
Head's Eastern and Egyptian Scenery.
at the island of Socotra, he
by Sir Henry Middleton, acquainting him
Though his
proceedings and warning him against Turkish treachery.
niBdiBaii-
received a letter which had been left
^IT
with his
^g^,f
hopes of peaceful trade were
now
faint,
he determined to test the efficacy of his
l^^',*'
"^'
252
A.iJ. 1011.
illSTOHY OF INJJIA.
and with that y'mw
finnan,
directly for
sailed
[TiooK
Mocha.
rewiptioii
lli.s
II.
wa-s
encouraging; and, hy judicious management and the exercise of forbearance, pawt
and
jealousies
little sincerity
fears
might have been forgotten
on either side, and
;
but there seems to have been
on meeting with some obstructions,
Saris,
quitted the port and returned to the Straits of Babelmandeb.
Henry Middleton engaged
Sir
tempted to become a sharer in them.
ceedings, •w&s
Compact
for
the Indian
,,.....
agreed and sealed
it
is
as follows:
in writings interchangeable, that he should
what should be taken, paying
part of
for the
his pro-
Sir Henry's account of the
unwortliy compact for "roraaging the Indian ships"
" romagiiig
Here he found
and instead of repudiating
in pillaging,
liastily
same as
— "At
last
have one-third
I did, for the service of
his three ships in the action: leaving the disposing of the ships afterward
who had
we
tome,
sustayned the wrongs."
When, by means of these violent proceedings, flimsily disguised under the
name of barter, the depredators had possessed themselves of a sufficient quantity
of Surat cloths
and other Indian goods,
which a
for
read}'
in the Eastern Archipelago, they set sail in that direction.
market could be found
Hemy Middleton
Sir
was again unfortunate and after learning that the Trade's Incr&juse, wliich he
had ordered to follow while he went forward with the Pepper-Corn, had been
;
wrecked on a
Captain
Moluccas.
Voyage of
Japan.
coral reef, died broken-hearted at the isle of Macliian, one of the
Saris, after
for the islcs of Japan,
On
nth
the
where the Company had resolved to
of June, 1613, he
Dutch already
spending some time in the same
installed,
ca.st
anchor near Firando.
establish a factory.
Though he found the
and disposed, not only to watch, but to thwart
proceedings, a letter from the
King
of England,
and a valuable present
emperor, procured him a favourable reception, and he had
making arrangements
for
permanent
Henry Middleton, notwithstanding
121 per cent.
;
that
by Captain
Saris,
classed, as
are,
vessel,
218 per
cent.
But
it is e\'ident,
under the head of mercantile
title
Her
de-Galle,
whatever to
Saris set out on his voyage, a single
course, differing considerably
had hitherto been followed, deserves to be
traced.
command
After touching at the Point-
on the island of Ceylon, the Globe, instead of proceeding directly to
Coromandel
On
it
coast,
which was thus visited by a Company ship
line of the
for the first time,
had long before been frequented by both the Portuguese and Dutch.
arriving at
Pulicat,
authorities, sent
some of
trade
of
from that which
Bantam, turned northward into the Bay of Bengal, and followed the
though
from the
profits.
the Globe, had been despatched from England, under the
Captain Anthony Hippon.
Sir
the loss of the Trade's Increase, yielded
About the Same time when Captain
Voyage of
Hippon.
they usually
to the
The voyage commanded by
trade.
his
difficulty in
little
above account of their proceedings, that these returns have no
be
gi'oup, sailed
when
Captain Hippon, with the sanction of the native
his people ashore,
and was making aiTangements
for
the president of the Dutch factory, producing a dociunent said to
have been executed by the King of Golconda, and conferring the exclusive
;
Chap.
VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN
I.]
privilege of trade
torily ordered
253
IIIPPON.
on those who had received Prince Maurice's permit, peremj)- AD.
them
Ca})tain Hijtpon, though httle disposed to yield
to depart.
obedience to this arrogant mandate, was not in a condition to dis])ute
Point-de-Galle.
especially as he
He
was anxious
1612.
— From ChurchiU's Collection of
to take
it,
more
Voyages.
advantage of the approaching monsoon.
some of
therefore proceeded north as far as Masulipatam, leaving
as the nucleus of a factory at Petapoli, situated on the coast at
his ])eopIe
some
di.stance
south of that town, and then shaped his com-se for Bantam, which was reached
From Bantam
on the 26th of April, 1612.
the Globe proceeded
first to
Patany,
on the east coast of the peninsula of Malacca, and then to Siam, establishing
factories at both.
again visited.
was
On
homeward voyage Masuli})atam and
the
In this way, though in very humble beginnings, a foundation
laid for that intercourse
with
tlie
Bay
of Bengal which
be so largely developed, and to yield such magnificent
The
Pulicat were
efforts of the
was afterwards
to
results.
Companj", which had hitherto been of an experimental and
i-'m'ted
certainly done little to justify their title to a
majei-)
l)i'ogre.s»
very desultory character,
chai'ter
liad
which invested them with the exclusive privilege of trading in nearh^
In the Eastern
three (piarters of the globe.
resorted,
isles,
to
which they had at
first
they were completely overborne by the Dutch, and were Imrely able
to maintain a precarious existence; in the
Red
Sea, in wliich, without
any great
temptation, they had rather invidiou.sly endeavoured to carry off a share of the
traffic
which properly belonged to the Turkey Comjiany, they had not only
failed,
but recklessly damaged their mercantile character by exhilnting them-
selves as lawless depredators
;
and on the whole continent of India there was
not a single port at which they had obtained a permanent footing.
Elizabeth been spared to reign, the affairs of the
bility
have presented a very different
the charter, that the
Company would
and, before the result of the
we have
a)i]>earance.
first
Company would
She
Had Queen
in all jiroba-
iiad expected, in gi'anting
at least rival, if not outstrip the
voyage was known,
liad, in
Dutch
a letter from
which
already quoted, u])braided the directoi"s with their sluggishness in not
tia-
1
HISTORY OF INDIA.
25
A. IX 1012.
preparing for a second.
insisted that the
or resign
scale,
Suoli l)eiiig
Company
lier feelings,
Had
would have backed them with
native, she
would doubtless have
slie
should either carry on their operations on a grander
exclusive privileges.
tlieir
[B(jok U.
they chosen the forrner
alter-
the power of her government,
all
by
and they would have had no reason
to complain of unredressed
Dutch
was the conduct of King James, whose
Very
or Poituguese.
different
and
j)usillanimity only encouraged aggression,
To
battle with their formidable opponents.
left
injuries
Company unaided
the
mainly to
this cause, doubtless, is
be ascribed the unsatisfactory progress which the
Company had
to
In
yet maxle.
almost every port which they visited, they found European rivals prepared to
...
undermine them by
Voyage of
Captain
Best.
intrigue, or crush
The course which the Company
is
very obvious, though
it
them by open
ouffht to
violence.
have taken in such circumstances
was long before they summoned courage
to adopt
it.
Instead of sending out a few straggling vessels, which were unprovided with
the means of repelling insult and outrage, they should have fitted out a
fleet,
Some
such resolution appears
to have been adopted in preparing for the eighth voyage,
which consisted of the
and armed
it
fully
with
all
the munitions of war.
Dragon and Hoseander, or slander, afterwards joined by the Jaraes and
Solomon, and was commanded by Captain Thomas Best. The two first vessels
sailed
from Gravesend on the
1st of February, 1612,
or road of Surat in the beginning of September.
;
in the Svjcdly
Notwithstanding the
dis-
was found
in
and Mr. Kerridge, who appears
to
couraging account given by Captain Hawkins,
opening a communication with the town
and arrived
little
difficiilty
have been a factor in the Osiander, was soon able to put Captain Best in
As
possession of a sealed certificate giving the English authority to trade.
wanted some of the
some doubts were entertained of
and before these were solved the Portuguese again made
validity,
ance.
requisite formalities,
Besides an immense fleet of merchantmen, numbering 200
it
its
their appear-
sail,
and
gi^'ing
a striking idea of the extent of trade which the Portuguese must then have
carried on with the north coast of India, there
were four war
had come with the avowed determination of expelling the English.
His spirited
Bcst was Well prepared for them, and deeming
proceedings.
was
attacked, at once assumed the offensive.
On
it
which
galleons,
Captain
imnecessary to wait
till
the 29th of November, placing
himself in the Dragon, about two cables' length from the Portuguese
admiral, the depth of water not allowing
" to play
drove
success
'
The following day the
fight
by an houre we had
was renewed, and with
still
on ground on the sands thwai-t of the Barre
These having again been got
to repair their disgrace, but always
The
shot, that
on the part of the English, who again defeated the Portuguese, and
" three of their foure shippes
of Surat."
"s^ce-
to go nearer, " I began," he says,
upon him with both great and small
well peppered him.
more
him
he
success which the English
off",
the Portuguese attempted repeatedly
with the same
result.
had thus gained over a superior
force,
proved
Chap.
SUCCESS OF CAPTAIN BEST.
I.]
more
far
effectual
than their previous attempts at negotiation, and Jehangir, ad.
becoming as anxious to secure
ferent or averse to
their alliance as
he had previously been
The
entered into a treaty in i-egular form.
it,
clauses in this treaty were:
in his
255
—That the Enolish should have
indif-
principal
freedom of trade
full
icis.
dominions; that their persons, while ashore, should be protected from
^esfs treaty
Jiogui.
the Portuguese; that their imports should pay only 3^ per cent, as customs;
that in cases of death no fees should be demanded, and
deceased should be delivered up to the
quently an'ive
first
goods of the
tlie
English ships which miglit subse-
that in cases of wrong, redress should be speedily obtained; and
;
that an English ambiissador should be received, and permitted to reside at the
Mogul
much
This important treaty was finally delivered, with
court.
to Captain Best at Swally,
A great object had
formality,
on the 6th of February, 1613.
now been
The Portuguese claim to control the
trade had been expressly disowned by the Great Mogul himself, and a permanent
footing had been secured in several large commercial emporiums, where consigained.
derable sales of English goods could be
made on favourable
terms,
unlimited supply obtained of the goods best fitted both for the
and
for barter against the spices of the
Company
The
Indian Archipelago.
thus assumed a more promising appearance
and an
home market
affaire of the
than they had ever
presented before, and capital for future investments began to flow into their
mode
was
It
coffers.
scarcely possible that,
management
nation announced by
tures,
of
and trade
The
hitherto pursued could be continued
and
;
on a joint
and improved
stock,
we
see nothing
position.
resolution to trade in future on a joint stock, under the immediate riieCom-
voyages, which were to
two
in the determi-
more than a necessary
management of the Company, must have been favourably
of £429,000 was raised for the purpose, and apportioned
The
1616.
the desultory
the directors to abandon the system of separate adven-
in future
result of their altered
in these circumstances,
fleets
sail
received, as a
in fitting out four
successively in the years 1613,
1614,
were larger than had been previously employed
consisting of eight vessels each, the third of six,
The voyages themselves
sum
1615, and
:
the
first
and the fourth of seven.
possess little interest; but the results, though not so
extravagant as when they were swelled by the spoliation of native ships, were
on the whole
satisfactory, as the
The most important
voyages were
incidents which occuiTed during the performance of these
—a
January, 1615,
in person,
average return of profit was 87g per cent.
new encounter witli the Portuguese in
when a large fleet, under the command
the road of Swally, in
of the Viceroy of
Goa
having wantonly attacked the English, was signally defeated, with
the loss of 3.50
men; a
declaration of
war between the Portuguese and the
Great Mogul, and a consequent strengthening of the English alhance with the
latter
;
and the
arrival of Sir
Thomas Roe, invested with
ambassador from the King of England.
full
j)owers to act as
to trade
°"',ft°to^ij
2"i(J
AD
treaty above mentioned,
and was
Sir
of
Thomas
the interest of the
liarl
for its oVjject,
Sir Thoma.s
expen.se.
...
.
manner
is
Though
the end of 1618.
recognized chanicter, and the judicious
his
which he acted, gave him much more influence than HawkiiLS,
in
Company,
impossible to tead his journal without being satisfied that the
employing an ambassador at
which
court
was
;
all,
had committed a blunder.
into collision with the
and he gave
in
yield,
himself, or the higher
were apt to
members
of his
as his decided opinion, that as the object of his mission
it
onl}^ mercantile,
Mogul
it
Points of eti(|uette
ambassador would not allow him to
his position as
him
bring
Roe
Mogul wurt
arrived in the end of 1615, and continued to be a resident at the
till
II.
the
tlie sti[)ulatiorw in
Company mainly
maintained entirely at their
tlierefore
_
uoe.
[B^jok
This embassy, undcrtiikcn in accordance with one of
1015
Embassy
OF INDIA.
IILSTOllY
a native agent duly authorized, and maintained at an
expense of £100 a-year, would secure
better than ten ambassadors.
it
While thus candidly condemning the policy which had made him amba.ssa-
Thomas Roe
Sir
dor,
lost
no opportunity of furthering the
Company and on several occasions, by counterworking
;
intei'ests
intriguers,
of the
and obtaining
redress of grievances, undoubtedly contributed to place the English trade on a
stable
and prepare
footing,
received.
rendered,
Still,
was
it
The
for
the larger development which
must be confessed that the most valuable
it
service
at
last
which he
makes us intimately acquainted with
and contains a most graphic description of Jehangir and liLs
in writing a journal which
all his transactions,
court.
it
when mentioning
subject has been already alluded to
tures of Captain
Hawkins
;
the adven-
but the information of the journal, as well as that
derived from other sources, will justify some additional details.
Jehangir,
Character of
jjjQf^gyat.ion,
made
after succeeding his father in 160.5,
e angir.
but
liis
great professions of
bad habits soon resumed their ascendency and in the .second
;
year of his reign, on the suppression of a rebelUon, headed by his eldest son
Khosroo,
gave
full
who
claimed the throne as the nominee of his grandfather Akber, he
scope to his ferocity,
by ordering 700
of the captured rebels to be
impaled in a line leading from the gate of Lahore.
reign (1611), he contracted a maiTiage with
whose husband had perished in defending
trigues.
Nur
his
This event gave a colour to his future reign.
have been anticipated.
In early
life
vicious habit,
at his court,
that Ins daily routine
prayers being ended, foure or five
less
in-
Her ascendency over
unworthily than might
he had become excessively addicted to wine
and opium, and while Hawkins resided
this
Jehan, a celebrated beauty,
honour against Jehangir's
him was unbounded, and was employed by her
by
In the sixth year of his
soi-tes
is
was
so completely enslaved
described as follows:
of very well dressed
— "His
and roasted meats
are brought, him, of which, as he pleaseth, he eateth a bit to stay his stomacke,
drinking once of his strong drinke.
Then he cometh
forthe into a private
roome, where none can come but such as himself nominateth.
he drinketh other five
cupfiils,
which
is
In
this place
the portion that the physicians alot
Chap.
CHARACTER OF JEHANGIR.
I.]
him.
Tliis
done he eateth opium, and then he
him downe
of his drinke, he layeth
home; and
mouth by
others;
and
to sleep, every
and being
man
in the height
departing to his
not able to feed himselfe, but
is
this is
it is
A.D. 1627.
owne
two houres, they awake him and bring
after he hath slept
supper to him, at which time he
into his
ariseth,
257
his
thruste
about one of the clocke, and then he
sleepeth the rest of the night."
The government of such a disgusting drunkard could not be well conducted;
and though the administrative talents of his wife, Nur Jehan, and the military
nisordcrs
under tlie
government
of Jehaiigir
prowess of his
son,
known by
Prince Khurram, afterwards better
his title of
Shah Jehan, prevented the confusion which must otherwise have taken place,
the court was a scene of constant intrigue, and corruption was rampant in
Such was the
every branch of the public service.
state of matters
when
Sir
Thomas Roe arrived. On first landing at Surat, he found the governor enriching himself by seizing the goods of merchants, and insisting on their being sold
On advancing into the interior, he was
to him at prices of his own fixing.
everywliere struck with signs of devastation and neglect
;
and on
his reaching
the court, though he could not but be struck with the magnificence whicli
surrounded the monarch, as he sat on his throne
pearls,
and
i*ubies, his
all
covered with diamonds,
admission to the drinking parties above described, when,
and a few grave personages, scarcely an individual
soon convinced him how little dependence could be placed on any
witli the exception of himself
remained
sober,
made with one who was so little master of liimself
Sir Thomas Roe's residence, Jehangir's sons, con\'inced
aiTanofements that could be
Even
at the time of
Jehangir's
death.
that his drunken habits
must speedily terminate
his
life,
had begun
to intrigue
for the succession;
and
was
yet, such
the strength of his
that
constitution,
his reign
was
pro-
longed for other ten
years,
and did not
terminate
till
1627.
During part of
this
time,
indeed,
he
ciould
scarcely
be
said to possess the
throne, as his sons
were openly at war
either with
him or with each other
months a prisoner
in the
he set out on his annual
was
Tomb of Jehangir at Lahore.
I.
and the year before he
hands of one of his generals.
visit to
On
died,
he was some
regaining his liberty,
Cashmere, but had not long arrived before he
seized with a violent illness,
Vol.
;
— Hordinge's RecoIlectionR of India.
and died on the way back
to Lahore.
33
;
258
IIISTOKY UF INDIA.
CHAPTER
[Book
IT
II.
— New joint stock— Arrangement
— The council of defence — The massacre of Amboyna.
Progress of the Company's trade— Proceedings in the Persian Gulf
with the Dutch
Y
the treaty with the Great Mogul, the
gained
full access to
Company had
not only
the continent of India, but been enabled to
arrange a regular course of interchanges, from which a great
increase of mercantile profits
was
anticipated.
At
though
Sui-at,
the sales of English imports were limited, reasonable purchases
A.D. 1017
could be
made
Bantam and
Extension of
Company's
trade.
of the cloths and other goods which were in great
at
other stations established in the Indian Archipelago, and could, in
consequence, be advantageously exchanged against pepper and other spices,
which were at
regarded as the most important staples of the Eastern trade.
first
With the view
of extending these exchanges, other stations along the coast of
India were gradually adopted, and the vessels of the
and
coasts,
still
further north to the
The ample scope
Their
employment
raise
;
for all the capital
regularly
and the Coromandel
mouths of the Ganges.
was more than sufficient
which the Company had yet been
for trafiic thus afforded
dealings in
full
Company began
ports both on the Malabar
to frequent all the leading
Persia.
demand
to give
able to
but their ambition appears always to have been larger than their means,
and they resolved to turn
their attention to Persia.
An
important trade with
coimtry had long been carried on by the Levant Company, but war had
this
begrm to rage between the Tm'ks and
course being thus interrupted,
Persians,
was resolved
it
and the usual channel of
to take
inter-
advantage of the circum-
and endeavour permanently to transfer the trade from the Levant to
stance,
the Persian Gulf
The attempt thus
to interfere with the
monopoly of another
company was rather ungenerous; and it may have been
account that Sir Thomas Roe not only decidedly disapproved of
British cliartered
partly
on
it,
this
endeavoured, on his
effect.
The
and a
vessel
own
responsibility, to prevent it
but
from being carried into
flattering representations of the factors of Surat, however, prevailed
was despatched
to the port of Jask, situated a little east of the
entrance of the Persian Gulf, with a small
sum
of money, and a cargo of English
broadcloths, kerseys, lead, tin, iron, cutlery, fee, to be exchanged for Persian
The adventure proved
silks.
established
Collision
It
successfid
between the Persian
had been foreseen
;
and ultimately a
Gulf, Surat,
tliat this
regulai' trade
was
and Bantam.
trade could not be established without coming
with the
Portuguese,
into ficrcc collisiou with the Portuguese,
sive
monopoly but the
;
who had
signal successes wliich
long possessed
it
as
an exclu-
had been gained over them when
Chap.
PROGRESS OF THE COMPANY'S TRADE.
II.]
259
they attempted to prevent the establisliment of an Engli.sh factory at Sm-at,
appear to have satisfied the
was rather
prizes
their agents tliat Portuguese hostility
to be courted than feared, as, in all probability, a rich harvest of
would be made.
of rapid
endeavoured to
The event proved
as
The Portuguese, now
been anticipated.
state
Company and
a.d. 1617,
had
in a
made pretension.?, and
support them by hostilities, which
decline,
only led to their discomfiture, and tliey had the
mortification of seeing the English not only secured
in their trade, but in hiorh favour at the Persian
court,
and formally leagued with
an offensive and defensive
its
monarch
alliance.
The favourable aspect which the affairs
Company now bore had a visible effect in
up the
subscri})tion to a
in
new
of the
filling
India Company, cir. U>00
Fiom Minutf U^oksof the (on \>iki>y-
Arms of East
50.
joint stock, which
At this time the
number of proprietors of stock amounted to 954, and the number of shii)s
possessed by them is stated at thii-ty-six, of 100 to 1000 tons burden. The capital
subscribed was allotted to three voyages, the first con.sisting of nine, and each of
started in 1617-18, with the large capital of £1,600,000
two of eight
the other
a new
joint-
stock com-
pany
Before the last of these voyages was undertaken,
ships.
a remarkable change took place in the arrangements of the Company.
In the Eastern islands the Dutch not only claimed supremacy, but had
Company's
right of traffic, at least to a limited extent, and nutmegs, mace, and cloves
formed part of the usual returns imported from the East into England. The
actually established
larger scale
it.
They
had, however, tacitly acknowledged the
i^>itch.
on which the Company's operations were now about to be carried
on having afforded the Dutch a pretext
for interfering,
they plainly intimated
their determination to reserve the trade in the finer spices as
monopol}'.
OHwsition
They
rested tiieir claim on the fact that they
an exclusive
had conquered the
Spice Islands fi-om the Portuguese, and being in actual possession of them, had
a right recognized by the very charter of the London East India
debar
all
other parties from frequenting them.
So
satisfied
Company
to
were they with the
validity of this claim, that, instead of regarding them.selves as unlawful aggi-essors in the violent steps
which they had taken to exclude the English, they
assumed the character of complainers, and in 1618 presented a memorial to
King James,
prayed
in which, after stating
for redress of past,
what they
called their gi'ievances, they
and a prohibition of future encroachments.
The
Mutual
compl&mta.
London East India Company
told a very different tale
;
and
after
enumerating
the various forms of obstruction and op]iression to which they had been subjected in cixrrying on their trade at Bantiim, where their right of factory could
not be disputed, and in endeavouring to extend
Dutch could not pretend
to
it
to islands over
which the
have established any exclusive authority, they
260
A.D. 1019.
niSTORY OF INDIA.
besouglit the king to inteifere in
tiicir Ijchulf,
[Book
II.
und protect tliem against a violence
which, thougli unprovoked, had become intolerable.
Formal arrangomont
with
ti>c
^^g impossible that matters could remain
j^,
_
in accordance witli his usual policy,
but King
o Jamas,
only temporized by engaging in a course
as they were
;
./
Dutch.
of intricate and protracted negotiation.
was
Ultimately, a kind of understanding
by all parties, was formally
concluded at London on the 7th of July, 1619. The leading stipulations were,
that all excesses on either side should be forgiven that the ships and property
arrived
at,
and an agreement, acquiesced
in
;
which had been seized should be mutually restored
have the
capital
;
free privilege of trade to the East, witliout
that each nation should
any limitation
which might be employed that both companies should
as to the
strive to diminish
;
customs and other exactions, and regulate the market by purchasing at prices
by common agents;
previously arranged
purchases thus
that, in sharing the
made, the pepper should be equally divided between the companies, but only
a third of the finer spices should be apportioned to the English
that the
;
foi-ts
actually built should remain with their present possessor.s, but that all future
force should be possessed
made
at the
The council
and garrisoned
common expense
In order to give
in China.
years, a special
common
Moluccas or elsewhere by the
forts acquired in the
and that attempts should be
jointly;
new
to establish trade in
effect to this treaty,
common
industry or
places,
which was to
machinery was obviously required.
and especially
last for
twenty
Accordingly, a "Council of
of defence.
Defence "
and
to
Twenty
It consisted of eight
the equality
To
this council large
ships, furnished in equal portions
war
purposes,
members, four from each company;
more complete, the members of each company
still
preside alternately.
tained for
to be
instituted.
make
to
were
was
powers were committed.
by each company, were
and not permitted, except under
employed in the transport of merchandise.
to be main-
special circumstances,
These
ships,
and more
if
necessary, were to be placed under the immediate authority of the council of
defence,
which was empowered to distribute them at
different stations,
vide for the maintenance of the sailors and soldiers employed,
and pro-
by handing over
the proceeds of the dues and customs, particularly in the ]\Ioluccas, to the
treasurers of the companies.
When
storm or similar misfortune, the
loss
damage by
be borne by the company to which
the vessels employed sustained
was
to
they belonged; but when they suffered in the
common
cause,
as in war, a
and reparation was to be made at the common
expense.
To prevent the disputes which might thus arise, each ship, when
placed on the station, was to be valued, in order that, at any futui-e time, the
amount of deterioration produced during its emplo}Tnent on active service might
different rule
was
to be observed,
be easily ascertained.
settled
by the
All questions arising between the companies were to be
council of defence,
and
in
the event of their being equally
divided, the sovereigns of the companies were to act as ai-bitrators.
Had
this treaty
been honestly and candidly acted upon,
it
would not only
Chap.
QUARRELS WITH THE DUTCH.
II.l
261
have given the Dutch and English a complete su])remacy in the East, but pro- ad.
vided equitabl}'- for their separate interests.
Dutch could
allotted to the
The two-thirds of the
scarcely be considered
more than
rooting out the Spanish and Portuguese entitled
who saw
English,
have been
satisfied
how
it
finer spices
their exertions in
when they were
and the
to expect;
secured in a certain portion, which could
The management,
was
possible,
too,
was
fau'ly adjusted;
and
it is
not
under such a management, for one of the com-
Such, however, was the charge brought against
panies to oven-ule the other.
by the Enghsh, who complained that everything vague
was interpreted to their disadvantage, and that their funds were
their colleagues
in the
treaty
seized
and appropriated
seems to
to purposes in
them was
themselves of
which they had no
The truth
special interest.
though both companies professed to acquiesce in the treaty,
be, that
neither of
^'';"•
themselves in danger of being excluded altogether, might
not be diminished.
easy to see
them
1623.
satisfied
with
it;
and hence both, while eager to avail
the advantages which the treaty conferred, had no scruple in
all
endeavouring to evade the obligations which
The Dutch, who
imposed.
it
believed that they could easily have driven their rivals out of the Molucca
trade altogether, gnimbled at being compelled to cede a whole third of
the English,
single
who had never
voyage
at
any former period
for mercantile purposes,
found
trade, while the larger portion of their capital
for
war purposes
adverse,
it
is
only.
The
it
fitted
it
while
;
out ten vessels on a
impossible to carry on their
was required
to
fit
out vessels
interest of the parties being thus apparently
easy to imderstand
how
their former rivalry revived,
and
theii-
enmity, instead of being suppressed,
became more invete-
This fact was soon to
rate.
be demonstrated by a fearful
tragedy.
In the island of AmbojTia
the English, under the authority of the treaty,
lished a factory
had estab-
and several
The whole power,
however, was in the hands of
agencies.
The strong castle
Amboyna. which they
the Dutch.
of
Castle of Amboyna.
— Jlaps,
<fcc.,
in
Royal Librarj-, British .Museum.
possessed at the date of the treaty, remained imder their
own
entire control
m
.
throughout the island they far outnumbered
all
other Europeans, and
;
.
I
In such circumstances
was no external force from which they could seriously apprehend any
danger; and yet, on the ground that a conspu'acy had been formed for the
there
matt«n
at
its Amboyna.
harbours were ships of war as well as merchant vessels, on whose assistance
they could confidently calculate in any emergency.
state of
2^)2
A.D. 1623.
IIISTOItV
purpose of wresting the
the
name
from
i.slaiid
OF
tliem, the
of law and justice, but in
[Book
INlJlA.
Dutch
autliorities proceeded, in
and manifest
gro.s.s
II.
violation of Loth, Ut
perpetrate an atrocity whicli has left a stain on the national character.
A
own
According to their
massacre.
acccjunt,
part of their garri.son in the castle of
AniLoyna consisted of natives of Japan. One of these, having incurred susjjicion
hy the minuteness of his inquiries as to the state and defences of the place, was
apprehended, and on examination divulged a
plot, into
which other eight of
his
countrymen and the English in the service of the London East India Company
had entered, for the puipose of seizing the castle of Amhoyna, and thereby
making themselves masters of the island, The Jajtanese, whose names their
countrjTnan had mentioned while under torture, were first apprehended, and
being subjected to the same horrible process, not only confessed their own guilt,
but implicated the leading members of the English factory.
interval the English thus denounced
of being tortured,
;
On
confirmed the
it,
the evidence thus extorted, a conviction
and sentence of death was not only pronounced, but actually
by tortme.
and
to
this proceeding, the
Dutch dwell particularly on
made by the unhappy sufierers but they omit
the time when tortm-e was inflicted, the answers desired
Uniformity of the confession
mention
that, at
to be obtained
called
upon
tened with
;
were actually suggested, and the accused, instead of being simply
to state the truth,
it,
were charged
were asked, while wi-ithing in agony or threa-
whether they had not entered into the plot with which they
—whether
made
such and such proposals had not been
such and such plans had not been arranged
also
the
assistants.
j^ endcavouring to defend
tlic
inflicted
were Captain Gabriel Towerson, the English agent at Amboyna, and several
of his factors
Confession
was
Among
on nine natives of Japan, one Portuguese, and twelve Englishmen.
last
short-
and, partly under the terror
;
and partly under the actual application of
statements of the Japanese.
obtained
were seized
After a
named, had not been fixed
for carrying
— and
them
whether a
—whether
particiilar day,
In
into execution.
this
way,
not by fair interrogatories, but by a series of leading questions, the answers were
made
to
assume a degree of consistency well calculated to conceal or disguise
the monstrous absurdities which the whole charge carried on the face of
ousfht also to be borne in mind, that the confessions
it.
It
which had been extorted
were afterwards solemnly retracted in the interval between the sentence and
the execution, and that
all
Evcn admitting that
Iniquity of
the sentence.
the victims died protesting their innocence.
the suspicion of some kind of plot
groundless, the extreme measures
incapable of vindication.
was
discovered.
tiitai
adopted by the Dutch
The danger,
if it
^
was not
•
altogether
j.j.1
•
authorities are utterly
ever existed, vanished the
Where, then, was the necessity of hurrying on the
moment
trial
it
while
the accused remained without the means of providing a proper defence; or
of executing
it,
without allowing them the opportunity of bringing a sentence
whicli they held to be iniquitous under review
?
The Council of Defence,
to
;
Chap.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE COMPANY.
II.]
wliich
questions affecting the interests of the companies had been specially
all
referred,
263
was
have submitted the judgment to
Dutch have found
pei-petrated
the danger of a delay which would
Where was
in existence.
still
its revisal
These are questions which the
?
Amboyna,
impossible to answer; and the bloody deed of
it
^.d. luss.
on the 27th of February, 1623, therefore remains to
day justly
this
branded as a massacre.
When
tidinors of
C
inflamed to such a
and even King
indignation
the public
the massacre reached England,
^
^
°
pitqji
that
idea of amicable arrangement
all
Jame.s, forgetting his lethargic
He had
to talk operdy of war.
own
still
more
when
decisive,
and mean-spirited
was brought
fair
policy,
Kngland.
began
The Dutch
to a close.
dexterously availed themselves of the opportunities afforded
and managed
ill
was abandoned
hands, and seemed bent on mea.sures
his in<xlorious career
to protract negotiations,
iiKr.Kn.ition
letters of reprisal, authorizing the
even issued
injured parties to seek redress at their
was
to spin out a series
by a new reign
of years, making
promises of giving redress, but always evading the performance of them.
This crafty line of policy was only too successful, in consequence of the embarras.sments in wiiich Charles
liad
I.
The
was soon involved.
war
been thickly sown in England even during his father's lifetime; and
other questions became comparatively insigniflcant
bejijan
to be fixed
Engli.sh
when once
public attention
on the great contest which was to decide the
was pending, the
fate of the
affairs of the
Company were
often at a
Difficulties
In the Indian Archipelago, station after station was abandoned
comiiany.
this dispute
very low ebb.
order to escape from the oppression of the Dutch
quarters so
secute
all
monarchy.
While
in
seeds of a civil
many untoward
;
and
in various other
events occurred, that the Company, unable to pro-
any regular system of
were obliged to
trade,
rest satisfied
with shifting
expedients, sometimes successful, but oftener productive only of disappointment
Their stock in consequence, instead of commanding a premium, could with
difficulty
be sold at a considerable discount.
these discouragements,
trade
much perseverance was
was eagerly embraced.
unproductive, the
It cannot be denied that, amidst
When
Red Sea was again
displayed.
that with Persia threatened
resorted to
;
the opposite coast of the Indian peninsula.
become
had
its
seat at Masulipatani
intolerable, a
on the Coromandel
established at
able as the
time to
make
coa.st
locality
for
was obtained,
stations
were foimd on
some time the
in 1628, at
The advantage which
;
principal
Armegon, situated
The
substituted for that of Ma.sulipatam, and
a great emporium
to prove
but the extortions of the governor having
station on the continent of India
fortify.
it
Here
new
about seventy miles north of Madras.
Armegon was
first
permitted to
new
;
for
and when misunderstandings
with the Mogul endangered the factory at Sm-at,
factory
Every opening
it
thus
is
factory
remark-
which the Company were
pos.se.ssed
promised at one
but the situation proved inconvenient, and
the governor of Masulipatam, anxious to recover the revenue which he had lost
;
ULSTORY OF INUIA.
2C1>
A.n.
1031.
Ly the withdrawal
make
these transactions
tliat
tiio
port their principal station.
Dutch question continued open, and many
tlie
a^iBcuss.vms
with
II.
of the Company'.s trade, ofFered term.s so favourable, tliat
they were again induced to
I^i^i^'iiig
[Book
attempts were made, by commissioners appointed for that purpose, U) obtain
an equitable adjustment.
In proportion, however, as the domestic
of the king increased, the
Dutch were emboldened
Company,
direct
and the
to refase redress;
losing patience, took the remarkable step of placing them.selves in
communication with parliament.
creatm-es of the crown,
Hitherto they- had existed merely as
and on several occasions had been made
dependence was to be placed on
little
difficulties
its
to feel liow
King
countenance and support.
James, at the very commencement of his reign, virtually ignored Queen Eliza-
by which he empowered Sir Edward Michelbome
to trade within the prohibited limits and on a subsequent occasion, even after
he had made the charter his own by renewing and confirming it, he leagued
beth's charter, in the license
;
with
his worthless favourite, the
Duke
of Buckingham, in arresting the ships of
the Company, for the pui'pose of extorting a share in the prize
money which
when assisting the Persians against the
Ormuz. As yet. King Charles had not been
on the privileges or interests of the Company
they were alleged to have gained
Portuguese in the capture of
implicated in any overt attack
but the sluggish manner in which he urged their claim to redress for the injuries
Application
of
tlie
sustaiued from the Dutch
must have
satisfied
them
that, at the best,
he was a
Com-
pany to
very lukewarm
friend.
It
not
is
sui-prising, therefore,
that when, in 1628, the
great struggle between the king and the parliament assumed a definite shape
by
the presentation of the celebrated Petition of Right, the Company, impatient of
the interminable delays to which they had been subjected, took the bold step
of withdrawing their case from the exclusive cognizance of the crown
ing
it
directly
under the notice of the
legislatm^e.
by
bring-
Their memorial, prepared
with this view, besides enumerating the hardships under which they laboured,
founded their claims to public support on the benefits which they had, as a
com})any, conferred on the nation.
peculiar privileges
The question
as to the expediency of the
which their charter conferred was thus
would doubtless have been
fully discussed
fairly i-aised,
and
had not the parliament been sud-
denly dissolved before the memorial could be taken into consideration.
Prociamation
by the
crown.
The memorial, impljdng, as it obviously did, a censure on the dilatoriness
^
of the crowu, and amounting to what many regarded as an interference with
the royal prerogative, must have been very offensive to the king; but more
.
urgent concerns engrossed his attention, and he so far concealed his displeasure
Company unimpaired, but occafavom\ One of these proclamations,
as not only to leave the chartered rights of the
sionally to issue proclamations in their
dated 19th February, 1631, deals with an internal abase, and gives a striking
manifestation of the helpless, or at least desponding state into which the
pany must have
fallen before
they deemed
it
Com-
necessary to seek the protection
Chap.
CONTINUED DIFFICULTIES.
II.]
of the king against their
own
an interest in each voyage
common
own
soldiers
H
Under the cover
foot deep.
and
account in certain specified
of space allowed to each for this private trade
wide, and
originally adopted of giving
employed
to all the persons
abandoned, and accordingly even
mitted to trade on their
The plan
servants.
265
in it
had been per-
articles.
The quantity
feet long,
of this permission,
lesi.
had never been
sailors
was a chest 4
a.d.
it
1
^ foot
appears that
smuggling was carried on to such an extent as both to defraud the public
revenue and diminish the Company's legitimate
specially directed against this smuggling, "
affaii's
are of late
much
The proclamation
profits.
whereby the
said
Company's general
declined and decayed, and the adventm-ers therein
much
discouraged," intimates that in future greater vigilance will be exercised, and
upon
calls
all officers to
exert themselves to the utmost against those who, not
with the specified amount of licensed
satisfied
great wages which they (the
Company)
traffic,
and
are accustomed to
" the
pay
extraordinary
in their employ- Apparent
ments," were ungratefully and ungenerously imdermining their employers
"
Company
and
deal,
it
is
almost piteous to see them vii-tually confessing their incom-
Even without
detection almost impossible,
Company would be
course
was adopted
;
assist
the aid of government,
them
it
could not have been difficult to
and declaring that
paid
by
fixed salaries
license
which made
and wages.
by announcing that the
it,
its
in future all the servants of
The very opposite
and the proclamation, while denouncing the
very preposterously to increase
manage-
in their internal
by withdi'awing the
strike at the root of the evil
tlie
""'^'""^
themselves ought to have been fully prepared to
petency by calling in extraneous aid to
ment.
oftiio
The abuse thus denounced was surely
driving a secret underhand trade."
one with which the
by
proceeds
evil,
license to carry
on
being prohibited, would remain as before in the case
l)rivate trade, instead of
of the lower classes of servants, and in the case of the higher classes would be
many
extended, so as to give
them double the quantity of private tonnage
of
which had previously been allowed.
It
would have been strange
incompetency and sanctioning
if
the Company, while proclaiming their
gi*oss
under favourable circumstances
;
and unfortunately at
affiiirs
made good
gi-eatly
a formidable competition.
nary
profits of trade, the
Continued
mismanagement, could have prospered even
events took place which placed their
their footing at Surat,
own
and
this
very time a
in great jeopardy.
series of
The Dutch had
reduced the profits of the trade by
In the Persian Gulf, where, in addition to the ordi-
Company had
obtained a permanent grant of half the
customs levied at the port of Gomberoon, their position was endangered not only
by a new
by an attempt of the Portuguese to
In the Eastern Ai'chipelago the spice trade had been almost
succession to the throne, but
recapture Ormuz.
extinguished, and the factory of Bantam, which, as
long held precedence of
all
the other stations
was the earliest, had
of the Company, became so unimit
portant as to be reduced to an agency dependent on Surat, which alone was
Vol.
I.
34
•
HISTORY OF INDIA.
266
AD.
1C34
now governed by
a president and council
the trade of the
Company
wa.s
VVliile tlias Vjfcset
;
and
now thrown by
The
Perseverance
difficiutius.
is
tiliat
in
with
England by the
by a
II.
difficulties,
brought almost to a stand in India
devastation of a large portion of the country
a pestilence
[Book
}jy
the
famine, followed as usual by
state of ferment into
which
all
minds were
the approaching civil broils.
best tiling that Can be said for the
Company during
this
gloomy period
they never abandoned them.selves to despair, and even while losing
ground, were always on the alert to take advantage of any favourable opening
which might
occur.
In this
way
their success
covdd have ventured to anticipate.
issued firmans reinstating
them
was
often greater than they
The new Persian monarch. Shah
Sophi,
in all their former privileges, including the
grant of the customs of Gomberoon, which, in 1632, yielded as the Company's
share 550 tomands, a
sum
equal to
£1650
sterling.
General View of MASULiPATAM.—ChurchUl's
factory at Masulipatam,
tion
by
In the same year the
Collection of Voyages.
which had been abandoned in consequence of the extor-
and oppression of the governor, was re-established on favourable conditions
the express authority of the
belonged
acquired
tions.
;
while Armegon,
new
King
of Golconda, to
whom
the territory
though abandoned as a commercial emporium,
importance from the additional strength given to
A secure
its fortifica-
asylum was thus obtained within the Bay of Bengal, to which
Company was now more especially directed.
Thomas Roe's embassy to the Great Mogid Jehangir,
the attention of the
Foundation
with Bengal,
Duriug Sir
a firman
had been obtained, in general terms authorizing the English to trade in Bengal
The importance of the permission thus granted appears not to have been appreciated, and no use had been made of it when Jehangir's reign teiminated by his
death in 1627. During the reign of his son Shah Jehan, whose favour the
English generally enjoyed, the idea of a Bengal trade was revived; and in
1634) a firman
to the
was obtained, which threw the whole trade of the province open
Company, subject
to the restriction that their ships
to the port of Piply or Peipley.
were to resort only
This place, situated on the Soobunreka ten
Chap.
TKUCE WITH THE PORTUGUESE.
III.]
miles above
its
had a very
267
mouth, and within a short distance of the estuary of the Hooghly,
a.d. icas.
but possessed the important advantage of
indifferent luirbour,
giving immediate access to a country of ahnost inexhaustible resources, with
whom
an immense industrial population, from
an indefinite supply of the
fine
white cloths suited equally for the English, the Persian, and the south-eastern
markets, might at
all
times be obtained.
The prospect of a
seemed in consequence so promising, that new
efforts
revival of trade
were made
;
and Bantam,
with the view of being again made a central emporium between the Indian
peninsula and
tlie
Spice Islands, was once more restored to the dignity of a
In the midst of
presidency.
apparent success, an event took place by which
this
the very existence of the Com])any
was
tlu-eatened.
CHAPTER
Truce with the Portuguese— Establishment of a
the
:
;
:
company
— Settlement with
the
Dutch—
State of
Company under Cromwell.
;S the contests carried
;
rival
III.
on between the Company and the Portu-
Portuguese
guese had long been productive only of mischief to both, a
mutual desire
for
arrangement was
While they were wast-
felt.
ing their strength the Dutch were continuing their successful
career,
these circumstances
and threatening
little
difficulty
to involve
was found
them
in a
common
in opening a friendly
ruin.
commmii-
cation with the Viceroy of Goa, and forming a truce which, if approved
sovereigns,
might afterwards be converted into a permanent
this truce,
which gave each of the contracting parties
anticipated a large extension of
traffic,
treaty.
by their
Under
free access, for all
mercial purposes, to the ports and factories of the other, the
and had begun
to
Company
make the
In
com-
natm-ally
necessary
when they were startled by the information that
had granted license to a new body of mercantile adventurers, for
])reparations ^\^th that view,
King Charles
the special pui'pose of appropriating the advantages which the tnice
was
exjiected
to confer.
This extraordinary proceeding, Mhich took place in 1635, was probably the a
crown
licciiso
result of a variety of causes.
It
may
displeasure at the memorial which the
had never forgotten
first
it,
be that Charles, while he concealed his
Company presented
and was therefore not imwilling
opportunity which offered to take his revenge.
which the past conduct of the Company
dictiveness.
On
is
to parliament in 1628,
to avail himself of the
The very
bitter terms in
stigmatized, cei-tainly savours of vin-
different occasions his majesty
had borne strong and willing
granted to
"'*
™
*'''
268
AD.
1630.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
testimony to the lionour
the
Ix-neiit wlijcli
{iiul
[Book
Company had
conferred on
nation at large, wl)erea.s the e.stablishment of a rival association
expres.sly
on the ground
tliat " in all this time, since
II
is
th^-.
now jastified
the erection of the said East
India Company, notwithstanding the manifold privileges granted to them, they
had neither
so settled
and planted trade
cation or place of surety, as
in tho.se
we
neither had
;
benefit from thence (as other princes did),
fortifi-
by reason
in
received any annua)
of the said Company's
They "had merely intended and pursued their own
and advantage, without providing any safety or settledness for
ncglect in fortifying."
'
agaiiist the
_
Company:
any such
ma4^1e
might give assurance or encouragement to any,
future times, to adventure to trade there
Charges
nor
part.s,
present profit
establishing of trafiick in the said Indies for the good of posterity, or for longer
time than
it
should please the natives or inhabitants there to permit the con-
tinuance thereof"
The conduct of the Company
with that of the Portuguese and Dutch, who
"
in this respect
had planted and
and estabhshed a lasting and hopeful trade there,
and by advantage thereof had not only rendered our
is
contrasted
them-
fortified
good of
selves there,
for the
posterity;
subjects abiding
in those parts subject to their in.solencies
and apparent
we
manner, wrought them out of trade there, which
in a
but,
injuries,
found, not only
complaint of divers of the adventurers in that society, but principally
daily decrease of our customs for goods imported from thence, which
by
by
we
the
the
could
impute to nothing more than the said Company's supine neglect of discovery and
settling of trade in divers places in those parts
and
fair opportimities to
The charges thus
Not wholly
from place to
Red Sea
they could
have compassed and effected
lavishly brought against the
place,
it."
Company were
call their
own, and to which they could resort as a secure asyhun in aU
They thus
in this respect
existed merely
by
sufferance
was not
dictated
by motives
;
and when attacked, suc-
of poHcy.
had cautioned them against the erection of
forts, as
Sir
ten I would not accept one."
view, and
would gladly have
great difficulty
was
in the
it is
if
the emperor would
The
of funds, which at no time sufficed for
more
mercy both of native princes and European
were obliged either to overlook
it,
unavailing supplications for redress.
They were thus very much
rivals;
and when subjected to
at the
injus-
or to confine themselves to clamorous
much more
and
Claiming an exclusive right to the com-
merce of more than half the globe, they were bound to have achieved
them.selves a
tliis
they had possessed the means.
than to furnish the necessary investments.
tice,
Thomas Roe,
But the Company had never adopted
fortified if
want
Their conduct
incompatible with their
prosperity as a mercantile company, and declared that "
me
shifted about
wandering over the whole extent of the Indian Ocean, from
ceeded only in a few rare instances in maintaining their ground.
offer
not wholly
to the isle of Japan, without having secured a single .station Avhich
emergencies.
true,
plentiful stock,
They had commenced with experimental voyages, and
unfounded.
the
where they had a
dignified position.
for
Chap.
WILLIAM COURTEN'S ASSOCIATION.
SIR
III.]
Admitting that the Company were thus
2G9
far in fault, it does not follow that a.d.
They
Charles was justified in the method which he took to supplant them.
were
entitled, at all events, to a three years' notice,
i635.
and therefore ought not
to
have been threatened with violent extinction before even a single note of warning had been
unhappy
The truth
jjiven.
is,
that Charles had
now been brought
which he thought himself entitled
position from
means which promised
He was
ing to ride without a parliament
only means of obtaining
to seek relief
by any
however much they might be at variance
to be successful,
with honour and equity.
into that
engaged in the
experiment of attempt-
ftital
and having thus excluded himself from the
;
money by
legal taxation,
expedient for replenishing his treasury.
was ready
to snatch at
Tliere can be little
doubt that the
known by
license granted to the rival adventurers, afterwards
any
the
name
of
The truce recently conopen up new sources of wealth,
"Courten's Association," was one of those expedients.
eluded With Portugal was represented as about to
and the king, consulting only
means of a new body of adventurers, a
made
to his
own
He had
lent large
in the
sums both
however, from the
had more than an indirect
He
association.
-
and
new
his father,
—
may
terest in the success of Courten's
ffu^^^S)
'
^^^t voyage as having been partly
undertaken "at and by the charge \^;,J^f^^j and adventure of
trusty
and
faithful servant,
V
En-
^^
possibly have
language employed, that Charles
--.
/
speaks of the
and
name.
it its
loan, in return for the royal license.
<^^ ^^^\
in-
by
London merchant,
new company, and has hence given
to the king
J
dymion
us,
and of our
Porter, Esq., one of the
grooms of our bedchamber," and
authorizes the ships, 'as an ensign
that they were specially employ-
ed by
flag
which our own
service,
ships,
us," to carry the
and none but the ships employed
"union
in our particular
ought to bear."
Company, naturally alarmed at the special favour thus shown to the
new adventm-ers, and the open mfringement of the exclusive privileges guaran-
The
teed to
old
them by the
chartere of
earnest remonstrance
;
Queen Elizabeth and King James, presented an
but though they succeeded so far as to cause a
clamation to be issued, in whicli the right of
ciation
was
restricted to " such of those parts
the said East India
Company had not
traffic
new
conferred on the
proa.sso-
and places before named, where
and trade before the
settled factories
12th December, 1635," they were so far from gaining their main object, that
the license, originally granted only for a single voyage,
years,
it.
and declared
"any
to stand
good against
all
was extended
who might be
charters, lettei's-patents, grants of incorporations,
to five
disposed to challenge
or of
any
liberties,
powers, jurisdictions, privileges of trade or traffick. or any act of parliament,
•
association.
and permanent addition might be
large
cancelled part of the debt, or granted a
It is plain,
into the belief that,
Sir William Courten, a wealthy
revenue.
had the principal share
was deluded
his necessities,
Coui-teirs
Seal used by Sir William Courten's Association.
— MS. vol.
Peter Manday'a Travels, in Lib of E.
I.
House.
R<?mon.ngainst
it.
IIISTOKY OF TN'DTA.
270
A.D. 1035.
.statute,
J
proclamation, piovision or restriction, or other matter
ordinance,
thing whatsoever, to the contrary
passage
[Book
now quoted
iiereof, in
any wise notwithstanding,"
J.
oi-
Tlie
curious, not only as evincing the king's determination
is
new
strenuously to support the
which he was prepared to stretch
association,
his prerogative,
when they were
other powers of the state
but as displaying the extent to
and
nought
to set at
all
suj)posed to interfere with
the
any of
his favourite projects.
At
Depressed
the date of the second proclamation, the ships fitted out
state of the
Company,
.
^
.
voyage of the association were already at
the president and council,
who had
sea.
When
•
^
the
fcjr
they arrived at Surat,
not previously been informed of the license
which had been granted, were surprised above measure, and utterly at a
how
They had been preparing
to proceed.
first
o
i
to take
loss
advantage of the an-ange-
ment which had been made with the Portuguese, and had partly completed theiiinvestment with a view to it. Now, liowever, they found themselves forestalled,
and virtually excluded from
was the more severely
most hopeful market.
their
This disappointment
in consequence of the general .stagnation of trade,
felt
which had been produced by the recent famine and pestilence
;
and
also of a
very violent proceeding on the part of the Mogul emperor, Shah Jehan, wlio,
on learning that a vessel bearing
his flag
had been plundered by a
pirate under
English colours, had imprisoned the leading members of the Siu-at factory, and
them
refused to release
till
these circumstances, trade
thus overwhelmed
by
fine.
Under
for a time almost entirely suspended.
"While
they engaged to pay a very heavy
was
tion to learn that Courten's vessels
in
Company had the additional dissatisfachad made a prosperous voyage, and arrived
adversity, the
England with cargoes which would yield the adventurers a very
return.
In a
Company
thus express themselves
letter addressed to
:
profitable
their servants at Surat, the governor
—
"
Wee
and
could wish that wee could vindicate
the reputacion of our nation in these partes, and do oiu^elves right for the losse
and damage our
estate in those partes
have susteyned
;
but of
all
must beare the burthen, and with patience sitt still, untill we may
frowning tymes more auspicious to us and to our aflfayres."
wee
find these
For scvcral subsequent years the Company remained in a very depressed
Attempt to
joint stock,
these
At one time the
state.
rivalship of Courten's association, at another time the
encroachments of the Dutch
—who, no longer
satisfied
with their ascendency in
the Eastern islands, were ambitious enough to aim at the establishment of
in
all
the leading ports of India
—absorbed
all
their thoughts,
subject of various petitions, in which they implored the
it
and formed the
government to
inter-
and save them from impending destruction. Their importunity at last
obtained a favourable hearing; and the privy council recommended, as the
fere
most
eflfectual
remedy, that the hcense to Courten's association should be with-
drawn, on the understanding that a
scheme
sufficiently large
and
new
liberal to
joint stock should be formed, on a
promise a great extension of the trade.
—
Chap.
A NEW JOINT
xVTTEMPT TO FORM
III.J
STOCK.
271
In accordance with tins recommendation, the Company proceeded to take the
necessary steps, and issued a prospectus
1.
embodying the following proposals
a.d. i640.
:
That the subscription should be payable, by instalments, in four years; and
that
it
should be
manner, and by
whom
tion should be open to
May,
164)0.
3.
be levied, as a
the business should be managed.
all
That on
fine, till
2.
That the subscrip-
persons, as well foreigners as English,
all
past due instalments I4 per cent, per
payment.
4.
by an Englishman £500, and by a
foreigner £1000.
for his freedom.
6.
any
in
what was
time for bringing home
any more stock
their property, but be prohibited from sending
be,
and a foreigner
That the old Company, or adventurers
called the third joint stock, should be allowed sufficient
joUit stoct.
month should
That, in buying
5.
Attempt to
the 1st of
till
That the minimum subscription should
share after the books were closed, an Englishman sliould pay £20
£40
what
the majority of the subscribers to determine in
left to
on their
to India
former account.
The above terms
are fair
and reasonable, and, under ordinary circumstances,
could hardly fad to have been eagerly and generally accepted
times were at hand, and few
the risks which
When
it
who
;
but troublous
possessed capital were inclined to expo.se
would necessarily run during the struggles of a
the date fixed for closing the books arrived, the whole
't* faUure.
civil
it
to
war.
amount subscribed
was the paltry sum of £22,500.
complete
The proposed scheme having thus proved a
matters returned to their former state; and the Company
failure,
While thus engaged,
wei*e again left to fight their battle single - handed.
course
head,
was checkered by prosperity as well
a first place must be assigned to the
the Coromandel coast.
the most favom-able terms, the
own
to build a fort at his
as adversity.
the former
acqui.sition
locality
This locahty was the nucleus of
swell out into the presidency of Madras.
')iaik
The
Under
of a new
what was
was made
their
acquisition
on
destined to
in
1
640, on
or governor of the district volunteering
expense, at which the English might settle and carry
on their trade exempt from
all
of the factory of Masidipatam,
customs.
So
satisfied
who conducted
was Mr. Day, a member
the transaction with the naik,
of the value of the otter which had been made, tliat he immediately imdertook
the erection of the
fort,
which, in honour of the naik's father, received the
of Chenappa-])atan, or Clienna-patan,
Europeans from the
first
knew
it
still
ajiplied to it
only by the
name
importance of this station soon became a])parent
Mr.
Day
;
by the
natives,
if
though
of Fort St. George.
The
and the decisive step which
took in at once commencing operations was most fortunate, as
wards appeared that the Company,
name
it after-
they had been previously consulted, would
have withheld their sanction mider a belief that the state of their funds did
Another circumstance, which at
not justify the outlay.
able influence on the
rule in Portugal,
kingdom.
By
Company's
prospects,
event,
tiie
had a favour-
was the overthrow of the Spanish
which in con.sequence resumed
this
this time
its
friendly relations
position as an independent
ah-eady existing between
First settie-
Madras.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
272
A.D.
Ifill.
England and Portugal were drawn
any pretext
had
Company's
pepper by
tlie
king.
inflicted serious injuries
on the English
Company.
They
loss
per
of
8d. per
Is.
loss of
Portuguese
India trade.
were favouraLle to the
upon the singular device of buying
was 607,252
lb.,
this time
Uj with-
more than counterbalanced by the unfavourhome and abroad, and more especially by a heavj-
the Company's stores on credit, and selling
2s. Id.
Ea.st
again.st
on them by the king, who, in order
inflicted
necessities in 1641, fell
of pepper
were obhged
were, however,
able state of affairs both at
pecuniary
II.
Dutch, Laving no longer
though nominally directed only
whicli,
Such were the leading events which at
Purchase of
tiie
for continuing hostilities against the latter,
draw the blockades,
ports,
and
clo.scr;
[Book
bags,
and the
amounted to £63,283,
all
the pepjjer in
ready money.
The quantity
price agi'eed to be paid, at the rate of
lis.
Id.; but the sales,
made
at the rate
The king thus sustained an apparent
realized only £50,626.
lb.,
it for
relieve hit
tcj
above £12,000 by the speculation, but ultimately the Company were the
The bonds which they had received from the fanners of the
customs remained unpaid; and the only sum wliich they appear to have
received was £13,000, which they retained out of the ciistoms due by them.
sole sufferers.
Even
now
this
sum they were not allowed
to retain without question, as parliament,
at open hostilities with the king^ did not
admit that the bonds wliich had
been granted in payment of the pepper constituted an
burden on the
effectual
public revenue.
During the Civil war the transactions of the Company remain almost a
The
perfect blank.
money
collection of
for investments could not
be openly
announced without endangering their confiscation by one or other of the contending parties
;
and the
secrecy as if they
erected at
Balasore.
were
fitted
had been engaged in an
of importance which
Factory
vessels
may
out and despatched with as
illicit traffic.
to the west of Piply, which
it
;
the few facts
be gleaned from the history of this period, are the
erection of a factory at Balasore, situated within the
of
Among
had not
Mogul
territories a little
realized the hopes at one time entertained
and a considerable extension of the trade of Madras, which, though
subordinate to Bantam, was rapidly outstripping
it,
this prosperity
Madras was mainly indebted to
its fortifications,
only gave security to the servants of the factory, but induced
native merchants and artisans to settle in the
any attack by native
district,
the
George was £2294, and the estimate was, that
it
impregnable
forces.
Courten's association, of which the
worst thorn in their
of the
cost, for in 16-i5
not more than an additional £2000 would be necessary to render
to
many
in times of commotion.
All these advantages had been obtained at a very trifling
St.
coast.
which not
town and the adjoining
where they could always be sure of finding protection
whole sum expended on Fort
stiU
and had already supei'seded
Masulipatam as the principal factory of the Company on the Coromandel
For
much
sides,
after
Company had
long complained as the
a short course of prosperity had rapidly
Chap.
PROCEEDINGS OF COURTEN'S ASSOCIATION.
III.]
The same causes which depressed the Company must have affected
a similar manner, but their misfortunes seem to have been far more
declined.
them
in
owing
to their
own
s\ibjected
they resolved in 16-i6 to establish a colony at
The
island of Madagascar.
their means,
St.
them
In order to lelieve the embarrassments
failure.
mint, at which they coined counterfeit pagodas and
discovered,
and
so seriously
to severe reprisals,
was altogether beyond
which they were thus thrown they had recourse to
into
damaged
theii*
fraud,
Had
and amalgamate.
Not long
change had taken
})lace
up a
\Aas soon
after this
association should
the Com])any been their
they would never have entertained this propo.sal;
masters,
set
character that they afterwards found
was made that the Company and the
forget their (juarrels
and
The cheat
rials.
great difficulty in carrying on even a legitimate trade.
transaction, a proposal
icag.
Augustine's Bay, on the
project, injudicious in itself,
and proved a
ad.
After wandering about M'ithout any fixed
misconduct.
and committing depredations which
[)lan,
273
was dangerous
tumiwiny.
but a complete
of the kingdom, and, in
in tlie |)olitical state
own
p»^i'o^i »<>
amalganiatf
the ai^oda-
tlie
demur to any proThe king was now a
posal which had the sanction of the dominant party.
prisoner in the Isle of Wight, and the cause of the parliament was everywhere
trium])hant.
The Company, trembling for their charter, endeavoured to meet
the threatened storm by proposing a new subscription, in which they made a
general uncertainty Avhich prevailed,
it
In the prospectus
curious effort at conciliation.
were restricted to a certain day
rally
made
in favour of
members
of parliament, for
while the public gene-
i.ssued,
for filling
up the
whom
to
an exception was
lists,
the period of closing
was
prolonged that they might have an op])ortunity to consider the subject, and to
become
The device
subscribers.
obtained
so
much
council of state
said
to
have succeeded
and privileges of the Company.
— to which the
questions at
is.sue
— while
declining to give
device to
lavcmi of
"
"""*"
'
between the Compan}- and
Merchants," from their settlement on an island of that
been submitted
Accordingly,
which was now designated by the name of
Coiu"ten's association,
iiad
and the plan
;
commons, as to amount to a
of the approbation of the
virtual recognition of the rights
tlie
is
"
The
As.sada
name near Madagascar,
any formal
decision, strongly
recommended an amalgamation.
In accordance with this recommendation, vai'ious conferences were held
^'"'O"
between
between the managers of the two companies, and a union -was
The leading conditions were
—That
a stock of £300,000 should be subscribed
within two months, to be paid by instalments in four yeai*s
siiould
be taken of
in India
;
direct to
that the
all
;
.settlei's
that,
and America, but not to trade from port
this continent, a fortified station should
all
Indian goods,
.spices, &c.,
I.
to
be fixed on for
should be joint propert}';
that salaries, both in England and India, should be reduced;
Vol.
that a valuation
on the island of Assada should be allowed to trade
Asia, Africa,
on
both companies; that
;
the houses, shij)ping. and goods belonging to the CVunpany
any ports of
port in India
finally arranged,
and
that, in tlie
35
tlie
association
company,
HISTORY OF INDIA.
274
A.D. 1652.
management of
future
sary to give a vote.
was of importance
It
House of Commons.
worded
cautiously
carried
was immediately
the
privileges,
"
resolution,
hoped
to have
utmost
That the trade
on by one company, and with one joint
Company
j>resented to the
for a di.stinct confirma-
they could obtain was the
to the East Indies should be
stock, the
management
to be under such regulations as the parliament should think
East India
neces-
to obtain legislative sanction to this
effect
Company appear
exclusive
II.
taken into consideration on the 31st January,
It wa,s
1650; but though the
of their
£500 should be
the joint trade, a share of at least
arrangement, and a petition to that
tion
[Book
fit
thereof
and that the
;
made
should proceed upon the articles of agreement
between them and the Assada merchants on the 21st November, 1649,
till
further orders from the parliament."
Petition to
parliament
ag linst tlie
Dutch.
Whatever may have been the political predilections of individual membei-s
of the Company, they appear, as a body, to have been easily reconciled to the
constitutional changes
which followed the execution of the king
;
and, on the
14th of November, 1650, presented a petition, addressed, in the language and
spirit of the times, to " the
supreme authority of the nation, the high court of
The
the Parliament of England."
complaint of
ill
burden of the petition was the old
gi-eat
usage from the Dutch, from
whom
redress,
asked in vain " from the late king and his coimcil, was
At
pated."
this
time the
rupture with the Dutch
new government was
and hence, as the
;
petition
now
confidently antici-
evidently preparing for a
was opportune,
such a favoiirable reception, that on the very day on which
parliament adopted a resolution referring
away, the
Company endeavoured
by a
series of memorials.
after referring to their petition,
the
Dutch,
and drew up a
£1,681,996, 15s.
Second
memorial
presented
met with
was presented
to the consideration of the council
it
amount
to a larger
in June,
when
to
In the
first
of these, dated 9th May, 1651,
they renewed their grounds of complaint against
list
of their losses,
which they estimated at
This was exclusive of interest, which
sum than
the principal.
the probability of a
consisting of five
die
keep their case before the x-iew of the
it
was
alleged
would
In a second memorial, presented
Dutch war was stronger than
expressed their apprehensions for the safety of their
Third
it
it
That the impression already made might not be permitted to
of state.
council
though hitherto
ships laden with valuable cargoes,
ever,
homeward bound
they
fleet,
and particularly with
saltpetre for the use of
government; and prayed that ships of war might be
stationed off the Land's
End
into the
Downs.
for the purpose of conducting theii" fleet in safety
In a third memorial, foUomng
close
upon the
other,
they
memorial.
took the bolder step of praying that powers might be given, imder the great
seal of
on
all
England, to their presidents and councils in India, to enforce obedience
Englishmen within
to the laws of England.
their jm'isdiction,
On
and
to punish offenders conformably
the 29th of January, 1652, they again imi)ortuned
the council on the subject of their claims, because, knowing that ambassadors
Chap.
PEACE CONCLUDED WITH THE DUTCH.
III.]
275
from the States-general were then in England endeavouring
negotiate a
Co
treaty, they felt that if they lost the present opportunity of obtaining
sation they
might wait in vain
tion having failed,
and open
declared, their claims
At
the very time
for another.
hostilities
a.d. lew.
compen-
Ultimately, however, the negotia-
between the two countries having been
were again indefinitely postponed.
when
the Dutch
war broke
out, it
was apprehended that
European
the proceedings of Admiral Blake at Lisbon, where part of the English fleet „„«.
which had adhered to the Royalists had been attacked, might lead to a rupture
with Portugal.
The Company were thus
in the perilous predicament of being
attacked in India by two nations at once, while almost totally unprovided with
the
means of
resistance.
To add
to their difficulties, a fierce
war was raging
between the Kings of Bejapoor and Goleonda, to the great obstruction of their
trade on the Coromandel coast.
It is not to be
wondered
at,
that in the.se
circumstances the Company, yielding to a feeling of despondency, refused to
sanction an additional outlay on
tlie fortifications
of St. George, though
was
it
by the agents there that these formed the only security to the
inland trade, and the principal protection to the sliipping; and that, under
certain firmans which had been obtained from the Nabob of the Carnatic,
truly urged
authorizing them to purcluise cloths and other goods without re.striction in
all
parts of his government, the trade miglit be very largely extended.
which the war was prosecuted by CromweU, soon
Ascendency
threatened the Dutch commerce in Europe with total destruction; but in India,
in the East.
The vigour and
success with
where their maritime and commercial ascendency had been long established,
they completely swept the
appeared off Svvally with a
seas.
Shortly after the declaration of war, they
fleet of eight
large ships,
and might
easily
have
annihilated the English establisliment at Surat, had tliey not been afraid of
provoking the hostility of the Great Mogul by carrying war into any portion
of his dominions.
to
Contenting themselves, therefore, with offering large bribes
the governor and other
obstructing
them
officials,
to induce
them
to liarass the English
where they
in every way, they set sail for the Persian Gulf,
not only put a stop to the lucrative trade which the
Company had
on between Sm-at and Gomberoon, but captured three of their
a fourth on shore, where she was totally
lost.
These
disasters,
by
long carried
ships,
and drove
which might
liave
been expected to dispirit the Company, seemed rather to have roused their
courage, for they are found petitioning
frigates,
tlie
government to lend them
five or six
which they would man and equip at their own expense, and despatch to
the East Indies for the pmjiose of
making
reprisals.
This warlike
movement
appears not to have been encouraged, and in fact soon ceased to be necessary, as
the Dutch,
now
hostilities.
After a negotiation, during which the Dutch became sensible that
completely humbled, were eagerly suing for a termination of
they would be obliged to submit to any terms which Cromwell chose to
the peace concluded was ratified at Westminster, 5th April, 1654".
dictate,
Peace
—
HISTORY OF INDIA.
27(i
In
A.D. 1654
tliu
treaty
By
not forgotten.
Lords
Conipou-
tice
tlie
drawn up on
[Book
Company were
this occasion the claims of the
the twenty-seventli
article,
it
II.
was agreed:
"That the
States-general of the United Provinces shall take care that jas-
be done upon those
who were
partakers or accomplices in
tlie
massacre
sation
awarded
to the
Company.
Amboyna, as the republic of England is pleased to term that
fact; provided any of them be living."
By the thirtieth aiticle, four com mi.ssioners were to be named on both sides to meet at London, and "to examine
and distinguish all those losses and injurys, in the year 1611 and after to the
of the English at
18th of May, 1652, according to the English
well in the East Indies
style, as
as in Greenland, Muscovy, Brazil, or wherever else either party complains of
having received them from the other; and the particulars of
damages
shall
those injuiys and
all
be exhibited to the said commissioners so nominated before the
no new ones
aforesaid 18th of
May, with
after that day."
Should the commissioners not come to an agreement within
three
this restriction, that
be admitted
shall
months, the wliole case was to be submitted "to the judgment and
arbitration of the Swiss Cantons,"
who were
authorized for that puii^ose to
delegate commissioners, whose decision, given within six months, should " bind
both parties, and be well and truly performed."
At
the
commissioners, held on the 30th of August, 1654, the English
damages at £2,695,999,
their
15s.
.stated
series of accounts
;
3s. 6d.
Both statements
but the commissioners
.soon
became
dependence was to be placed upon them, and within the
satisfied that little
three
Company
Strange to say, the Dutch contrived to
exceed this amount, and stated theirs at £2,919,861,
were supported by a
meeting of the
first
months pronomiced an award, of which the
principal findings were that
the island of Polaroon should be restored to the English, and that the Dutch
Company the sum of £85,000, and to the
heirs or executors of the sufferers at Ambovna the sum of £3615.
It seems to be admitted that the award was fairly made and therefore,
when the comparatively paltry amount of the compensation is considered, it is
difficult to account for the loud outcry which the Company had continued
without interruption from the first years of their existence to make again.st
Company
Its insignifi-
cantamoiuit.
should pay to the London
;
the Dutch, as the main authors of
less
clamour might have
for losses wliich,
siifficed,
all
the calamities which befell them.
when
the object merely
proprietors of the
been
fitted out.
him
as
When
many
to the mode in which it was to be apportioned among the
different stocks by which the voyages of the Company had
A
the
sum was
paid,
protracted and ruinous litigation might have ensued, had
not Cromwell alarmed
danger,
to obtain redi^ess
spread over the course of nearly half a centmy, had only
reached the aggregate amount of £85,000.
questions arose as
was
Sm'ely
all
them as in a common
the meantime the money should remain ^ath
the claimants, and united
by proposing that in
a loan.
The Company pleaded the general
the deores.sed circumstances of
many
state of their
affaii's,
and
of the indi^^.dual claimants, as reasons
CHAr.
MADRAS RAISED TO A PRESIDENCY.
ITI.^
whole sum
for not lending the
to receive £35, QUO in hand, iind
und })roposed
;
by
The
instalments.
final
was
it
a
u
1054.
by lending him the remaining
to express their gratitude to tlie Protector
£50,000, on the understanding that
277
months
to be repaid in eighteen
apportionment of the sum among the claimants was
the decision of five arbitere specially appointed for that purpose.
left to
made
After the arrangement
Company
the
Courten's association,
witli
Privileges
ol.taimil
began to trade on what was called a united joint stock
many
with
difiiculties,
;
and while contendmg
made some arrangements which ccmtributed
Among
their ultimate prosperity.
may
others
ill
lici.gai.
greatly to
be mentioned, the oljtaining of
a firman which, in retm-n for a payment of 3000 i-upees (£300), gave them the
privilege of free trade in Bengal without
payment of customs.
favourable terms, which were obtained in 1651, thev
Gabriel Boughton, who,
]\Ir.
when English surgeon
owed
These very
to the influence of
to the factory at Surat, had
gained the fiivour of Shah Jehan by the cure of one of his daughters, and at a
later period resided in
Bengal as the medical attendant of the governor. Prince
While new
Hhuja, Sliah Jehan's son.
in Bengal, the
step
facilities for
trade were thus opened up
Coromandel coast was not overlooked, and
was taken of raising Fort
St.
in
1654 the important
George to the rank of a presidency.
In the
Madras
rai.seci
use of these and similar advantages, the
their disa.sters,
Company might
soon have re})aired
and attained a higher prosperity than they had enjoyed
Unhappily new obstacles arose from within.
former period.
Courten's association had never been cordial
;
at
all
to
.1
i.resiuency.
any
The imion with
and the members of the
latter,
accustomed to much more freedom of action than the more regular management
Company
of the
permitted, became loud in their complaints.
was formed, the mode of canying on the
arrangement.
On
tliis
subject, the
joint trade
views of the
open for future
Company and
of the A.s.sada
and convinced that they could not maintain them without a joint
any other
refused to carry on the trade on
contrary, while admitting that a
be,
left
the union
The Compaiiy, jealous of
merchants were almost diametrically opposed.
privileges,
was
When
stock,
The Assada merchants, on
footing.
company was
their
necessary, insisted that
it
the
should
not a joint stock, but a regulated company, in which the members should
have liberty individually
in such
way
as they
'•
to
employ
their
might conceive most
own
stocks, servants,
to their
own
raised,
end of 1654, ap})eared as petitioners before the comicil of
The Company,
in their petition, repeated all the
Portuguese and Dutch
ment
far
—the
—the
jn-ocure
both parties,
state.
arguments which they had
been accustomed to urge in lavour ot a joint stock: their
acquu-ed during a course of forty years
To
advantage."
an authoritative settlement of the im])ortant que.stion thus
in the
and shipping,
own
experience
formidable competition of the
failure of isolated voyages, the expenses of equip-
exceeding the means of individual adventurers
over which the trade extended, the factories of the
—the extent of
Company
territorv
l^eing actually
situated "in the dominion.s of not less than fourteen sovereigns"
—and, above
Arrange-
nnourcf
i_'omymi^'^
;
278
A.U. IGM.
OF INDIA.
lIISTOIiy
[Book
II.
engagements which the Company were under to the native powers to
make good any losses whicli their subjects might sustain by the depredation-s
all,
"tlie
of Englishmen," even though these should not belong to their service.
On
these grounds, they thought themselves entitled to ])ray that the Protector
would be pleased to renew
their charter, with such additional privileges as ha/1
been found necessary to enable them to carry on their trade
persons from sending out shipping to India
;
Were
their position in the Spice Islands.
and to
;
to prohibit private
assist thern in recovering
this prayer granted, they
had no
doubt of being able not only to procure a large subscription at present, but to
establish the East India trade
On
Arrange-
ments
on a secure and durable
basis.
the other hand, the Assada merchants alleged that
management by joint
in
favour of
a regiilateJ
company.
stocks had not been so profitable either to subscribers or to the public as that
of separate voyages
manner
under
in
would have been; and appealed
in proof to the successful
which the Turkey, Muscovy, and Eastland trades were carried on
Besides this appeal to experience, they argued the point
free companies.
at great length, insisting, in substance, that a free trade regulated would encour-
age industry and ingenuity, giving them
and scope
full latitude
for exercise
while each person, instead of standing idle and leaving others to act for him,
liis
own
that
by
had the ordering of
of his 0"wn talents
;
affairs,
and consequently opportunity
increasing the
by means of
the spirit of monopoly, and,
number
of traders,
in the
ment than a joint
;
the subscription
time,
and
would be
stock, it
own
far
more
interest
eflacient,
to invest
new
its
manage-
because the adventurers,
and the competition of
others, will in
trades;" and thus have some
advantage over the Dutch Company, who, ha\dng
make Holland
mode
convenient, not merely in ready money, but in
reason tiu-n every stone for discovering of
Cromwell's
own
as the only
and, finally, that besides being less expensive in
being whetted on by their
vants abroad,
of a joint stock required
list
at full liberty to choose their
mode which might be most
goods or shipping
"
them
it left
would destroy
that instead of restrict-
;
and to the payment of ready money
to be peremptorily closed,
of investment,
when
use
active competition, lower the price of
foreign commodities, to the great advantage of the public
ing adventurers to a set time
it
make
to
little
control over their ser-
the principal seat of their management.
While the subject of a joint stock or a regulated trade was thus keenly
decision.
agitated,
Cromwell at
maintained a
first
strict
neutrahty between the contend-
ing parties, granting authority to both to undertake voyages to India, and
conduct them on their
necessary
;
and
own
to obtain
state in a writing signed
October, 1656.
The
it,
principles.
An
authoritative decision, however,
was
the whole question was submitted to the comicil of
by
the Protector's
own
hand, and bearing date 20th
council refen-ed the matter to a select committee,
who were
what manner the East India trade might be best managed
for the public good and its own encouragement." On 18th December following,
the committee reported that, after taking means to obtain the fullest informadii'ected to report " in
—
Chap.
tion,
A NEW JOINT-STOCK COMPANY.
III.]
by
279
day
directing notices to be affixed to the Exchange, appointing a
persons concerned in the East India trade to attend, and fully considering
arguments urged orally or in ^vriting by both
come
any
to
parties,
positive determination, though their
Company and
of the
tlie
own
was that
private opinion
The
council having
the governor and committees
hearing on January 28, 1657, gave
full
Within a fortnight
all others."
his determination to act
was appointed
council
the
it
as their
"That the trade of East Indya be mannaged by a united
Protector,
joynt stock, exclusive of
announced
d. less.
the principal merchant adventurers to the East Indies to
attend them; and after a
advice to
summoned
all
.\
they had not ventured to
the trade ought to be conducted on an united joint stock.
the question thus returned upon them,
for all
Cromwell
thereafter,
on this advice; and a committee of the
to consider the terms of the charter to be granted to the
East India Company.
be presumed that the charter thus vu'tually promised was actually a
It is to
new
joint
stock coni*
granted
only evidence of
its
existence
is
it
has ever been discovered, and the
derived from a reference
made
to
from Fort
St.
George to the factory of Surat, in which
"
posted
letter
stated that a vessel
which arrived from England on the 12th of June in that
called the Blackmoore,
had
it is
in a
it
which the Company presented to Cromwell in 1658, and from a
petition
year,
no copy of
but, strange to say,
;
away with
all
haste after his highness the Lord Protector had
The Company were, of
signed the Company's charter."
course, greatly elated
with their success; and having again formed a coalition with the principal
members
of the merchant adventurers, succeeded in obtaining a subscription of
£786,000 to form a new joint
upon
it,
claims.
for
It
stock.
was
necessaiy, however, before acting
make an arrangement for the settlement of previously existing
Under the original agreement with Corn-ten's association, the trade had
to
some years been carried on by the funds of what was
The
Stock."
made up to the date of 1st September,
which the Company tlien occupied:
ACCOUNT-GENERAL OF THE UNITED JOINT STOCK,
of
tlio
mercliants remaining in India,
from 30th Nov.,
£"JOt56,
'2s.
8rf.
per
annum, to be paid
tlie like
4
esti-
mate,
Two
4,000
years' generall exjionces in Snratt,
.
Bantam, &c
Credit.
.
to
PoUaroone
1,051
5,000
Fort St. George, value, with all privileges of
saving of customs,
6,000
2,800
Customs of Gombroon
9,000
7,600
Salary of the merchants gone upon the Three
Brothers,
230
Gratuitys to the comniitteea, none liaving been
jiaid since this stock began,
Rests
156,317
...
1655.'
£82,053 12
Remaines in Suratt and subordinate factories, 32,829 5
At Madraspatnara and fiicturies on that coast, 22,671 11
At Bant.im and 8ulK)r(linates,
26,451 10
Voyage
from
....
30th Nov., 1654, to Nov., 1656,
Coast of Coromandell,
1655,
Ist Sept., 1655,
in India, £9,641 19
terms, per
on the Ist September,
Balance of estate in England, made up to the
Debii.
1650, to 30th Nov., 1C56, at
Mariners' wages, for
"United Joint
state of its affairs,
throws light on the position
Siil.irios
called the
.
—
£185, .5S9
Three lioiises in Agra, .MiniodatMul, and Lucknow, with the garden at Suratt,
Five hoitses at Bantam, Jajwirra, Macassar,
Jambee, attd Bangar-Masseen,
Ship Expedition
7
8
7
' This account is copied from Bruce's Annah
(i. 50T\ but
the two columns do not tally, as the credit side amounts to
—
1,932
3,600
600
Sea-horse,
250
Sloop Marline,
200
Pynnace Hope,
50
£l.S5,58 9
7
£1S6,58,S, 19«. Oii.
Tlie error, however, does not interfere
with the puri)ose for which the account is given.
i)anyfoi-iue.i
niSTOKY OF INDIA.
280
A.D
From
1C08.
this account,
1G58,
v.ii
nation of
when
new
the
amounted
joint stock
considerably reduced; but as
the terms on which,
to
what
called
is
sum
to the large
was formed,
much remained
this
as to
—That
make
and Persia should be made over
in bullion, prepared for the
new
stock
The
which lielonged
term.s,
apparently
in full right,
voyage of
],y
two
India
in
and the three ships and £14,000
this season, transferred at
prime cost of
that on the arrival of these ships at the Company's factfmfes,
;
6s.
it
and immunities
the goods, furniture, and stores were to be transferred to the
valuation of
necessary U> settle
it
"on the new stock paying £20,000,
instalments, to the imited stock, the forts, privileges,
In
7s. Sd.
balance must have Vjeen
dead stock was to be transfen-ed.
very favourable, were:
the
of £156,317,
not the whole, at least that portion of
if
II.
ap{)ears that at its date the balance of tiie credit
it
of the united joint stock
[Book
new
account, at the
new
6d. sterling per rial of eight; that the servants of the
stock
should assist those of the united stock in recovering their debts; and that the
united stock should be charged with the expenses of the settlements and trade
the arrival of the shipping of the
till
new
stock,
when
the agents of this stock
should take charge, and be entitled to receive the customs of Gomberoon after
Another arrangement of some importance was, that
the 1st October, 1658."
such persons as had served an apprenticeshij) to the members of the joint stock,
Company on paying
should be admitted freemen and members of the
a fine of
and that the persons who had been possessed of shares in the former trade,
and, on that account, had property in the Indies, were not to be deemed private
traders, but were required, after a specified time, to carry' the amount of such
£5
;
]iroperty to the account of the
Haviug amicably
Newar'^
Ibrolir"
and
stock.
settled these preliminaries,
make a new arrangement
presidencies
new
factories,
the
Company proceeded
of their establishments abroad.
In
and more
and trade in
especially the factories
were to be subordinate to the president and council of Surat
the presidency of Fort
a control over
all
St.
;
to
future, the other
at the
Persia,
same time,
George was not only to be maintained, but to have
the other factories on the Coromandel coast and in Bengal,
where the Company now had a principal factory at Hooghl}', together with
The insular factories
inferior agencies at Cossimbazar, Balasore, and Patna.
and agencies were
to be subordinate, as before, to the president
and council
The abuse of private trafiic by the Company's seiwants, which had
long been complained of, and had even, we have seen, been denounced in ro3-al
and tlie appropriate remedy was
proclamations, again attracted attention
of Bantam.
;
adopted by issuing an absolute prohibition of such
for the
withdrawal of
it
by
against the continuance of the abuse,
specified amounts, to
transmit certified
copies of
and compensating
increasing the salaries of the presidents
bers of council, and of the subordinate servants.
bonds to
trafiic,
keep
them
all officials
As an
and mem-
additional protection
were required to sign security
diaries of their proceedings,
to the coiu-t in England.
and annually
It
is
scarcely
CiiAi'.
REIGN OF SHAH JEHAN.
TV]
281
necessary to observe that these regulations for the suppression of private trade
proved unavailing
ad.
1627.
and that the abuse, instead of being suppressed, kept pace
;
with the progress, and, in not a few instances, seriously damaged the interests
and even brought a stigma on the character of the Company.
Scarcely had these arranorements
been completed
'
°
•^
when Cromwell was
called neathof
Cromwell.
,
This event, which took place in 1658, was attended with
to his final account.
so
many
important changes, that
all
great interests, commercial as well as
Having thus arrived at
what may be considered a new era in the history of the Company, it will be
proper, before continuing it, to bring up the history of the Mogul empire from
were more or
political,
less seriously affected
by
it.
the termination of the reign of Jehangu- in 1627.
CHAPTER
Reign of Sliah Jelian
lY.
— His deposition by Aurungzebe — Rise and progress of the ^lahrattas — Reign of
Aurungzebe.
EVERAL
years before the death of Jehangir, the succession to his
Competition
throne was keenly contested by different members of his family,
girs aucces-
Khosroo, the eldest son,
who had been the
favourite of his grand-
father Akber, failed in an attempt to seize the
SSS
hi.s
to
liic
died,
and was in consequence subjected during the remainder of
a rigorous imprisonment.
forward to the succession
when
for him,
crown when Akber
Parviz, the second son, naturally looked
and was confirmed
;
his father intrusted
in the belief that
it
was intended
him with the nominal command
Deccan, where a great contest for supremacy was waged between the
He
tans and Hindoos.
ultimately superseded
superior order,
in the
Mahome-
proved unequal to the task assigned him, and was
by
Khurram, whose
the third son,
were of a
abilities
and whose military fame had been established by a
successful
campaign in Mewar.
These alone would not have sufficed had he not also
enjoyed the favour of
Nur
Jehan,
who had
established a com])lete ascendency
Under
over her husband Jehangir, and virtually governed in his name.
influence Khurraui, invested with
which amounted
to a recognition of
Here the
Deccan.
ample
first
off allegiance to the
object
was
powei*s,
him
and bearing the
to recover those territories wliich
Vol.
I.
had throwTi
Mogul, and more especially the kingdom of Ahmednuggm-,
minister to the king.
it.
of king,
as heir api)arent, proceeded to the
which, owing to the gi'eat abilities of an Abyssinian,
subdue
title
this
Nizam Shah, had
Khurram was
again successful
named Mulhk Amber, prime
successfully resisted all attempts to
;
and, in return for his success,
86
was
282
A.D. 1628.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
made Viceroy
of Gujerat, in which capacity mention
journal of Sir
Thomas
Wliile Khurram's
Jeliaii's
intrigiieafor
Shehri it.
i.s
often
made
IT.
of liim in the
Roe.
way
the brink of a precipice.
Xur
[liOOK
to
tlie
Hi.s
throne wuh thas apparently
he Ktood on
clear,
brother Shehriar, the youngest son of Jehangir,
had become the son-in-law of Nur Jehan by marrying Shir Afgan, her daughter
by her first husband. In consequence of this affinity, Nur Jehan was bent on
securing the succession to Shehriar, and made no .secret of her intention.
She
had
little difficulty
mined not
from the great object of his ambition, rai.sed the
had married the daughter of Asof Khan, Nur Jehan's
He
and in him had
measures so
Deccan.
Khurram, deter-
to be excluded
standard of revolt.
brother,
in gaining the assent of Jehangir; but
skilfully,
a.
Nur Jehan
Khurram soon found himself a
that
Here he succeeded
Amber; but misfortune
powerful supporter; but
chose her
fugitive
the
in
in forming a league with his old opponent Mullik
attended him, and he was obliged to throw liimself
It would not have availed him
but a new revolt,
still
on his father's mercy.
;
produced by the imperiousness of
Nur
Jehan, drew off her thoufdits from the
vengeance which she was meditating, and he escaped.
In consequence of the
both Jehangir and his queen became for a time prisoners in the hands
of Mohabat Khan, a celebrated general, to whose military talents Khurram's
revolt,
previous discomfiture had mainly been owing.
Jehangir died shortly after
obtaining his liberty, leaving a will which appointed Shehriar his successor.
Jehan attempted
to give effect to
desti'oyed her influence
;
it,
Nur
but the death of her husband complete!}'
and though she survived
for
many
years, she
again
figured
public
riar,
never
life.
by
Sheh-
seizing the
roj-al treasure,
able
in
to
was
raise
armv and
fiofht
an
a
battle for the crown.
Khurram,however,
now
supported by
the leading parties
in the state, com-
defeated
pletely
him, and, with the
Gateway to thr Fort at Agra. —Oriental Drawing, East
India House.
usual
Accession of
of his race, put
him
to death, along
cruel
with two sons of another brother
pohcy
who had
Khurram,
iiTider
title
the
of
Sliah Jehan.
joined him.
All opposition
now
ceased
;
and Khui-ram, on
26th January, 1628, mounted the throne under the
Shah Jehan, overjoyed
title
at his accession after the
of
his arrival at Agra,
Shah Jehan.
many
misfortunes which
had befallen him, and which had made liim at one time despair of being able
EEIGN OF SHAH JEHAN.
Chap. IV.]
to secure
it,
making him
first testified
his vizier,
liis
and
to
283
gratitude to Asof Khan,
Khan by
Moliabat
by
father-in-law,
liis
a.d. i628.
appointing him his com-
mander-in-chief; and then began to indulge his natural taste for magnificence
by
In the latter of these he
works and splendid entertainments.
public
seemed determined
to outstrip all his predecessors
;
and on the
first
aimiversary
of his accession, not satisfied with the usual ceremony of distributing his
weight
most costly materials, caused
presents of the
in
waved round
jewels to be
means of averting
his
misfoi-tune,
vessels filled
own
with
head or pom'ed over his person as a .supposed
and scattered the contents among the bystanders.
In the valley of Ca.shmere, where the ceremony was performed, the value thus
expended was estimated at £1,600,000.
He was
Though
his
not allowed long to indulge in such lavish and ostentatious displays,
cruel policy
had extirpated
all
the
members
of his family
might have competed with him
for the
dominions the materials
were provided and ready to explode.
for revolt
crown, in several quarters of his
Usbeks, endeavouring to profit by the uncertainties of a
to Cabool and ravaged the surrounding country,
compelled them to
retire.
who
till
new
i^surrec-
various
'^"'*
'^"'
The
reign, laid siege
the approach of
Mohabat
In Bundelcund an insuiTection, headed by Nar.sing
Deo, the infamous murderer of Abulfazl, was not put
down without a
serious
was the great theatre of
war.
The conquest of it by Akber had never been firmly secured and even
after the Hindoos had been forced to yield, their place had been occupied by
Mahometan chiefs, who had established the three kingdoms of Ahmednuggur,
Bejapoor, and Golconda, which often refused to yield even a nominal supremacy
to the Mogul, and were always ready to embrace any opportunity which proBut, as in his father's reign, the Deccan
struggle.
;
mised to
by the
free
them
revolt of
entirely from the yoke.
Such an opportunity was
offered
an Afghan chief of the name of Khan Jehan Lody, who had
rendered important military services in the time of Jehangir; but, taking
umbrage at some proceedings
head of 2000 veteran
way
of
Shah Jehan, suddenly quitted Agra
troops, and, in the face of
numerous
obstacles,
at the
made
his
through Bundelcund and Gundwana to the court of Ahmednuggur, where
MuUik Amber.
The only chance which the Mahometan kings
he was welcomed by
of resisting the
uniting
aloof,
of the Deccan could have had
Mogul arms, would have been by forming a mutual league and
all their forces
against the
common
invader.
Instead of this they kept
under the influence of old jealousies and feuds, and allowed themselves
to be crushed in detail.
The King of Golconda appears
to have been
first
Nizam Shah. Kinsf of Ahmednufrirur.
so long as he was guided by the counsels of MuUik Amber, offered a strenuous
resistance but at last made choice of a new minister, who proved treacherous,
and made peace with the Mogul by botii nuudering the king and sacrificing
the independence of the kingdom.
The most valiant struggle was made by
intimidated, and volunteered tribute.
;
t).c kings
"
^
'^'
can ni.ide
tributanv
UISTORY OF INDIA.
281.
A.D. 1630.
Mahomed
who
Adil Shall,
[Book
J I.
Moliabat Khan, the ablest general
after obliging
of the Mogul, to raise the siege of Bejapoor, his capital, gained several other
decided advantages.
to
succumb
;
He
however, finding the contest uner^ual, was obliged
too,
and Shah Jehan, now acknowledged supreme over
metan kingdoms of the Deccan, returned
in
triumph to his
all
the Maho-
Luring
capital.
these campaigns the country suffered dreadfully from the ravages not merely
but of famine, which, caused by failures of rain during the two
of war,
successive years of 1629
calamities
Capture of
Portuguese
factory at
Hooghly.
which
it
and 1630, depopulated whole
During the campaigns
in the Deccan, di.sturbances
in other
;
place
and took refuge
own
sovereign, delivered
This important acquisition seems to
at Delhi.
Ruins of Old Delhi.
to
had broken out
They proved generally unimportant and the only event in connection with them deserving of notice, was a declaration of hostilities against the
Portuguese, whose fortified factory at Hooghly, in Bengal, was in consequence
attacked by the Mogul governor, and captured after a siege.
An event which
gave Shah Jehan more pleasure was the recovery of Kandahar from the
Persians, by the treachery of Ali Merdan Khan, the governor, who, dissatisfied
quarters.
up the
army
inflicted
took nearly half a century to repair.
with the treatment which he had received from his
Shah Jehan
sends an
and
districts,
— From Elliott's Views in the East.
have Stimulated the ambition of Shah Jehan, who immediately despatched an
t
i
i
i
•
i
army into Balkh and Budukslian, which were now
Mahomed, younger brother of Imam Kouli, whose
m
•
•
ride
of several yeais.
more
difficult
than had been anticipated
Shah Jehan despaired of
success.
;
-v^
rsazar
extended over
Moimt Imaus.
the territory beyond the Oxus, from the Caspian Sea to
enterprise proved
p
possession of
all
The
and, after a struggle
Not only
Ali
Merdan found
REIGN OF SHAH JEHAN.
Chap. IV.]
his efforts unavailing
;
but two of the emperor's sons, Murad and Aurungzebe, ad.
Even
sustained repeated discomfitm-es.
which
Nazar Mahomed
left
285
an arrangement had been made
after
in possession of
i648.
more than
his original territory,
Aurungzebe, attacked by the mountaineers of the Hindoo Koosh, made a most
disastrous retreat.
Shah Jehan, though much chagrined,
still
had some compensation
in the
siege of
Kaudalmr
Kandahar
acquisition of
1
head of a large army.
commence, made
it
was soon
this
the Persian monarch Shah Abbas
64:8
to
but even
;
made
II.
be wrested from him.
his appearance before
at the
almost impossible to march an army from India to
;
determined to attempt the recovery of
his batteries,
was obliged
was
by Saad
it
but, four
;
the siege.
to raise
A
had already
months
make a
He
fallen.
had opened
after he
second attempt, in which he
Dara Sheko, Shah
Ullah, the vizier, having also failed,
Jehan's eldest son, obtained permission to
its
and, after almost incredible
exertions, only arrived in time to learn that the place
assisted
it,
In
was about
chosen, for winter, which
The time was well
Aurungzebe, however, undertook the task
relief
to
His force was
third attack.
more numerous and better appointed than those which had previously been
employed, and he set out in
on both sides
;
as his brothers
full
confidence of success.
but, after several desperate assaults,
had been, and Kandahar was
left in
Great
efforts
were made
Dara Sheko was beaten
off,
the undisputed possession of
the Persians.
Shah Jehans warlike energy seemed now expended
two years
interfere
when
in tranquillity,
with the internal
more completely under
the Deccan, for the purpose of bringing
affairs of
his sway.
treaty which he
and he was
;
and he had passed
circumstances occurred which tempted him to
The Mogul government,
therefore,
He was
acquired great wealth
tis
had
entitled to expect that the conditions of the
had made would, on the part of that government
faithfully observed.
it
Abdallah Kutb Shah, King of Golconda, had
regularly paid the stipulated tribute.
no claim against him
;
be
also,
Mir Jumla, who had
soon taught the contrary.
a diamond merchant, and risen by his talents to be
Abdallah's prime minister, having lost favour through the misconduct of his
son,
Mahomed Amin,
in the Deccan,
entered into a correspondence with Aurungzebe, then
and lodged a formal complaint against
though tributary to the Moguls, was
internal
administration,
receiving a
Jumla
therefore both surprised
redress.
So
for
and offended on
to give
Mir
from complying, he sequestrated his property and placed
This was probably the very step which Shah Jehan wislied
him with a plausible pretext for further
were accordingly given to Aurungzebe to employ force,
to take, as it furnished
Ordei*s
still
wjis
perfectly independent in regard to his
mandate from Shall Jehan, haughtily ordering him
his son in prison.
him
and
still
Abdallah.
his master.
persisted in disobeying his mandate.
interference.
if
Acting at once on this
Aurungzebe. without any previous warning of
hostility,
Abdallah
autiiority,
set out ostensibly
on
Camixiigns
Deccan.
28G
AD.
1G57.
a
IlISTOKV OF INDIA.
visit to lieiigjil
and being Ijiought
;
[Book
in the course of his
II.
journey within a
short distance of Hyderabad, AljdaUah's capital, turned suddenly aside with a
body of troops and took
of the Doc-
possession of
with difficulty to the
surprise, escaped
Subjugation
of the kings
i'orcible
was under the
position dcsperate,
he
^
Aurungzebe chose
Golconda.
hill-fort of
Here, finding his
necessity
of submitting;
^
o to the tenris v/hich
Mir Jumla,
to dictate.
Abdaliah, taken completely by
it.
reward
in
was
for hLs treachery,
can.
taken into Aurungzebe's confidence, and became one of the main in.struments of
The subjugation of Golconda took
his ambitious designs.
place in 1656.
the same year Bejapoor was subjected to similar treatment.
had before
the
lost
Alimednuggui-
even the semblance of independence, and thus the authority of
Mogul seemed
as in
In
Mahometan portion
as firmly established in the
of the Deccan
any part of Hindoostan.
The conquests thus achieved gave great delight to Shah Jehan. Had he
known the use about to be made of them, his feelings would have been very
Aurungzebe, while professing the utmost
different.
steadily pursuing his
was eventually
struggle
shahjehan'3
Shall
own
to give
was
di.sinterestedness,
aggrandizement, and preparing for the struggle wliich
him the
throne, even before
now necessary to attend.
Jcliau, now far advanced in years, had
it
became vacant.
To
this
it is
four sons,
Dara Sheko, Shuja,
fciiuiiv.
They were
Aurungzebe, and Murad.
the period to which
forty-two, forty,
and
we now
refer,
all
of
full,
the respective ages of the
where he enjoyed the
capital,
in relieving
him from the
full
in Gvijerat.
advantage of the
cares, exercised the general
They were
political
all fired
powers of government.
seen, in the Deccan,
with ambition, and disposed to take
Dara was open and generous,
character.
but so impetuous and hasty as to set at nought the dictates of prudence
liberal, particularly in his religious opinions, as to
orthodox Mahometans.
resi-
changes which might be occasioned by their father s
much in temper and
death, but diflfered
three were
confidence of his father, and
Shuja ruled as viceroy in Bengal, Aurungzebe, as has been
and Murad
first
In 1657,
Dara, recognized as heir apparent, was
thirty-eight.
dent in the
or rather mature age.
Shuja possessed
talents,
;
and
so
be obnoxious to the more
but rendered them
\aseless
by
giving himself up to pleasure, and acquiring the habits of a confirmed diiinkard.
Am'ungzebe was a perfect adept
imposing on friends and
way
of his interest
deterred
success.
;
foes.
in dissimulation,
His
and was equally
principles, if he
and when he had an end
successful in
had any, never stood in the
to accomplish, he
was not
to be
by any amount of crime which might be necessary in order to insui-e
The only thing in which he could be said to be sincere was his religion,
in which he carried fanaticism to
its
worst extremes, and persecuted with
the zeal which distinguished the earliest propagators of Mahometanism.
all
Murad,
the youngest son, bore a considerable resemblance to Sluija in tastes and habits,
but was duller in
intellect, and, if possible, still grosser in his pleasures.
By
the mother of these sons Shah Jehan had also two daughters, wdio, witliin the
REIGN OF SHAH JEHAN.
Chap. IV.]
harem, exercised considerable
of the
recesses
Begum, the
eldei',
was her
fatlier's favourite,
287
Padshah
inlkience.
political
a.d. lesr.
herself to the utmost to
and exerted
Roushanara, the younger, though not possessed,
further the interests of Dara.
either in person or intellect, of the accomplishments of her sister, surj)assed her
and thus proved a powerful coadjutor
as a skilful intriguer,
whom
to Aurungzebe, to
she was strongly attached.
Such was the position of Shah Jehan's family in 1657, wlien he was seized
with a severe
be able to
illness,
make
destmed apparently to prove
fiT
ii'i*°
Dara, that he might
fatal.
Preparations
contest
the succes-
the necessary preparations to insure the succession, endeavoured
to stop all tlie avenues of
become acc^uainted with
communication through wliich
his father's state
but the
;
fact
his brothers
was
might
of too public
and
important a nature to admit of concealment, and a very short time elapsed
were made thoroughly acquainted with
before they
Immediately assuming
act.
tlie title
of king, he assembled a
began to march in the direction of the
the regal
Shuja was the
it.
capital.
first to
body of troops and
Murad, in like manner, assumed
but instead of quitting his province, endeavoiired to provide the
title,
sinews of war by seizing the district treasuries and laying siege to Surat, where
he expected to find a
tation,
and
them near
still
at first rested satisfied with collecting his forces
his
northern frontier.
Dara and Shuja engaged
now
laid
to the throne
them
For
was appointed,
of his days at Mecca.
and encamping with
satisfaction of seeing
which only wasted their strength.
He
to place his hostility to his eldest brother
himself, if he
aside,
less precipi-
with his usual dissimulation, endeavoured to
by pretending
disguise his real object
on religious grounds.
While here he had the
in hostilities,
at last declared against Dara, but,
he had
Aurungzebe acted with
richer deposit.
and was
had ever entertained ambitious thoughts,
desii'ous, as
soon as an orthodox successor
and spend the remainder
to retire from the world
Murad was stupid enough
be imposed upon by this
to
siiallow pretence,
and at once leagued his arms with those of Ain-ungzebe, in the
belief that, in the
event of their success, he was to be rewarded with the imperial
crown.
Dara was
tiius
exposed to two formidable attacks
—the one from Shuja,
advancing from Bengal, and the other from Aurungzebe and Murad, advancing
tered
him near Benares, and gave him a
his steps to Bengal.
Jeswant Sing.
Oojein, in
who
Against Shuja he sent his son Soliman Sheko,
from the Deccan.
Against his
defeat which compelled
otlier brothers lie
The encounter took
place on
tlie
him
encoun-
to retrace
sent the Rajpoot rajah
banks of the
Malwah, and ended in Jeswant's complete discomfiture.
Sipra, near
The gallantry
Murad had mainly decided the victory and Aurungzebe, not satisfied with
complimenting him upon it, hypocritically humbled him.self before him as in
token of the homage which he felt due to his future sovereign.
of
;
While
his sons
were thus warring with each other
for the succes.sion to the Aurungzebe
crown. Shah Jehan himself, contrary to expectation, liad nearly recovered his
usual health.
Dai'a at once resigned his power.
A
very difierent spirit ani-
vktorious.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
288
mated
A.D. 1658.
tlie otlior hrotliers, wlio,
They
refused.
iuid,
wlien ordered to lay
in fact, advanced too far to
mand
to Dara,
who
tlieir
recede,
but allowed himself to be dissuaded, and
arms, positively
and nothing now
left
the supreme cfmi-
soon saw himself at the head of an arniy which seemed
He
sufficient to crush all his enemies.
by waiting
down
II.
Shall Jehan wfis disposed to take the
remained but a further appeal to arms.
field in person,
[B^jok
for the arrival of
miglit liave added greatly to its strength
a large reinforcement, which his son Soliman was
bringing from Benares; but his natural impetuosity urged him forward, and,
contrary to the better advice of Shah Jehan, he risked an engagement,
all
was
The
lost.
battle
was fought
beginning of June, 1658.
both sides
Many
at Samaghar, one
which
march from Agra,
in the
individual acts of heroism were performed on
and victory hung suspended
;
Vjy
till
sequence of his elephant having become
soldiers that a general panic ensued.
the disappearance of Dara, in con-
unmanageable, so discouraged his
In the evening, when he reached Agi'a
army had perished
or been dispersed. Three days after, Aurungzebe and Murad made their appearance, and took immediate possession of the capital.
Dara was not in it, for,
in his flight, he could only muster 2000 men, all the rest of his
oppressed with grief and shame, he had hastily quitted for Delhi, but Shah
Jehan was
still
in his palace.
Aiu'ungzebe's coursc was already determined, but policy did not allow him
Annmgzebe
all at
his father,
oucc to tlirow off the mask, and he spent some days in sending humble
messages to his father, justifying his proceedings on the plea of necessity, and
endeavouring to obtain the sanction of them.
his father in
tions,
object, probably,
nominal possession of the throne, while he retained
of government in his
over.
His
own
hand.
Shah Jehan, however, was not
was
all
to leave
the powers
to be thus
won
Dara's misfortunes only gave him a stronger hold than ever on his affec-
and he refused to concur in any proposal
for disinheriting him.
Auinmg-
made aware that he could only possess the crovra as an usiu^er, did
not hesitate to make his father a prisoner and assiune the reins of government.
Murad, who had been dreaming; of the crown, soon found that he was onlv his
brother's dupe.
As soon as Aurungzebe had no further use for him, he invited
him to supper and, after feasting him till he was in a state of helpless intoxication, stripped him of his arms and placed him in confinement.
Shah Jehan was allowed to remain in his palace, where he continued to live
for SBvcu ycars.
Much outward respect was shovm him, but a strict watch was
kept on his movements, and he was entirely excluded from all share in the
government. The energy and talent which he had displayed dming the gi*eater
part of his reign appear to have entirely forsaken him, and he made no effoi-t
to regain his freedom.
It is remarkable that no attempt at rescue was made
zebe, thus
;
Character
jeiian's
'^*'^"
from without.
,
His reign had been long and prosperous, and his subjects had
enjoyed a degree of happiness to which they had previously been strangers.
His wars, carried on
for the
most
])art
on the outskirts of his dominions, had
REIGN OF SHAH JEHAN.
Chap. IV.]
brought few calamities on his
own
had been singularly moderate and
subjects, while his internal administration
equitable.
It
such a reign would terminate peacefully, or at
allowed to extinguish
and
it
by
lea.st
that no usurper would be
The
in every quarter.
fact
now ready
to submit to
any yoke
was otherwise,
indifferent to a
whicii
might be
In the interval between his dethronement and his death.
imposed on them.
Shah Jehan was almost
His
forgotten.
him, and prove him to have been,
who
ever held rule in India.
if
})ublic
not the
At times
works, however,
wi.sest,
still
speak for
the most magniticent prince
his expenditure
was not only
lavish but
childi.sh, fis in
the instance of the celebrated peacock throne, in the con.stniction
of which he
said to have spent above £6,000,000 sterling, chiefly in
is
and precious
better
displayed
the
in
Delhi,
and
the
new
noble
with wliich
structures
adorned
city
was
which he built at
city
he
diamonds
A
stones.
.splendour
both that
and Agra.
In the
latter stands conspicuous
above
all
Mahal,
the
of
his
queen Mumtaz
Mahal,
situated in the
the
Taje
mausoleum
midst of extensive gardens,
on a terrace over-
hanging the Jumna, and
composed
of
a
lofty
marble structure, richly
decorated with mosaicf?,
and so chaste
in desigjn,
and imposing
in effect,
as not to be surpassed
in these respects
Interior of Taje
Mahal at Agra.'— Oriental
Drawing, East India House.
by any
edifice in the world.
Notwithstanding his lavish expenditure, the revenues,
"The light to the central apartment is admitted
only through double screens of white marble trelliswork, of the most exquisite design; one on the outer,
otherwise would have been intolerable. A s it is, no
words can express the chastened beauty uf that central
and one on the inner face of the walls. In our climate
this would produce nearly complete darkness; but in
India, and in a building wholly composed of white
marble, this was required to temper the glare that
that reaches
'
Vol.
I.
iocs.
might have been sui)posed that
and may be regarded as a proof that the people had become
change of masters, and were
ad.
violence, without exciting universal indignation,
up hosts of adversaries
stirring
289
chamber seen
gloom of the subdued liglit
through the distant and half-closed
openings that surround it."— Fergu.sson's Hand-Book
" Tavernier saw this building begun
of Architecture.
and finished, and tells us it occupied 20,000 men for
in the soft
it
87
shahjehani
works,
290
AD.
i65».
llISTOItV
without being
oppre.s,sive,
OF INDIA.
[Book
were so ably and economically managed during
II.
SI. ah
Jehan's reign, that in addition to vast accumulations of plate and jewellery,
he
left
I
about
to the value of
twenty
millioas
sterling in coiiL
Aurungzebe was no
sooner
throne than
he
make
voured to
by
ceeded
Adventures
the Taje Mahal.' — Oriental Drawing,
army with
raising an
the
money obtained
E.
I.
Hou^e.
endea-
it
secure
Dara, after a short
halt at Delhi,
in
tlie
cni.shing his competi-
tors.
Tomb of Shah Jehan
on
seated
to
had proand
Lahore,
was busily employed
there from the royal treasury,
in
when
of Diira.
he leai-ned that Aurungzebe was already at his
Lahore at the head of 4000 men, and made
to encounter him, he quitted
way
Scinde by
of Mooltan.
Conscious of his inability
heels.
He was
for
saved from pursuit by the advance of his
brother Shuja from Bengal, at the head of a force so formidable that Aurungzebe
thought his presence was immediately required.
Dellai,
and, having
made the
these
accordingly returned to
necessary preparations, marched south-east past
The armies met
Etawah, in the direction of Allahabad.
midway between
He
at Cajwah, about
Shuja held a strong position which he was not
cities.
disposed to quit, and several days elapsed before the decisive struggle took
place.
It
was commenced by Shuja, who, advancing
at siinrise
on the 6th
The
of January, 1659, proceeded amidst a furious cannonade to close action.
was manfully maintained till Aiirimgzebe, who had repeatedly been
imminent danger, succeeded in forcing the enemy's centre. Shuja was in
contest
in
conse(i[uence completely defeated,
elephants.
Closely pursued
Jumla, he continued his
His
with the
by Mahomed
flight,
loss of 1
1
-t
cannon and a niunber of
Sultan, Aurungzebe's son,
and never halted
till
he reached Bengal.
Dara meanwhile had arrived in Scinde, where he found
cii.sasters
and Mir
his
ranks so
much
an<l tragical
fate
thinned by desertion, that, to escape capture by a detachment which had been
following on his track, he had crossed the desert to Cutch.
here he
entered Gujerat, and
by the
influence of
After a short stay
Shah Nawaz Khan,
its
governor, had become master of the whole province, including the important
towns of Surat and Baroach.
His prospects thus brightening, he opened a
communication with the princes of the Deccan, and
twenty-two years.
Tlie
ings that appertain to
mausoleum and
it
all
the build-
cost 3,17,48026 (three crore,
seventeen lacks, forty-eight thousand and twenty-si.x
rupees, or £3,174,802 sterling."
and
Recollections hy
an Indian
— Sleenian's Rambles
Official.
also
with Jeswant Sing,
'
On the queen's tombstone are passages from the
Koran, amidst -wreaths of flowers; on her husband's,
onlj- his name and date of death, and mosaic of flowers.
The tombs are witliiu a screen of trellis-work of white
marble, a chef-d'oeuvre of elegance in Indian art.
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
Chap. IV.]
291
In the hitter he lioped to find an important coadjutor, ad.
the Rajah of Joodpoor.
but wa.s di.sappointed, as the rajah, alter Lalancing interests, was satisfied
lie
Dara, now at the
would gain more by giving
o
o
o his adhesion to Aurungzebe.
head of an army of 20,000 men, advanced into Ajmeer, and took uj) a com./
manding
He had
position.
not occupied
long before Aurungzebe
it
After a cannonade of three days a general assault took
appearance.
made
ics'j.
OarasdiBHstere aiid
tnigkai
his
and
])lace,
Dara saw himself once more defeated and compelled to become a fugitive. A
week of incessant toil and hardship brought him to the neighbourhood of
Ahmedabad
;
but
was
it
to
meet a
bitter disap[)ointment, for the gates
His only resource was a new
shut against him.
to pursue his
march
ruler,
Kandahar.
to
tory of Jun, on the east frontiers
who
Cutch, where he
flight to
His altered circiunstances produced
arrived with a mere handful of adherents.
a corresponding change in the
were
received
him
so coldly that he resolved
The route brought him to the small terriThe chief, who was under great
of Scinde.
him with much ap])arent kindness, but immegross treachery, and accomplished it by delivering
obligations to Dara, received
an act of
diately meditated
him up
to his enemies.
celebrated
it
by
Aurungzebe was
so delighted with the
news that he
Both Dara and a son Sepehr, who might
])ublic rejoicings.
have proved etpially dangerous, were his prisoners.
The son was
confined in the strong castle of Gwalior
was reserved
The form of a
barbarous treatment.
trial
;
the father
was given him
;
foi'thwith
for
more
but the charge was
not for any offence against the state, but for apostasy from Mahomet{\nism.
Absurd and monstrous
a court which held
show
liypocritical
it
as the charge was,
no
difficulty
was found
in constituting
proven, and pronounced sentence of death.
of reluctance,
After
a
Am'ungzebe confirmed the iniquitous sentence,
and Dara was executed.
During these transactions the war with Shuja was vigorouslv
prosecuted by
"
iVlir
Jumla,
who drove lum from
iT«»
the different
strong positions in which he had
posted himself, and com]ielled him, after a series of struggles, to seek an asylum
in
The
Aiacan.
One account
is
particulars of his subsequent history are not well
known.
that the ruler of the country, doubtless at the instigation of
Aurungzebe, was preparing to detain him as a prisoner, and that Shuja, made
aware of
this
his danger,
account
is
true,
endeavoured to avert
it
he probably
in
])erishe(l
by heading an
Aracan government; but the only thing certain
member
insuiTCction.
I
the attempt to overthrow the
i.s,
that neither Shuja nor any
was afterwards heard of
The only immediate descendants
of Shah Jehan who could now give Aurungzebe any alarm were Murad and liis
son, and Soliman Slieko and Sepehr Sheko, the two sons of Dara.
They were
of his family
already within his power, being
]>ut
to death for a
of Gujerat.
tleclared to
k
The
all
murder alleged
Murad was
him when Viceroy
prisoners in the fort of Gwalior.
to
have been committed
others quickly disappeared
b^-
by deaths which Aurungzebe
be natural, but which were universally believed to have been violent.
si'"j'>8
ineftectual
stmggie.
292
A.D.
—
JIISTOKY OF INDIA
The
supremacy was now firmly established
Auniii^'zelje'.s
In the Deccan, on the contrary, a
(loostan.
[Book
every part
in
new power had
about to commence, was destined not to tenninate
struggle,
Mahrattas
Mogul empire
in ruins.
tract of the Deccan,
A
had
till it
liin-
of"
aj^peared
II.
and a
;
laid the
race of native Hindoo.s, called Mahrattas, occujjied a
bounded on the noith by the mountain range which forms
Nerbudda and the Taptee, by the sea
and in other directioiLS by a line drawn
the water-shed between the basins of the
on the west, by the Wurda on the
obliquely from the vicinity of
east,
Goa through Beder
of the Concan,
Tlieir
this
narrow i-ugged
strip
known by
the
name
but sloping gradually towards the interior, so as to form a
This country, studded over with natural fortresses, and
table land.
lofty
Within
Chandah.
Western Ghauts, descending
tract the great physical feature is the range of the
precipitously to the sea through the
to
rendered almost inaccessible by forests and mountain.s, was admirably adapted
country.
Such the Mahrattas were, and had
abode of a nation of marauders.
to be the
been from time immemorial.
Strong, active,
and
daring, full of craft
of honour, they were ever on the alert to pursue their
own
and void
interest,
while
utterly regardless of the means.
Descending suddenly into the plains they
spread devastation on every
and before they could be overtaken were
side,
The
hastening back laden with booty to their mountain fastnesses.
name was thus widely
their
spread
;
and many of
teiTor of
their neighbours piirchased
The
exemption from their ravages by annual payments.
three
sovereigns of Alimednuggur, Bejapoor, and Golconda, being
by
Mahometan
their position
brought into frequent communication with the Mahrattas, naturally endea-
voured to turn their military qualities to good account by employing them as
In
soldiers.
offices
way not a few of them acquired distinction, and rose to
MuUik Amber, the celebrated prime minister and -s-irtual sove-
this
of trust.
reign of Ahmednuggur, in particular,
so well satisfied
made
great use of their
with them that not a few of his most distinguished
One
were Mahrattas.
of these, called
Jadu Rao, had attained
to a
named Malojee
only a few mounted retainers,
The
command
he brought into the
another Mahratta,
Bosla.
field
could not have been a person of
;
officers
Subordinate to him, and under his immediate protection, was
of 10,000 men.
sequence
and was
ser\'ices,
latter, as
much
but he was one of those bold and dexterous adventurers on
con-
whom
no opportunity of advancing his fortune was ever tlirown away.
Malojee, accompanied
attending a great Hindoo
giving
years
His
marriage
"
way
old,
What
his son Shahjee,
festival,
when Jadu,
a boy of five years of age, was
at
to the hilarity of the occasion, took
and placing her and Shahjee on
a fine couple
words passed
his lips
that Jadu's daughter
descent,
by
!
They ought
to be
whose house
up
it
was
his daughter, a
celebrated,
gii'l
of tliree
his knees, laughingly exclaimed,
man and
wife
!
"
No
sooner had the
than Malojee started up, and took the company to witness
was
affianced to his son.
was indignant that one
whom
Jadu,
who
boasted of a Rajpoot
he probably regarded as a mere under-
THE MAHRATTAS.
Chap. IV.]
293
ling should thus presume to place himself on a footing of equality with him,
and attempt
to
a
d. icsr
take advantage of a jocular expression for the purpose of
A quan-el
claiming affiance with his family.
ensued
;
but Malojee continued to
had been made, and ultimately made good
insist that the affiance
his point
by
obtaining advancement which placed him on an equality with Jadu, and thus
obviated the main objection to the marriage.
Shahjee, thus become the son-in-
law of Jadu, took a prominent part in the war which extinguished the indepen-
Mahometan kingdom
dence, or ratlier closed the existence of the
Ahmed-
of
Though on this occasion he belonged not to the winning but the losing
party, he managed so well for him.self as to become master of all tlie western
portion of that kingdom between its capital and the sea.
Nominally this teiritory now belonged to the King of Bejapoor, to whose share it fell when the
nuggur.
Moguls made a partition of the kingdom of Ahmednuggur.
was now in the King of Bejapoor's
service
to the south, greatly distinguished himself
of Mysore.
within
By
He was
its limits
and being sent on an expedition
;
by making conquests
in the territory
rewarded for this service with a large jaghire, including
the important towns of Sera
his marriage
Shahjee, therefore,
and Bangalore.
with Jadu's daughter, Shahjee had several
sons.
The
eldest
Sevajee.
accompanied him to Mysore, and died there; the second, born in May, 1627,
and named Sevajee, had been
left at
Poonah with a Brahmin, Dadajee Condu,
who, during Shahjee's absence, managed his Bejapoor jaghire.
which young Sevajee here received determined
at once a zealous Hindoo,
associates
his futui'e character.
and an expert and
were the horsemen retained in
his father's service,
Under
of being in league with
ents,
and perceived how
carelessly
parties.
or the
and was suspected
Having acquired a body
some of the
hill-forts
of adher-
belonging to Bejapoor
were guarded, he made himself master of one of considerable strength,
Torna, situated
among
moun-
the influence of such
off the authority of Dadajee,
marauding
He became
His principal
fearless warrior.
taineers inhabitinjj the neighbourinfj Ghauts.
companionship he soon shook
The training
the Ghauts, twenty miles south-west of Poonah.
called
It liad
previously been under the charge of the revenue officer of the district; and
when the government of Bejapoor complained, he succeeded by artifice and
money in obtaining a confirmation of his seizure. Shortly after, when, by the
erection of a new place of strength in the vicinity, a new alarm liad been excited, the government made their complaint to Shahjee, who immediately ordered his son to desist from encroachment.
Instead of complying, he threw off
and not only with-
the paternal authority, as he liad done that of his guardian,
held the revenue
witliin
now
it.
felt
of his father's jaghire, but seized upon
two
forts situated
Hitherto he had feigned submission to the King of Bejapoor, but he
strong enough to throw
oflf
the mask.
was the plunder of a convoy of royal treasure
His
fii-st
act of open hostility He
in the Concan.
Feeling himself
thus committed, he continued his aggi-essions, and ere long was in possession of
'*
conquere
°"'^"
294
A.D
1055.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
[Book XL
New
successes attended his arms,
five of the principal hill-forts in the Ghauts.
and the whole of the Nortliern Concan
The King
Other con-
fell
into
hi.s
hands.
of Bejapoor naturally suspected that Sevajee's conduct
was con-
quests of
Sevajee.
nived at by his father, and therefore endeavoured to strike at the root of the
by making Sliahjee prisoner. He asserted his innocence, but was notwithstanding thrown into a dungeon, and told that if his son did not submit witiiin
This threat, savage as it was,
a certain time, the entrance would be built up.
evil
would probably have been executed, had not Sevajee, who had hitherto kept on
friendly terms with
Shah Jehan, obtained
his interposition in his fatlier s behalf
Havinf; no lonj^er
any
fears
for
his
father, Sevajee
gave
scope
full
ambition
;
to
his
and not
being restrained by
any
scruples
honour and
of
justice,
procured theas.sassination of a Hindoo
and
rajah
upon
seized
his ten-itoiy,
which comprehended the whole of the
hilly country south
of
Sevajee on Horseback.
Poonah from the
Ghauts to the Up-
— Laugles,
Monumens
Aiiciens et
Modemt-s de I'Hindoustan.
per Kistna.
Aiirungzebe
arrives '°
tiie
Deccan.
he was thus extending
^
,
1655.
the
.
This cvcut,
first
authority,
liis
wliicli
Aurungzebe arrived in the Deccan
^
.
.
might have seemed
.
fatal to Sevajee s projects,
was
in
made subservient to them, as he had previously been
a commander of 5000 horse in the Mog\il service and on pre;
senting a submissive address to Aurungzebe was confirmed in
yet,
in
.
,
instance rather
recognized as
As
While
all his acquisitions.
however, he was by no means satisfied; and on seeing Aurungzebe
occupied in carrying on war with the King of Golconda, could not resist the
opportunity of tm-ning his absence to account.
he made an im'oad on the Mogul
expectations
ful
;
campaign,
territories.
For the
His success
and when Aurungzebe suddenly returned
it
required
weight of his vengeance.
all
first
time, therefore,
fell far
short of his
after a rapid
and
success-
Sevajee's address to save himself from the full
Very opportunely
for him.
Shah Jehan was
seized with
the sudden illness already mentioned, and Aurungzebe hastened off to prosecute
his
own ambitious
his attacks
schemes.
Sevajee thus relieved from apprehension, renewed
on Bejapoor, the throne of which was
now
occupied by a minor.
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
Chap. IV.]
295
The Regent of Bejapoor, fully alive to the extent of the danger, raised a large
army, and gave the command of it to a Mahometan noble of the name of Afzul
Tlie selection was unwise, for Afzul Khan, full of Mussulman pride,
Kiian.
despised his enemy, and considered him.self sure of victory.
Sevajee, well aware
of the kind of opponent he had to deal with, took his measures accordingly,
a.d.
106-2.
sevajee
the Kenorai
"f Hejui„"or.
Pretending to be overawed by the very terror of his name, he sent a messenger
to say that he
had given up
idea of resistance, and
all
was only anxious
After some preliminaries,
to
was agreed that
Sevajee meanwhile showed great alarm
a personal interview should take place.
lest some undue advantage should be taken of him, and as the most effectual
arrange the terms of submission.
means of dissipating
spot with only a single attendant.
air,
Khan
his fears, induced Afzul
dressed in a cotton tunic.
to
it
meet him at a secluded
Sevajee advanced with a timid, hesitating
He was
apparently unarmed, but wore beneath
the tunic a coat of mail, together with a dagger concealed in
within his clenched
sharp hooks of
Khan,
Afzul
seized
steel,
known
thrown
humbly
Sevajee
com-
•^
,>^ \^
^^y^^'^i^^^^
"^
,^^^
which had shared in
stab-
'
W AONUCK,
„
OR TlOER 3
.
by Mahrattas lying
by the sword or sought safety in
by the name of "tiger's claws."
pletely
in
his
guard while
was
in a
off*
forgiveness,
*"*""
his over-
all sides
while
attached to his fingers, were
.,,
implored
by the claws and
time attacked on
and
fist,
its sleeve,
bed to the
heart.
confidence,
was
moment
His army,
•'
at the
ambuscade, and either perished
This atrocity was perpetrated in
flight.
same
1
659,
Shah Jehan had been dethroned; and owing to the condition
both of the Mogul empire, where a civil war of succession was raging, and of
the year after
kingdom of Bejapoor, which was threatened with dissolution from external
violence and internal dissension, was allowed to escape with impunity.
In
1662, when peace was concluded, Sevajee remained in possession of territory
the
stretching 250 miles along the coast between
tlie
Goa and Bombay,
whole of the Concan between these points, and
miles above the Ghauts, from
Within
tliis
territory,
of the surface, he
Aurungzebe
Deccan on
Poonah
also
so as to include
extending about 150
Meeruj near the banks of the Kistna.
to
notwithstanding the ruggedness and general
was able
to maintain an
army
after dethroning his father
his maternal uncle Shaista
residence at Aurungabad.
of 7000 horse and 50,000 foot.
had confen-ed the
Khan, who arrived
Hostilities
infertility
Shaista
Khan
in 1662.
and fixed
his
had commenced between the Mogids and
in consequence ]nit his forces in motion, and, dri\ing
the Mahrattas before him, gained possession of Poonah.
Sevajee had retired to
the hill-fort of Sin<xurh, about twelve miles to the south, and there lav watchinji
This weapon is said by Sir R. Meyrick to have
been invented by Sevajee. The instrument is concealed in the hand, the first and fourth fingers being
'
%
passed through the rings at the ends.
represented in our engraving is iu the
East India Company.
.M..guia .-md
Mahrattas.
viceroj'alty of the
Mahrattas, and Sevajee had carried his ravages into the very heart of the Mogul
province.
iiaituitie*
The specimen
museum
of the
;
296
AD.
1664.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
Being informed by spies of
his opportunity.
Khan had
learned that Shaista
jee's early
all
[Book
enemy's movements, he
hi.s
takf;n uj) his quarters in the house
days had been spent.
II.
Well aware of the Mahrattas'
where Sevathe Mogul
craft,
commander had taken every precaution against surj^rise and wa« living in su{'posed security, when a band of armed men, with Sevajee at their head, ru.shed
into his bed-chamber.
He escaped by leaping from a window, but not before
he had lost two of his fingers by a blow from a sword. The Mahratta part}had gained admission into the town by joining a marriage procession, and had
;
Shaista
Khan
sur
prised.
afterwards availed themselves of their thorough knowledge of the locality to
penetrate into the house
his attendants,
were cut
by a back
entrance.
to pieces
and
;
Shaista Khan's son, and mo.st of
any
in the confusion, before
steps could
be taken, Sevajee was again hastening back in triumph to his mountain
Though the
ness.
exploit failed in its
of important results.
mam
oVject, it
was
fast-
indirectly the cau.se
Shaista Khan, unwilling to admit that he had been com-
pletely outwitted, threw the blame on the rajah, Jeswant Sing; not he.sitating to
accuse
him
a strong reinforcement.
Mogul army were
Shaista
Khan
to the
was favourable
was now
crippled that
who
to Sevajee,
Aurungzebe interposed
Moazzim, assisted by the
did not
fail
to turn
and was not heard of before he made
It possessed
Dutch
oflf
Not long
it
after this
The change
rajah.
to account.
After an
Amungabad
at the head of 4000 horse,
his appearance at Surat, in the beginning
no means of defence, and, with the exception of
which
factories,
effectually resisted the attacks
upon them, was plundered without opposition diuing
Sevajee
and, removing
Having, by a number of feigned move-
ments, deceived the enemy, he suddenly darted
the English and
;
on Singurh, the Mogul araiy had returned to
Sevajee's turn to retaliate.
of January, 166-i.
him with
government of Bengal, devolved the command of the
his son. Prince
ineffectual attempt
assist
In the quarrel which ensued, the operations of the
much
so
Mahratta war on
It
had only recently arrived to
of treachery, though he
achievement Sevajee
made
six days.
lost his father, Shahjee,
who, at a
acquires
a
fleet.
very advanced age, was killed by a
siderable addition to his territories
coin
money
in his
own name.
;
He
fall in
hunting.
He
thus acquired a con-
and, assuming the title of rajah, began to
also
turned his attention to naval
affairs
manned with 4000 men, took
many Mogul ships, made descents upon the coast, and carried off much plunder
from the ports and maritime tracts belonging to the King of Bejapoor. AU
The rajah, Jei
these aggressions could not be permitted to pass unavenged.
Sing, who enjoyed as much of the confidence of Am-ungzebe as that emperor's
suspicious temper allowed him to give to any one, arrived in the Deccan at the
head of a large army. Sevajee made little resistance in the open field, and,
though his forts of Singurh and Poorundliur when besieged made an effectual
and collecting a
resistance,
became
fleet of
so
eighty-seven vessels,
desponding of success
terms, he at once offered to
make
that,
on being assured of favourable
his submission.
It is difficult to penetrate
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
Chap. IV.]
his motives, l)ut his
conduct on
which he had been accustomed
Jei
much from
occasion certainly differs
which were
offered.
Of
rajah's
camp,
profes.sions of fidelity, readily accepted the
terms
all
the territory depending on
his other possessions
all
Mogul emperor.
a.d. i6M.
thirty-two forts which he possessed, he unconditionally
surrendered twenty, with
twelve and
that
Without any better security than
to pursue.
Sings promise, he arrived with only a few attendants in the
and then making- the humblest
the
tliis
297
In return for
them
the remaining
;
sevajee
he was contented to hold as a jaghire from
»ubmis«ion
more
^i^"""'*^
all
these sacrifices, he received nothing
than the rank of a commander of 5000
men
in the
Mogul
service, for his son,
Sambajee, a boy of five years of age, and a kind of percentage on the revenues
of
its
The
of Bejapoor.
tiie different districts
latter grant
indefiniteness, as it afterwards furnished the
making many unfounded
On
claims.
was valuable only
for
Mahrattas with a pretext for
the com])letion of this arrangement, Sevajee
army with 2000 horse and 8000 infantry, in an invasion of
Bejapoor.
The deference paid to him by Jei Sing, and two letters from Aurungzebe complimenting him on his services, made such an impression upon him, that
he set out with his son Sambajee on a visit to Delhi. His reception was mortifying in the extreme.
On approaching the capital, he was met only by an oflScer
joined the Mogul
of inferior rank,
place
and on entering the
among commanders
presence,
zebe intended by this treatment
Mahratta
burned
spirit
was thus
is
fell
to be tamed, he
lulled suspicion
He had
by asking
lumoticed to take his
feelings of
If he thought that the
was greatly mistaken.
it,
began with
all his
Sevajee only
usual craft to
brought an escort of 500 horse and 1000
leave to send
He
shame
What Aurung-
do^vn in a swoon.
not very obvious.
for revenge, and, preparatory to
plan an escape.
left
Overpowered by
of the third rank.
and indignation, he slunk behind, and
was
visits Delhi,
foot,
and
them home, on the ground that the
by gaining
over some of the Hindoo physicians who attended him, found means of comclimate did not agree with them.
next feigned sickness
and provisions
and,
Meanwhile he was constantlv making
municating with his friends without.
presents of sweetmeats
;
to fakirs
and other
devotees.
These were
conveyed in large baskets and hampers, which passed so frequently, that the
guards set over him ceased to inspect them.
easy.
One evening Sevajee was
is mortified
recei.tion
''''
gj",,,^'
Escape thus became comparatively
carried out in one of these hampers,
and
his
son in another, and as he had taken the precaution to leave a servant in his bed
him, some time elap.sed before the escape was discovered.
to counterfeit
strict search
was made
pass to his
own country were
in every quarter,
and
carefully
months of surprising adventures, he made
in the disguise of a
It
was not
Mogiils;
and
Hindoo
Deccan, he once more
Vol.
I.
the avenues
watched
;
by
whicli ho
might
but at length, after nine
his a]ipearance
among
his
own
people
religious mendicant.
Sevajee's policy to
therefore,
all
A
come at once
to a final nipture ^vith
the ue makes
availing himself of a change of commandei"s in the
made
his j^eace
through the mediation of Jeswant Sing,
38
siuons
HISTORY OF INDIA.
298
A.D. 1672.
obtained a formal recognition of
covery of a large portion of
He was
hire in Berar.
title
liis
of
[Book
rajali,
and, in addition U) the re-
new
old territory', obtained the grant of a
liis
II.
jag-
thas at liberty to turn his arms against Bejapoor and
Golconda, both of which, unwilling to risk a contest, submitted to the humilia-
An
tion of paying tribute.
it
to
interval of tranquillity followed,
good account, by introducing
izing,
with much
and
skill
many
success,
important internal
and Sevajee turned
and organ-
reform.s,
a regular form both of military and
civil
government.
Gameofcraft
between
Auruiigzebe
evajee.
The new arrangement made between Sevajee and the Moguls was not sinccrc ou either side.
Aurangzebe only pretended friendship that he might once
^^^^^ obtain possessiou of Sevajee's person, and thus save the necessity of the
war which must be carried on, in order to subdue him by force of
arms.
A game of craft was accordingly played for some time, but so little to
Aurungzebe's advantage, that he at last threw off the mask and declared open
protracted
Sevajee, so far from declining the contest, took the first active step
hostilities.
by attacking and re-capturing
with the
again plimdering
deish,
annexed
territories
where he
were
to them,
also recovered
he retired along the
Sxirat,
Other
his hill -fort of Singvu-h.
bank
left
and, in
;
and which amoxmted
for
to
no
1
670, after
of the Taptee into Can-
set the example, for the first time, of levying chout
permanent black-mail,
together
forts,
—a kind of
which the Mahrattas afterwards became notorious,
less
than one-fourth of the annual revenue.
and odious as the exaction was, many
which
in return for the exemption
it
districts readily
Hea\'y
submitted to pay
it,
gave them from the other forms of Mah-
ratta plunder.
Sevajec's rapid successes were greatly favoured
sevajees
by Aurungzebe's
suspicious
success.
temper and persecuting bigotry.
own
he had treated his
father,
command, without sharing
neutralize
on
it
Ever afraid that
might
treat liim as
he never intrusted them with any important
with some other
any treasonable attempts.
this principle,
his sons
oflicer
who might
be able to
His war in the Deccan was carried on
and hence Prince Moazzim was not only crippled in
his
move-
ments, but obliged to divide his forces so as to expose them to the danger of
being beaten in
cious spirit, left
Mohabat Khan
In 1671, Aurungzebe, under the influence of this suspi-
detail.
Moazzim without
reinforcements, but at the same time sent
to act independent of him, with
circumstanced, neither
commander was
an army of 40,000 men.
able to cope with the
enemy
;
Thus
and, after
a few unimportant operations, the rainy season coming on. obliged both to
retire into
quarters.
When
the season for resuming operations commenced,
Mohabat Khan, whUe eagerly prosecuting a
to the attack of a large
Firfit
tiie
^eat
Mah-
rattos.
army which Sevajee had
In this
queucc, Completely defeated.
Mahrattas were for the
in the open
field.
siege, left
first
battle,
20,000 of his
raised.
men
They were,
which was fought
in
time successful against the Moguls in
As may be
exposed
in conse1
672, the
fair conflict
supposed, the moral influence of the \actory
was
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
TV]
Chap.
than
far greater
being as
much
actual gain
tlie
and
loss
299
of the combatants, the conquerors ad.
elated as the vanc^uished were disheartened.
While Am'ungzebe was sustaining these
losses in the Deccan, his attention
insurrections
was occupied by disturbances
always
restless
Amin Khan,
for
some tune been kept
in check
and
general
by the
son and successor of the celebrated Mir Jumla;
but in 1670 thej' defeated him in a pitched
war
The Afghans,
in the north-western provinces.
and troublesome, had
governor of Cabool,
riority.
i674.
and resumed
battle,
their supe-
After various attempts to subdue them, Aurungzebe undertook the
in person, but with very indifferent success,
and
after the lapse of three
To save his honour, he had concluded a very imperfect arrangement.
His return was opportune; for a formidable insurrection,
headed by Hindoo devotees, who possessed great influence among their countrymen, broke out in the vicinity of the capital.
Its importance was at first
years returned to Delhi.
underrated, and the idea gaining ground that the rebels were rendered invincible
by enchantment, the Mogul troops could scarcely be brought
to face
them
Ultimately, however, Aurungzebe succeeded in inspiring his Mussulmans with
a fanaticism equal to that of the devotees, and the insurgents sustained a signal
defeat.
The
I'eligious
form which the insurrection assumed, gave new force to
Aurungzebe's bigotry, and he commenced a long course of persecution, with the
revival of the odious jezia, or capitation tax on Hindoos.
tent in consequence prevailed
so
;
and
The utmost
discon-
in the capital in particular, the streets
were
crowded with clamorous suppliants, that one day, finding himself obstructed
in proceeding to the mosque, he
mob with
his horses
and
made way
by trampling down the
for himself
elephants.
In the provinces the results of this persecuting
system were soon manifested,
r
to
^
The Rajpoots entered into a league for mutual defence, and the whole of the
'
_
western part of Rajpootana rose in arms.
and raged fm'iously
for
many
years
;
An
exterminating war commenced,
but as Aurungzebe's resources far exceeded
those of the insurgents, he gradually gained ground, captured the remarkable
Rajpoot fortress of Chittoor
abruptly from
its base,
had
—situated
on a
lofty isolated rock, which, rising
for additional security
—and
been scarped
all
round to the
by the
teiTor of his devastations compelled an
external submission from
continued to hate him in their hearts.
In the Deccan, every
many who
Hindoo now
considering his religion
depth of nearly 100 feet
personally interested in the triumph of the ^lahrattas.
continued to prosper.
at
stake,
felt
Sevajee, consequently,
In 1674, when a disputed succession in Bejapoor made
conquest easy, he extended his sway over the whole of the Southern Concan,
with the exception of a few isolated points
his
1674,
the
and beyond the Ghauts pushed
Having now
boundary much farther eastward.
sovereignty, he resolved to complete
;
it
in
due fonn
;
all
the reality of a great
and on the 6th of June,
was crowned with a pomp which imperfectly but ostentatiously imitated
Mogid ceremonial on
similar occasions.
From
this period, regarding himself
capture of
Cliittoor.
300
HISTORY OF LNDIA.
A^ix^74^ as the founder of a
name
new
[Book
il.
national dynasty, he lived in regal state, changed the
of his officers from Persian to Sanscrit, and became strictly ol>ser^'ant
of
the
all
These
of Hindooism.
rites
proceedings
must
have
given mortal offence to Aurun*^-
"^
zebe; and, accordingly, wlien the
Mahrattas
were
engaged
in
making concjuests from Bejapoor,
•iiy
the
Moguls seized the oppor-
tunity to
make an
Sevajee deemed
their territory.
it
incursion into
too unimportant to require his
presence,
and contented himself
with retaliating by sending de-
tachments which plundered Candeish
and Berar and proceeding
;
beyond the Xerbudda,'which had
never before been crossed by a
Mahratta
tations
force, carried his devas-
as
far
as
Baroach,
For some
Gujerat.
time
in
his
thoughts had been fixed on the
Tower of Victory,
Chittoor.'
— Ferg>;sson's lliuiioo Architecture.
south.
his
Sevajee's
There the jaghire which
father
acquired in
Mysore
was held by a younger brother under the nominal supremacy of Bejapoor.
expedition
into the
It properly
formed part of Sevajee's patrimony, and he determined
Mysore.
either in virtue of his legal claim or
it
was too great
to allow
him
by compulsion.
to set out for
it
The
to obtain
distance, however,
without taking precautions.
The
King of Golconda partly intervened, and in order not to leave
his rear exposed it was necessary to come to an understanding with him.
This
was not difficult, as they agreed in regarding the King of Bejapoor and the
Mogul emperor as common enemies.
After making overtures, which were
favourably received, Sevajee set out at the head of 30,000 horse and 40,000 foot.
On the way he halted at Golconda, and concluded an alliance by which, in
territory of the
return for defence against a Mogul or Bejapoor invasion, a train of artillery,
and a subsidy in money, he agreed to share with the king
should conquer beyond his father's jaghire.
all
the territory he
Continuing his route, he crossed
the Toongabudra at Kurnool, proceeded south-east to Cuddapah, then passed
'
The Kheerut Khumb,
or
Tower
of Victory,
was
erected in 1439, to conimemorate a victory over the
coinbiued armies of Malwah and Gujerat by Rana
Khurubo, who reigned in Merwar, 1418-6S. It stands
on a terrace 42 ft. square it is 172 ft. iu height and
;
;
each of the four faces
is at the base 35 ft. in length.
There are nine stories, and on the summit is a cnjiola.
The whole is one mass of the most elaborate sculpture,
executed in white marble, and representing various
subjects of Hindoo mythology. Thornton,6'nz India.
—
;
Madras, and finally turning south-west, presented himself before the ad.
close to
strong fort of Gingee, belonging to Bejapoor.
force
;
but had previously made secure of
heavy part of
his
army
left beliind
it
He
could not have taken
by bribing
had taken
The
it
possession,
forcible
to his brother
alliance
lie
its
it
;
it
commander.
On
succeeded in capturing Vellore.
at his father's jaghire, his brother refused to resign
restored
301
AURUNGZEBE.
IIEIGN OF
Chap. TV.]
by-
Tlie
arriving
but ultimately, after he
entered into an arrangement by which he
on condition of receiving half the revenue.
with Golconda had been short-lived
;
for the king, shortly after
all
arranged with the Moguls, and consequently forfeited
departure,
claim to any share in the conquests which had been made.
inducement to abandon the alliance was an
inva.^ion of
rroceeaings
ill
_
Sevajee's
loso.
(iolcoiula
im.i Ueja-
Tlie inunediate
Golconda by the Moguls
under a celebrated leader of the name of Dilir Khan.
This
after his
chief,
attack on Golconda, entered the territory of Bejapoor, and, though his force
was
small, so dexterously availed himself of internal di.ssensions tliat
lie
was
In this extremity, the King of Bejapoor
able to lay siege to the capital itself
earnestly applied for assistance to Sevajee,
who was advancing
for this
purpose
wlien he was astonislied to learn that his son Sambajee had deserted to the
His father had imprisoned him in a
Moguls.
the youth having
made
his escape fled to Dilir,
Notwithstanding
arms.
this
with so much vigour that
was
As the
saved.
territory, all the
being ceded to
Amid
him
off
who
misconduct, and
received
him with open
domestic calamity, Sevajee continued his exertions
all
Dilir
Khan's
efforts
were
baftted,
and Bejapoor
price of this service, Sevajee obtained a large accession of
Bejapoor districts between the Toongabudiu and the Kistna
liiin.
these successes, Sevajee
all
hill-fort for gross
on the 5th of April, 1680.
was
In the
seized with
an
illness
coui-se of nature,
which carried
he might
had a considerable care6r to run, as he had only attained his
still
have
year
fifty-third
but he had lived long enough to produce great political changes, and become
the founder of an empire.
Originally
little
better than a marauding adventurer,
he displayed wonderful sagacity in profiting
itself;
and when brought face
East, not only
that presented
with the most powerful monarch of the
maintained an equal contest but often gained decided advantages.
When Aurungzebe
his
to face
by every opening
entered upon his ilahometan crusade, Sevajee met him on
own ground; and taking
a national ascendency.
Hiiidooism under his protection, gave
It is not to
it
once more
be denied, that in pursuing his objects he
was unscrupulous, and committed several atrocious crimes; but
it
may be
pleaded for liim in mitigation, that his enemies were in these respects
still
than himself, and that while their crimes were often the
mere
barism delighting in deeds of blood for their
cruel,
own
effect of
sake, he w<is never
worse
bar-
wantonly
and threw honoiir and humanity aside only when he imagined, of course
IeiToneouslv,
that sound policv required
it.
'^^'nth
of
;
302
A.u. 1080.
Sambajee
his
HISTORY
good
(jualities
and when by
finement, so
was
little
INDIA.
[Book
II.
While a mere youth he had become a com-
except courage.
plete debauchee;
OF'
misconduct he had subjected himself to con-
his
his patriotism that the first ase
He had
freedom was to desert to the enemy.
he made of his recovered
again returned to his country; but,
succeeds
Sevajee.
so far
from having recovered
of Panalla
when
As might
his father died.
some demur was made
stances,
good
his father s
graces,
liave
was a prisoner
in the fort
been expected in these circum-
to his accession,
though he was the eldest son
and a party was formed with the view of placing a second son, Rajah Ram, a
boy of ten years old, on the throne. This party endeavoured to conceal the
news of Sevajee's death
but Sambajee got immediate notice of
;
once acknowledged by the garrison of the
What had
fort.
it,
and was at
previously been a
was thus converted into a stronghold, where he remained secure till the
party opposed to him broke down and he entered Ryeghur, the capital, as
prison
;
undisputed sovereign.
His
His
vices.
jee's
first
acts justified the opposition
Ram
widow, the mother of
Sing,
which had been made
was put
to death.
Ram
Sing himself was
imprisoned, several Brahmins of his party were thrown into
of his enemies as belonged to other castes
chain.s,
The
were beheaded.
Seva-
to him.
and such
disaffection thas
produced was greatly increased by harsh treatment of his father's ministers,
name
while he gave himself up to the guidance of a worthless favourite of the
of Calusha,
The
of
hostilities in
first
The
tage.
who pandered
island of
Jinjeera.
which Sambajee engaged terminated to
his disadvan-
island of Jinjeera, situated on the west coast of India, a little south
Bombay, had long been possessed by the Hubsees
sinian origin,
His attempt
OH the
to his vices.
who
held
it
of Bejapoor
or Siddees, chiefs of
on the condition of maintaining a
Abys-
fleet for
the protection of commerce, and the safe conveyance of pilgrims to Mecca.
island
able
was strongly
when attacked
fortified
;
and the Siddees having the command at
to that power, as
it
would have made
it
were
The proximity of the
to ofier a very formidable resistance.
island to the Mahratta capital
sea,
The
a most desirable possession
contributes to form one of the best harbours on the Indian
coast;
and many were the attempts which Sevajee had made to become master
of
He was
it.
quarters,
always uns'uccessful
;
and while making large conquests in other
had the mortification of seeing
all
his
eflfbrts
baffled
whenever he
them against this little spot. Sambajee flattered himself that he would
be more fortunate, and no sooner felt firmly seated than he resolved to commence the siege of Jinjeera. One of his operations was to connect the island
with the mainland by a mound, and eflfect the capture by means similar to
directed
those which Alexander the Great used
proved no Alexander
;
and
when he took
after being compelled to raise the siege,
beyond measure on seeing the Siddees plundering
they had defeated his
the city of TjTe.
fleet at sea.
his villages,
He
was enraged
and learning that
In the midst of his wrath he would willingly
have fixed the blame on any but himself; and on the pretence that they had
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
Chap. IV.]
made
assisted his enemies,
wai'
.'^03
on the Portuguese, and was with
difficulty
ad.
i687.
restrained from attacking the EnfjlLsh also.
A
full
more formidable enemy than
employment.
either immediatel}'^ appeared,
He had
and debauchery of
them by
his son.
increasing the land revenue spread general disaffection.
Aurungzebe, perfectly informed as to the change which had taken
no sooner
mui Mai.
vast treasures, but these were soon squandered, and the attempt
left
to replace
sovereign
which Sevajee had main-
strict discipline
tained rapidly disappeared through the idleness
warhetween
the Mogiil.s
,
new Mahratta
In the Deccan, the character of the
had soon become manifest; and the
and gave him
(fuelled the insuiTection of the
had
place,
Rajpoots than he began his march
southwards with the avowed purpose of making a
final
conquest of the Deccan.
His army was so numerous and well equip})ed that he never contemplated the
possibility of failure,
any
and therefore disdained
his first great fault; another,
ment of
which looks
by forming
This overweening confidence wa.s
with Bejapoor and Golconda.
alliance
to strengthen himself
like infatuation,
was the announce-
Even
his military talents
his determination rigidly to exact the jezia.
appear to have forsaken him, for he began the campaign without any properly
While making a long halt at Boorhanpoor, on the Taptee, he
concerted plan.
two
sent off
forts of the
large detachments
— one
imder Prince Azim to reduce some
Ghauts, and the other vmder Prince Moazzim to overrun the Concan
and penetrate
to the south of the
Azim was
Mahratta country.
though more by bribery than
cessful,
,.|...
arrived m the vicmity of Goa,
1%
if
it
,
was only
he had sustained a signal defeat.
y)erished
the
.
partially suc-
Moazzim threaded
pi'owess.
through the thickets of the Deccan without being opposed
than
hill-
;
/^i-i/>-
and
to find himself in a
Almost
all his
yet,
way
when he
his
worse condition
horses
and
cattle
PeriionB
position of
!••
the former,
had
under the hardships of the march and the want of forage, and even
men were beginning
was not
idle.
to suffer from scarcity.
Sambajee, in the meantime,
While he occupied the passes through the Ghauts,
were scouring the
sea,
and capturing the Mogul
ing to land provisions on the coasts.
With
vessels
his cruisers
which were endeavour-
the greatest difficulty
reached the country above the Ghauts with an
army almost
Moazzim
disorganized,
and
spent the rainy season near Meeruj, where his ranks were again dreadfully
thinned by an epidemic.
When
the
campaign was resumed, Aurungzebe advanced in person
to Aunmgzcbe
Ahmednuggur, while Azim and Moazzim were ordered to enter Bejapoor from
opposite directions.
Sambajee immediately saw his advantage, and, avssembling
a body of horse in the north of the Concan, placed himself suddenly in Aurungzebe's rear, sacked
and burned the
city of Boorhanpoor,
the Concan, leaving the whole country in a blaze.
was equally
to
I
and was again back
in
In Bejapoor the campaign
disastrous, neither of the roj-al princes possessing sufficient strength
make head
against the forces oppo.sed to
reinforcements, no advantage whatever
them
;
and, though both received
was gained, except the capture
of Sliola-
Deccan.
1
30
A.I)
1687
IIlSTOllY
To
poor.
OV INDIA.
this place Auruii<f/x'l)e ailvaiiced with his
nished Sambajee with the opportunity of
[Book
army.
'Jiiis
movement
making another plundering
TT
fur-
excursion,
during which he devastated part of Gujerat and plundered the city of Baroach.
About
was
Subjection
ami Beja'"""^
this
time he had entered into an alliance with the King of Golconda,
now
who
enemy of the Moguls, and his kingdom invaded
by Auruugzebe. The army, commanded by Prince Moazzim, made little progre.ss
till the commander-in-cliief, a fanatic Mussulman, who was ofiended at the influence possessed by a Brahmin, turned traitor and deserted, carrying the greater
part of his troops along with him. Resistance was now vain; and, while the king
therefore
regarded as an
took refuge in the fort of Golconda, Hyderabad, his
Having been reduced
him, the Moguls
left
to the necessity of accepting
him
effectually cri})j)led,
capital,
was seized and sacked.
whatever terms were offered
and next turned
their
arms
to
again.st
was immediately commenced by Aurungzebe
in person.
It was successful, and the Bejapoor monarchy ceased to exist.
The
splendour to which the capital had attained is still attested by its ruins. AurungBejapoor.
The
siege of the capital
zebe having thus succeeded probably beyond his expectations, appears to have*
repented of his leniency in having
of independence.
Little difficulty
the peace, and the whole territory
shut up in his
notorious,
fort,
shook
ofi'
left
the
King
of Golconda even a
shadow
was found in devi.sing a pretext for breaking
was speedily overrun. The king, Abul Hasan,
the effeminacy for which he had pre\'iously been
and defended himself
successfullv for seven months.
Treacherv
at
I
Tombs of Kings of Golconu.\.
last
Southern
limiti!
of
the Mogul
empire.
again did
its
— Grindlay's Scenery of Western India.
work, and the Golconda monarchy also was extinguished in
The Mogul empire now reached its utmost limits in the south. The
kingdoms of Ahmed nuggur, Bejapoor, and Golconda, were formally incorporated
with it, and even a considerable portion of the Mysore, and more especiall}' that
1687.
by military occupation.
Vencajee, whom Sevajee had left in possession of the jaghire, was obliged
to confine himself to Tanjore and any other Mahrattas who had made acquisitions in the same quarter, were di'iven from the open country and found no
part which had formed Shahjee's jaghire,
was held
;
safety
beyond the precincts of
their hill-forts.
at least
j
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
Chap. IV.]
While Aurungzebe was thus pursuing
his victorious career,
Under the guidance
to be almost forgotten.
been pursuing a shameless
coui'se of
Sambajee seemed ad.
The
di'unkenness and debauchery.
to be
was
made on
the
forts,
when a
living in security at a favourite pleasure iiouse in the Concan,
when
Khan, the Mogul
is
at Kolapoor, acting
on a
wiiole
in consetjuence overrun,
still
which
i)]an
more
He was
important object was gained by the capture of Sambajee himself
officer
leso.
of the despicable Calusha, he had
of the open country belonging to the Mahrattas
and a systematic attempt was about
30
lokari-ab
snmbajee
sonei
ami
said to have
originated with Aurungzebe himself, set off with a small body of troops, crossed
the Ghauts, and, after a journey of nearly sixty
An alarm was
ance.
made
immediately spread, and escape was
Sambajee was in such a
was
mile.s,
it
still
state of intoxication as to be unable to
possible to use
him
sudden appear})racticable,
but
attempt
and
it,
Mogul head- quarters.
carried off in triumph, together with Calusha, to the
Aiu'ungzebe, deeming
his
as a tool, offered
him
his life
on
condition of turning Mussulman; but he rejected the offer with scorn, and spoke
barbarously
executed.
of
Mahometanism
deemed an
in such contemptuous terms that
an ordinary death was
punishment, and he was subjected to horrid barbarities
insufficient
bsfore being beheaded.
This execution, which took place in August, 1689, spread universal indigna-
among
tion
Sambajee's worthless character was overlooked,
the Mahrattas.
and the heroism with which he had courted death sooner than abjure
made him be regarded somewliat
The
in the light of a martyr.
his faith,
principal chiefs,
immediately on receiving tidings of his death, assembled at Ryeghur, and
al-knowledged his infant son, Saho, as rajah.
Rajah Ram, Sambajee's brother,
The task thus assigned him was extremely difficult,
A\n"ungzebe in person was at the head of an overwhelming force, and it seemed
as if the Mahrattas, more especiallv after the capital, and with it the yount;
was appointed
rajah himself,
selves
on the
regent.
fell
into his hand.s,
would have no alternative but
In this extremity Rajah
victor's mercy.
Ram
to
saho, his
ackuow^-f^^
'^^^-^
'^'U'l'i
Kam
throw them-
fled to the strong
fortress of Gingee, in the Caraatic, after putting the foists of the
Deccan in a
good state of defence, and ordering the troops to disperse in their villages and
wait for better times.
feited,
they
the
made no
still
first
The
The
scru])le of
leadino- chiefs, who.se lands
miuht have been
making a feigned submission
kept up an imdei-standing
^vith their
to the Mogul, while
countrymen, and watched for
opportunity of joining any rebellion which promised to be
of the Deccan being apparently
subjugatioTi
for-
succes.sful.
complete, Aunnigzebe
Rajah
Khan to reduce Gingee.
Ram. who had now begim to govern in his own name in conse([uence of the
captivity of his nejihew, prepai-ed for a vigorous defence
and Zulfikar Khan
despatched a general of the name of Zulfikar
;
had no sooner reconnoitred the place than he saw that success was hopeless
without strong reinforcement.s.
army
Vol.
into Tanjore
I.
While applying
and other southern co\mtries
_
for these,
he sent part of his
to levy contributions
39
They
Mabratta
HISTORY OF INDIA.
306
A.D?'i60i.
[Book
were tlms employed when they received an urgent
The Mahrattas, who
recall.
had never entirely desisted from their guerilla warfare,
II.
ha^l
become emboldened
by partial successes, and were mustering strong in various quarters. Scarcely
any district in the Deccan was secure from their incursions and whenever the
chout was withheld, nothing was to be seen but fire and devastation. Two Mah;
ratta leaders, Santajee Gorpara
By
themselves.
and Danajee Jadu, particularly
and attacking
intercepting convoy.s,
spread such general alarm that Aurungzebe
by
Siege of
felt
isolated detachments, they
the necessity of endeavouring,
decisive measures, to revive the spirit of his troops.
bcforc Gingee,
and unable
to
make any
Aurungzebe gave the chief command
ZuJfikar
Khan was
.still
progre.ss because the reinforcements
When
which he required had been withheld.
di.stinguished
they were at
to his son
last despatched,
Cambaksh, but at the same
time, adhering to his suspicious system, controlled his operations
by sending
along with him Assad Khan, Zulfikar Khan's father.
expected,
all parties
were
dissatisfied
with this
As might have been
arrangement.
Cambaksh com-
plained that, while he bore the responsibility, the authority which he possessed
was only nominal Assad Khan and
his son,
;
on the other hand, complained
equal reason that, while the burden of conducting the
fame which might be acquired was reserved
Its
war lay on them,
all
the
for another.
While the leaders were thus at variance, the combined operations
slow
%vith
nece.ssar}'
progress.
to insure success could not be adopted.
It
is
even said that Zulfikar Khan
carried his resentment so far as to enter into treasonable correspondence with
the enemy, and furnish
all
them with
the efforts of the besiegers.
was protracted
for yeajs.
above mentioned, were not
intelligence
No wonder
which enabled them
that, in
to frustrate
such circumstances, the siege
Meanwliile Santajee and Danajee, the two leaders
Their partizans were spread over the whole
idle.
country, and they could, on the shortest notice, gather thousands around their
standard.
Thus
feeling their strength, they resolved to
the relief of Gingee.
chosen horse.
It
The
make
force provided for this pui'pose
was commanded by
Santajee,
a gi'eat effort for
amounted
who came upon
suddenly that one of their divisions was completely surprised.
to 20,000
the besiegers so
An
attempt to
check his progress only led to a second overthrow, and the Moguls, cut
off
from their supplies and confined within their intrenchments, became, instead of
besiegers, besieged.
the circumstances,
They adopted the best course which remained to them
and made an arransrement which allowed them to retire
Wandivash, about twenty miles
Capture
of Gingee.
in
to
distant.
During
of the siege,
part
had remained in permanent
o the greater
a
o Aurungzebe
o
o
cantonments near Punderpoor, on the Beema, but on hearing of this disgi'ace,
advanced to Bejapoor.
While strongly condemning the conduct of
he inconsistently conferred the
who was
truly to blame.
sole
After a
command on
number
resumed, and again began to linger
till
his generals,
Zulfikar Khan, the only one
of desultory operations, the siege
was
Zulfikar Khan, aware that Aurungzebe's
REIGN OF AURUNGZEBE.
Chap. IV.]
suspicions were aroused,
Rajah
after allowing
saw the
Ram
necessity of no longer dallying.
to escape, he carried
soon made himself master of the
307
Accordingly,
ad.
noo.
on his operations in earnest, and
place.
This success was partly owing to internal dissensions which had broken out
*,
,
.
.
.
Mahmttji
disseiisiouB.
.
among the Mahrattas. Danajee and Santajee, after acting in concert, had given
way to feelings of mutual jealousy, and come to an open ruptm-e. Santajee, as
the stricter disciplinarian of the two,
was the
to maintain his position, found his party so
but
He was
flight.
less
popular
and, after an attempt
;
weakened that he had no
pursued, overtaken, and, notwithstanding
At
remorselessly put to death.
this
time Rajah
Ram had
all his services,
taken up his residence
where he had not only succeeded in again organizing the government,
in Sattarah,
but soon found himself so strong as to be able to take the
the largest
alternative
army which
the head of
Proceeding northward
the Mahrattas had ever raised.
he crossed the Godavery, levying the chout, and when
field at
it
was
devastation as far as Jaulna, forty miles east of Aurungabad.
refused, spreading
Here
hie progi'ess
was checked by a Mogul detachment, headed by his old opponent Zulfikar Khan,
who pressed closely upon his track, and inflicted upon him several defeats. These,
however, were soon repaired, and the Mahrattas only dispersed for the time, to
On
re-appear in another quarter as strong as ever.
Moguls, even
fruits of
it,
when they gained
the whole, therefore, the
a victory, were seldom permitted to reap the
and hence were gradually becoming more and more exhausted and
....
dispirited.
Aurungzebe
could not shut
®
though now
far
advanced in
which he made to improve
life,
his eyes to the difficulties of his position
:
and
Capture of
Sttttarali.
.
gave proof of indomitable energy in the
efforts
Quitting his cantonments on the Beema, he
it.
suddenly appeared before Sattarah, which was taken in April, 1700, after a
desperate defence, which protracted the siege for several months.
carried on. Rajah
Ram
had
died,
rattas
every
as,
in the coui'se of a
It is
success gained
was
not improbable that this event favoured
few years,
were wrested from them.
new
it
and been succeeded by a minor son under the
regency of his mother, Tara Bai.
the Moguls,
While
all
the principal forts of the
The war, however,
by Aurungzebe, seemed
still
Mah-
continued, and with
rather to enlarge
its sphere.
Under the Mahratta system of devastation, the whole Deccan was converted into
a desert, and districts which had previously escaped were thrown into consternation by their incursions.
Malwah was almost overrun, and no part of Gujerat
felt secure.
Even the forts, in the capture of wliich the Mogids had spent so
much time and treasure, and lost so many lives, cotdd not be retained, and
began to
fall,
one by one, into
tlie
hands of their former
To meet the dangers which thus environed him,
Aurungzebe possessed in the most vigorous period of his
sufficed,
and
this
energy was
now
of years he longed for repose, and
forsaking him.
possessoi-s.
all
the energy which
life
would scarcely have
Borne down by the weight
was not unwilling
to
have purchased
it
by
-Mmingcuitiea.
308
A.U. 1707.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
Rajah Salio at
setting the
percentage on the revenue of
;
that
all
Auniiig-
attempts at negotiation
was
disasters
became
He
escapes.
to
an annual
jniy
li.stened to his over-
demands
so exorbitant in their
and Aurungzelje, threatened on every
failed,
com})elled to retreat.
and naiTow personal
The Mahrattas
Deccan.
but, conscious of their advantages,
tures
side,
and even submitting
liherty,
tlie
[Book H.
reached
Here
Ahmednuggur
after a series of
gave way, and
his health
soon,
it
ZBbe's illness
and
deatli.
became apparent that
with the
last
imaginary
A
of his crimes seems to have
He
father.
by Prince Moazzim
suggestion
and
real
him with so much
that the same measure
filled
feared
had ceased to wear
it
"
That
and when a
;
permission to come to
to
into a wish to pluck the
was interpreted
he exclaimed,
face to face
be meted out to himself, and hence saw his worst enemies in his
to
sons.
future
None
dethronement of his
remoi'se as the
own
Thus brought
enemy, he cowered before him, and trembled under both
terrors.
was about
end was approaching.
his
crown from
for the
head before he
his
from Prince Azim was read, requesting
letter
Ahmednuggur because
is
make arrangements
his health
was
suffering at Gujerat,
exactly the pretext I used to Shah Jehan in his
illness.'
Nothing, indeed, could be more melancholy than Aurungzebe's death-bed.
letter dictated to
terror,
Farewell
youngest
Divinity.
.
.
punishments
!
moments gives utterance to his remorse and
"Come what may, I have launched my vessel on
in his last
and concludes thus:
the waves.
his
Azim
—
farewell
!
farewell
I
'
!
same spirit
have committed numerous
may
be
seized.
Another
— "Wherever
son, is in the
I
A
.
.
letter to Prince
I look I see
crimes,
and
not with what
come upon me
Tl e agonies of death
It
nothing but the
know
I
Cambaksh,
was
so
;
fast."
and on 2 1 st
February, 1707, Auningzebe
expired,
in
the
eighty-ninth year of his
ase and the
fiftieth of his
After his death
reign.
a document of the nature
of a will
liis
was found under
pillow,
giving
the
northern and eastern provinces of the empire, with
the
the
title
capital,
Moazzim
Adrungzebe's Bukial-pi.ace at Rozah.
— Elliotts View.s in the East,
of emperor, and
Dellii,
— the
to
south-
west, and south, including
the noi'them part of the
Deccan, with Agra as a capital, to
Bejapoor to Cambaksh.
out,
and the
results, will
The extent
to
—and the
kingdoms of Golconda and
which these arrangements were carried
Azim
afterwards be seen.
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY,
Chap. V.]
CHAPTER
309
Y.
— New general charter by Charles — Constitutional question raised by the Company's proceedings — Grant of the island of Bombay.
Resumption of the history of the East India Company
HE
reigns of
II.
Mogul emperors, Shah Jehan and Aurungzebe,
tlie
ad.
less.
together with the rise and progress of the Mahrattas, are so
closely
interwoven that
it
was necessary
In this
in a continuous narrative.
^•^i^p^rsp^r^rrTsn^
behind.
liistory of the
now
It will
London East India
to link
them together
way many years of
Company have been
left
be proper, therefore, to retrace our steps and return to
the period of Cromwell's death, which took place in 1658, the very
in
the
which Shah Jehan ceased to
Tlie effects, direct or indirect,
reign.
both events produced in regard to the
same year
Company must now be
After Cromwell, on the recommendation of his coimcil of
which
detailed.
state,
had decided
Effect of
domestic
that the trade to the East Indies should in future be carried on
stock, the
Company now
Persia,
joint
united with the body designated sometimes as Assada
Merchants, and sometimes as Merchant Adventurers,
and despatched
tion of £786,000,
by one
five ships, three of
and Bantam, one to Fort
St.
the large subscrip-
rai.sed
them consigned
to Surat,
George, or Madras, and one to Bengal.
war which the contending claims of the sons of Shah Jehan had
produced in India had a most injurious efiect on trade. At Surat in particular
The
civil
the
operations
of
the
Company were
almost entirely suspended,
president and council were greatly perplexed as
ought to pursue
dangerous to
;
to
the course which they
because, as they themselves expressed
solicit or to
accept of protection,
might ultimately be the Mogul."'
it
and the
it,
" it
was equally
being impossible to foresee
who
In England similar results were occasioned
by the uncertainty which prevailed while the protectorate, feebly and almost
reluctantly continued by Richard Cromwell, was gradually supplanted by the
re- establishment
of monarchical institutions under Charles
anxious interval the servants of the
to their
return,
own
discretion.
When
the
all
contingencies
by which the captains agreed to sail as a
a penalty of £6000 each to keep together
at St.
Helena, which had
During
this
Company abroad were left very much
homeward bound vessels were about to
the council of Surat. after consultation with
endeavoiu*ed to provide for
li.
now become
the different captains,
by entering
fleet,
into an an-angement
and bound themselves
as far as practicable.
On
undei-
an•i^^ng
the Company's principal intennediate
l)olitic8
the
on
Com-
pany's proceedijigB.
—
310
A.u
1658.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
station
between P]urope and India,
England, and in the event
of
its
tliey
[Book
II.
were to wait for intelligence from
not proving favourable, to direct their
course to Barbadoes, and tliere remain
assui-ed of
till
a safe return.
the
P'orrnerly
Company had been
averse
to
fortifica-
tions, or at least U)
expense which
the
it
would be necessary
to incur in erecting
and
maintaining
them
was
more and more
— From an original pictvire in East India House.
Helkna.
it
constantly becoming
-- yt-sA.,,^-^^^--
St.
but
;
ap-
parent from the poNecessityof
Htical state of India, as well as
that without fortifications,
possible to place the trade
from the preponderating influence of the Dutch,
and the absolute
control of them,
would be im-
it
on a secure and lasting foundation.
Accordingly
we
find the presidency of Surat, in accordance with instructions received from home,
examining the west coast of the Indian peninsula, in order to discover some
by nature, might be made still stronger by art, so as to afl!brd
asylum, and recommending for this purpose different stations which the
station which, strong
a secure
King
might be induced to
of Portugal
was Bombay, which was shortly
of these
British
crown
as part of the
dowry
mandel coast the same necessity
is
after to
become the property of the
was
by the near approach
Gomberoon
still
hostility that it
was
felt,
the Coro-
in consequence
of Sevajee to Madi'as
In the Persian Gulf, where
formed a valuable branch of the
Company's revenue, the Persian government had given
Proposed
On
of the Portuguese infanta.
to his southern conquests.
the share of the customs of
rather remarkable that one
for strong fortification
of the alarm which had been excited
when he was marching
It
cede.
so
many
indications of
seriously pi'oposed to negotiate the occupation of Muscat.
acquisition
of Jluscat.
It woiild almost
seem that in proposing
this occupation
questionable, if not piratical natm-e were contemplated
;
some objects of a very
for
among
ments mentioned by the Surat presidency are not merely the
it
might have on
their coast trade
on the west of India, but the
give " to seize in retaliation on the Malabar jmiks."
various acts of oppression
the induce-
beneficial effect
facility it
would
In Bengal, not\vithstanding
by the governor, the hopeful character of the trade
which seemed capable of being increased to any extent, and rendered
peculiarl}'
valuable on account of the fine (Qualities of the goods, particulaily saltpetre, raw
silk,
taffetas,
desirable
still
;
but
and other manufactures
it
—made
a fortified station particiJarly
could not be obtained voluntarily, and the Mogul government
seemed so strong that the idea of attempting to gain
it
by
force would.
NEW GENERAL
Chap. V.]
if
any had been bold enough
CHARTER.
to propose
Sll
have been scouted at once as ad.
it,
igco.
impracticable and monstrous.
The
restoration of Charles
,
.
/^
closer
by royal
aflinity
;
1
Company.
influence on the mterests of the
re-established with Spain
had at
in 1660,
II.,
1
f>
first
1
•
a decidedly favourable
Restoration.
Amicable relations were at once
the bonds of friendship with Portugal were
;
Effect of the
1
1
drawn
and the States-general, while congratulating the king
on his return, not only proposed a renewal of friendship, but gave a pledge of
their sincerity
by ordering the immediate
London East India Company.
the
cession of the island of Polaroon to
In regard to this cession
be added, that the Dutch governor of Batavia, to
postponed
it
for several years
whom
the spice trees, so as to render the possession worthless.
benefits
obeyed
issued,
it
only
Some
all
of the other
which the Company owed to the Restoration were of a more substantial
The
nature.
last
was
by previously destroying
in spirit
it
must, however,
the order
under various pretexts, and at
in the letter, while he grossly violated
it
first
of these to which
it is
necessary to attend
was a new crown
charter.
This deed, dated 3d April, proceeds upon the following preamble
:
—
"
Whereas
New charter
by Charles II.
our well-beloved subjects, the Governor and
Company
of Merchants trading
into the East Indies, have been of long time a corporation to the honour
and
and have enjoyed and do enjoy divers privileges and
of several letters-patent and charters heretofore granted to
profit of this nation,
immunities by force
them by our
late royal progenitors
memory: And whereas we
Queen Elizabeth and King James of
blessed
are given to understand that of late divers disorders
and inconveniences have been committed as well by our own subjects as
Company, and interruption of
foreigners, to the great prejudice of the said
trade,
whereupon they have humbly besought us
said charters, with
advancement of
some
alterations
and
their trade
any analysis of the contents of
additions, several of
As
it
would be superfluous
this charter, in so far as it
it is
and confirm
additions, tending to the benefit
trafiick."
confirms those previously gi-anted,
and
and
to grant
their
their
and
to give
merely repeats and
necessary only to attend to the alterations
which are very important.
In regard to duration no change
,
.
as before, a three years notice
,
;
is
made, the only hmit to perpetuity being,
^
•
but an alteration affecting the very constitution
Company is produced by a clause which, abolishing the right which every
member had hitherto enjoyed of giving one and no more than one vote, provides
of the
number of votes according to his
stock, that is to say, for every £500 by him subscribed or brought into the
present stock, one vote;" and that "any of those that have subscribed or
brought less than £500 may give their respective sums to make up £500, and
that in futm-e "every person shall have a
have one vote jointly for the same."
By
another series of
character of the
still
Company was
more important
revolutionized,
clauses the strictly mercantile
and
its leading
provisions.
/v
full
provision
made
for the
—
I
JIISTORV OF INMA.
•"^IS
A.D. iGoo.
[Book
large exercise of judicial and even political functions.
forts,
fortifications,
and trade
fiictories,
'all plantations,
Tliu.s
Company's
or colonies, wliere the said
II.
factoiies
be in the East Indies, shall be immediately and from
are, or shall
hencefoiih under the power and command of the said governor and Company,"
r m
i
i
ii-i
ill
witli " luU powcr and authoi'ity to appoint and establi.sh governors, and all
Judicial
•
rowers.
^
other officers to govern them."
explained by
and
•
•
^
The extent
being added, that in
its
his council "
may have power
of the authority thus conferred
eacli factory or place of trade
to
judge
all
the governor
persons belonging to the said
governor and Company, or that shall live under them, in
all
caases whether civil
judgment
or criminal, according to the laws of this kingdom, and to execute
As
accordingly."'
there might be factories where there were no governor and
council, the chief factor
any crime
or
with the
and
his council in such places
" to
misdemeanour was committed,
offence, to such other plantation,
governor and council, where justice
may
absolute these powers are, and
One
to abuse.
were empowered, when
transmit the party, together
where there
factory, or fort,
One can hardly
how very
been the invasion of the Company's exclusive
the complaining parties
rules of judicial procediu-e
—at
least
;
a
liable
help remarking
they must have been
of the most frec^uent forms of alleged misdemeanour
Company were
is
be executed, or into this kingdom of
England, as shall be thought most convenient."
how very
is
privileges.
In
all
must have
such
and hence, in violation of
all
cases, the
recognized
tmder governments not actually despotic
they were in fact constituted judges in their own cause.
Military
and
and
Tlic military
political pri\'ileges conferred are, if possible, still
more ample.
poll Lies.
powers.
They
include " free liberty and hcense for the said governor and
case they conceive
tion into
any
it
necessary to send either ships of war, men, or
their
and defence of the same
ammuni-
;
and
to choose
commanders and
over them, and to give them power and authority
common
seal or otherwise, to continue or
prince or people that are not Christians in
most
in
their factories, or other places of their trade in the said Ea.st
Indies, for the security
officers
Company,
for the
their trade
;
any
by commissions under
make peace or war with any
places of their trade, or shall be
advantage and benefit of the said governor and Company and of
and
also to right
and recompence themselves upon the goods,
estate,
by whom the said governor and Company may sustain
any injury, loss, or damage, or upon any other people whatsoever that shall any
ways interrupt, wi'ong, or injure them in their said trade within the said places,
or people of these parts,
territories,
and
limits."
Authority, moreover,
castles, fortifications, forts,
also elsewhere"
" to erect
given
gannsons, colonies or plantations at
within their limits and bounds of trade,
tions shall think
requisite to
is
fit
and
requisite
;
and
" as
and build such
St.
Helena, as
they in theu* discre-
for the supph-ing of such as shall be
keep and be in the same, to send out of
castles," &c., "all
kind of clothing, provision of
ments necessary
for such ])urpose,
this
victuals,
kingdom
to the said
ammunition, and imple-
without paying of any custom, subsidy,
oi-
;
313
SUPPRESSION OF UNLICENSED TRADING.
Chap. V.]
other duty for the same
and carry over such number of ad.
as also to transport
;
men, being willing thereunto, as they
The invasion of the exclusive
shall
think
fit."
by imlicensed traders
Company, and had too often been
privileges of the charter
had occupied too much of the attention of the
the subject of petition and cum})laint to the crown, to allow
it
English, or
any other our
Thus
it.
given "to seize upon the persons of
is
subjects in the said East Indies,
The suppr&smiiicensed
to be overlooked.
Several minute and stringent clauses are accordingly devoted to
power and lawful authority"
leeo.
which
" full
such
all
any
shall sail in
India or English vessel, or inhabit in those parts, without the leave and license"
of the
Company, "or that
The only
to England."
shall
it
a mockery
;
it
and send them
their orders,
enormous powers was
security against the abuse of these
an appeal, but the exercise of
have made
contemn or disobey
was attended with consequences which must
for the
moment an
Company
appeal was entered the
were empowered "to seize u])on" the person or persons convicted and sentenced,
"and
to carry
him
or
them home
traders were not the only persons of
As
prisoners into England."
whom
Company were
the
was provided that "for the better discovery of
injuries
milicensed
apprehensive,
and abuses
it
done
to be
unto the said governor and Company, or their successors, by any of their servants
I)y
them employed
in the said East Indies or
voyages thither,
it
shall
may
and
be lawful to and for the said governor and Company, and their respective
presidents, chief agent, or governor in the said East Indies, to
oath
factors,
all
fortifications,
masters,
pursers,
supercargoes,
examine upon
commanders of
castles,
forts,
plantations, or colonies, or other person, touching or concerning
any matter or thing as to which by law and usage an oath may be adminisIn spite of
tered."
all
these precautions,
it
was
or otherwise the exclusive privileges conferred
and
to
therefore, as
an additional
security,
still
possible that
by smuggling
by the charter might be invaded
custom-house
officers are
enjoined not
"permit any entries to be made of any goods or merchandizes of the growth,
production, or manufactiu'e of the ports or places aforesaid in Asia, Africa, and
America, above limited or appropriated to the trade of the said governor and
Company, other than such
as from time to time shall be allowed of
governor and Company, or their successors, under their
hand of the
purpose."
officer to
be by them appointed to
sit in
common
by the
said
or
seal,
tlie
the custom-house for that
Thus the Company who not many years before had been
threat-
ened with utter extinction, had obtained a charter in which the crown, for the
purpose of making their privileges as ann)le as possible, stretched
its
prero-
gative to the very utmost, and took every imaginable precaution for their
home and abroad.
very time when the Company seemed about
security both at
At
this
of prosperity, a severe shock
of their agent at Hooghly.
or countenanced
Vol.
I.
was given
Irritated
to enter on a
to their trade in
new
course
Bengal by the rashness m
beyond measure at the oppression practised
by the governor, he resolved
Threatened
to take the
remedy into
40
his
own
ueugai.
3U
A.D. 1662.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
(Book
hands, and seized a country junk in the (junge.s with
it
Mir Jurnla, the celebrated Mogul
as a security.
II
determination to hold
tiie
general, immediately threat-
ened to retaliate both on the inland agencies and on their factory at Hooghly.
The
agent,
now
terrified at the result of his
the president and council of Surat,
re-deliver the
sufficient, to
junk; and
in the
prepare for shipping
who
own
sought counsel from
boldnes.s,
directed
him
at once to repair and
event of this concession not being deemed
all
the Company's property and leaving the
place.
In sending these orders, the membei-s of the Surat council put the agent
on
guard against the wiles of the Mogul
his
Acquisition
" usually offered civilities at the
bytheciown.
recoursc to violencB
very
officers,
who, they assured him,
moment when they
intended to have
The dispute was ultimately arranged,
and depredation."
and the desperate measure of withdrawing entirely from Bengal wa«
of course abandoned.
While the Company were thus
threatened in the east of India, their
footing in the west
come
far firmer
before
was about
than
by an event
it
to
necessary to attend.
two months
ever had been
which
it is
now
In June, 1661,
after granting the
above
married the In-
charter, Charles II.
fanta
to be-
Catherine of
Portugal,
and
obtained, as part of her doAvry, "the
port and island
Bombay
Indies, together
with
profits, teiTitories,
in the East
all
the rights,
and appurtenances
The
thereof whatsoever."
Bombay, stretching
island of
eight miles from
north-east to south-west, with an
average breadth of three miles, has
an estimated area of
Httle
eighteen square miles.
more than
Its value,
however, must not be judged by
superficial extent.
By
its
land-locking
a deep bay in a central locality,
it
forms the very best harbour in India.
The use
of such a harbour
had long
was now secured in the be.st
possible form by becoming the property of the Briti.sh crown, and consequently
not liable to be interfered with on any pretext by the native powers.
been earnestly desired by the Company
;
and
it
In March, 1662, the English government de.spatched to the East Indies a
ACQUISITION OF BOMBAY.
Chap. V.]
815
On
of five men-of-war, under the conmiand of the Earl of AJarlboroimh.
o
fleet
boai'd the fleet
iooj.
were a viceroy from Portugal, authorized formally to complete
the cession of the island, and Sir
Abraham Shipman, with 500
and thereafter remain
as the first English governor.
possession
ad.
soldiers, to
No
take
opposition
Difficulties
but the Portuguese at Bombay, naturally
ixjssossion
in obtaining
appears to have been anticipated
unwilHng
;
be handed over to a foreign powei", took advantage of some
to
ambiguities in the treaty by which the island was ceded, and refused to dtdiver
it
The English were themselves partly
up.
sition,
to
blame
for the
unexpected oppo-
because instead of being satisfied with the "port and island Bombay,"
which was
that the treaty with Portugal expressly granted, they insisted
all
that this grant conferred with
and more
locality,
it
a right to
all
especially to the i.sland
Bombay by a naiTOw
channel.
The claim was
the Portuguese stations in that
of Salsette, only separated from
certainly extravagant, as Salsette,
thus represented as an accessory to Boml)ay, has an area of 150 square miles,
and
is
consequently eight times larger than the principal.
The whole business was grossly mismanaged
and ultimately the English,
;
Temporary
occupation
prohibited from landing, and unwilling or unable to effect
it
by
force,
were
obliged to look out for some other station where they might obtain refreshments,
and employ
])roper remedies to diminish the mortality which, in consequence
of })rotracted confinement in the ships,
emergency application was made
this
the
and
Red
to Sir
all
In
fearful ravages.
George Oxinden,
by the Company as president and chief director of
sent out
Sm'at,
was now making
who had been
all their aflTairs "
at
others their factories in the north parts of India from Zeilon to
Sea," for permission to land the troops at Surat, but even this could
not be granted for fear of offending the Mogul; and Sir
Abraham Shipman
was reduced to the necessity of landing the troops on the island of Anjedivah,
fifty
miles south-east from Goa, where numbei's of
of Marlborough had in the
meantime
left
them
them
The Earl
perished.
to their fate,
and
sailed for
England.
These untoward events seriously atFected the prospects of the Company. They
had hoped much from the presence of the ships of war, which they thought
would have the
effect of
procuring them more respect from the native ]iowers,
and of intimidating the Dutch, who were now openly aspiring at an ascendency
on the Indian coast as complete as that which they had established
in the
had even been expected that the king's ships might have
been made iustrumenttd in opening up new mercantile channels to the ComEastern islands.
It
pany by receiving on freight Portuguese investments from Goa, and thus
forming the commencement of a canying trade which might yield lucrative
returns.
tations,
The
and
failure of the expedition to
for
some time the Conij^anv appear
employ their servants
the hunting
Bombay
down
in giving eff'eot to the
of those
whom
disappointed
all
have done
little
to
new
these expec-
more
than,
clauses in their charter for
they stigmatized as interlopers.
Indirectly,
of Aiyo-
G
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
31
A.D. 1664.
however, the failure of
Company,
to the
as
tlie
to
them of
all
Indeed, Sir
he undoubtedly exceeded his powers
this
tlie
transfer
;
it
tlie
rnen were wasting
liis
to the
Company.
and Sir George Oxinden,
At
approved, legal effect could not be given.
lo.ss
by
to
the offer was made, was too prudent to accept a grant to which, even
Company had
II.
which the
the rights in India conferred
Abraham Shipman, wliile
Anjedivah, made a voluntary offer of Bombay
marriage treaty.
at
expedition ])roved rather a gain than a
was doubtless one main cause of
it
crown afterwards made
away
Bombay
[Book
In
whom
if
the
the same time,
might have been foreseen that the acceptance was only postponed, and that
the crown, burdened with the expense which the possession of
not but
entail,
would
tlie
ere long require little inducement to part with
island could
it.
During scvcral subsequent years the transactions of the Company are veiy
Company
aUvetothe
of^Bei^gir^
imperfectly recorded.
tively insignificant.
The reason may have been because they were comparaThe same fleet which had brought Sir George Oxinden as
president to Surat, had carried Sir
Edward Winter
as agent to Fort St. George.
Besides that locality and the stations connected with
factories in
it,
all
the agencies and
Bengal were placed under his immediate superintendence
had exerted himself apparently with good
Mir Jumla.
Still,
traffic
was destined
with
entei-tained of the vast exto
assume in that quarter
and hence, while distant outposts were eagerly sought
monarch was importuned
and he
effect in adjusting the quarrel
no idea appears to have been
pansion which the Company's
;
after,
for letters to his roj^al brother of
and the English
Bantam, whenever
retrenchment became expedient, and a contraction of the sphere of operations
was proposed, Bengal is almost invariably brought forward
where the experiment might be made with the least risk of
quences.
In accordance with this view orders were given, in
tinue the factories which had been
Balasore, in order that all sales
as the quarter
injurious conse-
1663, to discon-
established at Patna, Cossimbazar,
and
and purchases on the Company's account
Bengal might in future be made only at Hooghly.
When
the
Company
in
are
seen thus voluntarily withdrawing from the province within w^hich the capital
of their Indian empire
from observing how
fact,
was afterwards
little
to be established, it is difficult to refrain
they are entitled to take credit for foresight.
In
they were not so much the architects as the unconscious instruments of
their future fortune.
The year
i^urat
pillaged
sevajee.
after the
Company had
thus begun, as
it
were, to turn their backs
by
ou Bengal, an event took place which produced general consternation.
The
Mahratta chieftain Sevajee, dexterously out-manoeu\T.-ing the troops of Aurungzebe in the manner which has already been described, had advanced within
mUes of Surat on the 5th of January, 1664-, before any tidings of his
movements had been obtained. The town was then surrounded, not as at
present by a brick, but by a mud wall and hence no effectual resistance could
be made when Sevajee entered it at the head of -1000 horse. The inhabitants
fifteen
;
'
SEVAJEE DEFIED AT SURAT.
Chap. V.]
.'^17
allowed themselves to be systematically plundered during six days
according to the account of one Smith, an Englishman,
and carried before him,
and hands
sitting outside the
to be chop})ed off in cases
While
cealing their wealth.
tlie
was displayed by the inmates
town
— Sevajee,
who was taken
a.d. leos.
prisoner
his tent ordering heads
in
where persons were supposed to be con-
natives were thus pusillanimous, a better spirit
of the
l)()th
factories.
The
Having put
their
Dutch and English
English, in particuhir, greatly distinguished
themselves.
factory in as good a state of defence as the shortness of the time allowed,
and
called in the aid of their ships' crews, tliey
threats with defiance
;
met
Sevajee's
demands and
and when a number of Mahrattas, witliout venturing on
The
iiaii
rattoa re-
al!
assault, forced their
dislodged them.
By
property, but that of
tion,
and
way
into
many
natives
whom
other nations, and also from
Company with
""
"^
**
himself,
who
granted
from a portion of the customs paid by
for ever
all transit
own
puuedby
they had taken under their protec-
of Aurungzebe
rose higli in the estimation
threatened the
was made which
sally
this valiant conduct the English saved not only their
them a firman exempting them
fii'st
an adjoining house, a
charges.
the loss of
General View of Surat.— Fnmi
The
all
visit of Sevajee,
which at
their property at Surat,
Churchill's Collection of Voyages.
estimated at LSO.OOO, was thus eventually the indirect means of procuring for
them important advantages.
In 1665, the politics of Europe again assumed a threatening ap])earance.
Dutch war was evidently nn]>ending.
event, the
The Company, well aware
Dutch would sweep the Indian
seas, scarcely
A
that, in that
ventured to prepare an
outward voyage, and contented themselves with instructing their agents
in
make all possible haste in com])leting their investments, and desjiatching the homeward bound ships.
Nor was a Dutch war the only source of their
anxiety, as new com]ietitors, who were afterwards to ])rove the most formidable
India to
of
all,
Indian
were about to enter the
traffic;
field.
The French had
lono-
and an exclusive company, sharing largely
and invested with imjwrtant
privileges,
had been formed
had an eve to the
in royal patronage,
Tliis
company had
Alarm
fmm
«ar, an.i
.i
in.iiaiom.
'""''
HISTORY OF INDIA.
•^'•'^
A.D. icco
[Book
II.
hitherto rested satisHed with j)r(>mi.sing gi-eat things without attempting to
perform them; but a
to act in earnest,
new
been infused into
spirit liaving
and on an extensive
On
scale.
the very
vessels well armed, so as to be equally prepared for
Made aware
been despatched.
London Company were
it,
it
was now
a}>out
voyage eight
first
war and commerce,
haxl
by imperfect rumours, the
of the fact only
at first apprehensive, from the
arming of the
vessels,
that piratical objects might be intended; and sent out instructions that the
Iiomeward
sliips
On
defence.
should
as a
sail
and be provided
fleet,
being better informed, they deemed
it
means
witli the
of
necessary only to inculcate
and guarding against misunderstandings which
between the two crowns. While giving the.se j udicious
the necessity of using caution,
miglit lead to discussions
counsels the court gave evident indications of uneasiness,
and used language
which miglit be interpreted into an instinctive foreboding of the great struggle
which the two nations were afterwards to wage
\ioient
Company now
.7
Their
was
In the desire which the
internal
dissensions
ovcrlookcd
foes,
and
might
it
arise
0116
danger.
felt for fortified stations,
to secure
object
and turn the
an asylum against external
instructions,
A
fortifications against their o"wn employers.
now
Edward Winter
Sir
occurred.
tioned, been appointed head of the
had, as already
had added considerably to the strength of Fort
was endeavouring
remark-
men-
Company's establishment at Madras, and,
His subsequent conduct had not given satisfaction
that he
they had
seems never to have occurred to them that foes of a different kind
able case of this kind
by their
supremacy in the East.
for
to enrich liimself
by
;
St.
George.
and, under the impression
private trade, the court had
superseded him, and sent out Mr. George Foxcroft as his successor.
gentleman's arrival in Jime, 1665, he was received with
all
due
On
respect,
that
and
took his place at the head of the coimcil, while his predecessor, agreeably to
his instructions, continued, in the interval previous to departure, to act as his
Sir
second.
Edward Winter, though
had been deeply offended at
term
his
his dismissal
for office
was nearly
and while continuing
;
expired,
to officiate in
the council, had been constantly on the alert to detect something in the conduct
or language of his successor on which he might found a charge against him.
While under the influence of
difficulty in
and accordingly, Mr. Foxcroft, three months
finding
what he wanted
arrival,
was attacked and violently
:
he probably had Uttle
siich feelings,
carried
off"
to prison,
after his
on the extraordinary
ground of having uttered seditious and treasonable expressions against the
king's government.
During the
Dawes, a member of the
scuffle
council, lost his
caused by the apprehension, a Mr.
life,
and Mr. Foxcroft
himself, together
with his son and Mr. Sambrooke, another member of councU, was wounded
Its
govern-
usurped by
Mir Ed wc rd
Winter.
After
to
tliis
outragcous proceeding. Sir
Edward Winter was
too far committed
bc deterred by any other irregularity, and he at once re-assimied the govern-
ment.
It seems that he
was not without
forming a council, including among
its
supporters, for he succeeded in
members
the lieutenant of the gamson.
CONVENTION RESPECTING BOMBAY.
Chap. V.J
319
was no small risk that the fort itself would be
lost to the Company.
The Dutch, now at war with England the Portuguese
viceroy at Goa, offended by the course of proceedings at Bombay and the King
of Golconda
were all anxious to obtain possession of it. The la.st liad even
During
this internal strife, there
a.d. iocs.
—
—
—
taken steps for that purpose, and was meditating an attack by one of his
when he was called away for still more urgent service.
Sir Edward Winter at first took credit for loyalty
disinterested zeal to
justify himself
and
to his sovereign
promote the interests of the Comj)any, and endeavoured to
by numerous
others, it is said, to the
addressed to infiuential (quarters
letters
was about
sanction of government, force
;
among
;
His conduct,
king and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
however, had been too gross to admit of apology
managed,
officers,
and on finding
that,
with the
employed against him, he
to be
after persisting several years in rebellion, to obtain a free pardon,
and
The leniency with which he was treated says little
the wisdom and vigour of the Company's management at this period, and
disappeared from the scene.
for
was doubtless an incentive
Abraham Shipman,
Sir
on subsequent occasions.
to similar acts of rebellion
making an
after
offer of
Bombay
to the
Company,
cnnventiou
the
Portuguese
witli
had continued with
as has been already mentioned,
his troops at Anjedivah,
At
enduring the misery of seeing them dying around him.
himself became one of the victim.s.
Mr. Cooke,
who had been
assumed the command; and, under the conviction that
saving the lives of the soldiers
the Viceroy of Goa,
Bombay, according
by which he agreed
Marlborough,
by an
for,
Bombay
resident in
])ayment of customs.
was the only chance
to accept of the port
to the treaty as interpreted
were even worse
his secretary,
of
sm'viving, entered into a convention with
still
respect the terms
it
in 1664, he HomTm"'^
last,
by the
and island of
Poi-tuguese.
In one
tiian those originally offered to tiie Earl of
additional article not then mentioned, the Portuguese
were, along with other liberties, to be exempted from the
When
the survivors on Anjedivah
left for
Bombay,
their
numbers did not much exceed 100; the expense incuiTcd by government
for
the pay and maintenance of the troops, from the date of their embarkation in
England, was above £13,000.
Mr. Cooke's convention with the Portuguese was no sooner knowTi in England than
it
was disavowed
;
the English had interpreted
Bombay.
and, with the view of caiTving out the cession as
it,
Sir Gervase Lucas
Before he sailed he drew up a report,
transmitted by Mr. Cooke, and gave
of the
gamson
amount
it
was appointed governor of
founded on the documents
as his opinion that the annual expense
necessary for the island would, Avithout including contingencies,
to at least
£7371, and
would be immediately required.
that,
moreover, a large outlay for
cost
As yet
stores
made government
Bombay as an immediate
This report appeal's to have
doubtful as to the propriety of continuing to retiiin
possession of the crown.
new
it
had yielded nothing, though
much, and was apparently about to cost more.
it
had already
The conclusion
therefore
disavowed
HISTORY OF
•*^-'>
A
I).
1000.
was,
ineantiiiic " it
tliiiL ill tiiu
upon
would
[Book
II.
improper to incur any great expen.se
and that the whole establishment should be placed on a very narrow
it,"
and economical
footiuir.
Sir Gervase Lucas arrived at
sirGeivase
Ijc
INlilA.
Bombay on
.5th
November, IGGG, and, on
lAxcas ap-
iK)inted
assummg
jioinbay.
bcfore leaving England had led
the government, found matters in a
when they saw
to fortify,
him
still
worse state than lus inquiries
The Mogul goverament,
to anticipate.
the English in possession of an island which they were preparing
and which, by
natural position, might control the trade of Surat,
its
and openly expressed
became extremely
jealous,
after learning that
an invitation had been given to the native merchants to
Bombay under
settle at
compensate himself
vajee,
some
for
to
an open rupture wlien Mr. Cooke, in order
loss sustained
to
during the piUage of Surat by Se-
took the unwarrantable step of seizing a Mogul junk which stress of
weather had forced to seek shelter in
who
the governor of Surat,
Sir George
factory.
This junk belonged to
Oxinden remonstrated with Mr. Cooke, who,
in consenting
and more independent position than one
the servant only of a company.
later period revived,
while condemning
harbour.
instantly tlu-eatened to retaliate on the English
as a king's servant, in a higher
who was
Bombay
took occasion to inform Sir George that he considered him-
to restore the junk,
self,
The misunderstanding thus com-
British protection.
menced was brought almost
their displeasure, especially
and led
many
The question thus
to considerable embarrassment.
was
a
at
Sir Gervase Lucas,
parts of Mr. Cooke's conduct, agreed with
The misunderstandings and
subject of precedence.
raised
him on the
jealousies w^hich in conse-
quence arose, were injurious to the interests both of the crown and the Company.
To
the latter, however, the ultimate result
was
favourable, as the difficulty of
procuring a cordial co-operation between the two services must have been an
additional inducement to the crown to shake itself free of all further responsibility in
was
regard to Bombay.
Before giving an account of the step
finally accomplished, it will
by which
this
be proper to refer to several incidents which
occurred about this time, and are of sufficient interest to deserve special notice.
Important
The
first
of tlieso
is
a celebrated lawsuit in which the Compan}' became
constitutiotiai
involved, in 1666,
unlicensed tradincj.
turers at Jambi,
by the zealous endeavours of
Frederick Skinner was agent for the merchant adven-
on the north-east coast of Sxunatra, and, on the union of the
companies, quitted the
united stock.
down
then- serv'ants to put
district, after
making over
his assets
and debts
to the
His brother, Thomas Skinner, who had apparently entered into
possession of Frederick's effects, continued to trade as a merchant on his
account.
A ship and merchandise
the servants of the
Jambi.
belonging to him ha\ang been discovered by
Company, was
The grounds of
seizure
forcibly seized,
by
were apparently of
the aid of the Sultan of
to
— the
tw^o kinds
the property in question belonged not to him, but to the
had been, or ought
own
Company,
to
one that
whom
it
have been given up by Frederick Skinner; the other
Chap
THE TliEATY UF BKEDA.
V.|
was trading without
that, as the vessel
pany's charter, both
charter, the
making
was
his appeal,
was
home
refused,
in one of the
and he was
was referred successively
left to
and Skinner, on
Company's ships
make
his
way
to England.
to plead.
against them, to the
amount
first
it
On
had
could,
to the government,
jurisdiction,
House of Commons and decided
in
judgment was given
raised a great
was keenly taken up by the
Two
Company's favour.
in the
tionai
and peremptorily
The Company's plea
constitutional ((uestion, which, on their petition,
impoitjiut
on the ground that the
their continued refusal
of £5000.
i667.
out,
and could only judge by appeal
jurisdiction,
ad.
how-
This,
Europe as he best
to
to answer, declined,
lords found that they
Company
ordered the
to review,
committee of the council, and to the House of
to a
House of Peers had no primtuy
The
In terms of the
His complaint, presented at
The Company, when ordered
the last resort.
forfeited.
entitled to insist that, for the purpose of carrying
by an overland jom-ney.
Peers.
were
in it
judgment thus pronounced was subject
he should be sent
ever,
license within the limits of the Corn-
and the goods found
it
c21
branches of
the legislature were thus diametrically opposed, and can-ied on the dispute with
When
more temper than judgment.
ment, the
this
bad
exami)le,
and imprisoned the governor,
Samuel Barnadiston, and three other members of the
with
this,
The
and sent him a piisoner to the Tower.
interfered
were not slow to follow
lords
Sir
commons
Skinner attempted to enforce the judg-
Company
they declared the petition of the
court.
to the
Not
satisfied
conmions to be
by resolving that any one
who should execute the judgment in Skinner's favour was a betrayer of the
rights and liberties of the commons of England.
The controversy threatened
false
and scandalous, and the commons
to be interminable,
times.
At
succeeded,
and was not
last the
settled
retaliated
till
parliament had been adjourned seven
king held a conference with both houses at Whitehall, and
by personal
from their journals.
them
persuasion, in inducing
In one sense this gave the
to erase all the proceedings
Company
the victory, as the
judgment against them was not enforced, and Skinner remained without
The next event of
})eace
redress.
this period deserving of particidar notice, is the general
concluded by the treaty of Breda,
Britain, France, Holland,
31st July,
and Denmark were
It
principle ado])ted in framing the treaty
was
The
parties.
merce in general derived from the cessation of
by the London Eaat India Company.
IGGT.
ut'i
com-
not but be
however, without
was that of
this treaty
benefit whicli
hostilities could
not,
To
alloy.
possidetis,
felt
The
which of
Coiuutions
of theti-eaty
course left the parties, in regard to possession, exactly as they stood at
its date,
In the case of the Company, the effect was that they finally lost the islands of
Polaroon and
Damm,
because, in the course of the war,
themselves of their naval superiority to capture them.
tlie
Dutch had availed
The
loss
seemed the
more grievous because the Company had been sanguine enough to expect
by the possession of them, they might be able
spice trade.
Vol.
I.
So intent were they on
that,
to secure a share in the envied
this object that,
even after these islands
41
of
Bmia.
'
322
A.D. 1609.
or
IIISTOFIY
were wrested from
tli(;ni,
INIflA.
fIV>OK
II
they continued to niaintain an unavailing Htruggle
against the ascendency which
tlie
Dutch had established
in the Indian Archi-
The only consolation which the Company received wan, that tinwhich they sustained by the Brerla treaty was not so serioas as they ajjpre-
pelago.
loss
hended when
made acquainted with
first
Edward Winter
Sir
was
them
Had
fort.
ht-
tlu-ee seats
in all probability
of the
have been
lost
for ever.
which
this period
fonu an
investment
<»f'
been completed, the rule
and thas one of the
it,
by the Company would
The Only other incident of
begins
I
had been received that
this act of treachery
would have covered
presidencies acquired
to
asurfjation
communication with the Dutch governor of Ceylon, and conteini)lating
in
of uti possidetis
Te
During the
tenns.
at Fort St. George, information
the delivery of the
to
its
it Is
necessary to notice
is
*•
Commercial nature, and
strictly
yet,
when
its
consequences are traced,
it
of a
will
l.-e
found to have had a far mightier influence, not merely on the fortunes of the
Company, but on society at large, than any
which occurred in the seventeenth century.
]
668,
single event, military' or political,
In a
letter
dated 24th January,
and sent out with the Company's ships which made the voyage of that
year, the agent at
Bantam
is
desired "to send
you can
of the best tey that
gett."
home by
these sliips 100
lbs.
waight
The language evidently implies that the
was already understood; and it is known that several yeai-s before, an
order had been given to obtain small quantities of tea as a present to his
article
majesty
is
;
but this
is
the
fu'st
instance of a public order,
presumed, for the purpose not of making presents of
but of ascertaining whether
mioht not become an
Within a century of the date of
ment.
Company approached
the
it
Company's monopoly,
it
3,000,000
granted to
the Company.
Qu
as a
mere
lbs.;
and in
lbs.,
it
cm-iosity,
article of lucrative invest-
1834:,
imported by
the last year of the
and paid duty to government
Since then the import into the United
to the
Bombay
it
this order, the quantity
exceeded 33,000,000
amount of £3,589,361.
has more than doubled.
and an order given,
Kingdom
the 27th of March, 1669, the grant of the port and island of Bomba\'.
,
which government had been
for
some time contemplating, was completed by
regular charter, issued as usual in the form of letters-patent addi'essed
king to
all
his subjects.
a
by the
After stating the nature and extent of the right
by the marriage treaty from the Portuguese, eulogizing the Company
for having managed the trade to the East Indies " to the lionom- and profit of
the nation," and expressing "an earnest desire that the said governor and
Company may, by all good and lawful ways and means, be encom'aged in their
acquired
difficult
and hazardous trade and
his majesty bestows the island
and ample a manner, to
now have and
enjoy, or
trafiick in those
and
its
appm^tenances upon them
all intents, constructions,
may
remote parts of the world,
and
pm-jDoses, as
King
we
ourselves
and
force
of Portugal," constituting
them
or ought to enjoy the same,
of the said gi-ant of our said brother the
" in as large
by
^irtue
'
'
BOMBAY GRANTED TO THE COMPANY.
Chap. V.j
"the true and absolute proprietors of
and every part and parcel thereof"
said,
•
the artillery, and
all
tlie
all
&C., "
all
which
manner
of merchandize,
shall be or
ad.
ibtss).
Along with the island were granted
stores,
and other provisions whatsoever; and
and
port and island, and premises afore-
and singular arms, armour, weapons, ordnance, munition,
powder, shot, victuals, magazines,
l)oats,
^^23
ammunition, and provisions of war,
and singular
all
and wares,
TemiBofthe
and
ships, junks, vessels,
cloathing, implements, beasts/'
remain upon within the premises, or any part of
thereof,
and belong unto us at the time when the said port and island and premises
be delivered up into the possession of the said governor and Company.
sliall
Power was, moreover, given them " to take into their
costs and charges, such and so many of our officers and
service, at their
own
soldiers as shall
then
be in or uj)on the said port or island, or within the territories and precincts
they shall think
thereof, as
them
either in the said port
The port and
inanoi- of Ea.st
and not in
fit,
and as
be contented or willing to serve
and island or elsewhere.
island thus granted
Greenwich,
shall
in the
common
county of Kent, in free and
our heirs and successors, at the custom-house, London, the rent or
pounds of lawful money of England,
The only
yearly, for ever."
Company
any
in gold,
restrictions
slioidd not " at
or otherwise di.spose of the said island
to
of
tlie
socage,
nor by kniglit's service, yielding and paying therefore to
cap'ite
were, that the
" as
were to be held of the crown
prince, potentate, or
.state,
on the
thirtieth
sum of
us,
ten
day of September
and reservations of any importance
any time hereafter
sell, alien,
transfer,
and premises, or any part or parts
Restiutions
tious.
thereof,
or other person or persons Avhatsoever, but
such as are or shall be the subjects and of the allegiance" of the British crown,
and that
om* liege people, and subject to
" the inhabitants of the said island, as
our imperial crown and dignity, jurisdiction and government, shall be permitted
remain there, and enjoy the
to
the same
manner
said brother the
for the exercise
and
sis
made by our
King of Portugal as aforesaid, and that such order be observed
and conservation thereof in all things according to the purport
the said inhabitants,
and treaty
in that behalf;
and other our subjects
and
them lawfully had
of the surrender of
further, also, that
in the said port or island, shall
peaceably and quietly have, hold, possess, and enjoy
respective properties, privileges,
of
Catholic religion in
they did at the time of the said gi'ant to us
effect of the said article
may
Roman
free exerci.se of the
and
and
all their .several
and advantages wliatsoever, which they or any
or enjoyed, or ought to have had or enjoyed, at the time
said port
tlie
and island
time
to us as aforesaid, or at an}'
since."
All the inhabitants of
....
wnthin
,
.
its
precincts
and
Bombay, together with
,.
limits,
privileges of British subjects
to
have
full
power
afterwards born in
.
were to have and enjoy
it,
Ti
all the liberties
11
•
1
or
1
Judicial
authoritv.
and
under the gcn'ernment of the Conmany, who were
to exercise judicial authority
and agents, to repel force by
all
,
.
force,
by sea and
by
them.selves, their ministers,
land, in case of
open
hostilities
J
1
82
A.D. 1600
IIISTOUY
with foreign enemies; and
offences against law, custom,
to all intents
of his office
might
The very
INDIA.
" in cases of lelx-llion,
to serve in wars, fleeing to the
manner
(JF
and
[Book
II
mutiny, or sedition, of refusing
enemy, forsaking colours or ensigns, or other
discipline military, in as large
and purposes whatsoever
as
and ample
a
any captain-general hy virtue
do."
liberal
terms on which Charles
II.
conferred
Bombay
on the Com-
pany, and the very ample powers with which he invested them for the purpose
of governing
I'lobabie in
tothegrant
j^g
it,
justify a suspicion that the act
hag bccn represented, and that the
Company had
they aftcrwards followed of smoothing the
distribution of
money
was not quite
already begun the practice
difficulties in their
in influential quarters.
They did
immediately followed the Revolution, and endeavoured to
it
way by
this to
the free
an enormoas
as will afterwards be seen, in the comparatively pure period
extent,
that
so disintere.sted
had- long been customary.
If
so, it is
ju.stify it
by
which
alleging
not uncharitable to presume that
Charles and his corrupt courtiers did not allow the custom to be forgotten in
But whether obtained by a
this instance.
free grant or a corrupt bargain, the
Bombay was unquestionably the most important acquisition
Company had yet made. Even in a pecuniary view its value was by
port and island of
which the
no means contemptible.
According to a statement transmitted to the British
government by the deputy-governor, Captain Gary, the year before the Comjiany entered into possession, the annual revenue, derived principally from rent,
produce,
this
and customs, amounted
amount might be
to £6490, 17s. 9d.
largely increased
Company had not only acquired a
by land and sea, but a revenue
;
It
was understood that
and consequently that in Bombay the
position which might be rendered impregnable
which, duly husbanded, might meet
outlay necessary for fortifications and other improvements.
prospect thus opened appears to have emboldened the
all
the
The brightening
Company
greatly to
extend their operations, and their investments became larger than at any foimer
period.
CHAPTER YL
Administration and progress of
Bombay
>MBAY was
— Difl&culties — State of the other settlements of the Company.
at first
Oxinden, though
still
made subordinate
was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of the former; but at the same time authorized
to send one of the members of Ids council, as deputy-governor,
With this view a series of
personally to administer the affairs of the island.
The fort or castle was
directions had been drawn up by the court in England.
i^
rejected
improve
ments at
Bombay.
Sir George
continuing to reside and hold his position
as president at the latter,
I
to Surat.
to
a town, so situated as to be under
be enlarged and strengthened;
was
protection,
duced to
to
be built on a regular plan
;
its
a
d. icoo
inhabitants were to be in-
by exemptions
settle
and while the
castoms;
f'.om
32o
PEOJECTED IMPROVEMENTS AT BOMBAY.
Chap. VI. J
English were to
be preferred,
others also were to be encoui-ao-ed
by the
free exercise of their re-
The improvement
ligion.
revenue,
so
new and
was not
taxes,
To
forgotten.
and
"V
bur-
to be
manufac-
foster
tures of cotton
^j^ft^no^li
as practicable,
far
without imposing
densome
of the
silk goods,
English Fokt, Bombay.— Churchill's Voyages.
looms were to be purchased for
the weavers
;
and
to give
new
facilities to
commerce, a liarbom- and docks were
made
in carrjHing out these arrangements,
to be constructed.
much
Before
progress could be
untoward events took
several
Bombay, endeavoured
to render
by taking advantage
it
as
it
to or
While an important branch of
the trade of Surat
Tanna
to impose
from Bombay
;
new
heavy
pos-
transit
the trade of which
Tanna, situated at the head of Bom-
in consequence greatly crippled, as
bay harbom', commanded the only proper
land.
reconciled to the ces.sion of
lucrative as possible to its
of their position at
duties on all goods passing through
was
little
arose from various
difficulties
The Portuguese, who had never been
(luarters.
sessors,
and new
place,
line of
traffic
communication with the main-
was thus
was again suspended by an
in a
manner
interdicted,
incursion of Sevajee.
Tmme-
diately after his former visit, a substantial wall of brick, flanked with bastions,
lijid
been commenced and was approaching completion, but as much
remained open as to make
town and resume
was now
also a
his
it
work
French
still
easy for Sevajee to penetrate into the heart of the
Besides the English and Dutch, there
of plunder.
factory.
The
last
showed no
fight,
but obtained an
ignominious exemption by giving the Mahrattas a free passage through their
factory,
and thus enabling them
Tjirtar prince
who had
to obtain a rich
returned by
way
booty by the plunder of a
of Surat from a jiilgrimage to Mecca.
The Dutch stood upon the defensive, and seemed so well prepared that they
were allowed to escape. The English, under President Aungier, who had succeeded on the death of Sir Georije Oxinden, distinmiished them.selves as before
On
this occasion,
however, they were not so
fortunate as to obtain the approbation of the Moguls.
Sevajee, before he retired,
by beating
off"
repeated attacks.
had opened a friendly negotiation with the
Englisii,
and several conferences had
been held with the view of arranging the re-establishment of the Company's
factory at Rajahpore.
ii,awb.ickg
Sevajee was anxious to secure the revenue which had
s„rat again
i;'"''8*'
''>
320
AD.
1673.
IIISTOliY 0|- IM^IA.
been
[Book
II
witlulrawal oi the factory, and the presidency at Surat were
lost liy the
disposed to consent, provided they could obtain compensation for past and
These conferences were not unobserved by
security against future injuries.
Mogul
and gave
authorities,
which the
rise to suspicioiLS, of
tlie
results afterwards
became apparent.
At the very time when the bonds
War with
and aiiiancu
rauce.
looscued,
tlic
poUtics of Europc had been undergoing a change which threat<jned
Company once more
^^ gxposc the
were in
ties
of amity with the Moguls were thua
to
an unequal contest with the Dutch.
fact declared; but, at the
same time, by the
with France, which had nov/ a considerable
the
Company were
fleet in
the
however, they endeavoured to
alliance of
Ea.st,
With a
better protected than formerly.
make themselves independent
vigorously pushed on the fortifications of Bombay.
Hostili-
England
the interests of
wi.se precaution,
and
of foreign aid,
They were thus engaged,
but the works were far from completed and very inadequately garri.soned, when,
in February,
made
his
1673, Rickloff
van Goen, the Dutch Governor-general of
appearance on the coast with a
fleet of
twenty- two
Bombay was evidently the object
had it been made on the instant but
regular troops on board.
have
scarcely
resisted
;
ships,
India,
having
of attack,
1
000
and could
the Dutch lost time
by endeavouring in vain to secure the co-operation of a land force under Sevajee, and when at last prepared for action, lo.st heart on seeing the kind of
reception which awaited them. Pi^esident Aungier, who fortunately happened to
be in
"
Bombay
Bombay
at the time, exerted himself, as
Orme
hyperbolically expresses
with the calmness of a philosopher and the courage of a centurion."
400 Em'opean
•ruese
lay
and
two
soldiers,
natives.
frigates,
he succeeded in mustering 1500
Nor was he
destitute of a
marine
Portu-
In the harbour
a Dutch prize fitted up as a ship of war, and three armed sloops
which had been lately built as a protection against the Malabar pirates
force a
Besides
militia, chiefly
force.
it,
to this
;
most important addition was opportunely made by the arrival of four
French
ships,
Rickloft^
which, on being informed of the danger, had hastened from Surat.
under these circumstances,
with reconnoitring, and
satisfied himself
then suddenly disappeared.
On
Madras
fears
the Coromaudel coast the Dutch had excited similar alarm, and great
were entertained
for the safety of
French again proved important
(^nly
auxiliaries,
St.
is
Here, however, the
and by means of a powerful
and took
St.
Thom^ by
storm.
The
fleet
not
latter capture, as the
situated only at a short distance from Madras, gave the
alarm than
satisfaction,
sion of the
concern.
Thome
King
On
fell
Company more
and they were therefore not displeased when,
short tenvire, the French were expelled and St.
St.
George.
kept the Dutch in check, but made themselves masters of Trincomalee, in
the island of Ceylon,
place
Fort
of Golconda.
Thome
returned to the posses-
Another success of the Dutch gave them deeper
the 22d of August, 1673, the Dutch fleet engaged in the
in
after a
with the Company's homeward bound
ships, ten in
.siege
of
number, and
J
I'EACE
VI.
Chai>.
A
richly laden.
running fight commenced
in the sinking of one
and issued
|);itam,
WITH HOLLAND.
vessels.
The others,
thouii'li
not with-
:i27
the coast to the south of Mixsuli*
oil"
a d.
i6T4
and the capture of two of the Company's
out sustaining con-
damage,
siderable
way
found their
Madras
dian
to
In the In-
Archipelago,
t^W'}
where the
Dutcli
superiority wasstill
more
was
decided,
it
impos.sible for
Company
tlie
traffic
Bird's-eye View of Trincomalee
—Cliurchill's Voyiiges
tt)
with any advantage, tiiuugh they were
carrying their trade
still
now
alive to the im})oi-tance of
and endeavouring
farther east,
to establish that direct
intercourse with China from which, in cour.se of time, their chief,
if
not their
only connnercial profits were derived.
The danger
®
which Bombay
from the Dutch ceased
J had been exiiosed
1
to
entirely in consequence of a
^
new
whirl in European
politics,
by which,
i''^"^--'
"'"'
Holland
^
in 167-i,
peace was concluded, and shortly after happily cemented by the marriage of the
Prince of Orange with Mary, daughter of the
Duke
of York.
Another danger,
The Moguls and the Mahrattas were con-
however, immediately succeeded.
and now that the English, by the possession of an
stantly at war;
island
belonging to neither, were gradually beginning to assume the dignity of an
independent Indian power, their alliance was naturally courted by both.
true policy of the
trality;
The
in the
meantime was
but the circmnstances were such as to
Mofful
^
Bombay
Company
fleet,
t(^
make
The
maintain a perfect neuthis almost impossible.
commanded by the Siddee, soujrht
shelter from a storm in
®
To refuse it was impossible, without provoking tlie Moguls;
•'
harbom*.
was equally
impossible, without giving
umbrage
to Sevajee.
In this
dilemma the Bombay government took the only course wiiich lay open
to them,
to grant it
by allowing the Siddee to remain
him
ti.o M«.gui
fleet in
bow-
_
to depart.
He
the storm blew over,
till
refused to obey
;
and
and then requesting
collecting his vessels in the channel
which separates the island from the mainland, landed a number of armed men
and Mazagong, and drove out the inhabitants, apjiarently
with the intention of gaining a permanent footing on the island. This was not
at the villages of Sion
to be tolerated;
and
after desultory hostilities to the disadvantage of the Siddee,
he purchased permission to prolong his stay by engaging that no more than 300
of his men,
armed only with
their swords, should be ashore at one time,
he would make no attack on the Corlahs
inof alono-
—a
fertile district
and that
of the Concan, stretch-
the eastern shore of Bomliav harbour, and belonfrinu to the Mahrattas.
i.ayi.iii..mr
HISTORY OF INDIA.
•^-8
A.D
Sevajee was luitmaily jcaloas
it574.
anxiety to see
Treaty with
Company's factoiy again
tlie
Rajahpore, he entered
e.staljlished at
into a formal treaty with them, binding himself to compen-sate
losses
which they had sustained by
was determined not
that he
Immediate
His
vicinity.
his depredation.s, it soon
them
By
the Portuguese,
for all the
became apparent
to tolerate the continuance of a hostile fleet in Lis
first
step
was
to send his general,
Moro Punt, down the
Ghauts with 10,000 men, to occupy Callianee or Kallian, opposite
of Salsette.
II.
arrangement, and though, from his
this
oi'
[Eook
to the i.sland
—
movement he accomplished two objects he levied chout on
who had greatly offended him by a fanatical attempt to force
this
the Mahrattas within their territories to become Chri.stians, and he overawed
the Siddee, who, afraid for his
made
fleet,
Bombay
haste to depart.
all
bour had, however, proved so convenient a station that the Siddee
short cruise, during which
Mahratta
coasts,
permitted
it
bour
;
devastating descents had been
to occupy its former station, Sevajee
fleet of
With
at all hazards.
it
boats within his
own
territory,
but finding the attack of the Siddee
bay
Sevajee
itself
quarter,
and Hcnery, situated
so as to
The natural strength
by Portuguese and English
upon
fortifications
manner
fleet in this
;
command
first collected
impracticable,
in finding access to
it,
islands, called
the southern entrance of
of this position
Bom-
had
hithei-to
Bombay
It
and began
was of no use
A
of Kennery, and,
Meanwhile the Moguls, informed of the
Mahrattas might
now have been
;
and
left
compelled the
still
kept possession
without much
skill
or effect.
expressed a desire to share
Bombay.
it,
meant
to
the two native powers to fight
The struggle was in consequence
plan,
The dislodgment
of the
but the English, having discovered that
the Siddee, if he succeeded in capturing
held their aid,
fii'ed
hostilities,
fleet to
easy
The
fi-igate present,
vessels,
The Mahrattas
flight.
mounting several cannon,
them, and sent a considerable
to erect
second attempt would have been disas-
had not the Revenge, the only English
seek safety by
but
encounter the advantage was
kept her ground, and, after sinking five of the enemy's
fleet of fifty to
it,
to attempt
and therefore action was immediately resolved upon.
first
har-
been overlooked both
islands,
the greatest alarm prevailed.
trous to the assailants
Kennery
and when Sevajee had not only discovered
rather in ftivour of Sevajee's party.
m
and
for permission to cross over
little difficulty
however, was very defective, and in the
whole
the
on the east side of Bombay har-
taken possession of Kennery, the larger of the two
negotiation,
incensed,
view he at
and dexterously availed himself of two small
.
bour.
made on
This permission being refused, he turned his attention to an opposite
occupies
Kenuerv.
which he anticipated
was greatly
this
he made application to the Portuguese at Tanna
to Salsette, from
after a
fleet,
The Bombay government having again
again retm-ned.
resolved to rid himself of
a large
many
har-
protracted,
keep
it
and was not
it
to liimself, with-
out as they best could.
finished
when
Sevajee
died in 1680.
Though war was thus raging
in its vicinity,
Bombay
continued to
make
J
PEOGRESS OF BOMBAY.
Chap. VI.
and the propriety of substituting
progress,
time.
ruption, and, as early as IGT-i,
mounted 100
son consisted of two companies, each of 200
been regularly organized
for
a series of years without inter-
pieces of cannon; its regular gan-i-
men
;
companies of militia had
tluree
and several well-manned
;
a.d. 1074.
to be regarded only as a question of
had been carried on
Its fortifications
as the seat of the western
it for Sura^i,
had become so obvious as now
presidency,
329
vessels
were permanently
The progress would have been still more rapid had
not a deficiency of funds induced the government to adopt rather questionable
means of replenishing their treasury. The inhabitants were burdened with new
stationed in
harbour.
its
taxation in the shape of excise duties, and both imports and exports were
charged witii customs equalling, and in some instances far exceeding those
which the Great Mogul,
own
in the plenitude of
On
subjects or from strangers.
was
2^ per cent,
of fortifications
;
articles of little
his power, levied either
and timber,
nuties levied
per cent, to defray the expen.se
anUexiwits.
imports, including corn, grain,
and
to be levied as custom,
1
from his
on exports the customs alone was fixed at 3^ per cent. Some
bulk but considerable value, as gold and silver, jewels, mu.sk
and amber, were the only exemptions, while Indian tobacco and Indian iron
imported, and,
more unaccountably, the whole produce of the
still
nuts, salt, fish, &c.) exported,
island (cocoa-
were saddled with a custom of 8 per
cent.
Some
of these impositions almost look as if the object had been not to encourage
trade,
but to extinguish
desire of the governor to
the island
was not
The only
it.
justification
show that the
overrated,
and that
must be sought
in the eager
original estimate of the revenue from
was able not only
it
to
pay
its
expenses,
but yield a surplus.
While the governor
was thus taxing
°
O
his ingenuity
J in tlie invention of
ts
new
som-ces of revenue. Captain Shaxton, his deputy, was, if not actively encouraging, at least
conniving at proceedings of a mutinous tendency.
grounds of complaint by the soldiers were, that their period of
was limited
to three years,
arms.
On
that they were, as Bruce in his
Annals commends
Aungier in granting the demands of the
and tr}4ng them, not by
expedient that, in having recourse to
it
but
for the
it
fii-st
and
it is
to
be presumed
not easy to see the justice
soldiers, it is
charter, it is true, authorized martial law,
for firmness in afterwards
civil,
but by martial law.
was surely both
right
and
time, the guilt should not
oidy have been of a very aggravated description, but that, even after
it
was
judgment should have been tempered with mercy. Nothing of this is
President Aungier's proceedings. The men were ])romised pay and then
proved,
seen in
refused
it;
insisted
Vol.
which
the prudence of President
same author bestows upon him
seizing the principal leaders
The
service,
these groimds they threatened to lay
If the complaints were well founded,
of the praise which the
principal
had expired, and that a month's pay, which had been
promised them, had been withheld.
down their
The
they had served the
on their discharge.
I.
full
period for wliich they had enlisted, and
If the justice of the complaint could not be denied,
42
Mutiny in
Bombay.
inSTOKY OF INDIA.
•i-^O
•^P-
^''""-
was not
the real fault
made
At
necessary.
it
who
in those
complained, hut in the government wlio
events, there
all
was nothing
so-called mutineers to justify the sentence
death,
This
October,
674<.
culprit, if there
charges, but
to
the wise of one of them
effect in
Captain Shaxton, the worst
and found guilty on several
tried,
conduct of the
law in name of the Company took place on
exercise of martial
1
in the
which condemned three of them
and which was actually carried into
first
[B^jok I!
was
his station,
21.>t
was next
one,
though
only
it
aggravated his offence, protected him, and he was sent to England to ht dealt
with as might there be deemed proper.
The most memorable event
Principle of
in the history of the
seuiority
estabusiied.
Company
i
in
1
676 was the
*'
_
_
_
formal adoption of the principle of seniority as the rule of succession to
of trust
and emolument.
mode
the
in
In the letter of the court to the presidency of Surat
which the principle was
advancement of our apprentices, we
first
five yeares,
to
be applied
thas stated:
is
direct that, after they
they shall have £10 per
annum
for the
have
two
— 'For
writers' sallary
;
and having served that
last yeares;
many
and
\\Titers,
yeare, to enter into the degi-ee
And knowing
of factors, which otherwise would have been ten yeares.
distinction of titles is in
the
serv^ed for the
having served these two yeares, to be entertayned, one yeare longer, as
and have
offices
we do
respects necessary,
that a
order, that
apprentices have served their times, they be styled vjriters; and
when
when
writer.^
have served their times, they be styled factors ; and factors ha\dng served their
times, to be styled
merchants ; and merchants having served their times, to be
By
styled senior merchants."
ment were
obviated,
in the extreme, because
it
mere matters of
saw the
routine,
;
when the most
but the
ordinary
sufficient
accomit of either ability or industry.
particular,
disputes as to advance-
amount of practice may suffice, is \'iciou.'i
removes all stimulus to exertion, and makes no
combined with a
this rule the court
many
and much discontent in consequence suppressed
principle of seniority, except in
qualifications
an-angement
this
It is rather singular that in lajdng
necessity of departing from
by holding out a kind
of
premium
it
in one
down
very important
to military talent, enjoining
their civil servants "to apply themselves to acquire a
all
knowledge of military
any sudden
attack, or of being found
better qualified for military than for civil duties,
they might receive com-
that, in the event, either of
discipline,
missions,
and have the pay of military
officers,
till
the pleasure of the court
should be known."
In the course of the war carried on between the Moguls and the Mahrattas,
Rival
Bombiiy°by
vn!i
sfvtjee
made himself master of Henery in the same way as Sevajee had
and thus by the negligent and irresolute conduct which the local
the Siddec had
^^
Kenucry
authorities
perity
was
;
had pursued, Bombay was exposed
seriously interrupted.
threatening aspect of
affairs,
The court
to a double danger,
and
its pros-
at home, gi-eatly perplexed at the
seem not to have been equal to the emergency, and
disregarding the dangei" of being ousted altogether, kept insisting on a
number
ATTEMPTS ON BOMBAY.
Chap. VI]
of petty deductions, which produced
much
331
among
discontent
their
own .servants, ad
loss.
and imposed various new burdens which were loudly complained of by the
At the same time temporizing expedients became the order
day; and both the Moguls and Mahrattas, emboldened by the pusillani-
other inhabitants.
of the
mous
spirit in
gance.
As
now only
if
which
encroachments were met, set no limits to their arro-
tlieir
Bombay had been
up
set
intent on deciding whether Siddee or Sevajee
,
party.
as a prize to be contended for, they
It
would almost seem that the
minds to some
sucii disastrous
was
to be the
and ignominious
stating that without additional expenditure
lost,
winning
!•
!•
111 makmg
Company were gradually
up their
result
for,
;
in the face of
strances from India, complaining of the reductions ah-eady made,
be
were
and
and reinforcements the
The
.'111(1
si.uiee
Sev.ijei
remon-
distinctly
island
would
the court intimated their final decision that the fortifications having been
the source of the heaviest expense, were to be continued in their present state
without further improvements
reduced to the lowest scale
frigate,
The
— that the manning of the batteries was to be
— and that, with the exception of one small
pos.sible
armed ships stationed
the
for
guarding the harbour were to be
letter of the court, after putting the island
concludes with
insultingly,
it,
maintain
strict discipline,
and
by these most
some would rather
in jeopardy
imj)rovident and niggardly injunctions, ludicrou.sly,
tfrm
sold.
or,
as
a recommendation to the governor to
liave the garrison
always prepared for a vigorous
defence.
The above
letter,
addressed in the beginning of 1679 to Surat, which, by the
.
way, was also to furnish
dency to the
made the
less
its
quota of reduction, by being degraded from a
expensive form of an agency, produced a remonstrance which
Surat accordingly resumed
obtained some slight addition to
rank as a presidency, and Bombay
its
The change of policy thus
gamson.
its
indi-
now at the head of
was known to have
cated unhappily proved evanescent; and though Samliajee,
the Mahrattas, in consequence of the death of his father,
aggressive
designs on
Bombay,
its
gamson,
in Januar^^
1683, could barely
uuister 100 European.s, clamouring for additional ])ay as absolutely necessary to
furnish
them with the means of
mint at
a former occa.sion,
by obtaining letters-patent from the cro^vn for the e.stablisliment of a
Bombay, a measure which, however useful in itself, only increjised the
quantity of coin without giving them any larger share of
occasion
was
tiie
conqilaints were similarly treated
chiefly occupied with
;
and the
Company's
limits extended,
unlicensed trading.
it
was not only
to
it.
letter
On
the present
from home in
1
68+
announcing the erection of a court of admiralty, the
judge of which, appointed by royal commission,
tile
when
were made, the only step taken was to tantalize the cora-
similar complaints
plainers
On
subsistence.
and employ
In this airangement
become the
seat of the
it
was
to
retrench-
presi- ment.
court pause before proceeding further in their reckless career of
retrenchment.
tnjuaicious
have jurisdiction as far as
specially for the suppression of
Bombay was thus far interested, that
new court, but to be regarded in future
332
A
D. 1683
HISTORY OF INDIA.
[Book
as an independent English settlement, and the seat of the
power and
II
tra/le of
the English nation in the East Indies.
Kiigwins
While the court at home were conferring
magniloquent
this
an event had taken place which threatened to render
it
title
on Bombay,
a mockery.
Captain
Richard Keigwin, the commander of the gan-ison, in concert with Ensign Thorn-
bum
and
suddenly, on the 27th Decemljer, 1683, seized Mr. Ward, the
others,
deputy -governor, and the membei"S of council who adhered to him, and issued a
proclamation annulling the authority of the Comj)any, and declaring the island
under the protection of the King of England.
to be immediately
Dissatisfaction
with the treatment which he had received from Sir Josiali Child, and his
John
Mr., afterwards Sir
one as governor of the
who had
Child,
Company and
brotlier,
obtained a complete ascendency, the
the other as president of Surat and governor
Bombay, had tempted him to turn rebel, while the general discontent produced by the paltry reductions and other impolitic proceedings already adverted
of
made
soon
to,
the rebellion completely successful.
With comparatively few
when
assembled, approved of his
exceptions the garrison and the inhabitants,
conduct, and recognized
thus
in his hands.
him
It
The whole power
as governor.
not easy to see on what grounds he could have
is
imagined that his usurpation would receive any countenance in England
as if he
had been acting with the sanction of the crown, and with a
to its interests, he required all the inhabitants to
proceeded to administer the government in
its
single
renew their allegiance to
ships from Surat,
measiu-es which
the frenzy
so far
was
it
was thought would prove
at its height
alarming
About a mouth
at this
new
ships,
In the meantime
lavish promises of pardon
it
thej'
broke out President Child arrived with
and on finding from the
both on the island and among his
to his proposals, but
the}' arrived
danger, were glad to
_
made
homeward
vessel.
after the insurrection
Company's
and
began openly to fraternize with
j)iogress
three other
it,
ships, catcliing the infection,
ships to continue their voyage.
remained on board a country
Its
revolt,
When
effectual.
and the crews of the
;
The commissioners, alarmed
by allowing the
view
having on board commissioners authorized to take
from assisting in suppressing the
the revolters.
avert
it
but
;
Immediately on hearing
name.
of the insurrection President Child despatched three of the Company's
bound
was
of the island
was only
own
and
crews, that force
,
was out of the
Keigwin
redress of grievances.
to reject
them
;
and
which prevailed,
spirit
after
question,
listened
two months spent
in unavailing conferences, the president despatched the ships to England,
and
with his commissioners returned crest-fallen to Surat, leaving the revolters
still
masters of the island.
him,
drew up a
of York.
Keigwin, aware that appearances were
justification,
entirel}' against
which he transmitted to the king and the Duke
His principal pleas were that by the misconduct of the parties
trusted with the
management
was on the point of being
of the Compan}- at
lost,
home and
abroad,
in-
Bombay
and nothing but the energetic measures
KEIGWIN'S MUTINY.
CHAr. VT.|
which he had taken could have secured
its
333
continuance as a dependency of the ad.
low.
British crown.
On
Bombay
receiving intelligence of the
Keigwin had made
revolt,
to justify his proceedings, the
and of the attempt which
Company appointed
a com-
mittee of secrecy to communicate du-ectly with the crown, and take whatever
tioii by a
committee
°
*""*^^
In a report specially addressed to the
other measures might seem expedient.
king, they asserted that so for from acting penuriously with their officers
soldiers, their
inveatiga
and
pay and encouragements were superior to those which the Dutch
granted to their troops; that their president and governor had given every
indulgence to the garrison "compatible with the duty of rendering the revenues
equal to the charges of the establishment;" and that, since they had entered
expended the sum of £300,000 on
to possession of the island, they had
cations,
fortifi-
In conclusion, they
an excellent harbour, and other improvements
returned to an old complaint by blaming the interlopers as the main instigators
to the revolt,
endeavoured to arouse the jealousy of the king by reminding him
that the revolters had attacked his prerogative
crown
ture,
by questioning the
right of the
to give exclusive privileges of trade without the authority of the legisla-
and hinted that the
was rather owing
their powers,
from being caused by any undue use of
revolt, so far
to a defect in the })owers themselves,
which did
not permit them to deal summarily and effectually with delinquents.
During these proceedings in England, Keigwin continued not only
whom
main-
from Sambjijee,
tain his position, but obtained a recognition of his authority
with
to
he negotiated a treaty giving the privilege of free trade within the
Mahratta dominions.
considerable
sum due
More than
to the
this,
Sambajee consented to the payment of a
Company. This treaty and payment, together with
the alleged fact that the island was
now
entirely supported
by
its
own
revenue,
furnished Keigwin with plausible grounds for maintaining that his proceedings
had advanced the interests both of the crown and the Company.
.sible,
however, that he coiUd be listened to
England, with a commission under the
councils at Surat
and Bombay, and
;
and other three
ringleaders.
sar3^ President Child
As
it
commander of the Company's
and
to the commandei-s of the Compan3''s ships,
was
In the event of a
to be proclaimed to all except
seemed probable that
Thomas Grantham
ships rear-admiral.
were contemplated by them.
fill'
from
gi'eat seal, directed to the president
immediate occasion of these appointments,
ments, so
ofl'
force
Keigwin
would be
neces-
was appointed captain-general and admiral of the Com-
pany's sea and land forces, Sir
objects
was impos-
and despatches were sent
to take the necessary steps for the recovery of the island.
peaceable delivery, a general pardon
It
as related to the revolt,
it
vice-admiral,
Though the
and the senior
revolt
was the
will soon be seen that ulterior
Indeed, the necessity of these appoint-
had ceased before the knowledge of them
had reached India, Keigwin having in the interval agreed to deliver up the
island to Sir
Thomas Grantham, on
receiving a free pardon for him.self and his
suppression
mutiny
'^''^
A.D
1084.
JIISTOHV OF INI>I\,
In terms of this arrangement,
associates.
on the 19th of November, 1684.
In
tlie
[Book
11.
formally 8un-en«]ere<l
tlie i.^lanU \va.s
beginning of the following year a new
commenced by the death of Charles on 6th tV-bniary, 1685, and the accesof James II.
A great change in the policy <A' the Company immediately
i-eign
.sion
took place; but before tracing
it
it,
be proper to attend U) the
will
which had in the meanwhile been taking place
cllange.'^
in the other settlements of tin-
Company.
Notwithstanding the numerous obstructions to which the trade of the Com-
A temiits to
ciiiiiii
trade,
pany was subjected
m
the Eastern islands,
it
was determined
and Bantam, as the most convenient intermediate
allotted to it consisted of eight vessels,
tons.
The
spice trade
was
still
point, continued to engross a
In the season
considerable share of the annual investments.
to persevere,
still
amounting
1
676-77, the share
new
the great inducement, Vjut a
interest
been created by the prospect of establishing a factory in China.
it
3180
in the aggregate to
In that
had
case.
was supposed that Bantam would become the entrepot between China and
This purpose
India.
Bantam was under
it
was already serving
was
to be attempted,
charge of a person of
In this season, however, a direct
by sending a small
known prudence and
frustrated
by an
atrocity.
Amoy
vessel to
intelligence.
From
the expediency of adopting further steps might be judged
ment was
a number
and the agent of
;
orders to send annually, on the Company's account, tea of
the best quality to the value of 100 dollars.
intercourse
some extent
to
under the
his information,
This hopeful experi-
In April, 1677, Mr. \Miite, the agent, and
of the principal servants of the agency, while sailing
up the
river of
Bantam in tlieir boats, were waylaid by the natives and barbaroiLsly massacred
The king and his sons were suspected of complicity, but denied it, and promised
Whether they
to make every exertion to discover and punish the perpetrators.
did so is very doubtful, but the promise was all that the few survivors could
obtain.
The effect was a temporary extinction of the agency. In the subse
quent season
judicious.
new appointments were made, but they appear not
to
have been
Instead of attending to their proper duties the pei'sons appointed
neglected them, and spent their time in squabbling with each other.
circumstances trade languished, and before
which had been anticipated at
Amoy was
it
closed
could be revived the opening
by a Chinese
these discouragements, the only favourable incident
selves
civil
war.
Amid
was an overture from the
In more prosperous
Viceroy of Canton offering to admit the English to trade.
times
In such
would have been eagerly embraced, but the Company contented themwith returning a respectful answer, and requesting to know what privi-
it
leges of trade
would be mven
if
an Enijlish factorv were established at that
port.
Tra.ie\vith
In the scasou 1679-80, the prospect at Bantam had again brightened; for
three ships, carrying 1600 tons
despatched to
it.
and a stock of £69,000,
The inducement does not
clearly appear
chiefly bullion,
;
but from
its
were
being
TllANSACTIONS WITH BANTAM.
Chap. VI.
mentioned in
Eantam and
Icing
instructions that
tlie
the Dutcli,
it
war was
may have
a{)preliended
33:
between the King of
been anticipated that in the event of the
proving victorious, the Company, in pushing
tlieir
trade in that quarter,
would no longer have to encounter their most formidable competitors.
succeednig seasons
,.
the mvestments
from incidental allusions
it
to Jiantam
may be gathered
to
Amoy was
that
it
again accessible, but
it
still
was not
so
much on
its inferiority^ as
As
scale,
Virw OF C'.tSTus.— Fmiii
and assure him
granted, large ships with rich cargoes
The threatened war
A^-ith
Nit-uliof.
in
the
sea.son
])resents
that, if proj)er privileges
would annually
the Kinjj of
account
the viceroy of the latter
continued to profess friendship, instructions were given
him on a moderate
15.lMt.lIll
but
a trading station
1681-82 not only to renew the communication with him, but to make
to
Tr.i.Je«iti,
,
afforded for forming connections
Canton had become more and more apparent.
Genkr.vi.
In the
......
retained their importance,
-,,
of that port itself as of the facilities which
with China.
^^^^^ss
N'isit
Bantam and
were
his jiort
the Dutch
was now
All emb;ia.iy
sent by
about to become a
reality.
It
was
])robably with a
view to
it,
and the hope of
securing a powerful })rotector, that the king took the extraordinary step of
sending ainbassjidoi-s to England.
the king and
tiie
Comi)any.
ships carried out for
They
an-ived,
The only recorded
him a present of 500
and had interviews both with
result
is
that the Company's
barrels of gunpowder.
Before
it
war had been both becrun and ended. The Dutch, witii their usual
sagacity, had made the victory easy ])y exciting an internal dissension, and
giving their support to the winning ])arty.
The king's own son had been
induced to take up amis against him, and in 1G82 eftected a revolution which
an-ived the
gave him the throne.
|)any's factory.
This,
One of his first steps was to take possession of the Comwe may ]>resume. was done either at the instigation of
the Dutch or to gratify them; but he had soon cause to see that while he sup-
posed himself indebted to them for a thmne, they had only been using him
as their tool.
The whole power
wa,s already in their hands,
elapsed before they had proelainu-d tlu'niselvt>s absolute
and scarcely a year
n\a,<ters.
The Company.
itt
king to
Kiiglauil.
y
336
A. D 1680.
as
JIISTOKV OF INDIA.
[Hook
on former occasions of a similar description, clamoured loudly
II.
for redress;
and negotiations with that view were (»pened between the English govenirnent
and the
These, after promising much, proved abortive, and
States- general.
Company's connection with Bantam was
tht-
had lasted eighty
finally closed.
It
in the Persian
Gulf was threatened
years.
Trade
Aboiit
in ttio
tliis
time
tlie
Company's trade
At a very
With Similar extinction.
early
penod
in their history they
acquired a permanent revenue, independent of the profits of trade,
Gomberoon
half of the customs of
expel the Portuguese from Ormuz.
had here
by a grant
of
as a reward for assisting the Persians to
For a
series of years
they drew large sums
and at the same time carried on an extensive trade,
making advantageous exchanges of English and Indian goods .against the raw
by virtue of
silks
this grant,
and other produce of
Every new reign
Persia.
in that country-, however,
endangered both their revenue and their trade; and they would often have
abandoned the
ceased to carry
became
in the
had they not been aware that the moment they
latter altogether
it
on the former
also
more precarious than the
stiU
would be
trade,
and
])any's
un-
certain posi-
it
At
la.st
the revenue
continued annually to figure
Company's books under the name of arrears of customs at Gomberoon.
Again and again communications passed on
The Com-
forfeited.
this subject
between the court
home and the presidency at Surat.
The gi'cat question was how the Persian trade could be most
rcvived, and payment of arrears obtained.
At one time negotiation,
_
_
.
seemed expedient and the Company hung, as
force,
;
it
.
effectualh'
'
.
at another
were, su.spended between
the two, leaning sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other.
season
at
In the
675—76, the warlike tendency had so far prevailed that two of the ships
1
consigned to Surat were armed for service in the Persian Gulf; but before the
final
plunge was taken misgivings arose, and the conclusion arrived at was that
could 3000 tomands, equivalent to £9000 sterling per annum, be obtained I
Gomberoon customs,
treaty in lieu of the
This was
undoubtedly a very judicious
it
would be
far better to negotiate.
conclusion.
Negotiation
appears
accordingly to have been attempted, but unfortunately without success
1677-78,
we
find the
Company
;
for in
again agitating the question of peace or war
was only
with Persia, and again giving the preference to the former, though
it
hoped that instead of 3000, 1000 tomands might be recovered.
During the
following season the subject appears to have been overlooked, and in that
1679-80
it
is
mentioned only to record the desponding
(
i"
resolution, that unless
Gomberoon should be more advantageous than it had proved for
The very next year the court must
years it was to be relinquished
the trade at
several
have been agreeably surprised to learn that the aiTears which they had thus
begun
to regard as a desperate debt
by which the King
of Persia
had become the subject of a
special firman,
had ordered the payment of 1000 tomands as
their share of the customs for the previous year,
and that
their agent
was
in
1
on —
60
PROGRESS OF THE COMPANY.
Chap. VI.]
1000 tomands
ex[)ectation of receiving another
for the current year.
It
might
a.d.
i67o.
have been supposed that negotiation, which had already produced such gratifying results, would henceforth have the preference, and yet, strange to say, the
language
the court in regard to Persia becomes
<ji"
more warlike than ever
anid
;
Gomberoon was informed of " their determination
measures," a remonstrance was presented to the King of
683, while their agent at
in
1
to
adopt more spirited
The purport of
Persia himself
An7ials,
is
this
document, as analyzed by Mr. Bruce in his
"The
singular enough to be worth quoting.
stating their claims to his justice, which
singtiUr
gtrance
court," he says, "after Kingof"
was proverbially held
in
Em'ope to be
''^™''
unalterable," proceeded to inform his majesty, "that contrary to this justice his
ministers or officers at the port at which the English factories were settled, or
to
which
their ships resorted,
solemn treaties between
ence they prayed for
if
two countries
relief, yet,
;
trade, in direct violation of
that though with respectful defer-
possessing a naval
power which was
such relief should be withheld by his ministers and
so great
and
officei"s,
unrivalled,
they trusted that
so just a prince would, instead of considering that naval force
which they employed
it
tiie
had obstructed their
for their ])rotection as disrespectful to his dignity,
view
only as a necessary expedient for re.storing the amicable relations between
Persia and England."
The high-flown compliment paid
however undeserved, may pass as an orientalism
ludicrous than the description of their naval
request that he
;
to the shah's justice,
but nothing can be more
power as "unrivalled," and
would consider the employment of
their
against liim as only a
it
"necessary expedient" for restoring "amicable relations."
For the unsatisfactory
state of matters at
Company had some compensation
at
Madras and
in Bengal.
m
Bantam and Gomberoon, the
I'll
which they continued to make
Dutch on Bombay had shown
•
tlie progi-ess
The attempt of the
1
1
the necessity of preparing for a similar attem})t on Fort St. George, and the
works had been so strengthened as to be capable of a vigorous
resistance.
The
expense was, as usual, a subject of complaint in the letter from the court;
1676 special instructions were given that no new buildings should be
])roceeded with, until ])lans and estimates were sent home and returned
and
in
approved.
This was undoubtedly the regular course, but the emergency justified
and subsequent events proved that the expenditure on fortifiSevajee, during an irruption into the Caniatic,
cations had been wisely made.
the neglect of
it,
had passed within a short distance of
tliat notliing
but
its
Madi-iis,
strength preserved
Sm-at had more than once experienced.
he had permanently fixed himself in
its
it
and there
so
by land
much
By
his capture of
vicinity
;
T.
Gingee and Vellore,
and nothing therefore could
it
exposed to an attack,
Indeed, in the verj' next season, the court had become
alive to the importance of Fort St.
their property
VoT.
or sea.
reason to presume
from treatment similar to that which
have been more imprudent than to leave any portion of
either
is
George as a place of security
for
and servants, that they virtually withdrew the censure they had
43
Progress of
*'"*
(^om-
pany at
HISTORY OK INDIA.
838
A.D.
107(J
[Book
II.
previously passed, and ordered the
commanders of
ships consigned to the Coro-
many
large stones at
Johanna (one of the Comoro
niandel coast, " to take in as
Isles; as
iLsed
they could stow, to be
f<jr
the
might be placed
fort, tiiat it
a
of
state
.sufficient
again.st
building of the
in
defence
any enerny."
Meanwhile the subject of
revenue was
uppermost
still
minds of the
the
court,
in
and
they never omitted an occasion
of inculcating the necessity of
increasing
and
it,
proposing
Among
plans for this purpose.
these the first which suggested
Fort of R.\je Giiur, Ginoee —Daniell's Oriental
itself
.'nnnal.
was a house
tax,
with a
view to which a siu-vey was to
Plans for
be made of
all
the houses at Madras, both in the Portuguese and black towns.
increasing
revenue.
In anticipation of the discontent which this tax, and a duty imposed on
of consumption,
who
"those
would produce, the authorities were instructed
must
lived under the English protection
by which that protection was maintained."
similar to the one
King
Bombay
;
the object of the
all
The inducement
£100,000.
Company was not merely
more than
to procure the
Progress of
the
Com-
pany in
so
to depositors
six per cent.
means
much
;
and
of purchasing
but to form a stock which would enable the agency
rates,
ing the very humble scale of the proposed bank,
how
mint at Madras,
dependencies to counterbalance the influence of the Dutch.
its
to
merely to receive deposits for a limited time,
of interest at the rate of not
goods at the cheapest
and
The one was
required.
of Golconda to establish a
an amoimt not exceeding in
was the payment
was
the other was to institute a bank, not, however,
in the full sense of the term, but
to
contriljute to the charges
which had already, by the authority of the English monarch,
been established at
and
to explain that
There were two other plans of
increasing the revenue, for which less apology
obtain authority from the
articles
should have been expected from
it is difficult
Consider-
to understand
it.
The progress of the Company's trade in Bengal was at this period considerThe principal factory was still Hooghly, to which several others Balaable.
—were subordinate.
Bengal.
sore,
1
Cossimbazar, Dacca, Malda, and Patna
674<-75 the whole
of India
amount of
was £202,000.
have been suspected that
would prove
were authorized to increase
ment purchased was
In the season
stock, principally bullion, sent to the eastern coast
Of this, £65,000 was destined
it
—
it
to consist
insufficient,
for Bengal.
It
seems to
and accordingly the
factors
The
invest-
by taking up £20,000 at interest.
chiefly of silks and taffetas of a
fine quality,
"
Chap. VI.
and
PROGRESS OF THE COMPANY.
339
1
salti)etre.
Should any
money
sui'plu.s
remain,
was
it
employed
to be
purchasing white sugar, cotton yarn, tm-meric, and bees'- wax, merely to
spare tonnage.
from
maximum,
its
in 1680-81
it
up
In the two following years the amount of the investment was
nearly the same; but in 1677-78
far
fill
in a.d mm.
and was
were permitted to increase
as the factors
amounted
rose to £100,000,
it
to £150,000,
considered
still
it
by borrowing
and in the following season
to £230,000,
distributed as follows:— £140,000 to Cossimbazar, £14,500 to Patna, £32,000
to Balasore,
£15,000 to Malda, and £12,000
Bengal had been subordinate to Fort
remain at HooMily.
George, but
St.
it
Hitherto
was now considered of
importance to constitute a distinct and independent agency.
sufficient
Hedges,
to
who had been
a meml^er of the
management
England, was sent out
in
with special powers to be agent and governor of the Company's
affairs in Bengal.
His establishment, however, appears to have been on a very humble
his guard, restricted to
twenty
and courage," were to peiform
soldiers
under
scale, as
a corporal of approved fidelit}-
duty of ]n-otecting the
in addition the double
Hooghly and acting against the
factory at
"
Mr.
interlojiers.
In consequence of the erection of Bengal into a separate agency, vessels
were despatched direct from England to the Ganges, and on a
shows that the importance of the trade in
ciated.
size of
Beiig,ii.
was now duly appre-
In 1682-83, one of the vessels carried thirty guns; another was of the
700
empowered
tons,
to
£350,000
;
and
borrow £200,000, which, with the unemployed stock and credit
was expected
hoyies
for
investment of
were held out that the stock of the ensuing season would
realized, serious difficulties
by the unexj^ected
sum
to yield a pre.sent
to £600,000, principally in bullion.
Company with
The agent was
which was rather unusual at this period.
of the former season,
amount
this quarter
which
scale
Extent of
failure
These hopes, however, were not
having arisen both at home and abroad
—at home
of .several large houses which used to sup])ly the
bullion for ex])ort
and abroad by the
;
loss of
one of the outward
bound ships with i.70,000 of bullion on board, the capture of Bantam
Dutch, and the imposition of
new and
liy
heavier customs in Bengal, together with
the discovery of irregularities in the Company's factories in that pro\nnce.
consequence of
all
the
In
these untoward events a panic began to prevail, and a run
took place on the Company's treasury- threatening
with insolvency.
Instead,
therefore, of providing foreign investments, the court resolved in the
meantime
to reserve all
it
the produce of their sales for the pajTuent of their debts, and
neither to send bullion to India nor
these debts were licjuidated.
With
dation, all the settlements abroad
make any dividend
to their ]>roprietoi-s
the view of facilitating this process of liqui-
were placed on the lowest possible
scale
Bengal, which had begun to act as an independent agency, wa-s again
subordinate to Madras.
was thus shorn of
great addition to
its
its
Somewhat
till
inconsistently, at the very thne
when
;
and
made
Benn-al
independence, the court were seriously contemplatino- a
importance by endeavouring to
actjuii-e
possession of an
state of
th..
LTi!"^*
340
A,i). io»6.
OF INDIA.
IILSTOJIV
island in the moutii of
tlie
Ganges.
cations were to be immediately
Could such an acquisition be made,
commenced.
the Company's establishments in Bengal
when Charles
with the Mogul
HE
Duke
of York,
— Disastrous
employ
A
favour.
and
Change in
the
it
all
II.
— Hostile
— War
preparations
results.
now James
shareholder in the Company, and
to
died
II.
Yll,
Company's policy on the accession of James
in the
fortifi-
Such was the dubious position of
OHAPTEK
Marked change
[Book H.
II.,
had been a considerable
was understood
to be willing
the power and influence of the crown in their
new
was hence
course of prosperity
anticipated,
soon became apparent that the moderation and caution
deemed
hitherto manifested were no longer
necessary.
The
interlopers
were
Com-
pany's
policy.
henceforth to be proceeded against with a rigour which, while admitted to be
most
desirable,
had previously been deemed
impolitic.
In England prosecutions
were immediately to be commenced in the Comi, of King's Bench against no
who were charged with
and several of whom, it was
Com-
fewer than forty-eight individuals,
violating the
pany's exclusive privileges,
supposed, would be
unable to
make any
effectual defence, because the statements contained in then-
petitions to the king
were to be
the judge- advocate established at
laid hold of as admissions of guilt.
Bombay was
law established in the British army, that
in trying the
commanders and
and council were
officers of
it
In India
furnished with the code of martial
might become the rule of
his conduct
the interloping ships and the president
;
specially enjoined not to perplex themselves
with questions as
to the legality of the proceedings, but to be careful in providing that the sen-
by the judge should be
tences pronounced
carried into execution.
The Company
must have been aware that the outcry which had been raised against them would
thus become more clamorous than ever
;
but they acted as
if
they had imbibed
the spirit of the last of the Stuarts, and were resolved, if they could not conciliate public opinion, to set it at defiance.
Company
claim to be
independent in
power.
In a similar
spii'it,
the native powers were no longer to be addressed in sub-
Company would henceforth
and when aggrieved would, if neces-
missive petitions, but given to understand that the
treat with
sary,
as
them
as
an independent power,
compel redress by force of arms.
much
as it expressed, the
Company
them
to appoint their president. Sir
of
their forces
all
by
sea
and
To show that
this
haughty tone meant
obtained the king's patent, authorizing
John
Child, " captain-general
and admiral
land, in the northern parts of India,
from Cape
WAELIKE SCHEMES.
Chap. VIT.l
341
To give effect to this appointment, he wa.s to
fix the seat of government at Bombay, while Surat was to be reduced to a simple
factory and he was to maintain a kind of state, by the attendance of a guaid
Comorin
to the Gulf of Persia."
ad.
icss.
;
of English grenadiers
It
under the command of an ensign with the rank of captain.
was presumed that the removal
to
Bombay would
government, but under the new policy
this
give umbrage to the Mogul
was a very secondary consideration,
Sambajee and the native princes generally, were to
as not only the Mogul, but
Company had now
be given to understand that the
Bombay an impregnable
in
from which they woidd be able to retaliate at sea for any exactions and
retreat,
This was no empty
depredations to which they might be subjected on shore.
menace, for the same vessel which carried out the above pubhc instructions,
carried others of a
more important
still
nature, tran.^mitted from a secret com-
mittee, with the approbation of the king,
till
the
moment
for acting
An armament
out had
.sailed
to seventy
on a
upon them had
far larger scale
from England.
and intended not
than the Company had ever before
It consisted of ten .ships,
guns each, and carrying as
ships,
a
fleet of
nineteen
north-east side of the
fying
it
On
was Bengal.
many
five per cent,
as,
mountnig from twelve
with those which were
make 1000
regular infantry.
was
Its
to effect a landing at Chittagong, on the
of Bengal, and take permanent possession of
mounting 200 cannons upon
in the best manner,
and levying
troops
fitted wariiko
arriving there, and forming, with the Company's
sail, it
Bay
made known
arrived.
ordered to join them on their arrival, would
destination
to be
customs on the inhabitant.s.
it,
The
it,
forti-
establishing a mint,
possibility of a failure
The instructions, accordingly, presuming a complete success, enter into a number of minute details for the purpose
of regulating future proceedings.
After Chittagong was captured and made
secure, and all Mogul ships of every description had been seized and declared
.seems never to
have been contemplated.
was
up the eastern branch of the Ganges
against Dacca.
Supposing, as a matter of course, that the nabob and his troops
would immediately save themselves by flight, peace was to be offered to him on
lawful prizes, the expedition
to proceed
the following conditions: that he should cede the city
gong
to the
and
Company, and pay the debts he owed them
;
teiritory of Chitta-
that
lie
the loipees coined at Chittagong to pass current in his district,
privileges according to ancient firmans.
ships
and property
respective losses
seized,
should allow
and
restore all
Should he claim restitution of the
he was to be told that the parties were to bear their
and expenses
diu'ing the
war
;
and
that,
while these were the
most favourable terms which the Company were disposed to concede, even these
would not be binding upon them, unless they were
ratified
and embodied
in a
regular treaty by the Great Mogul.
As if a
commence
war were not enouiih at one time, the armament was also
hostilities with the King of Siam, and seize his vessels by way
single
compensation for the
losses
which the Company had sustained
to siam
of
in his dominions.
t« bo
HISTOID' OF INDIA.
•JJ-S
AD
iiisu
Nor was
and
at
if
The Portuguese were
tliis all.
Bombay was
along with
not only to
them, but to employ the
refu.se
and other dependencies, which
and island of Bombay ought
it.
'^11
proved bv the
re.sult.
On
were prematurely commenced.
up a
have canied
to
itsell''
soldiers in the bazaar at
was
si£rnall\.
O
Hooghly, hos-
The nabob's troops were
a cannonade of the Company's
An
or submit their differences to arbitration.
impossible,
defeated,
and
Before this
fleet.
amicable settlement
and indeed was not desired by the Company, who had made
of claims exceeding in the aggregate £500,000 sterling,
list
was
Khan, the nabob, was disposed to compromise matters with the
event, Shaistah
was now
by
suffered severely
Company,
it
the 28th October, 1686, in consequence of a quarrel
between three English and some native
Hooghly
and military
fleet
Xlic extravagancc
of these schemes, sufficiently aT)T)arent in
°
tilities
:
they continued to exact customs at Tanna and Caranja, the president
asserted that the grant of the port
gance of
theschemes.
II.
to be dealt with aftei- a similar fashion
forces at his disposal in seizing Salsette
Kxtrava-
[Book
and were
indulging the hope that by their warlike succe.sses a considerable portion of
might be secured
for their treasury,
though they must have been aware that
many of the items charged were fictitious, or at least conjectural As
men the following may be mentioned
" For detaining ye agent with
:
at Cassumbuzar, 400,000 rupees'
—
rupees
'
'To demorage
"
(£200,000).
a speci-
ye silk
"For what extorted from us
(£40,000).
presents, &c., 200,000 rupees" (£20,000).
last years, 2,000,000
it
in
of shipping, the three
For charge of 1000 men and twenty
ships for ye war, also 2,000,000 rupees" (£200,000;.
Their failure.
Immediately
after the attack
on Hooghly, the Moguls, pretending
to be
intimidated, but merely with the view of gaining time, obtained a cessation of
during which the servants of the
hostilities,
Company removed with
their pro-
perty from that town, and on 20tli December, 1686, fixed on Chuttanuttee, or
How
Calcutta, as a safer station while negotiations were pending.
issue soon
seized
became apparent
;
for the nabob,
upon the English factory
at Patna,
Company now became
prospects of the
making no
these
would
secret of his intentions,
and imprisoned
all
the inmates.
sufficiently alarming.
The
The prematm-e
made the Moguls aware of what was intended the subsequent delay
had enabled them to complete their preparations; and it had become impos.sibIe
to disguise the fact, that the armament which had been pro^dded was inadequate
attack had
;
Chittagong could not be attacked with any probability of
to its object.
In pi'oportion
to the extravagance of the hopes
the despondency produced
first
took alarm.
by
failure.
the same
career,
fate.
What
;
^Ir. Gj'fford,
that of Golconda
then was to prevent
and advancing upon Madras?
tion to Bengal,
which had been entertained was
the president of Madras,
Aurungzebe's army was approaching.
quered the kingdom of Bejapoor
had been
left
Fort
St.
success.
it
It
had already con-
was on the point of sharing
from continuing
its
victorious
George, to reinforce the expedi-
almost entirelv without a garrison and without
"
NEW
Chap. VII.]
Thus unprovided with the means of
military stores.
no safety
for
343
PLANS.
except in negotiation.
it
cation with the Mogul,
With
this
defence, the president
saw
.v.d.
xm.
view he opened a communi-
and by means of various flimsy excuses
for the hostilities
U..^^
'WAS AWVVMS^.
Mi
Pat.sa.
'
— From Darnell's Views in India.
luimMy deprecated his dis})leasure, and prayed for a confirmation of
the privileges which Madras had so long enjoyed.
The court at home, never dreaming of the gloomy aspect which affairs had
rombay anu
assumed, continued to busy themselves with their schemes of aggrandizement,
foi-moa into
in Bengal,
and the various changes wliich might become necessary by the accomplishment
of them.
to the
In imitation of the Dutch at Batavia and Colombo, they raised
rank of a regency, and declared their wish that
and money could make
.strong as art
Child,
who
presided at
settlements in India.
raised to the
governor of the
The
was
to
As
should be fortified " as
the seat of government, Sir
have unlimited power over
all
John
the Company's
Madras, too, though subordinate to Bombay, wjis
al.so
rank of a regency, and at the same time (1687) received a charter
of incorporation.
council.
it,
it."
it
Bombay
Before this charter was granted the governor and deputy-
Company were commanded
subject of the intended charter
to attend his majesty at the cabinet
was then
only question whicli appears to have excited
charter should pass immediately
common
by the
much
largely debated, though the
interest
was
—whether the
king, under the great seal, or whether
One member of council
argued in favour of the former method, but the governor, when the king asked
his opinion, replied as follows:
"What his majesty thought best the Company
it
should pass under the
seal of the
Company.
—
woidd always think
opinion, he
so; but if his majesty expected the governor's
had ever been of opinion, that no person
by immediate commission from
prejudicial to
oiu' service
by
in India should be emploj-ed
his majesty, because if they
their arrogancy,
and
private
were they woiUd be
prejudicial
to themselves,
because the wind of extraordinary honour in their heads would probably
them
so
haughty and overbearing that we should be forced
to
make
remove them.
^^^^^'''^
344>
A.I), loss.
TliLs
view of the matter so
common
the
natives),
who were
fai-
])eriod
thi.s
when
silk
was
charter the coq)oration
t<»
and wear thin
gowas,
silk scarlet
gowns.
was granted, the population of the city of
George, and the villages within the Company s
St.
bounds was estimated at 300,000.
at a quit-rent of 1200 pagodas, or
and
;
to paas under
this charter
town of Fort
could not be disputed
was made
II.
Company's servants and seven
(tiiree
to be justices of the peace,
M;i(lriui.
Madi-as, the
Under
and ten aldermen
and of 1 20 burgesses with black
At the
fTV>0K
prevailed, that tlie charter
Company.
seal of the
consist of a niay(;r
Tenure of
or india.
IFls'I"()l;^
The whole was held of the King of
about £430.
The obligation to pay
Company under
yet, as if the
their
Golcond;i
this
sum
new policy had
considered themselves entitled to dispense with justice wherever force could
effect their object, tliey
future
payment
as not to
lease or
to
caused intimation to be
him would depend on
become an annoyance
to
Fort
farm to the Company, the
his
made
keeping
St.
Thom^
If he
George.
St.
king that
to the
in such a
would not
president, " as repre.senting
theii-
manner
on
let it
an independent
power, was not only to refuse pajonent of the quit-rent, but to declare the place
the property of the Company.
For the gross fraud and violence thus propo.sed
'
to
be perpetrated, the only justification attempted was that the King of Golconda's
sion
on
much
by the victories of the Mogul, and his expulfrom Masulipatam by the Dutch," and that "it was impracticable to can-y
"
power had been
decreased
maintain a seat of government without revenue."
trade, or
Such were the
Machiavellian principles shamelessly advocated by the court in their
lettei-s
to
Madras in the season 1687-88.
When
Continued
the failure of the expedition to Bengal was annoimced in England,
Wtir witli
the Mogul
the court, instead of attributing
it
to the tortuous policy
which they had begun
to pursue,
were ungenerous enough to throw the whole blame on their
in India.
The agency of Bengal were censured
with having
for their timid conduct, charged
own ends, regardless of the honour and
king and Company who had confided in them, and threatened
selfishly
interests of the
ser\'ants
pursued their
with expulsion from the service
war should not be
if,
by
accomplished.
willing to abandon; and therefore,
Defence, under the
command
their sinister schemes, the objects of the
These objects the Company were not
when
\'et
despatching a large ship, called the
of Captain Heath, and a small frigate, fully
armed, and carrying a reinforcement of
1
60
soldiers, to assist in
the war, the}'
intimated their determination that "imless a fortification and a district around
it
should be ceded, to be held as an independent sovereignty, the charges of the
armament
1
)e
defrayed,
and permission
to coin
and nabob's dominions, be
in the Mogul's
a peace, or send
any more stock or goods
money in
gi'anted,
Bengal, to pass cuiTent
they would not consent to
to the Ganges."
These boastings and
menaces become ludicrous when viewed in connection with the actual position
of
affairs,
whom
the
and only
]n-oclaim the ignorance, presumption,
home management
of the
Company was
and
foll}^
of those to
at this time intrusted
;
TORTUOUS POLICY.
VII.]
('.(AP.
345
Captain Heath arrived in Bengal in October, 1688, and, proceeding to act
a.d. ios9.
on instruction.s which had become altogether inappUcable to the circumstances,
embarked the Company's property at Calcutta, and then proceeded
to Balasore
rroceedings
in the
Roads.
The members of the
(Jai)tain
Heath, though he opened a negotiation with the governor, was too
had been seized and imprisoned; but
factory there
imi)atient to wait for the result of
Having
it.
effected a landing, he captured
By
a battery of thirty guns, and then plundered the town.
gained
who were
this proceeding he
and threw away the only chance of obtaining the English
little,
now amounting
fleet,
negotiation,
was
prisoners,
From
carried off into the interior to endure a hopeless Cciptivity.
Balasore he proceeded to Chittagong; but in.stead of attacking
ecpiipped
and then
to fifteen
sail,
set sail for Aracan.
it
with his well-
he spent some days in
It
The
ajiplication,
fruitless
was supposed that as the king
at enmity with the ]\logul, a locality for a fortified settlement
easily obtained.
Hay
of Bengal.
might be
however, was refu.sed; and Captain Heath,
an ineffectual attempt to secure his object by corn-ting the alliance of a
after
rebel chief, finally quitted the Bengal coast,
March,
689.
1
On
board the
fleet
was
all
and arrived at Madras on the 4th of
that
now remained
to the
Company
of the wreck of their once flourishing factories in Bengal.
On
the west coast of India the results were not
intimation of the warlike policy of the
committee in a
secret
marked
to be
more
satisfactory.
The
fii'st Tortuou.s
policy of
Company was commvuiicated by
letter to President Child,
the
intended for his eye alone, but
opened in his absence by Sir John Wyborae, deputy-governor of
The president was absent, and Sir John not onl}' opened the letter,
but imprudently communicated the contents to the council. The secret was of
a kind not likely to be kept, and great alarm was felt lest it should reach the
Bombay.
ears of the governor of Surat.
of the
This was altogether contrary to the intentions
Company, who were bent on canying out a
gi'eat
scheme of fraud by
making sudden war on the Mogul in one quarter of his dominions, when they
were delutling him with professions of friend.ship in another.
In Bengal his
territory
was
to be invaded,
and
his ships
and those of
lawful prizes, not only there, but in the eastern seas
and
his subjects seized as
in the Pei-sian Gulf
while on the west coast of India, and particularly at Surat, a
was
to be worn,
This nefarious
able.
John
Child,
who
hostilities
it,
mode
off so long as
of friendship
concealment might seem desir-
of warfare excited no scruples in the
at once entered into the spirit of
"a high
the Company," by
expresses
of
and not thrown
mask
it,
mind
and discovered, as Bnice
sense of duty, and a provident concern for the interests
resolving not only to keep
with the Mogul
till
up the deception and avoid
the result of the Bengal expedition should be
known, but even "should circumstances oblige him
take the responsibility on himself"
The meaning
to
commence
is,
that he
ho.stilities,
was
Vol.
I.
to
to act as a
and enable them, should the war prove unsuccessful, to
utter disregard of ti-uth and honour, that he had acted without their
screen to the Comj)any,
allege, in
of Sir
44
tlio
company,
346
A.D. 1C89.
JIJSTORY OF INDIA.
In the
authority.
apparently as
if
supposed, thei-efore, Sir
ca.se
[Book
John Child was
to
l;e
II.
treated
he had incurred the displeasuie of the Company, and they were
by negotiating with the Mogul
and trade, upon the same basLs as they
to follow out the wretched sy.stem of duplicity
" for the restoration of their privileges
were anterior
Came
At
of
tliis
apparently unwise proceedings."
to his
game
of deceit
was not easy
it
to overmatch the Mogul,
Company's experience ere long furnished a new
that "honesty
At
first
is
the best policy."
Sir
and the
illastration of the old a^lage,
John Child di-sjjlayed considerable dexterity.
he despatched two of the Company's ships to Mocha and Bu.ssorah, and
two others
to China,
they might
fall in
with secret orders to
seize all the
At the same time he
with.
Mogul
or Siamese vessels
de.spatched a ship to Surat to
mouth of the estuary, and endeavour if possible to bring off all the
members and property of the factory. The governor of Sm-at was too well
informed, and too much on the alert to be thus imposed upon.
Without prolie off
the
ceeding to acts of violence, he kept sucli a strict watch that the escape of the
agent and factors was impracticable.
Child tried the effect of
port of Bombay.
Craft being thus unavailing, Sir
and suddenly
force,
The governor,
affecting
John
seized all the Surat ships in the
an intimidation wliich he did not
him with a complimentary letter, in
which he expressed an anxious wish to come to an accommodation, and to know
what terms would satisfy the Company, and induce them to resume trade. The
sent one of the English factors to
feel,
factor returned to Surat with a statement of grievances, comprising thirty-five
articles, including,
inter alia, satisfaction for stoppage of goods at the custom-
house, for the obstruction of investments, for the demurrage of vessels detained,
for the refusal to deliver
from 2 to 3^ per
up
and
their ships, for the raising of customs
the refusal of permission to coin money, for the impo-
cent., for
sition of arbitrary taxes,
interlopers
and the
seizure of horses
and goods
for the Mogul's
use without paying for them.
Capture of
was retm'ned to these propositions. Captain Andrews,
commanding one of the ships which had been sent to the Persian Gulf, returned
to Bombay, bringing with liim an interloping ship and six Mogul vessels, which
Before any answer
were
sailing
under Dutch
These captures speedily becoming known,
colom^s.
put an end to the trick of concealing actual
any further attempt
and
therefore,
without
John Child despatched two large ships to
Mogul vessels that should be met with, and also
it should attempt to cross the bar with the view
at disguise, Sir
Surat, with orders to seize all
to attack the Siddee's fleet, if
of putting out to sea.
Svu-at,
hostilities,
During these proceedings a new governor arrived at
and professed such friendly
request of the agent,
made
feelings, that Sir
his appearance
John
off Sm-at,
Cliild, at
the urgent
and succeeded, as he
thought, in negotiating a provisional convention on the basis of his thirty-five
articles.
Though
the Compan}^,
these
now
fell far
short of
what had
alive to the difficulties in
at one time been anticipated,
which their fraud and
folly
had
I
—
DISAPPOINTMENTS.
Chap. VII.]
347
involved them, were so delighted at the prospect of a treaty with the Mogul,
that they voted the president a present of 1000 guineas, as a
mark
a.d. imo.
of approba-
wisdom of his pi'oceedings dm'ing the war, and for his general services.
The vote was afterwards discovered to have been premature. The
governor of Simit had merely begim to play his part in the game of deceit,
tion for the
and
in order to gain
time had professed a willingness to accept of terms which
he was determined to repudiate.
tlian
No
sooner, therefore,
was
his object secured,
he threw off the ma.sk of friendship, again imprisoned the members of the
factory, confiscated all the
the person of Sir
John
outwitted, returned to
Company's property, and
The
Child, alive or dead.
offered a large
reward
for
president, thus completely
Bombay, and found no other means of avenging himself
than by capturing forty vessels of a large
fleet of
Mogul merchantmen.
Though the prospect of an amicable termination had now become hopeless,
one effort more was made by sending a deputation to Aurungzebe himself, who
was then encamped witli his
army at Bejapoor.
Meanwhile, Sir John Child found
Di^vpointmciiU.
himself so completely powerthat he
less,
prevent
was unable
inakinof
upon the
from
Siddee
the
to
several
descents
island,
and even
threatening an attack upon
the castle of Bombay.
He
had no
the
to
spirit
face
r
gathering storm, and died
on
1
the
690.
of
•ith
Had
Street of the Fountains, Bi;jAroun
-V .^'v*.-'*.
'
— Kroin drawing in Esist India House.
Februar}-,
he lived a few weeks longer, he would have seen the
Company
in
a more humiliating position than he had ever contemplated as possible; for
shortly after, Aurungzebe's answer to the deputation which
him arrived
had been sent
to
in the form of a firman, couched in the following terms:
" All the English havino-
made a most humble, submissive
petition, that the ignominious
1*68 ulu.
crime they have done
make
may
be pardoned, and re(iuested another phirmaund, to
their being forgiven manifest,
palace, the
most
and sent
their hakkeels to the heavenly
illustrious in the world, to get the royal favour
;
and Ettimaund
Caun, the governor of Sm-att's petition to the famous court, equal to the
skie,
being arrived, that they would present the great king with a fine of 150,000
rupees, to his
most noble treasury, representing the
merchants' goods they had taken
away
to the
sun,
and would
restore the
owners of them, and would walk
by the ancient customs of the port, and behave themselves for the future no
in such a shameful manner; therefore his majestv, according to his duty
7"~^""
Lmore
"
'
HISTORY OF INDIA.
348
AD
1090.
II.
forgiven tliem, and out of his princely condescension agrees, that the present
put into the treasury of the port, the
and they follow
flourish,
their trade, as in fonner times
While the Company were
Effectsof the
bitter fruits
piof their
great patron
James
Revohition
11.
thus,
This order
by a kind
•
policy,
who
Child,
did
irreversible."
is
o
i
^
another calamity had befallen them.
Their
had been driven from the throne which he unwortiiily
ecclesiastical despotism,
Company
and Mr.
;
of jast retribution, reaping the
i
The Revolution, which saved the
occupied.
and
war
i
Ije
goods be returned, the t<jwn
inercliants'
he turned out and expelled.
tlie disgrace,
of 1088.
[Book
liberties of the nation
was no doubt eminently favourable
from
to trade
civil
but
;
They held a monopoly
which a powerful party were bent on wresting from them, and they had themthe
unfortunately stood in a false position.
much odium by
selves incurred
the rigorous and despotic mea.siu-es which they
had adopted
in maintaining their exclusive privileges.
wonderful
in these circumstances, while they
fied
if,
It
would not have been
were regarded as almost
with the dynasty which had just been expelled, they had
The Company, though
The
spirit of
.shared its fate.
fully alive to the danger, did not lose heart, but re.solved
no means untried that promised
to leave
identi-
to avert
it.
freedom evoked during the struggle with the
last of the Stuarts,
was naturally taken advantage of by the opponents of the Company and no
sooner had William and Mary been seated on the throne, than it was boldly
;
maintained that the crown had exceeded
its
powers in granting exclusive pnvi-
leges of trade, without the consent of the other branches of the legislature.
This
on the solution of which the very existence of the Company evidently
(question,
much longer delayed. It was not to be expected that,
while thus existing only by a kind of reprieve, they would venture on any large
expenditure in new and hazardous enterprises, or even continue their equip-
depended, could not be
ments on
their previous scale.
two
ships,
them destined
of
for
In the season
1
689-90, they sent out only three
Bombay, and one
same time, when they were thus curtailing
exertions to increase their revenue; and,
still
for
Fort
their trade, they
Aspirations
revenue
ing tcrms
trade
:
:
"tis
our trade:
"
The
object of our revenue
that must maintain our force
that
'tis
trade where nobody of power thinks
it
is
it
that the wise Dutch, in
seen, write ten
policy, warfare,
when twenty
by
Bombay
concerning trade."
in the foUow-
much
in India: "vvithout
may intennipt
that we are but
his majesty's royal charter,
their interest to prevent us
all their
;
to be established
partly explained
by the change
fit
only to
and upon
general ad\'ices w^hich
civil
this
we have
and military
their revenue, for one paragraph they wi-ite
This language, which certainly sounds strange in a
which professed
as cm-
accidents
paragraphs concerning their government, their
and the increase of
made strenuous
the subject of our care as
must make us a nation
as a great nation of interlopers, vmited
account
is
the
clinging to the idea of becoming an
independent Indian power, addressed the presidency of
—
At
George.
St.
Company
"on a purely mercantile bottom," may be
wdiich
had taken place
in Evu'opean politics.
"
The
NEW COMPANY.
PETITION FOR A
Chap. VII.]
3*9
wise Dutch," whose conduct, after having been so often the subject of ad.
bitter vituperation,
now
eulogized as a model, were
is
1093.
in close alliance with
England; while France, which had been rapidly acquiring power and influence
warwith
Franco.
in the East,
had become
their
common enemy.
was
issue of the hostilities, it
Wliatever might be the ultimate
scarcely possible, while they continued, to carry
Both in the East and in Europe, French privateers were
on a profitable trade.
on the watch to make prizes of the Company's
was
It
ships.
therefore easy to
represent the curtailed equipments as the result of prudential arrangements,
and
make revenue a primary
to justify the resolution to
The accom-
object.
plishment of this object, however, was attended with considerable
At Bombay taxation had already been
In Fort
insurrection.
St.
carried to an extent
difficulty.
which had produced
George a similar result was threatened
but the court,
;
listening only to their necessities, lield that the additional revenue actually
obtained was " by no means e(]ual to what might have been expected, or drawn
from a
fortified
that the
town which could
amount might be
and
afford protection to shipping
annum,
increased to £100,000 per
of taxation should be introduced with that which the
if
trade,
and
a similar system
Dutch had established
at
Batavia."
The opposition
to the
Company had now assumed
a definite shape, by the
])resentation of a petition to the
House of Commons, praying
sanction to the establishment of a
new company, formed on more
ciples.
From
on the 16th of January,
the East India trade,
this to
for legislative indiaCom-
the causes already mentioned, the petitioners found
and a committee was appointed who,
is
to have
it
liberal prin-
much
favour,
after fully hearing both parties, reported
way
16i)0, that, in their opinion, " the best
in a
new company and
be established by act of parliament; but that
a
to
new joint
till
this
exclusive trade shoidd remain with the present Company."
manage
stock,
and
was done, the
Parliament was
prorogued before this report could be taken into consideration, but in 1691 the
resolution of the committee
was
virtually sanctioned l)y an address
which the
House of Commons presented to the crowni. After this decided step, the Company became convinced that their privileges would never be secure until they
were confirmed by statute. To this object, accordingly, their domestic ])olicy
was henceforth more especially devoted. In a petition to parliament they set
forth their claims at full length,
and ultimately gained what they justly
consi-
dered a victory, because the adverse decision previously given against them was
not repeated
;
and the House of Commons, as
if satisfied
that they had hitherto
acted in the matter with some degree of precipitation, simply referred the whole
business to the king.
assured that even
if
This was just what the
argument shoidd
the favour of government
.
cious nature.
What
fail,
Company
they had
it
desired, for
in their
power
they
necessary only to mention the result
—
that,
;
felt
to conciliate
by the emplojTiient of other means of a more
these were will shortly appear
Petition for
eflica-
but in the meantime
it is
on the 7th of October, 1693, the
-""'^
HISTORY
3.:0
A.D.
16(18.
Company
it
o})tained a
new
TXHTA.
0T<^
charter from the crown.
[Book
Before considering
II.
its taniiH,
will be proper to glance at the state of affairs in India.
As
state of the
already mentioned, the
Company
sent out only three ships from England
Compaiiy'8
trade.
In the following season the same number only was
in the season 1689-90.
and not
so
much
purpose of carrying on trade at the great marts, which
for the
they enjoyed before their unhappy
any remains of
traffic
and
vessels
was sent
foitified
;
;
third, proceeding direct to
to Bencoolen in Sumatra, where,
accessible, a factory
had been
was
to
might be
possible to collect from
Bombay, was
to endeavour to obtain
it
a cargo by touching at the different stations on the Malabar
new start, and
uj>
not affected by these
the second vessel, destined for Fort St. George,
load with coast goods, including those which
Bengal and the
localities
Bantam, which was no longer
as a substitute for
established
with the Mogul, as of picking
hostilities
which might be found in
Thus one of the
hostilities.
sent,
In 1692-93
coast.
number of ships despatched amounted to eleven.
The main cause of the increase was the re-establishment of trade within the
Mogul territories, on terms which, though humiliating, the Company were too
trade took a
glad to accept
;
the
but something also
may have been due
to the better prospect
which they now had of obtaining a confirmation of their privileges from the
The
king.
season,
which
must have operated
still
more powerfully
in the ensuing
and accordingly the number of ships sent out amounted
sailed as
During the
Progresi5 of
and French,
latter cause
two
successive fleets in
hostilities
the blunders of the
the Indian market.
to thirteen,
January and March.
with the Mogul, the Dutch and French had turned
Company
to
good account, and, in a manner, monopolized
The advantages thus acquired by the Dutch were not
eventually of serious consequence, because the strict alliance into which they
were brought with England prevented them from using these advantages, at
least openly, for the purpose of injuring the
While the Company were
with the French.
advantage which
Company.
it
had
cost
factories at
case
different
of a century to secure, the
Surat on the Malabar
the mouth of the Ganges, but had acquired a
was
sacrificing all the substantial
them the better part
French had not only established
The
coast,
and
in
commanding settlement on the
Coromandel coast at Pondicherry, eighty-five miles south-south-west of Madras.
Even when France and England were
the
allies,
from expressing the jealousy and fear which they
the French
;
and now that the
alliance
felt at
had been broken
were once more open enemies, one of the
first
could not refrain
the rising prosperity of
up,
and the two nations
instructions sent out to the presi-
dency of Surat was to endeavour to secure the
trade
Company
safetj' of their
by wresting Pondicherry from the French.
presidency could ventiu-e to attempt with the feeble
was
means at
Tliis
settlements and
far
more than the
their disposal,
and
the struggle which was finally to decide the ascendency between the rival estab-
lishments was necessarily reserved to a future period.
far
Indeed, at this time, so
were the Company from being in a condition to undertake the siege of Pon-
NEW CROWN
Chap. VIII.]
they were unable to maintain their
(licherry, that
fleet of four
guns, which
CHARTERS.
ships,
mounting respectively
had made
351
own ground
sixty-six, sixty,
against a French ad.
forty,
1002.
and twenty
appearance on the west coast of India, and captured
its
one of the Company's ships within
fifty miles of
•
what counterbalanced by a gam on the
1
Bombay.
east coast,
This
loss
was some-
rii
1
•
1
where legnapatam, situated
settlement
^^ Kort St
Davia.
only about twelve miles south of Pondicherry, was acquired by purchase from a
native prince, and immediately converted into the strong and important settle-
ment
of Fort St. David.
we were then
their
It
at war, allowed the
immediate
Company
Dutch, our
vicinity, the
whom
rather curious, that while the French, with
is
quietly to fortify themselves in
allies,
manifested the utmost jealousy,
and refused to recognize the right which the Company claimed, in virtue of
their
and customs.
pm'chase, to levy harbom* dues
CHAPTEH YIIL
New
crown charters
— Hostile
|OTH
i[i
House of Commons — Wholesale bribery
—Rival Company established by act of parliament.
feeling of the
disclosures
the disgraceful termination of the
enemies,
^^^t
in which the
pany had engaged with the Mogul, and the
mind produced by
f-i^^^^*;?^
war
to the
who
Com-
state of the public
the Revolution, gave great advantages to their
endeavoured, by a petition which they presented
House of Commons,
Hshment of a new Company was able
entirely lost to the nation.
and scandalous
to prove that nothing but the estab-
to save the East India trade
-111
The question raised by the
ni
tant not to attract considerable attention
house, to take cognizance of
it,
•
•
;
•
from being
•
])etition
was too impor-
and a committee, appointed by the
began by requiring an exact
state of the
Com-
pany's accounts, an estimate of their stock, goods, cash, and debts, and a view
of the correspondence both at
home and
abroad.
The Company meanwhile met
the petition of their opponents with a counter-petition, and both sides having
been fully heard, resolutions were adopted, laying
down a
series of general pro-
on which the trade to the East Indies should in future
be carried on. The most important of the resolutions were " That a sum not
less than o(?l,500,000, and not exceeding i^2, 000,000, was a fund neces.sary to
positions as to the terms
—
carry on the East India trade in a joint stock
sess
any larger share than
of 5000,
contracts should be made, but
all
— that
no one person should pos-
nor have more than one vote
—that no
i)rivate
goods be sold at public sales by inch of candle,
except saltpetre for the use of the crown, and in lots each not exceeding at one
time the value of .i^oOO
— that
all
di\ndends be
made
in
monev, and no dividend
Parii.imen-
^^
resolu-
tiom
—
'
3o2
A
D. 1692.
IlLSTORY OF INL»IA.
be made without leaving a
— that no
ships, either
fund
.sufficient
t(j
pay
[Book
debts and carry on
all
If.
tlie tra^le
with permission or without, for the future be allowed to
go to the East Indies, except only such as should be of a company, or be estab-
by
lished
parliament
to continue
the monopoly.
the joint stock of a
company
to trade to
East Indies be for twenty-one years, and no longer."
tlie
Intention of
—and that
act of parliament
Thougli
mention was made of the existinj;
i
o iu tlicsc rcsolutious no express
o Company, it bccame evident, from other resolutions adopted immediately after, that
.„,.
.
,.
,.
,
the intention oi parliament was to continue
them
-/.i
mono-
in possession of their
poly; for after stipulating "that per-
sum
sons having above the
of i?5000
in the stock of the present East India
Company,
sons'
in their
own
or other per-
names, be obliged to
much
sum of
sell so
thereof as should exceed the
pounds
tlie
hundred
at the rate of one
J?oOOO,
every hundi'ed," and "that
for
members
East India
of the committee of the
Company be
obliged
give security, to be approved of
house, that the stock
now
had
should
.£749,000,
all
and
debts
estate they
paid,"
added, "that security being
an humble
majesty,
Old East India House,
addi'ess
to
by the
made
be
to
good
it
first
was
given,
be presented to his
incorporate
the
present
circa 10.00.
East India
Company by
charter, ac-
cording to the regulations agreed upon by the house, that the same might pass
into
dissolve the
act."
To somc of
Address to
the crown to
an
tlicsc
regulations as unnecessary or impolitic, valid objections
.,
.
might casuy have been made
pmpani.
^j^gj^
.
^^^ within a
mittees of the
deemed
;
but the
Company
apparently resolved to waive
week. Sir Thomas Cooke the governor, and two other com-
Company, produced
satisfactory,
their proposals of security.
and the house,
resolution, dated 11th February,
after a short delay,
This view is from an old print, copied from a
painting in the possession of Mr. Pulham, of the
India House. The inscription on It is, " Het Huis
'
van den Oost Indische Compagnie en London." A
brief notice of the houses used by the Company is at
From 1604
we
extract the following:
to 1621 the affairs of the
Company were
chiefly transacted at the house of the first governor,
Sir T. Smith, in Philpot Lane.
adopted the following
1692 — "That an humble address be
to his majesty to dissolve the present East India
foot of print, -whence
They were not
The regular establish-
ment
of the
presented
Company, according
Company
to the
was at Crosby House,
Lord NorIn 1638 the Company removed to the
in 1621
in Bishopsgate Street, then belonging to
thampton.
house of Sir Christopher Clitheroe, in Leadenhall
Street, at that time governor; and in 1648 removed
to the house represented above, adjoining to Sir
In 1726 a new front was made, and
Christopher's.
a new building was in progress, which remained till
1796, when the present structure was commenced.
A NEW COMPANY PROPOSED.
Chap. VIII.]
853
powers luserved in their charter, and to constitute another East India Company
for the better
a.d.
1002.
preserving of the East India trade to this kingdom, in sucli
manner as his majesty in his royal wisdom should think fit." To this address,
which was ordered to be presented by the whole house, his majesty replied,
" Tiiat it was a matter of very great importance to the trade of this kingdom,
and that
could not be expected he should give a present answer to
it
that he would take time to consider of
and
it,
in
The Company having reason
positive answer."
it,
but
a short time give them his
to believe that they
had more
legislature,
bound themselves by writing
to submit to such regulations as should be made.
Accordingly, the committee
to expect
from the king than from the
of the privy council, to
whom
the whole matter had been refen-ed, drew
up an
^'ew
proposed
elaborate paper, entitled, "Propositions for regulating the Ea.st India Comj)any.
The
propositions, thirty-two in
number, while retaining the
spirit of the resolu-
by the House of Commons, entered much more into detail, and
Instead of accepting
also made some very important alterations and additions.
them as they had formerly promised, the Company returned what they called
tions sanctioned
the "
Humble Answer
mittees of the East India
Company,
and
most part strenuously objected
for the
are very quaint
and
To the second
ciu-ious.
stock of the present
Company
amounting
i.^1,
to at least
rated at o£'744,000,
sum
if
to a Paper of Propositions for Regulation
In this answer the propositions were minutely
of the East India Company."'
criticized,
and Court of Com-
of the Governor, Deputy-governor,
proposition,
of the answers
objections
The
comirany.
wa«—
which
"
be part of the fund" (the proposed fund
to
500,000,
Some
to.
and not exceeding
they can give security that
it
<X^2,000,000),
shall effectually
"and
to be
produce that
much less, as tiiey will engage to make good after all debts
paid, and satisfaction made to the Mogul and his subjects, against whose pretensions the new stock to be indemnified by the like security:"
it was answered
" The Company, recommending their righteous Ciiuse to God and his majesty's
known and fjimous justice in the whole course of his happy life, say that the
or else at so
;
—
—
value of everything
is
what
it
will sell for
umnies and pei"secutions of their adversaries,
dred
;
and they know and can prove
current price
;
but they
of their estates at
all
any
know no law
less
own
estates.
They
their stock,
now currently sells for
to be intrinsically
or reason
why
hand.
is
the cal-
50 per Inni-
they should be dispossessed
valued in any part of the world.
know no
reason
affirm that they
which are changing
Altiiough the
i?l
all
more worth than that
why
owe not a penny
daily, like
They humbly
they should give security for their
to the Great
of his subjects, other than their running accounts with their
brokers,
under
value than they are really worth in ready money, by
the measures anything
say as to security, they
it
and
;
merchants running
Company owe nothing
to the
Mogul or any
own banyans and
csish in
a goldsmiths
Mogul, as aforesaid, yet
by a public act of his majesty, would be
invent demands upon the Company for transactions
the bare mentioning any such thing
enougji to persuade
Vol.
I.
him
to
45
—
354
AD.
1602.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
and pretences done
born
;
any of the
in age.s past, before
and therefore that part of the proposition
well as unjust, neither the
Mogul nor any of
plaint to his majesty of the
[Book
were
pre.sent adventurers
.seems manifestly impossible, as
his sulyects
Company's being
II.
having made any com-
him or them
in debt to
that
;
being only a suggestion of the interlopers and their adherents, not only now,
many
but for
become the
will not
—
—
As to that hypothcsi.s if they can give security
Company to say what they might of their own ability,
years past.
it
or
the ability or disability of their adversaries; they are, on both sides, well
known on
"'^.
,
answer to
tliB
address
the Exchange."
The other answers exhibiting a similar spirit, were regarded by tlie king as
a formal rejection by the Company of the charter which had been offered to
i-iv-r
i-i
tliem; and accordmgly, on the l4th JNovember, 1692, he returned the following
,
^
i
answer to the address which had been presented to him on the subject duiing
the previous session of parliament
"
:
The House of Commons having presented an address
solve the present East India
charter,
and
to constitute a
Company, according
new
to the
to the king to dis-
power reserved in
their
one, his majesty took into con.sideration the
proper methods of complying with their
desires,
and of securing
effectually this
advantageous trade to the nation.
"
But
his majesty,
and learned
upon
council,
tluree years'
Company must
upon examination of the
warning; and that during the
subsist,
to trade
till
not to grant any such
"Hereupon
and consulting
foimd that he could not legally dissolve the
and might continue
king might constitute a
company
charter,
new company,
;
and that although the
yet he could not
after tliree years, the
Company but
years after warning the
tlu-ee
to trade
his judges
empower such new
crown ha\'ing expressly covenanted
liberties.
was very apprehensive of the ill consequences of
the Company, because they would then be less solicitous of
his majesty
giving warning to
promoting the true interest and advantage of the trade, whereof they could not
long reap the
to
it
;
fruits,
and that no new company could be immediately admitted
so that this very beneficial trade,
might be in danger of being entirely
"
the
which
lost to
much
already so
is
impaired,
the nation.
His majesty, very desirous to prevent so great a mischief, and to
House of Commons
gi-atify
in the end, since he could not do it without great hazard
manner they proposed, required the East India Company to answer
directly whether they woidd submit to such regidations as his majesty should
judge proper, and most likely to advance the trade and the Company ha^^ng
in the
;
fully agreed to
it,
and declared
their resolution in wi-iting, his majesty com-
m.anded a committee of his privy council to prepare regulations
and offered them
to the
which they
Company; but the Company, not-withstanding
declaration of submission, rejected almost
"So
;
that his majesty, finding that
all
what
did.
their
the material particidara
possibly the
House
of
Commons
NEW CHARTERS GRANTED.
Chap. VIII.]
355
might have expected, and indeed was necessary to preserve
be perfected by his
own
this trade, could not
Company
authority alone, and that the
ad.
1393.
could not
be induced to consent to any such regulations as might have answered the
House of Commons, and that the concurrence of parliament
intentions of the
make a complete and
requisite to
all
useful settlement of this trade, has directed
may
establish this trade
advance
bill,
and recommends
to
an act of parliament,
a.s
them
the proceedings in this matter to be laid before
them the preparing of such a
is
in order to pass into
;
on such foundations as are most likely to preserve and
it."
House of Commons endeavoured
Tiie
that the opposition of the
Company
to act on this suggestion, but finding
continued, resolved, on the 25th Feb-
still
"That an humble address be presented to his majest}', that he
will dissolve the East India Company, upon three years' warning to the said
Company, according to the power reserved in their charter." The king answered,
ruary, 1693,
" I will
do always
your
sider
A
my
the good in
all
power
kingdom, and
for this
I will
con-
adch'ess."
crisis
was thus evidently approaching but the Company, though they had
;
been bold enough to provoke
and determined
to leave
it,
became
alive to the full extent of the danger,
no means untried that promised to prevent
tunately, however, at this very time, from
it.
Unfor-
The
f„i-ft.it ti.eir
charter.
mere inadvertency or some other
cause which has never been properly explained, they incurred a direct forfeiture
of their charter
a tax of
In
five
by
failing to
make payment
per cent, imposed upon their stock,
this act the stock
was valued
exigible under the firet quarterly
nonpayment
the
of a
sum
at .i^7-i4,000,
;
Mary,
c^nd
ment
made on
;
default in
ciiarged
.^POSOO.
It
is
obvious that
must have been owing
act, after
ordering the
first
quarterly pay-
treasurers of the said respective companies" (the East India
payment of the
said several sums, or
any of them
is
act,
the charter of such
hei'eby adjudged to be void,"
it
was
company
" shall
respectively,
on the stock of the said companies, at the days and times
and
to
the 2oth of March, 1693, ex])ressly declared, that "in case
according to the true intent of this
shall be,
1 5.
and consequently the whole sum
Company, the Royal African Company, and the Hudson's Bay Company)
make
c.
but the enemies of the Company were numerous,
and inveterate and as the
and
by Act 4 Wm.
payment was only
infiuential,
the governors
instalment of
first quartei-ly
so comparatively paltry
oversight and not to inabilit}'
to be
of the
aforesaid,
respectively
seriously proposed to exact
The Company being thus entirely at the mercy of government, abandoned all idea of resistance to any terms that might be offered them,
and counted themselves fortunate when they escaped annihilation by obtaining
the
fidl
new
penalty.
cro-wn charters, which provided that the forfeiture,
not take
The
" the
if really
incurred, should
effect.
first
of these charters, dated
governor and
Company
7tli
October, 1693, after premising that
of Merchants of
London trading
into the East
xewcimrtera
the cro»i.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
3-56
A.I)
1694.
Indies have been of long
ration,"
honour and
to the
tinK,-,
[Book
a wrf>o-
profit of the nation,
and that "some doubt or question hath of
late
II.
been made touching
the validity of the charters of the said Company, and whether the same be not,
by the not actual payment into the receij>t of our
exchequer of the first quarterly payment of the tax of £5 per cent, charged on
the general joint stock of the said Company," proceeds as follows: " Now know
ii
ye, that we, taking the premises into our royal coiLsideration, and well weiglung
what disorders and inconveniences would befall the said Company, and other
in strictness of law, void,
New
charto.
'
granted.
,
.
.
,
.
,
•
i
persons concerned and employed in their trade, especially in the remote
of the world,
be),
if
we
should take advantage of the forfeiture aforesaid
and we being willing that the
said governor
and Company, or
and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East
successors, shall
have and enjoy
all
and advantages, and immunities
;
[)arts
any
(if
governor
late
and
Indies,
•
their
such and the like lawful powers, privileges
and
ample manner, to
in as
purposes, as if the said first quarterly
and regularly made according
i
payment of the
all
said tax
and
intents
had been duly
to the said act; of our especial grace, cei-tain
knowledge, and mere motion," constitute and appoint Sir Thomas Cooke,
knight, and various other individuals named,
who were members
London trading
who have
"and
Company, or
of the said
into the East Indies,
all
and every other persons
Company
late
of Merchants of
on the 25th day of March, now
Company and all and
March last past, by buying
not since parted with their stocks in the said
every other person and persons who, since the
2-tth of
last past,
;
stock or otherwise, have come into, and remain in a capacity of being
members
of the said Company, be and shall be one body corporate and politick in deed
and in name," &c.
While thus generally confirming
Special proviso
ill
the
newcharter.
all
the rights
_
.
and
,
privileges previously en-
.
joycd by the Company, the new charter contains the following important proviso:
— "If the
said governor
into the East Indies,
time,
and
execution,
and
and Company of Merchants of London trading
their successors, do not accept
at all times hereafter, act according to,
and submit and conform in
additions, alterations, restrictions,
and
all
of,
and from time to
and put in due and
effectual
things unto such orders, directions,
qualifications, relating to the constitu-
tion, continuance, determination, rights, powers, or privileges of the said
pany, or the governnient thereof, or of the said governor and
Company
encouragement, management, regulation, or advancement of trade
present or future joint stock of the said
subscriptions, to be
made by way
Company;
or concerning
any such future subscriptions
;
or the
or of the
;
any future
of increase or addition to the joint stock
for ascertaining the true values of the said joint stock, at
of
;
Com-
;
or
and during the times
which, and as we, our heirs or successors, by
the advice of our or their privy council, shall from time to time, at any time
before the 29th day of September which shall be in the year 1694:, think
make,
insert,
limit,
direct,
appoint, or express in or
by any
fit
to
further or other
DISSATISFACTION WITH THE
Chap. VIIT.]
NEW
CHARTERS.
charter, letters-patents, or other writing or instniment,
seal of
may
under our or their great
England, then and in each and every of the cases aforesaid,
be lawful to and for
us,
The
was
object of this proviso evidently
of resolutions already referred to
after the date of the
make
void these
to bind the
resolutions
above charter,
were enforced.
In
accoi'dingly, in little
Effect given
to the accept-
Commons had embodied
effect wtis
this
in a series
proviso.
more than a month
given to the proviso by another
traffic
new
to the East Indies,
national, general,
dated llth November, 1693,
chartei',
and a preamble
after a repetition of the proviso,
ance of the
and
;
Company
with several not unimpoiiant modifications, the parliamentary
charter, in which,
more
and
and the grant hereby made."
ance of those contlitions which the House of
"
it shall
a.d. ig94.
our heirs and successors, by letters-patents, under
our or their great seal of England, to determine, revoke, and
pi-esents,
357
stating, inter alia, the impoi-t-
and the desirableness of rendering
and extensive than hitherto
it
hath been," the Com-
pany are taken bound
to accept
and agree
the most important are
—that
subjects of the British crown,
born, or " naturalized
all
and endenized,"
to a series of propositions, of
shall
it
which
whether natural
be entitled to become members of
Company; that i!'74!4,000 shall be added to the present general joint stock
" by the new subscriptions of such persons who shall be minded to adventure
any share; that no person shall subscribe or hold more than oP 10,000 of stock
in his own or any other name that the new subscriptions, if exceeding in the
the
;
aggregate i?7-i4,000, shall be individually reduced pro rata; that every „C1000
up to
i^^l
0,000 shall give a vote, thus allowing to the individual possessed of the
maximum
of stock ten votes in
all
;
that the qualification for a committee shall
be =i?1000, and for governor and deputy-governor i?-t000; that
be paid in
money
;
that no private trade shall be permitted
;
tion of saltpetre sold to the crown, all sales shall be public,
all
dividends shall
that with the excep-
by
inch of candle
that no single lot of goods, except jewels, shall exceed cI^oOO in value
British produce
and manufactures should be annually exported
to the
;
;
and that
amount
of
X' 100,000.
These
clauses,
prevented
many
though binding the Company to conditions which must have
of the abuses of which their previous
management was
accused,
what their avowed opponents had anticipated, but
failed to satisfy the public mind
and the (question having again been keenly
agitated, and brought specially before parliament by a petition praying for the
erection of a new East India Company, the House of Commons " examined the
charters of the old Company, the book of new subscriptions, the state of their
not only
fell
far short of
;
present stock, and the petition above mentioned; and after mature deliberation"
resolved,
on the 19th of January,
169-i,
"that
all
the subjects of England have
equal right to trade to the East Indies, unless prohibited by act of parliament."
The point thus summarily decided by one branch of the
perly a question of law
;
and several
Dissatisfac-
t'"" with
.
yeai-s before,
legislature
was
pro-
under very different circum-
the
'^
new
*"
'^'^^
AD.
1695.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
stances,
had undergone a lengthened discussion
[Book
in the
In the year 1683, when the crown was stretching
its
II.
Court of King's B«inch.
pren^gative to the utmost,
the East India Company, deeming the time favouraVjle for obtaining an authoritative decision in favour of the validity of their charter, determined to tiy the
question,
and with that view brought an action against Thomas Sandys
for
attempting to trade witliin the limits to which they had, by their chaiter, an
Sandys argued that the Company was a monopoly, and being
exclusive right.
Great case of
consequently struck at by the statute against monopolies, had usurped jjowers
which, however sanctioned by the crown, could not be legally maintained.
of which a
case,
report
full
is
given in the state
trials,
under the
title
The
of the
"Great Case of Monopolies," attracted much attention; and having been fully
argued by the ablest counsel at the bar, was not finally decided till 1685, when
James
had mounted the throne, and Jeffreys was lord chief -justice. The
decision, as might have been expected in the circumstances, was in favour of the
royal prerogative, and found that " the grant to the plaintiffs of the sole trade
II.
to the Indies, exclusive of others, is a
Company
thus gained was more apparent than
favour, but the
Hence,
of despotism.
ment
argument was
monopoly became
their
good grant."
clearly against
real.
when
made way
the Kevolution had
resolution of the
repeal of their monopoly, because
Endeavours
to obtain
paruament.
decision
was
in their
thtm; and the maintenance of
it
for the establish-
insecui-e,
and every new
them nearer
to the brink of
became
discussion of their privileges seemed only to bring
The
The
in consequence identified, in the public mind, with that
of constitutional freedom, their position
destruction.
The victory which the
House of Commons was indeed a
virtual
declared that nothing but an act of parlia-
ment could make it valid.
There was stiU, however, good gi'ound to hope that such an act of parliament
might yet be obtained. The king, by the charters which he had granted, had
gone as far as he could safely do in their favour and it was well understood,
that while many of the members of the legislature were sincerely attached to
;
their interests, because convinced that the trade to the East Indies could be best
carried
had
on by the present Company, there were others on whom,
failed,
after argiiment
another kind of influence might be brought to bear.
"What this
and how unscrupulously the managers of the Company had
soon became apparent.
influence was,
employed
Extensive
corruption,
it,
Several instances of bribery and corruption in the administration of public
officcs
having been detected, rumours began to prevail that the whole body
politic
was
corrupt.
Suspicion
fell
especiaUy upon the city of London and the
East India Company; and on the 7th of March, 1695, the House of
appointed a committee to inspect the books of these two bodies.
the former
was
easily established, as the chamberlain's
Commons
The
guilt of
books contained an entry
bearing that 1000 guineas had been paid to Sir John Trevor, speaker of the
House of Commons, on the 22d of June,
1
694. as a douceur for his pains about
I
;
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.
Chap. VIIL]
a
brought into parliament under the name of the
bill
Company was
of the
discovered to
called the
to
The
Bill."
guilt ad.
Company's books,
«P1 07,013, I2s. 7d.
"Com])any's special service."
appeared that
it
had been paid
in cash for
what
In 1693, when Sir Thomas Cooke
was governor and Francis Tyssen dejDuty-governor, the sum issued under
head was
i;\S7,402,
i695.
an enormoas extent must have been carried
abstract obtained from the
from 1688 to 1694 mclusive,
was
Orphans'
not so easily established, thoiigh enough was at once
show that bribery
From an
on.
"
359
12i\
On
3d
this
searching for the orders for this issue, the
Bribery,
committee discovered a minute of a court of committees, dated the 13th of
1693, and stating, inter alia, "'The governor this day acquainting the
April,
what proceedings had been made in their affairs towards granting a
new charter, and with what had been disburst by him in prosecution thereof,
the court approved of the said charges, and ordered a warrant to be made out
court with
for the
same
;
and returned him thanks
for his great care, pains,
and trouble
their service, desiring liim to proceed in the perfecting thereof
minutes to a similar
make payment
other
were found, together with one dated the 23d of
effect
November, 1693, in which "it
to time
Two
"
in
is
ordered that the cashier-general do from time
of such sums of
money
for carrying
on of the Company's
service as the governor shall direct, piu'suant to the sense of the present debate."
In regard to the disposal of the money, the committee reported that they
Empioynient of
been unable to obtain any further account than that
iiad
service,
and that a large part of
Firebrace.
On examining
it
ary,
1693 [1694], of Mr.
Company,
c£'90,000;
but on asking Mr. Portmans, the
— "Received,
Sir Thomas Cooke:
Edmond
which
I
on account of the
Efist
have disburst and paid
India
to the
;
which
I
stead produced
the 10th of Janu-
;
for oC99,197 stock,
in
promise to be accountable
Company and was by
No
the 24tli of November, 1693."
its
cashier, if
Portmans, for account of the Ea.st India
the East India Company, for their account
for
for s])ecial
had been put into the hands of Sir Basil
he had the same in cash, he answered that he had not, and in
by
was
the Company's cash-book, they found a balance at
their credit of 0^124,249, los. lOd.;
the following voucher
it
order of the
Company
such amount of stock had been transferred
Company's account; but the committee, on examining Sir Benjamin
Bathurst, one of the Company's court of committees, were told
by him, that
he had some
sum as ,£'30,000 charged for secret services,
warm discourse with Sir Thomas Cooke about it, to know how it was disburst
but he refused to give him any particulars, and told him he should remember
he was bound by his oath to the Company to keep their secrets." Sir Benjamin
added, that "about April, 1694, understanding they were in want of money,
he looked into the cash-book which casting up, he found a considerable sum
in cash
and taking some persons with him, discoureed Sir Thomas Cooke
thereof, who .said the ^90,000 he had received was to gratify some persons in
"finding so great a
;
;
case the bill shoidd
pa.ss."
secret ser-
HISTORY OF INDIA.
360
Beside the aljove suspicious
A.D. 1C95.
Singular
[Book
II.
committee disajvered a contract
|);iyraents, tlie
of a very singular description.
It bore the date of the 26th of February, 1694-;
and bound the Company to pay
for
200 tons of
be brought home
saltpetre, to
in
contract.
the ship
Seymour from
sum
India, the
ton to the owners of the ship, besides
which
saltpetre, for
,X'2000
;
and
this
and not only
was
i?l 2,000
sum was
charges in England.
by the Company for that
granted bond under the Comj)any's
The
puq>ose,
seal for
which cost only
,£^2000,
the adventure of i?l 2,000
and mast consequently
and on the contrary, the
clear without disbursing or
.ship
result of the contract is thus accurately
by the committee: — "The Company runs
ship miscarry;
seems that this
actually advanced
should arrive in safety or not.
explained
It
freight per
remaining balance payable by a certain day, whether the
i,^10,000, as the
for that
all
£2b
to be paid, could be purchased in India for
but they also
so,
of X'l 2,000, together with
seller
lose dC12,000 if the
on the other hand gets
running the hazard of one penny
more, a certain loss of =P9000 or 0^10,000 will attend
it if
;
i?l 0,000
and what
is
yet
the ship arrive in
safety."
Parliarnentarj proceedings.
The report of the committee was made on the 12tli of March, 1695; and
on the 18th the House of Commons resolved, "that whosoever shall discover
any money
or other gratuity given to
any member of
transacted in this house relating to the orphans'
bill
pany, shall have the indemnity of this house for such
ordered, "that Sir
the house
how
the ,£'87,402, 12s.
When examined
the
same time a
to give
bill,
bill
opposed by the
gift."
of this house, do give
3d mentioned
was ordered
in the report
an account
was
So much were the house in earnest
When
Duke
it
was read there
it,
that, in little
was passed and
for the first
time
it
of Leeds, lord-president of the council,
to
distributed."
to be brought in for the purpose of obliging
though counsel was heard against
House of Lords.
ComOn the 26th it was
or the East India
he refused to answer, and was committed to the Tower.
an account.
week, the
Thomas Cooke, a member
this house for matters
At
him
more than a
carried to the
was vehementlv
who commenced
with a most solemn protestation of his cleanness and innocence, and lajdng his
hand upon
upon
his breast, declared
disinterested,
and had no part
better appear against
it."
and honoin
or concern in this matter,
Sir
the bar of the lords, declared
his faith
"
that he
was
perfectly
and therefore might the
Thomas Cooke, being brought from the Tower to
himself ready and very willing to make a full
discovery on obtaining an indemnifying vote
;
and as the reports of the period
"
bemoaned himself (weeping) that he was not indemnified at that
instant, so that he might just then make the discovery which was expected,
and which he was so desirous to make." On being asked what he wanted to
express
it,
be indemnified from, he answered, "All actions and
India Company,
whom,
utmost rigour."
He
if
suits,
except from the East
he had injured, he would be bound to undergo the
also desired,
he
said, to
be indemnified from scandaluins,
which he explained to mean the action of scandalwni magimtum.
The
THOMAS COOKE.
SIR
Chap. VIII.]
up from the commons, and ad.
lords sisted procedure with the bill sent
introduced a
of indemnity, which
bill
361
was ultimately
and leading enacting clause of the act are as follows: —
The preamble
passed.
"
1095.
Whereas
it a]>pears,
by
sir
Thomas
Cooke's
Thomas Cooke,
the books of the East India Company, that Sir
knight, in the
year 1693, being the governor of the said Company, did receive, out of the stock
and treasure belonging
And
sum of =£'77,258, and hath also received
said Company the further sum of <£^90,000:
whereas a true discovery of the distribution and application of the said
several
sums of money
will be of public use
and
service,
vindicating the justice and honour of the government
Cooke hath voluntarily
manner
nified in such
by
enacted,
offered to
as
is
make such
the king's most excellent majesty,
said Sir
to
what
how and
in
by and with
and commons,
if
be indemtherefore
it
the advice and con-
in this present parliament
the said Sir
what manner, and
particular uses, intents,
said siun of <i?90,000,
Thomas Cooke
full
discovery
Thomas Cooke
and purposes,
what jierson or persons,
and on what account, the
to
and the sum of ^^67,000, part of the said sum of
have been distributed,
any action or
may
Thomas
committee of the lords and commons, to be appointed by each
house for that purpose,
Sir
and the
necessary to the
on or before the 23d day of April, 1695, make a true and
oath, before a
and
is
and provided: Be
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that,
shall,
;
and
discovery, so as he
hereafter mentioned
sent of the lords spiritual and temporal,
on
'" ^'
to the same, the
out of the stock and treasure of the
paid, applied, disposed,
shall not,
by reason
or
and made use
means
of,
i;'77,258,
then the said
of such discovery, be liable to
suit of any person or persons whatsoever, other
than the said East
India Company, nor shall such discovery or confession be allowed or given in
evidence against him in or upon any action or
also shall be declared
suit,
pardoned and indemnified
for
other than as aforesaid
;
and
any crime he may be guilty
of in the distribution, payment, application, or disposal of the said money, to
any person other than
When examined
to himself"
before the committee of both houses appointed in terms of
Thomas Cooke produced a written statement, entitled,
discovery, upon oath, made by Sir Thomas Cooke, to the best
"
this act, Sir
full
ledge, &c.,
.
.
.
of parliament."
which discovery
is
in pursuance of
an act of
A
true and
of his
know-
this present session
This statement contained the names of the various parties to
whom ca.sh had been ]>aid to
from whom East India stock,
amount of ^67,031, IBs. 2(1., and of othei"s
to the amount of i^90,000, had been bought for
account of the East India Company. Among the cash items were oiMO,000
"delivered to Francis Tyssen, Esq., for the special service of the Company;"
^10,000 to Mr. Richard Acton, "to defray the expenses of him.self, and for his
friends' soliciting to prevent a new settlement of an East India Company, and to
the
endeavour the establishment of the old;"
recompense of
oPl 0,000 to Sir Basil Firebrace,
his trouble in prosecuting the
Company's
affairs,
ation of other losses he had su.stained 1>y neglecting his
VcL.
I.
own
and
"in
in consider-
business,
46
and by
bill
of iiidem-
uis
HISTORY OF INDIA.
362
A.U. 1C9S
down
set
on stock
Cooke's
An
not engaging liimself with the interloping ships."
was
1
as
On
account."
having been paid "to the said Sir
was obliged
him
to accept of
[Book
II.
additional surn of X'30,00()
for i^^oO per cent, loss
Ba.sil
on the Companys
at ,£'150 per cent,
being interrogated with reference to the above statement, Sir
disclosures.
Thomas Cooke
declared "that the
fir.st
sum
of X'l 0,000 alcove mentioned
Company
given in expectation to have the charter of the East India
and new regulations thereto made," and that
he could not say the king had
that he delivered
it
"it
was intended
was
confirmed,
for the king,
but
though "he believes Mr. Tyssen told him
it,"
He
to Sir Josiah Child, wlio delivered it to the king."
added that "it was a customary present, and that in King Charles's and other
With regard
former reigns, the like had been done for several years."
paid to Mr. Acton, he declared that he had given
of 10,000
of Sir Josiah Child,
"who recommended Acton
Company service, having great
others who had interest with them;"
to Sir Basil
was
as a person capable of doing
that "he could not particularize
to get
an act of parliament."
As the
stock of Sir Basil at iC'loO per cent.
the
who they
The sums paid
Firebrace were stated to be in implement of an agreement, by
which the Company became bound, in case the charter
cent.,
with the privity
acquaintance with parliament men, and
the
were, but the end aimed at
it
to the
Company lost
=£^30,000
by the
stock
transaction.
pa.ssed, to
take dPGO.OOO
was then only i^lOO per
By
another agreement of
a similar nature, they would have been bound to accept a transfer of £^40.000
stock on the same terms,
if
an act of parliament in favour of the Company had
been obtained.
In following up the inquiry, various other persons were examined.
Depositions
of parties
examined.
Child affected general ignorance of the matter, and said that "he never disposed
of
£10
of the
that " he did
Company's money to
his
recommend Mr. Acton
He
remembrance."
as being
admitted, however,
an honest man, and thought he
might do service to the Company in parliament, because of
Sir Josiah
Sir Josiah
He
also
recommended
"
that a present of i?50,000 should be
his acquaintances."
made
to the king,
CbUd.
if his
majesty would so far waive his prerogative that an act of parliament might
Company but Mr. Tyssen
matter."
He "knew nothing of
be passed for settling the
not meddle in that
;
told
him the king would
the i?'40,000 paid to Sir
was a kind of a company of twenty-five persons,
de die in diem, to destroy the Company, and he told Sir Thomas
Basil Firebrace, but there
that sat
Cooke that he thought
Sir Basil
Sir Basil Firebrace,
Sir Basil the fittest person to divide them."
when
Firebrace.
by
Sir
Thomas Cooke,
terms of contract.
viz,
—
first
<£*
Both sums
examined, admitted the payments as stated
10,000 as a gratuity for
"
were directly
losses,
for himself,
and
and £^30,000
in
for the use of
no
other person whatsoever; he paid no part of the same towards procuring a
charter or act of parliament, nor
new
charter."
to do so, but he
had
Thomas Cooke about using his endeavours to procure
Being asked " what particular services he did or was to do for
several discourses with Sir
a
made any promises
DEPOSITIONS TAKEN.
Chap. VIII]
new
procuring a
8G3
He said " that he wished he might answer that at some
chartei',''
other time, being not well, not having slept two or three nights, and being
indisposed as to his healtli
self,
was unwilling
that he
;
services."
" tiiat
On
in solicitation
the following day, having desired to be called
having had a treaty with Mr. Bates,
in passing the charter,
whom
much
in,
and other
he deposed,
he thought able to do service
and to have acquaintance with several persons of honour,"
he gave him two notes, the one for 3000 and the other for 2500 guineas,
The
able to Mr. Bates or bearer.
restoring the East India
Company
know how
passed
;
was paid
after the charter for
the other after the charter for regu-
In
they were to be disposed of"
Sir Basil several times to
some scruples
latter note
i)ay-
These notes were from Sir Thomas Cooke, who, he believed,
lation passed.
" did
tlie
Duke
fact,
Mr. Bates had introduced
of Leeds, the lord-president,
"who made
in point of law."
him to use
obtaining a charter to the East India Company:" that "he did
with the lord-president, who said he would do what service he
Mr. Bates deponed " that Sir Basil Firebrace did ajiply himself to
his interest for
use his interest
could
urged the same upon his lordship's acceptance, but he refused
however, that "in regard he could not
ask leave of
leave,
At
my
money very
his lordship's servant,
sequent examination he admitted that he had
for the
till
within the
last
it
money
not,
His lordship gave
to him,
and that
it
but on a sub-
had remained
few days, when Robert had brought
purpose of being given back to Sir Basil Firebrace.
paying back the guineas
wa.s " the noise that it
think he did not deserve them."
More
admitted,
M. Robert, "did receive the money."
Bates alleged that M. Robert paid over the
with Robert
He
well himself," he "did
lord that his servant might tell the money."
and accordingly
first
tell
it."
Mr. Bates.
and
that he received 5000 guineas, told the lord- president of the fact,
:
loos.
much upon him-
to take too
Company
but thought he did great service to the
a.d.
light
it
His reason
him
to
for thus
made, and that people might
was thrown on
this disclosm^e
by
when again examined, stated " that the East India Company's
charter being forfeited. Sir Thomas Cooke was apprehensive " that it stuck with
the Duke of Leeds," and told him that " some way must be found out to the
Sir Basil, who,
duke."
Sir Basil tliereupon applied to Mr. Bates, who, after a good deal of
higgling, agreed to accept of
5000 guineas
for his friend,
and 500 guineas to
Thomas Cooke sanctioned the asfreement, remarking that if "it
was insisted on it must be done." The agreement was that " if the duke did
act in favour of the Company, he shoidd liave 2000 and 3000 guineas, and Bates
himself
Sir
500 guineas
for liimself
"
Sir Basil added, "that from the time the notes
given, they.had free access to the lord-president,
to give
them
were
and found him easy and willing
his avssistance."
Mr. Tyssen deponed that " Sir
Thomas Cooke and
Sir Josiah Child gave
him
a note under their hamis for i.'50,000, which was intended to be presented to
his majesty if his majesty
would paas an
act of parliament as they should desire,
Mr. Tjsaca.
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
364
A.D. 1685.
and
tliat
a present;
who
being asked
" if
sucli
On
he acquainted
tohl the
That bribery
to
Portland with the Company's intention to
IT.
make
deponent that the king would not meddle with
it."
he had offered the same to Lord Portland, he denied that
he had so done, saying,
Impoach-
my Lord
[Book
if
he had, he must never have seen his face more."
an enormous extent had been carried
on, there could
now be
inent of the
Duke of
Leeds.
no doubt, but the only case in
whicii, as yet, it
seemed capable of being proved,
was that of the Duke of Leeds, against whom, accordingly, the commons resolved
to proceed by imjjeachment.
On the
reading of the report of the committee
House of Lords, the duke
in the
in his place
and
said that "as he
rose
had
formerly protested himself to be free
in this matter, so he
denied,
upon
and honour, that he was
his faith
any such corruptions
of
guilty
still
as
were suggested against him, and that
the wdaole truth were laid open
if
would tend
to his
honour and advan-
His explanation was,
tage."
it
" that
Mr.
Bates introduced Sir Basil Firebrace
to him,
and that he had conferences
with Sir Basil upon the subject of the
East India Company, which Sir Basil
Thoma: OsBO'.NE, Duke of Leeds.— From print
after Sir
P
Lely.
n
,
was concerned
The duke's
^
that some time
to
have a sum of money
him one of
his servants, Mr. Bates
came and informed him that he was
after Mr. Bates
tor;
explanation
of Sir Basil, and desired his lordship to lend
keeping but a footman, to receive the money, and so he lent him M. Robert
that his lordship
him and
of the sum, but afterwards Mr. Bates came to
him he had received 5000 guineas, which he offered to him, telling
that he had been very obliging and kind to him, and that in acknow-
told
his lordship
ledgment of the
humbly
knew nothing
desired
many
him
favours he had received from his lordship's hands, he
to accept of them,
which he
earnestly to take one-half or a quarter, which he
not touch a penny of them
there
;
and
told
was no need of returning them
good luck with them."
fession,
him
him
he would
refusing, Mr. Bates pressed
still
since he
—they were
refused, declaring
had taken them, he thought
liis
While the duke was making
own, and he w^ished him
this apology, or rather con-
he got private notice that the commons were preparing to impeach him.
Startled at the
his desire to
news he hastened
be heard.
off,
and intimated, through one of the members,
Permission was given, and he
ently rambling speech, without
making any
peachment was immediately carried up
the substance of the whole,
was
favoui'able impression, for the im-
to the lords.
as follows:
—
made a long and appar-
The
first article,
" Tliat certain
containing
merchants trading to
IMPEACHMENT OF THE DUKE OF
Chap. VIII.]
365
LEEDS.
the East Indies, having either forfeited their clmrter, or being under an appre-
had
liension that they
forfeited the same,
and having made
their
humble
Duke
1095.
appli-
cation to their majesties in council for obtaining a cliarter of confirmation
said
a.d.
the
:
of Leeds, being then pi'esident of their majestie.s' most honom-able
privy council, and sworn to give their majesties true and faithful advice, did,
contrary to his oath,
and duty
office,
to then- majesties,
and
in breach of the
great trust reposed in him, by himself, his agents, or servants, coiTuptly and
ille-
gally treat, contract, and agree with the said merchants or their agents, for 5500
guineas, to procure the said charter of confirmation,
strange oversight the duke's servant, M. Robert,
shown
deposition had
to be a
and when the necessary steps
but
it
whom
the previous
suspicious
most important witness, had not been examined,
anceofau
for the
found that he had disappeared.
issued,
also a charter of regu-
endeavours to obtain the same."
lations, or to use his
By some
and
A
purpose were about to be taken,
it
was
""'".^IJ"'
tardy proclamaticin for securing him was
proved unavailing; and thus an essential link in the chain of evi-
The Duke of Leeds, now feeling confident that
the impeachment could not be made good, began to use the language of injured
innocence, and to com})lain of the hardship and injustice of having a charge
hanging over his head, while no attempt was made to prove, and no opportunity
dence could not be supplied.
was given him
stood,
and
to disprove
The
it.
state of matters was, however, well under-
his shufi^ling only served to confirm the conviction generally enter-
Meanwhile parliament seemed resolved
tained of his guilt.
to
do
its
duty and
;
as the leading witnesses were justly suspected of prevarication or concealment,
an act was passed
for imprisoning
Unfortunately, the zeal manifested by parliament was not
ating their estates.
At a very
seconded at court.
the royal assent to several
and gentlemen,
far advanced,
nestly
in a
and
tiie
recommend
few days."
was a strong
eai-ly
bills,
period of the inquiry, the king, after giving
addressed both houses as follows:
take this occasion to
I
most importance
them, and for restraining them from alien-
tell
— "My
you that the season of the year
for the public good, because I
From
this significant hint, it
must put an end to this session
was well understood that there
which the
;
the 3d of May, within a ft)rtnight after the
was
of grace
still
in at the
to
it
;
for,
this,
session
in fact,
on
;
but an act
with an exception, indeed, as to coiTuption;
was believed too many of
by a common consent, it was never revived."
let fall,
and
it
There cannot be a doubt that the Company suffered severely in
mation by the
parlia-
was given, and while the issue
was prorogued. According to
hang up the matter to another
end of
yet this whole discovery was
were concerned in
iiint
in suspense, ])arliament
was intended
came
so
you the speedy despatching such business as you think of
to
mentary inquiry into bribery and coiTuption threatened to lead and
Burnet, " It
is
circmnstances of affairs are so pressing, that I very ear-
feeling in high quarters against the exposure to
of the inquiry
lords
disclosure, so far as it
had gone.
A
distinction,
all sides
])ublic esti-
however, ought
Tiie
king*
i.arii,iineut.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
S6(i
A
I)
1000.
made between
to be
ally
the
Company and
monopolized by Sir Josiah
Cliild
[Book
the management.
and a few wealthy
undue advantage of the uidimited j)ower of purchasing
it,
had succeeded
in ousting
and su})planting them by
blame ought
to rest;
had been ^iulu-
individuals, who, taking
stock,
and of voting
upfjn
most of the independent members of committee,
their
more
Thi.s
II.
own
On
creatures.
them, therefore, the chief
especially as the general court of proprietors, even
before the parliamentary inquiry commenced, had been induced, in con.sequence
of the rumours which had begun to prevail, to appoint a committee "to inspect into the affairs of the general joint stock under the
coui't of
committees, and of the several tran.sactions that had been had
for the
satisfection of the adventurers."
Tlie report of the
appointed, had furnished most of the leading
fully
A
Scotch
East India
facts,
of the
tiierein,
committee thus
which were afterwards more
brought out by the parliamentary investigation.
While the Company
L
J were suffering
O severely in public estimation from these
.
Company
management
.
shamcful disclosures, an alarm arose from a different quarter.
England, though their crowns were
now worn by
Scotland and
a single monarch, were
and independent kingdoms, and there was therefore nothing
sejiarate
vent the former from having
Indeed, as early as 1617,
by granting
its
Company
East India
King James had given
still
to pre-
as well as the latter.
his sanction to such a
letters-patent under the great seal of Scotland, to Sir
company,
James Cun-
ningham, of Glengarnock, appointing him, his heirs and assignees, to be
its
governors and directors, with authority "to trade to and from the East Indies,
and the countries or parts of
Bona Sperantia
tories
Asia, Africa,
and America, beyond the Cape of
to the Straits of Magellan,
and
Levant Sea, and
to the
terri-
under the government of the Great Turk, and to and from the countries of
Greenland, and aU the countries and islands in the north, north-west, and northeast seas,
and
all
other parts of America and Muscovy."
been the original intention of
this grant, it ultimately
job for the benefit of the grantee,
who
sold
it,
and
Whatever may have
degenerated into a mere
all his
rights under
it,
for a
The purchasers were the London East India Company,
who thus escaped the danger of a competition, which in honest and skilful
hands might have proved formidable.
This abortive attempt to give Scotvaluable consideration.
land a trade to the East appears to have attracted
interests, of
a
still
more
little
notice
and other
;
mind
vital nature, so completely occupied the public
during the persecuting reigns of the Stuarts, that the better part of a centiu-y
elapsed before the subject
was again mooted.
with the Revolution brought
new
desires
and
The
better era which
commenced
aspirations along with
was felt by pati'iotic Scotsmen to give
commerce as it had already attained in Hberty,
it,
and a
general desire
their country as high a
place in
religion,
influence exerted with this
and
ai-ms.
The
view on the pubUc mind, was soon manifested
in
parliament, which, on the 14th June, 1693, passed an "Act for encouraging of
Forraigne Trade," in which "our soveraigne lord and ladye, the king and
A SCOTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY.
Chap. VIII.]
queen's majesties, considering
the wealth and wellfare of
more
efFectuall for the
how much
367
the improvement of trade concerns ad.
leos.
kingdom, and that nothing hath been found
tlie
improving and enlargeing thereof than the erecting and
may
encourageing of companies, whereby the same
takeings to the remotest parts, which
it
is
be carryed on by under-
not possible for single persons to
undergo, doe therefore, with advice and consent of the estates of parliament,
and
statute
that merchants more or fewer
declare,
and companies
into societies
for carrying
on of
may
trade, as to
contract and enter
any subject and
sort
of goodes and merchandice to whatsoever kingdoms, countreyes, or parts of the
world, not being in warr with their majesties, where trade
may be
followed,
and
particularly beside the
East and West Indies, to the
to the
upon the coast of
subsequent
in use to be, or
is
kingdoms and countreyes of Europe,
and trade of the Mediterranean, or
straits
By
or northern parts, or elsewhere, as above."
AfTrica,
caritai sub-
a
dated 26tii June, 1695, John, Lord Belhaven, and various indi-
act,
and foreign
viduals specially named, including beside Scottish, several Engli.sh
merchants, " together with such others as shall joyn with them within the space
moneths
of twelve
after the first
day of August next," were constituted
incorporation, with perpetual succession,
by the name
land tradeing to AfFrica and the Indies."
Half the
for
Scottish
men
within this kingdom;" but
residing abroad or forraigners to
£100 and the
gi'eatest
"impowered
to equip,
ships in such
manner
come
and
set out, fraught,
fitt,
as they shall think
"
capital
Company
was
to
was allowed
fitt,
be
to
a free
of Scot-
" allotted
"Scotsmen
sum being
company were
subscribe," the least
In canying on their trade the
£3000.
from the date hereof," and
in
it
of the
"
and navigate
and that
their
own
or hired
for the space of ten years
from any of the ports or places of this kingdom, or
from any other ports or places in amity, or not in hostility with his majesty,
in
warlike or other manner, to any lands, islands, countreyes, or places in Asia,
AfFrica, or
or
America, and there to plant collonies, build
cityes, touns, or forts,
on
upon the places not inhabited, or on or upon any other place by consent of the
natives or inhabitants thereof, and not possest
tate, prince, or state;"
selves
by
" force
sea or laud,
they were also fully authorized not only to defend them-
of arms," but " to seeke and take reparation of
and
princes, estates,
by an European sovereign poten-
to
make and
rulers,
damage done by
conclude treaties of peace with the soveraigns,
governors, or proprietoi-s of the foresaid lands, islands,
countreyes, or places in Asia, AfFrica, or America."
Beside these
extensive powei^s,
which were declared to be exclusive, no
subject of Scotland being permitted without the company's written permission
to trade within these limits, various extraordinary privileges
Among
in this
with
others
it
was declared that
company" were "to be
all
" all persons
were conferred.
concerned or to be concerned
free denizens of this
kingdom," and that "they
that shall settle to inhabit, or be born in any of the foresaid plantation.s,
collonies, cityes, touns,
factories,
and other
places, that shall
be purchast and
Si)wiai
''"^"'*''^'
HISTORY OF INDIA.
368
A.D,
KM. possesst by the said coinpuny,
sluill
l>e
repute
have the priviledges thereof;" and that
company's
manner
ships, goods,
and other
a,s
[Book
natives of
for the Hpace of
effects whatsover,
of restraints or prohibitioas,
and of all
tlii.s
II.
kingdom, and
twenty-one years, the
were to be "free of
castom.s, taxes, ceases, supplies,
other duties imposed or to be imposed hy act of [)arliament or otherwise
;"
all
oi-
with
the exception only of the duties on tobacco and sugar, not the growth of their
own
Special
This privilege
plantations.
made
is
broader by a subsequent
still
clau.se,
privileges.
which provides that
"
the said company, whole members,
servants, or
oflBcers,
others belonging thereto, shall be free, both in their persons, estates,
employed in the said stock and
trade,
from
all
manner
of taxes,
and
ce-sses,
good.s,
supplies,
excises, quartering of souldiers, tran.sient or local, or lea vying of souldiers, or other
impositions whatsoever;" and lest the power given to
tlie
company
to redress
themselves should prove inadequate, his majesty expressly promises,
'•'contrar to the said rights, liberties, privileges,
tliat
if
exemptions, grants, or agree-
ments, any of the ships, goods, merchandise, persons, or other effects whatsoever,
belonging to the said company, shall be stopped, detained, embazled, or away
taken, or in
any
sort prejudged or damnifyed," he will " interpose hLs authority
to have restitution, reparation,
and
satisfaction
made
for the
damnage
done, and
that upon the publick charge, which his majesty shall cause depurse and lay out
for that effect."
The
Popularity
company
in
which parliament had displayed in conferring such ample
liberality
by the country at large.
In a short time a
subscription list, such as Scotland had never before seen, was filled up.
The
amount was £400,000; and the list contained the names of 1219 shareholders,
among whom were most of the leading nobility, the public bodies, clerg}',
lawyers, merchants, and a large selection of individuals of all cla.sses, thus
priviiegcs
was
fully seconded
proving beyond a doubt that the formation of the company was the
great national movement.
large addition
whom
Liberal as the
home
subscription
was anticipated from other countries
;
lead,
a
Bank
of England,
despatched commissioners to London, Amsterdam, and Hamburg,
with authority to open new subscription
company on
had thus been,
and the managers, among
the celebrated William Paterson, the founder of the
took the
effect of a
all
lists,
who might be induced by
and confer the
pri\^leges of the
these representations to apply
foi-
them.
The English parliament, on being acquainted with
The English
takes aiaiTO.
diatcly took alarm;
and having
a petition of their
own Company,
present a
common
ceeds as follows:
these proceeding.s,
their attention specially called to the subject
by
proceeded, on the 13th December, 1695, to
address from both houses to the crown.
— "The
imme-
lords spiritual
This addi'ess pro-
and temporal and commons, in parliament
assembled, having taken into our consideration the state of the trade of this
kingdom, do find
lies
that, besides
many
other disadvantages and difficulties
it
now
under, an act of parliament that hath lately received yom- majesty's royal
—
;
A SCOTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY.
Chap. VIII.]
kingdom of
assent in your
the Indies,
is
Scotland, for erecting a
many
likely to bring
prejudices
subjects that are concerned in the wealth
company trading to
and mischiefs to
and trade of
quoting largely from the act in support of this allegation,
"
By
369
all
Africji
that
difficulties
lie
a.d. 1005.
your majesty's
After
this nation."
thus continues:
it
Com-
reason of which great advantages granted to the Scots East India
pany, and the duties antl
and
upon that trade
England, a
in
great part of the stock and shipping of this nation will be carried thither, and
by
this
means Scotland
will be
made a
free port for all
East India commodities
and consequently those several places which were supplied from England
furnished from thence
much cheaper than can be done by
will be
the English
and
;
therefore this nation will lose the benefit of supplying foreign parts with those
commodities, which hath always been a
oui-
Moreover, the said commodities will unavoidably be brought by
foreign trade.
the Scots into
England by
both by sea and land, to the vast prejudice
stealth,
of the English trade and navigation,
in
balance of
gi'eat article in the
and
to the great detriment of
your majesty
your customs."
The king was thus
He
very awkward i)redicament.
i)laced in a
1
•
could not Awkward
1
•
/>
i)Oisitioii
1
question the competency of parliament to grant the act complanied of without
of
the king.
attacking the national independence, and di.sappointing what had become one of
the national ho]ies of Scotland
;
nor could he continue to sanction the act without
placing himself in decided opposition to the legislature of England, and .some
most strongly cherished prejudices of the
of the
" 1
answered somewhat vaguely,
may
•some remedies
from this act
;"
have been
ill
Engli.sh people.
He
served in Scotland, but
be found to prevent the inconveniencies which
and shortly
showed that he was
after
therefore
I
may
hope
arise
really dissati.sfied with
management of his ministers in Scotland by dismissing most of them from
office.
The English })arliameut took still more decided steps and on receiving
the
;
the report of a committee which had been appointed to examine the methods
by which the act had been obtained, and the proceedings under
it,
the
commons
resolved, " that the directors of the
the Indies,
company of Scotland trading to Africa and
administering and taking here an oath de Jideli, and under colour
of a Scots act styling themselves a compan3% were guilty of a high crime and
misdemeanour, and that the Lord Belliaven, William Paterson (and other individuals named), be impeached of the same."
undoubtedly was in
its
nature,
and
This resolution, violent as
offensive in its terms, wtis not
competency of the English parliament
;
and
therefore,
formal complaint.
Another
The Scots company
burg,
111
and had
step,
furni.sh
must
matter for
Ham111all their
had, as already mentioned, sent a deputation to
"
every prospect
f
01
T
•
•
obtjumng a
the hostility will be best ex])lained
I.
it
however, was of a more objectionable nature.
Till-'
by
1
liberal subscription, wlien
hopes were frustrated by hostility from an imexpected quarter.
Vol.
beyond the
however much
have roused the indignation of the Scots, did not properly
it
The nature of
a memorial presented on the 7th of
47
Proceedings
atUauiburc.
370
A.I). 1007.
llLSTOliV
April, 16!J7,
and subscribed
OF
[Book
INI^TA.
Britannic majesty's envoy extraordinary ni
]jy his
the courts of Luneburg, and his resident in the city of Hamljurg.
document, addressed to the
In this
senjite of tliis city, the memorialists express
— "We, the
II.
them-
King of
Great Britain, have, upon the anival of commissioners from an Indian company
in Scotland, represented at two several times to your magnificences and lordselves as follows:
subscribers, ministers of his majesty the
ships from the king our master, that his majesty, understanding that the said
Memorial by
tlie
commissioners endeavoured to open to themselves a commerce and trade in
British
envoy.
these
pai-ts,
by making some convention
had com-
or treaty with this city,
manded us most expressly to notify to your magnificences and lordships, that if
you enter into such conventions with private men his subjects, who have neither
credential letters, nor are any other ways authorized by his majesty, that his
majesty would regard such proceedings as an affront to his royal authority, and
that he would not
fail
to resent
goodness to answer us thereto
into
Your magnificences and lordships had the
by your deputy that you would no way enter
it.
commerce vath the aforesaid commissioners, nor encourage them
in
any
sort.
Notwithstanding whereof, we, the subscribers, do see with displeasure
that,
without any regard to the remonstrances made by us in the name of
make
his majesty, the inhabitants of this city forbear not to
treaties
with the said commissioners,
by
receive subscriptions, as appears
who
conventioiLS
dare even erect a public
And
the annexed print.
it is
and
office to
not very
credible that strangers could so openly enterprise matters of such importance
without being supported by
this
government: wherefore
w^e
make our
just
complaints thereof to your magnificences and lordships, beseeching you, in the
name
of the king our master, to remedy in time that which
do
so
it
effectually as to prevent
any consequences
disturb the friendsliip and good correspondence which
tween England and the
lordships'
Answer
answer in
city of
Hamburg.
We
may
it
we
is
begun, and to
have, capable to
woiild cultivate be-
wait your magnificences' and
be transmitted to his majesty our master."
wi-iting, to
This memorial, which contains a
grc>ss
misrepresentation of the character of
by the
II
imburg
nierdiants.
the Scotch commissioners, and amounted in fact to a most unwarrantable interference with the independent rights both of Scotland
and Hambiirg, having
been transmitted by the senate to the Commercir, or general body of merchants, called forth the following answer:
thing, that the
trade with
King
whom we
— "We look upon
of Britain shovild hinder us,
please
from joining with his
own
;
who
subjects in Scotland, to
tionably placed the matter in
cautious to
its
tme
for considerable
if
are a free people, to
whom
light;
but the
he had lately given
This answer unques-
Hambm-g
merchants,
sums in the company's books, were too
and appended a condition making their
the company did not prociu'e some declaration from the
commit themselves
subscriptions void, "
as a very strange
but are amazed to think that he would hinder us
such large privileges by so solemn an act of parliament."
though they signed
it
finally,
;
;
A SCOTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY.
Chap. VIII.]
371
king that might secure them against the threatenings and other insinuations ad.
ico-
contained in the memorial"
was now the
It
first
company
business of the Scottish
endeavour to
to
subsequent
liroceeiUiigB.
obtain the declaration for which their subscribers in
and accordingly, on the 28th June, 1697,
Hamburg had
stipulated
their council-general presented
an
address to the king, in which, after enumerating their legsd rights, and the pre-
which they had sustained by the interference of individuals acting
judice
in his
majesty's name, they applied for the protection to which they were entitled
" natural right
and the
by
privilege of all merchants whatsoever, even though they
had wanted the sanction of so solemn laws, and more especially for such
declaration as in your royal
wisdom you
think
shall
Hamburg, and
inhabitants of the said city of
fit
others that are or
all
and
to render the senate
may
be
concerned, from the threatenings or other suggestions" which the memorial contained.
As
the king had evidently been brought into a false position, and
could not have justified the proceedings of the memorialists without tlirowing
Scotland into a flame, the Scotch secretaries, after the lapse of more than a
all
month, answered as follows:
you that as soon as
sideration
what you
—
"
We
are
empowered by the king
England he
his majesty shall return to
liave represented
to signify unto
will take into con-
imto him, and that in the meantime his
majesty will give order to his envoy at the courts of Liineburg and his resident
at
Hamburg
make
not to
use of his majesty's
name
or authority for obstructing
your company in the prosecution of yom- trade with the inhabitants of that
city.
This answer, though
actually performed
till
;
little
better than an evasion, promised
more than was
and new remonstrances by the company proved unavailing,
the general dissatisfaction which had begun to prevail, obliged the king to
reply that the promise of his secretaries had been
fulfilled,
abroad distinctly prohibited from fm-ther interference.
peared to be drawing to a
crisis,
when
and
his residents
Matters, however, ap-
the proceedings of the Scotch company
freed the king from his embarrassments,
and paved the way
for their
own
ulti-
They were expressly prohibited from attempting to settle on
any territory belonging to a power in amity with Britain. The site of the Isthmus
mate
extinction.
of Darien, situated between the Atlantic
tageous that
fitted
out
all
and the
other considerations were lost sight
by the company attempted
to settle
the territory, immediately remonstrated, and
seemed so advan-
and the
it.
first
expedition
Spain, wliieh claimed
King William appears
to have
The consequence was, that
Scots, instead of being permitted to establish a trade,
in a
of,
upon
been only too glad to second their remonstrance.
engaged single-handed
Pacific,
the
found themselves suddenly
war with the Spanish monarchy.
fought the battle manfully, but disaster followed disaster.
For a time they
Of
the 3000
men
Scotland had sent out to the isthmus, only a small remnant returned
Lwhom
r"'"^"'~"
'
""
ultimate
(,ftiieScotcu
''""'i*""^-
HISTORY OF IXDTA.
372
AD.
1098.
in the northern,
and
so
many
[Book
II.
Great Britain, cbamtd
fears in the southern j>art of
to exist.
Inducements
to fiirin a
The (liscussions to which the establisiiment of the Scotch East India Company had given rise, and the obloquy wiiich the London India Company haxl
•
i
i
new Kngiish
•
company.
jj^Q^j.j-gj ]^y
ment, had
i]^q
made
nefarious proceedings of those
who had asuq)ed
the English legislature fully aUve to the importance of placing
new and permanent
the trade to the East on a
the measm'e might have taken, had parliament been
wisest
i^lan,
its
(jii
choose the
left at liberty to
differed
;
but with a view to other purposes to which
account,
be made subservient.
The shape which
basis.
much from that which was adopted but
which rendered a new arrangement expedient, nf»t
would perhaps have
circumstances had occurred
only
manage-
its
The powerful
which King William had formed
coalition
frustrate the ambitious designs of the
might
it
King
of France required an enormoas
expenditure, and the necessity of obtaining the necessary funds to meet
seemed
for a
time to outweigh
all
to
other considerations.
it
had thas become
It
obvious that the question which had long been keenly debated between the
existing India
Company and
would be determined not
to them,
now leagued in opposition
much on its own merits as <m mere
the numerous party
so
The government was
pecuniary considerations.
want
in urgent
of money.
What amount of contribution were the candidates for its favour prepared to
furnish?
On this low and unworthy ground the question of continuing the old,
The
or of erecting a new company was now to be settled by act of parliament.
offer of the old
Company was
a loan of £700,000 at four per cent, interest:
their opponents offered £2,000,000, at eight per cent.,
and obtained the
prefer-
Considering the different rates of interest, the smaller loan was certainly
ence.
the more advantageous to the public, but the greater amount of present relief
which the larger loan
afforded,
was eagerly
Ostensibly, however, the preference given to
amount
of the loan, but
gi-asped at
it
was
by the terms on which
it
and carried the day.
justified,
was
not merely by the
The old Com-
offered.
pany
stipulated that the legislature should confirm their charter,
them
in possession of all their privileges as a joint stock.
and continue
Their rivals repudiated
the idea of a joint stock, and asked only to be incoi'porated, at least in the
instance, as a regulated
his
own name and on
first
company, which would allow every member to trade in
his
own
responsibility to the
amount
of his subscribed
This arrangement being in accordance with the more liberal ideas
capital.
which the Restoration had introduced, was supposed to possess
which, even
if
intrinsic merits,
other considerations had been equal, would have entitled
to be
it
pi'eferred.
Discussions
The
rcsolution in favour of a
new East
India
Company was adopted by
on the
subject.
House
of
Commous on
it.
Company being allowed
It
•
the
n
was brought in tor
was strenuously opposed in aU its stages,
4th May, 1698, and on the 26th a
the purpose of giving effect to
the old
^
_
to appear
by
bill
counsel against
it,
but ultimately
A NEW EAST INDIA COMPANY.
CiiAP. VIII.]
373
passed both houses by considerable majorities, and obtained the royal assent,
a.d. 1698.
Company, though powerfully supported, had lost favoui* with the
public by the acts of bribery which had been proved against them and even
durinf the discussion of the bill which doomed them to extinction, had sustained
The
old
;
new damage from
the report of a parliamentary committee which had been
appointed to examine their books
that
by a kind of juggle the value of
and large dividends had been
their stock
was £369,891,
1657,
1661, to April
much
on the adventm'ers
January
amounted
had
amount.
On
was retained, and held
of 25 per cent.
so
;
and
yet,
was made
on the 18th of
suddenly altered that the
was paid
in
call
was
Of
this
money, while the remaining
to be equivalent to a duplication of the
which was accordingly henceforth stated at double
this
the affiiirs
of tiieoia
from October,
this stock
a dividend of 150 per cent, was declared.
dividend, however, only 50 per cent,
original stock,
ReiJoHon
original stock of the Compan}-, in
1681, their funds were so low that a call
it,
Some
Com-
to 390^ per cent., or about 19| per cent, per
thereafter, circumstances
cent,
capital.
on the history of the
for the residue of their .subscriptions
revoked, and instead of
100 per
but out of
The aggregate dividends on
On 2d November,
annum.
light
gi*eatly exaggerated,
"'"'""'-^
The
to be quoted.
5s.
1681,
1,
had been
paid, not out of profit,
of the statements in this report throw so
pany that they deserve
was more than insinuated
for in this report it
;
its original
doubled stock dividends had been regularly paid at the rate
These dividends were always made on the arrival of ships on
general computations without the help of the books, or a minute statement of
the whole account
;
and hence, even at the time of making them, the Company
were hampered by a large debt, which in 1680 exceeded £500,000, and in 1698
amounted on bond alone
to £631,554',
an amount which could not be
ditions of the charter granted
and received under
tion,
this
viz.,
sum
it
specified.
them
£7-i4,000.
could have been applied
to raise the stock of the
lOs.,
exclusive of debts
in India to
In 1693, in fulfilment of the con-
in tliat year, they
opened a new subscrip-
The only legitimate purpose
was that expressly
Company
to
which
specified in the charter,
The parliamentary
to £1,500,000.
committee, after failing to obtain a distinct an.swer as to the manner in which
this
sum had been
disposed
of,
tained that a large portion of
it
consulted the Company's cash-book, and ascer-
had been squandered
in the
system of bribery
which has already been exposed, and that of the remainder no
£325,565,
Os. 4:d.
adventurei's.
had been repaid (on what ground
is
This report, given in at the very time
less
than
not explained) to the old
when
the
Company were
maintaining a desperate struggle for existence, must have told fearfully against
them.
The act which founded the new East India Company ranks as 9 Wm. III.
c. 44, and is entitled, "An act for raising a sum not exceeding £2,000,000, upon
a fund for papuent of annuities, after the rate of £8 per centum per annum, and
for settling the trade to the East Indies."
It
is
of great length, and
is
entirely
Actofi«rcsuHi'shing
"^"^
^J,'*"
•^'t
A.D.
ico'i
occupic'il
his
OF INDIA.
IIISTOIIY
its
ill
[Book
part with regulating the salt and starnj>
first
from wliieh
(]utie.s,
majesty was to derive the annual sum of £160,000, nece.ssary to pay the
terest or annuities exigible at the rate of eight per cent,
In regard to the loan
on the £2,000,000
the leading provisions are, that "
itself,
it
II.
in-
loan.
and may
shall
be lawful to and for his majesty, by commission under the great seal of England,
Act estab-
to take
and receive
all
such voluntary subscriptions as shall be
made on
or before
ne« com
the 29th day of Sej^tember, 1698, by or for any person or persons, natives or
'"'"
foreigners, bodies politick or corporate (the governor
any sum of money whatsoever, not
of England only excepted), of
for
and towards the
the said
sum
and company of the Bank
and paying into the said
raising
than £100,
receipt of the exchequer
The whole simi was subject
of £2,000,000.'
less
to redemption;
but
during the non-redemption his majesty might, by letters-patent, incorporate the
name
subscribers under the
of the General Society entitled to the advantages
given by this act of parliament.
Of the General Society thus incorporated, the
sum total of subscriptions was to form the principal stock, and every subscriber
to the amount of £500 and upwards was entitled to have one vote, and not more
than one, in the election of twenty-four trustees, each of them qualified by the
possession of not less than £2000 of the society's stock in his own right.
Tlie
subscribers, their executors, successors, or assigns, and the persons licensed by
them, were to have the privilege of trading to the East Indies, each to the extent
of his stock
;
or
if,
instead of thus acting individually, the whole or
manage
their share of the trade
might be incorporated
for this special purpose.
of them, or even corporations, should prefer to
company
as a
or joint stock, they
any number
In order "to maintain such ambassadors or other ministers" as the crown, at the
nomination of the
joint-stock
managers of the General Society, or of a
trustees, directors, or
company
established as aforesaid, should
"be pleased to send
to
any
emperor, prince, or state" within the specified limits, and to "defray any other
extraordinary or necessary expense in carrying on the said trade," a duty of five
per cent, was to be levied on
all
India goods imported, but should any surplus
remain after these purposes were served,
to
was
ever, to
1711,
were
The
to belong to the state, but
right of trading to the East
in future to belong exclusively to the General Society, subject,
two most important provisoes:
—
first,
and the repayment of the £2,000,000,
to cease
as before,
till
;
and, second, that the old
for the thrcc years' notice to
.
all
the rights granted by the act
still
continue to trade
This was meant to be an equivalent
which they were entitled under their
fell
far short of
it,
as the
charter,
/»ii
Tin
true meamng of the charter undoubtedly
.
yet
how-
that on three years' notice after
Company might
the 29th of September, 1701
to the old
compmy.
was not
be distributed among the shareliolders.
Indies
iNotice given
it
and
li.
was, tliat
while the three years were running, they were to enjoy the whole trade, instead
of being subjected, as they
now
were, to a formidable competition.
valent, however, imperfect as it was,
something like a stigma attached to
The
equi-
was not given without a grudge, and had
it
by a
clause in the act,
which expressly
;
A NEW EAST INDIA COMPANY.
Chap. VIII.]
stipulated that the present East India
Company should be bound
and should they make dividends
just debts;
dio
pay all their
to
after the 2-lth of June, 1698,
before their debts were discharged, not only would the estate of the
continue
and
Company
but the individual members receiving such dividends would
liable,
a.d. igps.
still
be held bound in proportion of their shares, and, moreover, be subjected to the
penalty of double
The
costs.
general suspicion which
stipulation thus inserted stiikingly indicates the
now attached
to the proceedings of the
London Company.
Indeed, the language of the legislature evidently implies a doubt, not merely of
There could not be any good
their ability, but of their willingness to pay.
gi'oimd for such a doubt
;
and yet
it is
impossible to deny that during the
years of their exclusive monopoly they had done too
The members of the General
subscrii)tions
to jujstify
it.
though they had originally offered their
xew joint
on condition of being established as a regulated, were soon found
lisiiment.
unanimous
to be almost
much
la.st
Society,
in favour of a joint-stock
company and
accordingly, on
;
the 5th of September, 1698, the crown, in accordance with the authority given
in the act of parliament, granted a charter, incorporating the vast majorit}' of
their
number
pany trading
as a
company
or joint stock, under the
The leading
to the East Indies.
identical with those
embodied
of the English
more than
refer to a
Com-
deed are almost
})rovisions of the
Company, and
in the charters of the old
therefore unnecessary here to do
Though the amount of
name
few of the
it
is
special clavises.
their subscriptions to the £2,000,000 loan
formed their
proper capital, they were to have an indefinite power of augmenting their stock
— one-tenth of their exports was
to consist of British produce
and manufactures
every shareholder to the amount of £500 was to have a vote, and none, however
large his share,
tion
was
have more than one
to
by inch of candle
;
and no
lot,
;
all sales
were to be by public auc-
except consisting of jewels, was to be of the
management was to be intrusted, as fonnerly, to
who were to form what was called, not as before, the
value of more than £1000; the
twenty-four individuals,
court of committees, but the " court of directors
be held annually.
by previous
for general
ship of 500 tons,
With regard
four general courts were to
Abroad, the same powers of judicature as had been confeired
charters were to be exercised,
and
;"
religious instruction,
and some provision was made both
by the maintenance of
and of schoolmasters and ministers
to ministers, in particular, it
a clia])lain in every
in all the principal factories.
was provided that they should be
obliged to learn the Portuguese, and "ap])ly themselves to leani the native lan-
guage of the country where they
shall reside, the better to enable
the Gentoos that shall be servants or .slaves of the same
them
Company,
to instruct
or of their
agents, in the Protestant religion."
The arrangements
play
for the establi.shment of
a
new East
India
Company
dis-
wisdom and foresight. The loan to government constituted the only
but this was alread}' absorbed, and the only fund on wliich the Company
little
capital
;
could rely for carrying on their trade, was the annual
sum
of £160,000, payable
imi-oiitio
menu.
—
UISTOltV OF l\I>fA.
n7()
AD.
iTuo.
to
them
Jis
This wa,s wholly iruulefiuate; nnd
interest.
began to
their pecuniary resources
filled up,
but as the instalments
the stock, which had at
Company
still
fell
due, the defaulters
field
with
how
the very outset,
had been rapidly
found purchaiiers
thus hampered, the
and
all
the advan-
on under
result of a competition carried
such circumstances could scarcely be doubtful
stand
difficulty
resources unimpaired,
its
The
tages arising from pre-occupation.
list
;
and
it is
J I.
became numerous, and
new Company was
Wiiile the
kept the
lience, at
Their subscription
fail.
brought a premium, with
first
at a considerable discount.
old
[Book
therefore ea«y to under-
the old Company, in addressing their agents abroad on the recent
changes, instead of using desponding terms, speak almost with exultation of the
approaching contest, expressing themselves as follows
"Two
Old Company still
confident.
:
East India Companies in England could no more
subsist,
without
destroying one y® other, than two kings at the same time regnant in the same
Now, a
kingdom.
pany
;
civil battle
to be fought
two or three years must end
Being veterans,
way.
was
doubt of the victory
to ruin each other,
if
if
;
between the old and new com-
this war, as the old or the
their servants abroad
would do
new must
give
their duty, they did not
the world laughed at the pains the two companies took
they could not help
it,
as they
were on good ground, and had
"'
a charter.
Groiuids of
confidence.
The confidence thus expressed was founded, not merely on the superior advantages which they possessed in a trade which had long been established, and for
the protection of which various fortified stations had been pro\'ided, but on the
important interest which they had secured in the stock of the General Society.
The
act of parliament left
become subscribers
the subscription
it
open for them, as
to the £2,000,000 loan,
list,
in the
name
and no
allowed them should expire, they would
still
t^)
than £315,000 stood
in
less
when
in 1701,
conse-
the three years of grace
There was, however, one
stood, their existence as a coi-poration
company would terminate
The
be entitled to trade annually to
India to the amount of the above subscription.
As the law
any other corporation,
of Mr. Dubois, for their behoof
quence was, that instead of being extinguished
difficulty.
for
gi*eat
and joint-stock
and they would thereafter be obliged
to trade,
not as an united body, but as individuals, each in proportion to the amount which
he had subscribed to the
In
The
first object, therefore,
by endeavouring
against this emergency
porate character.
loan.
this
to secure a prolongation of their cor-
they were completely
of 1700 a private act of parliament
was
now, was to pro\dde
successful, for in the
beginning
passed, "for continuing the governor
and Company of the merchants of London trading into the East Indies a corporation."
This
act, after referring to
to the £2,000,000 loan,
hath,
by the
direction,
the privileges confeired on the subscribers
and stating that
and
"
John Dubois,
in trust for the governor
and Company of merchants
trading into the East Indies, subscribed and paid the
of the said
sum
of London, merchant,
sum
of £315,000, as pai't
of £2,000,000, in order to entitle the said governor and
Company
;
'
TWO COMPANIES
Chap. VIIL]
ESTABLISHED.
377
to the several benefits of the said act," proceeds to dechire that they shall
by the name
tinue and be one body, corporate and politick,
nevertheless, to be determined
enactment
for the
are,
that the
upon redemption of the fund.
London Com})any, though
con-
•
a.d koo.
aforesaid, subject,
The reasons given
'
entitled to the ])enefits
confen-ed on the subscribers to the loan, would, notwithstanding, be dejuived of
"
them
" for
and
;"
should they cease to be a coqjoration
that several hundred
persons are interested in the said subscription of £315,000, they cannot
manage
the same, and the benefit of trade accruing thereby, but in a corporation."
Thus, by solenni acts of the legislature, two indeiiendent East India
Com-
panics were estal)lished, without any provision whatever to prevent the evils
which would necessarily
phical limits of the trade
been assigned a distinct
and
from their rivalship and
arise
were
field,
ample
sufficiently
within which
array,
and commenced a system of warfare which, while
derision
and extortion of the native
So early was
ruin.
rulei-s,
from the very
it
exposed them to the
could only terminate in their
this perceived, that the
face the difficulties which,
for
of this they were placed at once in hostile
capital
Iii-stead
indu
The geogra-
would have found ample scope
it
East
and each might have
for both,
all its
enterprise.
collision.
Tw., in.ie
new
or English
Company,
common
afraid to
began to gather around them,
first,
made overtures for a union. The London Company were not disposed to listen.
They had been forced into a struggle which they were most anxious to prevent
but, now that it had commenced, felt so confident of victor}', that when their
agents abroad expressed their alarm, they spoke slightingly of the danger, and
described
it
only a
it
"as a blustering storm, which was so
little
and grow the
shook the
firmer,
and
more vainglorious than
roots,
and made them thereby take the better
;
and when
tiie
violent feeling-s which at the com-
mencement of the struggle kept the companies
aloof had been giaduall\- mode-
The king
a general desire for union began to be entertained.
rated,
probably convinced that the legislature
itself
was
blame
to
for
fusion which had arisen, openly declared in favour of a union,
when, agreeably to a practice then usual in
London Company,
of the
hold,
The language thus em])loyed was
flourish the faster."
sincere
from tearing them up, that
f;u-
much
and
himself,
of the con-
in particular
pfvssing a private act, a deputation
and committees, and about
consisting of the governor
accompanied by the lord-mayor,
and ten of the
100
inoprietoi-s,
men
of London, obtained an audience of his majesty at Kensington on the 8th
sherifts,
of March, 1700, to re(piest that he would give the royal assent to the
alder-
bill
for
continuing them a corporation, he took the opportunity, while assuring them
of his favour and protection, to
recommend the union
to their serious coiLsideration, on the
ground
'•
that
it
of the
two companies
would he
mo.st for the
interest of the India trade.
Though
.,,.
Kmg
for
tiT-ii*
William,
it
VuL.
At
1.
was not
1*11
recommendation had a powerful
the union of the companies
1"
las
first,
indeed, the
f
t
effected during the reign of Toms
•
n
influence
London Company, instead
"1
m paving
•
the
way
which
on
tlie
.,.iiii..-»ni«>
of meeting its rival on ur^^***
48
—
HISTOUY OF INDIA.
A.D. 1700.
a footing of equality, endeavoured to get rid
ol' it
pay the whole of the £2,000,000
without a
gi-os.s
loan.
J I.
altogether by
to parliament to advance, at a reduced interest, as
to
[iiOOK
Thi.s offer
making an offer
much money as would suffice
could not have been accepted
breach of faith with the subscribers to that loan, and wa« there-
fore justly rejected.
It
was now
felt
that the union ajuld only be effected on
became daily more and more apparent,
the deputies of the two companies, abandoning all attempts to overreach each
equitable terms; and as the necessity for
began
other,
in
it
good earnest to arrange an amalgamation.
embodied in a deed dated the 2d of July,
702,
and
was
Indenture Tri-
between her majesty Queen Anne and the two East India Companies,
partite
The leading
for uniting the said Companies."
the companies in the very same position,
to
1
Tlie result
entitled "
government into two equal
the time of
its
portions,
object of this deed
was
to place
by dividing the whole sum advanced
and assigning one portion to
each.
At
execution, the subscription to the £2,000,000 loan stood as
follows:
.....
.....
English Company's subscription,
London Company's subscription,
Sejiarate traders' subscription,
;£l, 662,000
.315,000
23,000
.£2,000,000
Tenns on
wliicli
Leaving out of view the separate
who were
traders,
the
cumpanies
were amalgamated.
preferred to trade, to the
responsibility,
amount of
and not on a joint
companies was £1,977,000.
their subscription,
stock, the
The share
so called because they
on their own individual
whole sum subscribed by the two
allotted to each
company, under the
new arrangement, was the half of this sum, or £988,500; but as
Company had subscribed only £315,000, it was necessary for them
the difference
amount
by purchasing
called the
to
London
make up
Company,
to the
This arranged, the next object was to fix the value of
of £673,500.
what was
stock at par from the English
the
dead stock of the companies, or that portion of stock which,
consisting of forts, factories, buildings, &c., coiild not be tiu-ned into money, but
behoved to be reserved in common
whole of
to the
this
for the pm-pose of carrjdng
trade.
The
dead stock was valued at £400,000, of which £330,000 belonged
London, and only £70,000 to the English Company.
necessary, in order to maintain equality, that the latter
up the
on the
difference
by paying
to the former £130,000.
It
was
Company
therefore
should
Dm-ing seven
make
years, the
companies were to maintain their separate existence, but the trade was to be
carried on as
an united
trade, for the
common
benefit of both,
and under the
them chosen by each company.
At the end of the seven years the London was to be entirely merged in the English Company, which should, "from thenceforth, for ever, continue the same
direction of twenty-four managers, twelve of
corporation and body politick, with change of
called
to the
by the name
East
Indies.'
of
"
'
its
name, and be from thenceforth
The United Company of Merchants of England trading
FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE OLD COMPANY.
Chap. VIII.]
379
Of the same date as the indenture tripartite, another was executed under
the name of " Quinque-partite Indenture of Conveyance of tlie Dead Stock of
The inventory which it gives of this stock is
the two East India Companies."
of some interest, in so far at least as relates to the original Company, as it not
A
U. ITin
Position of
tlieoMCtini-
puny at the
time of
only furnishes the names, but also indicates the extent of the acc^uisitions which
it
had made
places
in the East during the
and subjects conveyed,
100 years of
Helena, with
Under
soever.
— "The ports and islands of Bombay and
their rights, profits, territories,
all
tiun.
in terms of the above agi'eement, at the valuation
and territory thereto belonging, upon which a large city
together with the said city and
Fort
In Persia, the factories of
factory),
;
and about three miles compass
of the cu'cumjacent country, upon which several small towns or villages
erected;
the
Victories
of Cuddalore,
Porto-Novo,
Pettipolee,
Melchlepatam
On
(Masulipatam), and MadapoUam, and the fort and fiictory of Vizagapatam.
the island of Sumatra, the settlement of
York Fort
ai-e
at Bencoolen,
and the
fac-
tory there, with a territory of about five miles thereto belonging, and the factory
at Indrapore; also the factories of Tr^-aming
and
Sillebar,
out-pagars or factories dejiending on
tlio
China, the factoiy of Tonquin, in
kingdom of Bengal
tlu'
factory of Bencoolen.
and the fictory of Chuttanuttee, with a large
fiictories of Balasore.
Cossimbuzar,
Dacca,
and some other
;
In Cochin-
the Fort William
territory thereto belonging
;
the
Hooghly, Moulda. Rajahmaul, and
of
factories.
380
A.D. iron
IIISTOItV
Also the right and
Patna.
or
any
other'
and
profits,
Obstacles
It
title
settlements in
tiie
[Book
INI)IA.
of the said governor
South Seas; and
graunts,
all privileges,
OF
all
and phirrnaunds
must be admitted that the
and Company
Bantam,
to
rents, customs,
IF.
and other
in India."
sulyects above enumerated
were very mrxle-
to cordial
uiiiun.
rately valued,
and had not only
higher for an absolute
amalgamation, the London
though the
affairs,
The
sale.
effect certainly
was
to give
by con.senting
so urgent for
Sir Basil Firebrace,
it
first
when
.state
of their
the arrangement
large dividends regvdarly declared, they were
aversion
professed
as once
to liVjeral terms,
an unfavourable view of the
at the period
an amicable
effect
This would almost seem to have been their
though they had at
became
lost little
and countenance the allegation that
barely solvent.
but would have been rated far
however, being to
object,
Company
was made, notwithstanding the
for
cost more,
more
and purchase
it
own
the union, they at
to
to a«k in the aid of the
by the promise
impression,
now
la.st
notorious
of an enormoas reward.
As a compensation for his services, if they proved .successful, £150,000 of the
Company stock was to be transferred to him at £80. Assuming the .stock
to be at par, he was to make a gain of twenty per cent., or in other rewards
The arrangement- was not more extravagant
receive a douceur of £30,000.
than impolitic, because it led many of the English Company to imagine that
they had been outwitted in the bargain, and thus disposed them instead of
entering into
it cordially,
to
throw obstacles in the way of
its
completion.
This want of cordiality was especially manifested abroad, where the servants
of both companies,
disregarding the instructions which
they received from
home, seemed determined to carry on
a kind of internecine warfare.
after year thus passed
process
of winding
concerns of the
away, and the
up the separate
companies, prepara-
tory to the final amalgamation,
The
little progress.
Year
made
necessity of tak-
ing some more decisive step for this
purpose having become apparent,
was
it
at last resolved to have recourse
to a referee.
This important
undertaken
b}^
no
less
office
was
a personage
than Sidney, Earl of Godolphin, the
lord high-treasurer of Great Britain;
Sidney, Earl of Godolphin.— After Sir G. Kneller.
might be
and in order that fuU
effect
given to his award,
was previously
made binding on both companies by a
special
it
clause in an act of parlia-
ment.
This act of parliament (6th Anne, chap. 17), exa<;ted a
new loan
of £1,200,000
I
CAPITAL (W THE UNITED COMPANY.
Chap. VTIT.]
from
381
United Company, thus making the whole amount of the advance
tlie
government
No
£3,2()(),()()().
interest
was allowed on the
latter loan
;
to
but as the
cent., the effect was to accumulate both
former had borne interest at eight per
^
°
loans into one, bearing a connnon interest of five per cent. In return for Uie loan
^
thus exacted, certain
loan,
which
still
new
advantjiges were conferred.
a.d. ivns.
The portion of the
capitjiiof
the United
comitmy.
original
belonged to the separate traders of the General Society, had
been reduced to £7200, and
it
was now made optional
to the
United Company,
on giving three years' notice of their intention after 29th September, 1711, to
pay
off this
sum and
incorporate
it
own
with their
exclusive possession of the whole East India trade,
the siuidow of a competitor.
It
was
stock, so as to
put them in
and leave them without even
enacted that the existence of the
also
Company, instead of being terminable by three years' notice after 1711, on
repayment of the loan, should he prolonged under the same conditions till 1 726
;
and power was given them to borrow £1,500,000, which they might either
allow to remain as a bonded debt, or repay by means of calls on their share-
In this
liolders.
way
the
amount of
capital,
which would othenvise have
been absorbed by the additional loan, was more than replaced.
Lord Go-
award was pronounced on the 29th September, 1708; and the
arrangements consequent upon it being immediately completed, the amalgadolphin's
mation was
One Company
finally etlected.
only, bearing the
name
of "
The
nowNamooi
United Company of Merchants of En^dand trading
* to the East Indies,"
®
theUiiitt.l
and preparations were forthwith made for canying on the East cnixni}.
existed
.
.
.
;
India trade on a larger scale than
stances were propitious:
trade
it
was
it
had previously attained.
had obtained the
no longer be
direct sanction of the legislature
and animosities which at one time threatened
had
been suppressed
political
Company on which
the charter of the English
in future to be conducted could
— and
The circum-
called in question, as
—the internal
to bring ruin
the native governments,
dissensions
on both companies
in consequence of the
changes which followed the death of Am-ungzebe, had beeomc
able to practise extortion
and
oppression.
GAROOKrH OF THE PERSIAN GULT.
the
less
—
—
BOOK
III.
THE UNION OF THE COMPANIES TO THE ACQUISITION OF
FROxM
BENGAL, BEHAR, AND ORISSA.
CHAPTER
Actual position of the United Company
Aurunsjzebe
—
Political state of India
The Mahrattas and other native states
SiHILE parliament was
I
>l
I
"^^^^^^
xN-fe^r
I.
—The immediate succesaorB of
The invasion
of Nadir Shah.
discus.sing tlie best
mode
lisbing tbe trade to the East, the trade itself
almost suspended,
particularly on
the
of estab-
had been
west coast of
by an embargo wliich Am-ungzebe had laid on
all European ships in the harbour of Surat.
Yarioas
acts of piracy had been committed, and the Mogul.
India,
instead of endeavouring to discover the guilty parties, took the
more compendious method of throwing the responsibility on the
different
An
trade.
whom
Em^opean nations on
he had conferred
pri\'ileges of
imperial mandate accordingly was issued, obliging the English,
Dutch, and French not only to pay the damage which had been sastained,
but to give security for the payment of any similar damage which might
A.D. 170S.
be sustained in futm"e.
unavailing
;
and the
Remonstrances against
different
Difficulties
sity of saving their trade
with tlie
Mogul.
which boimd them to
this despotic proceeding
companies saw themselves reduced to the neces-
by submitting
Red
English along the Indian coast.
Under an aiTangement
the Dutch engaged for that
to injustice.
clear the seas of pirates,
pm'pose to cruise in the
proved
Sea, the French in the Persian Gulf,
and the
Tlie hardship thus inflicted entailed a serious
on the London Company, at a time when the threatening aspect of their
loss
home made retrenchment and rigid economy more than ever desirable.
much for their spirit and foresight, that in these untoward circumthey even ventured on a heavy outlay, in order to make a valuable
affairs at
It says
stances
acquisition in another part of India.
Acquisitions
This acquisition
is
described in the inventory above quoted as " the Foil;
of the
Company
William and the
in Bengal.
ing."
The
some years
factor}^ of
Chuttanuttee, with a large territory thereto belong-
factory of Chuttanuttee had,
before,
it
wiU be remembered, been estabHshed
when, after the humiliating result of the war rashly entered
into with the Mogul, an insulting permission
was given
to re-.ume the trade;
;
Chap.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED COMPANY.
I.]
now
but the territory
cac»j[uired
included
the three
383
entire towns,
or rather ad.
1708.
—thus giving the Company
and Calcutta
villages of Chuttanuttee, Govindpore,
a territorial footing in Bengal similar to that previously possessed at Madi'as
and Bombay.
Bengal was in conset^uence again raised to the rank of an inde-
pendent presidency, and Fort William, newly erected, and so called in honoiu"
of the reigning English monarch,
became
The United Company had thus
each governed by
own
its
at the very outset three distinct presidencies,
president and council,
Madnis was the
dently of the others.
its capital.
oldest,
and
Bombay
entitled to act indepen-
the strongest, and Bengal
commercially the most important, but no one possessed any recognized
riority
;
and the only controlling power which could give them unity of purpose
and action centred
obvious defects.
who met
in the court of directors,
This court, as constituted by the
•
sujie-
new
charter, laboured
members, twenty -four
Its
general court of proprietors, composed of
This amount gave one vote
no additional amount of
;
in Leadenhall Street.
all
number, were elected by the
in
who
under several very
£500 of stock.
possessed at least
but, contrary to the provisions of earlier charters,
.stock,
however
large,
The
gave more votes than one.
£500 and of £50,000 were placed on the very same footing, and,
constitutionally at least, exercised tlie same degree of influence in the general
proprietor of
management.
Tlie object of this provision apparently
was
to counteract the
tendency to monopoly, and prevent the recurrence of the abuse which had taken
place at an earlier period,
when
Child at their head, usurped a
object, the
a few overgrown proprietors, with Sir Josiah
selfish
and injurious ascendency.
means employed were not well
fairness required that
If this
calculated to accomplish
was the
Common
it.
some proportion should have been established between
the power of voting and the interest at stake
;
remedy
that the larger proprietors took the
and
therefore not sur})rising
it is
into their
own
hands, and had
recom-se to the obvious but not very creditable expedient of manufacturing
votes
by
up
splitting
confidential parties,
precaution
their stock into
who were bound
was taken against
£500
a single year
;
this practice, the evils
and hence, as each
impossible that the whole
While no
to vote at their dictation.
The
mitted to assume their most aggravated form.
for
and conveying them to
shares,
produced by
were per-
it
directors held office only
annujil election
came round,
it
was not
body of managers, and consequently the whole system
of manajrement, would be chanfjed.
The
electioneering carried on under such
circumstances was not onl}' unseemly but coiTupt, and the directors often
owed
their seats far less to their qualifications than to the superabundance of their
promises.
In proportion as the
Company extended
and valuable rights of patronage were acquired
might be obtained
cared
little
in retiu'n for votes, induced
for the dividends
interest of the
:
Company Mas
their operations, extensive
and the ajipointments which
many
to purchase stock
which might be realized from
it.
to such voters a matter of secondary
who
The true
moment
Coiistituticm
cunipim.v.
HLSTOUY OF INDIA.
384
A.
I).
1708.
and
employed not
their influence wa-s accordingly often
A
[Book
III.
promoting hut
in
in
court of directors elected on eiToneous principles, and con-
thwarting
it.
sisting of
members who had no
certainty of retaining office beyond a single
Company on any
year, could scarcely be expected to ccmduct the affairs of the
This serious defect was aggravated by the
regular and permanent system.
constitution of the court
itself.
Under the
was made
old chartei-s provision
for
the appointment of a governor and deputy-governor, who, by occupying the
chaii- for
a definite period, were able to arrange the basiness and give some
degree of uniformity to the proceedings
had been
and
lost sight of,
by a new
The obvious inconveniences of
new
charter this provision
whenever the
for several years,
occupation of the chair was determined
the moment.
but in the
;
election
directors met, the
made on the spur
arrangement were ultimately
this
The
obviated by a by-law, which re-established the original practice.
however, remained
defects,
serious attempt
fuinpan.v.
was made
Tlic liistory of the
K;iii.viii.stor.v
;
to
of
othei"
and more than half a century elapsed before any
remedy them.
United Company during the
first
The
fumislies few incidents deserving of special notice.
years of
rivals
its
existence
who had
ques-
tioned the legality of former charters with the view of securing a .share in the
East India trade, seeing themselves excluded by express acts of the
had been obliged
to
quit
All the
and encroachments on the exclusive
now deemed hopeless, were no longer
commercial transactions of the Company were henceforth
monopoly which had been
attempted.
the field;
seem-ed, being
on according to a regular routine
carried
;
and the record of them would only
present a dry detail of exports and imports, vaiying in
year, yet exhibiting on the
pi'ofit also
increased,
708,
when
af^iiire
cent.,
decline then took
it
and the rate
home and
effected, the
was eight per
and thereafter annually
place,
at
was
the complete union of the companies
nine per
increase.
to
The
though not always in the same proportion, the amount of
at the rate of only five per cent., in 1709
1711
amount from year
whole a permanent and important
dividend often fluctuating with the state of
1
legislature,
settled
till
down
abroad.
In
dividend was
cent., in
1723 ten per
1710 and
cent.
at eight per cent.
A
In
1712 the exclusive privileges of the Company, prexdouslj' terminable in 1726,
were prolonged by 10 Anne,
c.
28, to 1733.
By
years were added to this period; and finally,
trade was secured
Unsettled
Mogiu em'^"^
till
a subsequent prolongation, three
by 17 Geo.
II.
c.
17,
the exclusive
the expiration of three years' notice after 1780.
While the Company were thus secm'ed at home against any attempts which
might havc been made to deprive them of their
them from various other
alarming,
to be
was the
quarters.
state of
Of
privileges,
dangers threatened
these, the first in order, if not the
most
anarchy with wliich the whole country seemed about
overwhelmed, in consequence of the dismemberment of the Mogul empire.
After Aurungzebe's death in 1707, a kind of will was found under his pillow.
He had
foreseen the contest which
would be wag-ed
for his succession,
and endea-
C/iAr.
REIGN OF BAHADUR SHAH.
T]
voured to prevent
Moazzim, the
it
eldest,
by apportioning
dominions among his three
his
all
ad.
itos.
the provinces to the south and
kingdoms
south-west, including the Deccan, witli the exception of the conquered
of Bejapoor
To
sons.
he destined the northern ?ind eastern provinces, with the
of emperor; and to Azim, the second son,
title
080
and Golconda
Tliese he left to his third son, Cambaksii.
This
proposed partition, wliich would have been injudicious under any circumstances,
threw away the only chance which remained of once more consolidating the
Mogul power.
The Mahrattas had shaken
it
to its verj^ centre
Rajpoots had made themselves almost independent
—and many other
The
any regard
brothers, without paying
his death
than they flew to arms.
.advantage of his position, and
Amamgzebe s
will
tributaries
would have made
to that document,
who was
Azim,
it.
no sooner heard of
nearest to the capital, took
was immediately proclaimed sovereign of
Cambaksh, instead of questioning
leading
The confusion was,
were watching the opportunity to imitate their example.
iiowever, destined to be even worse than
— the
his title, formally
acknowledged
it,
India.
all
and was
suoce9.si,,i,
of
shau.
confirmed in possession of the kingdoms which his father had allotted him.
Moazzim, though the true
it
to
on favourable terms
any
;
heir,
was not indisposed
from Moultan, and the second from Bengal
the battle which ensued,
was taken
cession
sons,
prisoner.
were
It
Moazzim gained
—hastened
slain in the field,
and
might have been supposed that the struggle
an
infant,
for the suc-
so readily to his
of Bahadur Sliah,
title
necessary to march into the Deccan at the head of an army.
His good fortune again attended him, and
in February, 1708,
Cambaksh was not only
quitting the Deccan,
Khan, who had earned
the battle which decided his
an accommodation
in a battle fought near
defeated, but
fell
Hyderabad,
mortally wounded.
Bahadur Shah conferred the viceroyalty on Zulit
by an opportune
fate.
desertion of Azim, previous to
Zulfikar immediatel}' endeavoured to effect
witli the Mahrattas.
The circumstances were
favourable.
Saho, the legitimate rajah, after a long captivity, had been set at
lil>erty
by Tara
infant son.
Bai, the
widow
of his uncle. Rajah
Ram, wlio claimed
Both claimants were strongly supported; and
a negotiation with Saho.
repair to Delhi
;
He was
I.
for her
but his deputy, Daoud
Khan
taking
progi'ess in
obliged, however, before concluding
it,
to
Panni, following out his views,
procured exemption from Mahratta forays, by agreeing to
Vol.
it
Zulfikai-,
advantage of the disunion thus produced, had made considerable
by
He was
Azim, and had immediately laid claim to the Mahratta sovereignty.
resisted
In
Moazzim, therefore, had
no sooner mounted the throne in June, 1707. under the
On
—the
Azim, with his
his only other son,
;
it
his sons
to join him.
a complete victory.
second, rose in rebellion against his eldest brother.
fikar
two of
was now at an end but Cambaksh, who had submitted
than he found
listen
Moazzim accordingly advanced from
decision but that of the sword.
two grown-up
offered
but Azim, strong in actual possession, refused to
Cabool, where he had been residing as governor, while
eldest
and
to a compromise,
lev}-
the clunit by
43
DiMmion
Maumttas.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
y8()
A D
1712.
his
own
officials,
humiliating
and pay
arrantrement,
far declined that
Salio the proceeds.
hut
tiie
(Book
This was at
best a very
tlie
Mogul had already so
fortunes of the
any terms were deemed
III.
hazard of a
new
Deccan, Bahadur Shah was encountered by a
new
[jreferable to the
strui'tfle.
Rypo
In returning from
.t
tlie
lonfedenuv
confedera(;y of Rajpoots, headed
by the Rana of Odeypoor and the Rajahs of
Jeypoor and Marwar.
Be-
/#
fore he could crush
new
a
it,
alarm broke out which obliged
him
their
demands, and
with
comjjly
to
in
fact
make them independent
everything
but
in
name.
the
The alarm proceeded from the
Punjab, where the Sikh.s,
an
originally
religious sect,
insignificant
had
risen rapid-
and were
ly into importance,
now avenging
themselves on
their Mu.ssiilman pereecutors
by
devastations and
fearful
wholesale
insurrection
was deemed
midable enough to
EAJPOOT.S
—From
Buinouf, L'Inde Francaise
;
Sohyn, Les Hindous
;
and
the CmperOr's
Todd's Annals of RnjAsthan.
suppressed
As
Disputed
when he died suddenly
usual, the succession
for-
demand
perSOUal pre-
..
sence,
The
massacres.
^
and was only
i*
ll
partially
at Lahore, in Februarj^ 1712
was disputed by
his four sons.
Azim-u-Shan, the
succession
to tlie
Mogi J
throne.
second son, was the favourite both with the nobility and the
army
;
and,
by a
rapid march from his government of Bengal, where he had for several years been
much upon
providing himself with the sinews of war, gained so
his competitors
The other three brothers, seeing that
their only chance of success was to unite against him as a common enemy,
joined their forces, and, under the able guidance of ZuLfikar Khan, forced him
that resistance seemed all but hopeless.
to action
lie
lost
under circumstances so disadvantageous, that after a short struggle
both the battle and his
life.
The question of precedence among the
remaining brothers stiU remained to be determined
it
by a very summary
process.
;
but Zulfikar
Khan
settled
Moiz-u-din, who, as the eldest, had the best legal
seemed excluded by incapacity; but
was his strongest
recommendation.
He had determined to use him as a tool, and therefore,
espousing his cause, found little difficulty in seating him on the throne, under
the title of Jehandar Shah.
Zulfikar, almost as a matter of course, became
title,
to Zullikar this
1
Chai'.
KEIGN OF FAllOKSlllK.
1.
vizier,
and wielded
oS7
the power of the state, while the pageant emperor gave ad.
all
1:13
himself up to folly and licentiousness.
One
of the
acts of the
first
might have become
new
reign had been to seize and murder
Some
rival claimants to the throne.
all
who
of them, however, not-
R-'s" of
shai,
withstanding the remorselessness with which this barbarous policy was carried
Among them was
had escaped.
out,
Azim-u-Shan, who, when he
Faroksliir, son of the second l^'othei-,
contend for the succession, had
set out to
left
him
The incapacity of Jehandar Shah, and the
to govern Bengal as his deputy.
arrogance and tyranny of Zultikar Khan, having jn-oduced general discontent.
Farokshir saw his opportunity, and resolved to improve
Khan and Hosen
brothers, Abdallah
Prophet, were held in reverence
Supported by two
it.
who, as Seyeds, or descendants of the
Ali,
by the Mahometans, while
their po.ssession of
the respective governments of Allahabad and Behar ])laced a powerful force at
command, he
their
and advanced
to the vicinit}'
There Jehandar and Zulfikar encountered him at the head of 70,000
of Agi'a.
men.
raised the standard of revolt
was
Tiie battle
Ultimately the
so fiercely contested that the issue Wcis long doul)tful.
who had
troops,
ini])erial
little
good-will to the cause for which
they were fighting, gave way, and Jeliandar, fleeing in disguise to Delhi,
Zulfikar to follow with the remaining troops as he best could.
upon
^close
his heels,
and learned with
wait the tedious process of a
met him
fikar
This
hands.
new
Farokshir was
delight, that instead of being obliged to
siege, the capital
as he approached,
left
was already
in his power.
and delivered Jehandar a prisoner
act of perfidy did not save him.
and both he and
Zul-
into his
his
master
were immediately put to death.
Farokshir having thus mounted the Mogul throne on 4th February, 1713,
naturally conferred the highest offices of the state on the
made
the elder, was
lah,
recovered after being
left for
and Hosen
dead on the
who had
Ali,
field,
Abdal-
almost miraculoasly
became Ameer-ut-Omrah, or
Pluming themselves on the important
commander-in-chief
had rendered, the
vizier;
two Seyeds.
services
which they
were disposed to repeat the game which had been
played by Zulfikar Khan, by leaving Farokshir only the name of emperor, while
brothei>5
they really governed.
difficult
than they had antici-
Farokshir, though of a feeble and irresolute character, ha<l a high idea
pated.
of his
The task proved more
own
qualifications for reigning,
and was surrounded by worthless favour-
and ambition could not be satisfied while nothinjr but the
shadow of power was left him. The Seyeds, accordingly, soon found themselves
ites,
whose
thwarted
raiiacity
in their arbitrary proceedings
by
a strong court party, who, without
venturing to j)rovoke an open rupture, were unwearied in intrigue.
scheme was to get
rid of the presence of
required his presence.
ful
aged
in
it
by the court
faction,
fii-st
Hosen Ali by exciting a war which
In this there was no
Rajah of Marwar, was again in
The
difficulty, as Ajit Sing,
the power-
and was, moreover, actually encourwho gave him to undei-stand that obstinate
rebellion,
iteignof
b<SS
;.
u. i7i:i
llISTOliY
OF IMHA.
would please the emperor more than
resistance
[Took
rea/ly submission.
Tlie rajah,
however, was too acute to play the game of Farokshir's favourites
ing
Hosen willing
to grant
him
terras
by which
own
his
interests
III.
;
and, find-
were secured,
liastened to conclude a peace.
One
hnixrtant
Faioksiiii
to the
(laughter in marriage to the emperor.
Comis
was that the rajah should give
of the stipulations of this peace
What
the attractions of the lady were
not mentioned, but Faroksiiir seems to have
patience of a lover.
sipated course of
life
which he led had undermined Ms
Company had
very period the
him
health,
to marry.
Tlie di«^
and he was labour-
Fortunately, at this
sent a formal emba.s.sy to Delhi to complain of
the extortion and oppression practised
more
the ardour and im-
felt all
There was, however, a serioas obstacle in the way.
ing under a disease which did not permit
his
upon them at
their different factories,
and
They had been induced to take this step in consethe favour which Farokshir had shown them while holding the
especially in Bengal.
quence of
government of
this province,
and
their consequent
hope that he would
protec-t
them against the harsh treatment which they were receiving from Jafiier Khan,
his successor.
The embassy carried with them presents to the value of about
£30,000, intended partly for the emperor himself, and partly for the favourites
whom
he was surrounded.
It is not to
be doubted that at a com-t where intrigue
prevailed and all things had become venal, these presents
down many
them but
difficulties
to a cause
had been
calculated.
^Ir.
was removed, and
yield to native treatment,
Hamilton, the phy-
called to court to give his professional aid,
so well, that the disease of the emperor,
tiously delayed,
must have smoothed
but the idtimate success of the embassy was owing not to
on which they had not
sician to the embassy,
and succeeded
;
by
his marriage,
whicb had refused
to
which had been vexa-
was celebrated with unprecedented splendour.
consequence no limit to the favour which Mr. Hamilton enjoyed.
There was in
The emperor
by bestowing rich presents upon him in the presence of all his courtiers, and was afterwards easily induced to comply with the
petition which the embassy had presented, by issuing a firman which invested
Besides the three ^'illages
the Company with new and extensive priAoleges.
which they aheady possessed in the vicinity of Fort WiUiam, authority was
given them to acquire other thirty-seven on the same terms and in the same
publicly attested his gratitude
locality.
For a time, in consequence of the
was rendered inoperative
;
but at
hostility of Jafiier
last full effect
was given
to
Khan,
it,
this grant
and the Com-
pany, though not without serious misgivings of allowing themselves to be
"encumbered with much
territory," acquired right to a tract
ten miles along both sides of the Hooghly,
gation.
Among
extending nearly
and completely commanding
the other more important privileges confeiTed
its
by the
navi-
fii-man
were the conversion of the duties previously payable at Siuat into a fixed
annual sum, beyond whicli no charge of any kind was to be made
all,
;
and above
the removal of one of the greatest impediments which trade had experienced,
Chap.
THE SEYEDS'
I.]
by exempting
all
'S^'J
goods protected by the Company's dustid; or passport, from ad
stoppage or examination by the
At
liULE.
the very time
of the Bengal government.
officials
when Farokshir was making
these concessions to the
were hastening to a
While Hosen Ali was absent
Com-
vimua mie
()f
j)any his
own
affiiirs
with the army, the
had thrown
corn-tiers
by evincing a more undisguised
crisis.
off part of their
furnished
hostility,
it
is
probable they did not
feel,
the
the
seyedc.
former caution, and
him with a pretext
providing additional secmuties for his personal safety.
which
iru
for
Pretending an aliinu
two brothers
at first refused to
appear at court, and then began to prepare for open hostihties.
After a period
was threatened with anarchy,
submit, and consented to become virtually a
of general consternation, during which the capit<\l
Farok.shu' found
it
necessary to
by allowing the gates of the citadel, within
which his [)alace stood, to be occupied by their guards, while an attempt was
made to effect a reconcihation. After various abortive propo.sals it was at
last arranged that Mir Junda, the emperor's favourite and head of the court
prisoner in the hands of the Seyeds,
faction,
and Hosen
Ali,
should both quit Delhi, the former proceeding to his
government of Behar and the
Abdallah
Khan
on either
side,
shoidd
still
government of the Deccan, while
latter to his
retain his office of vizier.
and though the actual
There was no sincerity
was prevented, the course of
crisis
in-
trigue continued as before.
During the confusion caused by the dissensions at Delhi, the Sikhs,
had again become formidable.
sustaining a series of disasters,
Bandu, who had been made captive, had
his
mountain retreat renewed
now
the central government
.strongly felt, that
command
and suddenly
Their
chief,
i.ssuing
from
ravages in the level country.
Feeble
{\.s
was
so
was, the necessity of vigorous measm-es
xiie siwiis
uandii.
a powerful force was despatched into the Punjab under the
of a chief called
with consummate
his
e.scaped,
after
Abdusemed Khan, who conducted the campaign
After gaining repeated i-uccesses in the open
ability.
he hunted the Siklis out of their
fiistnesses,
and made many of
field,
their leaders
Bandu himself was again among the number, and expiated his
crimes on the scaffold at Delhi by a death in which all kinds of horrific torNumerous other executions followed, and the Sikh.s,
tures were accumulated.
pri.soners.
though
still
destined to play an important part in the history of India, were
so completely subdued,
that
many
years elap.sed before their existence as a
nation acjain became discernible.
In the Deccan the Mogul arms were
arrival in 1715, their emplojTiient
gated by the emperor himself
was
less successful.
Panni, who, as
to hold the
luis
on Hosen Alis
have been
insti-
been mentioned,
government of the Deccan as
his
was removed
on
deputy, and negotiated a peace with the Mahrattas,
in 1713
and was now governing the united provinces of
His immediate succes.sor in the Deccan was Chin Kilicli
the accession of Farokshir,
Gujerat and Candeish.
first,
in civil warfare, said to
Daoud Khan
was appointed by Zulfikar Khan
At
Piooewiing*
uoixiu.
—
HISTORY OF INDIA.
390
A u.
17I.V
Khan, afterwards well known as the founder of the Nizam dynasty, under
title
Proceedings
ill
[Book HI.
meaning
of Nizam-ul-Moolk,
make Way
Hosen
for
Ali,
" Regulator or
his
Governor of the State."
To
he was removed to the comparatively insignificant
the
Uecuaii
government of Moradabad.
by the
loss
of these chiefs considering themselves aggrieved
B(;tli
of their more important appointments, hated Hosen, and were
di.s-
posed to throw their weight into any confederacy that might he formed against
Daoud, naturally the more headstrong and impetuous of the two, was
liim.
worked upon and no sooner learned that Hosen's destruction would be
;
at Delhi as a deliverance, than he resolved to attempt
it,
first
hailed
not covertly, but
liy
With this view, having mustered the forces of his own governments, and increased them by le\aes from the Mahrattas and other Deccan chiefs
open
hostility.
among whom he had
\
\
any
influence,
once
made
he at
his appear-
ance in the
and
field,
that there might be
no doubt as
to
his
intentions, sent Ho.sen
his defiance.
(jf
The
trial
strength thas pro-
was
voked
speedily
Daoud,
decided.
act-
ing with his usual imj)etuosity,
the
commenced
battle
with
before whicli
charge,
those opposed to
M.\HRATTA.s.
From
Forbas, Oriental Memoirs;
when he
the day
fell,
pierced through the brain with a bullet.
was immediately
him
and Bumouf, L'lude Francaise.
were
struck,
a
reversed,
and Hosen saw
fleeing
panic-
The fortune
of
his threatened defeat con-
verted into a complete victory.
Progress
While Daoud Khan Panni and Nizam-ul-Moolk governed in the Deccan, the
of the
Mahrattas
Mahrattas, either distracted
by
internal dissensions, or satisfied with the advan-
tageous peace which they had extorted, gave
was now changed.
his enemies,
Hosen, offended at the assistance
and deeming himself strong enougli
force,
was not
chiefs
gave him good ground
was Dabari, by
at all dissatisfied
when
The aspect of affairs
which they had given to
little trouble.
to put
them down by main
the proceedings of one of their leading
for interfering.
This
chief,
whose family name
establishing a line of fortified villages in Candeish,
had become
the terror of caravans and travellers along the highroad leading from the Dec-
can to Surat.
A
little obsti'uction,
stroncj
detachment whicli Hosen sent against him met with
and marched on unconscious of danger
till it
became entangled
;
Chap.
The Mahiattas,
in ravines.
true to their
selves of every possible outlet,
by the sword or was made
was now
MAHOMED SHAH.
OF
IlEIGN
!.]•
mode
oJil
of warfare, had possessed them-
and almost every man of the detachment perished
The whole of
prisoner.
tlie
Mahratta confederacy
and Hosen, fearing that he might be involved in an
in motion,
when
minable and inglorious warfare, at the very time
in tiie possession of a larger extent of ten-itory
po.ssessed before,
inter-
was impera-
his presence
tively re(iuired at Delhi, hastily concluded a peace with Saho,
him
a.d. 1719.
which contirmed
than the Mahrattas had ever
and sanctioned the levying not only of the
cliout,
but of the
sirdesmuki, or an additional tenth of the whole remaining revenue throughout
The only return which Saho made
the Deccan.
for these concessions
agreement to guarantee the country from future depredations, to
was an
fin'nish
a con-
tingent of 15,000 for the maintenance of the public tranquillity, and to pay an
annual tribute of ten
lacs of rupees (£100,000j.
own
Farokshir, wliile aware that his
Hosen
manner compelled
intrigues had in a
to conclude this disgi-aceful treaty, refused to ratifv
which ensued hastened the
steadiness
Farokshir, had he possessed
crisis.
and energy, might
easily
iSiiig,
any degree of
rurckKiiir
ZyeZ.
have found in the chiefs who envied or hated
the Seyeds, a combination ])owerful enough to free
His father-in-law, Ajit
Tlie (piarrels
it.
rtvfcM nn.i
him from
their galling yoke.
Rajah of Marw.ar, Jei Sing, Rajah of Amber, Sirbu-
land Khan, governor of Behar, and Nizam-ul-Moolk, who, considering himself
exiled at Moradabad,
was pining
for higher
employment, were
Instead of taking proper measures to court
lent their aid.
them by the preference shown
to
unworthy
favourites;
it,
all
ready to have
he only alienated
and hence, wlien the
period for a decisive trial ari'ived, found himself almost totally abandoned.
Alarmed
at the dangers
by which he was
and endeavoured, by abject submission,
beset,
he
now
consulted only his fears,
Even
to obtain at least a respite.
this
by a few partisans who still
adhered to him in the capital, the Seyeds dragged him forth from his hidingplace in the seraglio, and caused him to be privately put to death in Feb. 1719.
was denied
;
and
after
some attempts at a
rescue,
Hosen Ali and Abdallah Khan, were now absolute mastei*s
of the government, and migiit at once have put an end for ever to the Mogul
The
ilyna.sty.
brothel's,
Tliis
have adopted
;
was probably
but
its
for themselves the safest course
which they could
boldness deten-ed them, and they set up
first
one young
prince of the blood and then another.
By
a singular fatality both died,
not by violence, but naturally, Avithin
.six
months.
robust constitution, and
A
mounted the throne with the
third
it is said,
was found of more
title <<f
Mahomed
Shah.
The Seyeds evidently contemplated a continuance of their arbitrary rule
but symptoms of opposition were soon manifested in various ((uarters, and were
leather encouraged than repressed by a timid and vacillating policy on the part
would indeed seem from the timid measures of the
brothers, that they were conscious of having fallen gi'eatly in public opinion,
of the government.
and
felt
It
the ground slipping from beneath their
feet.
With
.some of the earlier
M.ihome<i
'"
o„'"ti,e
^''"'°^-
HISTOllV OF INDIA.
3!»2
A. D. 1719.
1"
'beln
against
lie
difficulty in efTecting
little
was otherwise when Nizam- ul-Moolk began
It
pi'omise.
they found
tlieir autliority,
[Kook JU
to
a com-
bestir himself,
had been in communication with Farokshir's party; but, on seeing how
little
confidence could be placed in that fickle monarch, had given in his adhesion to
He
the Seyeds.
expected that they would have rewarded him with the govern-
ment of the Deecan, and was much dissatisfied on receiving only that of Malwah.
Even here the Seyeds deemed him too formidable, and they endeavoured to
remove him by pressing on his acceptance any one of the four governments of
Allahabad, Agra, Candeish, and Moultan.
He refused, and at the same tune,
considering
it
unnecessary any longer to dissemble, prepared to
ened attempt to oust him by
Moolk proceeded
force.
to execute a
An
a threat-
rasLst
open rupture ensued, and Nizam-ul-
scheme which he had long been meditating.
Instead of remaining in Malwah, he crossed the Nerbudda, gained posseasion by
force or bribery of several important places, signally defeated
were sent against him, obtained the adhesion of
many
chiefs,
two armies that
came
to
an under-
standing with the Mahrattas, and was soon virtually master of the whole Deecan.
His success had been greatly aided by a course of intrigue which had again
Niziim-ui-
tLe^De'ccaii
Commenced at the com-t of Delhi. Mahomed Shah, like his predecessor Farokshir, was bent on throwing off the yoke of the Seyeds.
The revolt of Xizam-ulMoolk seemed to promise the means, and that ambitious chief was according!}'
made aware that he could not do the emperor a gi'eater ser^•ice than b}' persisting in the course which he had so successfully begam.
The Seyeds, perfectly
aware of the dangerous position in which they
act,
and
lost
much
stood,
were perplexed how
The
precious time before they were able to decide.
resolution was, that Hosen, carrying the emperor
nobles along with him, should
make
to
final
and several of the suspected
the campaign of the Deecan against Nizam-
ul-Moolk, while Abdallali should overawe the disaffected
by
residing
and main-
taining a strong force in the capital.
Downfall
Ljeda.
Meantime a
conspiracy, to
formed.
Its object
however
atrocious.
was
At
was deep
by any means
conspiracy were Mahomed Ameer
to get rid of the Seyeds at
the head of this
Khan, a nobleman of Turki
peror's party,
which the emperor himself was privj^ had been
origin,
events,
who, while ostensibly opposed to the em-
in his confidence
;
and Saadut Khan, who,
merchant of Khorasan, rose to importance by
became the progenitor of the Kings of Oude.
tors proposed to effect their object
aU
liis
originalh* a
military talents, and ultimately
The mode by which the
was a barbarous
assassination.
conspira-
It
was not
As Hosen was proceeding
to the Deecan in his palanquin, a Calmuck, of the name of Meer Heider, ap])roached with a petition, and while Hosen was reading it, drew a dagger and
staljbed him to the heart.
The whole camp was immediately tlu'own into oommotion, and ultimately divided into two hostile bodies the one comj^osed of the
difficult to find
both an agent and an opportunity.
—
adherents of the Seyeds, and the other of the adherents of the conspirators.
Chap.
The
NIZAM-UL-MOOLK, VIZIER.
T.'
now
latter,
openly countenanced by the emperor,
393
who
placed himself at ad.
proved victorioas, and drove the former from the
their head,
who was only on
his
way
when
to Delhi
1722.
~"
Abdullah,
field.
the intelligence reached him, endea-
voured to maintain the struggle by setting up a new sovereign in the person of
Jhalledab.
'
— Adapted from Solvjn, Les Hindous.
one of the princes confined in the
capital,
and mustering a large army.
liowever, in a great measure undisciplined,
offered Uttle
])lace,
more than a show of
and when the
cious
Mahomed Shah
;
encounter took
final
Abdallah was taken
resistance.
soner; but, contrary to the usual practice on such occasions,
death
It was,
returned to Delhi, and, not at
all
pri-
was not put
to
abashed at the atro-
means which he had employed, made a pompous celebration of
his recovered
authority.
The
r
for
1
office
T
of vizier, conferred at
headmg
its affairs,
on Mahomed Ameer Khan, as a reward
still
in the Deccan,
and found so much emplo\anent
that nearly two years elapsed before he reached
Mahomed
January, 1722, he found everything in disorder.
ill
On
Deliii.
in settling
his
acquired such an ascendency over him, that
signet
and use
men whose
it
for her
own
purposes.
who
still
but his personal
ai)})earance
were held up
was not the man
Jballedar
to
is
who had
keep his private
His principal counsellors were young
liis
Not only were
and manners, so
different
all his
from those of the youthful
to ridicule for their master's special
to tolerate these rude
and insulting
a palanquin used by ri^ahs and wealthy persona.
It
is
reforms thwarted,^
amusement.
liberties,
and
it
I.
He
was not
covered with silk embroidered with
gold, &c.
Vol.
revels.
regained the austere habits acquired in the court of
Aurungzebe, soon became disgusted.
'
was allowed
only qualification was companionship with then* master in
Nizam-ul- Moolk,
courtiers,
slie
amval
Shah, occupied
only with his pleasures, acted at the dictation of a favourite mistress,
50
Nizam-uiMo..lk.
•
the conspiracy, was, on his sudden death, reserved for Nizam-ul-
He was
Moolk.
first
•
1
vizkr.
;
'
AT)
17:4.
INIdA.
IIISTOl;\- ol-
3iil-
long before
emperor
tlie
unci his vizier
[Book
were mutually desirous
to
III.
It is
j»ait.
needless to dwell on the plots and counterplots to which this feeling gave
rise.
Suffice it to say, that in October, 1723, the vizier sent in his resignation,
and
accepting
was no
Ostensibly there
set out for the Deccan.
(quarrel
the resignation, lavished on Nizam-ul-Moolk
which a subject could
;
for the
emperor, in
honours
the highest
It wa.s not long, however, before the enmity
receive.
rankling at his heart was fully ncianifested.
Mobariz Klian, the
of Hyderabad, proceeding
from Delhi, collected a poweiful
army
on
instructions
local
avowed purpose of extending his own authority over the whole
Nizam-ul-Moolk, whose skill as a diplomati.st was at least equal to his
for the
Deccan.
prowess as a
soldier,
had recourse to negotiation, and having protracted
were complete, defeated Mobariz in
his preparations
battle,
slew him, and
ing ignorance of the instigation which had been given from Delhi,
to the
it till
affect-
.sent liLs
head
emperor as a trophy.
When
Mahratta
governor
Nizam-ul-Moolk marched
govemments
off to the
Deccan, he was in po.ssession of
Malwah and Gujerat. He was formally removed from
revenge by encouraging incursions of the Mahratta.s, who,
of both
connived at
the
iii^-Mooik!
them, and took his
notwithstanding partial repulses, had, during the rajahship of Saho, continued
to
make
rapid progress.
two ministers
trict
—
first,
of the Concan,
and next,
The main instruments of
were the
rajah's
Balajee Wiswanat, who, originally the accountant of a dis-
became the founder of the Brahmin djmasty of Pei.shwas
his son Bajee Rao,
who, after Sevajee, ranks as the ablest leader
the Mahratta nation has produced.
obtained from
this success
Mahomed Shah
had not only consolidated the
quired, but introduced
them
;
had
Balajee, before his death in 1720,
a ratification of the treaty
Ali dm-ing the reign of Farokshir
whom
made
and Bajee Rao, following in
rights of chout
into provinces
witli
Hosen
his father's steps,
and sirdesmuki previously
ac-
where they had never before been
levied.
This extcnsiou of Mahratta power had, as already observed, been partly
Progress of
Mahratta
power.
owing
to Nizani-ul-Moolk, who, in revenge for his removal
Gujerat,
can,
had encouraged the Mahrattas to invade them.
which he now regarded as
his
from Malwah and
His policy in the Dec-
own independent kingdom, was
dictated
by
opposite motives, his great object here being to confine the Mahratta power and
influence within as
narrow
limits as possible.
With
this Anew, shortly after
liis
victory over Mobariz in 1724f, he dexterously availed himself of the disputed
succession
by which the Mahratta
counsels
had long been
distracted.
Saho,
under the able ministry of Bajee Rao, had established a complete ascendency
over his rival Samba, and confined him to a comparatively insignificant district
lying near the western coast to the south of Sattarah.
was equally with Saho himself recognized
sibility in the
to
as rajah
;
Still,
however, Samba
and there was
answer of Nizam-ul-Moolk, when, without denying
pay chout and sirdesmuki
for the Deccan,
at least plauhis obligation
he asked which of the two rajahs
Chap.
liiul
PROGRESS OF TilE MAHRATTA POWER.
1.
the legal right to
it,
and
called
upon them
395
to exhibit their respecti^'« claims.
A.D. 1724.
Saho, indignant at the very suggestion of a doubt on such a subject, disdained
any explanation, and sent Bajee Rao at the head of a nmnerous army
compensate himself by plmider for the more regular revenue which was
to give
to
Nizam -ul-
withheld.
Moolk had prepared for
this result, and along
with Samba,
who had
now openly joined
advanced to the
him,
relief
of Boorhanpoor, which
was threatened by Bajee.
Tlie first effect of this
advance was to send the
Mahrattfis into Gujerat.
After a short time spent
in
pillaging
again
it,
suddenly
they
BooRHANRWR
— From
Elliott's
Views in the East.
made
their appearance in the Deccan,
that ho was glad to
and ultimately reduced Nizam -ul-Moolk to
buy them
by humiliating concessions. His
experience of the kind of enemy he had to deal with, left him little inclination
to provoke a renewal of the contest; and though he did, on more than one
occasion, endeavour to weaken their power by sowing dissensions among
them, he came at last to a thorough understanding with Bajee, and entered
into a formal agreement, by which he undertook to protect Bajee's interests
in the Deccan, while the latter was ravaging Malwah and extending hi.s
such
straits,
oft'
authority
"^=
'
over
other
portions of the
Mogul
dominions.
Rao
Bajee
easily
found a pretext for this
invasion.
The
chout
Gujerat
in
gi'ant of
had
been revokeil, and Sir-
buland Khan, who had
consented
t<t
it,
wa.s
recalled from the govJoodpoor —From
ernment
Toild's
.Viiii:ils
to
make way
of Raj.isth.in
for a successor in
Sing, Rajah of Joodpoor.
iixvour of a rajah
The Mogul
court,
in
making
thi.s
Abhi
appointment
in
who, to other infamies, had recently added that of murdering
his father Ajit Sing,
was influenced
chiefly
by the expectation that
his
ovm
Subjugation
of Gujerat
by BajeiRao.
-
396
A.D. 1734.
HI.ST(JlfY
resources
from
would enable him
to
make head
but was at
last,
at
still
gained by the atrocity; for
that, not satisfied
it
all
He was
far
his efforts to expel him,
Nothing was
instigation, basely assassinated.
only exasperated the Mahrattas to such a pitch
with overrunning Gujerat, they carried their ravages to Jood-
and made the rajah glad to compound with the
poor,
III.
Pilajee Guicowar, ancestor of
ruling in Gujerat, resi.sted
Abhi Sing's
[Book
again.st the Mahratta.s.
The Mahratta
fulfilling this expectation.
the Guicowar family
OF INDIA.
Gujerat for the
loss of
safety of his hereditary state.
In Malwali, where the Mahrattas were headed by Bajee Rao in person, their
Successes of
Bajee Rao
in Malwali.
^
,
arms wcre equally triumphant; and the Mogul government, after several
inef-
fectual expedients, tacitly concurred in the surrender of the province to the
Peishwa in 1734.
This important concession, so far from satisfying his ambi-
made it more grasping and in proportion
adversaries was disclosed, he rose in his demands, and
only
tion,
;
levying the chout, but on holding, in
full right, as
weakness of
as the
insisted not
merely on
a jaghire, the province of
Malwah, and the whole country south of the Chumbul, together with the
of Muttra, Allahabad,
by
this
Mahomed
and Benares.
new demand, evaded
it
his
cities
Shah, alarmed above measure
a time by temporizing, and endeavoured to
for
by giving him a right to levy tribute on
the Rajpoots, and to increase the amount of that already exigible from the DecThis last grant cost the emperor nothing, and was regarded as a stroke
can.
induce the Mahratta to withdraw
of good policy, because
ul-Moolk at variance.
its
natural tendency
In
this respect it
Nizam- ul-Moolk's attention
much more
it
was not altogether a
him
Mahomed
new system
and convinced him that he had
Under the
influ-
of policy, and resuming friendly
Shah, midertook to employ
all
This engagement was not allowed to remain long as a dead
at the very time
capital.
drew
his
power
in
against the encroachments of the Mahrattas.
Delhi,
Mogul
and Nizam
failure, as it
to fear from the Mahrattas than from the Mogul.
communications with
He threatens
to set the Mahrattas
to his true position,
ence of this conviction, he adopted a
protecting
was
when
it
was entered
into,
letter.
In 1737,
Bajee Rao was advancing on the
The only check he sustained was
in the defeat,
by Saadut Khan,
governor of Oude, of Malliur Rao Holkar, the founder of the Holkar family,
who
with a marauding party was ravaging the country beyond the Jiunna.
Tliis
defeat elated the Moguls,
who
magnified
it
Mahratta army, which was represented as in
into a discomfiture of the whole
full retreat to
the Deccan.
When
Rao was informed of these vain boastings, he simply remarked that he
would soon show the emperor he was still in Hindoostan. He was as good as
his word.
Suddenly quitting the Jiunna, and leaving the Mogul army which
had been sent to oppose him inactive before Muttra, he hastened on by forced
Bajee
marches, and never halted
The
till
he presented himself before the gates of Delhi.
expedition, however, appears to have been undertaken rather in a spirit
of bravado than with any serious design of attempting the capture of the
city,
;
CnAP.
POLITICAL STATE OF PERSIA.
I.]
for after
'i!<7
a few days he disappeared and encamped at a considerable distance, ad.
itss.
Meanwhile, the consternation produced by his presence caused hasty messages
to be despatched to every quarter from
while the Vizier
;
and
Kamr-u-din Khan, who had formed a junction with Saadut
Khan, was advancing from
lia.stened
which reUef might be expected
his
encampment
at Muttra, Nizam-\il-Mo(»lk also
Bajee Rao, true to the Mahratta
from the Deccan.
avoided
tactics,
an encounter, and by a precipitate retreat soon placed the Nerbudda between
himself and his pursuers.
Nizam-ul-Moolk, notwithstanding Bajee's departure, continued his march to
Dellii,
where on
his arrival he
was invested with
full
powers to adopt whatever
measures might be necessary for the safety of the empire
Ghazi-u-din,
was appointed governor both
the Mogul resom'ces
now
fallen,
of
Malwah and
and
;
his eldest son,
So low had
Gujerat.
Niznm-ui-
deavonreto
jj"^.^ j,^^'''^
^™™-
army under
that after his \itmost efforts the
command did not exceed 34,000 men. With this army, and a reserve commanded by the nephew of Saadut Khan, he set out in search of the Mahrattas
his
and proceeding southward past Seronge, took up a position near the
fort of
Bhopaul, while Bajee Rao crossed the Nerbudda and advanced to meet him.
As Nizam-vd-Moolk was outnumbered by the Mahrattas, but
ful
artillery while
pos.sessed
they were almost entirely destitute of
it,
now
this
was
was only a
pay him £500,000
left
him but
to
series of disasters
by which he conceded
all
he had
blunder.
surrounding country, and cutting off his supplies.
that no alternative
it
The Mahrattas, keeping carefully beyond
commenced their usual system by laying waste the
was a decided
the reach of his artillery,
it
whom
might have been expedient, but with the enemy with
to deal it
posed,
he deemed
With an ordinary
advisable to retain his position and act on the defensive.
enemy
a power-
;
.so
effectually
As may be supto make a peace
Peishwa, and bo\md himself to
commence a retreat.
and he was obliged
the demands of the
sterling.
This they did
This humiliating peace, concluded in February,
was only the forerunner of a far more overwhelming calamity.
The Persian dyniisty of the Sophis or Safaris, after existing for two centuries, became so degenerate as to fall an ea.sy prey to the Afghans of Kandahar
1738,
in 1722,
when, on the capture of Ispahan, after a dreadful
the last Sophi,
with his
conqueror.
went
own hand
It
siege.
Shah Hosen,
forth with his principal courtiers in deep mourning,
placed the diadem on the head of
Mahmood,
had been worn by the new monarch only
he died raving mad, and was succeeded by his
and
his Khilji
two years when
nephew Ashref, who was no
for
sooner seated on the throne than he was called to struggle against both foreign
antl
the
internal foes.
The Turks and
kingdom and share
it
Russian.s, leagued together to
between them, advanced, the one from the west and
the other from the north, with powerful armies, while Tahma.sp,
his escape from Ispahan
dismember
when
his father
who had made
Shah Hosen was obliged
to surrender,
had nuistered a body of retainers, and annoimced his determination to make
p<>iiti.,ii
i>en.ia.
308
A.D.
i7:i7.
HISTORY OF INDIA
good
his claim
t(;
crown wiiich
tlic
various combatants,
it
acknowledge
his
had so
his unc;(;.stors
Of
worn.
lori;^
III
these
might have been supposed that the Turks and Russians,
from the superiority of their
proved otherwise.
[Book
would be the most
discipline,
fonni<lable.
It
Ashref compelled the Turks, after repeated defeats,
title
;
had measured
and, before he
his strength
with
t<;
the
Russians, had the satisfaction to learn that the- death of the czar had induced
them
...
disposed of
Rue of Nadir his
Tahmasp alone remained, and was not to be so easil\'
In himself he was not very foimidable, but fortune had drawn to
to withdraw.
standard one of the greatest warriors
Sliah,
was Nadir
last,
who began
Kouli,
after freeing his country
throne.
life
whom
Persia has ever produced.
as the head of a
band of
Tliis
and at
freebooters,
from a foreign yoke, became the usurper of
Victory scarcely ever failed to attend him
;
its
and by dexterously playing
the two leading Afghan tribes, the Khiljies and the Abdalees or Dooranees,
against each other, succeeded in crushing both.
to
be his ruling passion, and Tahmasp, as the legitimate monarch, ascended the
Persian throne
;
but patriotism was eventually supplanted by ambition, and
Nadir, unable to brook a superior,
took possession of
to
His invasion
Patriotism .seemed for a time
it
it
by the popular
Henceforth
in his
declared the throne vacant, and then
first
own name
in 1737, alleging that he
had been
called
voice.
known
as
Nadir Shah, he resolved to pursue his career of
of India.
victory;
of
and proceeding eastward,
an army of 80,000 men,
It originally
dahar.
at the head
laid siege to
belonged to the Persian
it,
and
in possession of the Khiljies.
It
monarchy, but had been wTested from
was now
was
valiantly
assaults before
defended,
it
made
and stood several
was taken.
Kandahar and conquest
tory
Kan-
The capture
of
of the adjoining teni-
Persia conterminous with India.
Nadir Shah, as he looked eastward into the
valley of the Indus,
and beheld a mighty
empire torn by intestine wars and tottering
to its
if
fall,
not to become
share in
Nadir Shah.
—From Fraser's Hist, of Nadir Sluih.
must have been strongly tempted,
ground
its
of
its
spoils.
quarrel
conqueror, to obtain a
He had
with
its
already some
government.
Diu-ing the siege of Kandahar, not only had
an application which he made for the delivery of some Afghans who had taken
refuge within its territory been treated with neglect, but even the validity of
his title to the Persian
crown had been
called in question.
Instead of wasting
time in unavailing remonstrance, he took a more effectual mode of expressing
The court of Delhi ought now to have
his resentment by seizing upon Cabool.
Chap.
been
NADIR
T.]
fully alive to the danger,
left to
but months passed away, during which Nadir was ad.
conquest and
settle his
make new
paign which, in
its
The
preparations.
seemed indeed to have become impossible, at
was approaching, and
399
SUAJl'S INVASION.
;
winter
for the
was never dreamed that he woiUd commence a cam-
it
very
first
operations,
would
mountainous country and the assaults of
its
then must have been the consternation
him
ex])Ose
to the rigours of a
How
warlike inhabitants.
when
was learned that
it
had been overcome, and that Nadir,
sui)])osed impossibilities
actual invasion
one season
least for
itss.
all
great
these
after crossing the
Indus by a bridge of boats in November, 1738, had advanced into the Punjab
at
head of a mighty army
tlie
Great as was the danger, so tardily were the means of defence provided,
that Nadir for the
time came in sight of the Indian army after he had
first
chief
Here, in the neighbourhood of Camoul, Nizam-ul-Moolk, to
command was
when Nadir was
intrusted,
Khan
were no match
levies,
the
arrived with a reinforcement from
The
Oude, and the battle immediately commenced.
most part of raw
whom
Just at the time
occupied a fortified camp.
ap})roaching, Saadut
Moguls
100 miles of the Mogul
reached the banks of the Jumna, and was within
capital.
Nauii shai.
Indians, consisting for the
for the Persian veterans,
and
after little
Mahomed Shah,
Nizam-ul-Moolk to make his sub-
more than a show of resistance were signally discomfited.
deeming
further resistance hopeless, sent
all
He was
mission,
and then
received,
but was not permitted to attempt negotiation, as Nadir Shah, conscious
repaii'ed in person to the Persian
had determined
of being complete master,
camp.
courteously
to dictate his terms within the walls
Thither therefore the two monarchs proceeded, the one as a miser-
of Delhi.
able captive, the other as a conqueror in triumphant procession at the head of
his victorious
army.
Tlie entrance took place in the beginning of March. 1739.
Nadir Shah took up
appears, from the careful
di.scipline
Mahomed Shah at the jialace, and
I'll
c
arrangements which he made for the mamtenance of
his residence
with
1/»1-
and the protection of the inhabitants,
to
have meditated no
severity than the levy of a very heavy contribution.
he had
it,
was
frustrated
day, hastily believing a
restraint, .and
i.ssued ordei-s for
a fearful retaliation.
given up to the fury of 20,000
in their
claims
was
most
still
remained to be
sti^rlinij-.
satisfied
weeks without
an important item
carried off in
soldiers,
in the spoils.
money,
of the Persians at their
The shah was
From
and
the very second
lust,
furious,
plate,
;
and
forth-
sunrise to sunset the citv
rapine,
was
and slaughter raged
This was only a deed of vengeance.
horrific forms.
carried on for
On
if
death, they broke through all
commenced an indiscriminate massacre
various isolated stations throughout the city.
with
This mild intention,
by the inhabitants themselves.
rumour of Nadir Shah's
gi-eater
Nadirs own
and the work of confiscation and plunder
interruption.
The "Peacock Throne
At the most moderate
and jewels, could not be
estimate, the
less
"
foi-med
amount
than £30,000.000
Deiiii
"'"'
taken
**"^1"^<'-
400
A
[Book
\S\)IA.
ill.
After possessing Dellii during fifty-eight days Nadir Shah departed, lejiving
U. 1711)
it
V;i<lir.Shah s
OF
IIIS'IOU^'
a scene of wretchedness and desolation.
into the provinces, the
The
terror of the capital ha/1 spread
government was paralyzed, and the people remained
ilijparture.
The Mahrattas might now have comjdeted their
but even they were overawed by the suddenness and extent of the
sunk in a kind of stupor.
conquests,
general calamity.
Bajee Kao, adverting to
domestic quarrels are
"
now
insignificant; there
Hindoos and Mussulmans
Tliese feelings of
it,
is
expressed himself thus
—the whole power of
At the
—
"
Our
but one enemy in Hindoostan."
the Deccan must assemble."
alarm soon began to subside, and
were again at work.
:
tlie
elements of disunion
court of Delhi old animosities resumed
all their
A
powerful faction, composed of Turki, or as they were
called Tooranee nobles,
and headed by the Vizier Kamr-u-din Khan and Nizam-
former bitterness.
ul-Moolk, endeavoured to absorb the leading
of the state,
offices
and even hold
the emperor himself in subjection to their wi.shes, while their enemies were
numerous and powerful enough
Rival
to
wage a constant
Feeble and discordant counsels were the necessary
struggle for ascendency.
result,
and no bond of union
factions at
DeUii.
among
existed
the numerous dependencies
Mogul empire.
In point of
fact,
still
belonging nominally to the
the Mahrattas were
now
the most powerful
nation on the Indian continent, and had the best prospect of becoming
ultimate masters.
Even
they, however,
were not
free
from
the nominal head of the government, had been deprived of
reduced to a mere cipher.
his authority,
who
Several of the chiefs
difficulties.
all real
its
Saho,
power, and
willingly acknowledged
were not disposed to yield the same submission to the usurpations
of the Peishwa, and stood ready to avail themselves of the
favourable
first
opportunity of either re-establishing the rajah or asserting their
own
indepen-
Bajee Rao, well aware of the precarious position in which he stood, was
dence.
obliged to regulate his policy accordingly, and often abandoned the coiu^e which
his
judgment approved
for that
which
his
own immediate
interest
seemed to
Before the Mogul government recovered from the shock given to
require.
it
by Nadir Shah, he might easily have established the complete ascendency of his
nation by mustering his forces and marching at once upon the capital
Instead
of this, he suddenly withdrew into the Deccan.
The only apparent inducement
was, that he might be able more effectually to watch the proceedings of his
countrymen, Ragojee Bosla and the Guicowar of Gujerat,
Of
overthrow.
account
like a
I
Death of
:
—
man
go at
" I
his feelings while thus
am
involved in
difficulty, in debt,
ready to swallow poison.
this time to Sattarali
be thankful
if I
employed he
liimself
plotting his
gave the following
and in disappointments, and
Near the rajah
are
they will put their feet
could meet death."
who were
my enemies, and
on my breast. I
should
should
This solemn event was nearer than he
Hajee Rao.
imagined, for he died shortly
after,
on the 28th of April, 1740, as he was
returning to Hindoostan.
Bajee Rao
left tliree sons,
the eldest of
whom,
Balajee Rao, succeeded linn
Chap.
THE MOGUL EMPIRE IN DANGER.
I.]
The
as Peishwa.
would
succession
401
been disputed; but fortunately
liave
him, Ragojee Bosk, his most formidable opponent, was absent with his
the Carnatic, on an expedition on which Bajee
for
army
hearinor of Bajee's death, he hastened
1747.
in
Rao had despatched him, mainly
On
him from plotting mischief nearer home.
for the pm-pose of preventing
AD.
back to Sattarah
but as he came without
;
army, and found the
his
Guicowar and the
or delegate of the
nicllii,
rajah,
^jr^/-
on whose co-operahad
tion he
calculated,
unprepared or indisposed
to second him,
obliged
at
abandon
to
thought
of
least
all
opposition,
a
till
favourable
should
he was
more
opportunity
The
arise.
Sattaaah.
— From Duff's History of the Mahrattas
deatli
of Bajee Rao, and the time necessary to enable Balajee to secure himself in
new
his
gave Mahomed Shah a short respite from actual warfare.
seat,
It
was
liiiiiemlinf?
dangers of
the Mogul
tiiipire.
only a respite
;
him, and indeed from so
it
was destined
Malwah,
another storm were again gathering thick around
for the clouds of
first
many
quarters, that
On
to come.
it
was
difficult to
say from which
hand Balajee Rao, advancing into
in terms of the treaty which had been
the one
insisted that this province should,
made with Nizam-ul-Moolk, but which had never received the imperial sanction,
be formally confirmed to him on the other hand the Rohillas, a recent Afghan
colony occupying the tract which from them still bears the name of Rohilcund,
had begun, under an able leader of the name of Ali Mahomed, to assume an
;
In themselves, indeed, the Rohillas were not so numerous
alarming appearance.
}is
to be verv formidable; but thev belonored to the warlike race
which had
repeatedly devastated the fairest provinces of India, and the danger apprehended
was, that in the event of a
their countrjnnen.
Ever since the
The
visit of
new
invasion from the west, they would league with
idea of such an invasion wfis
by no means
chimerical.
Nadir Shah, who on retiring declared the Indus to be
the eastern boundary of the Persian monarchy,
it
consequence of recent political changes in Persia
it
had been threatened, and
was beccmiing
Nadir Shah perished by the hands of assassins
in
in
a certainty.
June, 1747.
He
had
Dentil of
N'adir Shah.
latterly
become a
his cruelty as his
cruel tyrant,
and deserved
fonn of Mahometan
his fate;
faith that
though
provoked
it
it.
was not
so
He was
nmch
a Sun-
The repugnance between them
death was the work of Pei-sian conspirators.
nite,
while the Persians were zealous Shiites.
was
therefore invincible, and his
But the same cause which made the Persians abhor his rule was its sn-eatest
recommendation to the Afghans, who like him were Sunnites, and devotedly
Vol.
I.
51
402
A.D. 1748.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
attached to his service.
chief,
Ahmed Khan,
Accordingly
tlie
on hearing of the
[Book
by
Ahdalees, headed
111.
their liereditary
con.spiracy, ha/1 hastened U> tlie rescue;
way through the
hostile Persians, and succeeded in reaching their own country.
Ahrned Khan
immediately declared himself independent, changed the name of his tribe from
and, after finding that they were a day too late, fought their
Rise of Ah-
Shah
meil
Abilalee.
Abdalee to Dooranee, and before a year elapsed was crowned king at Kandahar
Ere long Balkh, Scinde, Cashmere, and other provinces, acknowledged
His ambition was not yet
The
to prefer the latter.
left
bank of the Indus was already
other temptations to cross this river and
was the
fact that a civil
capturing
many
fields of con-
in his
power
;
and
commence an Indian campaign,
in the
Little opposition
Punjab
in consequence of the
was made
and Alimed,
;
after
towns, including Lahore, the capital, arrived at the Sutlej.
the other side lay a
apparent,
war was raging
Mogul governor.
revolt of its
On
new
for
Both the west and east lay before him, but various reasons induced him
quest.
among
and he looked round
satisfied,
sway.
liis
Mogul army, commanded by Prince Alimed, the
and Kamr-u-din Khan, the
The Abdalee
vizier.
force,
heir
though not
mustering 12,000 men, crossed the river by selecting a spot which, from not
being fordable, was not watched; and, hastening on to Sirhind, made a rich
capture of stores and baggage.
that notwithstanding
theii'
This bold
movement
superiority in numbers, they stood on the defensive,
and even formed an entrenched camp.
timidity,
so intimidated the Moguls,
This
coiu-se,
dictated
by
excessive
was the wisest which they could have pursued. The Dooranees had no
alternative but to retreat, or hazard a battle under the most disadvantageous
They chose the
circumstances.
latter
and sustained a
but took advan-
defeat,
tage of the night to escape.
The Mogul
Death of
had
vizier
and the Mogul prince was prevented from
fallen,
Mahomed
Sliah.
following up
had opened
liis
to
victory,
by the
intelligence that the succession to the
him by the death of
period.
Prince Ahmed, henceforth
diately repaired to Delhi;
him by the name
of
and
his
Ahmed Shah
Inglorious
policy to
This concession
inglorious reign.
The
may
office
Dooranee, instead of continuing his retreat,
till
he had made
As he was
make a merit
Shah.
declined
it,
He
who had
tributary.
This,
by force,
and give him aU he
serve to characterize
Ahmed
of vizier,
to
first offered
and died almost immediately
Sufder Jung,
it
able to take
of necessity,
reign of Ah-
med
Ahmed Shah, immenow distinguished fi-om
of
title
Afghan namesake,
on a formal cession of the whole province.
asked.
the
most disastrous
After a short absence he returned, and insisted
however, did not satisfy him.
was deemed good
length, during a
its
known by
stopped short, and did not quit the Punjab
it
Mahomed Shah
his father in April, 1748.
thus ended a reign, remarkable only for
crown
after,
in
it
Shah's short and
Nizam -ul-Moolk, who
1748, was conferred on
succeeded his father, Saadut Khan, as governor of Oude.
soon gave proof of his unfitness, by undertaking an expedition against the
Rohillas,
and
so
mismanaging
it
as to allow
them
to penetrate to Allahabad,
Chap.
and
REIGN OF ALUMGEER
I.]
whole Mogul power at
set the
no better remedy than to
In this emergency he could devise ad
defiance.
the aid of the Mahrattas,
call in
out the Rohillas, but compensated themselves
the chout over
and crime, Sufder Jung was supplanted
of
Ahmed
the person of his sovereign,
prince of the blood,
—
Alumo^eer
*=
list
After a course of intrigue
in the royal favour
by Ghazi-u-din, one
or,
'
who assumed
as he
is
in July, 1754, in seizing
Shah, and raising to the throne a young
the title of Alumgeer.
often called,
Alumgeer
to distinguish
II.,
who
used the same
title
more than any
other, he
reins of govenmient.
For
documents
entitled to a brief notice.
R>^^'mi"f
Alumgeerll.
closes
in all regular
is
him from
— usually
.
Mogul sovereigns who actually held the
of
this reason,
was
establishing a right to levy
and ultimately succeeded by these means,
Aurungzebe,
who indeed drove
Like Sufder he employed the Mahrattas to extricate himself from
and murder.
difficulties,
i:
grandsons, an unprincipled youth familiar with perfdy
Nizam -ul-Moolk's
the
by
the territory that they conquered.
all
403
II.
When
On
he
his
Jung was still nominally vizier.
death, which happened soon after, he was succeeded by his son Shuja-u-Dowlah
in the government of Oude, but the viziership was immediately appro})riated by
Ghazi-u-din, under whose mismanagement nothing but additional confusion and
raised to the throne, Sufder
disaster could be anticipated.
the governor of the Punjab,
By
treacherously seizing the infant successor of
whom Ahmed Shah
})rovoked the vengeance of this formidable
did not halt
till
foe,
made himself master
he had
fated city a renewal of the calamities which
low had the authority of the sovereign now
besought
Ahmed
and
of Delhi,
it
inflicted
on this
ill-
had suffered from Nadii- Shah. So
fxllen,
that Alumgeer
not to leave him to the mercy of his
of the
army
to an able Rohilla chief of the
Ghazi-u-din only waited
set
who, having crossed the Indus,
vizier.
is
said to
have
Accordingly, on
he endeavoured to provide a kind of counterpoise by giving the
departing,
command
Dooranee had appointed, he
Najib aside, in order
name
of Najib-u-Dowlah.
Ahmed was out of India, and then endeavoured to
to make way for one of his own creatures. Meeting with
till
a resistance which he was unable to overcome, he again called in the aid of the
Mahrattas,
who advanced from Malwah under
Rao, entered Delhi, and after spending a
l>alace,
As
service.
usual, the Mahi-attas
in the siege of the fortified
all his
former authority.
took good care to be fully compensated for their
Feeling that no effectual resistance could be offered, they set no limits
of Hindoostan.
it
month
compelled Alumgeer to reinstate Ghazi-u-din in
to their ambition,
that
Ragolia, the second son of Bajee
and openly talked of extending their conquests over the whole
The Punjab first
attracted their attention,
and Ragoba, learning
was feebly governed by Timour, a son of Ahmed Shah Dooranee, marched
at once to Lahore, gained possession of
tiiumphant
in
May, 1758, and continuing
career, so intimidated the Dooranees, that
Indus without risking a
attempt to
it
his
they retired beyond the
The Mahrattas next engaged in a similar
subjugate Oude, but were met with spirit by Shuja-u-Dowlah. who,
battle.
Tiit- >riiirat-
I'.mjab.
un
A.D. 1759.
UISTORY OF INDIA.
with the
in league
and drove
a severe loss on an iwjlated detachment,
Roiiillas, inflicted
the main body, deemed
command
Datajee Scindia, the Maliratta in
across the Ganges.
it
[Book HI.
of
expedient to come to terms, and a kind of peace, not
it
intended to be long kept, was patched up.
New
med
One main inducement
iiiva-
Bion of
Ah-
Sliiih
Dooranee.
was
to the peace
tiie
rumoured
amved from
a])j>roach of
Ahmed
Shah Dooranee.
When
gaged
among the Beloochees. This delayed him till
when he commenced a new Indian campaign by cro.ssing
in
his son Tiraoui-
the Punjab, he was en-
suj)pressing a revolt
September,
1759,
the Indus at Pesliawer,
and continuing
tance beyond the
bank
Ghazi-u-din
left
his course to Saharunpoor, at
While he was
Jumna.
of the
thiLS
some
dis-
advancing,
—remembering how Alumgeer had formerly obtained the protection
—
Ahmed, and nearly succeeded in expelling him from his viziership was determined not again to run a similar risk, and followed the course which his cruel
of
by causing the unhappy monarch to be as.sassinated in November, 1759.
Shah Alum, the heir apparent, was then absent in
Bengal, and the new prince whom Ghazi-u-din seated on tlie throne was never
recognized.
There was tlius no ostensible sovereign at Delhi the Mogul empire
and perfidious
natui-e dictated,
;
had ceased
Prospect of
a Mahratta
empire.
When
to exist.
Mogul empire was extinguished, the general expectation was that
a Malu'atta empire would immediately arise on its ruins.
Originally confined
to a limited district in the Deccan, the Mahrattas had established their ascendency in every part of India, possessing immense tracts of territory in absolute
the
and levying heavy tribute from nearly the whole of the remainder.
right,
One
great obstacle to the establishment of a consolidated Mahratta empire had been
among
members composing its confederacy. Saho, its nominal
Latterly, indeed,
lead, had been deprived of aU real power by the Peishw^a.
he was unfit for government, and died in a state of imbecility, in 1749. This
disunion
the
I
event led to
chiefs
new
which were not arranged until many of the
had acquired a kind of independence and become the founders of
minor dynasties.
in
complications,
Gu.jerat,
Among
the more conspicuous of these were Petajee Guicowar
Mulhar Rao Holkar, and Datajee
Scindia, who,
by obtaining an
assignment to nearly the whole revenues of Malw^ah, secured the dominions wdiich
still
bear their
have not
left
name and
are possessed
by
their descendants.
chiefs
who
such permanent traces of their authority were equally powerful.
Ragojee Bosla and Ragoba have been already mentioned.
Rao Bhao,
Other
Another, Sedashao
or simply "the Bhao," a cousin of the Peishwa Balajee, possessed
great influence, but had been contented, while the other chiefs were pursu-
ing distant conquests, to remain in the Deccan as
mander-in-chief
his
campaign
He was
home
minister and com-
acting in this capacity \v4ien Ragolia retui-ned from
in the Punjab.
His
.success
had not been obtained without a
very heavy outlay, and the Bhao, on learning that, instead of bringing any
sum
into the treasury, he
had made
it liable
to a debt of nearly £1,000,000
:
Chap.
THE MAHRATTAS AND DOORANEES.
I.]
sterling, expressed his dissatisfaction so strongly, that
him he had
told
by some recent
10
Ragoba was piqued, and
The Bhao, elated
better conduct the next expedition himself.
which had somewhat increased the Mahratta
successes
and added largely to
revenue,
its
was not
territory,
disinclined to avail himself of an
opportunity of ac(iuiring
new
been a serious
he exchanged situations with him, and assumed the
propositi,
command
chief
The only
in the field.
Treating Ragoba's taunt as
distinction.
A.U. 1759.
if it
had
in Hindoostau.
formidaljle
enemy whom
the Mahrattas had
now
to encounter
was
Btnigiile be-
Ahmed Shah
Dooranee, after nearly annihilating two separate
Mahratta detachments, the one commanded by Holkar and the other by Scindia,
had taken up a
po.sition
Decisive
at Anopsheher,
situated on the
right
bank of
tlie
t«eeii tlie
Malinittiis
and
l»(Kir-
anees.
The Bhao, accom])anied by
Ganges, seventy-three miles south-east of Delhi.
Wiswas Rao, the youthful son and
and the leading
heir of the Peishwa,
Mahratta
chiefs,
advanced at the
head of a numerous host, without
encountering serious opposition, and
having
gained
possession
of
the
disgraced himself by rapacit3^
t-apital,
tombs,
Palaces,
and
.shrines
were
defaced for the sake of their rich
ornaments, and the silver ceiling of
the hall of audience torn
down was
coined into rupees, to the amount,
is said,
it
of seventeen lacs (£170,000).
Ahmed,
addition
in
to
his
own
Dooranees, was cordially joined by
the Rohillas,
and rather lukewarmly
Shuja-u-Dowlah, governor of
by
Oude,
who would
DuoHANtES.
willingly
have
— Fn.iii
Kliiliiimtoiie's
Cabool.
remained neutral, and afterwards made the most of the event by taking part
with the winning side.
As the contest, however, had a.ssumed a religious
aspect, the
lie
found
Hindoos being ranged on one
it
impossible to withhold his aid from
the representative of the
Ahmed,
He
as soon as the rains permitted
Ahmed, who was considered
him
to
move, hastened to the Jumna,
banks
to
which the Mahrattas had
arrived only in time to learn that
])a.'*sage
it
had
fallen,
Bhao encamped with an anny
of
whom
by swimming
off to Panijnit.
consisting of 70.000 cavalry
9000 were disciplined sepoya
laid
but showed such
of the river more
than fording, that his enemies were intimidated and drew
infjintry,
as
Their two
.imiiee.
its
desperate determination, by effecting a
the
other,
latter.
with the view of relieving a fort on
siege.
and Mahometans on the
side
Here
and 15,000
In addition to these were
HISTORY OF INDIA.
+'>f!
AD
17.W,
number
prediitoiy uiid other followers to the
[Book
of 200,000.
In
artillerj',
III
an ann
war which the Mahrattas had at la.st learned to piize, he was amply provided,
and was able, after suiTOunding his camp with a broad and deep ditch, to mount
200 guns for its defence. Ahmed's araiy consisted of about 40,000 Afghans and
Persians, and 50,000 Indians, of whom 1 3,000 were cavalry. The armies were thas
of
not unfairly matched.
In respect of available troops they were nearly
while at the same time each laboured under a great disadvantage
equal,
—the Bhao,
in
number of followers, who, without adding to his strength, hamjxired
movements and consumed his provisions; and Ahmed, in an artillery- .so
the excessive
his
defective that
it
barely mustered thirty pieces of various calibre, and, furni.shing
no proper means of
attack, compelled
him
to imitate the Bhao's example,
and
remain on the defensive.
The battle
Under such
circumstances, time rather than prowess
was
the
decide
to
of Paiiiput.
struggle
;
for neither leader felt disposed to force
obtain subsistence for his
army from
on an action so long as he could
At
the surrounding country^
this
mode
of
warfare the Mahrattas could not easily be surpassed, and their foraging parties at
first
found no
the Dooranees,
difficulty in bringing in
abundant
by the rapidity and boldness
Gradually, however,
supplies.
of their movements,
made foraging
so
dangerous, that the Bhao, threatened with famine, saw the peiil of his position,
and attempted to escape from
supplies
had
also
or risk a decisive
Ahmed, whose
by proposing negotiation.
begun to fail, was urged by his Indian allies to come to terms
action; but his constant answer was
"This is a matter of war
it
—
with which you are not acquainted
He was
leave this to me."
aware of the
I'educed; and, even after they
vigorous attacks upon his
In other
had begun
lines,
affairs
do as you please, but
straits to wdiich his
enemies were
kind of desperation to make
in a
seemed more inclined than ever to confine
He was
himself to skirmishing, in which he usually had the advantage.
aware of the
The Bhao's
crisis
which was approaching, and
supplies
fully prepared to profit
were completely exhausted and after a
;
well
by
it.
last efibrt at foraging
which proved utterly \mavailing, becoming convinced that he could no longer
maintain his position, he yielded to the urgency of his
soldiers, and,
prognostications of disaster, issued orders for a general attack.
with the utmost impetuosity, and so long as
and other Indian
of
allies
endeavoured to rally the
men
to advance.
Ahmed, seemed
fugitives,
was
it
many
was made
directed against the Rohillas
iiTesistible.
but finding
Tlie
Dooranee chief
impossible, ordered his
front, a di^dsion
the flank, and the whole Mahratta army, panic-struck
by
own
By a dexterous
This at once changed the fortune of the day.
movement, while the main body attacked in
Defeat of the
it
It
with
wheeled round
to
this double onset, ttmied
Mahrattas.
their backs
and
fled.
As no quarter was
given,
the slaughter
was
fearful.
About 200,000 are said to have fallen. Among the slain were the Peishwa's
son Wiswas Rao, the Bhao, recognized only by what was supposed to be his
headless trunk, and many other great Mahratta chiefs.
The dream of a Mali-
,
PROGRESS OF THE FRENXH IN INDIA.
ClIAP. II.]
rattii
made
sunk
The wreck of the army, abandoning the
empire had vanished
in Hindoostan, retired
up
self
beyond the Nerbudda the Pei.shwa,
;
in a temj)le near Poonah, died of a
in grief
and despondency, became as
Stranffe
-^
® to say,
-tOi
Ahmed
did not
])rofit
acqui.sition.s
.slnitting
broken heart; and the whole nation,
it
were paralyzed.
much by
*'
'
Mahometan
his victory, for the
.
confederacy which he had formed having broken up, he quitted India, and never
1
retm-ned to take any
shai-e
••/»••
in its anairs.
seemed capable of ^vielding the
mi
1
he only two powei's
The two most powerful nations
had long been contented to play a subordinate part in the
to
become
for the establishment of
struggle
now
is
a
new Indian
*.
.^ *^ >^,^
^^ y^r^
of Europe, after they
contest, resolved at last
rival candidates
liistory of this
memorable
in India
ROM
the
11.
— War between France and England — Naval and military operations
—The capture of Madras.
first
the French East India Company,
much more
influence of the
their funds;
crown was employed
state.
All the
brated Colbert, relates to
to obtain suliscribers to
and no unimportant part of the
otHcial correspon-
become
and
employed
for this purpose.
It
is
cele-
very
whether the prosperity of the company was much promoted by
but there cannot be a doubt that they were able in conse-
this state patronage,
outset,
solicitation"-*
to escape
many
of the dangers which might have beset
to start at once as a
them at the
body able not only to repel aggression but
The alarm which
aggressive.
to
their presence in the East excited in the
Dutch and English companies must not be ascribed exclusively to commercial
jealousy.
As mere
traders they could not appear very formidable rivals, but from
their close connection
with government their trade might easily be made subser-
vient to political purposes, and
native courts.
of Evu'ope
by
In this
the
become a dangerous instrument of intrigue at the
Louis XIV., not satisfied with disturbing the peace
his ambitious .scheme.s, miglit be
and by engaging in
Knowing
way
wai-s of conquest
make
tempted to extend them to India,
the operations of trade impo.ssible.
character of the French monarch,
it
tlio
Frenili
Rikst
dence of a commercial nature, during the ministry of the
it
nise and
progress of
than that of England, was the creature of the
([uence of
Britain aiid
France.
of conquest
J
([uestionable
tween Great
to engage our attention.
The progress of the French
*.
The
empire.
CHAPTER
*- -^
work
and France and Great Britain started as
principals,
I'll
whicli then
which had been wrested from the hands
sceptre,
of the Mogul, having thus been providentially removed, the
pa.ssed to other hands.
Aj.i.roaiiiing
Btniggie he-
.
1
17-12.
him-
•
1
ad.
was not uncharitable
to
India
Cciniiiany.
4-08
AD.
1712.
OF
IIISTOlfV
suspect
of
liiiii
company
It
iiitcntioiLs.
siicli
[Book
IM«I.\.
iiitist
}>e
III.
iiowever, that
confessed,
tlie
established undei' his auspices continued for the greater part of a
century to rest satisfied with commercial operation.s, and the erection of such
factories as
for conducting tliem with ease
seemed necessary
most important of the
and
The
safety.
on which they had thus fixed were those of
localities
Chandernagore, situated, like the Dutch factory of Chiasurah, near
tlie
town
of
Hooghly, on the river of that name in Bengal, and Pondicherry on the Coro-
mandel
The
coast.
was the
latter
become, by the regularity of
seat of goveniment,
buildings and the strength of
its
worthy of the honour thus assigned
places on the
same
to
it,
its fortifications,
though, like Madras and
laboured under- the
coast, it
and had gradually
gi'eat
all
other
disadvantage of having no
proper harbour.
Dupieix
In the year 1742 the
of governor of the French settlements in India
office
iippoiuteJ
govemoi.
was Conferred on Joseph Dupleix.
first
member
of a wealthy farmer -general
and
had at a comparatively early age obtained the
a director of the company, he
appointment of
The son
of council at Pondicherry.
made head
in this capacity, he was, in 1730,
After ten years' ser\4ce
of the factory of Chandernagore.
Here by engaging in private trade he accumulated a large fortune and at the
;
same time, by the
ability of his public
dence of his employers,
that
in
management, rose
as
174!2,
already mentioned,
him
governor.
new
station in the possession of very superior advantages.
Thus
so high in the confi-
recalled to Pondicherry, he entered
they made
on the duties of
To natural
his
talents
of a high order, he added a thorough acquaintance with the manners of the
inhabitants,
and with the
circumstances of the
political
These
country.
advantages both vanity and ambition disposed him to improve to the utmost,
and he was no sooner
installed in office
than he began to entertain schemes with
a view to the ultimate establishment of French ascendency in the East.
It
vain to expect this from the commercial operations of the company.
it
had been found impossible to compete
Dutch
;
but another
coui'se
its practicability fairly to
His iimbi
was
the
Its
and Dupleix was deteimined
of the
Mogul empire was now
parties thus
opposite scales, determine the result.
of Pondicherry began to
own
family.
to imitate the example.
Madame
and by giving easy
-
by throwing their weight into one of the
This was the plan on which the governor
In carrying
act.
it
out he found an able coadjutor in
Dupleix, though of European parentage, had been
born and brought up in India.
her,
manifest.
formed were often so equally balanced, that neutrals of compara
tively feeble resources could easily,
his
to put
soubahdars or governors were almost openly aspiring to independence, and
even their subordinate deputies, or nabobs, were disposed
The
and the
test.
The approaching
i i
o dismemberment
tiinis desigus.
In these
successfully with the British
open,
still
was
Many
of the native languages were familiar to
access to the natives enabled her to be the fittest
medium
of comnmnication between them and her husband in any course of intrigue.
EARLY CAREER OF LABOURDONNAIS.
f'HAr. II.]
In this
way
his measures for extending the influence
were earned on with equal secrecy and
in India
and
409
territory of the
French
1T44.
success.
While Dupleix was revolving plans of aggrandisement, and smoothing the
way
A.D
W.-ir
between
G resit
accomplishment of them, the relations between Great Britain and
for the
France had ceased to be friendly, and the war
succession
su])posed
was declared
it
in 1744.
known
as that of the Austrian
The companies on both
possible that warlike operations
sides of tlie
tain
Bri-
<tii(l
Fmnce.
Channel
might be excluded from the countries
lying within the limits of the Indian Ocean, and with this view endeavoiu-ed to
enter into airangements which would have left each as free as before to prosecute
Had
the Indian trade.
the respective governments sanctioned the arrangements,
two nations
the singular and not uninstructive spectacle might have been seen of
living peacefully with each other in one cpiarter of the globe while a fierce
was raging between them
in all other quarters.
But without such sanction the
projjosed an-angement, though seriously entertained,
ultimately to have been the conclusion of
at tlie very time
when
war
was a dream.
This seems
soon appeared that
all parties, for it
was under
the proposal of an Indian neutrality
the French government were secretly entertaining a project which
discussion,
was
to enable
them, as soon as war was actually declared, to bring an overwhelming force into
the East, and strike a blow
by which English
interests there
would be at once
annihilated.
The
Mahd de
Fran9ois
ally
was suggested
project referred to
la
to the
French ministry by Bernard
Bourdonnais, usu-
designated for brevity as Labour-
He was bom
donnais.
at
St.
Malo,
apparently of humble parentage, in T690,
and when only ten years of age began
as
life
a
to the Pacific.
made
in
by making a voyage
During a second voyage,
sailor,
1713, to the East Indies, he
emplo3'ed his leisure in stiulying matliematics, vmder a Jesuit
be on
bo.ard,
who
hajipened to
and kintUy undertook
to
give
him
{\ges,
one to the North and the other to
the
lessons.
Levant,
he
After other two vov
in
1710
service of the East
India
entered
Company
tlie
LiABOl'RDONNAIS.
— From
1
.
second lieutenant, and had become second captain in 1724,
in
an expedition
>
Vm.
Vangelisty, 1776.
as
when he took
part
of Ijal«i\ir
to the
Malabar coast
for the purjiose of relieving the settle-
ment of Mah^, which had for a considerable time been suttt'ring severely
from a blockade by the natives.
The success of the expedition was mainly
owing to his ability; but from some cause not explained, he shortly after
quitted the company's service and engaged in commerce,
VoL.
I.
Early carec.
making
several suc52
(lonnais
;
410
A D.
1735
HLSTOKV
INDIA.
(JF
[Book
from Pondicheriy to Bengal, and to Mocha in
cessful voyages,
Rod
tlie
III
Sea.
In the latter locality he ein})loyed his influence in reconciling a serious difference
which
liad
between the Arabs and the Portufnjese.
arisen
His conduct
matter was gratefully remembered by the viceroy at Goa, who, on a
this
which Labourdonnais paid
that he
was induced
made
that capital,
to
tempting
iiim such
The
to enter the service of Portugal.
in
viiiit
offers
object intended at
the time was an expedition to Mopibas, on the east coast of Africa
but
;
tliis
having been abandoned, he did not find the scope for his talents whicii he had
anticipated,
and returned
to France
m
1
The following year he obtained
733.
the important appointment of governor of the Mauritius, or the Isle of France,
and the
Isle of
gascar.
These
Bourbon, situated in the Indian Ocean to the east of Mada-
had early become known to the Portuguese, and were at a
isles
by the Dutch, who gave one of them
later period frequented
Mauritius in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau
mediate stations for ships sailing to the
French,
who had
of
but their importance as inter-
had been
Eiist
regularly colonized them,
;
name
its
first
discerned
and placed them under a
by the
distinct
governor.
Labour-
When
Labourdonnais arrived at his government in 1735 he foim^d eveiy-
doDnais'
reforms at
the Isle of
France.
The two
thing in confusion.
islands
had separate
councils, which,
claiming
equal jurisdiction, were constantly disputing as to the extent of their powers
abuses of every kind prevailed, and the capabilities of the
totally
The new governor
undeveloped.
remained almost
once saw the greatness and
which lay before him, and immediately commenced
difficulty of the task
it
with
Ere long the face of matters was completely changed.
characteristic energy.
The kinds of
at
soil
cultivation best adapted for each island were rapidly extended
new towns and
villages arose, harbours capable not only of
;
supplpng the wants
of commerce, but of furnishing a rendezvous for ships of war, were constructed
and
fortified; and,
government no longer hampered by the
unseemly quarrels of those who administered
it,
selfish
became regular and
aims and
efiective.
In carrying on this work of refoim Labourdonnais often encountered an
opposition which obliged
him
occasionally to exceed them.
hostile to the
to stretch his
powers to the utmost, and pei'haps
Those who had profited by abuses were natm-aUy
many from mere natm-al
and sudden changes, even when they could
removal of them, while
indisposed to great
to be improvements.
to manifest itself
A spirit of
by murmur,
probably loudest in the
hostility
were not so
in France,
was, that wliile Labourdonnais
These, though
effective there as in France, where,
the facts being imperfectly known, were easily distorted.
His aim mis-
not deny them
was thus engendered, and continued
complaint, and misrepresentation.
islands,
indolence were
was labom-ing
-with the
The consequence
utmost zeal and dism-
was generally stigmatized among his coimHe appears not to
trjrmen as little better than a selfish and capricious tp'ant.
have been aware of the amount of prejudice which had been raised against
tcrcstedness for the public good, he
Chap.
him
LABOURDONNAIS' EXPEDITION TO THE EAST,
II.]
till
4.11
1740, when, having visited Europe in consequence of the death of his
ad.
i74'2.
he had ample proof of the bitterness and unscrupulousness with which he
wife,
was pursued by
his enemies.
Labourdonnais took immediate steps to set himself right with the ministry,
Laixmr-
the directors of the company, and the public at large, and succeeded so well that
project
new and important powers were com-
not only was his resignation refused, but
In the intei'views which
mitted to him.
members
other
lie
had with Cardinal Fleury and the
f<,r
""^'
pre„dr
"«<^«"''«'"y-
of the Fi'ench cabinet, he did not rest satisfied with exculpating
himself from absurd charges, but gave a
full exj:osition
of his views as to the
Assuming that France
course of i)olicy which ought to be pursued in the East.
and Great Britain were about to be at open war, he endeavoured to show that
the maintenance of peace
if
between the two
not impossible, and that no time should be
cruising in the Indian Ocean,
India Companies was impolitic
Ea.st
lust in
providing a
fleet,
which,
might be ready the moment war was declared
So
establish a complete supremacy.
was he of the valuable
satisfied
to
prizes
which might be made by preying on the Engli.sh company, that he offered to
form a private association, which would
own
fit
out a number of armed vessels at
expense, and be contented with the profits which might be realized
its
by
privateering.
The French government refused
to sanction the private scheme,
but resolved
His expedition to the
to effect the
same object by means of an expedition consisting of
ing partly to the
was given
His
fleet
navy and partly
to Laboiuxlonnais,
was neither
but he was
The command
Company.
set sail 5th April, IT+l, for the Isle of France.
numerous nor
so well equipped as he
had anticipated,
of resom'ces in himself, and po.ssessed such a knowledge of naval
full
and military
so
who
to the East India
vessels belong-
affiiirs
jis
enabled him to repair the defects of the ships and give
His object was to be ready as
the necessary training to the crews and soldiers.
soon as the declaration of war should reach him to strike the meditated blow.
In the meantime he hastened to Pondicherry, which was said to be threatened
by the Mahrattiis; and on learning that the danger had blown
to the
Malabar
coast, wliere
Mahd was once more indebted
from a formidable attack of the natives.
in 17-42,
ptist,
proceeded
him
for deliverance
On again arriving at the
Isle of France,
he met with a bitter disappointment.
The
to
directors of the French
Company had been somewhat cavalierly treated by the government, who had made all their arrangements with Labourdonnais ^vithout giving
East India
them any proper share
in their deliberations.
Their consent to his expedition
being therefore rather forced than voluntary, they were more disposed to frustrate
than to forward
it.
Accordingly,
still
dreaming of a possible neutrality between
the companies, they easily fomid a jtretext for is,suing peremptory orders for the
return of their vessels to France.
Labourdonnais did not venture to disobey,
and thus saw himself deprived of the main part of
when
the period for action
was
his fleet at the very time
to all ai)pearance about to airive.
His
fir.st
E;uit.
;
412
AD.
174(3.
HISTORY OF
feeling
was again
to tendei-
liis
French minister approving of
force
which might yet enable him to execute
Arrival of
when
Tlic British
the
war was openly
and pointing
and make new
induced him to remain at his
III
but a conununication from the
;
his past conduct,
tion,
emjiloyed
Ji
resignati<;n
post,
[Book
IXI>I.\,
to higher
efforts to
promo-
assemble a
He was
his original project.
tlius
declared.
government, well aware of what was intended by France,
liad
liritiali
.
scuiadrou.
make the necessary preparations. A British
manded by Commodore Barnet, and consisting of two .ships
not Omitted to
and a
fifty,
frigate of
twenty guns, appeared opportunely
.squadron,
com-
of sixty, one of
in the eastern seas
At fii'st it cruised in two divisions, in the Straits of Sunda and of Malacca, and
made several valuable French prizes. One of the vessels taken wa.s immediately
rendei'ed available by being converted into a forty-gun .ship, bearing the name
of tlie Medivays Prize.
The squadron having left the .straits, anived on the
Coromandel coast for the first time in July, 1745. At this time the French had
no
fleet
on the
coast,
and Pondicherry
had a gamson of only 486 Europeans.
state
an unfinished
witli its fortifications in
It
promised to be an easy captme,
but was saved by the dexterity of Dupleix, who, aware that force would not
had recourse to diplomacy.
avail him,
Pondicherr}-, though really independent,
belonged nominally to the nabobship of Arcot.
account
by
the French governor, who,
by
This fact was turned to good
flattering the pride of the nabol),
and
claiming his protection, induced him to intimate to the governor and council
of Madras, that
any attempt by land on the French settlements
be treated as an act of hostility against himself
i"eply,
the
or
that the
King
commander
of Great Britain,
was independent of the Company
distinction,
;
The time had not yet arrived
therefore,
to
him
in
but he could not.
and only answered, that
was disregarded he would hold the Company responsible
quences.
and
was represented
It
of the squadron, holding his commission directly from
would not understand the
tion
Arcot would
in
for treating such
intima-
if his
for the conse-
menaces
v/ith defiance
on an assm'ance from the nabob that he would deal impartially
between the companies, and
issue a similar prohibition to the French, in the
event of any meditated attack on the English settlements.
at the earnest entreaty of the
Commodore
government of Madras, abandoned
all
Barnet,
idea of land
making a few additional prizes in the Bay of Bengal,
during the monsoon to the island of Mergui on the eastern
operations, and, after
retired for shelter
In the beginning of 174G the squadron returned to the Coromandel
sliore.
coast,
and was reinforced from England by two ships of
twenty guns.
This,
however, did not
make much
strength, as one of the sixty-gun ships having
home, and along with
Relative
strength ^^
tiie
British
sauadrons.
it
fifty
and a
addition to
become
fi-igate
its
mifit for action
of
absolute
was
sent
the original frigate.
The English squadron, confined by the agi'eement which had been made with
the nabob to operations at sea, was unable to effect anythmg of consequence,
^
,
^'^^ ^^.s Continuing a cruise i-ewarded only
,
by a few
,
.
f,
i)altry prizes,
when
intelli-
CHAP.
NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.
II.J
fence arrived that Labourdonnais had at
India with a
At
fleet
415
and
efiected his object
Ui.st
which miglit be expected to put
sailed for a.d.
prowess to the
Briti.sh
1740.
test.
moment Commodore Barnet died at Fort St. David, and was
by Captain Peyton, who was his second in command, and very im-
this critical
succeeded
The
j)erfectly supplied his place.
the 25th of June,
when
came
fii'st
in sight of each other on
the Enjvlish were cruisin": on the Coromandel coast neai-
The French
Negai)atam.
squadi'ons
nine ships, the largest of which,
fleet consisted of
moimting seventy guns, of which sixty were eighteen-pounders, carried Labourdonnais'
The
flag.
and carried
metal,
as follows:
and
two, twenty-eight;
guns
—one, thirty-six;
.^mailer
size
almost
twelve and eight
all
were much larger than the number of their
utmost under
indicates, as Labourdonnais, after exerting himself to the
very unfavourable circumstances, had been unable to give them their
On
ment.
hand they
the other
Of
having on board 3300.
duty from
unfit for
carried
men
;
had
also fewer guns,
more than the
u.sual
The
full
comple-
complement of men,
these 700 were Africans or Lascai-s,
sickne.ss.
and Hghter
three, thirty-four; one, thirty;
twenty-six guns;
one,
The.se .ships, however,
])0unders.
were of much
rest of the ships
and about 300
had not above half the number of
Engli.sh
but, unlike the majority of the French, they
were well
di.sci[>lined
;
they
but more than made up for the deficiency by superior
weiglit.
had
..mdeed, was Labourdonnais.......
All things considered,
English squadron
tlie
So conscious,
tage.
of his inferiority in real naval
was
that his great object
strength,
and turn
((uarters,
come
to
his superiority in the
In this object
recourse to boarding.
lie
and succeeded
in frustrating all the efforts of
From
teracting these efforts, the fight did
Owing
to the distance maintained,
and lasted
separated,
till
it
nightfall
it
.siiuaUrons
men
to account
by having
whose
vessels,
had the advantao-e of the wind,
his,
Labourdonnais to deprive them of
by the one party
the long time spent
of
wjvs battled b}- the Engli.sh,
and manucievrin<T better than
Knoouuter
between tli'
as speedily as possible to close
number
])esides sailinjx
it.
thus decidedly the advan-
making and the other in counnot commence till four in the afternoon.
was almost entirely confined to the cjinnon,
without any decisive
in
When
results.
the combatants
was apparently with the intention of renewing the engagement on
the following day, but Peyton, after obtaining the sanction of a council of war,
deemed
it
prudent to sheer
having actually sustained
gun
vii-tualiv acknowledijinfj a defeat, Avithout
ma<le the best of his
a.ssigned
was the leaky
way
to Trincomalee in
con<lition
of the sixty-
ship.
Labourdonnais,
,
the
it,
The only reason
Ceylon.
and
off",
_
who was
1
mornmg dawned,
waitinor to
/^
to find that he
resume the
enemy having
was
had already gained the
not pursue, as the wind was against him
regret of the
fio;ht,
;
e.scaped him,
departure, inasmuch as his loss had been
and, in
was not
fact,
at
all
astoui.shed,
when
He
could
victor}-.
though he speaks with
disi)leased
more severe than
theirs,
with their
ami both the
f.^biess
between
uupieLx an.i
,',^i\T^
•^'•*
AD
1710.
HISTORY OF
state ofhi.s .ships
Thanking
retire.
and want of provisions must have compelled him speedily
his
good fortune, he steered directly
diately on his arrival, his reception
little to
[Book HI.
IXfJlA.
i/j
Imme-
for Pondicherry.
by the governor convinced him that he had
expect from his co-operation.
L>upleix, vv^hose vanity
and ambition were
greater than his talents, could not conceal his jealousy of Labourdonnais.
still
He saw
in
him the person who,
in the event of anything befalling himself,
was
destined to be his successor, and he was mortified to find that an expedition,
destined to act within the limits of
had been placed beyond
diction,
being to
what he conceived
to be his exclusive juris-
his control, the only instructions given
him
with his advice and second
it with his efforts.
The feelings
which rankled in his mind, scarcely disguised at the first, were soon openly-
assist it
manifested,
and led eventually
Labourdonnais and Dupleix,
which ruined both
to a course of proceedings
sacrificed the
French interests in India, and saved
those of Great Britain from impending destruction,
After a short and unsatisfactory consultation, in which the only point
^we back*
wartiiiessof
tlie
was, that Labourdonuais'
British
~r\
naval
com
t
-,
-i
-Cingiish
settle<l
endeavour must be to clear the coast of
first
tlie
-,
squadron, he set
sail
with that view, and had the satisfaction to leani
that the danger apprehended from
it
was groundless.
Judging by what the
English commander ought to have done, he naturally expected that he w^ould
soon reappear, and even though too cautious or cowardly to risk a general
would keep hovering on the
action,
make
it
most hazardous,
if
coast, so as to
keep up a constant alarm, and
not impossible, for the French to disembark their
making an attempt upon Madras. This was \dsibly
contemplation, and to prevent the execution of it the
troops for the purpose of
the great object
commander
now
in
of the British fleet ought to have devoted his utmost efibrts.
spending a month at Trincomalee he did
make
his appearance, but it
and save himself by
to repeat his former procedure,
flight,
was only
because he had dis-
covered or imagined, that while his force remained the same, that of the
tow""
°f*^*
Madias.
After
enemy
had been augmented by additional guns procured at Pondicherry.
Convinced that he had nothing to fear from the English squadron, Laboui'donnais returned to PondicheiTy, and began to prepare in earnest for the siege of
Madras.
It
was a
gained without
prize
much
worth fighting
for,
Within the
sti'uggle.
and
to all appeai'ance
territory belonging to
it,
might be
and form-
ing a tract which stretched about five miles along the coast and one mile
inland, a population of 250,000
consisted of natives,
Madras
by whom
itself consisted
it
had been gathered, but nearly the whole of
was known that no
of three divisions.
resistance
would be
it
offered.
Farthest north was an immense
assemblage of huts, huddled together without any order, and occupied entu'ely
by the lowest classes of natives immediately adjoining this suburb, on the south,
was what was called the Black Town, containing many good houses, which
;
belonged to Indian and Armenian merchants, and surrotmded by a wall of so
little
height and strength as to be almost useless for defence
;
south of this
la)-
»
CuAP.
tlie
MADRAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
II.]
town
proper, or Fort St. George.
formed a parallelogram about 400 yards
It
long from north to south, and 100 yards broad.
wall,
and defended by
bastions
foui'
41 o
and
It
was
inclosed
A.D.
ITJr,.
by a slender
batteries of defective construction.
aSE^--
FoBT
St.
George, Madras, 1754
were no outworks.
T^iere
— From a print
Within
tiie
l)y
Van
Ryiie,
inclosure
Royal
Librarj', British
were an
Enoli.sh
Catholic church, the factory and buildings connected with
good
house-s,
occupied
by
Few
of the
and a Roman
and about
fifty
English, or other Europeans under then- protection.
Their whole number did not exceed 300.
garrison.
it,
Museum.
Of
common men and
these 200 were the soldiers of the
only two or three of the
officers
had
ever seen service.
As
the danger which threatened the settlement must have been foreseen,
.
impo.ssible to exculpate the authorities
not providing better against
interfere for their protection, as he
made aware
him was
.
from the charge of gross negligence in
If they trusted to the promise of the
it.
it is Ma<haa be
.
.
had
for that of the French,
of the folly of leaning on such a broken reed.
nabob
siegeil anil
taken
to
they were soon
Their application to
disregarded, either because Dupleix had previously gained his ear, or
they were too parsimonious to
have rendered
it
effectual
;
make
a liberal use of the only means which could
and Labourdomiais,
after completing his preparations
without interruption, cast anchor on the l+th of September, about four leagues
south of Madras, with nine ships and two bomb- vessels.
European marinere and
artillery
and
soldiers,
stores nece&sary for tlie siege.
station as near
The
foi-t
Madras as
it
The
soldiei-s
fleet
all
the
being immediately
proceeded to take up
could safely approach.
alone being capable of any resistance, Labom'donnais naturally
directed his attack against
it,
and having erected a battery of nine mortars, on
an open space to the west, at the distance of 500
ment.
board were 2900
400 Africans, 400 Indian natives, and
landed began to advance along the shore, while the
its
On
j-ards,
Defence was never seriously contemplated
was delayed
in the hope that the English squadron
Its ap[)roach
was
at one time actually rumoun^d,
;
connnenced the bombardbut innuediate siuTender
might make
its
appearance.
and spread such consternation
The
f..rt
HISTORY OF
U()
A.D.
i74(i.
among
T\1)TA.
[Book
Unhappily
the French, that they were preparing to flecamp.
besieged
proved a
it
false alarm,
and Labourdonnais, only urged by
it
III
for tlje
U)
more
strenuous exertions, not only opened another battery to the south, but began to
cannonade from the
sea.
An
assault had
was sent from the town.
to avert its horrors, a flag of truce
accompanied
now become imminent, and
word
was completed by a
surrender.
of honour that the ransom
ment continued with
Terms of
gy
was
it
could only be after
his terms
were
Tliough the siege lasted and
interruptions from the
]
tlie
liis
accejited,
bombard-
8th to the 2oth of September, so
Frenchman was
that not one
it
Ultimately, after he had given
would be moderate,
and he entered the town in triumph.
bloodless
The deputies wlio
proposed a ransom, but Labourdonnais at once declared, that
it
though he was not unwilling to entertain such a proposal,
the capture
in order
killed,
and only
five
Englishmen.
the terms of capitulation the whole of the merchandise and the moveable
oiiiiitiUation.
property passed at once to the captors, and
the English became prisoners of
all
The important point of the ransom remained to be settled, but the
honourable and liberal spirit which characterized Labourdonnais' proceedings
war.
made
impossible to doubt that
it
it
woidd be
fairly, amicaVjly,
and generously
was whispered that a serious difficulty had arisen.
Dupleix, on the ground that Madras was locally within his government of
Suddenly
arranged.
it
India, claimed a right to dispose of
So confident was he of possessing
determined was he to
right, or at least so
letter
it.
upon
insist
it,
from the Nabob of Arcot, who had now, when too
interdict the
that on receiving a
endeavoured to
late,
French from laying siege to Madras, he had pacified him by pro-
mising that the town when taken would be delivered into his hands.
subsequent proceedings of Dupleix
filled this
this
It furnished
promise.
it is
plain that he never
meant
Fi'oni the
to have ful-
him, however, with a plausible pretext for
sending a letter to Labourdonnais, in wdiich he desired him not to consent to
any terms of ransom, and intimated
self entitled to
Dupleix
for the first
time that he Considered him-
speak authoritatively on the subject.
Before this letter arrived, the capitulation, including the ransom as one of
interferes.
its essential
conditions,
had taken
could not honourably recede.
Nor
place.
As a completed
did he wish
it
;
act,
for, so far
Labourdonnais
from acquiescing
in the alleged right of Dupleix to dictate the terms of the capitulation,
regarded
it
as
commissions.
proceeded to
passion,
an arrogant assumption, at
total variance
lie
with theu* respective
Instead of deviating from the course originally chalked out, he
fijc
the
amount
of the ransom.
and even endeavoured to gain
Dupleix
his object
now
listened only to his
by attempting
to seize the
person of Labourdonnais, and tampering with the soldiers under his command.
At Pondicherry,
also,
he entered on a course of intrigue, and endeavovu-ed to
gain a kind of sanction to his proceedings, by inducing the French inhabitants
to petition
and protest against the ransom as most injurious to French
interests.
Labourdonnais remained luimoved, and intimated his detei'mination not to quit
Chap.
Tllfi
II.]
Madras
RANSOM OF MADRAS.
until every stipulation to
-^17
which he had consented should be honourably AD.
Violence having thus proved unavailing, Dupleix saw the necessity
performed.
of changing his tactics, and while weaving
restoration of
new
pretexts for delaying the actual
to the English, solemnly
Madras
bound himself
to ciirry
it
into
soon as certain preliminary arrangements were comj)leted.
effect as
Dm-ing the heat of the quarrel between the two French governors, three
ships of war, one of seventy-two,
board, arrived at Pondicherry.
and two of forty guns, with 1366 men on
Added
which Labourdoimais
to the force
ready possessed, they gave him such an ascendency as placed
To
English settlements in India at his mercy.
now
Bombay and
save
(juarrel
Labomxlonnals, detained by
saved them.
seventy-gun
In
One
sea.
ship,
of
al-
This petty
The
by regular treaty, at eleven hies of
monsoon commenced with a furious hur-
them foundered; four of the
Madras Roads were
others, including the
were completely dismasted, and otherwise seriously injured.
the Frencli marine force in the East
fact,
stitti.a.
other
tlie
lost his opportunity.
wliich six ships of the French fleet lying in the
driven out to
of
appearance nothing could
all
it,
Amount
fixed,
pagodas, nearly £44!0,000 sterling, the
by
all
Calcutta from sharing the fate of Madras.
very day after the ransom had been
ricane,
17-10.
was
so completely crippled as to be
afterwards incapable of achieving anything of consequence.
Labourdonnais, trusting to the promise of Dupleix faithfully to perform
tlie
of
to
conditions of the capitulation, finally quitted Madras, committing the charge
to a
it
left
all LabounUm-
as
member
many
soldiers
3000 Europeans.
them
in
On
of the council of Pondicherry.
and
sailors
His whole
as,
fleet
with those previously there, amounted
now
consisted of only seven ships, four of
He
good and three in wretched condition.
October, intending to proceed for
arriving at this place, he
sailed
Acheen with the whole
;
on the 20th of
but,
when
at sea,
clianged his intention with regard to the three, on finding that even if capable
of reaching that port they
directly for the Mauritius.
would be unserviceable, and steered with them
He had (quitted that island at the head of a powerful
armament, with which he was confident of achieving glorious
mortifying must have been the contrast presented by his return
tunes, however,
all his
honours.
and nothing remained
Tlie
for
him but
cjipture
been obliged to part company with the other
Indies.
by
Europe shorn
After passing the
British cruisers ; and, having
sliips
of the
fleet,
arrived in the
war was not yet declared between France and Holland,
Dutch vessel which touched at Falmouth. Tlie officials
probably acting on information which had been given them, recognized
him, and he was carried to London as a prisoner of war.
him was equally
lionourable to himself and to those to
classes vied in testifying respect
Vol.
His misfor-
Here, as
he took passage in a
there,
to return to
voyage was singularly unfortunate.
Cape of Good Hope, he narrowly escaped
West
!
How
were not yet ended. During his absence he had been superseded
in his government,
of
results.
I.
and showing
kindnes.s,
The reception given
whom
he owed
it.
All
and when he expressed
63
india.
418
A.D.
174ti.
a
wi.sli
among
to return to France, he found, even
pany on wliom
Fute of La-
OF INDIA.
jns'l'OlJV
hi,s skill
and prowess had
[liOOK III.
the directors of the
heavy
inflicted such
losses,
a generous
him to the whole amount of IiIb
however, was scouted, and his jiai-ole was
individual ready to become security for
fortune.
The very idea of
security,
at once
declared sufficient.
The
boui'doiinaiB.
short period during which Labourdonnais
was the
prisoner than the guest of England
said to
last
have smiled upon him
He had
dungeon awaited him, and he was immured
Here he was
may
Instead of reward, only a
in the Bastile
on the 2d of March,
before he
was
mitted to communicate with the council, and though most of the charges
against
any
him
were proved to be
acquittal
What
was pronounced.
had already been committed; and,
The
death came to his relief
could
now avail him?
it
after a short struggle
inju.stice of
widow, the grant bearing on the face of
so
many
services, or
lation shamefully violated
of the English fleet under
It
with disease and poverty,
— An attempt of the nabob upon
it
repulsed
the time of Labourdonnais' departm-e, Dupleix stood pledged
Madras
had involved him
make him
a present of
duped, and on finding that
in a serious difficulty.
was not
;
tiation.
The
effect
irresistible.
only
had neutralized the
Nabob
of Arcot,
its
by
pro-
purpose at the
to be vokmtarily surrendered to him, sent
at the head of
an ai-my of 10,000 men,
only was to confirm Maphuze
Without
When
his
but the nabob was not to be thus
Dupleix was, or from policy pretended to be
force.
were
Maphuze Khan,
it
it
Meanwhile
in January, 1747.
This promise served
it.
and he had thought no more of
his son,
—The terms of capitu-
St.
of Arcot
time,
persecutions."
HI.
threatened opposition of Anwar-u-din,
to Madras.
many
for so
anticipating the capture of the town, he
lays claim
to his
— Unsuccessful attempts of the French upon Fort David — Proceedings
Admiral Boscavcen — Siege of Pondicheiry —The peace of Aix-la-ChapeUe.
duplicity
mising to
by a peasion
that he had died "without receiving
it
any compensation
to the restoration of
Nahob
The judicial murder
which he had been the victim was
CHAPTER
Proceedings of the French at Madras
made
gi-oundless, three years elapsed before his
afterwards formally though very inadequately recognized,
any reward for
per-
and the few which had
carried their refutation along with them,
plausibility
be
his native shore, her
away twenty-six months
pine
left to
the
le.ss
performed services wliich entitled him
to the highest honom's his country could bestow.
1748.
was
during which fortune
The moment he reached
persecutions again commenced.
Tlie
Com-
listening to the
to take
it
by
and proposed negothe belief that his arms
afraid,
Khan
in
two deputies who had been sent
to
THE NABOB OF AECOT ATTACKS xMADRAS.
Chap. II r.]
treat
419
with him, he imprisoned them, and proceeded to take up his position near
His subse(pient opera-
the spot where Labourdonnais had erected his batteries.
tions displayed considerable
side of the town,
at its
A shallow
skill.
stream which ran along- the west
and reached the sea about 700 yards below, was
mouth by a mound
of sand as to form a kind of
employed a great number of men
this obstruction, he
water by cutting through the
mound and
;
a.d. i746.
at the
wet
ditch.
make an
to
dammed up
so
To get
rid of
outlet for the
same time sent a strong party
three miles to the north to take possession of the only s})ring from which the
Thus threatened, Du})leix opened
inhabitants were supplied with good water.
fire
He had
from the walls on the 21st of October.
1.1..
mitting to the indignity of a siege,
n
a body of 400
men
to act
,,
.
on the
and
«
therefore,
on
no
however, of sub-
idea,
ij»iithe following
TheNaimi.
of Arcot re-
1
day, sent out
They had with them two
offensive.
his
field-pieces,
pui8e<i
'
*'
fwm
™*'
which they had concealed, and with which, when the enemy advanced with an
appearance of resolution, they opened a most destructive
had never seen
artillery so served before,
were confounded, especially at the
and
rapidity of the discharges, turned then- backs,
The French had not
tation.
make a stand
fled
with the utmost precipi-
a single man, and remained masters of the
Maphuze Khan seemed
whole tents and baggage.
scattered troops, to
lost
disposed, after collecting his
in the neighbourhood, but
on
French expected a reinforcement from Pondicheny, hastened
to the natives as Mailapur,
being the place where the apostle
owes
European name
its
Thomas
St.
suffered
attained great splendour under the Portuguese, though
comparative insignificance
known
to profit
by
cheny and Madras.
only to
it,
— Maphuze Khan
would have cut
advancing to attack him in
fjiiled.
rear.
that the
off to St.
Tliom^,
—which,
to a tradition of
martyrdom, and had
had again sunk into
it
occupied a position which, had he
off the
communication between Pondi-
This was obviously his intention, but he managed so
two
place himself between
attacked his
leaji'iiing
In this town
situated on the coast, about four miles to the south.
known
The Moguls, who
fire.
front,
fires,
The detachment airived
men from
the latter
so late that this part of the i)lau
persisted in their original intention,
after forcing a pjissage across a stream,
as
the reinforcement from the former
while a detachment of 400
The reinforcement, however,
ill
and
on the north side of which the enemy
were advantageoasly posted, drove them back at the point of the bayonet, and
ft)llowing close
upon
their heels into the town,
were impossible, made
fearful
who
escaped to the plain
on an
elepliant,
slaughter.
where both resistance and retreat
Conspicuous among the fugitives,
was ^Maphuze Khan, mounted
on which the great standard was displayed. These encounters
to
the westward,
with the native troops establislied a
new
era in Indian warfare.
The
infinite
was no longer doubtful and from the valour
displayed by some of the natives who had been exercised in it, and fought on
the French side, the important fact was discovered that a native anny might be
formed, and so trained as to become the most effectual instrument of European
superiority of
European
discipline
;
xatives
may
cffiden*
soldiers.
420
A
I).
i7i«.
is
uu(][uestionably
H'
L'''^'^^
due to Dupleix.
Wliile gaining these laurels, the governor of
of Madiiis
violated.
OF INDIA.
Tlie first great exemplification of this fact, if not the diHCOvery of
(lorniiiation,
it,
cai.ituiatiui,
IHSTCJJiY
^
.
.
.
Pondicheny
wa.s meditating
.
.
The hiw of nations, as well as solemn pledges given
to Labourdonnais, bound him to restore Madras in return for a ransom which
had been stipulated, and the amount of which had been fixed by regular agree-
au act of gross
iniquity.
In utter disregard of these obligations, he summoned a meeting of the
ment.
was drawn up
inhabitants on the 30th of October, and there, while the gairison
in arms,
caused a manifesto to be read, acquainting the English with the
injustice
which he had resolved to perpetrate, and of which they were forthwith
to be
made the
This infsxmous document annulled the treat}' of
victims.
ransom, confiscated
all
them personally
the property of the English, and offered
only the alternative of remaining on parole as prisoners of war
or of being arrested
and sent
disgraceful treatment,
to
Pondicheny.
till
exchanged,
Several of them, to e.scape this
disguised themselves and found their
way
to Fort St.
David; but the English governor and a number of the principal inhabitants
were actually carried under
Pondicheny, and ostentatiously paraded
escort to
In a similar
before 50,000 spectators.
executed with the utmost
spirit
the threatened confiscation was
and many private
rigoui',
families
were utterly
ruined.
E.xiiedition
Fort
David, the most important English settlement on the Coromandel
St.
against Fort
St.
David,
coast after Madras, became,
dency.
The
fort,
of Pondicherry,
able territory,
town, which
situated
f
latter,
•
the seat of the presi-
100 miles south of Madras, and fourteen south
was small but
strong,
including within
lies
f
i
on the capture of the
it
and formed the nucleus of a
the important
about a mile south of the
consider-
town of Cuddalore.
This
at the moutli of the Pennar,
fort,
by a wall flanked with bastions, and, though
nearly open to the sea, was separated from it by a narrow belt of sand thrown
up by the waves, and skirted on the north and east by a shallow stream.
The object of Dupleix being to banish the English entirely from the coast, his
was surrounded on three
sides
task seemed only half finished while Fort St. David remained in their possession.
No
time, therefore,
was
The command was intended
lost in fitting
for
out an expedition against
a Swiss of the
recalled for the purpose from Madras,
name
of Paradis,
it.
who was
where he had acted as governor under
Dupleix, and been the willing instrmnent of his infamous proceedings.
He
left
Madras in the beginning of December, with 300 Europeans, and had proceeded
south about twenty miles, encumbered with ill-gotten booty,
Khan, who was burning
at the
to revenge his disgrace,
head of 3000 horse and 2000
niunbers, Paradis kept the
enemy
foot.
at bay,
when Maphuze
suddenly made his appearance
Great as was the disproportion of
and arrived
at the
Dutch settlement
was attacked with the loss of
only twelve men, who were taken prisoners and paraded by Maphuze Khan as
of Sadi'as, ten miles south of the place, where he
ClIAI'.
THE FltENCH EEPULSEI) FROM CUUDALUKE.
ill.
A
proof of his having obtained a victory.
cherry enabled
The
tlie
force destined to act against Fort St.
field- pieces
out the
officers refused to serve
mutiny
to resign the
by right of
David consisted of 1700 men,
whom
to
Before
was considered
it
it
Attcmi.ton
set
to belong
9th of December, the Pennar, which
and a half north of the
fort,
was reached and
with no show of opposition
cro.ssed,
except from a few native soldiers,
who
cover from the surrounding thickets.
sistance
fui'ther interruption.
and as many mortars.
command to M. Bury,
seniority.
At daybreak on the
immediately
1746.
under Paradis, and compelled him by a kind of
into the sea about a mile
falls
reinforcement sent fiom PonJi- AD.
whole to arrive there without
mostly Europeans, with six
421
had been anticipated, as
it
fired
^Si:
under
A gi'eater re-
was understood
that the nabob had entered into close leasfue with
the English, and promised a large supply of troops.
Assuming that he had not
was not disposed
probability
fulfilled,
to
and
fulfil his
in all
promise,
the French resolved to leave the fort behind,
make a sudden dash
There seemed
fort
at the
little risk,
town
and
of Cuddalore.
as the garrison of the
mustered no more than 200 Europeans, and
100 topasses, or natives of Portuguese descent;
and the whole
force
without
"-^s-.;
it,
for the defence of
the territory, consisted of about 2000 peon^, or
Peons of Mysorf,
From Vincount
Valenlla's
TruvcU
In India.
native soldiers, not disciplined according to the
example which the French had already
scarcely 900 of
set,
and
imperfectly armed that
so
them had muskets.
A few of these
peons had been stationed in a garden situated about a quarter Fremh
repiilsed.
of a mile from the place where the French had forded the river.
to a
summer
residence of the governor of the fort,
It belonged
and was inclosed by
a
brick wall, which, together with the house and the com-t of buildings attached
might have furnished the means of a vigorous defence. The peons, however, were not capable of making it, and were no sooner attacked than they
abandoned the post. The French troops, having now no apprehension of danger,
to
it,
began to refresh themselves from the fatigues of their march, and were sleeping,
or cooking, or straggling about without their arms,
that
an enemy was approaching from the westward.
(iOOO horse
and SOOO
foot belonging to the nabob,
Maphuze Khan and Mahomed
Ali.
directly for the river, which,
on the part of their
assailants,
except that of their baggage.
It
a sudden cry arose
proved to be a body of
and led by
his
two
sons,
So great was the consternation of the
French, that instead of attempting to profit
and made
when
by
owing
their position, they rushed out
to the
want
of skill
and courage
they crossed without sustaining any serious
The garrison of the
loss
fort perceiving their flight
422
A.D. 1717.
HTSTOTtY OF TNr)[A.
thouglit prudent to attack them,
offered battle; but
and
l)rought to bay, faced about
III.
continued the pursuit for six miles.
sallied out, iuul, joining the nabob's troops,
The enemy,
[Book
and they were pennitted
to return
was not
it
unmolested
to Pondicherry.
Second
ciuMiiioie.
Dupleix, grievously disappointed at the failure of his attempt, determined
to
renew
in a different form,
it
and
instructions to proceed to Cuddalore,
and landing on the
river,
rated the
east side,
where
it
it
by
had no
surprise,
in Vjoats, with
by entering
He had
defences.
While the boats were passing through the
difficulties.
the soldiers could only save their lives
after
and take
men
500
secretly despatched
they had reached the
by throwing
aside their
surf,
arms
;
the
under-
many
of
and even
were so overwhelmed by a hard gale from the
river,
south, that they thought themselves fortunate in being able to secure their
own
safety
arms in a
by putting back
different direction,
to sea.
Again disappointed, Dupleix turned
his
and commenced a war of devastation within the
Mere passion may have suggested
nabob's territories adjoining Madras.
this
apparently wanton procedure, though subsequent events seem to prove that there
was deep design in
perfectly
His knowledge of the native character made him
it.
aware that the nabob would dissolve
moment he was convinced that
it
was not
little difficulty in
throw
his
succeeding.
given to him, and the
Retirement
It
now Seemed
to
new
maintain
This was
it.
to bring him.
He had
After a short negotiation, the nabob consented to
army from Fort St. David,
Pondicherry, where a most pompous reception was
weight into the French
and sent Maphuze Khan
his intei"est to
was now labouring
the conviction to which Dupleix
with the British the
his alliance
scale, recalled liis
alliance
was formally proclaimed.
as if the situation of the British
on the Coromandel coast was
of the
Frencii.
They had been abandoned by
dcspcratc.
and
their only ally,
vain for assistance from home, had almost ceased to hope for
capture of Madras the only relief which had reached them
after looking in
Ever
it.
was by a
since the
vessel
from
Ceylon, which, on the 19th of February, 171; 7, brought a supply of £60,000 in
silver for the
St.
David.
tunely, for
exhausted treasm-y, and twenty recruits for the garrison of Fort
This
relief,
On
it
was, could not have come more oppor-
on the 2d of March the French were again seen approaching.
were the same troops as
officers
paltry though
before,
but the former
failure
had
so far
They
humbled the
that they had been prevailed on to receive Paradis as their commander.
reaching the banks of the Pennar, they were somewhat surprised to find
The
that the passage was to be contested.
infused into
with three
it,
had marched boldly
field- pieces
out,
and a troop of
garrison, as if a
new
spirit
had been
and stood posted on the opposite bank,
horse,
composed
cannonade commenced, and was kept up with some
chiefly of volunteers.
spirit till the evening,
A
when
the French effected a passage at a point out of cannon-shot, and the garrison
deemed
it
prudent to
retire.
By
a singular coincidence the garden was again
occupied, only to be precipitately abandoned.
A
number
of ships were descried
Chap.
MAJOU LAWRENCE.
III.]
approaching the roads.
Tiie
were English and hastened
423
French only waited to satisfy themselves that they
off for Pondicherry.
It proved to be the long looked for British squadron.
m
inactive
Admiral
T->iiiiii
who had
arrived from England with
and the other of forty guns.
by troops brought with
it
from England and Bombay, Fort
and
it
was the turn
St.
jiartly
of
affiiirs
of M. Du})leix to feel alarm.
for
it.
Admiral
had remained
Amvai
of
British
oi
commandII'"
siiuaarou.
ships,
it
one of sixty
;
and partly
by subsequent reinforcements
David was garrisoned
The aspect
was not much cause
that there
two
There was no enemy to encounter
from Bengal, and
beyond the reach of danger.
It
11
under the
T
Bengal, but had at length ventm'ed out,
Griffin,
a.d. i748.
so strongly as to be
had now completely changed,
however,
It soon appeared,
Griffin
seemed
satisfied
with his
acknowledged supremacy at sea without attempting to derive any benefit from
it
and the whole season
;
for action passed
away with no more important
result
than the destruction of a fifty-gun ship which had belonged to Labourdonnais'
squadi'on,
and was lying
Madras.
On
in the roads of
the approach of the October
monsoon an attempt was made
on the
and
all
coast,
but
it
Wiis
to remain
found impossible,
the ships were ultimately obliged
to take shelter at Trincomalee.
In the beginning of 1748 the squadron returned to Fort
David, and at
St.
the same time Major Lawrence, a British
officer
of distinguished merit, arrived to
take the
command
forces in India.
of
moment
of
the Company's
all
For some months nothin<r
occun-ed.
In consequence of
a rumour that Dupleix was about to renew
Major-general
Stkini;i;u
Lawrence.
— From an
enKrnvini; by Houston, »fttr Sir
RrynolUi.
on Cuddalore, Major Lawrence
formed a camp between the garden already mentioned and the banks of the
Pennar.
Here he had remained for some time, when the alarming discovery
was made, that thougli not yet disposed to risk a new campaign, the French
his designs
J.
governor had, with characteristic cunning and duplicity, been endeavouring to
prepare for it by tampering with the fidelity of the native troops in British pay.
The commander
body of 400 sepoys sent from the English settlement at
Tellicherry had promised to desert with them to the French in the fii-st enfrat^ement that should happen and within the fort itself, an Indian, who had ticted
as interpreter and agent to the English governor of Madras, was
ascertained
of a
;
have long can-ied on a treaciierous con-espondence with the enemy, by
communicating with Madame Dupleix in the Malabar tongue. The interpreter
and an accomplice suffered death, and the commander of the Tellicherry sepoys,
together with ten of their other officei-s, were banished to St. Helena.
to
^'»J°'-
1^«-
mlmk^-in"-
iuat.'"
•i24
A
A.D. 171S
more honourable warfure than that
was now
Arrival of
OF INDIA.
Il[ST(JJiV
vessels,
A
anticipated.
which had
sailed
Frencli squadron
[Book
to wliich
Dupleix had thus stooped
seven large
of"
TIT.
shij)S
and two smaller
from the Mauritius in the end of April, were seen on
a French
squadron.
the 10th of June sailing in the direction of Fort
St.
in the roads consisted of three ships of sixty, three of
one of twenty guns, and could scarcely have
shore,
and
that the opportunity was
lost.
were on
had never intended to
fight,
main
better to disguise his
and
left
Admiral
three of forty, and
the
if
enemy had been
elapsed before the ships put to sea,
The French commander, aware of his
inferiority,
and had only assumed the appearance of
which was to land 400
object,
Having succeeded
in silver at Pondicherry.
coast,
much time
so
failed,
fifty,
fleet
Unfortunately the aflmiral and several of
brought to action, to gain a victory.
his officers
The English
David.
soldiers
it,
the
and £200,000
in this, he at once quitted the
a vain attempt to discover him, to reap the
Griffin, after
what he called his bad fortune, but many designated by a harsher
The latter was the view taken by a court-martial in England, and
fruits of
name.
he was suspended from the service.
New attempt
The English
fleet,
while engaged in
of the
search
fruitless
its
hostile
on Cuddalore re-
From
squadron, had arrived at Madras.
the state of wind, some days must neces-
pulsed.
sarily elapse before it could return to
on
effecting the capture in
Fort
David
St.
which he had been
;
and
so bent
was Dupleix
so often baffled, that he deter-
making another attack on Cuddalore.
The force employed consisted of 800 Europeans and 1000 sepoys, who, by pursuing a circuitous route from Pondicherry, airived in the morning of the 7th
mined
of
to avail himself of the interval in
June at the
of Bandapolam.
hills
and the plan was
to halt
till
Cuddalore was only three miles distant,
the night; and then come upon
by
it
surprise.
Major Lawrence, made aware of what was intended, determined to meet strata-
gem by
stratagem, and caused
into the
fort.
all
the cannon to be brought from Cuddalore
His object was to make the French believe that he had taken
this step because
he thought the place untenable, and meant to abandon
without a struggle.
The stratagem succeeded
;
it
and the French, advancing under
make an easy conquest, had actually
walls, when a fire of musketry from
the fidl belief that they were about to
applied their scaling-ladders to the
all
the ramparts, and four or five pieces of cannon loaded with gi'ape-shot,
The caimon, openly removed by
opened upon them.
replaced at nightfall, and the garrison
Of
off in
Arrival of a
powerful
BritiBh
axmameut.
headlong
The panic
had been
had at the same time been
these facts the French were of course ignorant,
was extreme.
day,
and hence
seized officers as well as men,
secretly
reinforced.
their consternation
and the whole rushed
flight.
The Indian struggle had hitherto attracted comparatively little notice in
England but at last both the government and the Company had awakened
;
to a full sense of its importance,
A
fleet consisting of
seven
shii)s
and resolved
to
make adequate
of the nav}^ with a bomb-ship
preparations.
and
tender,
and
'
Chap.
PONDICHERRY BESIEGED.
III.]
n
4:25
eleven ships of the Company, can-ying mihtary stores and 1400 regular troops,
ad.
ir^s.
November, under the command of Admiral Boscawen.
At the Cape of Good Hope it was joined by six ships of the Dutch East India
from England
sailed
Company, having 400
in
soldiers
on board, and
by
after a considerable detention
contrary winds, proceeded for the Mauritius, which was seen on the 23d of June.
was expected that both
It
but the
quests,
difficulties
this island
and that of Bourbon would
Ml
proved greater than had been anticipated
;
easy con-
and
after
a
series of attempts rendered futile by gross blunders, it was resolved by a council
of war that, as the capture, even if practicable, was only a secondary object, the
armament ought
Coromandel
to proceed forthwith to the
coast,
which was
its
David on the 29th of July, and
being joined by the squadron of Admiral Griffin, whose sei'vices had entitled
]n-imary destination.
him
It arrived at
Fort
St.
to nothing better than a court- martial, constituted the
force
most powerful naval
which had ever been brought to the East Indies by any European nation.
It consisted of thirty ships, thirteen of
them
ships of the line,
and none of them
of less than 500 tons burden.
The English
at Fort St.
David were elated above measure, and
felt full
confidence that they were not only about to recover Madras but to avenge
the injustice they had suffered,
by the capture of Pondicheny.
well have this confidence, for they were scarcely less poweiful
mustering in
sea,
all,
for service
might be sent by the Nabob of
again to change
sides,
had
csist
To
Ai'cot,
object of attack.
in the ships,
tinued
its
They might
these
was
to be added such a
To strike at once at
Pondicheny was made the very
in his lot with the British.
The heavy cannon and cumbrous
stores
were transported
which anchored two miles south of the town, while the army con-
course alonjj the shore.
pied a gentle declivity at the south-east extremity of a long
stretched, at the distance of about seventy yards
from the
flat
shore, rather
at this time one of the best built cities in India, and,
occu-
hill,
and
more than
a mile from north to south, and nearly three-quarters of a mile inland.
It
was
when viewed from
the
commanding appearance. For the latter
it was indebted to several conspicuous public edifices, and more especially to a
citadel, which, though of small dimensions, was of considerable strength.
It
stood within the town, and, along with it, was inclosed on the three sides toward
the land by a ditch, and a waU and ramjiart flanked with bastions.
Tlie
presented at once a pleasing and
eastern side, facing the sea,
was defended by
several batteries,
capable of mounting 100 cannons, and completely
At
commanded
which were
the roadstead.
the distance of a mile from the walls, a large hedge of aloes and other
thorny
Vol.
])lants,
I.
i>„mu.'^
'''"'"^'
by land than by
The town of Pondicheny, situated eighty-six miles S.S.W. of Madras,
sea,
,,'f
who, suspecting that fortune was
the centre of the French power and influence,
fiist
all
i'rep;u-iiti.
on shore, 3720 Europeans, 300 topasses, and
about 2000 imperfectly disciplined sepoys.
force as
of
intonniugled with cocoa-init and other palms, commenced on the
54
conditi..!.
chei'o"
42G
AD.
1748.
HISTOilY OF INDIA.
[Book
III.
north at the sea-shore, and was carried round, for above five miles, in a regular
curve,
by the west and
south,
till
reached in the latter direction the river of
it
This hedge, impenetrable to cavalry, and not easily to be paased
Ariancoopan.
even by infantry, fonned, with the
which
river,
half below, a complete line of defence.
attended
to,
So
had
carefully
made
that at each of the openings
and a
into the sea a mile
fell
object been
this
in the hedge for the four road«
which led from the town to the surrounding country, there was a redouhtt
mounted with cannon, and near the point where the hedge joined the
small fort bearing the same
Owing
to the time
name had been
which had been
river a
erected.
on the outward voyage, partly by
lost
contrary winds and partly by the injudicious attempt on the Mauritius, the
season was far advanced
day, therefore,
was
when
commenced
besiegers
tlie
Every
operations.
and not an hour ought to have
of the utmost consequence,
been spent, except upon some object which would contribute essentially to a sucDeiay bef,)ie
Fort Ariaucoopau.
-in
Unfortunatcly a very different principle of action was adopted,
t
and the troops, instead of proceeding at once to Pondicherry, stopped short at
ccssful rcsult.
^
From
the fort of Ariancoopan.
authorities of Fort St. David,
a very extraordinary neglect on the part of the
no means had been used, though the
had
fleet
long been expected, to obtain such accurate information as would be needed
when
Hence, when Ariancoopan was approached,
the siege should commence.
no person could be found to give any accurate description of
An
garrison.
make
works or
its
engineer sent to reconnoitre, was afraid to go near enough to
the necessary observations, and represented
it
as a place of
no strength,
though covered by an entrenchment, while a deserter reported that
defended only by 100 sepoys.
was a
active
and suiTOunded by a deep dry
and the garrison consisted of 100 Em'opeans and 300
European
immediate
officer.
disastrous results.
saw that
It
assault.
success
Admiral Boscawen, thus grossly
was
ditch, full of
sepoys, under
an
misled, ordered
an
was made with the greatest bravery, but with the most
The storming party
was
it
This information was inaccurate, for the fort
triangle, regularly fortified,
pitfalls,
its
impossible,
persisted,
and did not
from mere shame,
retire tiU
150 of
after
theii"
they
number
were struck down by musketry and gTape-shot, and Major Goodere, the most
experienced
Timewasted.
Tliis
officer of
the king's troops,
was mortally wounded.
was still more
possessed greater means of resist-
was an ominous commencement, but the next
reprehensible.
When
it
was seen that the
fort
step taken
ance than had been imagined, there was no necessity for remaining before
A small
detachment would have
that could have arisen from
its
sufficed to
being
left
the siege of Pondicheny was postponed
yield.
The French were too
by holding the
skilful
watch
behind.
till
it.
and prevent any danger
All this was overlooked, and
it,
this paltiy place could
be forced to
not to profit by the egi'egious blunder, and
fort as long as possible, gained the incalculable
stopping the entire progress of the besiegers
dmmg
eighteen days.
advantage of
Even
at last
Chap.
it
SIEGE OF PONDICHEIIRY RAISED.
III.]
was not
so
much taken
427
as abandoned, in consequence of the accidental explo-
ad.
1748.
sion of a large q\iantity of gunpowder.
The besieging army moved from Ariancoopan on the 2Gth of August, and
proceeded, after forcing the redoubt which guarded the opening in the hedge
commencing operations
leading to the north-west, to prepare for
In
the town.
sieges,
covered way, but so
tiieir profession,
that
at the distance of
on
1
Pm-
coiiime.;c«.i.
in that quarter,
To facilitate the commufleet and the camp, the ships were moved to the north of
the first pandlel is usually made within 800 yards of the
ignorant were the engineers of the commonest rules of
when they opened ground on the 30th of August, it was
the engineers having selected
nication between the
siegaof
dicherry
.
.
By
500 yards.
most
as the
it
eligible.
slow and laborious
steps,
they kept creeping
they reached the distance at which they ought to have begun, and then
till
only made the astounding discovery that they had begun the siege from a
wrong
Between
direction.
and the town lay a morass, which, by
their woi-ks
bi>ui«1'^^i>
of
besiegers.
means of a back water, had been flooded. What was now to be done ? September was already far spent, and the rainy season would soon commence.
To
commence anew wtis impossible, and the only alternative which remained was
to retire at once, or to persist in operations
The former part of the
of success.
which held out
was the
alternative
wiser,
mingled with other considerations to prevent the adoption of
exertions, during
which many
lives
were
two
lost,
or no promise
little
but shame
and by great
it,
batteries of eighteen
and
twenty-four pounders, the one of eight and the other of four pieces of cannon,
were constructed on the edge of the moniss
The
batteries.
duced
little
fire,
effect,
those of
cis
by two bomb-
and was, moreover, returned double by the
tiers conld
ships,
distance, probesiegers.
A
which began to batter the town,
not come nearer than 1000 yards, their
fire
never
According to the French account, the only person killed was an old Mala-
told.
woman
bar
two
these were followed
which would have been crushing at a shorter
kind of diversion was attempted by the
but
;
The
passing along the street.
final result
No
was now only too apparent.
impression had been
made
on the defences, sickness prevailed in the camp, and the rainy season had com-
The
menced.
upon
it
;
ships ran the risk of being driven
and the country would
removal of the cannon and heavy
impossible.
a council of
The
()th
in all probability
stores,
though
the coast, perha])S wrecked
become
still
so flooded, that the
practicable,
would soon be
To persist would therefore have been madnes.s, and the decision of
war was scarcely necessary to sanction the order which was issued
to raise the siege.
on the
off"
Five days were employed in the humiliating process, and
of October, the troops began their
mortality,
by casualty or
the Europeans, of
whom
of the whole, perished.
sible for the operations,
sickness,
march back
had been very
great, particularly
1065 out of the original 3720, or
The smvivors,
had not the
to Fort St. David.
at least those of
verj- nearly
among
a third
them who were respon-
satisfaction of thinking that they
had done
S'ege
n\^\.
428
AD.
1748.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
their duty;
200 of the former and about
displayed in sending bombastic letters to
lie
Mogul
including the
intimating
himself,
There cannot be a doubt
that,
by the
nation,
and that many years and signal
which they had
British the reputation
notwithstanding the
more powerful than
still
victories
restored.
m
•
object attempted,
by
was
•
i
p
for
an
PondicheiTy was beyond their
That
i
this
would be the next
Though captured fau'ly
fraud.
Of this Dupleix him-
itself sufficiently probable.
not but be conscious,
coiild
•
rr»
which had befallen them,
loss
and might therefore hope
their rivals,
Labovuxlonnais, the retention of
self
had trium[>hefi
were required to restore to the
and
di.sgrace
but Madras remained to be recovered.
rcacli,
gloriously he
lost.
early opportunity of regaining their laurels.
Madras
the native princes,
all
prowess rose in India far above that of any other European
for military
were
how
for the o.stentatioas
issue of this siege, the reputation of the
French
British,
only
lost
of the latter, and were therefore well entitled
fifty
Even Dupleix may be excused
Te Deunis.
to sing their
The
to last, exhibited nothing \mi a
first
French garrison, originally 1800 Europeans and 3000 sepoys,
Tlic
vanity
from
siege,
III.
monstrous blunders.
tissue of
Exuitationof
whole
lor tlie
[Book
was a gross
and hence it
it
how
easy to understand
is
unwilling he was, after incurring infamy in order to obtain the po.ssession of
it,
to incur the risk of
having
it
again wrested from him.
His anxiety to
retain thus equalling the eagerness of the original possessors to recover, he
exerted himself in strengthening
he had resolved to raze
it
this proceeding, he shortly after
town, and had rendered
when he had
was about
peacenf Aix- fities
la-Chapelle.
much more
and commenced the work
Very inconsistently with
in ashes.
capable than before of standing a siege,
all his
unransomed and improved to
^^
r-^^
•
i
Aix-la-Chapelle, and possession
the state in which
cult,
if
began to make improvements on the white
the mortification to learn that
to return
indeed, he acted as
labour was in vain, as Madi-as
its
former possessors.
Ho.sti-
between Great Britain and France had been terminated by the peace of
t
,.
it
first,
entirely to the gi'ound,
by laying the black town
of destruction
At
its defences.
and
j)anies
is
it
was
at the
was
1
T
commencement
not necessary, to decide
•
1
to be restored as nearly as
how
of the war.
It
far the interests of the
were
gainers.
The
British recovered
Madras
;
^
would be
diffi-
two
com-
were beneficially or injuriously affected by the treaty of peace.
respects both
^
might be to
rival
In some
the French escaped
from the disasters which were evidently im2:)ending over them, in consequence
of the maritime supremacy which their rivals had established.
Warlike ten-
Now
dencies of
that the sword had been sheathed, and there
/•!•
^it
for keeping up powerful and expensive
•
the Freiici.
prctcxt
com^'r^es.'^
for all parties
would have been
to
abandon
all
was neither
necessity nor
i;iji
armaments, the natural course
schemes of tenitorial aggi'andise-
ment, and confine themselves, in accordance Avith their original profession, to
On
the other hand, there were strong
temptations to deviate from this course.
The Mogul empire was only the
the peaceful pm-suits of commerce.
THE
Chap. IV.]
shadow of what
it liad
once been
;
429
CAIINATIC.
in all quarters chiefs
subordinate were aspiring to independence, and, to
who
a.d. i-is.
appearance, a general
all
Under such
scramble for territory was about to ensue.
formerly been
liad
circumstances, wh\'
should the two most powerful nations of Europe con.sent to have their hands
tied up,
and
remain inactive spectators of a struggle in which their
to
Why
perhaps their very existence was involved?
not principals, at least auxiliaries, and give
—
or,
and willing
and prowess
liberally?
Such thoughts had long been familiar
tion
should they not become,
not to mince the matter
their skill
to the party able
to
pay
to Dupleix,
name with
—
if
sell
for thi'ni mo.st
whose imagina-
was warmed, and ambition inflamed, while he contemplated the
of associating his
interests,
possibility
the establishment of a French Indian empire.
The
superiority of the forces which he could bring into the field could no longer be
With a mere handful
called in (question.
flight.
Haughty
his alliance,
chiefs,
who
men
of
he had already put armies to
formerly despised him, had crouchingly courted
and he had only to temper
force
with policy, in order to compel or
persuade them to acknowledge him as their master.
In the English Compan}'
no individual had yet appeared in a position which permitted him
or pointed
him out
to othei*s as destined to realize similar
views
;
to entertain,
but there can
be no doubt that, both at home and abroad, territorial aggrandisement in India
was by many contemplated
The
as practicable,
and longed
for as
most
desirable.
aggrandisement being thus virtually decided in the aflSrmative,
(juestion of
'""t***'
'•»
tweeii the
both by France and England, the contest for Indian supremacy did not
but only changed
form, in conseqiience of the peace
its
two nations, no longer permitted to turn
had recom-se to the expedient of doing it
To show
native quan-els.
results this
was done,
it
tion of Southern Iniha
British
and French was
in
will
first
arms directly against each
to
Carnatic— Its
political
S7X.'».'K]T:r!>;r.".;.'rr.-.;r.,-:.>.'.-^
^
I
J
other,
in.ua
i.
ana
l<,i,
*""""'
by taking opposite sides in
what extent, and with what
necessary to give some account of that por-
this species
of armed neutralit}' between the
exhibited.
CHAPTKR
Tlie
and the troops of the
rren.
indirectly,
what manner,
now be
where
their
;
cease,
lY.
state—Traasactions inTanjore— Early career of Clive— Siege of Tricliinopoly.
-
TIE Carnatic, anciently called Canara, properly denotes the tract
of countiy where the Canara language is spoken, but has long
since lost its original application,
ings,
and has two principal meanone more extensive, and the otlier more limited the for-
B..undarieK
l!!!il,^;i!«'!!j^''
^''^^^""'^^
;
mer, including luider
it
nearly
tlie
whole of the south-eastern
portion of the Indian peninsula, from the Kistna to Cape Comorin, and the
.
430
\.v. 1732.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
adopting the .same northern
latter
limit,
[Book
but not descending
III.
furtiier .%utli tiian
the country immediately north of the Coleroon, and at the same time so confining
it
on the west as not to leave
it
an average breadth of more than seventy-
In this latter sense the Carnatic
five miles.
is
nearly identical with the
teiri-
tory which, under the Mogul empire, formed one of the principal provinces of
the soubah or government of the Deccan, and was administered
bahdar's nabob or deputy, under the
nabobship taking
consists of
T)ie Ghauts,
guislied
two
its
name from
Nabob
of the
title
define<l
and
portions, differing greatly in their physical features,
distin-
from each other by the names of Balaghaut and Payeenghaut, or
portion of the Eastern Ghauts,
much
not so
sou-
of Arcot, the whole
The country thus
Arcot, the capital.
land above and the land beneath the mountain passes.
by a
by the
by continuous
traversed
elevated,
is
The Balaghaut, covered
and forms a kind of
ridges as broken
tlie
up by
table-land,
Isolated hills an<i
mountains, rising in precipitous masses, and not unfrequently separated from
each other
little
flat,
by deep
The Payeenghaut, on the
ravines.
elevated above sea level, and traversed
dming
streams, generally dry
the hot, but
filled to
contrary,
is
a maritime
by the beds of numerous
overflowing during the rainy
Immediately south of the nabobship of Arcot, and separated from
season.
it
by
a boimdary not well defined, were the two rajahships or Hindoo states of Trichinopoly and Tanjore, which, though governed by their
far
dependent on the Nabob of Arcot,
in his
The Nabob
saaatiuia.
own name, but
as the
"phc nabobsliip of Arcot
chicf,
office
of the
name
princes,
were
so
levied tribute from them, not indeed
deputy of the Mogul.
was held from 1710
of Sadatulla,
was not recognized
who
own
or,
more
as hereditary.
to
1
732 by an able and popular
Khan.
The
was held by commission from
Delhi,
properly, Saadut Oolla
It
but in the event of the Mogul not exercising, or dela;ying to exercise the right
was made by the Soubahdar of the
Deccan. Such was the regular mode of procedure when the Mogul empire was in
vigour but in the state of decay into which it had fallen, the imperial commisof nomination, a temporary appointment
;
sion
was regarded
as only a form,
and the right of appointment was
tacitly, if
not overtly contested between the soubahdar and the nabob, the one claiming
as his prerogative,
and the other striving to render
Saadut Oolla having no
issue,
it
hereditary in his family.
had adopted the two sons of
a will by which he destined the nabobship to Doast
his brother,
Ali, the elder,
subordinate government of Vellore to Boker Ali, the younger.
deed he conferred the
the
nephew
office
of
dewan
of his favourite wife.
seen, regarded himself as
owing
By
and
left
and the
the same
Gholam Hussein,
or prime minister on
Nizam-ul-Moolk, who, as has been already
independent sovereign of the Deccan, not having been
consulted in these appointments, regarded
rity, but,
it
them
as encroachments on
to other political entanglements at the time,
liis
autho-
was not
in a posi-
whom
the elder,
tion to give effect to his resentment.
Doast
Ali, at the
time of his succession, had two sons, of
POLITICAL STATE OF THE CARNATIC.
Chap. IV.]
431
whom
Sufder All, was arrived at man's estate, and several daughters, one of
was married
to
Mm-teza Khan, or Mortiz
Ali, his brother's son,
and another
to
a distant relation of the name of Chunda Sahib, whose daughter by a former
mamage was
the wife of the above
Gholam Hussein, Doast
All's
a.d. 1732.
DoastAU.
dewan. Chunda
Sahib, thus son-in-law to the nabob and father-in-law to his minister, naturally
])0ssessed great
enabled him to
His ambition tempted, and
influence at com-t.
make
the most of
it.
Ere long, under a pretext of assisting
father-in-law in administering the office of dewan, he had
Not
him.
satisfied
aspired to military
with the
power
civil
also,
his talents
power thus placed
and obtained
it
by
managed
his
to supplant
entirely in his hands, he
ingratiating himself with the
soldiers.
The Rajah of Trichinopoly had
him, also without
was claimed by a
in-chief,
of the
He had
issue.
collateral
destined the succession to his
male
heir,
Nabob
of Arcot.
It
but
first wife,
Ti.e R.ijai.
_
of Tricliiiio-
it
i)oiy.
who, by the support of the commander-
was readily granted
Sufder Ali and
Chunda
was
and an army entered the
to support the queen.
It
was commanded by
by a tenure
so precarious, that the admission of
a portion of the nabob's troops was deemed necessary to her safety.
weU aware
rajah-
Sahib, and gradually ap])roached the capital, where the
held possession, but
still
;
purpose of collecting the accustomed tribute, but with a
secret understanding that it
of the danger which she thus incurred,
be an effectual secm-ity against
to
like
pushed the ranee, or queen, to the desperate step of soliciting the aid
ship, ostensibly for the
(^ueen
Saadut Oolla, in 1732, and,
died, like
it,
by
She was
and took what she conceived
requiring
Chunda
Sahib,
who
con-
ducted the negotiation, to take an oath on the Koran, that the admitted troops
should be employed solely to re-establish her authority, and then be withdrawn.
He
took the oath, but having no intention to keep
wrapped up
it,
took
in the usual splendid covering of the Koran,
possession than he
made
it
only on a brick
and no sooner gained
the ranee prisoner, and hoisted the
Mahometan
flag.
Measures had been so effectually taken, not only in the fortress of Trichinopoly,
but at various other stations, that the whole country submitted without
resistance to this abominable treachery.
Sufder Ali retm'ned home, leaving Chunda Sahib as governor.
"of
dewan
The
office
of Ai'cot having thus
Sufder All's preceptor,
become vacant, was conferred on Meer Assud,
who, well aware of Chmida Sahibs ambitious character,
quickly perceived the serious blmider which had been committed in making
was more than probable that he would be
and then the tribute withheld would be the least part of the
liim ruler of Trichinopoly.
tempted to
loss,
revolt,
It
as the independence of the nabobship itself
representations had their
Doast
Ali,
full
effect
on Sufder
would be endangered.
Ali,
but were
lost
on his
These
father,
who, besides being of an indolent temper, was disposed to judge
Chunda Sahib more favom'ably, and refused to sjxnction an}' proceedings agaiiLst
him.
The fact, however, that such proceedings had been urged, was not lost on
Treacher>-
sauiu.
HISTORY
432
A.D.
17:1J.
Clmnda
INDIA.
f)F
who immediately took measures
Sahib,
[Book
lor his j>rotection,
III.
by putting
Trichinopoly in a complete state of defence, and intrusting tried friends with
his other
Mahrattas
most important
stations.
Sufder Ali and Meer Assud, unable to obtain the nabob's concurrence; in
lironght
into tlie
(/'arnatic.
their designs against
Chunda
them without
Sahib, determined to pursue
his
The plan was,
knowledge, and entered into a negotiation with the Mahrattas.
that the Mahrattas, under the pretext of levying the chout which the nabob had
withheld, should invade his territories, and then,
was anticipated he would, suddenly unite
his relief, as it
make a dash
der Ali, and
policy,
when Cliunda Sahib came
By
at Trichinopoly.
they overshot the mark.
Doast
Ali,
more
spirit
and tortuous
knowing nothing of underhand
were attacked,
territories
than might have been expected from his age and
men
took post with a handful of
ously, to
their forces with Suf-
this intricate
arrangements with the Mahrattas, saw only that his
and, with
in a pass
to
habits,
which was supposed, though eiTone-
be the only one through which the invaders could descend into the
He was
low country.
had misgivings as
hearing his
here encountered, defeated, and
to the course
father's
which the Mahrattas might pursue,
to Vellore,
fate,
Sufder
slain.
advancing into Arcot with an auxiliary
Ali, wdio
retired,
on
who had been
hastened back to secure his own
while Chunda Sahib,
force,
interests at Trichinopoly.
Their league
with Sufder
iUi,
Nabob
of Arcot.
The Mahrattas, aware of the advantage which they had gained, thought no
more of their engagements with Sufder Ali, and, as a means of forcing him to
any terms which they were pleased
of plunder
and devastation.
to dictate,
commenced
theii*
usual system
Sufder, anxious above all things to be immediately
confirmed in the succession which had opened to him
and purchased
plied with all their demands,
by
his father's death,
their departure
by
com-
agi-eeing to
them, by instalments, 10,000,000 rupees, equivalent to £1,000,000 sterling.
was the only part of the treaty made
public,
but there was another
pay
This
article,
kept secret for very obvious reasons, which handed over Chunda Sahib to their
mercy, and
them
left
conquer at their
Siege
:iii(l
On
the
own
free to appropriate as
much
of his territory as they could
expense.
news of the invasion of the Mahrattas, the
first
late nabob, as well
oaptiire of
Triciiino-
as Sufder Ali
cherry,
and Chunda Sahib, sent
their families
and treasure
which they justly regarded as far stronger and every
than any native
Chunda
fortress.
grain at Trichinopoly, which,
if it
this opinion
;
for
way more
could not be starved out, promised to with-
make
to take
it.
The Mahrattas
immediately on their treaty with Sufder
they turned their faces northwards, and commenced their journey, as
mined to
They had
lose
no time
in i-egaining their homes.
calculated that
really gone,
Chunda
would consider
secure
Sahib, moreover, laid in a large store of
stand any effort which the Mahrattas could
seemed to be of
to Pondi-
Sahib, as soon as
Ali,
if deter-
was a mere stratagem.
convinced that they were
It
his stores of grain unnecessary,
and turn them
into
NIZAM-UL-MOOLK.
Chap. TV.]
money.
It wa.s so
Tricliinopoly, they
blockading the
three months,
;
and though they had proceeded 250 miles north-west of
made
quest,
and
carried off
by hastening
and
;
after a siege of
on the 2Gth of March,
to surrender at discretion,
men, under Morari Row, to guard their con-
left 14-,0()0
Chunda
a.d. 1743.
back, and completely
Famine made defence impossible
was compelled
The Mahrattas
174-1.
sure of their prize
fortress.
it
433
Sahib,
whom
they confined in a strong fort in
the vicinity of Sattarah.
when reUeved from the alarm which Chunda Sahib had given,
saw him.self threatened by a still more formidable enemy. Nizam- ul-Moolk
had returned to the Deccan, and had given him to understand that, as an indisSufder
Ali,
pensable condition to his being confirmed as nabob, he must pay up
arrears of tribute
step,
on receiving
He had
Madras.
which had accrued since the death of Saadut
was
this intimation,
to I'emove his family
Oolln.
connection
"
cherry.
the
all
His
cimn.i.i
first
and treasures
to
formerly lodged them in Pondicherry, but circumstances had
him that an understanding existed between Chunda
Sahib and Dupleix, and that as his interest was decidedly opposite to that of
transpired to convince
the former, his true safety lay in courting an alliance with the only nation which
seemed capable to counteract the designs of the
Sufder
propitiate
Ali, after
latter.
he had seciu'ed his treasures in Madras, endeavoured to
The Mahrattas had impover-
Nizam-ul-Moolk by pleading poverty.
ished the country, both
had exacted; and
by
pillage
his finances
It
were in consequence
is
so dejn-essed, that he
to feel the
had
and .spending the remain-
not likely that Nizam-ul-Moolk would have
allowed himself to be defeated of his purpose
was not destined
withMadnw
and the immense contribution which they
serious thoughts of retiring from the world altogether,
der of his days at Mecca.
Sufder au-s
eflfects
by such
i)retences,
but Sufder Ali
of his resentment, for he perished .shortly
by the hands of an a.ssavssin. The crime was generally believed to have
been instigated by Mortiz Ali, who immediately caused himself to be proclaimed nabob but, imable to stand the storm of indignation which his atro-
after
;
cious conduct raised,
was obliged
an infant son of Sul'der
to sjive himself
by
flight.
Mahomed
Saaed,
was immediately brought forward liy the army, and,
was confirmed as his father's suece.ssor, by Nizam-ul-
Ali,
contrary to expectation,
made out his promi.sed, or rather threatened visit
to Arcot, by marching into it witli an army of 80,000 horse and 200,000 foot.
His presence wjis not \mnecessary, for the countiy was rapidly verging towards
Moolk, who, at
anarchy.
last, in
Ji,very
IT+S,
petty chief was affecting independence
fewer than eighteen individuals, bearing the
selves to do
homage
to Nizam-ul-Moolk,
title
;
and on one day no
of nabob, presented them-
who gave vent
to his surpri.se
and
by declaring that he always imagined there was only one nabob in
the Carnatic, and that he woidd whip anj" of his chobdars, or gold-stick.s-inindignation
waiting,
who announced an
individual under that
As Nizam-ul-Moolk was bent on
"Vol. I.
foundiiiix a
title.
new
dvna.stv in the Deccan, he
65
Nizam-mriv.a in u.^
Deccan.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
434
A.D. 1744.
probably judged
it
good policy
principle in appointing to
Nizam-uiMoolk'sar
ningemeuts
natic.
tlie
ovcrlook anv irrefjularities
.
to give
an exemplification of the hereditary
nabobsliip,
in the
[Book IIL
and was therefore
Mahomed
nomination of
At the
Saa^d.
.
.samc time, lie
made
infant nabob,
and administered the government by one of
little sacrifice,
as he retained poasession of the person of the
his
officei-s,
Kiiojah
After this arrangement, he marched vvith his whole army
Abdulla, as deputy.
to Trichinopoly to expel the Malirattas,
and succeeded, by presents and pro-
Having thus
mises, without being obliged to strike a blow.
his satisfaction, he
easily induced to
returned to Golconda.
panied him, remained in
command
of the
settled matters to
who had accomspring of 1744, when
Kliojah Abdulla,
army
till
the
he took formal leave, with the intention of resuming the government of Arcot.
The very next day he was found dead
in his bed, without \'isible marks, but
Assuming that he was poisoned,
certainly not without the suspicion of poison.
public opinion agi-eed in fixing the crime on the person
Anw,ir u
din,
Tlus was Auwap-u-din,
Nabob
of Aroot.
who
profited
...
who immediately
,
stepiied into the place
most by
which had
belonged to Khojah Abdulla, and lost no time in setting out for Arcot.
young nabob, however, still stood in his way.
it was not long, and that another assassination,
it.
The
almost needless to say that
It
is
to
which Anwar-u-din and the
infamous Mortiz Ali were believed to be the instigators, made the nabobship
once more vacant.
Anwar-u-din was forthwith confu-med in the
He
as deputy but as principal.
Mahomed Saaed
The
was, however, most impopular.
which was fixed on him as the supposed murderer or
could not be wiped
away by
no longer
office,
associate in the
murder of
protestations;
all his
and the
inhabitants of the nabobship could not be reconciled to one who, even
could be supposed innocent of the murder, did in fact
owe
his
stain
if
he
government to
the extinction of their favourite race of native princes.
HisvaciUat-
It has already
been seen how Anwar-u-din interfered in the
hostilities
ing conduct.
between the British and the French, and passed from the one
side to the other
according as he imagined that his interest might be affected.
Owing
to his
uncertain and vacillating conduct, Dupleix appears to have become satisfied that,
him as an ally, the true policy would be to cripple
him as an enemy, by giving him full employment at home. The most eflfectual
means for this purpose were easily discovered. Chunda Sahib was still a prisoner
with the Malirattas, but had so many powerful connections in Ai'cot, that could
he obtain his Hberty, and be set up as a claimant for the nabobship, he would
as he could never be useful to
probably carry the national feeling along with him.
In the event of his
success,
French interests might be greatly extended by express stipulations previously
entered into for that purpose
;
and even in the event of
his failure,
more oppor-
might occur of forming new and valuable connections with native
powers.
A scheme so much in accordance with the ambitious views which
tunities
Dupleix had long entertained was not to be delayed, and he therefore began at
once to give effect to
it
by employing some
of the
members
of Cliunda Sahib's
CHUNDA
Chap. IV.]
family,
medium
resident in Pondicherry, as the
still
435
SAHIB.
Chunda
of communication.
ad.
1748.
Sahib, as might be expected, gladly embraced a })ropo3al which promised at the
very outset to give him his freedom.
come
Mahrattas were equally inclined to
Tlie
So long as Sufder Ali lived they had a
to terms.
ing their prisoner, because
if
special interest in detain- somed
had altered;
for
The Mahrattas,
predecessor.
detaining
Chunda
to
Since his death the
the obligations midertaken
by
had no longer any interest
in
fultil
therefore,
by which Dupleix
Sahib, and readily struck the bargain
The sum
agreed to pay a very heavy ransom for him.
7()(),()()()
have been
said to
is
rupees (£70,000).
Chunda Sahib, attended by his son Aabid Sahib, a few friends who had clung
him in misfortune, and a small Mahratta force, left Sattarah in the beginning
of 1748, and proceeded south
an army around him.
rally
i.y
Anwar-u-din, thinking perhaps that he could set the
Mahrattjis at defiance, positively refused to
his
sa-
they allowed him to escape, the instalments to which
they were entitled under their treaty would not be paid.
case
chunda
by slow
On
steps,
reaching
tlie
;
and on the
of
24tli
March a
Kiatna.
hoping to be able gradually to
Kistna, the Rajahs of Chitteldroog
and of Bednore, then at open war, applied to him
the former
"jb proceedings on the
He
for aid.
battle took place at
liis
liberty,
it
to
Myaconda, in
slain.
He was
and saw
his for-
which he was defeated and taken prisoner, and his son was
carried in triumph to Bednore, but soon regained
gave
moment when they seemed
very day when the battle of Myaconda
tunes suddenly assume a promising appearance at the
to
On
have become desperate.
was fought, Nizam-ul-Moolk
time
when he
the
Anwar-u-din thus
died.
stood most in need of
assistance from a quarter to
him
lost his protector at the
and Chunda Sahib obtained powerful
;
which he had never looked
for
it.
It will be
necessary, however, before entering on the series of events occasioned
by the
death of the Nizam-ul-Moolk, to attend to a transaction which occurred about
the same time, and in which the English East India
to a course of policy at variance with that
Company became committed
which they had previously professed
to ])ursue.
Shortly after hostihties ceased between the British and French, a native
name of Saujohee
him on the throne of
prince of the
arrived at Fort St. David, and ai)plied for aid
to reinstate
Tanjore.
Seven years had elapsed since he
own
account, he wtxs not only the lawful
had
heir,
lost
it,
and
yet, according to his
but so powerfully supported that he had only to
a small force in order to insm-e success.
a favourable time.
ashamed of
appliciition
was
Peace luul been suddenly proclaimed,
their discomfiture at
opportunity of regaining their
and ready
His
aj)})ear at
the head of
certainly
when
made
the British,
Pondicheny, were earnestly longing
laurels.
for action; but, according to
A
large
till
at
for
an
body of troops was assembled
appearance, from the mere
want of
an enemy to fight with, they would be obliged to return to Europe without
having performed a single achievement.
It
is
not wonderful that under such
Tiie
com-
voivcdin
of xanjore.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
436
\.D. 1749.
[Book
II J.
circumstances the application of Saujohee was welcomed by many.
which influenced them, iiowever, were not such as
The motives
the governor and council of
the presidency could adopt, and their resolution to give a.ssistance was j^laced
on very
Besides endeavom-ing to secure the
different grounds.
by binding Saujohee
loss
if successful to
Company
against
bear the whole expense of the war,
they also stipulated for the cession of the fort of Devicotta, advantageously
situated at the
mouths of the Coleroon, and of the
such low grounds, and for such
selfish objects
the
district attached to
Company were made
for the first time in the very (questionable character of
out their troops for
hire,
and sending them
On
it.
to appear
mere mercenaries, lending
to spend their Ijlood in a native
quarrel with which they had no concern.
The kingdom
state of
of Tanjore,
in
which
campaign was to be
this injudicious
Taigore.
carried on, consisted of a tract extending from the Colei'oon soutliwards alon;; the
coast about seventy,
and inland about sixty
miles.
It
had
fallen into the
of the Mahrattas in the time of Sevajee, and was approjoriated
Venkajee,
all
them
of
last,
who
died after a reign of six years, leavuig tliree sons.
had
all left children,
his brother,
It passed to
But on the death of the
in succession in the order of their birth.
as the}^
by
hands
a number of rival claimants appeared, and a
war ensued, during which three irregular successions took place within seven
years.
The whole power of the government had been usm-ped by Seid, the
commander of the fort of Tanjore, who set up puppet kings at pleasure. In
this way Saujohee, after wearing the crown for several years, had been set aside
civil
to
make way
for
Pertaub Sing, his illegitimate brother.
It is ob\dous
from
account that the actual possessor of the throne of Tanjore at the time
Saujohee made his application at Fort
no
justification
embroil the
this
when
Da\dd was an usurper; but this affords
of the conduct of the governor and councU, who had no right to
Company
in a
war
for
St.
mercenary
objects,
and who had, moreover,
on several occasions not only recognized him as sovereign, but courted
his
alliance.
Expedition
under
Captain
to
it
was expected that Saujohee would recover the kingdom of Tanjore, consisted of 430 Europeans and 1000 sepoys, with fom" fieldThe
Cope.
pieces
force
by which
it
and four small mortars.
The
troops,
accompanied by Saujohee, and com-
manded by Captain Cope, set out in the end of March, 1749 the battering cannon
and provisions proceeded by sea in four ships, two of them of the line. Much time
appears to have been lost, for it was the 1 3th of April before the army encamped
on the banks of the Valaru, near its mouth at Portonovo, though the distance
Time, however, was not the
fi-om Fort St. David did not exceed twenty miles.
most serious loss. The wroncj season had been chosen. The cliange of monsoon
;
from north
to soutli
took place on the very evening of then*
arrival,
accompanied with a dreadful hm'ricane, which continued to rage
next morning, and with such fury, that
were
killed, the tents of the
many
camp were blown
till
and was
four o'clock
of the draught bullocks and horees
to rags,
and
all
the military stores
'
EXPEDITION AGAINST TANJOKM
Chap. IV.]
were much damaged.
At
437
sea the ravages of the storm were
still
The
greater.
a.d. 1749.
Pembroke, a sixty-gun ship belonging to the expedition, was wrecked, only six
of her crew escaping.
It
was
same storm that the Namur, of seventy-fom-
in the
Hag was
guns, on Avhich Admiral Boscawen's
hoi.sted,
and the
finest ship of
her size in the English navy, perished with 750 men.
by a march
After another delay, rendered necessary
to Poi-tonovo to repair
Diiat.ny pn.ceeiliiigs.
damage which had been sustained, Captain Cope reached the northern
branch of the Coleroon. Here he encamped and entrenched, because he was
tlie
afraid to advance
better informed of the kind of reception that might be
It
soon appeared that Saujohee's representations were not to be
No
persons of rank declared for him, and not a single scpiadron
anticipated.
confirmed.
till
down
joined his standard, while Perta\ib Sing's troops were seen moving up and
on the opposite bank as
if
imprudent to put them to the
reinforced from Fort St.
Captain Cope tliought
to dispute the passage.
and remained where he was,
test,
David with 100 Europeans and 500
till
scarcely
any resistance was
The
him.
galling
fire
line of
offered.
Difticulties,
it
he was
He now
sepoys.
ventured to proceed, and discovered that he might safely have done
it
before, as
however, soon multiplied upon
march was through a thick wood, which exposed them
from parties of the enemy concealed in
it,
to a
while the open plains were
covered with large bodies of horse and foot moving on their flanks and rear.
The
position
troops
was
who had
and seemed
still
more
so because the English
not before been brought face to face with an Indian army, natur-
ally oven-ated the
A general
really perilous,
advantage which
alarm was consequently
it
derived from vast superiority of numbers.
felt,
an alarm which might have grown to
a fatal panic, had not the steadiness of the artillery kept the enemy at bay while
a retreat to the river was
Here a council of war was
effected.
deliberatintr
whether to proceed or wait, when positive orders from Admiral Boscawen to
advance on Devicotta at
road,
in the
events, left
no
alternative.
Ha})pily, a line of
leading through a comparatively open country along the banks of the
river to the sea-coast,
suing
all
it
was
by some of the soldiers. Purafter a march of ten miles, halted
accidentally discovered
without much annoyance, the troops,
evening a mile east of the town.
The
ships
were anchored near the mouths of the
miles from the camp, and yet so imperfectly were the
vided, that they were not
aware of
not more than four
river,
means of
eacli other's presence.
intelligence pro-
The excuse
given was that the intervening ground was low and covered with
was now
to be done?
The battering cannon was on board
A
troops had only three days' provisions.
the walls were too high to be escaladed
night,
;
it
resolution
was too
rational for Captain
was adopted of trying
trees.
tlie ships,
What
and the
sudden assault could not succeed,
a.s
a proposjd to advance the field-pieces by
and gain an entrance by battering
because
aftei-wards
in the gates,
Cope
was
to approve of
to terrifj- the place
it
rejected, ]ierhaps
;
and the
childi.sh
into a sui-render b}-
Failure
..f
tion!"''*^
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
•i3cS
A.D. 1749.
throwing
shells into
much more
In two nights of this foolish work
it.
expended, and nothing
difficulty
[Book
now remained but
and
loss
and harassing march, returned
retreat.
III.
the shells were
all
was accomplished with
It
than the advance; and the troops, after a long
to Fort St. David, witli nothing better to detail
than misfortunes and blunders.
New
expedition.
The presidency having imdertaken the cause of Saujohee, had still two, an<]
The one was to persevere in lii.s
only two, honourable courses before them.
name; the other was to abandon the contest altogether. Declining both these
courses,
they devised a
their object, left a stain
Saujohee, but
felt
A
it
enabled them ultimately to gain
They made no
on their reputation.
new
more prudence than
it
from
its rightful
owners, at
It
was
before.
It
deter-
whether by
all events,
expedition was accordingly fitted out, and with
of highest reputation in India,
much
was commanded by Major Lawrence, the officer
and escaped the fatigue and dangers of a land
march, by proceeding at once to the scene of action by
them
scruple of abandoning
a stronger longing than ever for Devicotta.
mined, therefore, to wrest
force or fear.
though
third, which,
sea.
Six
ships, three of
of the line, carried the Europeans, 800 in number, with the artillery and
baggage
;
1500 sepoys accompanied them in large boats used by the natives
wliile
Having aiTived and anchored in the mouth of the Coleroon. the
troops and stores proceeded in boats up the arm leading to Devicotta, and were
landed on the bank opposite to it. This position was chosen, both because the
ground on the other side was marshy, and the Tanjore army lay encamped
for coastinor.
imder the
The
The
siege of
brick
walls.
fort,
waU
about a mile in
circuit,
formed an irregular hexagon, inclosed by a
eighteen feet high, and flanked
by square
or circular towers.
The
was made on the eastern side by four twenty-four pounders, and in three
days the breach was pronounced practicable. The great difficulty now was to
attack
cross the stream,
which besides being dangerous from
its rapidity,
had wood}-
enemy were prepared to defend the passage. It was
by John Moor, a ship-carpenter, who not only contrived a raft
banks, from which the
ultimately effected
capable of carrying 400 men, but
swam
the river during a very dark night witli
a rope, which was attached without being seen to the root of a large tree on
the one side and to the raft on the other.
By this
contrivance the whole troops
were transported, and soon succeeded in clearing the
had not attempted
to repair the breach, but learning
The enemy
thickets.
from
it
the direction in
attempt would be made, endeavoured to counteract
it
by forming
an entrenchment, which stretched from the banks of the river across
this side of
which the
the
final
This entrenchment, though not finished
fort.
when
the troops crossed, pre-
sented a serious obstacle to further progress, the more especially that in front of
it
there
and
was a deep and miry
Clive,
who had
rivulet.
The
attack, however,
was
resolved
finally quitted the civil for the military ser\'ice,
the rank of lieutenant, voluiiteered
to conduct
it.
His
offer
upon
and attained
was
accepted,
EARLY LIFE OF
Chap. IV.]
and he advanced
had passed remained at the
side should join them.
who had
and
enemy
Tlie
party were cut
down only
one of them.
A
waiting
till
his handful of
saw
at once
,
;
about to meet
Europeans thus
escape of
cuve.
their advantage
;
rear
left their
and a party of
horseman had
aside.
lost
no time in advancing with
began to save themselves by
offered at the breach,
was
sword to strike him, but he escaped
carried,
and the
fort
when
all
the
Capture of
and the Tanjorines,
attempting in vain to repeat the manoeuvre which had proved so
Clive's little band,
saw
In an instant, twenty-six of the
it.
lifted his
Major Lawi'ence
this disaster,
platoon, before they
Clive, resei-ved for greater things,
four escaped.
by stepping nimbly
The
Narrow
companions from the other
their
Europeans in a compact bod3^ The trench was easily
ated.
diffi-
him, out the sepo}'s wlio
close
and were within a few yards of the
their danger, or could face
after
much
.\.d. 1740.
stood concealed on the south side between the projections of the
towers, rushed out
On
rivulet,
Clive
completely exposed.
the blow
crossed without
,,,.,,
by
The Europeans kept
remained unfinished.
liorse,
Europeans and 700
hastened on to take the entrenchment in flank at that part where
culty, Clive
it
to the rivulet witli a platoon of thirty-four
The Europeans and part of the sepoys having
sepoys.
439
CLIVE.
No
flight.
fatal to
resistance
was
entered was found completely evacu-
now accomplished,
real object of the expedition being
tlie
presidency
had no longer any taste for Tanjorine warfare, and only kept up a show of hostilities till
It
they should be able to secure their
was not necessary
liaving
new
to wait long, for the king,
been involved in
hostilities
conquest by regular treaty.
though
natui'ally indignant at
with a foreign power which he had done
On
nothing to provoke, had no inclination to continue them.
propo.sing terms
was surprised and delighted to learn that the claims of a
were not to be insisted on, and that if a pension of 4000
of accommodation he
rival to his cro"\vn
rupees was settled on Saujohee, for the sake of saving appearances, effectual
steps
would be taken
to prevent
him from giving any further trouble.
In short,
the presidency, instead of continuing to be his protectoi-s, would condescend
to act as his jailers.
all
In return for their generosity in thus sacrificing him,
they asked for themselves was Devicotta, together with as much of the
adjoining teiritory as would yield an annual revenue of 9000 pagodas (about
£350), and also the expenses of the war!
sidered,
was
utterly disgi-aceful to those
in a condition to resist, for events
This
who
last stipulation, all things con-
exacted
had just taken
it
})lace in
;
but the king was not
Arcot which made him
aware that he miglit soon be engaged in a deadly struggle with
still
more
formidable enemiea
As Clive was
campaign,
it
fii-st
brought prominently into notice during this Tanjore
will be proper in concluding
on wiiich he was now about to
enter,
it
to prepare for the
by giving some
remarkable career
details of his earlier
life.
Robert Clive, the eldest of a family of six sons and seven daughtei'S, was
born on the 29th of Sei)tember,
17-"). at
the mansion of a small estate called
Eariy
life
of
440
A.D. 1749.
niSTOIlY OF INDIA.
Styclie, situated in the parish of
shire,
His
father,
[Book HI.
Moreton-Say, near Market-Drayton, in Shrop-
Richard Olive, possessed the above
and a/lded to the
estate,
rather scanty income which he derived from
it
mother was Rebecca, daughter of Nathaniel
Gaskill, of Manchester.
city
by
practising as a lawyer; his
he spent his childhood in the family of Mr. Bayley,
In
tljis
who had married
mother's
his
According
sister.
to this gentleman he
was
in
his seventh year of a fierce
and imperious temper, and
"out of measure addicted"
From Manches-
to fighting.
ter
he was sent while yet
very young to a school at
Lostocke, in Cheshire, taught
by
Dr. Eaton,
who
is
have predicted, that
lived to be a
portunity
said to
'he
if
man, and op-
enabled him
exert his talents, few
to
names
would be greater than
his."
From Lostocke he removed,
at the age of eleven, to a
school at
Market -Dra}' ton,
where he took a lead among
his schoolfellows for mischief
Robert, Lord Olive.
and daring, and was one
morning seen seated on a
—From the picture by Dance, engraved in
Malcolm's Life of Clive.
stone spout near the top of
A
its lofty steeple.
in London.
His
he was in 1743,
few years
he attended the Merchant Tailors' School
later
was at Hemel-Hempstead, in Hertfordshire, where
when he was appointed a writer in the service of the East
last school
India Company.
Clive's ap-
pointment
as a writer.
His destination was Madras, which he reached
was
tedious,
The voyage
late in 1744.
but he appears to have turned his time to good account, for dm-ing
a nine months' detention of the ship at Brazil he made himself familiar with the
Portuguese language.
His
letters,
written to his friends at
he had entered on the duties of his
spirit,
and are
office,
so well expressed as to justify a
intervals,
ticular
when
very imperfectly educated.
I
think of
my
it
awav
his time at school,
To one he
to be for
manly
doubt of the accuracy of the
dear native England,
manner; however, knowing
shortly after
display a kindly, thoughtful,
statement which has been made, that he idled
in consequence
home
says, " I
it affects
my own
must
me
and was
confess, at
in a ver}' par-
welfare, I rest content
and
EAKLV
CLIVE'S
CHAi>. IV.J
heart more
fully,
and writes
as follows:
—
accrue to us here are greatly overbalanced
stitutions.
may
safely say,
I
am
in will
tlie sacrifices
we make
have not enjoyed one hapjiy day since
I
his
of our con-
I
left
my
native
not acquainted with any one family in the place, and have not
admit of any happiness,
Letters surely were
friend.s.
1749.
think the advantages which
assurance enough to introduce myself without being asked.
now
a.d.
have not been unacquainted with the fickleness of fortune, and
I
country.
here may, in
own age he opens
of his
" I really
by
me
ftither sent
To a cousin
be fuUy accomplished."
all respects,
my
wishing the views for which
patient,
4-H
Jll.STUliV.
first
must be when
it
I
If the state 1
am
am
my
\vTiting to
invented for the comfort of such solitary
wretches as myself."
These extracts have a tinge
° of the melancholy to which he was constitutionally subject, and which wius doubtless aggravated not merely by the loneli*'
_
<"J've'8con-
Ktitutional
naiunchoiy
by an employment to which he appears from
the very first to have had a decided avei"sion.
As yet the character of the
Company was almost entirely mercantile, and the wi-iter spent his time very
nuich as ordinary clerks do in large commercial establishments.
While thus
ness referred to in them, but also
employed
temper occasionally gave way, and the secretary imder
Olive's
was
writers wei"e placed on their first airival
said or done, that he complained of
him
the secretary's pardon, and complied
;
to the governor.
He was ordered
but shortly
when
with great kindness, wishing to bury the
he received the ungracious,
command me
governor did not
hazarding the
svn-ly,
something he had
so ofl!ended at
after,
him
to dinner,
and half vindictive answer, "No,
to dine with you."
loss of his situation, are
recorded
;
to ask
that gentleman
invited
pivst in oblivion,
whom
Other intemperate
and he
the
sir;
acts,
even said to liave
is
made an attempt on his own life. The account given is, that an acipiaintsmce
calling upon him was asked to take up a pLstol which was lying in the room,
and fire it out of the window. On seeing that it went oflf, Clive, who was
gloomy mood, started
sitting in a very
"Well,
own
it
I
am
That
reserved for something!
head."
The
last act of his life
cannot be considered
up, as if astonished,
makes
pistol I
and exclaimed,
have twice snapped at
this story not improbable,
my
and yet
perfectly authenticated.
j\s
want of congenial employment was one of the main causes of this wild "» '^*«ix'
after the
and reckless conduct, the remedy was at hand. Labourdonnais' attack on oai.tureof
If
*^
J
Madras
1
in
1
1
1
IT^G must,
Company within
it
for the time at least,
into a soldier.
Clive comjwrted himself, but
it
No
have converted every servant of the
record remains of the
manner
in
which
can scarcely be doubted that had defence been
attempted he would have been found among the foremost.
As
it
was, he onl}'
shared the fate of his fellows, and was
town
as a piisoner
of war,
when
from his
in
Dupleix,
parole,
any way he
VoL.
I.
and
by
left
pleased.
still
resident in the
gi'ossly violating the
him
On
terms of
caj)itulation, freed
him
at liberty to consult his convenience or safety
this occasion
he was one of those
who
escaped, dis56
442
A.D. 1749.
JlISTOr.V
OF INDIA.
[Book
guised as natives, and succeeded in reaching Foii
after his arrival,
David.
St.
III.
Here, shortly
he became involved in a transaction which gave him more
Two
notoriety than fame.
who had won money
officers,
at cards, were strongly
suspected of having played unfairly, but most of the losers were terrified into
payment.
Clive,
who was one
of them,
was not
to be so bullied,
The
ofiicer
whom
and holding the
up,
Clive having fired and missed
pistol to his head,
and was then told that he must
and when the
refused,
and be
The
It
cuve obtains
commission
writcr,
but
it
was only
him appear from
tained of
the presidency of Madras.
parties met,
his antagoni.st
;
to ask his
say so
at his
He
life.
head exclaimed,
and
still,
came
did
David Clive resumed
St.
He
" Fire,
was mad.
his occupation as a
He had
ensign's commission.
so,
never pay yoa"
I will
his pistol, saying that Clive
as a temporary expedient.
and in 1747 obtained an
tion,
I
;
threw away
probable that at Fort
is
him
was again placed
pistol
in astonishment,
oflEicer,
told
fairly
also retract his charge of unfair play.
you cheated
said
I
.
The
he thus accused challenged him.
without seconds.
it is said,
distinctly
money was not
declared that he would not pay, simply because the
won.
and
found his true
The hopes already
voca^-
enter-
the letter of the court of directors of this year to
After alluding to the capture
by Labourdonnais,
they say, " Be sure to encourage Ensign Clive in his martial pursuits, according
to his merit:
any improvement he
shall
make
therein shall be duly regarded
by us." His first recorded service after he obtained his commission was at the
mismanaged siege of Pondicherry, where he attracted much notice by activity
and gallantry. Strange to say, rumour at this very time charged him with
an act of cowardice. While posted at a battery the ammunition failed, and he
ran
to bring
oflf
it,
instead of sending a sergeant
maliciously insinuated that
Clive, the
it,
An
corporal.
officer
had made him
zeal but fear that
run.
of the insinuation, called upon the
and on receiving only an unsatisfactory explanation
chal-
While they were on the way to the place of meeting, some
lenged him.
irritating
was not
moment he was made aware
disavow
ofiicer to
it
or
words passed, and he was struck by
Their swords
his opponent.
were instantly drawn, but some persons present interfered and prevented them
from
fighting.
Their conduct was made the subject of a court of inquiry, and
as the falsehood
author of
it
and malignity of the insinuation were
was ordered
to ask Clive's
which they both belonged.
notice
due.
its
proved, the
pardon in front of the battalion to
Here the matter ought
had been taken of the blow, Clive
On
easily
to
have
but as no
rested,
insisted that satisfaction
was
still
being refused, he waved his cane over the head of his antagonist
and branded him as a coward.
It
would seem that he
was
really
so ; for he
submitted to the disgrace, and next day resig-ned his commission
Hispredoqiuuties.
The
details
now
given bring
down
the narrative of Clive's
life
to the date
of the sccoud Tanjore campaign, in which he has been seen volunteering to lead
the assault on Devicotta, and
making a hairbreadth escape with
his life
during
THE AFFAIRS OF TANJORE.
IV.J
CiiAi'.
him
us to regard
insight thus far obtained into his character disposes ad.
The
the act of daring.
man
as a
of a gloomy cast of mind,
and quick
jealous of his honour,
-ilS
to resent
and a
hot, irritable
an injury; bold even
1749.
temper
to foolhardiness,
yet collected in the midst of danger; never losing his presence of mind, but
always performing his part
As yet
fearlessly,
with indomitable energy and perseverance.
opportunity has been given for the display of these qualities, but
little
they will soon find a proper sphere, and
make
their possessor the hero of great
events.
In concluding the account of the Tanjore campaign,
,
.
.
,
.
.
it
•
was observed that the
1
1
•
1
kmgs
submission to the harsh and unjust terms imposed upon him was partly
owing
to the danger with
events in which this danger originated must
Moolk
At
six sons.
left
at the court of Delhi,
The
which he was threatened from another quarter.
now be
explained.
his death Ghazi-u-din, the eldest,
and
easily obtained
succession to
Nizam-ulMooikdis''^
Kizam-ul-
was high
in office
from the emperor, Alimed Shah, a
confiiTnation of his succession to the soubah of the Deccan.
Other engagements,
however, prevented him fi-om attempting immediately to take possession, and
rival claimants, takino-
On
sion.
advantage of his absence, bejjan to contest the succes-
the one side, Nazir Jung, as the second son of Nizam-ul-Moolk, pre-
tended to have become lawful heir by an alleged renunciation of his elder
brother
;
on the other
his title of
side,
Hedayet Mohy-u-din Khan, afterwards known by
Muzzuffer Jung (Victorious in War), though only the son of Nizam-ul-
Moolk 's daughter, claimed in virtue of an alleged
he had always been a special favourite,
by which his grandfather,
had left him the soubah of
the Deccan and the greatest part of his treasures.
Nazir Jung had the start
with
whom
of his competitor,
will,
and gaining possession of the
treasures, possessed the
most
means of securing the favour of the army. Muzzuffer Jung's cause
had in consequence become almost hopeless, when he was unexpectedly joined
by Chunda Sahib, who, encouraged by promises of aid from Dupleix, was pre-
effectual
paring to contest the right to the nabobship of Ai'cot with Anwar-u-din.
The
union between Muzzuffer Jiuig and Chunda Sahib was founded not only on
mutual
interests,
but also on similarity of fortunes, inasmuch as they were both
claiming on a female
The combined
title.
forces,
forming a respectable army, immediately advanced to
the frontiers of the Carnatic, and were there joined
Defeat and
by a powerful reinforcement Anwar-ufrom Pondicherry. It consisted of 400 Europeans and 2000 sepoys, under the t?i^^^
command of M. d'Auteuil, who had been allowed by the blundering of the
nabob to make their march across the low country without molestation. Seeing
by the French, Anwar-u-din's natural course would
strengthen himself by an alliance with the English but whether
the aid given to his enemies
have been to
was
;
so confident in his
own might
miserable expedition to Tanjore had
khe
to afford
I
it,
that he disdained to ask assistance, or the
made them
averse, or left
he advanced unaided to the encounter.
them too
feeble
His armv consisted of
1
44
AD.
mo
HISTORY OF INDIA.
12,000 cavalry and 8000 infantjy, with
[Book
III.
he took up a position with one
wliicli
flank resting on the hill-fort of Ainboor, about fifty miles west of Arcot, and
the other on a hill bounding one of the passes into the Caniatic. If he chose this
spot under the idea that
commanded
the only prac-
entrance
ticable
but
into
was
he
territories,
taken;
it
his
mis-
enemy,
the
though probably aware of
his blunder, did not
to profit
by
Their num-
it.
bers doubled
his,
and they
deemed
doubtless
attempt
more
it
creditable to force his posiHill-fort or Amboor.
tion than to evade or turn
— From Gold's Oriental Drawings.
it.
on their part
Death of
Anwar u
'Un.
fell
The brunt of the action
on the French troops, who gallantly carried the
position,
The contest was now hopeless, but
Anwar-u-din continued it with great bravery till he was slain. His two sons,
Maplmze Khan and Mahomed Ali, were both present. The former was taken
they had been twice repulsed.
after
prisoner; the latter tied
and took refuge in Trichinopoly, nearly 250 miles
distant from the scene of action.
Arcot,
and entered
it
The
army proceeded at once for
Muzzuffer Jung and Chunda Sahib
victorious
without opposition.
immediately assumed the dignities which they had claimed
title
of soubahdar
;
the one taking the
Much time which ought
and the other of nabob.
to
have
been employed in giving a finishing stroke to the war was consumed in childish
ceremonials;
that his
own
had not been enough, Dupleix thought it right
should be gratified, and the new soubahdar and nabob
but, as if this
vanity also
made a pompous entry
into Pondicherry,
where they spent some time vpng
with their entertainer in senseless extravagance.
French interests at the same
time were not forgotten, for Chunda Sahib made the company a grant in perpetual sovereignty of eighty-one villages in the neighbom-hood of their capital.
Chunda
Sahib's ex-
pedition to
'^°'^*'
The ccremonials
i
i
over, Dupleix, fully alive to the danger of further delay.
n
i
t
•
iu"ged the departure of his guests,
it
i
and laboured
•
to impress
•
i
i
them with the
neces-
They expressed complete
determined forthwith to carry them
sity of proceeding instantly against Trichinopoly.
acquiescence in
into effect.
No
all his
views,
and
sooner, however,
own
set out as if
were they beyond the reach of
his importunity,
They did proceed with their army for
the south, but suddenly changed the direction and turned from Trichinopoly to
make a campaign in Tanjore. Their motive was to replenish the treasury,
which was nearly exhausted. Tanjore seemed the far easier conquest of the two,
and they had no doubt that, at the very worst, the king would gladly buy them
than they followed their
course.
off
by a
MADliAS TKESIDENCY.
'IHK
Chap. IV.J
445
Being thus undecided as to the character which they
large contribution.
a.d.
i74».
ought to assume, they acted in the irresokite manner usually exhibited in such
circumstances, and allowed themselves to be entrapj^ed into a negotiation which
the king skilfully protracted
knew
he
till
Jung had
that Nazir
This was a contingency which, though most probable in
Arcot.
Indeed, their
once occupied their thoughts.
by a message from Dupleix.
had
It
the only course open to them,
by
all
first
arrived in
itself,
knowledge of
it
had never
was obtained
the effect of a surprise, and they took
retreating with precipitation towards Pondi-
cheny.
While the Frendi were
was
to determine the future fortunes of the Deccan, the English
The presidency
to act.
war
in Tanjore,
now seemed
to
had, on their
as gall
force
responsibility,
on the opposite
to
strange
how
not
the Ma.iriut
parties to a
their interference
to follow, but a beacon
The success which had attended the French arms
them and they would fain have employed all their
;
side, especially if
they had
sure that
felt
was very doubtful
This, however,
side.
knew
become
and
;
them not a precedent which they ought
and wormwood
winning
tiie
own
but the lesult had disappointed them
which they ought to avoid.
was
which
takinfj a decided part in the great struggle
and the
;
was
it
to prove
result of inter-
meddling, therefore, might be to subject themselves to the displeasure, and
ultimately call
and nabobship.
them
down
the vengeance of the successful competitors for the soubah
These, and similar considerations, might perhaps have justified
in resolving to
remain as mere spectators of the
contest,
but certainly
When
could not justify the very extraordinary course which they adopted.
Mahomed
who had
Ali,
shut himself up in Trichinopoly and assumed the
of nabob, earnestly implored their assistance, they at
afterward.s, as if in
mockery rather than in
By
merit of 120 Europeans.
they had sent him 1000.
and
yet,
tliis
They
act they
fii'st
earnest, sent
turned a deaf
him a paltry
reinforce-
liad chosen their side
and must maintain
if
it;
with monstrous and suicidal inconsistency, they at this very time
So absurd did the proceeding appear
his fleet for Europe.
some time they did not believe the departure
length,
and
ear,
committed themselves as much as
declined Admiral Boscawen's offer to remain, and allowed
for
title
when
satisfied that it
was a
reality,
to be
him
to depart with
to the French, that
more than a
feint
but at
;
could not refrain from openly mani-
festing their delight.
After the Briti.sh and French had taken their sides, both were naturally
anxious to show that they had made the right choice, and given their support to
those
little
who had
the best
purpose, for
easily be
two
title.
reasons:
shown that the
secondly, because
it
On
titles
was mere
this subject
first,
of
all
volumes were
because, were
it
wi-itten,
but to very
worth the while,
the claimants were absolutely bad
hj'pocrisy
on the part of the two companies
tend that they were fighting for legitimacy,
the justice of the war was a matter of perfect
when
could
it
;
and,
to pre-
was well understood that
indifference to them, and that their
it
nritisi. an.i
opixisite
natTve"
i"*™""-
•
HISTORY OF INDIA.
446
A.D. 1749.
[Book
III.
was that of mercenaries, intent only on the gain which they
stipulated, or might be able to extort, in return for their services.
Tlie most
favourable view that can be taken of the matter is, that the regular course of
true position
government had been completely broken
and
up,
that, in the general scramljle
which had ensued, the two companies were as well entitled as any other parties
to
make
the most of
more
it,
especially as it
was not impossible that
their
important commercial interests might be compromised.
Nazir Jung
at the head
of an im-
mense army
When
regarded
MuzzufFer Jung
it
as little
first
more than a
took the
his preparations accordingly.
at
any time be
to
view
£nirV.<li
After
in a very different light,
Appointing the celebrated
fort of
and
Gin gee.
JunZa
^o
coj
"'"^
"•''# ^
j^»
A, The Great Mountain of Gingee, on the top of which is a
small furt situated on an entire rock, and tenable with
ten men against any open force wliich may be broiight
against it
There is very fine water in a cleft of the
rock.
The
B, St. George's Mountain.
C,
D, The royal battery.
E, The pettah of Gingee.
situated
it
easily suppressed.
G E E
Gi:f^
;:oo
Nazir Jung .seems to have
youtliful outbreak, which, if it did not carry its
own punishment along with it, might
the battle of Amboor he saw reason
made
field,
Engli.sh
Mountain.
of the second wall \
of the third wall V leading to the Great Mountain.
d,
Gate
Gate
Gate
Gate
f,
Port-dn-I)iable, or Devil's gate.
a,
b,
c,
of the fourth wall
'
Poudicherry gate,
DevU's tank.
h h h h, Barracks and lodgings of the French garrison,
i, A pagoda for travelling Bralmiins.
leading to
Temamaley.
e,
g,
about thirty- five miles north-west of Pondicherry, as the general
place of rendezvous, he issued summonses, in his character of
the Deccan, to
all
its
with contingents from
various dependencies, and soon
all
quarters, to such
Among
was estimated
at 300,000.
furnished and
commanded by Mahomed
Soubahdar of
saw himself furnished
an amoimt that
his
whole ai-my
these were a contingent of 0000 horse,
Ali,
whose hopes of the nabobsliip
]
-^+7
SUCCESS OF NAZIR JUNG.
Chap. IV.
were bound up
Nazir Jung's establishment as soubalidar; and a contin-
-with
a. p. it jo.
Company and commanded by Major
Lawrence.
The presidency, having satisfied themselves that the man who
could muster an army of 300,000 men must be the real soubalidar, had got rid
gent of GOO Europeans, furnished by the
of
doubts and scruples on the subje-t of his
all their
and resolved mag-
title,
was thought jn-udent to
and Major Lawrence, together with Captain Dal ton, and a mem-
nanimously to share
feel his pulse,
who accompanied
ber of council
At the same time
his fortunes.
them, were
c<
it
mmissioned to act as a
and
trio,
Jung on the interests of the Company. He received them
paid them oriental compliments, and was liberal in his promises.
treat with Nazir
with politeness,
The French endeavoured to keep up the spirits of their allies, and along with
11
"NT
them took up an excellent position, from which all the mighty host oi J\azn•
•
1
1
•
x"
1
Jung would have been unable to dislodge them. Tl)e only part of the force
M. d'Auteuil
really formidable was the detachment under Major Lawrence.
endeavoured to bribe
major
it
into inactivity
by sending a messenger
though their troops were arrayed on opposite
that,
He
that no European blood should be spilled.
part of Nazu- Jung's
army
might come that way.
Xazir Jmig
intimidates
an.i ohtnins
sj.'.^.'^^Vmju-
^iitferjung.
to acquaint the
sides, it
therefore asked to
was
his wish
know
in
what
the English took post, in order tliat none of his shot
Major Lawrence, estimating
communication at
this
its
true worth, replied that the English colours were carried on the flag-gun of
their artillery,
and
that,
though he too was anxious to spare European blood, he
would certainly return any shot that might be sent him.
M. d'Auteuil,
in pro-
posing a kind of neutrality between the French and English, had not given the
officers
men were
His
true reason.
had thrown up
and no fewer than thirteen of
in mutiny,
their commissions in presence of the enem}^
his
This
unworthy proceeding was adopted to avenge themselves on the governor, with
whom they had had a bitter quarrel before leaving Pondicheny. The cause
need not be inquired
vinced that his
home without
his cause,
into,
men would
but the
not
fight,
and been attempting
to
moment was
to
thought that not a
who had
come
be
M. d'Auteuil, con-
ordered them to quit the
Muzzutt'or Jung,
delay.
was important.
effect
to
lost
;
field
and march
previously begun to despair of
an accommodation with his
uncle,
and on receiving a solemn assurance
that he would neither be imprisoned nor deprived of the government which he
had held during
pledge given
into
fettei-s,
his gi'andfathers lifetime, passed over to the
him was
and his
violated without scruple.
troops, attacked
Chunda Sahib behaved with more
and
spirit,
He was
dispersed,
and fared
enemy.
The
immediately thrown
were almost cut to
better.
pieces.
Accompanying the
French at the head of his cavalry, he repeatedly charged the Mahratta.^ who,
led by Morari Row, hung upon their flank and rear, and well nigh succeeded in
cutting
The
nation.
oflf
their retreat.
an-ival of the troops in AVTetched plight
D\ipleix,
threw Pondicheny into conster-
though he pretended to make light of
it,
.saw the full extent
Dupieix
hiu.
^"^c^
A.D. 1750.
448
HISTORY OF INDIA.
of the disaster, and, as asual
when
was known that there was
Several chiefs,
who had
force failed,
[Book
III.
had recourse to diplomacy.
It
considerable disaffection in Nazir Jung's camp.
pledged themselves for the honourable treatment of
Muzzuffer Jung, were indignant at his captivity, and
still
more at the evasive
answers given to themselves when they applied to be confirmed in their governments.
Dupleix, having obtained permission, after several rebuffs, to send an
embassy
to
Nazir Jung's camp for the purpose of negotiating a peace, employed
his deputies not only in ascertaining the extent of the defection,
ing
but in foment-
Their proposals were purposely so framed as to protract the negotiation,
it.
which, though
it
ostensibly failed, gained all that he sought
by
He
it.
had
secured a party who, from belonging ostensibly to Nazir Jung's camp, would
do better service than
m
vain warns
Nazir Jung.
they had been ranged under French banners.
Major Lawreucc, who had suspicions of the French deputies, endeavoured
Major Lawreiice
if
to
put Nazir Jung on his guard, and obtained a personal interview for this purpose
;
but as he could only communicate by an
intei-preter,
who
the true meaning of his words, the warning was given in vain.
feared to give
The major then
who accompanied him, to obtain a connear Madras, which Mahomed Ali, as nabob,
endeavoured, along with the deputies
firmation of a grant of territory
had made
much
camp
Company
to the
in return for the services of their troops.
prevarication compliance
to Arcot, to
was
he wovJd accom2)any the
which the soubahdar was eager to proceed, not
for
but to indulge his taste for licentioas pleasures.
tigetical purpose,
at all he saw. Major
Lawrence refused; and
returned with his troops to Fort
Leaving Nazir Jung^ to
Successes of
j^romised, provided
St.
After
after speaking his
any
stra-
Disgusted
mind
fi-eely,
David.
his deffradino^ pleasm-es at Ai-cot,
we must now
the Frencli.
follow the proceedings of the French, who, having recovered from their conster-
began
nation, not only
make new
conquests.
to regain theii* lost ground,
but were emboldened to
In order to avenge an attack which had been made by
Nazir Jung's orders on their factory at Masulipatam, situated at the mouths of
the Kistna, a detachment of 200 Europeans and 300 sepoys, with several pieces
embarked
of battering cannon, were
at Pondicherry, in
two large
sliips,
beginning of July, 1750, and landing in the night, took the city by
with almost no
loss.
It
was immediately put in a
in the
surpi'ise
position of defence, and
reserved to become the nucleus of other conquests which were ah-eady meditated
in the
more
to
same quarter.
Their next conquest,
redeem the credit of their arms.
About
David stood the town of Trivadi, with a pagoda
as its citadel.
proximity to
It
tiie
good account
in
seemed
to
whom
it
It
did
fifteen miles east of Fort St.
so strongly fortified as to serve
and as a station which might be turned
a southern campaign.
fifty
itself,
French a desirable possession, both from
to the
British territory,
and garrisoned with only
not so important in
if
was taken without
Europeans and 100 sepoys.
previously belonged, justly inferring that the capture
its
to
resistance,
Mahomed Ali,
had been made
SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH.
Chap. IV.]
not for
itself
to regain
but for ulterior objects, took alarm and resolved to
With
it.
camp
bahdar's
view he raised an army, half of
this
and by engaging
at Ai'cot,
who was
Lawrence,
44-9
it
make an
effort
d.
ksj.
di-awn from the sou-
to defray all expenses, induced
Major
him
acting at Fort St. David as temporary governor, to send
His whole
a detachment of 400 Europeans and 1500 sepoys.
a
force
mustered
20,000 men, with whom, after encamping for a short time in the plain of Tri-
vandiparam, a
little
west of Fort
24-pounders and military
St.
David, from which he was to receive two
he marched along the south bank of the Pennar,
stores,
and found the French posted on the opposite bank, about eight miles east of
The French were entrenched; and Mahomed
Trivadi.
who commanded
urged by Captain Cope,
position which
would
force
though strongly
All,
the Briti.sh detachment, to take up a
an engagement, was too cowardly to comply, and
After some time
contented himself with skirmishes and a distant cannonade.
wasted in
Cajitain
way,
this
Mahomed
Manome.)
cowaniioe.
Ali proposed marching off to the west, but
Cope refused to accompany him
;
and on being refused payment of the
expenses which had been promised, was ordered by Major Lawrence to return
with his
Fort
troo})s to
and the French
lost
tering a force which
St.
not a
moment
amounted
in taking
there on the
in all to 1800 Europeans,
a complete victory without the
difficulty,
loss of
1
5th of August,
Mus-
advantage of their absence.
2500 sepoys, and 1000
by Chunda Sahib, they brought the enemy to
horse, levied
with
They amved
David.
action,
Mahomed
a single man.
and gained
Ali escaped
and reached Arcot with only two or three attendants.
Notwithstanding the consternation produced by this defeat, Nazir Jung
still Biu-sv cip
tiire.**
remained inactive
career,
;
and the French,
were emboldened
we have
left
at full liberty to pursue their victorious
This celebrated
to attack Gingee.
ab-eady seen the Mahrattas resisting, for
of the Mogul empire under Aurungzebe,
is
many
situated
fortress, in
years, the
among
which
whole power
the Eastern Ghauts,
about thirty-five miles north-west of Pondicheiry, and eighty-five miles south-
west of Madras.
It consisted of three steep
and craggy
hills,
with an inter-
'vening hollow, the whole suiTOunded by a lofty wall flanked with towers, and
inclosing an area nearly three miles in circuit.
the
in the hollow,
were both crowned on their summits, and along their
hills
forts
The town lay
and other works, rendering the whole place
declivities,
and
with
so strong, at least according to
deemed impregnable. How little it was really so wjis
soon made apparent. The main body of the French army was commanded by
M. d'Auteuil, but was preceded by a detachment of 250 EuropeaiLs and 200
Indian
ideas, as
to be
1
sepoys, with four field-pieces, under
M. Bussy, who wa^i rapidly
establi.shing the
reputation which he ultimately acquired of being the ablest French officer in
India.
His object probably
in sight of
walls.
ing,
He
it
wiis to take the place
I.
surprise
;
but on coming
he found 5000 of the fugitives from Trivadi encamped under the
waited, therefore,
till
drove off the enemy with
Vol.
by
the
main body came
little difficulty.
One
in sight,
and then attack-
of the gates of the outei67
foi-t
tlie
of
"'"^'*'
+50
AD.
i7iu.
IJISTOKY Of INDIA.
was next driven
Willi
o[)cn
and baggage were lodged
The
or four men.
jBooK
by a petanl, and the whole of the
troops, artillery,
in the
town
before night, witli the loss of only three
real contest
now
began: the enemy firing and throwing
rockets from their mountain heights, while the French answered
their
guns and mortars.
solely for
Europeans,
tlie
flying triumphantly on
.aioused too
1
ite
flow
If
•
i
tlic
i
who
for
an
in this
attacked the three
them
all
n
last
it is
aroused from his disgi-aceful stupor.
he had allowed
many
of the chiefs to return
own
sent back the greater part of his
It
camp
Nazir Jung
at Arcot.
In the excess of his confidence
home with
was now the turn of Dupleix
and had proposed them with
rejected,
only twenty men.
what was jastly con-
their contingents,
troops to Golconda.
limits to the extravagance of his terms.
flags
easy to conceive what dismay
he gave a striking proof of his fear by sending two
to negotiate.
at once in separate
loss of
Frencli were astonished at thus easily captvuing
i
g^^^ intelligence of the event produced in the
these,
hills
by daybreak, with the
sidered the strongest fortress of the Carnatic,
was at
was not
either side
This honour was reserved
assault.
upor.
^j^^
way by
them from
redoubt after redoubt, reached the summits, and had their
parties, carried
NazirJung
The mischief done
and preparations were made
great,
III.
Besides recalling
officers to
Pondicherry
and he
to be imperious,
He weU knew
and
set
no
that they would be
very view, for the party which he
this
had secured in the enemy's camp had organized a conspiracy, and Nazir Jungs
was hanging by a
life
thread.
Totally unconscious of
tlie
danger impending
over him, he ceased negotiating, and began his march towards Gingee late in
Though many
September, 1750.
return, his force
still
This vast and unwieldy body
spent in marching
further progress
now
of
the only prudent course, but
camp
anxious
Carnatic.
Jung,
it,
and 300
it
short of
little
were
so slowly that fifteen days
sixteen miles from Gingee
still
when
its
setting in of the rains.
Retreat was
and
after the lapse
was considered
impossible.
lay inclosed between
now
was
moved
was arrested by the sudden
sickness as usual followed,
i8
It
thii'ty miles.
two or three days became
the
failed to
consisted of 60,000 foot, 45,000 horse, 700 elephants,
Including camp followers, the whole army was
pieces of cannon.
300,000.
had
of the troops absent on leave
disgraceful,
The whole country was
two swollen
Provisions began to
rivers.
and the prospect was gloomy
as anxious to quit the Carnatic as he
flooded,
in the extreme.
and
fail,
Nazir
had been fond of remaining
in
again made overtures of peace, and expressed a willingness to submit to the
terms which lately he would not even entertain.
have two strings
conspirators.
made the
fice all
At
to his
the same time he found himself in a kind of dilemma.
whom
them they woidd do
adopted
it
;
bow, and began to negotiate without losing sight of his
If he
treaty he must abandon the conspiracy, and, in all probability, sacri-
the chiefs
mately
Dupleix was not unwilling to
their bloody deed,
it
;
if
he remained true to
and the treaty would be
useless.
Ulti-
which of the two methods of settlement would V e
at the very time he was pressing Nazir Jung's deputies to send
was a mere
for
he had tempted to join in
toss
back the treaty
he sent orders to M. de la Touclie,
ratified,
Gin^ee, to march out to attack the
camp whenever
intimate to him that they were ready.
the ratified treaty
was returned
The French
sealed.
field-pieces, arrived
miles, as
451
MUZZUFFER JUNG.
IV.
Chai'.
Tliis
at
A.D. 1750.
the conspirators should
intimation reached Gingee before
to Pondicherry,
force, consisting of
who commanded
and Nazir Jung's
fate
was
800 Europeans, 3000 sepoys, and ten
within sight of the enemy's camp.
every chief had a separate quarter.
to themselves,
Where
It
extended eighteen
the space occupied
would have been
was
no
at a loss to choose
enormous, the French,
left
their point of attack
but the conspirators had provided for this by sending a
Deatlj of
N.'Lzir
;
guide,
who conducted them
locality
immediately occupied by Nazir
He had
to the
ratified the treaty
only
the day before, and would not at
first
Jung.
had attacked
believe that the French
When
liim.
convinced of the
and asking how
was astonished
portion of his
less as
mere
moimted
ofiT
fact,
battle went, he
tlie
to learn that a large
army remained motion-
spectators.
Enraged, he
his elephant
and hastened
in the direction
The
troops he
first
Juuy
those of Kurpa,
where they
came up
stood.
to
were
and Nazir Jung think-
was not yet clear daylight,
that the nabob who was at their
ing, as it
head on his elephant did not recognize him, raised liimself
up
when two
his sjilutation,
Elephant with Howdah.— Major Luard's Views
in India.
to receive
shots, fired
from the nabob's howdah, pierced his heart,
and he instantly expired.
Muzzuffer Jung was immediately proclaimed as soubahdar, and, accompanied
Muzzuffer
Jung
by a
large portion of the
cessor, set
received
amiy which had
just belonged to his murdered })rede-
out in triumph for Pondicherry.
him
The governor and Chunda Sahib
without the gates, and a procession took place in wliich
in a tent
none of the usual accompaniments of oriental ostentation were wanting.
sooner Wcos he seated in the palace than the
to Dupleix,
made him aware
to experience
some of the
that,
demand was
remitted
;
teiTitories
it
soubahdar, opening his heart
along with the honoui"s, he had already began
perplexities of sovereignty.
whose treachery he was mainly indebted
he should pay for
new
liberall}'.
No
How
for his elevation,
to satisfy
The Patau
chiefs, to
were determined that
them was the
puzzle.
Tlieir
that three years' arreare of tribute, which they owed, should be
that in future no tribute should be exacted from tliem, either for the
which they
pos.sessed,
or the large
additions which they thought
iiri>-
clainieil miu-
luklutir by
the French.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
452
AD.
ivf.i.
[Book JIL
themselves entitled to expect; and that one-half of the contents of Nazir Jung's
treasury should be distributed
among them.
oxtensive
Duplcix undcrtook the
of mediator, and, after several days
...
discussion, concluded an arrangement, which was signed by
the
oiiiLix!
with which
Miizziiffer
.Iiuigconfers
"
spent in
office
parties,
all
them declared themselves
of
all
naturally succeeded
by
festivities,
lation of MuzzufFer
was
and Pondicherry assumed the appearance of a
His
as soubahdar.
first act, after it
say whether
future take precedence
ship of Arcot
it
and
its
;
at
;
From
the terms used
it
is
was meant that the soubahdar or Dupleix should in
but in the appointment of Chunda Sahib to the nabob-
dependencies,
it
was expressly
cherry, Carrical in Tanjore,
stated that he
was
to hold
To the French East India Company
superior.
immediate advantages were the acquisition of
the
tracts of territory near Pondi-
and Masulipatam, producing a revenue estimated
at £38,000, but probably not less than £50,000; the indirect
advantages were unlimited, inasmuch
under the
as,
titles
on their governor, they could make them anything they
taken from Nazir Jung was estimated at £2,000,000
worth at
jewels,
in the
it
under Dupleix, as his
by themselves
countries south of the
hand and no coin but what was coined
Pondicherry was to be current in the Camatic.
difficult to
instal-
was completed,
Mogul from these countries were,
All the revenues due to the
instance, to pass through his
was the
of the ceremonies
Mogul of all the
to declare Dupleix governor for the
Kistna.
first
Jung
Business was
perfectly satisfied.
The most gorgeous
gay and luxurious capital
and
Of the
least £500,000.
Patans, under the agreement
by the soubahdar,
subject,
;
the other
The
pleased.
treasure
sterling, exclusive of the
treasure, one-half belonged to the
half,
and the
jewels,
were appropriated
however, to a deduction of £50,000 paid to the com-
pany, as the expenses of the war, £50,000 to the
the battle of Gingee,
and powers confen-ed
and a present
officers
and troops which gained
to Dupleix, consisting, besides
many
precious
money fixed at the conjectural amount of £200,000.
Muzzuffer Jung left Pondicherry for Golconda on the 4th of January, 1751,
accompanied by his own troops, and also a French detachment, commanded by
jewels, of
Is slain.
M. Bussy, and consisting of 300 Europeans and 2000 sepoys.
territory of Kurpa, a quarrel ensued
3oldiers,
and three
villages
were
set
On
reaching the
between some of the inhabitants and the
on
fire.
The nabob,
professing great indig-
nation at the injury done to his subjects, retaliated by attacking that part of
Muzzuffer Jung's division where the
ideas, there
women were
could not be a grosser insult
;
placed.
According to oriental
and he was vowing
to take
summary
vengeance when M. Bussy interposed, and procured the nabob an opportunity
of explaining.
It
He
now appeared
never been
watch
did
but in such terms as only to aggi'avate the
that the whole affair was concerted.
satisfied
Tlie
Patau
insult.
chiefs
had
with the arrangement at Pondicherry, and had been on the
for a favourable
army was about
so,
opportunity to give effect to their resentment.
to pass to a defile,
and foimd
it
pre-occupied
by the
Patans,
The
who
—
MAHOMED ALL
Chap. V.]
had even planted the posts leading
forward several days before.
the French
with cannon, which had been brought
to it
which was decided by the
battle ensued,
but the victory cost Muzzuffer Jung his
ai-tillery,
the fugitives he
A
453
of
fire
In pursuing
life.
came up with the Nabob of Kuniool, who, finding escape imBoth instantly prepared
turned at bay with a handfid of troops.
possible,
a.d. n&i.
for a
personal encounter, and drove their elephants right in the face of each other.
Muzzuffer Jung had his sword uplifted to
and drove the point of
his javelin
111'
strike,
but the nabob anticipated him,
through his forehead, into his brain.
The French were returning with the acclamations of victory when
they had sustained a worse
learned, to their dismay, that
1
loss
than
1
the\' saiabuuimg
"
r»
defeat.
proclaimed
Boubahdar.
M. Bussy did the best that covdd be done in the circumstances, by urging
There was considerable room for
the immediate appointment of a successor.
choice, for, besides
an infant son of Muzzuffer Jimg, three of
brothers of Nazir Jung, were in the camp.
the infant,
brothers,
tion,
and the choice
had the next best
his uncles, the
Necessity dictated the exclusion of
on Salabut Jimg, who, as the eldest of the
fell
M. Bussy, who had a chief share in his
claim.
elec-
took care that the interests of his company were not forgotten, and
procured from him a confirmation of
predecessor,
and the promise of
all
made
the grants
to the
On
greater advantages.
still
French by his
these conditions
Dupleix recognized him as soubahdar, and placed M. Bussy 's detachment at his
sei-vice.
CHAPTER
Intrigues of
Mahomed
Ali
— Vacillating
V.
— Siege of Trichinopoly
conduct of the Madras government
Capture of Arcot.
ii|AHOMED ALI was
B
W
St
Wi
>
1
assassniated,
His prospects were
lish,
after sending
and
left
him
in
camp when Nazir Jung was
the
111/"
and fled for
1
the
11'
tlurd time
now gloomy
him
and
it
1
to
in the extreme.
assistance,
to his fate,
m-iTrichinopoly.
had withdrawn
was not
The Eugin disgust
likely that
Chunda
Sahib would allow him to escape, as before, by repeating the blunder into whicii
he
fell
when, instead of laying siege to Trichinopoly, he invaded Tanjore.
Dupleix could doubtless control his movements, and would
were conducted more
skilfully.
plexed, wjis incapable of
coming
Mahomed
to
Ali,
any manly
bent of his nature by weaving an intricate
they
while thus threatened and perdecision,
web
and followed the true
of policy.
every quarter from which any aid could be anticipated
Mysoreans, and the British presidency
tiike care that
—he entered
—
While applying to
to the Mahrattas, the
into secret communications
renjiexiii™
ofMiiliomed
au.
40
A.D. 1751.
HISTOJfY OF INDIA.
!•
with
was
tlie
French, and adjusted,
inferior
course,
appointment
III.
the terms of a treaty, by which he
said,
is
on the nabobship of Arcot, and content
to renounce his claims
some
it
[Hook
liimself with
Tlie surrender of Trichinopoly, of
in the Deccan.
formed a leading stipulation in such a treaty; and, wiien completed,
would have formed another most important link
aggrandisement, on which Dupleix was exerting
the scheme of French
in
all
his energies with every
prospect of success.
Wavering
]><)lirV
Madras presidency could not but be aware that the ultimate
Tlic
effect of
of tiie
Madras
the accomplishment of this scheme would be to drive the British and every
presi ency.
Europcau
^|.|^g^.
from the
rival
the destinies of India
;
but so
field,
little
and make the French absolute masters of
were they prepared
which
to take the course
even self-preservation should have dictated, that they voluntarily deprived
themselves of the ablest and most
allowing Major Lawrence to
their
sail for
by
When they had thus weakened
experienced
England.
their ser\4ce,
in
officer
hands they began to be alarmed at the consequences of their timorous
policy,
and wished that they had not
so
hastily
withdrawn
their aid
from
Mahomed Ali. The best reparation they could now make, was to send him a
new detachment, and endeavour if possible to dissuade him from the suicidal
step
which he was understood to be contemplating of making a surrender of
Trichinopoly.
The aid thus
offered consisted only of
sepoys; but he gladly accepted
it,
as his fortunes, in consequence of recent
were assuming a more favourable
events,
adherent of Nazir Jung, and
it
280 Europeans and 300
aspect.
was not um^easonable
He had
been a steady
to suppose that Salabut
Jung would rather confide in his brother's friend than in those who had been
the main instruments of his assassination.
At all events, as he had removed
with his army into the Deccan, it was not likely that he would soon return
Chunda Sahib would thus be left to fight his own battles,
to the Carnatic.
and there seemed no reason
any which he could bring
Kxpeiiitioti
veuy.
The
first
lenewed
to despair of being able to muster a force equal to
into the
field.
campaign in which Mahomed Ali was concerned,
his alliance
with the British, proved very disastrous.
Trichinopoly, he claimed authority over
Madui'a, lying immediately south,
dura,
and reaching
nominal than real
;
to
little
In addition
other, Tinnevelly, Ij'ing
to
one,
beyond Ma-
His power in these kingdoms was more
and with the view of establishing
out an expedition, and gave the
he had
two temtories or kingdoms; the
and the
Cape Comorin.
after
command
of
it
it
more
firmly, he fitted
to his brother,
who met
with
was paralyzed by a mutinous spirit
Their sympathies were with Chunda Sahib and had
opposition from the inhabitants, but
among
his
own
soldiers.
;
not strong measures of repression been used, they would have declared in his
favour.
In Madura a similar feeling prevailed
of fortune,
Chunda
who had
once been in the
sei'vice,
;
and being
and was
fostered
still
by a
soldier
in the interest of
Sahib, gained a complete ascendant in the garrison of the capital.
f
MADLIUA BESIEGED.
ClIAP. V.
As
by inteirupting the communication
the loss of Madiira,
from which
Mahomed
teered to recover
who commanded
ad.
1751.
He had
two coehorns
;
only one
and with these he
Failure of an
attempt on
Mjuium.
set out
50 Europeans and 600 native cavalry, to lay siege to a city
1
above two miles
the Company's detachment, volun-
His means were very inadequate.
it.
battering cannon, three tield-pieces, and
at the head of
witli Tinnevelly,
Ali expected a considerable revenue, greatly crippled his
Captain Cope,
resources,
45")
in circuit,
and
fortified
with a double wall and a
The
ditch.
deficiency of troops, so far at least as regarded niunbers, was, however, sufficiently
supplied, for on
nearly 5000
as before,
coming within sight of Madm-a he was joined by the army of
men which was
and
returning from Tinnevelly
the
artiller}'
continued
whole success depended on the breaching power of a large old
his
gvm which might at any moment burst
though little judgment had
native
seemed favoured by
in his hands.
The
enterprise,
""'^
^
been displayed in arranging
it,
;
for-
tune. Several large breaches
already existed in the outer
wall,
and
gun
the
fired
through one of them at the
inner wall for
two
successive
days made a breach which
was
deemed
with the aid of
practicable
fascines.
It
was now resolved to storm.
The reader naturally asks,
View
in
Fort of Madura.— From
Dauiell's Oriental Scenery.
Why
not continue the firing for another day, and enlarge the breach, so as to
make fiiscines unnecessary? The answer is, It was impossible: the old gun
had expended
resistance,
by a
trio
all
its
shot!
The storming party passed the
first
wall witiiout
but at the foot of the breach of the inner wall were enci)untered
of champions; "one of them," says Orme, "a very bulky man, in
complete armour,"
who
fought manfully and wounded several of the forlorn
hope before they were cut down.
Meanwhile,
bullets, aiTows,
and stones poured
thick from above.
Nothing daunted, the storming party gained the ])arapet,
but there saw a sight which might well have filled them with dismay. On
each side of the breach was a mound of earth, with trees laid horizontally \ipon
it,
yet leaving openings through which the enemy thrust their pikes, while at
the bottom of the rampai-t a strong entrenchment had been thrown up, and
from three to four tliousand men stood ready to defend it.
The assault, in
which it would have been madness to persist, was abandoned, and on the following day Captain Cope, after blowing his old gun to pieces, because he liad
not the means to carry it away, returned crest-fallen to Trichinopoly.
It
was indeed high time
to be
otf,
for the
bad
spirit of
the Tinnevelly
army
capt. o-ik'
returns to
Tricliino^'^•
HISTORY OF INDIA.
4oG
AD.
1751
could
110
[Book
III.
longer be restrained, and 2500 horse and 1000 infantry went over to
the enemy.
Insulting
proceedings
oiDupieix.
At the time when this reverse was sastained, news arrived that Chunda
m
ir
Mahomed
Sahib was preparing to march from Arcot to besiege Trichinoj)oly.
_
Ali's applications to the presidency for aid
•
•
i
i
•
i
became more urgent than
ever,
and
he endeavoured to give weight to them by promising not merely to pay
expenses, but to give
a grant to the
Tempting
adjoining Macbas.
would have succeeded had
new
his rivals,
These
acquisitions,
as the offer was, there
is
territory
reason to doubt
if it
not found a powerful advocate in a very unex-
though probably as much
had caused small white
flags
of a considerable
Dupleix, ostensibly for the purpose of marking the boundaries
pected quarter.
of his
it
Company
all
were seen from Fort
tantahzing
to be planted in almost every
flags
St.
for the purpose of
field.
David, which, ever since the capture of
Madras, had continued to be the seat of the presidency, and naturally excited
What was
mingled feelings of fear and indignation.
Company's trade with the
by a
rival
to
become of the English
interior if they allowed themselves to
company, whose boundary
would
line
be
hemmed
in
ere long be converted into an
impassable barrier by the imposition of heavy, perhaps prohibitive duties?
designs of Dupleix had hitherto
—the more impressive because of
mask and given them warning
of what they must be prepared to
the
—
The
been only surmised, but he had now thrown off"
longer.
safety
Their
was
own
It
would be madness
ruin was involved in that of
in supporting
him
considerations the presidency
still,
expect.
Mahomed
to the utmost of their power.
awoke from
their lethargy
Ali,
its
insolence
to hesitate
and
any
their only
Influenced
by
and resolved on
such
action,
however, not as principals but mider their old disguise of mercenaries
or auxiliaries.
In the beginning of April, 1751, a detachment was provided of 500 Em'o-
Kxi)edition
Voiconda.
pcans, fifty of them cavalry, 100 Africans,
and placed under the command of
St.
David the
arrival of
Mahomed
and 1000
sepoys, with eight field-pieces,
Gmgen, who was
C aptain
Ali's troops
to wait near Fort
from Trichinopoly.
After a delay
by only 600 horse and 1000 foot, and proceeded
Verdachelum, a large and strong pagoda, garrisoned by 300 of
of six weeks he was joined
south-west to
Chunda
Sahib's troops,
Shortly after the
who
surrendered after being tlireatened with an assault.
army was more than doubled by
the arrival of
1
00 Em'opeans,
by Captain Cope, and 2000 horse and 2000 foot, commanded by Mahomed
Ali's brother, and set out to encounter Chunda Sahib in pereon.
He was
encamped near Volconda, situated thirty-eight miles N.N.W. of Trichinopoly,
on the highway from that city to Ai'cot. Its principal defence was a rock 200
feet high, and about a mile in circuit at its base, which was washed by
the Valaru.
It was inclosed by three walls one at the bottom, mostly cut out
of the solid rock another near, and the third actually on the summit.
The
governor was summoned by both parties, but answered that he wished to see
sent
;
;
EXPEDITION AGAINST VOLUONDA.
Chap. V.]
the issue of a battle before he would yield
becoming impatient, determined
army
only by a
Chunda
a strong detachment to attempt the
mud
was
wall,
easily gained
seen, could not be assaulted
till
to either.
Captain Gingen,
and
after posting his
to force a surrender;
so as to intercept the approach of
interfere, sent
up
it
457
Sahib, should he attempt to
The town,
ca})ture.
inclosed
but the rock, as should have been
;
a.d. nai.
fore-
a breach was made, and the detachment returned
to the camp.
Captain Gingen, while thus assuming the offensive, seems to have been
ignorant or regardless of the
Chunda Sahib had an
that he
fact,
arm}'^ of
12,000
1
1
was opposed by
numbers.
far superior
l)esides
These at break of day next morning
suppoited by a strong battalion of French.
were seen approaching along the bed of the
1
and 5000 sepoys, and was
hoi"se
nisgnu^fiu
defeat
•
(»
river,
which was nearly
dry.
Instead
of attempting to intercept their progress, Captain Gingen and his officers were
deliberating in a council of
resolved to fight
war whether they should
The
late.
of war, had no hope of victory
when
Strange to say,
it
It
was
but meanwhile the French were near the foot of the rock, and
;
the resolution came too
toras of fear
fight or retreat.
;
troops,
aware of the hesitations of the council
and, seeing some of their officers betraying symj)-
the guns of the fort oi)ened on them, were seized with panic.
was
at
fii-st
begun and
own
for
some time confined to the Company's
—
now a lieutenant, among the
number endeavour to rally them, but Abdul Wahab Khan, Mahomed Ali's
brother, riding up to them, and pointing to his own men, who still kept their
battahon, for not only did their
officers
—
Clive,
ground, upbraided them for their cowardice.
wi\s lost.
Even
after the
It
was
all in vain,
danger was over, the fear was so unequivoc;dl}' declared,
that Captain Gingen, to free
them even from the
sight of the enemy,
his retreat at midnight, on the road leading to Trichinopoly,
to halt
till
he had reached the pass or straits of Ootatoor.
When
slowly by the same route.
place,
still
and the day
and even a regular
battle
commenced
and did not venture
Chunda
Saliib followed
he ajipeared in sight some skirmishing took
was talked
of,
but the
such that Captain Gingen was afraid to risk
it,
and
sj)irit
stole
of the troops
was
away with them
So eager were they to place themselves beyond the
that they marched eighteen hours without refreshment in the
in the silence of the night.
reach of pursuit,
hottest season.
Chunda Sahib
northern bank of the Coleroon, within sight
encampment was now
Mahomed
About
the
them encjvmped on the
of Trichinopoly.
The site of the
following leisurely found
only spot of ground beyond the Coleroon which
Ali could call his own.
five miles
north-west of Trichinopoly, the Cauvery, after a somewhat
circuitous south-easterly coui-se of
380 miles from
its
source in the Western
Ghauts, divides into two principal anns, the northern of which
Coleroon, while the southern retains
as far as the fort of Coilady, the
its
own name.
two anns nin nearly
For the
fii-st
I.
«itii it.
'"*^'*
is
called the
fifteen miles,
parallel to each other,
and
again approach so near that they are only prevented from uniting by means of
Vol.
Tiie ixian.i of
58
HISTORY OF INDIA.
t.">8
A.D. ivii.
an
artificial
arm.s form.s
mound.
what
The long and naiTOW
tlie
most famous
{)agodas, or
fll.
of land thas incloned between the
.slip
Near
called the island of Seringham.
i.s
where the fork begins, and at a short
of
[Book
its
western extremity,
from the Coleroon
di.stance
Hindoo temples,
in Hindoostan.
stood one
side,
It consisted of
seven squares, one within the other, each surrounded by a wall twenty- five feet
high and fom- thick, and entered by four lofty tun-eted gates, facing the cardinal
The wall of the outermo.st
points.
pagoda owed
its
s([uare
half a mile east of this pagoda,
also of large dimensions,
Kncampchinopoiy.
;
The
and the myriads of pilgrims flocking
one time to maintain -iO^OOO Brahmins in voluptuous
sufficed at
About
circuit.
celebrity to the supposed possession of the very image of
Vishnu which Brahma used to worship
it
about four miles in
is
and near the Cauvery
but with one
side,
to
idleness.
stood another,
inclo-siu-e only.
The encampment on the noiih bank of the Coleroon was inconvenient for
obtaining supplies, and for this reason, and also no doubt because it was deemed
safer to have a river between them and the enemy, Mahomed All's army crossed
The whole, including the English battalion,
over into the island of Seringham.
took up their quarters within the three
first inclosui-e.s,
and abstained at the
earnest solicitations of the })riests from approaching nearer to the sanctuary
The post was admirably adapted for defence, but a cowardly spirit
prevailed among the troops, and they would not believe themselves safe
of the idol.
still
till
they had taken the
last retrograde step
under the walls of Trichinopoly.
evacuated.
It
was
Chunda Sahib
not, however,
great prize for which he
now
possible,
and
place themselves
gladly occupied the island thus
with the intention of remaining in
was contending was now
full in his
it.
The
view, and leaving
only a garrison in Seringham, he crossed the Cauvery, and encamped on the east
The main body of Mahomed Ali's troops were stationed on
and the English battalion under Captain Gingen on the west.
of Trichinopoly.
the south side,
Captain Cope, with 100 Europeans, remained within the walls.
The
fortifica-
city.
bank of the
and west sides
TrichinoDolv, situated within half a mile of the south or right
tionsofthat
Cauvery,
.
,
.
is
in the form of a parallelogram, of
.
which the east
have each a length of 2000, and the north and south a breadth of 1200 yards.
It is inclosed
less copiously
by a
ditch,
feet wide,
and
1
2 deep, supplied with water
more or
according to the season, but never dry, and two walls flanked at
regular intervals
by round
5 thick, has neither
feet apart
30
towers.
The outer
wall, only 18 feet high,
rampart nor parapet; the inner waU, 30
from the other,
and a parapet both of
is
much
stone, the
and about
feet high,
and 25
stronger in every respect, having a rampart
former rising from a broad base by large
decreasing steps, so as to be only 10 feet broad at the top, and the latter about
7 feet high, loopholed for musketry.
the city
is
a lofty precipitous rock of
Within the walls in the north part of
sienite,
commanding an extensive view
of the surrounding country.
Such was the only place of strength now belonging
to
Mahomed
Ali;
and on
V
CUAP.
nUUHINOPOLY.
]
459
the issue of the siege about to be commenced, de[)euded not only his
which, from
tlie
t'ate,
worthlessness of his character, no great interest could be
in
.V
D. 1751.
felt,
but the decision of the momentous question, whether a French or a British
was
enipiie
to
be
established in India.
The presidency
Fort
St.
David,
now
committed
fully
at
to
the war, were gi'ievously
disappointed
at the series of dis-
graces and defeats
which had been sustained,
and
coulil
not look forward to
the siege of Tricliinopoly, witliout the
gloomiest
idea,
AND Temple of Trichinoihu.y, with
From
and decision of which,
showy
Temple
it
must be
confessed, they
had
previously- given few
Mr. Saunders, the governor, though devoid of the versatility and
Piei>;irati<)iia
and having now
fence of Tri-
talents of Dupleix, surpassed
no doubt as
to the course
him
in
more
solid qualities;
which the interests of the Company dictated, pursued
His means, however, were very
with judgment and perseverance.
and
Urahnuiiri ciinying water iiito the
pftinting in Ltbrary of East India House.
however, of abandoning the contest in despair, and began to display a firm-
examples.
it
Roc-K
They had no
ings.
ness
forebod-
his first reinforcement for Trichinopoly consisted of only eighty
and 300 sepoys, cumbered
such a body through a
especially, as
convoy of
'with a large
ho.stile
stores.
line of route,
Em'opeans
The conducting
country was a matter of no small
Verdachelum which lay in the
limited,
difficulty,
though
it
still
of
more
held
Cimnda Sahib, was at this very time besieged by a j)olyg(ir in his
interest.
The removal of this obstruction was therefore the first object to be
accomplished.
The charge of the reinforcement was given to Mr. Pigot, a mem-
out against
ber of council.
a
volunteer,
])osition sw
the army,
a
by
He
wsvs accompanied,
civil
servant of the Company, though
by holding
It
was
had resumed
his
closely connected with
in this capacity that he wjus present at Volconda
liaving been jiresent at the council of
fiight,
still
but rather as
the appointment of commissary for supi>lying the Eurojwan
the ignominious fiight took place
cause of that
ofticially,
Clive, who, after the cjipture of Devicotta,
troops with provisions.
when
would seem not
it
;
and hence, though he
war which
is
preceded, and
he did not share in the disgi-ace of
it,
mentioned as
was one main
but returned to Fort
St David,
Pigot and Clive, after reaching Verdachelum, niid relieving
it
by surprising
fill-
the de-
clunoiioly.
JIISTOKY OF INDIA.
l'('0
AD.
1751.
[Book
and defeating the troops of the polygar, sent the reinforcement forward
destination through the
kingdom
and were on
of Tanjore,
III.
to its
their return to P\jrt
David with twenty-four attendants, twelve of them sepoys, when they were
surrounded by the polygar's troops, and after losing the greater number ol"
St.
NaiTow
by the
their attendants, only escaped
(•live.
another reinforcement was despatched to Trichinopoly.
most unsatisfactory
in a
The
state.
country; and
it
Affairs there
after,
were
still
were quarrelling among
British officers
how they might
themselves instead of thinking
Not long
fleetness of their horses.
best sustain the honour of their
seemed absolutely necessary to make an example of several of
them by dismissing them at a time when their places could hardly be supplied.
To meet the difficulty in part, Clive returned to his true vocation, and set out
command
His expedi-
for Trichinopoly in
ihinopoiy.
territory of Tanjore, the
It proceeded through the
of the reinforcement.
king of which
still
professed neutrality, and received
from Devicotta a small accession under Captain Clarke, who, as senior
officer,
The whole united mustered only 100 Europeans and
fifty sepoys, with a field-piece.
The French, who were in possession of the fort
of Coilady, detached a body of thirty Europeans and 500 sepoys to intercept
assumed the command.
them.
A
skirmish ensued greatly to the disadvantage of the French, and the
The superiority of the enemy was
Chunda Sahib's troops were ten times more numerous than
detachment reached Trichinopoly in
very decided.
still
those of
Mahomed
Ali;
and while the French battalion mustered 900, the
English did not exceed 600 men.
decidedly the advantage.
or
ity,
was subject
Mahomed Ah's
tiires
Arcot
The whole country
and
either
also,
the
enemy had
acknowledged their author-
The only thing
revenues were dried up.
was the strength of the
after representing the fatal
to balance these advan-
place.
David in the beginning of August, 1751,
issue to which afiairs at Trichinopoly were
Captain Clive returned to Fort
attacks
and cap
In pecuniary resources,
to their exactions, while almost all the usual soiu'ces of
tages of the besiegers
He
safety.
St.
evidently tending, suggested as a last resource to attempt a diversion
attack on Arcot.
The bold proposal was
volunteered to undertake the execution of
and Madras
100
so as to leave only
men
and he was requested,
accepted,
it.
After stripping Fort
in the one
by an
and
fifty in
St.
or
David
the other, the
whole force that could be mustered for the expedition, amounted to 200 Europeans and 300 sepoys, with three
field-pieces.
were
six
had never seen
by
Clive's example, quitted the desk for the sword.
service,
the 2C)th of August,
arrived on the 29th,
men.
and of these
Of the
six four
officers,
eight in number,
civilians,
who, animated
Starting fi-om Madras on
they proceeded south-east to Conjeveram, where they
and learned that the
From Conjeveram they
from the northern bank of the
fort of
Arcot was garrisoned by 1100
continued their march nearly due west, not far
and on the 31st were within ten miles of
Arcot.
Their approach was made known by spies, who had seen the detachment
marching witli unconcern in a violent storm of thunder and rain. The garrison
Paliar,
'
THE SIEGE OF ARCOT.
Chap. V.]
on hearing this report
461
and under the combined influence of super-
lost all heart,
a.d. 1751.
and cowardice, abandoned the place a few hours before the detachment
The city being without walls or defences was immediately entered, and
arrived.
stition
Clive and his 500 men, marching in triumph under the gaze of 100,000 spectators,
took possession of the
was inhabited by 3000 or 4000
It
fort.
persons,
who
were permitted to remain, and contained goods which had been deposited in
The goods were judiciously and generously
value of £50,000.
for security to the
restored to the owners without
ransom
the artillery, consisting of eight pieces
;
of cannon, from four to eight pounders, and a large (quantity of lead
powder, were
all
of
and then,
made
his first business to provide the necessary
it
m order to strike new terror
them with the greatest part of
his
into the garrison, set out in quest
men and
four
found about six miles to the south-west, near the
drawn up
as if they
field-piece,
meant
to
managed by two
make a
shot of Timery.
They were posted
and having about
fifty
with a bank
the
enemy
this the
much
Clive again marched
in a grove inclosed
by a
ditch
from two
field-pieces,
where they were so well
let fly
and
sheltered, that they inflicted
fled,
and he had no alternative but
some
This he immediately
fort.
till
summoned
had no battering cannon,
Tliey were allowed to
two hours
I0.SS
Two
Matlras,
lull
man
of
refu.sed,
around
troop.s,
them was
new courage and began
fort
;
and
to talk of
themselves into security, and on the 14th
after midnight,
were surprised
in their sleep.
Prepamtion«
fence of
"*"**
Clive,
beat up their camp from end to end without
of a man, while they fled on
day broke, not a
to sur-
he reached Arcot.
with the gi-eater part of his
the
with-
They made
to retreat, the enemy's cavalry hovering
the enemy, increased to 3000 men, acquired
of September,
loss
Both gained the banks, and at
The next ten days were employed on necessary works within the
besieging.
hurried
gi'ove,
while Clive gained possession of the pettah or
render, but the garrison, discovering that he
distance
On
killed three Europeans.
a double volley among the crowds within.
under the walls of the
siife
and a bank,
Clive removed his troops behind some buildings, and sent
no attempt to retm-n, and
him at a
within gun-
As the detachment advanced,
detachment advanced rapidly, and the enemy, leaving the
same instant
village
for the hills before
off"
now increased to 2000,
out two platoons to attack two sides of the tank.
the
made
Two days after
higher than that of the grove.
out sustaining any.
^^
yards in front a large tank almost choked up and dry,
fired smai-tly
into the tank,
garriaon of
Timery, but though
fort of
or three Europeans, and
and, as before, found the enemy,
fort,
They were
field- pieces.
ciive pur-
stand, they only continued firing a single
they could be brought within musket-shot.
out of the
and gun-
that remained to the captors.
Clive anticipating a siege
stores,
it
all
sides
with
slu'ieks
and confusion.
When
to be seen.
eighteen- poimders with some military stores had been asked from
and were on the way escorted only by a few
intercepting them, a large detachment of the
sepoys.
enemy occupied
In hope of
the pagoda of
The
siege.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
4()i
A.D. 1761.
Conjeverain
;
Here
fort.
their
The convoy being thus endangered,
augmented.
III.
and, on being expelled by thirty liluropean.s and fifty sepoys from
withdrew to a neigldjouring
Arcot,
(li<JOK
numbers were continualh
Clive, reserving only thirty
Europeans and
sent out
all
fifty sepoys,
the rest of hiw
troops to insure
On
enemy with
the
this,
safety.
its
considerable dexterity
denly changed their
and hastening
.sud-
tactics,
to Arcot,
sui--
rounded the fort with their
whole force as soon as
A
(lark.
was
it
was
of musketry
fire
immediately
opened
upon the ramparts from the
adjacent buildings, while a
Pagoda at Conjeveram.— From Viscount Valentias Travels
large body, horse
and
foot
promiscuously, rushed towards the principal gates with loud outcries and the
A few hand-gi-enades
noise of martial music.
the horses, that they galloped
assault
made
in the
against the ramparts
off,
thrown into the ma&s so frightened
trampling the foot beneath them
within
It
is
it
was
still
kept up and continued
daybreak,
till
fort,
fire
when
the
the inhabitants
Some may
expressed no sympathy with their countrymen outside.
see in this nothing but Olive's
in allowing
The
detachment and con-
rathor singular, that during the attack on the
good fortune, but others with more justice
due reward of the kindness and generosity which he
see in it the
a second
same manner was repulsed by the same means.
assailants fled precipitately on seeing the approach of the
voy.
;
them both
to
will
h.ad displayed
occupy their dwellings and retain possession of then-
goods.
I'rooee
liii'js
during the
The capture of Arcot produced the effect which had been anticipated and
the pressure on Trichinopoly was considerably relieved by the withdi'awal of
4000 of Ohunda Sahib's troops. These, joined on their route by his son Rajah
;
Sahib, with
1
50 Eiu-opeans from Pondicheny, and the other troops pre\4ousl3-
collected in the neighbourhood, entered Arcot
unwilling to be cooped up within the
and try whether he could
altogether.
not,
fort,
on the 23d of September.
determined to take the
by a vigorous
effort, rid
running north
for
initiative,
himself of the
Facing the north-west gate of the fort was a
street,
Clive,
enemy
which, after
70 yards, turned east to the nabob's palace, where Rajah
Sahib had fixed his head- quarters.
and was continued along the east
by streets on the west, north, and
the south, fonned a squai-e
From
the palace another street ran south,
side of the fort.
The space thus bounded
and by the north wall of the fort on
With the
occupied by buildings and inclosures.
east,
;
THE SIEGE OF ARCOT.
Chap. V.J
intention of placing the
enemy between two
163
Clive sallied out from the
fires,
a.d. itsl
north-west gate with the greatest part of his troops and the fom- field-pieces,
and advanced along the
and east
street leading north
while Ensign Glass was
;
ordered to proceed from the east gate up the street leading north to the palace,
which
W518
thus the
common
On
would meet.
in their way,
removed the obstacles
two detachments,
point at which the
drawn up
the French troops, with four field-pieces,
turning
A
nonade commenced at the distance of only 30 yards.
tlie
street of the French,
while,
and obliged them to take lefuge
Rajah Sahib's troops occupying the
by them, kept up a
to capture
contiiuial
fire,
It
was
having an open front supported by
egi-ess,
way
Mean-
in the palace.
killed or
situated on one side of
and sheltered
men
sent
wounded.
To
good cover; and at the same time, giving
the guns were gradually
fij-e
free
street
and the whole
;
by
The platoon under Ensign Glass returned about the same
The whole attack was a decided
after encountering similar difficulties.
and gave Clive a lesson of caution which seems to have been, at
stage of his military experience,
lives of fifteen
Europeans,
by no means unnecessary.
who were
killed
who were
ssived his
commanding
time,
failure,
this early
him the
It cost
disabled.
Among
the
among the former
when he saw a sepoy
artillery officer;
was Lieutenant Trenwith, who, by pulling Clive aside
aiming at him,
it
on the spot or mortally wounded
and the services of sixteen more of his party,
was Lieutenant Revel, the only
and
In this
party wiiich had sallied from the north-west gate were able to return
latter
were
ingress
without much danger.
withdrawn into the north
and
street,
tlie
wliile its otlier three sides
pillars,
enabled the artillerymen to load and
into the fort.
Bieg«.
Clive took advantage of a large choultry or building
for the reception of travellers.
inclosed, afforded
all
Procoediiigs
few minutes cleared
liouses in the street,
and bring away the French guns were
escape this murderous
and a can-
with so good an aim that fourteen
fire,
saw
Clive
east,
at the palace,
they
if
officer's
life
and
lost his
own, as the
sepoy immediately changed the aim, and shot him through the body.
Tlie
day
Rajah Sahib was reinforced
after this affjiir
b}'
2000 men from
state of fortificiitiniis
Vellore,
commanded by Mortiz
occupying
all
the avenues leading to the
regarded, both
by
about a mile in
circuit,
places ruinous
;
was too narrow
besiegers
and
Its defence
fort.
and besieged, as
by
must have been
but impossible.
all
siege
several of the towers flanking them,
Its walls,
were in
many
by a low and slightly built parapet,
of artillery; and the ditch, choked up in
the rampart, surmounted
admit the
to
some places and dry
in othei-s,
shallow as to be fordable.
already mentioned
— were
firing
was
generally, even
The only two
large piles of
the walls, and the entrance to each of
broad ctiuseway.
and commenced the
Ali in person,
'i'his
large, decayed,
gates
— the
it
contained water, so
north-west and
masonry projecting 40
them
and
when
Avas not
n!i(l
beyond
by a drawbridge, but a
ill-constructed fort
garrison of otdy 120 Europeans and 200 sepoys:
feet
east,
had an
efficient
was besieged by an army
ofAwot.
464
A.D. 1761.
JIISIVJIIY
of above 10,000, composed as follows
OF INDIA.
[Book
— 150 Europeans, 2000 sepoys, 5000 peons
As
or undisciplined native infantry, and 3000 cavalry.
Small inun
for forty days, it
ber of de-
to send
away
all
raneous aqueduct, by which,
if it
As many
water.
would give great
knew
of a secret subter-
might have been drained of
of the houses of the town were within musket- shot, and
facilities
the besiegers, an attempt
to
It failed, because
several of them.
was provisioned only
had not been choked up in consequence of
his information, the only reservorr within the fort
its
it
the inhabitants except a few
one of them, a mason, who most fortunately
artificers,
fenders.
was necessary
III.
was made
to buiTi
they were almost entirely of stone
;
and
it
was resolved to get rid of the two which threatened to be mo.st annoying by
employing more destructive means. Accordingly, at midnight. Ensign Glass
down from the wall
They got into the houses without being dLscovered, but made the
unskilfully that the efiect intended was not produced.
Nor was
and ten men, with
by a
rope.
explosion so
several barrels of gunpowder,
this the only misfortune.
by
Activity
and the
unfitted
fall
For a fortnight the
and
stratagem
of the be-
it,
were
let
The rope broke while Ensign Glass was ascending
him for further duty.
besiegers, while waiting for the battering cannon,
kept
up a bombardment with four mortars, which did little damage. The fire of
musketry from the houses was more effective indeed, the aim was so sure that
;
man could scarcely show liis head above the parapet without being hit. In
this way three sergeants, accompanying Clive while he visited the works, were
a
picked
off,
and several other persons were
killed or
wounded.
Before the siege
began in earnest, Mortiz Ali was tempted to try a stratagem.
be
with Rajah Sahib, he withdrew with his troops to a different
dissatisfied
quarter of the
with
city,
and sent a
and assure him that
feelings,
Clive
all his force.
Ali with his
own
of the scheme
;
.\
On
practica-
secret
messenger to acquaint CHve with his
he would make a
if
was not
sally,
to be thus caught,
he would support liim
and cleverly
foiled
Mortiz
Instead of giving a refusal, he pretended to approve
weapons.
and by maintaining the correspondence
a large portion of the
last that
Pretending to
enemy
to remain inactive.
for several days, induced
Mortiz
Ali,
percei\'ing at
he was outwitted, returned to his former place in the camp.
the 24!th of October, two eighteen -pounders and seven smaller pieces
ble breach.
airived from Pondicherry.
west,
and served
it so
With
weU
these the French opened a battery to the north-
that the very
first
shot dismounted, and the second
entirely disabled one of the eighteen-pounders in the fort.
pounder there was
the
fire
also soon dismounted,
and removed
The other
eighteen-
to a spot not exposed to
from the battery, which, being thus scarcely answered at aU, succeeded
in six days in beating
down
all
the wall between two towers, and
making a
The ganison, meantime, spared no exertion. Immediately
under the rampart opposite t(i the breach two trenches were dug, leaving a
considerable space between them, which was covered with crows'- feet; and still
farther back, a house was pidled down to the height of a breastwork, from
practicable breach.
CuAK
THE SIEGE OF ARCOT.
V.J
465
which palisades were carried along the ends of the trenches up to the parapet, ad.
One
was placed on one of
field-piece
on the
flat
and two
the towers flanking the breach,
roof of a house opposite to
it.
prepared for them, did not yet venture to
ivsi.
The enemy, aware of the reception
storm, and proceeded to erect another
battery on the south-west.
The
garrison,
any important
of
anticipation
meantime, more in the
in the
ramparts, and crowned
result,
spirit
which commanded the palace, as
it
highest tower
thickened the
On
with a mo\md of earth.
it
of bravado than the Aneuomioiw
of
the
the top of this mound,
towered above the intervening houses, they
up an enormous gun, said to have been sent from Delhi by Aurungzebe,
and transported by 1000 yoke of oxen. The iron balls belonging to it weighed
seventy-two pounds. The very first of these, fired from it with a charge of
hoisted
went
thirty pounds of gunpowder,
and
terror of Riijah Sahib
The
four discharges burst.
filled
up the
fort,
intended
it
it
was
for
only once a-day, and after
fired
wishing to retaliate in similar
it
;
and
so high as to overlook every
The garrison
mounted, and then
two small cannon and musketry.
till
the cannon were actually
with their reserved eighteen-pounder, and with such good
it
style,
with earth well rammed down
mound, and raised
scjiuire
that in less than an liour
The
It
besiegers,
allowed the works to proceed
opened upon
stafl".
interior of a large house
having thus formed a
part of the
his
right through the palace, to the no small
tumbled down with the
effect,
men stationed upon it.
known at the presidency,
fifty
perilous position of the garrison being well
Att^mjitto
relieve
it
was resolved
and 200 sepoys
of the journey
and were only
fifteen miles
to reinforce it; and, with this view, a party of
left
Madras under Lieutenant Innes.
100 Europeans
After a considerable part
was accomplished, they were sm-rounded by 2000
able,
of the enemy,
after serious loss, to retreat to the fort of Ponamalee,
west of Madras.
Relief from the presidency having thus
apparently hopeless, Clive opened a communication with Morari
Mahratta chief of Gootee,
who had been encamped
for
men among
the moimtains, thirty miles west of Arcot.
hired ally of
Mahomed
state of his affairs.
charm along with
moment
in
it
coming
Ali,
name, however, was
now
to the assistance of such brave
whose behaviour had now
fight.
This intelligence alarmed Rajah Sahib,
the arrival of the Mahrattas
man
if
his offers
to the .sword.
He had come
as the
beginning to carry a
first
men
lose
not a
as the defenders of
convinced him that the Engli.sh could
by sending a
who endeavoured
to anticipate
flag of truce to the fort, offering
honoimible terms to the garrison, and a large sum of
threatening,
some time with GOOO
and Morari Row's answer was, that he would
Arcot, "
"
Row, the
but had remained inactive on seeing the desperate
Olive's
;
become
money
to Clive,
and
were not accepted, to storm immediately and put every
Olive oidy disdained his bribe, and laughed at his threats.
The reinforcement from Madras, .slightly increa.sed, and commanded by
Oaptain Kilpatrick, was again attempting to advance; and a detachment of
Vol.
I
I.
59
Arwt.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
466
AD.
1751.
Mahrattas had actually arrived
in the neiglihourhood,
had made a
The
assault,
The day
storm.
of
and encouraged by the
still
Mahometan
south-west
effect of his
During
is
understood to pass at once to paradise without enduring
Taking advantage of the
excites,
and heightening
Rajah Sahib, as soon as morning broke, gave the signal
was threatened
The
large
and the division
to sleep,
sat
down with
without a moment's inteiTuption,
and on being aroused found the
was
up
to the breach, filled
fire.
it.
A
it,
and had
It
on the roof of the house opposite the breach did
were forced to
ford-
great composure underneath the wall
The two cannons planted
those in front as fast as they could discharge them.
assault,
Clive, after
gates.
was most deadly, and continued
those behind supplpng loaded muskets to
even passed, before the defenders gave
•
Every part
for assault.
ditch in front of the north-west breach
to act as a reserve, while the rest hastened
renewed the
inebriating drugs,
allotted to this part of the attack rushed across
number immediately
assailants
by
and two against the
had gone
his arrangements,
garrison at their posts.
it
but the principal attack was made in four divisions,
;
directed against the breaches,
able,
greatest
every son of Moslem falling in battle
its celebration,
enthusiasm which such a period
making
which
commemorative of the murder of Hoasein, the chief
the delays and pains of intermediate purgatories.
two
batter}',
was the 14th of November, one of the
selected
against unbelievers,
of the fort
and captured a quantity
larger breach tlian that on the north-west, determined to
festivals,
of the Fatimites.
III
Rajah Sahib, now awake to the danger
of ammunition going to the besiegers.
of further delay,
[Book
fearful execution,
and the
Fresh bodies, however, again and again
retire.
but were driven off as before.
Meantime, those seated
under the wall were not forgotten, and a few bombs with short fusees thrown
from above obliged them to decamp.
was made
These embarked upon
on each
flank,
were nearly
it,
the south-west breach, the attack
The ditch under
in a different manner.
assailants brought forward a raft,
men.
At
not being fordable, the
which was large enough to carry seventy
and, though fired
across,
it
when
upon by two
Clive, observing the
field-pieces,
one
bad aim of the
management of one of the pieces, and in two or three discharges caused such confusion that the raft was overset, and those upon it who
gunners, took the
escaped drowning
Its failure.
The
assault
swam back
to the opposite side.
had lasted nearly an hour.
employed themselves
in carrying
off"
their
As soon as it ceased, the assailants
They might have been pei-dead.
mitted to discharge this duty of humanit}' undisturbed; but the
garrison
was not
slackened,
on the part of a native,
is
and they were obliged
to desist.
not unworthy of being recorded.
An
fire
act of heroism,
The
leader of the
sepoys at the north bridge, after greatly distinguishing himself, had
He was
greatly beloved
by
his
of the
men, and one of them crossed the ditch
fallen.
for his
Though the attempt exposed him to the fire of forty muskets, he had
The whole
the good fortune to escape unharmed with his honourable burden.
body.
THE SIEGE OF ARCOT.
Chap. V.]
of the
loss
enemy was computed
at -iOO men, almost all natives
as if unwilling to encounter the
Enghsh
killed,
The
by wounds
garrison were disabled
tlie
When
aloof,
engaged mustered only eighty Europeans,
officers
two
to four Europeans
many
the assault took place, so
or sickness,
a.d. itsi.
and been only spectators
amounted only
loss of the garrison
and two sepoys wounded.
for the French,
;
in the deadly breach while the
governments were actually at peace, had kept
of the assault.
467
number
that the whole
included,
of
and 120
sepoys.
These, during the attack, served five pieces of carmon, and expended 12,000
musket- cartridges.
Two
hours after their repulse, the enemy renewed their
cannon and musketry
own
request, a truce to
two in the following morning, when
dawned the garrison were overjoyed to
till
and the
;
ammunition, showing
have been.
it
bury their dead, maintained
how
learn the
sent from Trichinopoly.
was
it
the day
The enemy had
was finally raised.
and a large quan-
precipitate the depai-tm'e of the
enemy nmst
Clive, being
now
for the departure of all his
left
which he inclosed himself within strong intrench-
free to act, left
Captain Kilpatrick in
command
and proceeded with 200 Europeans, 700 sepoys, and three
south to Timery, which suirendered on the
first
summons.
of the
field -pieces,
His next move-
ments depended on the Mahrattjis, who had })romised to join him, but as usual
employed themselves in plundering the surrounding country.
his uncle,
Morari Row, had
himself so negligently
to
when
left in
command
to repair the loss
Bow,
Bjisin
of 1000 horse, conducted
in the vicinity of Vellore that he exposed himself
a night attack, and was obliged to leave his camp to the enemy.
he applied to Clive,
who
set out
Anxious
with him, and was thus
engaged when he learned that a party of Europeans from Pondicherr}- were
on the
way
to Arnee, a strong fort
on the road between Arcot and Gingee.
proposed to intercept them, and succeeded, after some
difficulty, in
He
obtaining
Row, whose objections were not overcome till he learned
that the French were carrying a large sum of money to Rajah Sahib.
Even
after he gave his consent, he was unable to muster more than GOO horse. These,
the consent of Basin
when added
siege
ciive
only with the troops which his father had ximenT
With these and the French he moved west to Vellore,
close to the eastern side of
whom
The
In the evening, Captain Kilpatrick arrived with his detachment.
auxiliary chiefs, and he
fort,
cause.
artillery, four mortars,
Rajah Sahib's repulse had been the signal
ments.
When
suddenly ceased.
siege, after lasting fifty days,
In the camp were found four pieces of
tity of
both with
and with the exception of two hours, dming which they
;
were allowed, at their
evacuated the town
fire
to Clive's original force, left
him
far inferior to the
enemy,
whom
he discovered after a forced march of twenty miles, preparing to cross the river
immediately to the north of Arnee with
:>()()
Europeans, 2000 horse, and 2500
sepoys.
The enemy, perceiving
their superiority, wheeled
round and determined to
HISTORY OF INDIA.
468
A.u.
17.11.
Clive on
give battle.
advantageous position
left,
ciive'8
Aiiiee.
liis
part did not decline
—the
[Book
and awaited the
it,
ITI.
attsick in an
Mahrattas occupying a grove of palm trees on the
the sepoys a village on the right, and the Europeans an open ground in the
leading through
them
swampy
In front were
centre between the two.
with a cau.seway
rice fields,
The French, with about
to the village.
1
500 of
theii-
sepoys and their artillery, advanced along the causeway, while the horse, with
moved forward on the grove.
Here a spirited action commenced, and the Mahrattas displayed much gallantry,
making five successive charges, though only to be repulsed. The division
advancing along the causeway were more successfully opposed, and were so
galled and enfiladed by the English field-pieces that all but the artillerymen
with the cannon quitted the causeway and made for the rice fields. Their
position was not thereby improved, and a general alarm spreading over their
whole ranks they commenced a retreat. Clive followed close in pursuit, but
night coming on they made their escape with comparatively little loss, crossed
tlie river and entered Arnee.
So much, however, were they dispirited that they
the remaining sepoys interspersed with them,
did not venture to remain, and quitted
who,
now
by the Mahrattas,
in disorder, followed
it
entirely in their element, overtook them,
and captured Rajah Sahib's
In consequence of
military chest, containing 100,000 nipees.
many
this defeat,
of the enemy's sepoys deserted and offered their ser\dces to Clive,
who
enlisted
600 of those who were best armed.
He
DuHng
captures
the sicge of Arcot, the French,
by occupying Conjeveram, had
rupted the communication with Madras, and captured a party of disabled
inter-
who were
Some
proceeding thither.
murdered in
of
them they
tioned, obtained quarter,
and were living
and summoned
are said to have atrociously
and Ensign
their litters, but Lieutenant Revel
men
Glass, ah'eady
as prisoners in
men-
Conjeveram when
The French commander so far forgot himself as to threaten that, if he were attacked, he would
expose these English officers on the walls. Clive paid no regard to this unworthy
Clive appeared before
menace
it
it
to surrender.
and on receiving two eighteen-poiuiders from Madras, began
;
in breach at the distance of 200 yards.
On
this occasion
we have
those remarkable hairbreadth escapes, of which
instances,
dead by
an
officer
his side.
who accompanied him
to batter
he made another of
already seen several
while i-econnoitring being shot
The breach would soon have been rendered
the French commander, dreading the resentment which he
practicable,
but
knew he must have
provoked, did not venture to stand an assault, and abandoned the place in the
night, leaving his
two
prisoners behind.
After ruining the defences of Conjeve-
ram, Clive sent 200 Eviropeans and 500 sepoys to Arcot, and returned with the
rest to tlie presidency, to give
Rajah
stratagem of
torarpHse
Arcot.
an account of
his
triumphant campaign.
Saliib's scattered troops, seeing the field
^^^
^.lie
British, re-assembled,
^-^^
^1^^
Company's
territory
again clear by the departure
and moving down toward the
around Madras and
coast,
ravaged part
in the vicinit}' of St.
Thom^.
FRENCH ATTEMPT TO SURPRISE ARCOT.
Chap. V.]
to Conjeveram, repaired the defences of the pagoda, garri-
They next returned
soned
it
ad.
1752
with 300 sepoys, and kept possession of the open country as far east as
The
Ponamalee.
ment
4G9
presidency,
for Tricliinopoly,
ling these dangerous
who had been employed
determined to employ
and troublesome
marched from Madras
it,
17")-,
in the first instance, in expelClive, appointed to this task,
intruders.
in February,
in preparing a reinforce-
when
with a detacinnent which,
augmented by a reinforcement from Arcot, consisted of 380 Europeans and
1300 sepoys, with six
The enemy, though mustering
field-pieces.
-iOO
Euro-
Attempt
to s\iri)risc
2000 sepoys, and 2500
peans,
hoi"se,
with a large train of
did not
aitillery,
Arwt.
venture to risk an encounter, and removed south to Vandaloor, where, as they
On
strongly intrenched themselves, they seemed determined on a stand.
appi'oach
looked as
it
if
their courage
had again
their camp, but dispei"sed as if
abandoned
It soon appeared, however, that they
When
out a dee})-laid scheme.
mined
make
its
to fall
it
it
difficult for
some sudden
terror
had struck them.
but following
feai"s,
again heard of they were united at Oonjeverani,
gairison to furnish
upon
them, for they had not only
were not obeying their
and preparing to move west on Arcot.
stripped of
failed
Aware
that
it
had been almost
to
advance to
entirel}'
had
the above reinforcement, they
deter-
away
suddenly, after they had tempted Olive so far
him
Olive's
as to
The stratagem nearly
its relief
suc-
ceeded, not merely in consequence of the feebleness of the garrison, but of
treachery within
to
Two
it.
have opened the
native sepoy officers had been gained over, and were
Fortunately the plot was discovered, and the enemy,
gates.
upon were not answered, went
finding that the signals agreed
off as
suddenly as
had appeared.
the)'
Notwithstanding intelligence of their departure, Olive continued his march
when
westward, and at sunset had come within sight of Ooverypauk,
advancing without suspicion, were
and the cannons were the French
in front.
pieces of c<annon at the
made
his
with a ditch and
aitillery posted in a gi-ove,
arrangements
in ambascade,
but with the greatest
hastily,
Ordering the infantry to take shelter in a water-course innnediately
coolness.
on the
Olive
upon from nine
The whole enemy were here lying
distance of only 250 yards.
bank
fired
the van,
and the baggage to be moved back half a
left,
mile,
under the guard of
a
platoon and one of the field-pieces, he sent a detachment, with two field-pieces,
to oppose
employed
Rajah Sahib's cavalry, who were spreading out on the
his other three
The French
abreast,
infjintry
remaining pieces to answer the
advanced along the water-coui-se
and were met by the English
up
for
and
two
houi-s
by moonlight.
failed in several attempts
was otherwise with the
French nine, and so
many
fire
same
So
six
men
order.
Neither
of musketry
was kept
also
far the fight
Olive's three pieces
and
fi-om the grove.
column of
The enemy's cavahy were
on the baggage.
artillery.
in a
inf\\ntry in the
ventured to come to the bayonet, and an indecisive
fire
plain,
kept at bay,
was
equal.
were no match
of his gunnei-s were killed or di.sabled, that he
It
for the
saw no
Aflfair
of
"^'^^
AP-
HISTORY OF INDIA.
alternative but to take the
1752.
ticable,
[Book
III.
enemy battery or to retreat. The former, if practhe more desirable, and was at once adopted, when a
was of course
'.s
who had been sent to reconnoitre, returned with the infoiTnation that
enemy had left the rear of the grove without any guard A strong detach-
sergeant,
the
ment was immediately despatched towards the enemy's
Clive himself accompanied
rear
by a long
half-way, and returned only in time to find the
it
troops he had left in the water-course on the point of giving way.
with some difficulty in rallying them, and had renewed the
completely successful.
who had crowded
fled
without firing another
Among
all
at
shot.
The panic was instantan-
Many
of the
Frenchmen
and
the immediate fruits of the victory were nine
coehorn mortars, and the surrender of the fort of Cover}'pauk.
Clive continued his march to Arcot, and
lore, in
when
into a choultry in the grove gladly accepted of quarter,
became prisoners of war.
field-pieces, three
fight,
succeeded
fire.
a general volley at the distance of only thirty yards.
and the enemy
He
The attack on the rear had been
The detachment reached the grove unperceived, and gave
once the enemy's artillery ceased to
eous,
circuit.
was next day on
his
way
to Vel-
the hopes of inducing Mortiz Ali to piy a contribution, or at least deliver
up the elephants and baggage which Rajah Saliib had deposited with him, when
he received an order to repair with
it
A
of Dupi^rx.^
Jung had
memorate the very detestable action
a city under the
its
name
David, from which
tice,
was
as well as sound policy,
to
by
his route lay tlirough a country
Mahomed
was
Ali,
offered.
who
mainly by Clive's
sixty miles long
whic'.i
pompous
centre a column, with a
obstruction
lost his life,
to com-
he heralded as a victory, had foimded
inscription in French, Persian,
have been
levelling the
still
erected.
Clive did an act of jus-
whole with the ground.
Though
Their spirits and their force were equally broken
exploits,
and
nominally in the hands of the enemy, no
lately did not possess
by
and where Dupleix,
of Dupleix- Fateabad, or the City of Dupleix's Victory.
several Indian languages,
^
St.
In marcliiug south across the country in obedience to this order, he
passed the spot where Nazir
In
Fort
was determined to despatch him, in command of a reinforcement, to Trichino-
poly.
memorial
all his force to
;
and
any spot north of the Coleroon, was,
put in virtual possession, as nabob, of a territory
thirty broad,
and yielding an annual revenue of £150,000.
Three days after Clive's arrival at Fort
St.
David, Major Lawrence returned
from England and again assumed the chief military command.
SIEGE OF TRICHINOPOLY.
Chap. VI.]
CHAPTER
471
VI.
—Anival of Major Lawrence with a reinforcement— Mahomed
— Discontent of his
— Attempts of the French to recover their
for England — Successes of Major Lawrence — New intrigues of Dupleix.
Continuation of the siege of Trichinopoly
All's tortuous proceedings
ground
—Clive
sails
lost
allies
^SSp^.^^S!vs^ ^^-^^ Clive was gaining
I,
'W 1^ !^||;
!
|a
SBpy
''
:
l^j^r^
i'
'
.^^W^^
'^
of the siege
fell
Chunda
successes in Arcot,
I^ahib continued to beleaguer Trichinopoly.
V ^f|' den
A,
:
his
The
chief bur-
upon the French, who, having obtained
train of battering artillery
from their settlement of Carrical,
!^?!^*?^y?^'^^ erected their principal battery at the distance of
1
200 yards
Their head-quai"ters were fixed at
fiuni the iiorLli-ea-st angle
of the fortress.
^
eastwiird, near the south
save the trouble of connecting
them by
bank of the Cauvery
;
and
sieg« »f
Trichino-
.
some distance
a.d. ivsi.
in order to
iK.iy
con
trenches, they converted the battery into
by inclosing the flanks and rear with a parapet and a ditch.
The battery was mounted with three eighteen-pounders and three mortai-s and
a regular redoubt
;
on a rock, afterwards
known
as the
French Rock, situated nearly due south of
two
the battery and about 2000 yards from the south-east angle of the fortress,
eighteen-pounders were placed.
Two
gims were also posted on the north bank
of the Cauvery, within the island of Seringham, opposite to the northern gate.
These arrangements indicated a great lack of engineering
both of the two gun-batteries were far too distant to
skill
and
make any
enter[)rise, as
impression on
Accordingly, after they had continued for several days wasting their
the walls.
ammunition to no purpose, the troops under Captain Gingen not only got
of their former fears, but ran to the opposite extreme,
alh)wing them to be foolhardy.
was now necessary
excessive,
and blamed him
All his caution, though
to
it
rid
for not
had formerly been
prevent them from exposing themselves to
disaster.
To meet
the enemy's attack the defenders raised up a glacis, leaving nothing
A
.
but the parapet of the wall
visible, ojiposite to
the principal battery, flung up
an entrenchment opposite to the French Rock, and mounted two guns
close to
the south bank of the Cauvery, to answer those on the opposite side in the
island of
any
Ali,
Senngham.
A
now kept up on both
sides
without
Mahomed
whose resources were much more limited than those of the
besiegers.
The time wasted, however, began
Besides maintaining his
troops.
k
constant firing was
to tell severely against
result.
own
troops he
was expected
to subsidize the
Company's
This he feared would soon become impossible, and the consequence
might be that these troops would withdraw and leave him
naturally, therefore, he looked about for
Nature
^^ the de-
•
new
allies,
to his fate.
and found one
Very
in My.sore,
fences.
172
AD,
1751.
lllSTOIiY
then the most powerful of the neighbouring
an
infant,
INDIA.
OF'^
Its sfjvereign
states.
and the whole power was concentrated
dalaway or
regent,
who
was at
hands of
in the
this time
his uncle, the
Mahomed Ali the more readily from the deep
Chunda Sahib. At the same time, while gratifying his
listened to
hatred which he bore to
hatred, he did not forget
very extravagant
[Book HI.
liis
He was
rate.
and
interest,
sold the promise of his assistance at a
not long, however, in beginning to
fulfil
In
it.
the beginning of October, 1751, a party of horsemen arrived from Seringapatam,
Their number was only seventy, but they brought with
the capital of Mysore.
them what was of more consequence,
in the .shape of a subsidy of 500, OOO
rupees (£50,000).
An
This was
auxiliary
force
from
Mysore.
•
<»
a foretastc of the aid about to be furnished by the dalaway,
oiily
i
i
for in the latter
i
about forty-five miles
own
troops, hired a
Row.
We
tit
-\t
r»
t
/'i
i
end of November he began to assemble an army at
W. N.W.
body
of Trichinopoly
;
Caro(jr,
and, not contented with his
command
of GOOO Mahrattas, under the
of Moraii
have already seen 1000 of these mercenaries, under Basin Row,
A
co-operating with Clive in Arcot.
pai-ty of
500 sent to Trichinopoly
guished themselves as soon as they arrived by their activity
;
distin-
and both by the
boldness of their charges, and their cunning devices in laying ambuscades, cut
off
a considerable number of the enemy.
were eager
for a general
Unduly
elated
by
tliis
success,
they
engagement, and on finding the English indisposed to
risk
it,
told them,
"they were not the same kind of
men they had seen fighting so gallantly at Arcot."
Mahomed Ali s prospects now began to brighten,
some frivolous
for after
consisting of 12,000
Mahrattas,
ariived
delays, the
of
horse,
Mysore army,
whom
4000 were
by Morari Row, and 8000 foot,
Trichinopoly.
The numbers appear
led
at
much more formidable on paper than they were
reality, for at this
in
time the Mysorean troops were
cowardly and undisciplined.
Independently, how-
ever, of their actual value,
they had indirectly a
powerful influence in inducing other neighbom'ing
states to join the
of Tanjore,
same
who had
side;
and hence the King
hitherto professed neutrality,
no sooner learned the arrival of the Mysorean army
than he declared in favour of
Polygar
'
— From Sir
S.
R. Meyrick's
Ancient Armour.
sent
him an
and 2000
Mahomed
Ali,
and
auxiliary force, consisting of 3000 horse
foot,
under the command of his general
The Polygar Tondeman, whose country is Tanjore and Madiu-a,
The army
espoused the same side, and sent a considerable reinforcement.
Monacjee.
also
'
"The Polygars derived their name from inhabiting the pollams or woods in the soutliern parts of
Hindoostan, and appear to have taken their rise from
municipal regulations relative to the destruction of
tigers and other ferocious beasts."— Meyrick's Illustrations of Ancient Arms and Armour.
SIEGE OF TRICHINOPOLY.
Chap. VI.]
of
Mahomed
Ali
now amounted
to 20,000 horse
Sahib, increased from diffei'ent quarters,
the
was
and 20,000
now
When
Chimda
So
cowardice.
1752.
cavalry.
much
was
difficulty in resisting
Eagemeasof
troops.
he announced his determination to wait for the rein-
forcement which was expected from the presidency, several of the native
and scrupled not
lost all patience,
ad.
had exactly
their other confederates for action
greatly increased, and Captain Gingen liad
their importunity.
foot; that of
little inferior, since it
same number of foot, and was only 5000 weaker in
The urgency of the Mahrattas and
473
officers
to stigmatize his so-called caution as
mere
was Nusheraj, the Mysorean commander, that
dissatisfied, indeed,
he was more than once on the point of returning home with his army, and was
only appeased
when
the revenues of
were made over to Mysore.
with
tlie
all
the districts recovered since his arrival
Morari Row, equally offended, said
characteristic duplicit}' of his coimtrymen,
but acted
less,
by entering
into a secret
correspondence with the enemy.
The reinforcement commanded by Major Lawrence, abh'' seconded by
Captain Clive, was now on its way. It consisted of 400 Europeans and 1100
sepoys, with eight
Both armies, aware of the
military stores.
operations,
and was cumbered with a large quantity of
field-pieces,
were equally on the
other to intercept
On
it.
effect
which
the 26th of March
it
might
iiave
on future
its safe arrival,
and the
arrived at a fort of the
King of
the one to secure
alert,
it
Tanjore, within twenty miles of Trichinopoly, and there deposited such of the
stores as
M. Law, the commander of the French
were most cumbersome.
battalion, acting not
merely on his own judgment, but by special
from Dupleix, was determined not to allow
to effect a capture.
was
The
first
struggle
in possession of the French,
it
to pass
commenced
who had
instruction.s
without a strenuous
effort
at the fort of Coilady.
It
here posted a strong body with artil-
Major Lawrence, anxious to avoid the danger, ordered his guides to look
lery.
out for another road.
error
was
Instead of doing so they led him to the very spot.
discovered
fii'st
by the
fire
The
of six pieces of cannon from the opposite
side of the Cauvery.
Great wjis the confusion, but both by good fortune and
good management the
loss sustained
left,
was soon beyond the enemy's
On advancing
was
reach.
small,
A
and the
more
line,
by diverging
to the
serious contest wiis at hand.
towards Ehmiserum, a rock cro"\vned with a
fortified
pagoda, five
miles south-east of Trichinopoly, Major La^vrence learned that the greater part
of the enemy's
army was drawn up
in battle array
between
it
and the French
Rock, while the remainder occupied the space between this rock and the village
of
ChukleypoUam, on the south bank of the Cauvery.
apparent.
Had
He
satisfaction of being
by 200 Europeans and 400 sepoys under Captain Dalton, and
part of
Mahomed
I.
was very
therefore passed to the soiith,
and had only proceeded a short way, when he had the
Vol.
object
the major attempted to pass to the north of Elimiserum he
could scarcely have escaped being sun-ounded.
joined
The
All's
the greater
army.
60
Reinforce-
ment under
Lawrence
HISTORY OF INDIA.
474
A
I),
Scarcely
I7r,2.
an
lialf
Ihjui-
when the scouts came in
army was advancing.
Attempt
to
[Book
had been spent by the troops
at full speed to
III.
taking refreshment
in
announce that the whole of the enemy's
Clive, sent out to reconnoitre, observed that
a large
choultry with some stone buildings in front of the French battalion remained
iMtei'CB])t
the
roiii-
unoccupied, and
was ordered forward
forcemuiit.
by the
artillery, supj)oi-ted
though aware of their
as fast as possible with the first diviwion of
grenadiers, to take
possession of
The enemy,
it.
object, did not attem])t to outstrip them, as
they might and
ought to have done, and contented themselves with oj)ening a cannonade.
It
was
the hottest that had yet taken place in India, the French filing from twenty-two
pieces,
and the
Engli.sh
The
from nine.
latter,
though much fewer, did more
execution, because the English not actually serving the guas were sheltered
the choultry and
while the French stood exposed in the open
its buildings,
This advantage soon told
plain.
back their
artillery,
by
;
and the enemy beginning
and then commenced a general
to waver, first
retreat.
Had
drew
the native
troops on the English side done their part a decided victory might have been
had remained almost
gained, but they
batants, but
mere
This
spectators.
is
had been not com-
inactive, as if they
said to have been owing, not to
any want
by Morari Row, whose intrigue with the
enemy was now so far advanced that he was unwilling to act against them
Though from this cause the enemy escaped with a comparatively small loss, an
of bravery, but to the bad example set
important object had been gained; for the reinforcement, no longer inteiTupted
in its progress, arrived in the course of
Major Lawrence, not to allow the enemy to recover from the terror
Activity of
Major
Law
reiice.
the evening at Trichinopoly.
by
immediate
their defeat, proposed
but met with so
many
obstructions
whose notions of fortunate and unfortunate days often induced
from
his allies,
them
to sacrifice their
something with his
surprise
action,
in.spu-ed
Chunda
most favourable opportunities, that he resolved
own
troops on his
own
to attempt
His object was to
responsibility.
Sahib's camp, which lay to the east of that of the French, and
had no enti'enchments.
400 men, with orders to
With
make
east side of the camp, beat
guides the expedition
failed,
it
this
view he despatched Captain Dalton with
a long circuit,
up,
and
and commence
set fire to
Owing
it.
but the mere fact of
its
liis
attack on the
to a blunder of the
having been attempted so
alarmed the French commander that nothing would satisfy him but a retreat to
Alarm of the
Chunda Sahib remonstrated, but M. Law
the island of Seringham.
French.
and with
point,
so
much
precipitation, that a part of the
magazines of provisions were
set
prevent the danger of capture.
By
retiring
up in an
island,
fire,
baggage and whole
to save the difficulty of transport or
The whole
beyond the Cauvery the
I'emain cooped
plies,
on
carried his
siege
pi'oceeding looks like infatuation
was truly
at
an end.
Why
then
with the certainty of being soon pressed for sup-
and the probability of being excluded from the possibiHty of
egress'?
The
only plausible account which has been given of the enemy's withdrawal to the
island
is,
that
"
they were afraid to
fight,
and ashamed
to retreat."
The
COMMAND OF
I'LIVE IN
Chap. VI.
Englisli Eiist India
Company, while naturally encoiiraged and
the favoiu-able tiu'n which affairs
seemed
fore
even at some risk of
justifiable,
elated
had taken, were suffering severely in
by the length and expensiveness of the war
mercantile interest
47")
A DIVISION.
failure, to
;
and
by
ad.
1752.
their
there-
it
adopt any plan which
CHveincomniand of a
l^romised to bring
it
plan Wits suggested
with the
by
least delay to
and adopted by Major Lawrence.
Olive,
Such a
a successful termination.
It
was
aiviBim.
to
form the army into two divisions; and while retaining the one south of the
Cauvery, to send the other to the north of the Coleroon.
Hazardous
it
certainly
was, for the defeat of one division almost necessarily involved the destruction of
A
To whom was the command of the northern
divisi(m to be intrusted?
Major Lawrence was anxious to appoint Clive, but
several of the officers as his seniors had a prior claim.
The Mahrattas and
Mysoreans removed the difficulty, by declaring that they would not allow any
both.
of their troops to
He was
remained.
difti(;ulty
accompany the expedition unless Clive had the command of
accordingly appointed, and after arranging to choose a central position
between the Coleroon and the
straits of Ootatoor, so as to
forced mcU"ch of Trichinopoly, set out
two battering cannon, and
of the Coleroon
on the 6th of
be always within a
April, 1752, with
400 Euro-
3000 Mahrattas commanded by Innis Khan, 1000 Tanjorine
peans, 700 sepoys,
horse,
it.
by
six field-pieces.
crossing the island of
Having reached the north bank
Seringham three miles east of the
pagoda of Jumbakistna, he marched north seven miles and took possession of the
village of
Samiaveram, with
its
two pagodas, one on each
side of the highroad
leading to Ootatoor.
army
Dupleix, alarmed at the critical position into which thuiula Sahib's
had been brought by M.
Laws
injudicious retreat into the island of Seringham,
sent M. d'Auteuil to supersede him.
500 sepoys, with four
Olive,
field-pieces,
He was
accompanied by 120 Europeans,
and a large convoy of provisions and
stores.
on learning his arrival at Ootatoor, and intention to avoid Samiaveram,
by making a large
to intercept him.
circuit to the west, set out
with
miavernm.
tiie
greater part of his force
M. d'Auteuil, informed of this movement, hastened back to
Ootatoor, and Clive retraced his steps to Samiaveram.
Olive's departure
and not of
M. Law, who knew of
his return, sent a party of eighty
Europeans and
700 sepoys to attack Samiaveram, and make an easy piize of the few troops
who had been
left in
it.
They arrived
in the vicinity at midnight,
and were
informed by a spy of the return of the force sent against M. d'Auteuil.
commanding
On
officer refused to believe
it,
and pushed forward with
his
The
men.
being challenged by the advanced guard of the English sepoys, an Irishman,
who was
in
command
of a
body of
deserters, stepped out
Major La^vrence had sent him with a reinforcement.
The
and told them that
sepoys, hearing
some
of the other deserters speaking English, were so fully satisfied, that they never
thought of asking the counter- word, and even sent one of their number to conduct them to head-quarter.s.
Affair of sa-
Thus guided, they passed without interruption
HISTORY OF INDIA.
476
A.D.
i:ry2.
through part of the Mahratta camp, and reached the lesser pagoda.
were challenged by the
was sleeping
his
cuTe'B nar-
row
[Book
own
sentinels,
and an.swered by
firing
a volley.
Here
tliey
Clive,
who
in a neighbouring choultry, started up, and, imagining that
sepoys
who were
III.
was
it
consequence of some alarm on the outskirts,
firing in
hastened off to the larger pagoda for a Vjody of Europeans, and returned with
escape.
200 of them to the choultry, when he was confirmed in his
finding a large body of sepoys
drawn up
might be supposed to have come, and
first
facing the south, from which
Never
random.
firing at
by
impre.ssion
any alarm
doul.»ting that
own men, he left his Europeans twenty yards in tlieir rear, and
went in among them, upbraiding them for their panic.
His voice betrayed
him to one of the sepoys, who instantly attacked him with his sword, and
wounded him in two places. Clive immediately encountered his assailant, who
they were his
took to his heels and ran off for the lesser pagoda.
Still
unconscious of his mis-
and enraged that he should thus have been attacked by one of
take,
men, he followed in pursuit, and
by
accosted
six
learned the real state of matters
first
With
Frenchmen.
own
his
by being
singular presence of mind, he at once
recovered from his surprise, and with gi-eat compo.sure told the Frenchmen he
had come to
how
see
offer
them
same time bidding them look round and
completely the pagoda was surrounded by his army.
Frenchmen went back
the offer of quarter
him
terms, at the
;
to the choultry,
into the
Three of the
pagoda to acquaint their coimtr^Tnen with
the other three actually gave up their arms and followed
where he took the necessary steps
to rid the
camp
of
intruders,
to^cii^^^"
The pagoda, desperately
de-
fended by the French and the English deserters, remained in their hands
till
Olive's personal dangers
daybreak.
were not yet
As the only chance
over.
of escape, a sally
Clive, anxious to save further bloodshed,
was attempted.
advanced to parley.
It failed
Weak
loss of
blood and fatigue, he was standing with his back towards
porch,
and leaning in a stooping posture on the shoulders of two
tlie
;
and
with the
wall of the
sergeants,
when
the Irish deserter, probably aware that whatever terais were made, he could
have no hope of mercy, insolently advanced, and telling Clive that he woxild
shoot him, fired his musket.
bodies of both the sergeants,
The
who
bullet missed him, but passed through the
fell
mortally wounded.
The escape looks
like
commencement of the
The very first volley
alarm, he had had another escape scarcely less wonderful.
which started him from his sleep, shattered a box under his feet, and killed a
a miracle.
servant
It
was
who was
afterwai-ds discovered that, at the very
lying close to him.
Three hairbreadth escapes in a single day
desperado's deadly
—the midnight voUey—the sepoy's sword—and the
aim —make
Providence was watching over
impossible to doubt that a
Irish
it
special
him and reserving him for great events. The 700 sepoys who had entered the
camp, managed to quit it again during the confusion, and were hastening back
to the Coleroon, when the Mahrattas were obsei'ved in full pursuit.
They
J
;;
FRENCH REVERSES.
Chai>. VI.
down
attempted to escape by throwing
vain
every
;
The
man
of
them
position of the
477
arms and
their
dispersing.
was
It
in
ad
1752,
perished.
two armies was now
The
reversed.
besiegers
saw them-
f»<^i'c1i
rovereea.
and in danger of being starved
selves besieged
M. d'Auteuil; but
this
hope soon
Their great hope was in
out.
failed them,
for that officer, despairing not
only of reaching Seringham, but of maintaining his position at Ootatoor,
a rapid retreat to Volconda, after sacrificing a large quantity of his
and the dangers which threatened on every
loss,
officers to
side,
made
This
stores.
determined Chunda Sahib's
execute a design which they had for some time contemplated.
proaching him in a body, they announced their determination to quit
Apser-
liis
Instead of upbraiding them, he told them that they had only antici})ated
vice.
He was
a similar proposal from himself
unable to pay their
ari'ears,
but assm*ed
them that they would not be forgotten should better fortune again attend him
and gave the best proof of his sincerity by making over to them at a valuation
the greater part of his elephants, camels, horses, and other military
Some
of the troops thus set free returned
Very few went over
Mysoreans.
home
Mahomed
to
with only 2000 horse and 3000
The French
ham.
As
who were
;
but Clive, at Samiaveram,
Chunda Sahib was
sepoys.
with 2000 sepoys, shut themselves up in the pagoda
their only hope, they
still
to defend themselves to the last
kept then- eyes tm'ned towards M.
d'Auteuil, who, on his part, so far from being able to bring
own
entu'ely occupied with his
left
lodged in the pagoda of Sering-
and gave out that they meant
of Jumbakistna,
extremity.
battalion,
foot,
others took service with the
;
Ali
was joined by 2000 of the best horse and 1500
effects.
difficulties.
them
was
succour,
After various movements, which
only entangled him more and more, he was cooped up by Clive in the fort of
Volconda, and obliged to come to
fact,
100,
;
but
its
importance
who had
have been any occasion
when we
perceived
deserters should
sun-euder of
for
learn the astounding
deserted.
of M. d'Auteuil left the French in
least prospect of relief
Preparatory to a
that an attempt should be
was aware that
in the
into the
to secure the escape of
to
power of Mahomed
Ali,
who was
was
him a passage through their
Mahrattas, but they would sell him
liaries to
allow
soreans, but they
was thought
Chunda
desirable
Sahib.
M.
Law
be turned to good account
have been sincerely desirous not to
of escape which seemed practicable
— the
still
jillow
him
to
known to be thmsting for
now watched, that the on!}-
well
So completely, however, was the island
life.
mode
made
Seringham without the
cai)itxilation, it
hands of Dupleix he might
and he appears, moreover,
of
is
was that
number of Europeans under M. d'Auteuil was only
no fewer than thirty-five, more than one-third of the whole, were English
The surrender
his
of these
that though the whole
soldiers
fall
One
It seems strange that there should
be pardoned.
such a clause
term.s.
to bribe
some of the native auxi-
quarters.
Several were thought
to the highest bidder
would employ him as a hostage
—the
My-
to obtain the performance of
a.iuuu
.sa
tateiiesuiiw.
iya
A.D. 1752.
IlLSTOltY
[Book
which Maliomed Ali had made to them
promises
the
OF INDIA.
—and
the TanjorineH,
but they bore him an old grudge, and would be willing to take an
of avenging
was known, however,
It
it.
tiiat Monjicjee,
III.
oj)[)ortunity
the Tanjorine com-
mander, was at variance with the [)rime minister, and might in consequence be
To
induced to piu-sue a separate interest.
He
made.
liim,
therefore, the overture
wuh
gave his consent readily, and received a large sum of money in
much
hand, with the promise of
more, and almost any advantage for which he
The bargain was thus concluded, and nothing remained but
the time of Chunda Sahib's departure, when, on the 31st of May, on the
chose to stipulate.
to fix
cannon from Devicotta, Major Lawrence summoned M.
arrival of battering
Law
tage of the
now
Monacjee,
to surrender.
summons
to urge
pretending zealous friendship, took advan-
Chunda Sahib
come over that very
to
night,
and
him that every hour's delay added greatly to his risk. Some saspicion
of treachery was felt, and Monacjee was asked for a considerable hostage.
He
answered with great calmness, that if treachery was meant, no hostage could
assm-ed
prevent
it,
and
that,
moreover, the mere giving of a hostage would be equiva-
lent to a divulging of the
whole
He boimd
secret.
on his sword and poniard, the most sacred of
to send off
Chunda Sahib
of horse to Carrical.
by an oath
obligations to an Indian soldier,
all
came
as soon as he
himself, however,
an
into his quarters, with
escort
All this had taken place at an interview with M. Law,
by a Tanjorine officer who told him
he was to command the escort, and showed him the palanquin and other preparations for the journey.
Chunda Sahib, who was waiting to hear the result
of the interview, immediately placed himself in the power of Monacjee, whose
first use of it was to put him in irons.
whose suspicions were
further lulled
M. Law, after concludiuff the arrangement
Surrender vi
the French
force at
still
.
.
arms, had no alternative for himself
for his unfortunate colleague in
He was
absolutely at the mercy of his
and had no hope except in the moderation of Major Lawrence.
antagonists,
The French, he said, were not at war with the English and now that Chunda
Sahib was a prisoner, and his army dispersed, he expected to be treated not as
an enemy, but as the representative of a friendly power, and assisted to return
;
in safety with his
army
to the
Major Lawrence replied
French settlements.
that he acted only as the interpreter of the intentions of
justified the
Mahomed
Ali,
and
terms which he proposed to exact by producing a letter in which
Dupleix declared that he would never cease to pui-sue him while a Frenchman
remained in India.
tion
;
hoiu",
The
first
summons
Law was
to surrender at discre-
a second, in more peremptory terms, demanded a decisive answer by a fixed
and added
that, if the batteries once
pagoda should be put to the sword.
M.
to M.
Law
resigned himself to his
The whole
force
under
his
fate,
began to
Ultimately,
all
play, every
man
in the
evasions proving vain,
and made an unconditional
suri'ender.
command, and which thus became prisoners of war,
consisted of a battalion of 820 Europeans
and 2000
sepoys.
Their artillery were
CiiAP. A'
MAHOMED ALL
1.1
479
eleven battering cannon, mostly eighteen -pounder-s, twenty field - pieces, four
and two petards; they had
thirteen-inch mortars,
ammunition,
stores,
and
carriages of all descriptions
within the pagoda of Ser-
were
inghani
allowed
also a
a.d. 1752
quantity of
large
The native horse and
foot
^
to
depart without molestation
They
embraced the
all
except
1 ()()()
offer
Rajpoots, who,
having vowed to defend the
sanctity of the pagoda, kejit
their
station,
and threat-
ened death to any one
should dare
penetrate
to
beyond the third
It
to
who
inclosure.
was deemed unnecessary
disturb them.
The onh-
point
still
to be decided
Chunda
the fate of
He was
still
^ii.—
Oatkwav ok
was
.
A-*'---:
—
From FergTisson's
rA(;oi>A Ai StiuiNCiHAM.
Ancient Architecture of Uindootttnn,
Sahib.
who
the prisoner of Monacjee,
to part with him.
t
held him as his prize and refused cmeifateof
Major La\vi'ence proposed
his safe custody in one of the aawb.
English settlements; but the confederates were unanimous in rejecting this
])roposal.
They were, however,
far
from being agreed as to any
and
othei',
Monacjee began to suspect that his prisoner would eventually give him more
trouble than profit.
were
all
The Dalaway of Mysore, Mahomed
equally bent on securing possession of his person
;
Ali,
and Morari
and
it
to gratify one of tiiem without offending the other two.
was impossible
In these circum-
stances Monacjee took the com"se which his savage nature dictated,
himself of further importunity on the subject of
to death.
Mahomed
Ali,
in reality as well as in
No
now
in future
and
rid
Chunda Sahib by putting him
freed from a rival in the Carnatic,
name, and will
Row
became nabob
be mentioned under that
title.
sooner was the surrender of the French completed than Major Lawrence
urged the nabob to lose no time in proceeding into the Carnatic at the head of
the confederate army.
The soundness of
his advice
was
readily admitted
the nabob lingered and betrayed a mysterious backwardness to move.
Lawi'ence had no idea of the cause,
;
still
Major
by refusing
to move until Trichinopoly and its dependencies were yielded up to him as the
stipulated recompense of his services.
The secret had been well kept; but now,
when
the Mysorean explained
till
dissimulation could no longer avail, the nabob,
subject, readily
admitted that he had promised
This ought to have settled the question
;
when questioned on
which the Mysorean
the
jisked.
and be the consequences what they
might, the only honest coui-se was to
fulfil
was farther from the nabob's
and
intention,
all
it
the promise.
it
was easy
Nothing, however,
to devise plausible pre-
Miihomed
ous poUcy.
IILSTOHY OF INDIA.
4-80
A. D. 1752.
Trichinopoly wa« not his;
texts for evading the obligation.
Great Mogul
[Book
it
belonged
he was only viceroy, and might be recalled at pleasure
;
sorean,
when he took advantage
known
that
was not
it
in his
of his distres-s to extort the promi.se,
power
to perform
it
;
the
t^j
the
;
III.
My-
must have
to give up Trichinf>poly to
an Indian king would only be to involve himself and the British as his
allies in
a war with the whole Mogul empire.
Mahomed
j^
would be
which ensued, and
uselcss to explain the negotiations
pctodby
cunning tricks which the parties employed to outwit each
the Com-
.
,,aiiy.
important point
detail the
The most
other.
.
.
that the Company, while recommending mutual concession,
is
agreed to stand by the nabob, and so far to .support him in his injustice by
mating to the Mysorean, that
The
effect
By
keep.
inti-
he had recourse to force they would repel
it.
up a hollow agreement, which neither party meant
to
if
was
to patch
this
agreement the dalaway was put in
posse-ssion of the
revenues of
the island of Seringham and some other districts, and promised the possession
two months
of Trichinopoly in
all liis force in
;
in return he engaged to assist the
agreement, the Mysorean was asked to march, he
no doubt as to
as left
his intentions.
them, Captain Dalton was
left in
made
As the most
many
so
effectual
in terms of this
frivolous excuses
means
of frustrating
Trichinopoly with 200 Europeans and 1500
This measure was doubtless necessary, since the Mysoreans and Mah-
sepoys.
rattas
When,
the complete reduction of the nabobship.
nabob with
still
encampment
retained their old
in the vicinity
;
but
it
greatly reduced
the strength of the expedition intended for the Camatic, reducing the
pany's battahon to 500
men and 2500
sepoys, while the
accompany them with more than 2000
horse.
number would
scarcely
have
sufficed.
The
nabob was unable
to
Such was the whole army which
on the 28th of June, to accomplish objects
set out
Com-
first
for
which ten times their
place of importance which they
reached was Volconda, the governor of which, though he refused to deliver up
Proceeding's
uatic.
the
fort,
took
tlic
oath of allegiance to
paying 80,000 rupees as
revenue in future.
Khan, with 1000
arrears,
Mahomed
gave security
From Volconda
Ali, as
nabob, and, besides
for the regular
payment
of the
the nabob sent his brother,
Abdul Wahab
him deputy-governor
of the districts
horse, to Arcot, appointing
north of the Paliar, and proceeded with the rest of the troops to Trivadi, about
To thie settlement, now no longer the
of government, which had been again removed to Madras, Major Lawrence
seventeen miles west of Fort
seat
St.
David
repaired for the recovery of his health, leaving the
The
reverses sustained
tion at Pondicherry.
new
to Captain Gingen.
the French in the south produced great consterna-
These, however, were
of M. Bussy in the north.
the
by
command
somewhat balanced by the
successes
After the death of MuzzufFer Jung, Salabut Jung,
soubahdar, appointed by Bussy's influence, proceeded with him for
Jung had fallen, and barbarously revenged the act by massacring a large number of the inhabitants,
storming the fort, and putting the gan-ison to the sword. They then crossed
Karnool,
by the hand
of whose chief Muzzuffer
TRANSACTIONS IN THE DECCAN.
Chap. VI.]
the ICistna, and continued their
But a
was
serious obstruction
march northward
to be
in the direction of Golconda.
removed before they could
the eldest son of Nizam-ul-iloolk, had never, as
u-din,
renounced his claim to the soubahship, and was
secure
With
it.
view he had formed an
this
Vil
now
reacli
was
falsely alleged,
taking active steps to
alliance with the Peisliwa Balajee
stood ready with 25,000 Mahrattas to dispute Salabut Jung's
further progress.
Negotiation was attempted, and the Peishwa, aware that his
])resence
The
was urgently
rec^uired at Sattarah,
made no
Tlie
now
claimant.
scruple of changing sides.
obstacle being thus removed, Salabut Jung, accompanied
as his protector than his protdg^,
1752,
Gliazi-
it.
who
Bajee Rao,
a.d
by Bussy, more
made a triumpliant entrance
into Golconda.
Ghazi-u-din had, in the meantime, set out from Delhi, and an-ived at Aurun-
now
gabad, which
it
in importance,
vied with
and was
re-
garded as the capital of the
Deccan.
As
negotiation could
not here avail, another device
equally
wa.s
characteristic
adopted, and Ghazi-u-din was
cut off
by
poison.
The
deatli
of the chief was, as usual,
fol
lowed by the dispersion of
hi.s
mnv
army, and Salabut Jung,
left
without a rivd, took his
seat
on the iiiusnud at Au.\i'KUS(iAB.\i>.
rungabad,
amid general
joicings.
At such a
— Krom Grinillay's Scenery,
&c., of India.
re-
season Bussy could obtain anything he chose to ask;
The French
influence
and, besides
receiving
large
pecuniary presents to himself and his
officers,
an-anged for the future payment of his troops at a very extravagant
but Jung.
rate.
Dupleix also displayed the extent of his authority by disposing of the nabobship of Arcot, as if
it
had been
own
his
absolute property.
claimed himself nabob, next he laid aside the
Sahib,
Chunda
Sahib's son
supplied, he set aside this
it
for
money
two atrocious
sum
;
and when
appointment
to Mortiz Ali.
title
and conferred
on Reza
exhausted treasury required to be
also,
and made an attempt to dispose of
This man,
was formally
it
his
who had
already sealed his infamy by
miu-ders, grasped eagerly at the honour,
of about £80,000,
he pro-
First,
and
after
installed at Pondicherry.
advancing a
While
there,
however, having become acquainted ^\^th the views which Dupleix had upon
his treasures, he repented of his bargain, and.
without explaining his intentions,
made a precipitate return to his fortress at Vellore.
Though greatly hampered by the state of his pecuniary resom'ces, Dupleix
contended manfully with fortune, and was soon able to throw serious obstacles
In this he was greatly aided by the misconduct of
in Mahomed All's way.
Vol.
1.
61
witli Sala-
482
AD.
1752.
HISTORY OK INDIA.
at-
tempt
to
capture
III.
the nabob himself, whose dislionesty witli regard to the cession of Trichinopoly
had begun
A rash
[Book
While the larger part of
to tell strongly against him.
his force
was
detained there to counteract the intrigues of the Mysoreans and Mahrattas,
_
_
_
scarccly a chief in the
circumstances
it
Camatic voluntarily declared
In these
in his favour.
seemed desirable to strike some decisive blow which might at
once raise the sinking spirits of his followers and intimidate his enemies.
scheme
it,
and paid a
visit to
Madras
dency from entertaining the proposal
it
Major Lawrence strongly disap-
wfis to effect the capture of Gingee.
proved of
Hia
for the purpose of dissuading the presi-
His influence, however, proved
less
than
ought to have been; and on the 23d of July, 1752, the nabob's application
assistance
was complied with, by sending, under Major Kinneir, who had
for
lately
arrived from England, a detachment of 200 Europeans and 1500 sepoys, accom-
panied by GOO native cavalry, on this formidable enterprise.
was
easily traversed,
but on reaching the mountains
For ten miles round, Gingee
selves at every step.
and
accessible only
by a few strong
passes.
When
is
presented them-
whole march hitherto had been labour in vain.
it
David, had not been waited
alert,
and the whole
soon appeared that the
The governor, when summoned,
means of compelling him,
unaccountable blunder, two pieces of battering cannon, on the
St.
by mountains,
encircled
for this purpose,
Gingee was reached,
refused to surrender, and there were no
difficulties
These the invading force ought to
have secured, but no troops could be spared
continued to advance.
The low country
for,
by a very
way from
Fort
Meanwhile Dupleix, who had been on the
for.
no sooner learned that the expedition had passed the mountains than he
detached 300 Europeans and 500 sepoys, with seven
field-pieces,
who took up
a
strong position at Vicravandi, near the pass through which Major Kinneir had
led his troops.
was
No
longer dreaming of the capture of Gingee, his object
to disentangle himself
He had
now
the good fortune to succeed, and having
not only got clear of the mountains, but been reinforced by above 1000 of the
He had
nabob's horse, determined to give battle.
cost,
and sustained a defeat in which the
loss
not properly counted the
was not
so great as the disgrace,
way under panic.
who, now mustering
the whole troops, not excepting the Europeans, having given
Elated by this success, Dupleix reinforced the victors,
Dupleix captures a com-
pany of
iss
450 Europeans, 1500 sepoys, and 500
mer-
cenanes.
^^
^j^^
territory of Fort St. David.
Trivadi, retired
still
further,
horse,
encamped near the north boundary
The Company's
troops, after retreating to
and took up a position at a redoubt in the boiuid
Here they remained inactive, waiting
the arrival of two companies of Swiss of 100 men each, who had just arrived at
Madras from England. To avoid delay, one of the companies was embarked in
hedge, about three miles west of the
fort.
the light boats of the country, and were proceeding for Fort St. David
It
had been assumed that on that element Dupleix would not venture to
by
sea.
violate
The mistake was discovered when too late, for as soon as
they were seen from Pondicherry, a ship set out and made them all prisoners.
English colours.
DUPLEIX DEFEATED AT BAHOOR.
Chap. VI.J
483
The capture was loudly complained of, as a violation of the peace subsisting
between Great Britain and France, but Dupleix thought he had a sufficient
a.d. 1752.
precedent in the capture of French troops at Seringham.
To avoid a repetition of the loss. Major Lawrence embarked with the other
company of Swiss in one of the Company's ships, and brought them safely to
Fort St. David, on the 16th of August. The next day he took command of the
whole
force, consisting
of 400 Europeans,
1
700 sepoys, and 4000 of the nabob's
The enemy immediately drew back
troops.
to Bahoor,
and when
encamped between the bound hedge of Pondicherry and
became
their
advanced
post.
From
they were soon
this
Battle of
still
Villenore,
pursued,
which thus
but here the
di'iven,
pursuit ended, because Major Lawrence, under instructions from the presidency,
which, amidst overt acts of war,
from passing the bound hedge.
them
attem])t to bring
had
clumsy though
it
In this state of matters he determined, as a
to action, to pretend a precij)itate retreat
become
in his retm'n
clung to a semblance of peace, refrained
still
hastened back to Bahoor.
afraid,
and, as
;
last
if
he
The stratagem,
was, succeeded; and Dupleix, only afraid that his enemies
should escape, insisted on pursuit, against the remonstrances of M. Kirkjean, his
nephew, who commanded the French.
They accordingly advanced within two
miles of Bahoor.
Major Lawrence lost no time in preparing for action, and at
three next morning was in motion with his whole force.
The action commenced with the sepoys on either side, and did not become decisive till the
British and French battalions met at the point of the bayonet.
After a short
struggle, two platoons of British grenadiers broke the enemy's centre, and his
whole
line
Had
immediately gave way.
the nabob's cavalry done their duty,
instead of galloping off to plunder, few of the
as it was, their loss
was
victory
still
was
serious in
men,
more important in
its
artillery,
to join them,
ammunition, and
Even
This
stores.
Morari
Row
had
and a detachment of 3000 Mahrattas
when they
Nothini; more was wanting; to
Bahoor.
could have escaped.
indirect consequences.
actually been gained over to the French,
was on the way
enemy
received intelligence of the affair of
make them change
their route
;
and
they made then' appearance in the nabob's camp, complimenting him on his
victory,
and lamenting
sufficient
their misfortune in not
time to share the honour of
having been able to join him in
.to
it.
Major Lawrence having advanced to Trivadi, prepared to devote the remainder of the season, before the rains should set
in,
country northward from Pondicherry to the Paliar.
to the reduction of all the
It
was
at the
same time
determined by the presidency, at the urgent request of the nabob, to attempt
the reduction of the forts of Chingleput and Covelong, situated north of that
river.
Being of great strength, they connnanded a considerable tract of country,
and often sent out detachments, which plundered within the tenitory of the
nabob and the Company. The only force which could be saved for the task of
subduing them, consisted of 200 raw recruits just anived from England, and
rreparations
besiege
ciungiepiit
io,,g.
^8^
AD.
17.^.2.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
mand
the
French first
gaiiiedcovc-
III.
apparently the very refuse of London, and oOO sepoys, as ignorant of service as
The only hope of success was, that Clive had volunteered
the recruits.
How
(Book
U> <x>m-
them.
Heading these troops
with four twenty-four
pounders, Clive set out on tlie
'
J
^
10th of September for Covelong.
It stands on the sea-shore, about twenty-five
'
l
^
miles south of Madi-as, and consisted of a fort inclcsed
with towers and mounted with thirty pieces
fifty
f)f
by a strong
cannon.
wall, flanked
had a garrison of
It
Europeans and 300 sepoys, and was in possession of the French, who
seized
in 1750,
it
making
by a very
disgraceful stratagem.
A
hail
ship anchored in the
The natives going on board, were told that
most of the crew had died of scui'vy, and that the survivors, still suffering from
the same disease, and unable to navigate the vessel, must perish if not allowed
road,
to go on
sig-nals
of distress.
They were
sliore.
allowed, and repaid the
The Fi'enchmen,
selves masters of the place.
counterfeiting disease,
humanity by making them-
thirty in number, landed, only
and having concealed arms under
their clothes, rose in the
dead of the night and overpowered their benefactors.
Olive's diffi-
The troops arrived
in the evening at a height
two miles
to the westward.
CllltilGS
before Cove-
Half of tlicm remained, and the other half proceeded, duiing the night, in
Ion*".
charge of Lieutenant Cooper, to occupy a garden 600 yards south of the
At break
fort.
of day, a party from the gan'ison, advancing to the garden, fired sud-
denly through some crevices of the gate.
Cooper by a
This alarm, and the
fall
of Lieutenant
shot, so frightened the recruits in the garden, that
they immedi-
ately took to their heels,
and were numing
as fast as their legs could cai-ry
when they were met by Clive, advancing with the other half of the
troops, and compelled by him, though not without difficulty, to retui-n.
The
next day he summoned the governor of the fort, and receiving a very bliLstering
them,
answer, began Mdthout loss of time to erect a battery at the distance of 300
yards from the waUs.
An
adjoining rock.
teen
men with
He
at the
same time placed a strong guard on an
unlucky shot having struck
the splinters,
all
it,
the rest hastened
not be persuaded again to expose themselves
;
and kiUed or wounded
oflf,
and
for
foiur-
some time could
indeed, several hours after, one of
was found hiding at the bottom of a well.
Clivc tried to shame them into courage by constantly exposing himself to
the hottest of the fire, and at last succeeded in giving them some degi'ee of firm-
the advanced sentries
Capture of
ness.
It
was
liigh time, for a reinforcement
The very name of
Clive, however,
was on the way with half
and preparing
mounted on the
to
seems to have
sufficed, for
his troops to give battle, it fled
The blustering governor was
finished
was approaching from Chingleput.
fii'e,
on hearing that he
with
precipitation.
as easily cowed, and, just as the battery
surrendered at discretion.
walls, fifty of large calibre
was
Besides the cannon
were found within the
fort.
The}-
proved to be paii of those captured by Labom-donnais when he took Madras.
The day
after the surrender a large
body of troops were observed
at
daybreak
CLIVE CAPTURES CHINGLEPUT.
VI.]
CiiAr.
They proved
crossing a stream about a mile west of the fort.
stronger reinforcement sent
effort for the relief of
485
by the governor of Chingleput
to
to be a
new and
make a
vigorous
.\
D. 1752.
Tln-y had no idea of the surrender, and were
Covelong.
advancing in secur-
when, from an
ity,
ambuscade
had
been
which
for
laid
them, a sudden
was opened.
In a
100
minutes
few
men
fire
were
struck
down, and more than
half of the rest stood
as
if
rivetted to the
spot,
Fort of CuiNiiLEi-LT.— From Watl.en's Voyage
to Madrat^
.iiid t'liina.
they were
till
The few who escaped
taken prisoners.
back their consternation to
carried
Chingleput.
This
situated about
fort,
twenty miles south-west of the
other, near the
Clive's siege
and capture
northern or
Allowing
bank of the
left
some
for
Paliar,
irregularities, it
was much stronger both by nature and
was nearly
art.
put.
in the form of a parallelogram,
about 400 yards long from north to south, and 320 broad from east to west,
and was nearly
on three
inaccessible
west and north-west, and by
It
sides,
swampy
was natm-ally weak only on the
being surroimded by a lake on the
on the east and north-east.
rice-fields
south,
where higher ground commanded
it;
but to compensate for this defect, the fortifications were much stronger here
than elsewhere
for while the parts wsished
;
by the lake were
inclosed only
by
a slender wall, and those opposite to the rice-fields were but feebly defended,
the south side had
1
first
a deep ditch faced with stone, and then a stone wall
8 feet high, flanked with towers.
parallel to them,
fifteen pieces,
Clive
made
placed at
was
in
Within these works another
formed a second similar inclosure.
bj'
at the distance of 500.
remained to be done, and a
command had no
.stout
and afterwards of only 200 yards, a breach
His
and the
defence might
still
interior walls.
Much
have been made, but the
heart to continue a resistance which he
the honours of war.
of his career.
the defeat at
was
satisfied
and sun-endered on condition of being permitted to march
nuist be ineffectual,
away with
by
means of a battery of four twenty-four pounders,
four days eflected in both the outer
oflicer in
The cannon mounted were
his aj)pearance before the consternation caused
first
wall, continued
and the garrison consisted of forty Eiu-opeans and 500 sepoys.
Covelong had subsided, and
liealth
With
these services Clive closed the
had suffered severely, and made a
visit to
first
part
England
absolutely necessary.
The nabob's
affairs,
of Cliiiigle-
while thus flouri.shing in the north, were becoming more
;
486
A
D. no.i.
HLSTOICV OF J.NDIA.
and more entangled
As
at Triehinopoly.
honest course would have been the most
State of
King
to the
of Mysore, he
[Book HI.
almost invarialjly the
is
By
{)olitic.
might not only
ca.se,
the
performing his promises
liave secured a powerful ally, but
atl'aira iit
Tridiiii
opoly.
been able to make his whole force available
by attempting a
retaliation.
when
and
course of fraud
He would
not keep
The
Camatic
he at once provoked and justified
trickery,
and therefore only received
faith,
was not kept with him.
it
for the reduction of the
effect of his
his deserts
double-dealing has already
been seen in the attempt of Nunjeraj, the Mysore general, to take advantage of
The
his depart m-e.
formed
vigilance of Captain Dal ton frustrated several conspiracies
for the purpose of seizing the city
aside,
and both Nunjeraj and Morari
pleix,
who had
all
but at
;
Row
was thrown
last all disguise
entered into open alliance with
Du-
along been active in fomenting their quarrel with the nabob.
Open war being thus
declared, a series of desultory affairs took place.
In some
of these Captain Dalton's troops suffered severely, but the means of resistance
which he
still
possessed convinced the Mysorean that
taken, his surest
For a time
the sources of supply.
more
He
means was famine.
Trichinopoly were to be
accordingly endeavoured to cut
apprehension was
little
especially as Kheir-u-din, the nabob's brother-in-law,
his representative., assiu-ed Captain
were
sufficient to last four
to be
more
months.
it
oflf all
by the garrison,
who had been left as
felt
Dalton that the pro^dsions in the magazines
At
last,
and provisions were
effective,
Captain Dalton thought
by a
if
however,
when
the blockade began
sold in the city at
an enormous
price,
necessary to ascertain the actual state of provisions
Then
personal inspection of the magazines.
time he learned
for the first
own
that Kheir-u-din had been selling the provisions for his
profit,
and that the
quantity in store was equal to a consumption of only fifteen days.
Major
Law
Appalled at this discovery, he immediately communicated
rence ad-
vances to
its relief.
who was then encamped
rence,
him, that, withdrawing
all
500 sepoys, he was on his
troops.
it
to
Major Law-
So urgent did the case appear to
at Trivadi.
the troops, except a garrison of 150 Europeans and
way
the very next morning with
After a short halt at Fort
St.
all
the rest of the
David, to procure the necessary
stores,
he proceeded, accompanied by the nabob, through the territories of the King of
Tanjore,
after,
and reached Trichinopoly on the
6tli
of
a detachment of 200 Europeans and 500
by Dupleix, arrived at Seringham, under M.
reans.
The whole force which Major Lawrence
sent
May, 1753.
The very day
with four
sepoj^s,
Astruc,
field-pieces,
and joined the Myso-
could muster, inclusive of aU
the troops that could be spared fi-om the gaiTison, amounted only to 500 Euro-
and 3000 of the nabobs
peans, 2000 sepoys,
the horse refusing to
move because
their
With the
horse.
pay was in
arrear,
he passed over into
the island on the 10th of May, and was immediately attacked
of the Mysoreans.
Their infantry was easily repulsed
;
infantry only,
by great numbers
then- cavalry, gallantly
headed by that of the Mahrattas, gave more trouble, but were ultimately
obliged to yield
;
the brunt of the battle
was then borne by the French, who
;
SIEGE OF TRICHINOPOLY.
Chap. VI.]
maintained their post and kept up a cannonade
deemed
rence
till
487
when Major Law-
evening,
tlie
Cauvery.
M. Law, and that instead of attempting to dislodge the enemy from the
most important business was to replenish the magazines of the
This task was attended with the greatest
provisions.
1:53.
The operations of the day had
that M. Astruc would prove a more formidable opponent than
prudent to repass
it
convinced liim
his
ad.
island,
city
with
and kept him
difficulty,
inactive for five weeks.
In the meantime Dupleix,
fully alive to the
important struggle about to be
waged, kept his eye fixed on Seringham, and continiied to urge forward reinforcements,
the whole
till
army within
the island
1500 sepoys, 3500 Mahrattas, 8000 Mysore
amounted
horse,
to 450 Europeans,
French
inforce.! at
^""'^^
and above 10,000 Mysore
To this anny Major
500 Em-opeans and 2000 sepoys.
infantry of an heterogeneous and worthless description.
Lawrence had nothing to oppose but
Even
his
of the latter 700 were constantly employed in escoiting provisions.
enemy, confident in superiority of numbers, was
island,
now emboldened
to quit the
and began to form a chain of positions with the view of cutting
communications of the city with the smTOunding country.
so successful that provisions again
began to
fail,
dency, Major Lawrence
was
off"
the
In this they were
and even the most sanguine
To add
ceased to hope that the city could be saved.
Tiie
to the general despon-
suffering from a severe illness,
which tln-eatened to
withdraw him entirely from duty.
While the enemy were steadily pursuing
•
-»
r
•
T
their plan of gaining their object
T
•
1
by starvation, Major Lawrence was most reluctant to quit any commanding
position
which
it
seemed possible to maintain, and kept a guard of 200 sepoys
camp and
posted on a rock about a mile south-west from his
that of the enemy.
was soon
contested.
Being thus equidistant from both, the possession of the rock
M. Astruc, determined to have
body, and supported them at a distance
first
north-east from
by
his
it,
whole
attacked
it
with a
select
Major Lawi'ence at
force.
endeavoured to support the sepoy guard by a platoon of only forty Euro-
peans, but, on percei\nng all the
army
of the
enemy
in motion,
resolution of leaving only 100 Europeans to guard the cam^i,
general action with the remainder of his troops, amounting in
peans, eighty artillerymen, with eight field-pieces,
now
took the bold
and risking a
all to
and 500 sepoys.
300 Em*o-
The great
was, which of the
two armies should first reach the rock. M.
Astruc was successful, and carried it by a vigorous effort when Major Lawi-ence
was only half way. What was now to be done ? Advance and retreat seemed
contention
equally desperate.
The order
to
In such circumstances the boldest course
is
usually the safest.
advance was received by the soldiers with three cheers, and while
the grenadiers attacked the rock with fixed b.aj-onets, the rest wheeled roimd
to engage the French battalion.
with some sepoys
who had
The grenadiers earned aU
followed in their track,
it
before them, and,
commenced a
deadl}'
fii'e
from the top of the rock upon the French drawn up below within pistol-shot
Briuiant
I'ffair with
the French,
488
AD.
17.W.
or INDIA.
IIISTOllY
[Book
other troops behaved with e<juul galhintry, and re.serving their
tlie
within twenty yards of
enemy's
tiie
poured in such a volley that
line,
Though the victory had been
the day, were severely handled.
and
in
till
French
tlie
endeavouring to cover the retreat of the French, and even to regain
rattas, in
struggle
fire
The Mah-
cannon behind them.
fled in consternation, leaving three pieces of
III,
gained,
tlie
was not yet ended. The victors were a mile distant from their camp,
order to reach it must pass over an intervening plain in the face of
who
nearly 12,000 cavalry,
retrograde
stood ready to pounce upon
movement should
Nothing but the utmost
begin.
and courage could have saved them.
them the moment
their
coolness,
skill,
Fortunately the heroic band possessed
made
these qualities in an eminent degree, and
all
the cavalry pay so dearly for
attempting to charge them, that they were at last allowed to proceed without
interruption.
Mahomed
Ali in 'lan-
serfiomiu?
The enemy, ashamed and dispirited by
mutual rccrimination. The sepoys employed
much time in
forwarding supplies made dili-
their defeat,
in
lost
gent use of the interval, and succeeded in bringing in a stock of provisions
suffi-
The danger of famine being thus removed, Major
Lawrence determined to march into the Tanjore country, with the double object
of meeting a reinforcement which he expected from the presidency, and inducing
the king to throw aside the neutrality he had jigain professedly a&sumed, and
cient to last for fifty days.
was veiy much wanted.
negotiation the presence of the nabob was thought desirable
To
furnish a contingent of cavalry, which
tliis
prepared to set out, an unexpected difficulty occurred.
for their arrears of pay, declared
he should not qxni the city
This he could not or would not do
fied.
His
;
;
facilitate
but when
lie
troops, clamouring
till
they were
satis-
and the singular spectacle was seen
of 200 Europeans, with fixed bayonets, escorting the nabob, in whose cause the
Company had
troops,
much blood and
ovm
treasure, because his
from escorting him, were bent on committing outrage on
so far
person.
already expended
A few days
after his departure the
body to Captain Dalton, and intimated
whole of these troops repaired
their intention to join the enemy.
his
in a
This
intimation they accompanied with the singular request that he would not
fire
upon them while they were marching off. Glad to be quit of them on any tenu.s
he granted their request, and they walked off unmolested at noon-day.
The euemv
stiata-eiii
./
aud counterstratagem
at Trichinoi)oiy.
beinff
o
now
possession of the whole country around
in complete
i
i.
^
Trichiuopoly,
i
,
.
tliB city itself
,
,
was the only
object
t
.
now
i
both parties made their arrangements accordingly.
stern necessity, reserved
own
use,
and the
all
mi
to be contended
and
li_
c
of
Ihe garrison, as a matter
the provisions which bad been stored up for their
inhabitants, threatened with absolute starvation,
native but to quit their habitations.
had no
The whole population, estimated
400,000, disappeared in less than a month, and nothing remained to
blank but a garrison, which, including soldiers and
did not exceed 2000 men.
for,
•
Of
artificers of
aU
alter-
at nearly
fill
up the
descriptions,
these nearly one-half were native peons or undis-
RTEGE OF TIIICHINOPOLV
ClIAP. VI.]
4-89
ciplined infantiy, who, being of no use except to give
between the two walls
interval
;
whom
the whole bm'den of the
who were
stationed at intervals on
the others, on
defence lay, consisted of about 600 sepoys,
the ramparts, and 200 Europeans, of
whom
alarm, occupied the
;in
a.d. 175:
part kept the gates, while the rest
THE ENVtRONS Or
TRIG
II
IN OP
OLY
to jllusU'iti; Uic lUililJiy Opci'alioii:^
of 1751,53
''ff
A, Seringli;im Pagoda.
15,
5.
Juniliaki.stna Pagoila.
C, Chuckloypollam.
1),
6,
Dalaway's Choiiltry.
Covered way, thi-own up against tlie
French grand batterj-, 17!)\, 1752.
The French .and I'hunda Saliib's
camp from August 17.01, to .\pril,
1752.
1,
2,
3,
English post of two guns, 17.31,
French post of two guns, 1751,
17.')2.
9, Tlie
1751, 17u2.
1751. 1752.
The
now began
besiegers,
Septeniber,
tliat in
H.'i.'t.
Mahrattas, in Sept.
175;i.
announcement of
first
who had been contented with maintaining
opinion,
support
December, 1752.
English camp in He\>t. 175:5, whilst
waiting for the reinforcement.
A small tjitrcncliinent for tlie security of the left flank of tlie caroi).
ber, 1752.
to think that they
was of the same
])arty to
ultry,
I
English advanced guard, Sept. 1753.
14, French advanced guard, Sept. HS."?.
15, Camp of the French, Mysoreans, and
lay on their arms every night, ready to start on the
danger.
Clii
.Cot
v"
13,
Great Choultry, wliere the Engparty Wiis cut off in Decem-
lish
French grand battery,
11,
12,
S Mysore camp, December, 1752.
Covering
the
English post opposite the French
Rock, 1751, 1752.
17j'2.
French post of two guns to enfilade
the English post at the river side,
4,
10,
^f
the blockade,
might venture on more decisive measures.
Dupleix
and was constantly importuning M. Brenier, who had
To procure the
infonnation which was preN-iously desirable, he suggested tlie employment of a
French officer of the name of De Cattans, who was to be sent into the town as
succeeded M. Astruc in the command, to attempt an escalade.
had
if lie
deserted,
degrading and
and then act as a
jierilous office,
enemy
It
Brenier,
was
the city
Vol.
I.
;
it
susjiicions
which
against themselves, and induced
De
Major La^\Tence,
at a particular spot
Cattans,
by the
to write a letter to
which he pointed
out.
did not appear so externally, the strongest point in
and any attempt
ihespj
detected.
recommending an escalade
in fact, though
Cattans readily undertook the
Captaui Dalton seized the opportunity to turn
])romise of interceding for his pardon wnth
]VI.
De
but by overacting his part excited
ultimately led to his detection.
the devices of the
H\ty.
to escalade it
must have resulted
in the repulse
62
and
t^O
A.D. 1763.
IIISTOKV OK INDIA.
destruction of the party engaged in
and only escaped
into the snare,
it.
it
M.
(Book HI,
however, would liave
lirenier,
in consequence of being obliged to
fallen
employ
his troops elsewhere.
Major Lawrence's approach, which had
luttieofthe
Golden
luxk.
now
He had
certain.
for
some time
Ijeen
rumoured, was
received a reinforcement from Fort 8t. David of 170
Europeans and 300 sepoys, and was moreover accompanied by a Tanjorine anny
command
of 3000 horse and 2000 matchlock-men, under the
of Monacjee.
On
the 7th of August he arrived at a place called Dalaway's Choultry, situated on
bank of the Cauvery, about five miles east of Trichinopoly. Tlie intervening plain was so much flooded by the rains that it was deemed necessar}- to
the south
strike to the south-west, along
with a convoy of nearly 4000 bullocks, under-
stood to be laden with provisions, though
afterwards turned out that only
it
one-tenth of them were thus laden, while the nabob and his
appropriated
all
officers
the rest for the transport of baggage and trumpery.
had
selfi.shly
On
arriving
within a mile of the Sugar-loaf Rock, situated two and a half miles south-east of
the
city.
Major Lawrence found
it
occupied
by the main body
of the
enemy;
while the Golden Rock, about one and a quarter mile due west from the Sugarloaf,
was
in possession of a strong detachment.
Instead of endeavoiiring to force
the enemy's posts, he resolved to keep on the outside of them.
he caused the convoy to make a considerable
With
tliis
view
circuit to the south-west, intend-
by the Golden Rock. This, however, was not possible while that strong position was held by the enemy's detachment.
It was
necessary to drive them from it, and this was the great difficulty.
In fact, had
ing himself to march round
M. Brenier supported the detachment as he ought,
it
would have been impos-
by withdrawing the
greater part
of the detachment to assist in meeting a feigned attack on his
main body.
sible.
Instead of supporting he weakened
Having thus allowed himself
tiU it was too late to repair
it,
to be outwitted,
it.
The Golden Rock had been canied by the
English grenadiers and a party of 800 sepoys,
ing forward to relieve
it
he did not discover his blunder
when
had reached only half way.
up the advantage he had thus gained with signal
off"
the French infantiy hasten-
enemy
the whole body of the
ability,
Had
in confusion.
Major Lawrence followed
and tJtimately drove
the Tanjorine horse pur-
sued as they ought to have done, instead of remaining mere spectators of the
flight,
a decisive victory would have been gained.
The enemy,
Both armies
after their defeat,
two milcs wcst of the
city
j
reiu forced.
tactics against
;
'
encamped
in a strong position at
and Maio or Lawi-ence endeavoured
Weycondah,
to turn their
own
themselves by occupying the Five Rocks, situated about three
enemy and the open counHe had friglitened them away from
try from which they drew their supplies.
Weycondah to Mootachellinoor, on the south bank of the Cauvery, over against
the south-west extremity of the island of Seringham, and was preparing to act
miles farther south, and thus interposed between the
more decidedly when
all
offensive
movements on
his part
were suddenly aiTested
SIEGE OF TRICHINOPOLY.
Chap. VI.]
enemy had
Tlie
witli
received a reinforcement equal in strength to the whole English
It consisted of
force.
3000 Mahratta
under the
command
a.d. 1753.
400 Europeans and 2000 sepoys, with six guns, together
and a great number of peons or native
horse,
of Morari Row.
had arrived at Pondiclierry
to
491
in June.
The Europeans of
Had
this
infantry,
reinforcement
they been immediately forwarded
Trichinopoly they would have given the French such an ascendency as
must have been
Most fortunately Dupleix detained
decisive of the campaign.
them nearly two months
in the Carnatic for
and thus
gratification of his vanity,
lost
some purpose connected with the
a most favourable opportunity for
decisive action.
The Madras presidency on
pleix's reinforcement,
their part
were not
idle
and on hearing of Du-
;
determined to strengthen Major Lawrence with every
that could be spared for the
Having succeeded
field.
man
in mustering 237 Euro-
peans and 300 sepoys, they sent them under Captains Ridge and Calliaud by
Major Lawrence moved eastward to meet them, and
sea to Devicotta.
a sharp action, in whicli
happily effected.
after
French were decidedly worsted, the junction was
tlie
Both parties having now received
all
the reinforcements they
expected, were anxious for a trial of strength.
On
army in
city.
The
the 20th of September, 1753, Major Lawi-ence di-ew up his
order of battle at the Fakir's Tope, a mile and a half S.S.W. of the
enemy, encamped between the Sugar-loaf Rock and the Golden Rock, ami
covering a considerable space behind, showed no inclination to accept the chal-
Major Lawi'ence determined to attack them next day, but concealed
lenge.
intention
by ordering
his tents, which, in expectation of battle,
he had sent
At night
the city, to be brought back and pitched in their fonner place.
and the whole array rested on
tents were again sent back,
to be in readiness at four o'clock the
began to move in profound silence
;
Rock
first
division
before they were discovered.
which they had loaded with grape, undischarged.
thus caused in the
camp could
advancing, with reserved
fii-e
Ije
this
hour the army
re|)aired,
amved
within
Their sudden
concerted those in charge of the rock, that they hurried
pieces,
the
and by a sudden obscuration of the moon,
which had before been shining brightly, the
shot of the Golden
to
their arms, with orders
At
next morning.
his
off",
fire
pistol-
so dis-
leaving two field-
Before the confusion
the British in three divisions kept
and fixed bayonets, on the
left
tiank of the French
battalion stationed at the Sugar-loaf Rock, while the sepoys attached to the
divisions kept
who were
up a constant
fii'e
fleeing in all directions.
on swarms of Mysorean and other
The whole of the
fugitives,
British battalion, consist-
ing of 600 men, arrived in an unbroken line within twenty yards of their French
antagonists.
The
latter
were commanded by M. Astruc, who did the utmost
to
bring them into order, and even prevailed upon them to receive the English
fii-e
first
before they gave theirs.
division of English,
fell
In this encounter Captain Kilpatrick,
desperately wounded.
who
led the
His place was taken by
mttieoftiie
Rock.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
1^2
A D.
17.W.
Captain Calliaud, who,
[Book
dexterou.sly wheeling ioun<l hikI gaining the left
l^y
flank of an entrenchment, behind which the French battalion
in
a close
The grenadiers
fire.
again prevented
it
prisoners
;
withproviSIOIV
victory
when they ought
officers.
On
to have been pursuing the fugitives.
Tlie
the British side not more than forty Europeans were
wounded.
The cnemy, though
I'riciiinopoiy
well-levelled di.scharge from the
enemy in Europeans amounted to 100 killed and nearly 200 taken
among the latter was M. Astruc, regarded as undoubtedly the best of
the French
killed or
A
v as now gained; but the Tanjorines
complete as it might have been, by remaining
The
from being so
to plunder the camp,
of the
posted, poured
of the British Vjattalion in front completed the confasion, anrl
left
the rout became irremediable.
loss
was
at the siime time pushing on witii their bayonets,
drove them crowding upon their centre.
centre and
III.
mustering about 30,000 infantry of
still
all .sorts,
and
1G,000 horse, were so dispirited that they did not venture beyond Seringham,
and allowed provisions of
all
was
that a six months' supply
deemed
kinds to be poured into the city in such abundance,
easily provided at a
advisable, however, in order not to encroach
rainy season, which was
now
moderate
on
rate.
this supply
It
during the
at hand, that tl.e troops should quit the city
With
be carried into cantonments.
this
view Major Lawrence,
was
and
after reinforcing
make it strong enough with ordinary vigilance for any
might be made against it, removed to Coilady on the fi-ontiei-s
the garrison, so as to
attempt that
of Tanjore, from
which abundant supplies coxdd be obtained, without the neces-
sity of escorting convoys.
The Tanjorines were
permitteel to return home, but
not without great reluctance on the part of Major LawTence,
as
it
who
suspected,
and
afterwards appeared on too good grounds, that the king would .scarcely be
of
them back when the campaign should be resumed
The enemy remained in the island of Seringham as inactive as if a ce.s.sation
hostilities had taken place
and, so far from endeavouring to take advantage
of
Major Lawrence's absence, allowed the market of Trichinopoly to be regularly
ineluced to send
Treacheiy of
;
supplied in abunelance from the surrounding coimtry.
November they
In the beginning of
received a reinforcement of 300 Europeans, 200 topa.sses or
natives, chiefly of Portuguese origin,
and 1000
sepoys.
Even
this did not
make
them more adventurous, and they remained as if determined to attempt nothing
till Major Lawrence should again appear and challenge them to encounter him
It hael
This apparent indolence was part of a scheme.
in a new campaign.
been conceived possible to take Trichinopoly by
was
to lull the garrison into a false security.
favourable.
surprise,
and the
ject
now
The circumstances were not un-
Captain Dalton, whose vigilance and experience were successful in
detecting and frustrating several plots, had sailed for England;
Kilpatrick, on
his
ol
whom
the
command had
devolved,
was
still
and Captain
confined to bed with
wounds.
The point
selecteel for assault
was Dalton's
battery, the
same recommende<l
—
SIEGE OF TRICHINOPOLY.
Cn.AP. VI.]
De
in the letter of
who, after obtaining what was equivalent to a pro- ad.
Ciittans,
pardon, had been unjustifiably hung
raise of
4!)3
by
]\lajor
Lawrence.
ated on the west side, near the north-west angle of the walls,
formed part of a gateway.
This part, so far as
which
ferred the battery as the
diately in front of
mode
it
would be necessary
most
must
of entrance, and
tluis
its
tlie
round the
walls,
November the
'J'he
level
pre-
still
accessible point of attack, because the ditch
27th
crossed over from the island.
have been aware
to sui mount, but they
was almost choked up by a rock on a
it
the night of
in parties
the remainder retained
led
deserters, the exact
of the difficulties
On
;
by zigzag passages inclosed between terraces to a gate in
The enemy had learned, both from the letter of De Cattans
and
the inner wall.
and from
was situand had once
It
jutted beyond the wall, had
it
been converted into a solid battery with embrasures
original form,
1753.
imme-
with the water.
aimy
greater part of the enemy's
Assault se-
Mysoreans and Mahrattas were distributed
ana tom-
and making other
p,*i^j''*
and by approaching the
ditch
demonstrations, were to divert the attention of the garrison while the French
battalion
were carrying out the
At three
o'clock in the
which was planned as follows:
morning GOO of the battalion were
and the remaining
lade,
real attack,
body of
200, together with a large
at the outside of the ditch,
to
commence the
sepoys,
esca-
were to wait
ready to cross as soon as the escaladers should have
gained an entrance into the town.
and some European gunners.
Tiie battery
was guarded by
fift}"
sepoys
when
All these were present and on the alert
the
roimds passed at midnight, and yet the event proved that, three hours
after,
had absented themselves, and the few who remained had
fallen
the greater part
fast asleep.
Owing
to this gross breach of duty, the
party were able to cross the ditch and
mount the battery without causing the
Tlie sleepers being at once despatched
least alarm.
ants began to
move
forward, intending not to
This intention was fnistrated by an accident.
slight wall inclosing it at the back,
whole of the escalading
was a
with the bayonet, the
in motion.
the
off.
This was alarm
Within the battery,
pit thirty feet deep.
sufficient,
and
all
It
close to a
was not ob-
in the batterj-,
and
some
it,
the garrison were instantly
The French, aware that concealment was now
two gims which they found
•
they Avere fired upon.
fire till
served in the dark, and as several of the party screamed in tumbling into
shots were let
assail-
fired
impossible, turned
them
into the town,
together with a volley of firearms, at the same time endeavouring to strike
terror
still
by beating
their
drums and shouting Vive
le
Roi
unable to leave his bed, gave his instructions with
cision to Lieutenant Harrison, the
!
Captain Kilpatrick,
gi'eat coolness
and
next in command, who not only executed
them but improved upon them, and by the precaution of keeping up an
sant
fire
pre-
inces-
on the passage leading to the gate in the inner wall, killed the two
who were hastening forward to burst it open with a petard.
The attack had now become almost desperate. From the ramparts and terraces commanding the battery the garrison assembled at their posts Qommenced
persons
serious iws
+04
A.
II.
1753.
illSTOIlY
a murderous
who had
fire,
OF INDIA.
[booK
wliich the assailants vainly endeavoured
got into the passages between the two walls,
battery with the view of effecting
plunge
this desperate
clainV.»ered
ditcii,
or on the roc
but the
;
rest,
k on
deteired
a level with
b}'-
back
but the want of
by leaping down a perpendicular height
this impossible, except
into the water of the
tiieir escai>e,
what
int<.>
the
made
ladder-s
of eighteen feet
About
it.
Those
an.swer.
i/j
III.
1
00 ma^le
these suffered, crept
int<j
the embrasures or any comer that gave some kind of shelter, and as soon an
The number who thus surrenthe nvimber of those found killed within the works was sixty-
daylight appeared, asked and obtained quarter.
dered was 3G0
;
who took
seven; and of the 100
the frightful leap, few escaped without being
With the exception then of the 200 who had remained outthe whole French battalia n was in a manner annihilated by this
The noise of the firing was heard at Coilady. On being in-
killed or disabled.
side the ditch,
fatal assault.
formed of the cause Major Lawrence reinforced the garrison, and shortly
after
followed with his whole force.
Vacillation
of the Uajah
of Tanjore,
The
Rajali of Tanjore, on the return of his troops, justified the fears which
.
Major Lawrcuce had entertained, by not only refusing to send them back, but
giving unequivocal manifestations of hostile designs.
by working
alternately
upon
his hopes
from his alliance with the nabob
openly,
when
Trichinopoly
;
and
pause.
to try the effect of force,
had completely alienated him
fears,
and he was on the point of declaring himself
the serious reverse sustained
made him
Dupleix and Nunjeraj,
by
new
his
allies in their
attempt on
Irritated at his vacillation, Dupleix determined
and engaged a body of 1200 Mahrattas
to ravage his
The rajah, who had dismissed his old general Monacjee, becaiise he
suspected him of being too friendly to the English, sent a new and incapable
general of the name of Ganderow, who made his an'angements so unskilfully,
that the Mahrattas easily eluded him, and continued their devastations with
little interruption.
In this way the whole of the eastern part of Tanjore was
territories.
converted into a waste.
Defeat of the
"\l
1
The rajah applied
for assistance to
Major Lavrrence, who, in promising
it,
ill"! tt 'IQ
byMouacjte.
complaiued of Ganderow's
Monacjee.
inefficiency,
and suggested the re-appointment
of
After considerable demur this suggestion was adopted, and Monacjee.
shortly after resuming the
command, obtained a
signal success.
Proceeding at
the head of 3000 horse, he found that the Mahrattas, from ignorance of the
country,
had got entangled between two branches of the Cauvery, which
sudden flood had swelled so much as to leave no means of
encamped
at the point
of the waters,
met them
which he knew would
and before the Mahrattas deemed
face to face.
With
endeavoured to cut their
pulsed.
fii'st
Ultimately, 800 of
reserved for a worse
fate.
Monacjee
become fordable on the
it possible,
their usual gallantry,
way
egress.
falling
crossed over and
augmented by
despair, they
through the Tanjorines, but were repeatedly
them lay dead on the
field.
a
The
sur\'ivors
re-
were
In the spiiit of a savage, Monacjee caused them to
SIEGE OF TIUCHINOPOLY.
Chap. VI.)
-liiJ
be impaled alive, and even extended his barbarism to the dead
by ordering
their ad.
bodies to be suspended on the sm-rounding trees.
This success did not produce
the effect which might have been anticipated from
it.
The
1754.
rajah, satisfied that
command with
the immediate danger
was
a few compliments;
and instead of reinforcing Major Lawrence
passed, dismissed Monacjee from his
had
as he
promised, disbanded his troops as no longer necessary.
While the nabob's anny thus received no
accession,
and was on the contraiy
diminished by the necessity of increasing the garrison of Trichinopoly, in consequence of the great number of French prisoners detained in
means of reinforcements, was able
to
the enemy, by
it,
muster GOO Europeans, 400
toi)asses,
The enemy
rior in
"""" "'^
GOOO
and nearly 30,000 Mysoreans and Mahrattas. To meet these Major
Lawrence w<is unable to bring into the field more than GOO Europeans and 1 800
sepoys,
Notwithstanding
sepoys.
this
by their repeated
south bank of the Cauvery.
dispii'ited
enormous inequality of
defeats, that
the
force,
enemy were
so
they did not venture to cross to the
Trichinopoly had so long been the seat of war that there was not a tree
left Devastation
around Tri-
standing in the plain around
it,
and the British could only procure firewood by
Their provisions
sending out detachments to a distance of five or six miles.
were obtained with
still
chiuoiwiy.
These from what was called Tonde-
greater difficulty.
man's Country were brought no farther than the skirts of the woods, distant
about seven miles; while those from Tanjore were not brought nearer than
eighteen miles, the merchants depositing them at Trictapolly, a fort situated at
that distance eastward on the banks of the Cauvery.
from these distances were seldom
in escorting the provisions
peans and 500 sepoys.
sufficient, for
less
than 150 Euro-
Experience seemed to have proved that this force was
from the beginning of January to the middle of February, 1754,
The next convoy
seven convoys had been safely escorted.
larger than
The detachments employed
any of
and required no
was
It consisted of military stores as well as provisions,
these.
less
in readiness
than 3000 bullocks.
The
escort
was strengthened
in pro-
company of 100 men, eighty other Europeans, 800 sepoys, and four pieces of cannon.
As not much less than a half of
the whole army was thus required, the more prudent plan undoubtedly would
portion,
and composed of the
have been not to divide
it,
gi*enadier
but to employ
blunder was committed in intrusting the
experience and
The
escort,
as
an
escort.
command
of
it
it all
to
an
A more serious
officer
little
less ability.
which
left
Trictapolly on the
morning of the 13th of February,
reached Killycottah, about eight miles fjirther west, in the evening.
morning
of
The
follow-
was journeying on in the same direction, without any apprehension of danger, and had proceeded two miles beyond Killycottah, along the
skirts of
on
Iing
it
Tondeman's Wood.s, when several bodies of cavalry were seen moving
all sides
among
the thickets and underwood.
convoy had adopted the worst
pos.siblo
The
commanding the
he had no more than a
officer
arrangement, for
senousdistaiued
w
**'" ^"'^'*''
r
IIISTOKV OK INDIA.
4^f)
.\.u.
Kw
single platoon in
lii.s
front
and
rear,
while the rest of the
in small bodies along the line of IjuUocks
arrangement was, he made no attempt to
Disaster
8118-
taiiioil l>v
the
uritisii
[Book
and
alter
and
left his
111
troops exposed bj
•
-»
I
distinguished themselves, and, with the other eighty Europeans, were selling
when
as deai'ly as pos.sible,
credit, obliged
the French amved, and
the Mahrattas to grant quarter.
the British had yet sustained dm-ing the war.
were either
killed, or
wounded and taken
have been severely
£7000
in
money
to their
loss wdiich
The whole of these Europeans
The
prisoners.
loss of the
convoy
and yet must
Besides the whole of the provisions and militarj- stores,
felt.
fell
much
This was the severest
scarcely deserves to be mentioned along with that of the troops,
it.
thi.s
commanded by Moran Row and Yoonas Khan, and the former by an
ofticer of the name of Heiri Sing, and another, destined to future celebrity under
the name of Hyder All. These cavalry formed only part of a detachment which
had been lying in wait for the convoy, and was composed, in addition to the
cavalry, of 400 Europeans and GOOO sepoys, with seven pieces of cannon.
The
issue was not for a moment doubtful.
The sepoys at once flung down their arms
and fled. The gi'enadiers, who had gained so many laurels in previous fights,
latter
tlieir lives
repair
as
the sudden and impetuous onset of 12,000 Mysorean and Mahratta horse, the
still
Attempts to
distriljuted
Most imprudent
carts.
it,
were
trooj).s
ill
into the enemj'-'s hands.
The presidency of Madras, on hearing of the disaster, made an exertion to
repair it, and sent a detachment of 1 80 men by sea to Devicotta.
Tliere, how^.
ever,
the
they were obliged to remain
camp
to 400,
draw
kept his position in the
supplies from Tanjore, both
rajah, again disposed to league
plain.
It
his
Europeans had been reduced
was now
on account of the
impossible, however, to
distance,
with the enemy, discouraged
Tondeman's Country being thus the only
furnishing them.
were detached to
miles distant.
an opportunity should be foimd of joining
Major La\vrence, though
in safety.
still
till
them
collect
The want
at Killanore, a village in the
and because the
his
merchants fi'om
resource,
woods about twelve
body of horse was now severely
of a
400 sepoys
felt,
and the
presidency, on the suggestion of Major Lawrence, sent a deputy to the Rajah
of Tanjore, for the purpose of inducing
irresolute
and
crafty to
comply
;
him
to send a contingent.
and without declaring
for
any
He was
party,
too
resumed
game of neutrality. While the nabob and British were thus left \vithout
an ally, a new danger w^as discovered. Treachery was at work in the city and
the camp.
Though it was frustrated, the details are not unworthy of being
his old
recorded,
ji
iiiomed
Mahomed
Issoof,
who had
enlisted into the British ser\ace under Clive, ex-
Issoof.
celled alike in valom-
the chief
vice to
command
of
and stratagem, and gradually raised himself
all
Major Lawrence..
the sepoys.
Not
In
onl}^ did
this position
bj'
merit to
he rendered essential
ser-
he possess a perfect knowledge of the
country, and constantly procure intelligence of the enemy's movements, but he
planned
all
the marches of the convoys, choosing his times and his routes with so
SIEGE OF TItlCHINOroLV.
CiiAP.
VI.]
much
dexterity, that duiing three
41)7
months not one of the convoys of provisions
a.d. 1754.
coming from Tondeman's Woods was intercepted. The enemy were most anxious
Major Lawrence of his
to dei)rive
but having no hope of corrupting his
services,
by a bribe, endeavoured to effect
Brahmin, named Poniapa, acting as Indian
integrity
pos-sessed
much
by a very base
then* object
A
plot.
interpreter to the British, necessarily
of their confidence, and became privy to
most
tiieir
secret de-
This confidence, of which he was altogether miworthy, he shamefully
signs.
betrayed by entering into a secret coiTespondence with the enemy, and
mately engaging to act entirely in their
was resolved by
intercourse
it
he was too
much on
his
all
means
In the course of
interest.
Mahomed
to get rid of
—A
letter,
officer to
it
it,
carried
in their presence.
meet according
this guilty
Issoof
addressed by the Mysorean
Nunjeraj, was purposely placed so as to be intercepted.
interpret
jiahoiuea
but, as
;
guard to be cut off by any kind of assassination, the
following scheme was adopted:
obtaining possession of
ulti-
unseattemi-t
it
to
Captain Kilpatrick, on
Major Lawrence, who caused Poniapa
It desired
to promise
commander
Mahomed
to
Issoof and another sepoy
with some persons deputed by Kunjeraj, to
mode of betraying Trichinopoly, promising him, if the plot
Mahomed
succeeded, an immense sum in money, and various other advantages.
issoof and the other sepoy named in the letter were at once imprisoned, but a
the time and
adju-st
short investigation established their innocence,
and they were
now fell upon the proper party, and Poniapa,
make any confession of his guilt, was blown from
Sus-
released.
picion
thougli refusing to the last
to
a gun.
The
first
symiitom of a favourable turn in the
affiiirs
nabob and
of the
his
^\i'"'niiig
jKj.sitioii
British allies appeared about this time,
of the
wai",
demands
for
when Morari Row, who had become
picked a quarrel with Nunjeraj, by making some exorbitant
money, and, on being refused, withdrawing to an encampment on
the north l)ank of the Coleroon.
very disastrous
results,
Another
incident,
two
which at
On
terminated triumphantly.
of 120 Europeans and 500 sepoys, with
mand
the
1
field-pieces, set
first
2th of
threatened
May
out under the com-
miles south of the Sugar-loaf Rock, for a convoy of provisions which
ordered to advance from Tondeman's Woods.
old water-tank, nearly
They had nearly
retxched
it
by several
it
others.
when Mahomed
now
certain.
ously
right
place where they
Issoof,
two
had been
meant
to halt
mound was nearly entire.
who was riding in front, was
its
by the neighing of
his horse
advancing to reconnoitre, he was
and the answer
fired at
from the
The presence of the enemy
which the party had determined to wait for the convoy was
other side of the eminence
in the very tank in
On
The
choked up, though
surprised on ascending an eminence,
of
a pai'ty
of Captain Calliaud, at four in the moniing, intending to wait about
was an
tired
by
several French troopers.
Captain Calliaud immediately prepared for attack, and by dexter-
moving the sepoys on the left, while the Europeans wheeled round to the
flank, placed the enemy between two fires, and obliged them to abandon
the tank with precipitation.
Vol.
I.
The
da\'
was only dawning when the action began.
63
of
the British
498
A.u. 1754.
OF INDIA.
illSTOliy
but there was
now
[Book
sufficient light to perceive that the
Europeans, with four
field-piece.s,
enemy
III.
conaisted of 250
1000 sepoys, and 4000 Mysore
A
horse.
smart
cannonade immediately commenced, and both armies, attnicted by the sound,
immediately prepared to take part in the engagement.
manding
A
brilliant
in the absence of Major Lawrence,
into the city, hastened forward with
his
all
'
achievement.
,
the
enemy s army
sickness had obliged to retire
remaining troops, while the rest of
r
/»
i
whom
Captain Poher, com-
crossed over from Seringham.
When
the two armies were
On
thus pitched against each other, the inequality was seen to be enormoas.
the one side stood the British battalion, mastering only 3G0 men, 1500
and eleven troopers on the other
;
side
700 Europeans,
fifty troopers,
.sepoy.s,
5000 sepoys,
and 10,000 horse; fortunately, from the cause already mentioned, none of them
Mahrattas.
With such odds a decisive victory was scarcely possible and the
;
utmost, therefore, which Captain Polier proposed,
the camp.
The
was
to fight his
English, defiling from the tank into the plain,
way back
to
marched onward
in column, while the sepoys followed in a line at right angles with the rear of
the battalion, and extending beyond
it
both on the right and
they proceeded, galled by the enemy's .seven
their musketry,
which kept too
far
off"
to
field-pieces,
Captain
Polier,
who had
In
this
but suffering
manner
little
from
do much mischief, and without halting
reached a second tank about a mile nearer the
post,
left.
city.
Just as they reached this
previously been struck, received another wound,
which so disabled him that he was obliged to resign the command to Captain
Calliaud.
The
fight being
rence, although very
gates,
fate.
sides
ill,
now
visible
from the walls of the
ordered himself to be
ca,rried to
city.
Major Law-
the top of one of the
army was hemmed in, trembled for its
While the enemy's sepoys and cavalry were drawn up opposite to three
As the latter
of the tank, the fourth side was menaced by the French.
and there beholding how
his little
advanced, the three British field-pieces, brass six-pounders, capable of carrpng a
large quantity of grape-shot,
and admirably
few minutes nearly 100 of the French battalion were struck down.
dismayed at the havoc, showed signs of
faltering.
favourable moment, and sallying out with
In a
served, did fearful execution.
all
The
rest,
Captain Calliaud seized the
the Europeans, gave a volley so
well levelled that an indiscriminate flight immediately ensued, and continued
the fugitives were fairly out of cannon-shot.
The
rest of the
enemy were not
slow to follow the example, and the whole hastened back for Seringham
British, satisfied
with their victory, did not attempt pm-suit.
the convoy reached the
camp
in safety.
More depended upon
till
;
the
In the evening
its
arrival than
enemy seemed to have been aware of Had they succeeded in preventing
mere want of provisions would have obliged the victors to decamp for Tanjore
the
it,
the very next day.
Barbarous
proceeiliugs
of the
gugtiiv
...
.
The enemy, ashamed and enraged at their disgraceful defeat, sought to wreak
their vengeance in any quarter where it coidd be done without much danger,
and fixed upon Tondeman's Country, from which Trichinopoly had dra\yn the
greater part of
its
supplies after Tanjore
on the very second night
with
all his
all
hor.se,
The
had caused
invaders, in
gratify their impotent malice
a.d. 1754
suddenly entering that
his people to
remove with
their
was imposconsequence, could do nothing more than
their effects into the depth of the forests, whither
sible to follow them.
j'-,
The Polygar Tondeman, who
species of ravage.
their approach,
According!
to send them.
M, Maissin, the French commander,
after their defeat,
commit every
had some warning of
and
had ceased
Europeans, 3000 sepoys, and 2000
country, began to
cattle
499
SIEGE OF TRICHINOPOLY.
Chap. VI.]
by burning empty
it
Disappointed of the
villages.
plunder which they had anticipated, they carried their depredations into Tanjore.
Major Lawrence,
attacked,
in expectation that the rajah,
would apply
to
him
for assistance, set out
on seeing his country thus
'^1'^''^'!*^'"'
with his anny in order that
ante from
shomd be
ofTaujore
he might be at hand to comply with the application as soon as
it
made, and thus bind the rajah by interest to an alliance of a more durable nature
He, at the same time, ordered
than any he had yet been able to form with him.
the reinforcement at Devicotta to effect a junction with as
The very next day
sible.
after his arrival, a
little
delay as pos-
message from the rajah amved,
urging him to hasten his approach. The cause of this urgency was soon explained.
The
invaders, not contented with pillaging the country,
atrocious proceeding, which threatened to
barrenness.
It has
doom a
had been guilty of an
large portion of
to perpetual
it
been already mentioned that at Coilady the Coleroon and
Cauvery woiJd again unite were the junction not prevented by an
mound.
At
this point the level of the Colei'oon is
artificial
about twenty feet lower
mound is to prevent the whole
when it would run waste to the sea,
than that of the Cauvery, and the object of the
from being precipitated into the Coleroon,
and preserve the Cauvery
as a separate
and independent stream, which, employed
in irrigating the plains of Tanjore, renders
them almost fabulously
invaders had cut across this moimd, and afterwards cannonaded the
sent to repair
The
fertile.
workmen
it.
This attempt to starve a whole population in order to compel their sovereign
to adopt a certain political com-se, proved as impohtic as
it
was imqmtous
the only effect was to inspire the rajah with a deep hatred of those
employed such abominable means
to effect his ruin,
who had
and convince him that
only security against the repetition of such malice was a close and cordial
ance with the British presidency.
time, formed
for
;
his
alli-
Another event, which took place at the same
an additional inducement
to this alliance.
On
the invasion of
Tanjore the rajah despatched Ganderow, with 1500 horse, to Tricatopoly.
Morari
Row, who, after quan-elling with Nunjeraj, had fixed himself at Pitchandah, on
the north bank of the Coleroon, watching for any change of circumstances which
he might be able to turn to account, no sooner heard of the approach of Gan-
derow than he resolved
defeat,
to encounter him.
one of two objects would be gained.
If he succeeded in giving
The
him a
rajah, already frightened
the French and Mysorean invasion, would be glad to pay a large
sum
by
as the
imiwUcy
of
tiie
imi
JeeOiugs'^
^^^ French,
oUO
A.D. 17M.
.Miijori,aw-
lence in
Tanjore.
IlISTOJiV
of his retreat; or
})urcliast'
were
this
il"
OF INDIA.
Hi.
[i;«.oK
refused, the destruction of
Gariderows
detachment would avenge the slaughter of the Mahrattas, and the barbarities
practised on those of them who had been taken prisoners during a former cam,
,
Thus Stimulated both by
paign.
by
the Coleroon and Cauvery
_
interest
and revenge, Morari Row, crossin"
night, with .SOOO of
liis
best troops, surprised
Ganderow
at
day-
break, and so com-
defeated him
}»letely
tliat
only .300 of his
whole force escaped.
Major Lawrence
rived
ar-
Tanjore
at
only two days after
and was
this defeat,
consequently able to
with the
neirotiate
rajah under the most
The Great Pagoda, Tanjore.
The
stances.
was that Monacjee was not only reinstated
who had
prime minister in room of Succojee,
to a
his return,
_
of 1200 men, some of
them
topasses,
to enable
sufficient
•
The Company's
/•
the nabobship
and 3000 sepoys, with fourteen
As
tlie legal
heir of
was better than that of Mahomed
in the action in
t
i
force consisted of a battalion
field-
Maphuze
considerable reinforcement had also been expected under
Khan, the nabob's elder brother.
new
Vjut aj)pointed
were added 2500 Tanjorines and 3000 infantry, under Mon-
pieces; to these
A
an army
_
to copc with the enemy.
acjee.
command,
hitherto been the great obstacle
in possession of
,
him
in his
result
alliance.
Major Lawrence was again
Attempt to
intercept
permanent British
circum-
favouralile
— From Daniell's Views in India.
which
his father
was
slain,
Anwar- u- din,
his right to
but as he was taken
;
prisonei-
he was entirely overlooked in the
aiTangements, and on obtaining his liberty found
it
necessary, after con-
siderable hesitation, to recog-nize the validity of his brother's
title.
He
had, in
consequence, been placed at the head of a body of troops nominally belonging to
the nabob, but
so
many
him.
made them
entirely subservient to
own
pur^joses,
and found
army was at last obliged to set out without
by the nabob, therefore, were only his own
pretexts for delay that the
The whole troops furnished
guard of
liis
fifty horse.
On
entering the plains of Trichinopoly, encumbered with a
considerable convoy, Major Lawrence found that the enemy,
fixed their
camp
at the Five Rocks,
dispute his further progress.
had quitted
previously
and advanced eastward,
Both armies di'ew up in order of battle
the apparent resolution with which the French
engagement was expected.
it
who had
moved
;
to
and from
to the attack, a decisive
Suddenly, however, after enduring a destructive
—
SALABUT JUNG AND BUSSY.
Chap. VII.J
501
cannonade with great steadiness, they wheeled round before coming within ad.
musket
shot,
and began
Lawrence was preparing
to retreat
with some aj)pearance of confusion.
to [)ursue
when he
it.vj
Major
ascertained that the retreat of the
i^^fwitofa
btratagom.
French infantry was only a
an attack
feint to cover
The
u[)on the convoy.
plan was, that while the British battalion were engaged with the imagined pur-
Hyder, at the head of the Mysore horse, should wheel round and
suit,
the rear, where the baggage
and eagerness
osity
and provisions were
fall
upon
Hyders impetuBy making his attack
deposited.
for plunder frustrated the stratagem.
prematurely, he succeeded in carrying off only thirty-five carts, laden partly
with arms and ammunition, and partly with baggage belonging to the British
The
This loss was more than compensated by the result of the action.
officers.
French, besides sustaining a virtual defeat, had 100 of their battalion killed or
woimded, while
onl}' eight of the British
After proceeding to Trichinopoly
fell.
without further inteiTuption, and lodging the stores of provision in
zines.
its
maga-
Major Lawrence made several attempts to bring the enemy to a general
engagement.
Instead of accepting his challenges they retired as he advanced,
anrl finally quitted the plains
on the south side of the Cauvery, to establish
The commencement of the
and before a new campaign could
themselves once more in the island of Seringham.
rains prevented further military operations
;
be undertaken, a great change in French East India politics was effected.
various occurrences which preceded
sary
now
and contributed
To
to this change, it is neces-
to attend.
CHAPTER YIL
Proceedings of Salabut
tiation
Jung and Eussy
— Great accession of territory to the French — Attempts at nego-
— Dupleix superseded returns to France — New
— Destruction of pirates at Gheriah.
arrangements
— Arrival
of a British fleet
Keturn of Clive
ALABUT JUNG,
indebted for his appointment of Soubahdar of
the Deccan to French influence, naturally clung to Bussy, through
whom
the absolute disposer of his fortunes.
possessed talents which enabled
position, bui
him
made him almost
The French commander
that influence had been exercised, and
him
to take full
advantage of his
ioimd a strong party at Salabut Jung's court di.sposed to thwart
in all his proceedings.
At
the liead of this party
was Seid Laskar Khan,
though he hated Bussy in his heart, was such an adept in cunning that he
not only persuaded him of his sincere friendship, but had been invested with the
Lwho,
office
of
dewan by
liis
special
recommendation.
firmly seated in this office than he threw off the
I
No
sooner, however,
mask and took open
was he
part wnth
French
iiiflucnco in
the Ueccan.
JIISTORV OV INDIA.
502
A.D. 1752.
who were
those
jealous of Salabut Jung's French
[BiooK III.
take any steps that miglit seem necessary to counteract them.
on the watch
Attempt
to
an
for
ojiportunity, Bas.sy,
and departed, by the advice of
sick,
tageof
,.
ithtibusmess at Masulii)atam,
aiTeucl
territory, entirely a
take ajvaii-
and made
alert,
whom
it
Bussy had
now
French
and disposed
j>}irtialitie.s,
While they were
worn out by anxiety and
fatigue, fell
his physicians, to sequester liim.self
i
i
become, along
-iii
with a large
n
from
>
tract oi the adjoining
His enemies were immediately on the
posses.sion.
their first basiness to get rid of tlie
French troops and sepoys
behind, under the pretext that they were the best .security
left
deficient in personal courage
the troops
;
would have
and
sagacity,
tlius
foe.s,
under-
Salabut Jung,
difficult.
was unwilling
to part with
and the troops themselves, consisting of an European battalion and
5000 sepoys,
therefore,
The task
for the purpose of controlling his measures.
taken by the dewan and his associates was delicate and
who was
all
•
^
of Salabut Jung's person and autliority agaiast both foreign and intestine
but really
to
by
paid
all
resisted
Bus.sy himself
any overt attempt
were resorted
First,
to.
and acting entirely under
to disband them.
liis
orders,
Underhand measures,
the pay which had been furnished at certain
was withheld; and when the troops complained, the reason
regular periods
assigned was, that several of the provinces at a distance from Hyderabad, where
the soubahdar was then holding his court, had failed to replenish the treasury
by
the usual
payment of revenue. As the most
efiectual
remedy,
that the troops should be sent to enforce the collection of
was suggested
it
it.
By
thLs device
they allowed themselves to be scattered over the country in detached
Bussy-s
return.
parties.
One important difficulty being thus overcome, the dewan next persuaded
Salabut Jung that his presence was imperatively required at Aunmgabad.
Here the mere distance from the French settlements tended greatly to diminish
French
influence, while the absence of the greater part of the battalion
sepoys removed
all
appreliension of danger from
might have been disposed to
ofi'er
secret orders
prevail,
.
given orders to
difficulty
credit
because thwarted
little progress,
all
it,
Bussy, informed of the state of
made
his appearance in
by
him
He had
there,
previously
and hence on
head of 500 Europeans and 4000 sepoys.
having appeased their discontent, and
by money obtained
and the causes
afiairs,
Hyderabad.
the scattered detachments to meet
his arrival found himself at the
wants,
made
Disappointment, clamom*, and desertion had consequently
when
which had produced
some
Meantime the
from the dewan himself, and their pay in consequence became more
irregular than ever.
begun to
any opposition which they
to the removal of the court.
troops sent to collect the revenue
and
satisfied their
"With
most pressing
partly from the treasmy and partly on his
own
with native bankers, he took the bold resolution of marching uncalled
with his whole force to Aurungabad, a distance of 300 miles.
What had now
occm-red might be repeated, and he was determined that in future the pay of
would be drawn from some source over which the French Companj'
and undivided control.
his troops
had
full
LARGE ACQUISITIONS BY THE FRENCH.
Chap. VII.]
503
After a considerable delay, caused by the rainy season, he commenced his
Khan and
Seid Laskar
march.
his adlierents
were in consternation, but many
reasons inclined Bussy to act with moderation.
to
Instead of advancing directly
Aurungabad, he halted at some distance, to give an opportunity
n
011T
i-n retained
balabut Jung, who
•>•
for the
still
his
French
was ready at once to concede whatever might be asked of him and
dewan, who had at one time bethought himself of taking refuge in the
partialities,
the
^'«" <"
raiigementa.
•
adoption of conciliatory measures,
a.d. iros.
;
Dow-
strong fortress of
letabad,
was delighted
to
discover that his peace
could be
which
made on terms
personally
Bussy had
liim nothing.
still
cost
more reason
satisfied,
for the
to be
object
of his journey had been
fully accom})lished.
payment of
The
troops
his
had formerly depended
on sources which misfht
off
by
acci-
dent or design;
it
was
be cut
easily
now
fered
DowLETABAD.-^From
Elliott's
Views in the East.
by the allotment of a permanent revenue, not liable to be interwith by native officials, but i)laced under the absolute control of the
secured
French East India Company.
This revenue was derived from a tract of
country called the Northern Circars, which, along with Masulipatam and the
adjoining district previously ceded, made the French absolute masters of a line Great accesof torT
ot coast extending about GOO miles along the Bay of Bengal, from the n too- to the
81(111
.
mouths of the Kistna to the Temple of Juggernaut, near
rate
estimate
sterling.
tlie
revenue of the whole could not be
This immense gi-ant having been
maintenance of the French troops, was
these troops should be
would
when
suffice to
employed?
made with a
strictly
it
At a mode-
than £500,000
less
special
\dew to the
speaking revocable the
withdrawn from Salabut Jung's
tingency was then contemplated, and
stood that,
^'^"'''
lat. 20°.
sei-vice;
moment
but no such con-
appears to have been perfectly under-
the French were established in possession, nothing but force
deprive them of
it.
But how could such
force
be successfully
The chain of movmtains bounding the Circars on the west formed
an almost impassable barrier to any invasion from the Deccan, while
line of coast
made
easy, if attacked, to
it
French settlements in their defence.
Cii-cars
all
long
the resources of the other
This consideration had not escaped the
who endeavoured without success to tempt Bus.sy to
for an inland territory of much greater extent and value.
notice of the dewan,
exchange the
employ
theii-
IirsTORV
5()i
A,
I)
Tlie ambitious
IV.'.I.
OF-^
INDIA.
[Book HI
schemes which Dupleix had long meditated, and which
ainif.'d
at nothing less than the estahhshment of French ancendency throughout the
now in a
Decean, seemed
Negotiationa
war
fair
way of
being accomplished.
had been a serious
in the Carnatic
obstacle.
Hitherto, however, the
fonned a constant drain on
It
botweoii
the two
Company; and what was worse, did not compeasjite
by any adequate return. Beyond the Coleroon the p<jsition of affairs
the resources of the French
coinpaiiius
for the cost
was
more unfavoui-able
still
;
and, after
all
the exertions which had been made,
the superiority remained decidedly with the
come
some arrangement with these formidable
to
induced to quit the
rally follow
from
his employers
it
;
field,
a host of
difficulties
Could
rivals?
it
be
po.ssible Uj
If they could be
would at once disappear.
The
some such arrangement, and the advantages that would natu-
practicability of
deemed
Briti.sh.
it,
had been repeatedly urged upon the attention of Dupleix
and though he was
little
V>y
disposed to adopt a peaceful policy, he
expedient so far to defer to their wi.shes as to
make
formal proposals
of negotiation to the Madi'as presidency in the beginning of 17-)+.
The English Company, whose
were
still
more desirous
finances
had
suffered severely during the war,
to terminate hostilities,
presidency to embrace the
fu-st
and had repeatedly urged the
opportunity of securing so desirable a
result.
making the preliminary an-angements foi* a
conference.
The place selected for this purpose was the Dutch settlement of
Sadrass, situated on the road between Madras and Pondicherrv.
Here the
There was thus
little difficulty
deputies appointed
Contradictory
in
by the two companies met on the 3d
of January,
and opened
the business by mutually producing their proposed basis of negotiation.
It
was
jiro-
posals.
at once perceived that their views were totally iiTeconcilable.
pany
insisted that
Mahomed Ali should
be acknowledged
Tlie English
Nabob
Com-
of the Carnatic,
and the French that Salabut Jimg should be acknowledged Soubahdar of the
Decean in other words, each
;
had been
insisted that the other should jaeld the
at issue in the contest.
As matters
stood, Salabut
whole that
Jung and Mahomed
Ali were merely representatives of the two rival companies, and the recognition
of either without
any modification
of their powers, or
any
effectual
check on the
abuse of these, would have been to place the one company entirely at the others
This was too obvious not to be seen, and yet the negotiation was
mercy.
allowed to proceed, though there was no
start.
common
point from which
it
could
In the course of the discussions which followed, the French produced
seven patents, two from Muzzuffer Jung, four fi-om Salabut Jung, and one from
the Great Mogul.
Those from Muzzuffer Jung and Salabut Jung, inter
alia,
appointed Dupleix commander from the Kistna to Cape Comoiin, and gave him
the whole territories of Arcot and Trichinopol}' after
Chunda
Sahib's death
The patent from the Great Mogul was in the form of a letter confirming all the
grants which Salabut Jmig had made in favour of Dupleix and his allies.
The
English
Company
also professed to
Ghazi-u-din, and the Great
be in possession of patents from Nazir Jung,
Mogul giving and confirming
the nabobship of the
.
A BRITISH SQUADRON
CiiAP. VIT.]
Carnatic to
Mahomed
505
Though the patents thus founded upon were
Ali.
dictory and neutralized each other,
been genuine
EQUIPPED.
may
not impossible that they
it is
for at this period of political confusion in India, thei'e
;
contra- ad.
all
have
was
little
any kind of document that might be wished, provided a
sum of money was paid for it. Several suspicious circumstances, how-
1754.
difficulty in obtaining
sufficient
made
ever,
the genuineness of the patent from the Great Mogul, which the
French had produced, more than questionable.
of a former reign
and when attention was
;
The
seal
his possession at Trichinopoly
fruitless.
to be that
called to the circumstance, Dupleix,
instead of courting examination, suddenly withdrew
it
Mahomed AH
ments, on the ground that those which
was proved
Negotiations
and
other docu-
all liis
wjis alleged to
had been only promised, not
have in
As the
]iroduced.
production certainly ought to have been mutual, the objectit n was so far well
founded; the absurdity, shared alike by both parties, was in liypocritically endea-
vom-ing to give a semblance of legality and equity to acquisitions which had
originally been
made
in defiance of both,
and were
still
only maintained by the
After a large amount of quibbling and tergiversation, the whole nego-
sword.
Much
ended in smoke.
tiation
recrimination followed, and the only result was,
more exasperated than
to leave both sides
ever.
Company were placed
on their own resources,
In carrying on the war in India the English
disadvantage in being
left to
depend entirely
French Company were directly countenanced and supported by
They had
ment.
therefore good reason for the remonstrance
at a great
British gov-
while the
interferes.
tlieir
govern-
which they pre-
sented to the British ministry, calling vipon them to take the necessary steps
either to terminate the war, or to fm-nish the resources
The former
carried on.
in the East
alternative
was adopted, and the
to be
position of matters
After various conferences in London, between the Earl of Hol-
derness, principal secretary of state,
and two deputies sent over from
British ministry, dissatisfied with the little progress
made towards a
Paris, the
settlement,
by equipping a squadron of men-of-war for the
The French ministry, made aware by this decisive step that pro-
began to prepare
crastination
was
it
became the subject of an earnest correspondence between the two
governments.
East Indies.
by which
for the worst,
would no longer
avail,
began to act in
earnest,
and entered into an
arrangement by wliich the disputes of the companies were to be settled on a
footing of equality.
In
oi'der to carry
out this arrangement,
ally
have
fallen
on Dupleix
which he had
to that
all
;
was necessary
Had
that commissaries should be appointed to adjust the terms.
experience only been required, the choice of the French
it
talent
Company would
and
natur-
but the poUcy about to be adopted was so opposed
along pursued, that some degree of suspicion justly
attached to him, and he was considered ineligible.
But
if ineligible
to
be
appointed a commissary, to adjust the terms of a settlement, he was obviously
unfit to
to hold
Vol.
I.
be employed in giving
effect to
it,
the government of Pondicherry.
and could no longer be permitted
He was
therefore
superseded by
64
50G
A.D. 1754.
IIISTOIiV
M. Godeheu, a director of
tlie
INDIA.
(»[••
French Company, who arrived on the 2d of Augu.st,
1754, invested with absolute authority over
Duploix su-
East Indies.
(JcKloheu.
how Ijitterly Dupleix mast have felt when
Even when deprived of the substance of power lie
thus compelled to resign.
clung to
its
the French settlements in the
all
It is easy to conceive
by
|H!i-si)cle(l
[htJOK III.
shadow, and was permitted during the two montlw which elapsed
before he took his final departure for Eui'ope, to gratify his vanity
the dress and parading the streets with
the insignia belonging to him in his
all
imaginary capacity of Nabob of the Carnatic.
by such an
character,
Yet
and makes
his fate
him
exhibition proves
was
it
The
fact of his
much
interest in his future fortunes.
not only spent his
life,
but embarked his whole
From them,
fortune in the service of the French East India Company.
he was entitled to generous treatment.
fore,
even do him
still
twi)
pending when he
Immediately on
.X'P'eement
l)B;.ween
and he was obliged
justice,
died, ruined
his arrival,
being gratified
have been devoid of true dignity of
impossible to take
He had
hard.
to
by wearing
So
to seek
far
it
from
this,
by a law
there-
they would not
process,
which was
and broken-hearted.
M. Godeheu entered into communication Mnth
the
com-
Mr. Saunders, governor of Madras, and gave proof of his good faith and anxiety
pviiies.
by
for a settlement
releasing the
company of Swiss
who had been
soldiei*s
tured while proceeding in country boats for Fort
St.
A
David.
cap-
favourable
answer was returned, but meanwhile both parties continued their wai-like opera-
The French received a reinforcement of
tions.
1
200 men, of
whom
000 were
command of Fitscher, a partisan of some reputation a still
larger accession of force was made to the British, by the arrival of the squadron
above mentioned. It was commanded by Admiral Watson, and consisted of
hussars under the
;
three ships, of sixty,
several
Company's
command
ships,
and twenty guns
;
together A\dth a sloop of
was decidedly with the
inducing M. Godeheu to propose terms
effect in
once acceded
October,
superiority
British,
Its duration
1754.
was
Company
re-
and probably had some
so reasonable that they
so far as to justify a suspension of hostilities,
to,
war and
having on board the 49th regiment of 700 men, under
of Colonel Adlercron, forty royal artillerymen, and 200
The
cruits.
fifty,
fixed at three months;
were
at
on the 11th of
but before these
on the approbation of the two com-
expired, the terms of a treaty, conditional
panies in Europe, were adjusted, and became the basis of an eighteen months'
Its terms.
The leading
truce.
principle of the ti'eaty
was, that on the east coast of
India the two companies should be placed on a footing of peifect equality. With
this
view
it
was
government and
restore to
made
them
all
retain Devicotta,
;
that they should for ever renounce aU
dignity, never interfere in quaiTels
definitive,
to each
stipulated
places
George and Fort
and the French
St.
native princes, and
and possessions except those which the
should expressly reserve
that on the
among
Carrical,
;
Moorish
treaty,
when
that in Tanjore the English should
with the
districts at present attached
Coromandel coast the English should retain Fort St
David with
their present districts,
and the French Pondi-
I
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COMPANIES.
Chap. VI I]
cherry, with either
an additional
patam and the Gundlacama,
to
district or
new
a
507
settlement between Nizam-
a.d. i:m.
compensate for the deficiency of the settlement
and Fort
of Carrical compared with those of Devicotta
St.
David that
Masu-
at
;
lipatam a district should be formed equal in extent to the island of Divy in
the same vicinity, and then a partition should be
made by
miitual agi-eement,
giving the district to the one company and the island to the other
northward of Masulipatam, and within the Northern
;
that to the
company
Circars, each
should have four or five subordinate factories, merely as places of trade, without
any
them, and so situated as not to interfere with each other.
district attached to
Till the ti'eaty
was made
by
definitive
session should be retained
by both companies
of uti possidetis, but during the truce no
bound
the allies should either be
new
in conformity with the principle
acquisitions should be made,
to act in accordance with
the troops of both companies in the event of their
In this treaty the Fi'ench
Europe, existing pos-
its ratification in
Company
it,
or be repelled
making an attack upon
aj)parently
made
and
the larger
by
either.
sacrifice. AmWgnitica
Their revenues within the territorial limits over which the treaty extended had
been augmented dming the war to at least
by the English Company
accpiired
ing of
for
of
ills
its
between these two smns.
Such at
leading stipulations, and yet
Bussy's connection with Salabut
it
and, as
;
if in
made over
to
£U)(),()()0.
By
tho.se
consenting to an
it
least
seems to be the plain mean-
must have been understood
Jung underwent no change
dift'erently,
in consequence
direct defiance of the very first article, he continued to fight
battles as before.
otherwise, as
short of
fell
per annum, while
they renounced an income nearly equal to the whole
eciuality of possession,
difierence
£70().(1()()
treaty,
may
It
be alleged that
it
was impossible
for
him
to do
was the condition on which the Northern Circars had been
him.
The moment the troops were withdrawn, the Circars would
tliis
iiave reverted to the niler of the Deccjin,
and thus the
princi})le of uti possidetis,
which, according to another stipulation, was to be maintained so long as the
treaty remained only conditional,
damage of the French Company.
tilities
was only
woidd have been
In point of
violated, to the manifest
fact, then,
the suspension of hos-
and while the English Company were
partial;
specially excluded
from attempting anything in the Carnatic, there was nothing to prevent the
French
Company from
entleavoining, through the intervention of Buss}-, to
extend their infiuence, and pave the
ascendency in the Deccan.
Haw
in the treaty.
s\ilted,
wake
The
It
allies
way
for the establishment of a complete
soon appeared that this was not the only serious
had been made parties to
it
without being con-
and could not understand why they should be obliged
of foreign mercenaries, and
jeraj, in particular,
he would never
Trichinopoly.
make
to follow in the
peace and war at their dictation.
Nun-
continued to linger in Seringham, and openl}^ declared that
(jult it
excepting for the purpose of making himself master of
The nabob on
fear of the ^Ivsorean.
now
his part
was equally warlike and having
;
little
that the French were under an obliiration not to
other
508
A.I). 1755.
IlISTOKY OF INDIA.
assist him,
began to meditate an expedition
Strange to say, the Madras presidency, as
as a dead letter,
if
[Book
again.st
Madura and
Tinnevelly.
they had already regarded the treaty
were no sooner applied to than they agreed to furnish
Eur-opeans and 2000 sepoys for this expedition.
against this proceeding as a violation of the truce
example in the Deccan,
setting a similar
III.
The French
thern.selves
was paid
attention
little
rernonstrat<5d
hut as they were
;
'>()()
to tlieir
remonstrance.
The nabob and
Hostilities
Maphuze Khan, who was now acting
his brother,
as his repre-
vosumed.
sentative in the countries south of the Coleroon, joined the expedition with
1000 horse; but the detachment was commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Heron,
an
officer lately
Madras
anived from England.
witli the
rank of lieutenant-colonel in the king's service
which, so far from rewarding
sate for the
superior
marked
officer,
Major Lawrence had previously
him according
—an
left for
honour
even compen-
to his merit, did not
which he received when Colonel Adlercron, as
slight
superseded him in the chief
command
his
of the Briti.sh forces in
The expedition set out in the beginning of February, 1755, and, after
some detention and loss among the Colleries, one of whose polygars made a
India.
vigorous resistance, gained undisputed possession of Madura.
no
resistance,
It
was soon
and
all
Tinnevelly
the surrounding country professed submission to the nal^ob.
found, however, that the submission
was only nominal.
The
bute promised was not paid, and the whole amount of revenue realized
In consequence of
short of the expenses of the expedition.
most unsatisfactory
result,
this
tri-
fell
far
unexpected and
a rigid inquiry was instituted, and Colonel Hunter,
by
convicted of having increased his private fortune
sacrifice of his public duties,
Mysore
made
was dismissed the
presents obtained at the
sei'vice.
During these transactions the Mysoreans, who had continued to linger at
threatened.
Seringham, in the hope that force or intrigue might yet put them in possession
marched
of Trichinopoly, suddenly
threatening their
own
off"
to
Balajee
territory.
with his devastating Mahrattas, and at the
cing at the head of an
army
army
meet a double danger which was
Rao had appeared on the frontiers
same time Salabut Jung was advan-
consisted of the French battalion headed
found himself in a very awkward position.
by Bussy, who
By the
how could
he, as
him to
the avowed servant of the French Company,
take part in an expedition against the Mysoreans, with
been and stiU were in alliance ?
dexterous diplomacy.
By
From
from
his
this
whom
pleased
they had long
dilemma Bussy relieved himself by
Jung
as a protector against the threatened
Balajee Rao, thus intimidated,
intended invasion
it
acting as a mediator between the parties he induced
the Mysoreans to accept Salabut
Mahratta invasion.
in consequence
terms of his service he could
not refuse to follow Salabut Jiuig on any expedition wliich
undertake; and yet
Pai-t of this
to exact alleged arrears of tribute.
;
and Salabut Jung,
after
was
easily bribed to desist
encamping under the walls
of Sei'ingapatam, consented to an aiTangement which gave
him a
large
sum
in
THE ANGRIA PIKATES.
Chap. VII.]
payment of past
509
in the futm'e pajTnent of ad.
and a promise of punctuality
airears,
1713.
tribute.
The
squadron under Admiral Watson, having? no prospect of active
Britisli
employment on the Coromandel
coast while the treaty
November
panics subsisted, retm'ned in the beginning of
considerable
number
between the two comto
Bombay.
Arrival of
Bombay,
Here a
of troops had recently arrived from England, for the pur-
pose of acting in concert with Balajee
to undertake against
Rao
in
an expedition which he had
Aurungabad, the capital of the Deccan.
agi-eed
was hoped
It
that Salabut Jung, tlius attacked, would be frightened into a compromise, and
induced to break off his connection with Bussy, as the only effectual means of
securing his
own
This expedition had been planned in England before
safety.
was known, and the presidency of Bombay, taking the change of circumstances into consideration, resolved to abandon
the conditional treaty with the French
who had
Clive,
it.
arrived with the troops with the rank of colonel in the
and the appointment of governor of Fort
king's service,
that the expedition would not
amount
the
;
more
and
to a violation of the treaty,
that no time should be lost in carrying
was overruled
David, was of opinion
St.
it
His opinion, however,
into effect.
easily, perhaps, that
ui-ged
the original
command
of the ex-
was unquestionably best
entitled to it, but to a Colonel Scott, on whom ministerial influence more than
merit had conferred it. By Scott's death, indeed, Clive had actually succeeded to
the command, but the presidency were not to be moved from the view they had
pedition had been destined, not to him, though he
at first
force
taken
then at
;
and
it
was determined
Bombay on
to
employ the whole naval and military
another expedition, as to the justice and expediency
of wliich no doubt could be entertained in
The west
coast of India
preyed indiscriminately on
carried
qviarter.
had long been infested by a body of
tlie vessels
on their depredations
have become in
any
of
all
so boldly, systematically,
fact a formidable naval power.
first
fleet,
and in
this capacity held the
and
Kanhojee
acquired importance, was at one time
they
and
nations, native
pirates,
who
foreign,
and
successfully, as to
Angi'ia,
commander
under
whom
of the Mahratta
government of Sevemdroog, a strong
fort
situated on a small rocky island close to the coast, about seventy-eight miles
south from Bomba}'.
In course of time, finding himself strong enough, he
{\spired to independence,
and having gained over a large portion of the
his old masters at defiance.
to the Mahrattas,
who were not
tered on shore, that they at
for
A war ensued,
last,
a promise of allegiance and
and sixteen places of
be supposed that
dations, he
when he had
would forthwith
sea,
but so vigorously encoun-
1713, consented to a peace which, in return
tribute, left
less strength,
Kanhojee in possession of ten
with their dependent
villages.
thus succeeded in reaping the
desist
set
but the residis were so unfavourable
only worsted at
m
fleet,
from them.
On
fi-uits
It is not to
of his depre-
the contrary, he
emboldened to extend them, and continued to levy what he called
forts
liis
was only
chout by
The Augria
.-,10
A.D.i72o^
JnSTOJiY OF l.\DL\.
the indiscriminate
whole
The Angria
pirates.
i)lun(lei-
of
all
[Hook HI.
came within
ships that
Along the
his reacli.
from the vicinity of Bombay southwards to that of Goa, his vessels,
protected by forts, and sheltered within creeks and the mouths of the numen,uK
coast,
small streams which descend from the Western Ghauts, lay ready to j>ounce «,n
any hapless vessel that might chance to heave in sight. In carrying on tlieir
depredations the pirates derived great
from the nature of
facilities
tlie
naviga-
The sea and land breezes blow alteiTiately in the twenty-four hours,
dividing the day between them.
The land breezes, liowever, do not reach more
tion.
than forty miles out to
Their modo
of wai-fiire.
sea,
and hence
keep witliin that distance from the
vessels, in order to profit
by them, must
They were thus oblicred to run into
the very danger which they were anxious to avoid, and fell a frequent and eas}coast.
prey to Kanhojee's
•and gallivats.
fleet of
The.se
two
grubh
classes
of vessels, which, for mercantile
are
purposes,
still
in
common
use on the Malabar coast, were
admirably adapted for predator}'
The
warfare.
grab.s, varj-ing in
burden from 300 to 1 50 tons, and
made broad
in
proportion
to
their length, for the purpose of
drawing
A Grab i-From
little
water, canied a
Solyyn, Les Hindous.
number of gUnS, twO of them
from nine to twelve pounders, placed on the main deck so as to fire through portholes over the prow, and the rest, usually six to nine pounders, fitted to give a
broadside.
The gallivats, which never exceeded seventy tons burden, comldned
the double advantage of sailing and
sail,
they were provided with forty to
act as tugs to the grabs,
an
row
horn'.
Thus attacked,
Her enemies keeping
and
it
pull
was
Besides a very large triangular
boats.
fifty stout oars,
them even
which enabled them
to
in a calm at the rate of foiu* miles
scarcety possible for a merchant vessel to escape.
at first at a safe distance, plied her with shot
till
they had
dismasted her or thoroughly damaged her rigging, and then, as she lay helpless
in the water, either compelled her to stiike, or boarded her
by sending forward
a number of gallivats, each with from 200 to 300 men.
F.iiiureof
xiie East India
negotiations
with them.
Company
i
tried both force
./
with Kanhojee.
and negotiation
o
.'
After an ineffectual attempt to coerce him in 1717, Mr. Charles Boone, then
governor of Bombay, tried the
ber, 1720, received
'
This
is
effect of
a written remonstrance, and in Novem-
a long and rambling, but
a ship with three masts, a pointed prow,
and a bowsprit. Its crew consists of a nicodar or
captain, and a few clashics or Moorisli sailors.
The
grabs are built at Bombay, where it appears that
navigation was brought to some degree of perfection
verj''
characteristic answer, in
which
The pointed prow which
Hindoo connot met with in any other countri*.
at a very early period.
distinguishes the grab belongs to the
and is
The Portuguese have imitated
struction,
ships.
— Solvyn,
Lcs Mindous.
it
in their Indian
Kariliojee, instead of
"As
acted, says:
God
for
;
seeking to disguise or palliate the principles on which he
touching
desire of possessing
tiie
what
give to another.
way
of the
gives nothing immediately from himself, but takes from one to
Whether
and
this
am
behoves the merchants, I
lence, insults,
this is the
a.d. 1755.
do not
another's, I
is
merchants exempt from this sort of ambition, for
find the
world
511
THE ANGRIA PIRATES.
Chap. VII.J
piracies,
is
right or no,
who
is
able to determine
say our government
is
forasmuch as Maharaja (which
is
sure, to
war against four kings, founded and established
introduction and beginning, and whether or no
by
supported by vio-
making
This was our
Sevajee),
kingdom.
his
It little
?
government
these waj^s this
hath proved durable, your excellency well know.s so likewise did your prede-
and the former three ships of the
forces,
an attack on the strong
power
latter furnishing the land
In 1722 the British and Portuguese, the
cessors."^
under Commodore Matthews, made
line
different
against
Kolabah, at that time the chief seat of Kanhojee's
fort of
but his usual good fortune, or the cowardice of the Portuguese, saved
;
him; in 1724 the Dutch, with seven
made an
troops,
ships,
two bomb- vessels, and a body of
These
equally imsuccessful attempt on Viziadroog or Gheriah.
ignominious failures strengthening a prevalent belief that the forts attacked
were really impregnable, the reduction of them was abandoned as hopeless and
;
as the only other alternative, the
Company were reduced
to the necessity of
giving convoy to their merchant ships by means of a naval force, which was
The expense of
maintained at an annual expense of £50,000.
was not the worst part of
it.
Humiliating as
it
was,
it
this expedient
proved unavailing
;
and
Kanhojee, only emboldened by the ineffectual resistance opposed to his ravages,
continued them with more daring, and on a more extended
At
scale.
end of 1728, he was possessed of immense wealth, a powerful
in the
territory stretching 100 miles along the coast,
Kanhojee Angria
left
were recognized as his
two legitimate and three
successoi-s,
and fixed their
and the other at Severndroog.
by domestic
partly
and backward
dissensions
It
Kolabah
Ultimately, after various changes, produced
and partly by foreign
troops under Colonel Clive were
influence, the succession
who made Gheriah
now about
W'at.son
his
and the
His depredations
to be employed.
not bearing his passport had been severely
all ships
and a
The former
residence, the one at
was against him that the squadron under Admiral
committed on
fleet,
to the mountains.
illegitimate sons.
passed to one of the illegitimate sons, called Toolajee,
capital.
his death,
felt,
as well
by the Mahrattas as by the Bombay presidency; and both as early as 1751 had
come
to a
steps,
however, were not taken
given
siiips
mutual determination
new
of
the last
till
him down
1755.
as a
common enemy.
The very year
Actual
before, the pirates
had
proof of their formidable power, by attacking at once three Dutch
fifty, thirty-six,
;
to put
and
it
was
and eighteen guns, burning the two
tii-st,
and capturing
resolved, at the earnest entreaty of Balajee Bajee Rao, the
Peishwa, to attack Toolajee Angria both by land and
'
Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol.
i.
sea.
p. 459.
At
this time neither
Successful
tmaei
jam^!'""^''
512
AD.
1755.
IIJSTORV OF INDIA.
[Book
Admiral Watson's squadron nor the troops from England had
land forces were accordingly furnished entirely
arrived.
by the Mahratta«, who
111.
1'he
of course
retained the
command
under
marine
the Protector, of forty-four giins, with a ketch of sixteen gurw, and
James.
two bomb-vesscLs, and a Mahratta
snccesHfui
force,
placed under the sole
sufficiency,
its
them
command
the ships, consisting of the Company's
Init
;
fleet
of the
of seven grabs and sixty gallivats, were
Company's chief naval
This great armament mitst have
James.
of
of
made
officer.
Commodore
almost impossible to doubt
it
and yet such was the exaggerated idea entertained of the
strength of Angria's
forts,
that the presidency instructed the
commodore
by attack-
tent himself with blockade, instead of risking the safety of his vessels
ing them.
were the
If such
Mahrattas for being
still
fears of the presidency,
more timorous.
On
to con-
we can hardly blame
the
anchoring fifteen miles north of
Severndroog, and disembarking the troops, in number 10,000, to proceed the rest
way by
of the
land,
Commodore James
learned that the enemy's fleet
securely at anchor within the harbour of Severndroog,
upon
it
sible.
and might, by stealing
make
during the night, be so effectually blockaded, as to
He made his arrangements
accordingly
;
was lying
escape impos-
but the Mahratta admiral, after
promising liberally to second him, soon found that he had promised more than
he was able to perform.
as
much perhaps from
His
officers
refused to stir before morning
Commodore James,
ooote.
and
thus,
treachery as from cowardice, appeared in sight only in
time to alarm the enemy, and enable them to put to sea with
Capture of
L^ 6 V G nidxo o ff
it fruitlcss,
and Ban-
;
after a chase, continued
retumcd to Severndroog.
all
their ships.
made
the approach of night
till
Beside the fort of this
name on
the island,
there were three other forts on the mainland, within point blank distance of
These, though originally built for the purpose of keeping
wards
fallen into Angria's hands,
it
in check,
and now formed part of
its
had
engaged in laying siege to the land
forts.
Such
at least
after-
defences.
returning dispirited from the chase, the commodore foimd the Mahratta
it.
On
army
was the name which
they gave to their operations but there could not be a more ludicrous misnomer,
;
for
they were firing only from a single gun, a four-pounder, at the distance of two
miles.
To keep up a blockade
have been worse than
futile;
for the purpose of assisting such besiegers
and
it
was therefore evident
would
that, if the instructions
which the excessive caution of the Bombay presidency had dictated were
literally
observed, this expedition against the Angria pirates would necessarily prove,
like the others
which had preceded
it,
a complete
failure.
Rather than expose
Commodore James determined to
The resiJt
the effect of a bombardment.
himself and his employers to such disgrace.
act on his
own
soon justified
responsibility,
Ms
decision.
and try
In the course of a single day Severndroog, wliich
imaginary fears had magnified into an impregnable
truce,
and the land
forts
brilliant exploit the fleet
fortified island of
fortress,
hung out a
almost immediately followed the example.
and army proceeded north
six miles,
flag of
After this
and attacked the
Bancoote, which yielded almost without a show of resistance.
THE ANURIA PIKATES.
Chap. VII.]
The Mahratta commander was
so elated
by a
513
success
which
far
exceeded his ad.
utmost hopes, that he endeavoured to tempt the commodore by an
200, 000 rupees to continue his career of victory,
and complete
offer of
by the
it
1-55.
captiu-e
of Dabul, another of Angria's strongholds, situated on the coast about eight
The commodore's own wish would have been
miles farther south.
to
comply
with this proposal, but having already exceeded his instructions he did not ventiure
In the hope of obtaining
to act without express sanction.
Protector to Bombay.
off in the
it,
he hastened
Here, however, notwith.standing his unex-
pected achievements, the presidency were
still
haunted by doubts and
fears,
and
he was reluctantly compelled to desist from further operations.
Such was the
state of matters
when
the
Bombay
presider:cy,
by
the arrival
Tooiajee
Angria's
of
Admiral Watson and Colonel
Clive,
found themselves
in
possession of a
stronghold.
powerful force, for which, from their determination not to employ the troops in
the Deccan, as originally intended, they had no immediate
(
ccasion.
In these
work which Commodore James had so ably begvm, naturally
and it was determined to strike at the root of Tooiajee Angria's
circumstances, the
suggested
itself,
by attacking Viziadroog or Gheriah. This place, situated about 170
south of Bombay, was very imperfectly known by Euiopeans, and figured
j)Ower
miles
in their
and
imaginations as a fortress
at least equal to
it
actuall}^
on an inaccessible rock,
So prevalent was
in strength.
deemed prudent, before
With
built, like Gibraltar,
th.e idea,
that
it
was
undertaking the expedition, to reconnoitre.
view Commodore James proceeded with the Protector and two other
tliis
ships, and,
undeterred by the
fleet
which lay crowding
sufficiently near to the fort to obtain a full
Gheriah, though undoubtedly strong,
survey of
was very
far
harbour, advanced
tiie
His report was, that
it.
from being impregnable.
Its
was a rocky promontory, connected with the mainland by a narrow belt
of sand, and stretching south-west about a mile in length by a quarter of a mile
in breadth.
The face of the promontory all roimd, where washed by the sea,
site
formed a continuous precipice about
cations,
fifty feet high.
Above
this rose the fortifi-
The sandy isthmus
consisting of a double wall flanked with towers.
contained the docks where the grabs were built and repaired
;
and immediately
beyond, on the north, was the harbour. i)artly formed by the mouth of a stream
which descended from the Ghauts.
Commodore James returned from
his survey in the
end of December, 1755;
Prcimrations
but nearly six weeks were afterwards spent in making preliminary aiTangements Man united
Some
of these related to the terms
were to co-operate, and
to obtain
Bancoote and
should belong to the
the spoil which
it
on which the Company and the Mahrattas
was expressly
five adjoining villages in perjietuity, Gheriah, if taken,
latter.
Another an-angement related
was expected
VoL.
I.
this an-angement, the
to the distribution of
to fall to the actual captors.
governments could not well interfere
making
were
stipulated, that while the former
;
but
undoubted
it is difticult
title
to
With
this the
two
understand how, in
of the Mahrattas to a fair ])ropor65
.
'^"
^^^^^f,^^
atta
force.
'
5
A.D
175C
1
HISTORY or INhTA.
1-
tion
was
Without j)aying
altogetlior overlooked
mittee of ten
I
tlie
least regard
Hook
J
11.
a com-
t/j it,
representing the British naval and military forces about Uj
officers,
be employed, met at Bomljay, and made a distribution among themselves of the
Dispute regarding the
Uistrilmtion
<>f
whole anticipated prize-money.
In thus excluding their
whicii they manifested, that the
to the principle of division
to the
two
services
adopted
the British were
So mercenary, indeed, was the
guilty of an act of premeditated injustice.
juize-
allies
were on the point of
Olive's
(quarrelling as
rank as colonel entitled him only
same share of prize-money as a naval captain
;
but
was contended on
it
the part of the ai-my, that his position as their commander-in-chief entitled
least to share equally
mand
make up
the difference claimed out of his
doubtless, generosity in the sacrifice thus offered
when
rosity also in the conduct of Clive, who,
to £1000,
at
would have
neither service would give way, the quarrel
proved serious had not Admiral Watson succeeded in terminating
teering to
him
with Rear-admiral Pococke, who was only second in com-
As
in the navy.
spirit
was afterwards tendered
own
volun-
it Ijy
There was,
pocket.
by Admiral Watson, and gene-
the actual deficiency, amounting
to him, refused to accept
it
but
;
it
would have
been more creditable to them.selves individually, and to the ser\aces over whicii
they presided, had they in the
allies,
first
instance recognized the just claims of
theii-
and afterwards, instead of countenancing steridy rebuked the higgling
and rapacious
whole transaction,
On
manifested by their subordinates.
spirit
it is difiicult
to agree
a review of the
with Sir John Malcolm,
who
thinks
it
"pleasing on this occasion to record the conduct of both the naval and the mili-
tary commanders," though at the same time he cannot refrain fi'om censuring
"that
spirit of plunder,
which actuated
Ex])e(iition
ag
liiist
Glieriali.
all
and that passion
for the rapid accumulation of wealth
ranks."
The expedition, consisting of four ships of the line, and other vessels,
amounting in all to fourteen, having on board a battalion of 800 Eiu-opeans and
1000 sepoys,
sailed in the
The Mahratta army,
beginning of February, 1756.
under Ramajee Punt, had previously advanced from Choul, a town and seaport
twenty- three miles south of Bombay.
On
the appearance of the
Angi'ia, in alarm, left the defence of the fort to his brother,
Mahratta camp, where he endeavoui'ed to avert his
accommodation.
Had
fleet,
Toolajee
and repau-ed
fate, b}'
to the
proposing teims of
he succeeded, the Mahrattas, on gaining possession, would
amply compensated themselves for the meditated injustice of
The British, conxdnced that this
excluding them from a share of the plunder.
doubtless have
was
their intention,
good a justification
their arrival.
and perhaps conscious that their own conduct afibrded too
The morning afteiof it, saw that no time was to be lost.
Admiral Watson having summoned the
answer, gave orders to prepare for action.
divisions
only
The
fleet,
fort
without recei\-ing any
drawn up
on the north side of the promontory, opened on the
fifty yards,
with
1
The Life of Robert, Lord
Clive, vol.
i.
]>.
1.35.
two
parallel
fort at the distance of
50 pieces of cannon and the mortars of
'
in
five
bomb-ketches
;
Chap.
CAPTURE OF GIIERIAH.
VI I]
olo
Within ten minutes, one of the grabs which crowded the harbour was set on
by a
shell,
and the whole of the
the terror of the Malabar coast,
piratical tieet,
was
which
the enemy's
in,
ad.
itso.
had been
for tifty years
Before night set
in flames.
fire
f^heriaii
attacketl.
fire
was
silenced,
but no surrender was
would be obliged
fort
to succumb,
There was
offered.
doubt
little
and the great question now was how
the
tiiat
to secure
According to the report of a deseiter the iMahrattas were to be put in
the spoil.
[)Ossession of the place
Wiiat would then become of the
on the following day.
prize-money, about the distribution of which the two services had been prematurely quarrelling at
vestige of
and
it
Bombay?
Once
accessible to such dexterous pillagers, every
This was to be prevented at
would speedily disappear.
therefore, as if the capture of the fort
as if the Mahrattas, to
whom
all
had been only a secondary
the delivery of
guaranteed by treaty, had no right to take
it
hazards
object, or
in the event of its capture
landed his troops,
pos.session, Clive
and took up a position commanding the only approach
was
by
to the fort
The
land.
Mahratta commander, finding himself outwitted by this manceuvi'e, made secret
overtures to Captain Buchanan, the officer on picket, and offered
Bombay
for
80,()()()
The
people to pass.
rupees (£8000)
bribe,
if
on
which would have rendered the receiver infamous,
is
a circumstance worthy
of notice as elucidating the character of the times, tliat the
common honesty
bill
he would permit him and a few of his
was indignantly rejected; but, as Duff remarks,^ "it
thought
him a
so rare, as to present Ca})tain
Bombay government
Buchanan with a gold
medal in consideration of his extraordinary good ])ehaviour."
The Mahrattas having been excluded
access to the fort the
bombardment
was renewed, and at length, on the afternoon of the second day, on an intimation
by the garrison
to the
advanced guard of the troops on
shore, that they
were ready to surrender, Clive marched up and took possession.
had reason to congratulate themselves on their good
foi'tune.
nonade had
still
works, the rock
destro}'e(l the artificial
wark, against which,
if it
in
Within the
money and
fort
were found 200
and military
amount of £1 20,000.
Bombay. The Mahrattas got
sum was divided as originally arranged at
nothing, and when they complained were told that whatever
claim they might
have had was forfeited by the treacherous attempt to bribe a British
obtain possession for themselves.
it is
want of good
It
stores
other effects to the
This
of the case,
can-
formed a natimil bul-
pieces of cannon, six brass mortal's, a great quantity of naval
and value
Though the
had been valiantly defended, nothing could have
availed but regular approaches on the land side.
of aU kinds,
The captors
may
be so
;
officer
and
but, in considering the justice
remember that those who now accused them of
had been the first to set them an example. It has been
necessary to
fsvith
already mentioned, that in terms of a treaty
made between
the Conq)any and
the Mahrattas, the former obtained possession of Bancoote, with some dependencies,
and the
latter were, in the
'
flintor;/
event of
its
of the 3fahratias, vol.
capture, to obtain pos.se.ssion
ii.
p. Ot'l.
<
f
Giieri!.ii
5lfi
A.D.
17.Mi.
Ill.STUltV
Strange to say, the
Gheriah.
tiieir
part of the agreement.
by the Mahrattas, Mr.
gation on
Breiuli of
endeavoured to eva^le the
pleas so frivolous as to be disgraceful.
When
was indignantly
this
fulfil
was thought, would be a iiujst valuahl<
and therefore, when delivery was ajsked
Bourciiier, the governor,
and Bancoote was
great reluctance to
it
]>residency;
attem})ted,
[liooK III
Company now showed
Gheriali,
Bombay
acquisition to the
I.NDIA.
Ul-
At
first
obli-
a comjjromise was
offered to the Mahrattas in exchange for Gheriah.
refused, a list of grievances
was
concocted,
and the
faith to tlif
MaiirattuM.
Mahrattas were told tliat they
had
—they had not properly fixed the
delivered
the other
two were
all,
had nothing
frivolous
—and the
The
goods from the Dutch.
regarded as the worst of
—they had not
limits of the Bancoote cession
up the person of Toolajee Angria
for a supply of
perfomiing their part of the treaty
failed in
to
la.st
Peishwa had contracted
grievance, though evidently
do with the point in question, and
pretexts which scarcely deserved
examination.
Mr. Bourchier himself ultimately seemed ashamed of them, and the Mahratta-s
were put in possession of Gheriah.
and troops remained
Pendiiig the dispute the Eriti-sh .squadron
to influence the issue,
the beginning of April.
Shortly
reached on the 12th of May.
after,
and did not return
to
Olive's ultimate destination
June, 1756, the very day on wliich Calcutta
Dowlah, Nabob of Bengal.
was Fort
it
was
followed,
CHAPTER
Slate of Bengal
fell
St.
David.
office
on the
into the hands of Surajah
This event, with the causes which led to
momentous consequences by which
—Administration of
JaflSer
till
they sailed for Madras, which was
where, by a singular coincidence, he entered on the duties of his
20tli of
Bombay
must now be
it,
and the
traced.
YIII.
Khan, Shujah-u-din Khan, Serferaz Khan, and
Ali Verdy Khan.
ENGAL,
united as
it
usually
so important a branch of the
of
it
was with Behar and
Orissa,
formed
Mogul empire, that the government
became an object of ambition
to the leading
members
of the
imperial famil}", and the aspirants to the throne of Delhi were
more than once indebted
State of
furnished
by
its
revenues.
for their success to the sinews of
war
In the war of succession which was waged on the
Beiigiil.
death of Am*ungzebe, Bahadur Shah, who, as the
possessed the best
title,
would
in all probability
eldest
have found
son,
it
undoubtedly
unavailing, had
he not been opportunely furnished with the means of carrying on the contest by
the arrival of his son, Azim-u-Shan, with the treasures which he had amassed
as Viceroy of Bengal.
At
a later period, when, on the death of Bahadui- Shah,
j
HISTORY OF JAFFIEK KHAN.
Chap. VIII.
Azim-u-Shan made an
who
of his elder brother,
attempt to seize
ineffectual
succeeded,
and reigned
for
tlie
517
throne, to the prejudice
a short period mider the
ad
itot.
title
of Jehandar Shah, Faroksiiir, Azim-u-Shan's son, found an asylum in Bengal,
stJit«of
Buugal.
where he had
he remained secure
victorious,
till
least,
held the
Vast
approaching
which Delhi may be said
political
when
office
of viceroy,
and where
he was able to issue at the head of a force which proved
and placed him on the imperial throne.
last instances in
Bengal.
nominally at
for a time,
to
These, however, were the
have received
its
emperors froin
changes were in progress, and the time was evidently
the authority of the Great Mogul, though
might
it
still
con-
tiime to be formally recognized, even in distant provinces, would cease to have
any
The
real existence.
causes tending to this result in Bengal were not so
visibly manifested as in the Deccan, but they
had long been at work, and had
made its governors virtually independent.
As early as the time of Aurungzebe, a governor of Bengal, who afterwards JaffierKiiaii.
acquired celebrity under the name of Jaffier Khan, had begun to cherish ambitious designs.
He was the .son of a poor Brahmin, and spent the early part of
his life at Ispahan, in the service of a Persian merchant,
as a slave,
and educated him as a Mahometan with
his
who had purchased iiim
own children. On the
death of the merchant he obtained his freedom, and returned to India, where he
by the Dewan of Berar. His expertness
in accounts and general business habits brought him under the notice of Am-ungThe latter
zebe, who made him dewan successively of Hyderabad and Bengal.
])osition gave him full scope for the display of his talents
and by the introduction of various improvements he added greatly to the amount of the revenue.
but at the same time incurred
He thus rose high in the favour of Aurunjjzebe,
o
was employed
in a subordinate situation
;
"•» ''^ij
>
.
.
the hatred of the viceroy, Azim-u-Siian,
who was
so offended
by
his interference
in all pecuniary transactions that he sanctioned a plot against his
much by
good fortune he escaped the daggers of the
his courage as his
and afterwards proceeding boldly
most
effectual
liis
As
Jissassins,
to Azim-u-Shan's j)alace, upbraided
him
as
The viceroy cowered before him, and made solemn
the author of the crime.
protestation of
life.
innocence
but the dewan was not to be duped, and took the
;
measures both to manifest his suspicions and guard against a
Besides transmitting an authenticated statement of
repetition of the attempt.
the whole circumstances to Aurungzebe, he quitted Dacca, where the viceroy
resided,
and removed, with
all
the
officei-s
in consequence ultimately supplanted
for the
dangers he had run
of the dewany, to Moorshedabad, which
Dacca as the
new honours were
capital of Bengal.
confeired upon
In return
him and
;
at
tiie
time of Aurungzebe's death he was not only dewan of the three pro\4nces of
Bengal, Behar, and
Ori.ssa.
but also invested with a large share of military
authority.
I
Fortunately for Jaffier
Khan
the contest for the succession to the throne
"history.
—
HISTORY OP INDIA.
.318
.\.p^i7i:i.
from
whom
lie
had most to
(Rook
Farokshir, indeed, was
fear.
;
left to
111.
act an liw father's
deputy, })ut his authority, never confinned at Delhi, was easily set at nought;
jatHtr
government,
and
Jaffier
Khan, bearing, among other lofty
which Aurungzebe had confened upon him, that of naivah, or nabob, continued to extend and con.s(4idate
his power.
All important and confidential situations were filled by his own
titles
and dependants; and though he had many enen.ies at court, he was
render all their machinations powerless, by the regularity with which
relations
able to
he transmitted the revenue, increased by his exertions from £1,000,000 to
£1,500,000 sterling. To a court so needy as that of Delhi, there could not be a
greater recommendation of the merit of a provincial governor than the punctual
arrival of long trains of bullock-carts laden with boxes of treasure.
more
Still
to conciliate favour, the strong military escort
which accompanied each train
>)rought with them, as presents to the emperor
and
elephants,
horses, antelopes,
his mini.ster.s,
numbers of
hawks, shields made of rliinoceros hides, swordblades,
Dacca
bazar
mats,
Silhet
mu.slins, Cos.simsilks,
articles
and various
by
imported
European.s.^
The nabob,
well aware
how much
his favour at court de-
pended on these transmissions,
Hackery or Billock-cart.^— From
was
careful to
make them as widely
known as possible, and
Solvyn, Les Hindovis.
gave them aU the appearance of great public events.
principal officers, accompanied the
besides intimating its approach
He
liimself,
by
accordingly, attended
convoy some miles from Moorshedabad
by regular despatches
be recorded and published in the royal gazettes.
;
to the vizier, caused
By
his
and
it
to
this publication he not
only relieved himself from responsibility in the event of the convoy not reaching
its
destination, but
line of route,
and
left
gave the necessary information to the governors on the
them without excuse
if
they failed to pro^dde for
its safe
transport through their territories.
Jaffier
dered,
Khan, presuming on the importance of the
service
which he thus ren-
and being by nature strongly inclined to arbitrary measures, often stretched
his authority to the utmost,
both natives and foreigners.
and was guilty of many
The
Stewart's History of Bengal, p. 380.
The hackery is a cart consi.sting merely of an iron
ax.le, traversed by two large bamboos, and is used for
'
whole is made of wood
They are common in many
tlie
towards
desire to increase the revenue furnished
-
conveying merchandise ;
without any piece of iron.
acts of oppression
him
of the towns >i Hindoostan. The Hindoo carters are
without mercy for the oxen yoked in the hackeries
they sit on the pole, and twist the tails of the poor
oxen in the most cruel manner, goading them at t):8
same time with sticks pointed with iron. Solvyn.
He was
with a pretext for numei'ous exactions.
ceive
how much
commerce contributed
foreign
Arabian merchants,
Europeans, on the contrary,
lie
u
itjo
Mahometan
the rancour of
all
why
it
he expected them.
fees.
The
He
them
hated them with
all
to be politically dangerous:
the English in ])articular should be exempted
Under the
others were obliged to pay.
he soon made them aware that
or compensate for
from demand-
and the regulated
altogethei-.
bigotry; he believed
and he could not understand
from duties which
cent,
officers
regarded with the utmost jealousy, and would
have expelled them from the country
feelings,
.\
to the general i)rosperity of the
custom-house
strictly prohibiting the
more than the prescribed duties of 2^ per
fain
too clear-sighted not to per-
he was therefore disposed to deal liberally with Mogul and
country, and
ing
519
JAFFIER KUAN'S GOVERNxMENT.'
Chap. VIII. ]
muSt
the}'
by presents renewed
influence of such
either forego this privilege,
as often as he chose to intimate that
The system thus pursued proved
so capricious
and oppres-
itntioii
i'<^i'"t''ti
OIll
sive,
that the East India
of the emperor,
Company
resolved to bring their case under the notice
by sending a deputation
embassy to Delhi.
or
The
I'any to
result of this
embassy, which took place during the reign of Farok.shir, has been already men-
That monarch
tioned.
— influenced, partly by the magnificence of the
presents
which the ambassadors brought with them, partly by the grudge which he bore
the nabob for having not only treated
him
superciliously wiien he
Viceroy of Bengal, but also openly set him at defiance
supplanted him in his government
;
and, above
all,
had
failed
—granted the demands of the Company
point of fact, however, their success
was only
when he would have
by gratitude
of the embassy for effecting a cure on his person after
all
was nominal
to the surgeon
the native physicians
utmost extent.
to their
Tiie nabol), without ven-
pai-tial.
turing to question the authority which conferred the i)rivileges, put his
upon them, and was thereby able
interpretation
Still
tive.
nian, Mogul,
and Hindoo merchants, fixing
to enj(\y the protection of the English flag,
and
its
to render
a very decided advantage had been gained
In
;
own
some of them inopera-
and
Pt)rtuguese, Ai'me-
their residence in Calcutta, in order
added rapidly both to
its
population
wealth.
During the troubles which preceded and immediately followed the deposition
intrigues
had been an unconcerned
Kiian at
and death of Farokshir, he quietly looked
spectator
resumed
and
;
but as soon as
found no
This, however,
Mahomed Shah seemed
diflieulty in obtaining
was now of comparatively
he was far advanced in years.
of the
government
An
his
consequence to him personally, as
object nearer his heart
no
son,
was the continuance
and wished
to give the suc-
Khan, his grandson by an only daughter.
husband, Shujah-u-din Khan, was
government than
a confirmation of Ins government.
little
He had
in his family.
cession to Serferaz or SuffVaze
to the
firmly seated on the throne, he
with Delhi, and by sending his usual escort of revenue
his intercourse
presents,
on, as if he
still alive,
own son, who
was derived from the fondness of a
(h^tinsf
and thought himself better
indeed had no claim to
grandfather.
Ho
it
Her
entitled
except what
therefore intriirued
520
AD.
1725.
lUSTtJltY 01' INDIA.
at Delhi,
and
successfully thwarted the designs of Jafficr
obtain the government for his favourite, did
him on
delivering to
his
and appointing him by
shujahKimn
Nabob of
who appear
intentions,
came
session of the
all
he
death-Led the key of
co\i]<l
all liis
Khan, who, unahle
to
compensate
Jaffier
Khan,
The
an understanding.
government
liim l>y
and valuables,
treasures
in 1725,
Shujah Khan and his
previously to have kept each other in the dark
to
to
both his public and his private successor.
will
Immediately on the death of
son,
[liooK HI.
and the
;
a-s t^>
their real
foi-mer accordingly took quiet pos-
latter consented to
wait
the succession,
till
now assumed to be hereditary, should open tfj him by course of nature. At
the time when Shujah Khan thus seated himself on the mu.snud of Bengal,
he was and had long been deputy-governor of Orissa.
Shortly after he had
fixed his residence at Cuttack, the capital of this government, a person
Mirza Mahomed, related to him by marriage, arrived with his two
— the
named
son.s,
and
named Haji
Ahmed the younger Mirza Mahomed Ali, but better known by the name of
Ali Verdy Khan
were men of talent and education, and made them.selves so
useful to Shujah Khan, that they obtained a complete ascendency over him. As
a matter of course they accompanied him to Bengal, and became influential
members of his government. Serferaz Khan, in implement of the agreement
made with his father, became Dewan of Bengal but all the real power centred
in a council consisting of the above two brothers, and two Hindoo.s
the one, Roy
Alum Chund, who, under the name of comptroller of the household, perfonned
all the duties pertaining to the office of dewan, while Serferaz Khan only
were
all
admitted into his
—
The two sons
service.
elder
—
;
—
nominally held
it
—and the other the imperial banker, Juggut
Seat.
For a time the mildness and equity of Shujah Khan's government contrasted
His wise
favourably with the severity and injustice which had too often characterized
the measiu-es of Jaffier Khan.
All his council were
men
and without
of talents,
having recourse to the oppressive exactions of his predecessor, the revenues were
.so
well managed, that he was able even to increase the customary
Delhi.
many
He
sum
sent to
thus stood high in favour at that court, and not only obtained, with
honourable
titles,
a confirmation of the government of Bengal and Orissa,
but a re-annexation of the province of Behar, which had been dissevered fi'om
it.
This apparent increase of power ultimately proved the ruin of his family.
The government of Behar
take of conferring
Trea-sonaiik
Verily
vacant, and the nabob committed the fatal mis-
on Ali Verd}^ Khan.
it
This crafty and talented favourite
procccded forthwith to Patna, the capital, and at the very outset assumed
ilusigns of
.\ii
fell
.
almost Tcgal
state,
Kliaii.
state of the country
early peiiod he
^
.
being accompanied by an escort of 5000 troops.
was the pretext
;
The troubled
but there cannot be a doubt that at this
was meditating the designs which he afterward
carried into
execution.
Shortly after his aiTival at Patna, he took a body of Afghans into
his service.
These, far superior in native courage and discipHne to the ordinary
Indian troops, put him in possession of a power which could hardly
fail
to give
Chap. Vlll
RULE OF SERFERAZ KHAN.
]
521
him the victory when the struggle which he contemplated should come
Khan
Meanwhile, Shujah
decided.
government, and exchanged
its
governor only in name, and
into each others hands,
left all
had already
set
He was
and luxury.
affairs to
brotliers
thus
be managed chiefly by
were thus enabled to play
necessary an-angements for an emergency
all
arise.
his son, however, their feelings
were very
difftrent,
fast
pos-
and they
on foot a course of intrigue, by which they hoped to gain over
the coui-t of Delhi to their interest, and set the claims of Serferaz aside.
their schemes
were matured, Delhi
itself
and Shujah Khan
queror, Nadir Shah,
was
died.
Before
in the hands of tlie Persian con-
Verdy Khan
Ali
liad previously Death
secured his nomination to the government of Behar, free from any dependence
on Bengal
secured,
;
but
and Serferaz Khan took undisputed possession of the government
fathei''s
to act in all affairs of
Chund, and Juggut Seat.
condition, could not
Ahmed was
Haji
will,
which, while
moment by
Serferaz,
have been
it
ajipointed
the advice of Haji
him
in
Ahmed, Roy Alum
this
he had already become aware that
sincere, for
leagued with his brother Ali Verdy in plotting his over-
So
that he
was bent on destroying him, and only waited
was he from intending
far, tlierefore,
to take
him
for
into his council,
an opportunity.
It
The person of Haji might
Moorshedabad but Ali Verdy being
necessary, however, to proceed witli caution.
easily
have been
seized, as
he resided in
at Patna, could not be reached,
;
and would certainly break out in open revolt
moment any hostile proceedings were adopted against his brother. Had
Serfei'az Khan possessed common prudence and discretion, he would have
secured himself against the designs of the brothers, by com^ting the esteem and
the
attachment of the other two members of his council.
whicli
good feeling as well as sound policy
verted them into implacable enemies.
Instead of this course,
and con-
dictated, he insulted both,
When Alum
Chund,
after obtaining a
private interview, ventured to use the freedom of an ancient counsellor, and to
remonstrate with his
life,
Khan.
bound
heir,
though he promised comj'liance with
throw.
was
of
higher objects to which his ambition pointed had not been
tlie
accordance with his
him
1739
the early promise of his
They saw that Shujah Khan's life was
and they deemed it unnecessary to disturb him in his
close,
Towards
session.
important
The two
and make
which was expected soon to
drawing to a
fulfil
cares for indolence
Ahmed.
the influence of Haji
ceased to
to be a.d
and
new master on
the notorious licentiousness of his private
his total neglect of all serious public business, his counsel
was
scorned,
and he only called forth a volley of ignominious abuse and invective.
treatment of Juggut Seat was
exquisite beauty,
curiosity,
and he
whom
was not
Vol.
I,
more outrageous.
insisted
on seeing
;
her.
of a lady of
excited the nabob's
According to oriental ideas there
but Serferaz Khan, accustomed to listen only to his
which had been indulged to such an extent as
to be dissuaded,
The fame
the banker's son had married,
could not be a grosser insult
passions,
still
The
and the
lady, after
to impair his intellect,
Juggut Seat had implored
66
in vain
HiBsncces-
Khau.
;
IllSTOKV or IM)IA.
522
A.D. 1741.
honour of
for the
was
fiunily,
lils
[Book
J 1
No
carried to the palace in the evening.
violence wa.s offered her; but even rnurnentary exposure to the rude gaze of
nabob was dishonour which
licentious
From
avenjjed.
and those who,
shield
this
Serferaz
for his fathers sake,
be
Khan was
efi'aced,
left
and could only
were once disposed to have
object of the conspiracy wtis to
make
tlte
l^e
without a sincere friend
around him, entered eagerly into a conspiracy to
The primary
Conspiracy
moment
wtis not to
1.
stoo<l like a
effect his ruin.
Verdy Khan Nabob
Ali
•against
Sci-feraz
of Bengal.
To give some
Khan.
colour to the proceeding, application
Mahomed
reigning emperor,
make way
aside to
one who, while he far
for
to enrich the Delhi treasury
several millions more,
him
tion thus obtained a kind of legal sanction,
who probably would have
form of conspiracy and
stood aloof
rebellion.
remained to be surmounted.
if it
set
him
in talents, promised
of £1,000,000 sterling, the
—valued
and the future delivery of the revenue with
Jaffier
and
usuryier,
property and effects
confiscated
which had been observed by
tuality
surj>{issed
by the present payment
transmission of Serferaz Khan's
to the
who, having never confirmed Serferaz Klian
iShah,
government, was easily induced to regard him as an
in his
was made
the punc-
all
The contemplated
Khan.
at
^e^'olu-
and secured the support of many
had continued to wear
now
prepared, one obstacle
was
still
Everything being
Haji, with his famih-,
its original
at Moorshedabad,
and completely at the mercy of Serferaz Khan, who. the moment the conspiracy
was unfolded, would certainly make them the first victims of his rage and vengeance.
By means of a series of dexterous and unscrupulous manoeu\Tes, the
nabob
w^as deluded into the belief that Haji's absence
security,
now
and he allowed him
free to act, at once
would prove
to depart with his family for Patna.
commenced
operations,
his best
Ali Verdy,
and advanced with such rapidity
movements were not known at Moorshedabad till he had surmounted
the difficult passes of Terriagully and Sicklygully, among the Rajamahal Hills,
where his progress might have been arrested, and about to penetrate into the
that his
very heart of Bengal.
Serferaz Khan, confounded at the intelligence, looked
about in vain for the counsel and aid of which he had deprived himself by his
gross misconduct.
negotiation, he
deemed
At
last,
however, after wasting some time in unavailing
began to display an energy of which he had not previously been
capable,
and
hastily collected
an army of 30,000 men, with which he
encamped on a plain near Comra, about twenty-two miles north of
Though
who
speedily decided the fortune of the day.
Khan
fei'az
match
superior in numbers, his troops were no
refused to join the fugitives,
On
and
his capital
for Ali Verdy's Afghans,
seeing that
all
was
lost,
Ser-
iiished into the thickest of the
enemy, when, after he had nearly expended his whole quiver of arrows, he
fell
Ali Verdy
becomes
nabob.
pierced through the forehead
Ali Verdy, following
tion,
up
by a
musket-ball.
his victory, entered
and seated himself on the musnud.
cessor
made
Moorshedabad without opposi-
The odious government of
the change generally acceptable, and
all
his prede-
ranks hastened to congra-
HE VOLT IN
Chap. VIII.]
tulate
and do homage
to the
new
523
OlilSSA.
He
nabo)).
proved not unworthy of
Contrary to the usual practice of eastern conquei'ors,
blood,
and not only spared Serferaz Khan's
sons,
lie
it.
a.d. 1741
displayed no thirst for
but pensioned them, and sent
Govenimeiit
of All Verdj.
them
the
some degree of
to reside with
state at Dacca.
new government met with open
hostility
was
The only quarter
it
was intended
which
Here Moorshad
in Orissa.
Cooly Khan, a brother-in-law of the late nabob, was governor.
aware that
in
Being well
make
to dispossess him, he at first endeavoured to
was
terms, but the utmost he could obtain
to quit the province
with his pro-
As he was not
perty and ftimily, without being subjected to molestation.
of a
warlike temperament, he would probably have submitted, had not a bolder
course been almost foi'ced
upon him by
his wife
and the
ading members of
It
Having determined on resistance, he at once rai.'-ed the standard of
The example might soon have
revolt, and sent Ali Verdy a letter of defiance.
spread, and therefore Ali Verdy, without losing a moment, left his brother
his court.
Haji in charge of the government of Bengal, and hastened forward at the head
of his troops to
commence
the campaign.
The ultimate
doubtful, though the struggle proved longer
been anticipated.
result could hardly be
and more fcnnidable than had
Instead of waiting to be besieged ia Cuttack, his capital,
Cl'TTACK, .IuMM.\ MusjfD.
— From a drawing in East India House.
Moorshad Cooly moved northwards to Balasore, and a
a position where his camp, besides being
was rendered almost
inaccessible
same wisdom been displayed
away both by famine and
river
beyond
it
occupied
and defended by 300 cannon,
and suiToxmding
forests.
Had
in maintaining this position as in selecting
Verdy would have gained no
governor, refused to furnish
by a
fortified
little
laurels.
him with
desertion.
The
it,
population, attached to their
supplies,
and
his
anny began
the
Ali
own
to melt
The impatience and rashness of Mirza
Boker Khan, the enemy's general, brought on a battle at the very time when
he ought to have avoided
it,
and the nabob gained a victory
so complete that
Revolt of
governor of
Orissa
HISTORY or
524
AD.
1742
Moorshad Cooly, finding no safety within the province, was
asylum
syod
Ahmed
govoriK.rof
[Book
\Sl)L\.
III.
an
gla/1 to seek
in Masulipatam.
Ali Verdy, Ijelieving that
mcnt of
He was
Orissa to
tlie
Syed Ahmed,
was
at
an end, gave the govem-
and
his brother's second son,
was now
as a warrior
and made him
out,
Delighted not more at
The fame
mere presence
its
give no further trouble.
In
of the troops he had brought with
him
by
of the nabob
in Ori.ssa sufficed
was no longer
to
was expected
to
Verdy disbanded the greater part
and, escorted only
;
it
officer of experience,
this belief, Ali
vinflic-
suppression than at the reco-
very of his nephew, he again settled the province, which, as
be governed by Syed Ahmed, but by an
him
iiLsurrection, heaxled
prisoner.
so widely spread that his
to dissipate the revolt.
left
Syed Ahmed, by profligacy and
step.s.
had rendered himself so obnoxious that a new
Boker Khan, had broken
set out for Bengal.
anived which
scarcely seated in the capital wli<n intelligence
no alternative but to retrace his
tiveness,
insurrection
by about 5000
proceeded by slow stages for Bengal, amusing himself on the
way with
horse,
hunting.
After passing the frontiers of Orissa, he had entered the district of Midnapore,
and was encamped near
its
when he was
capital,
startled
by the
intelligence
that Bosker Punt, in the service of Ragojee Bhonsla, a Maliratta chief,
established himself in possession of Berar,
who had
had arrived in Bengal, at the head
of a formidable army, with the professed object of levjdng the chout, but
Mahratta
The nabob had not
ii*
would be made
but expected that
probably witli the hope of making a permanent conquest.
invasion of
Bengal.
more
been unaware
/>!•
oi the intended
i
t
•
•
invasion,
t
it
from the north-west through Behar, and at so
late
ample time to reach Moorshedabad and provide
He was
therefore taken completely
entered
by
Orissa,
by
close
sufficient
when he
surprise
and were following
a period as would give him
upon
means
of defence.
learned that they had
He
his track.
immediately
hastened northward to Burdwan, expecting that he might be able there to
deposit his
heavy baggage in
He had
safety.
only reached
it
when
the arrival
was announced by smoking villages and the helpless inhabiterror before them.
The Mahratta commander, with the u.sual
of the Mahrattas
tants fl.eeing in
policy of his nation, avoided a general action, and after several skirmishes
endeavoured to induce the nabob to buy him
the payment of a heavy contribution.
capital, Ali
effort to
Verdy refused
to
continue his retreat.
Still
off
by
offering to
withdraw on
hoping to be able to reach his
submit to the humiliating terms, and made an
With
this
view he gave orders that the heavy
baggage and camp-followers should remain at Burdwan, but the terror had now
become
so general that the orders
inextricable.
were disobeyed, and the confusion became
The greater part of the baggage,
artillery,
and tents
fell
into the
hands of the enemy.
The nabob would now gladly have escaped by paj^g the contribution first
demanded. It was no longer in his option. Bosker Punt, who would have
been satisfied at one time with ten lacs of rupees (£100,000), was too weU
THE MAHRATTAS INVADE BENGAL.
CuAP. VIII.]
52.)
aware of the advantage he had gained, and refused to take
(£1,000,000), together with
risk
was better than
which new
this
all
and
;
than a crore ad.
after a «ti"uggle of four days, during
and hardships were endured, the nabob succeeded in placing
the Bhagaruttee between him and his pursuers.
Here Nuazish Mahomed, the
losses
eldest son of his brotiier Haji, joined
and he found
little difficulty
him with a considerable reinforcement,
in obtaining sufficient supplies.
whole country was becoming inundated.
would have departed had not a bolder
by
Cooly governed
to
name
origin, of the
abandon
it,
his old
of
It
was now Bos-
The rainy season had commenced, and the
ker Punt's turn to take alarm.
It
spirit
seemed madness
than his
own
to remain,
interfered.
and he
An Arab
Meer Hubbeeb, was Dewan of Orissa when Moorshad
and made no
scruple,
when
satisfied as to the
master and take service under Ali Verdy.
winning
His only
side,
object,
however, was to serve, himself; and having been taken, or rather, perhaps,
allowed himself to be taken prisoner
by the Mahrattas, he
with their commander, and was soon the most
the ablest of his advisers.
From
his
ingratiated himself
influential, as
he was certainly
thorough knowledge of the country he was
able to turn every circumstance to advantage,
and when Bosker Punt spoke of
pointed to the defenceless state of Moorshedabad.
retreat,
hesitated, he volunteered to surprise
it,
Punt
\\'hen Bosker
and was provided with a detachment
The nabob obtaining intelligence of his departure, tried to
outstrip him.
He was a day too late. Meer Hubbeeb had already plundered
the suburbs, and extorted from the banker, Juggut Seat, a sum which has been
for that purpose.
The
estimated at £2,500,000 sterling.
Punt
to
success of this expedition induced Bosker
abandon the intention of returning to Berar, and he encamped
for the
rainy season at Cutwah, on the Hooghly.
tas
Though the season made operations on a large scale
made repeated incursions, and were at last masters
west of the Ganges, except Moorshedabad and
its
impossible, the Mahrat-
of the whole of Bengal
environs.
The nabob, con-
tented in the meantime with the possession of his capital, continued strength-
ening
works and making preparations
its
resources
on the east of the Ganges were
for
still
His
a decisive campaign.
unimpaired, and his troops,
placed in cantonments and abundantly supplied with provisions, suffiired few
privations.
the enemy.
was otherwise with the inhabitants of the districts ovennin by
Plundered of their property, and pursued by fii-e and sword, multi-
It
tudes fled across the river, carrying their teiTors along with them, and sought
Even here the alarm became general and
an entrenchment, afterwards known by the name of the Mahrattii Ditch, was
commenced. It was intended to carry it romid the territory, and form an
shelter
and protection
in Calcutta.
inclosure seven miles in extent
;
1742.
Desperate as the case was, any
the elephants.
ignominy
less
;
but as the jMahrattas did not attempt to cross
the river, and were believed not to possess the necessary means, the
abandoned when scarcely half the distance was completed.
At
work was
the same time
^laiiratta
ueugai.
HLSTUltV OF I.M>JA.
526
A.D. 1742.
when
[Book
III
the ditch was begun, penni.ssioii was obtained from the nabob to fortify
the Coni|)any'fs factory- at Cossinibaziir, by suiTOUuding
it
with a briok wall
flanked with ba-stioas at the angles
All Venly
iissuiiies tliu
offensive,
ami
is
vic-
turious.
As soon as the dry season commenced, Aii Verdy boldly assumed the offf.Misive by crossing the Bhagaruttee on a bridge of boats.
Another stream, whicli
it was still necessary to cross in order to come to close quarters with the enemy,
was bridged in the same manner and though a serious loss was sustained by the
sinking of a boat near the centre, when scarcely a half of the troo[>s had pa-ssed,
;
the Mahrattas were so intimidated on seeing them.sdves about to be attacked,
that they fled with the utmost precipitation, seeking to gain the passes which
The
led through the forests of Pachete into Behar.
having frustrated
this intention,
rapidity of the pursuit
they suddenly douljjed upon their track, passed
eastward through the forests of Bishenpore, and gained the open country'.
From some
nabob, thus out-manoeuvred, retraced his steps.
explained, Bosker
advanced to
Punt changed
his tactics,
who
in the complete defeat of the Mahrattas,
made
the best of their
way back
Yerdy returned
Ali
not easily
and instead of continuing
The encounter took
offer battle.
cau.se
place at Midnapore,
The
his flight,
and resulted
and
at once evacuated Bengal,
to Berar.
in triumph to his capital, but not to enjoy a long repose
Kagojee Bhonsla, disappointed and enraged at the defeat of his general, deter-
mined
to take the field in person.
time divided into two powerful
were at
this
was the
office
was
Fortunately for the nabob the Mahrattas
factions.
head of the Mahratta confederacy.
The
ants were Ragojee Bhonsla and Balajee Rao.
Mahratta
disunion.
oVjject
had leen reduced
of Peishwa, who, as the rajah
to all intents the real
The
latter
of contention
to a
The
proved
mere
cipher,
rival claim-
successful, Init
was not ended, and Ragojee no sooner entered Bengal in one direction
than Balajee made his appearance in another. Ali Verdy 's course of policy was
plain, and he lost no time in purchasing the alliance of Balajee, who at once
took the burden of the war upon himself, and drove his rival countr^nnan
the strife
before
him without being obliged
standing this second
failure,
to strike a blow.
Ragojee Bhonsla, notwith-
clung tenaciousl}^ to his purpose, and the very next
year after he had been ignominioasly chased from Bengal, sent Bosker Punt
once more into
it
at the
He had
somewhat lowered.
be
satisfied
head of 20,000 cavahy.
with money.
Bosker was accordingly instructed to
Verdy had hitherto been contented
to
was
meet
as defeat after defeat appeared to
have no
at all events, though
by means
should be
of the mercenary spirit which
offer
his enemies in the
effect,
open
now
peace in
suj^posed to have received.
field,
Ali
but
he resolved to get rid of them
of an atrocity.
Taking advantage
had been so unequivocally displayed, he professed
and sent two of his
the IMahratta camp, with instructions to tempt Bo.sker Punt
to be extremely anxious for a termination of hostilities,
principal officers to
v.ere
once been sanguine of conquest, but he would
return for such a contribution as Balajee
it
His aims, however,
'
TllEACHERY OF ALI VEEDY.
Chap. VIILj
to
527
an interview, by promising to concede whatever he should
when he demanded heavy
nabob a
the
was
contributions, he
a.d. 1742.
had only to pay
told that he
His avarice blinded him to the
in order to obtain them.
visit
Accordingly,
ask.
and on a fixed day, moving out with the greater part of his army from
Cutwah, where it had been encamped, he drew it up in order of battle, and
advanced with his principal officers and attendants to the tent where the nabob
flanker,
was
waitinj; to <nve
them
The
audience.
A
rest is soon told.
had been concealed within the screens around the
tent,
band of
assassins
and only waited a
sig-
commence their horrid butchery. When the Mahratta officers entered,
Verdy eagerly sisked which was Bosker Punt, and on his being pointed out,
nal to
Aii
cried aloud,
"Cut down
Verdy put himself at the head of
charged the Mahratta
Ali
line,
Verdy gained
little
most of
ilebted for
despatched.
To complete the
'"'
atrocity. All
and without any note of warning,
his troops,
which immediately gave way and
fled in confusion.
As a
whom he was in-
but infamy by this abominable treachery.
retribution, his principal
ju.st
"tol'keT"
In an instant Bosker and nineteen chiefs
the infidel!"
who had accompanied him were
Treacherous
Mustapha Khan,
general,
arms against
his victories, rose in
to
liim
;
his brother Haji,
offended at being refused an unreasonable request, retired in disgust to Patna,
to waste the residue of
whom
grandson,
gence,
it
by
a long
he had destined for his
becoming too impatient
Nor were
force.
and
in sensual indulgences;
life
lieir,
his favourite
and spoiled by excessive
to wait for the succession,
indul^-
endeavoured to seize
the Mahrattas slow to avenge their
murdered country-
Exasperation of the
men.
Year
Bengal, and
after year
when he
Ragojee Bhonsla headed an invasion of some part of
died, his son
and
with the same indomitable energy.
worn out by years and
Maiirattas
successor, Janojee, continued the warfare
The ultimate
incessjint fatigue,
result was, that Ali Verdy,
and broken
in health,
was obliged
to
i-ompound with his relentless enemies by ceding to them the whole province of
Urissa,
and
was truly
agi'eeing,
moreover, to pay twelve lacs of rupees annually.
a recognition of the claim to levy chout in
nabob's dignity, that obnoxious term was not used in
declared tliat the
payment was
to be
made
"
Bengal
tiie
fixed,
it
wa.s
but to save the
treaty,
which simply
on condition that the Mahrattas
That there might be no
should not again set foot in his highness's territories."
doubt as to the limit thus
;
This
added that
"
the river Soonamooky,
which runs by Bahisore, should be considered as the boimdary between the two
dominions
;
and that the Mahrattas should never
cro.ss
that river, nor even set
a foot in its waters."
Before the nabob consented to this treaty, he had been rendered almost
broken-hearted by the tragical deaths of his brother Haji and his
nepliew,
Zyn Addeen.
in disgust,
The
fjivourite AiiVenivs
one, as already mentioned, liad retired to
and the other was residing
in
nabob, having discovered that two Afghan
it
as governor of Behar,
chiefs,
Patna
when
the
Shumsheer Khan and Serdar
Khan, were intriguing with the Mahrattas, dismissed them and their
XiMgicai
followei"S
n^hew.""
•5-«
AD
1756.
JlISTOJiV (JF INDIA.
from
his service.
nity of Patna.
Tra-i-ai
numbering about 8000 men, arrived
Tlie whole,
to get rid of
scheme
them
some
Ijy
mean.s,
Aii ver.iy s
to liavc proposed a
nephow.
thougli the youngest of the nabob's nephews,
it
for assassinating the leaders,
good policy to conciliate
all
have preferred assassination as the
safer policy,
who
submission, he authorized
fair.
Haii
wdH
said
is
but Zyn Addeen, who.
The nabob
rival claimants.
but at
last,
to receive
it.
The new
is
said to
overcome by the
represented that they were anxious to
him
it
was expecting to succeed hirn,
the Afghans, whose military prowess would
give him a decided superiority over
urgency of his nephew,
or
fcjul
III.
in the vici
Their presence could not be viewed without alarm, and
dcemcd necessary
thought
[Book
make
terais of service
their
having
been adjusted, Zyn Addeen, anxious to give the chiefs a proof of his confidence,
and obviate any
fears
they might have of treachery, received their
visits of
ceremony, on being restored to favour, in the absence of his guards and presence
of only a few household
The
officers.
first
day, given to Serdar Khan, pas.sed off
The second day was allotted to Shumsheer Khan. HLs approach was
announced by the arrival of nearly 1000 Afghan infontry, who arranged themquietly.
Immediately after the
selves in the square of the palace.
hall of audience
was
named Morad Sheer Khan, and a crowd of officers, who
pressed forward to present their offerings.
While Zyn Addeen was intent on
the ceremony, one of the Afghans aimed a blow at him with his dagger.
It
missed, but Morad Sheer Khan immediately followed it up with his sabre, and
entered
by a
the governor
chief
fell
but was not permitted to die so
vast wealth
;
but,
when dragged
easily.
before
Every kind of torture and ignominy
last, after
On
Haji was the next victim,
dead on the pillow of his musnud.
He was known
to
have accumulated
Shumsheer Khan, refused
failed to
to discover
it.
overcome his firmness, and at
seventeen days of indescribable sufteriBg, death came to his relief
searching his house, seventy lacs of rupees (£700,000), besides jewels and
other valuables to a great amount, were found buried.
ing around them
all
The insurgents gather-
the discontented spirits of Behar, gained possession of the
by leaguing with the Mahrattas, to threaten
Bengal.
The nabob, however, roused by the strongest of all motives, displayed
even more than his wonted ability and intrepidity, and gained two victories
in a single day, in the one avenging his murdered kindred by defeating and
slaying Shumsheer Khan, and in the other, not so much defeating as terrientire province,
and were even
able,
fying the Mahrattas, who, after they had di-awn up for the encoimter, fled in
confusion, without venturing to risk
it.
After the treaty concluded with the Mahrattas in 1751, Ali Yerdy enjoyed
Death of
Ali Verdy.
some
and
respite
disease,
from the
toils
of war.
and died of dropsy in
Death at such a period of life can scarcely be said
adventitious cause, and yet
it is
•
rr>
i
He was sufiermg, however, both from age
He had attained his eightieth year.
1756.
to
have been hastened by any
thought that he might have lived longer had
he not been visited anew by domestic calamities.
His own family consisted
SURAJAH DOWLAH, NABOB OF BENGAL.
VI 1 1. J
Chap.
only of three daughters,
whom
529
The
he married to his three nephews.
death of the youngest at Patna lias already been recorded.
The
eldest,
tragical
second,
many
by good conduct he recovered
by
the character which he had lost
Syed Ahmed, who
government of
his disastrous
\:m.
Nuazish
Mahomed, who was governor of Dacca, and the
years had been governor of Pui'neah, where
ad.
for
Orissa, died of
within a few months of each other, just before their uncle was seized with
fever,
his eldest
The only sm'viving members of the nabob's family were
daughter, Gheseety Begum, the widow of Nuazish Mahomed, and two
grandsons
:
i
his last fatal illness.
he succeeded
government of Pumeah, and the other Sm'aj-ad-Dowlah,
in the
usually called, Siirajah Dowlah, the son of
the nabobship.
who
This youth,
Zyn Addeen, and
assassinations
were known
was no kind of
was not ignorant of
to
as he is
the successor to
many
surajah
apiwinua
^
other crimes.
Several
guc^jeslo-!
have been perpetrated at his instigation; and
vice with
which he had not grown
his real character,
when, on being asked by some of his
his successor,
or,
has already been seen ungratefully taking up
arms against his gi'andfather, was stained with
there
whom
the one Shokut Jung, the son of Syed Alimed,
familiar.
and truly described
women
to
it
on
his death-bed,
recommend them
he answered with a ghastly smile, that
" if
AH Verdy
to the care of
he should for three days
behave dutifidly to his grandmother, then they might entertain hopes of his
tenderness."
The
irrational
youth was
in the
is
partiality
his gi*eatest folly,
which Ali Verdy entertained
for this worthless
and the iniquity of appointing him
government, while aware
how
incapable he
one of the blackest stains on his memory.
to succeed
was of discharging
The inhabitants
him
its duties,
of Bengal, though
shocked at the crimes which the nabob committed in usurping the government,
and
in ridding himself of his
him,
when they
that on the whole he had ruled
felt
cerely attached to him.
at the
enemies
It
tlum wisely and
was a poor retiun
mercy of an ignorant, rapacious,
threatened to bg too strong for
for their
and were
justly,
heartless profligate.
pany had not much reason to complain.
by the
.sensions
and Mahratta incursions; but
sin-
attachment to place them
Dui'ing the sixteen yeara of Ali Verdy's government, the Ejist India
suffered
Like the inhabitants
unsettled state in which the country
generally',
was kept by
their pri\aleges
Com-
state of the
they
presidency
intestine dis-
were respected, and the
few irregular contributions exacted from them amounted to so smaU a percentage on their investments, as not seriously to affect the profits.
that during the general alarm produced
We
have seen
by the Mahrattas, Ali Verdy allowed
dug and the factory of Cossimbazar to be put in some
He was not disposed, however, to permit any encroachment
the Mahratta Ditch to be
state of defence.
on
at
and peremptorily prohibited the British and French, when
war, from carrying on any hostiUties within his dominions.
It would even
his prerogative,
seem that he eyed the progress of the European companies with a
suspicion,
Vol
I.
«
degi-ee of
and had a presentiment of the ascendency which they were destined
67
verdy.
—
;
5:iO
A
D.
On
me. to establish.
one occasion he
tifvola"^
many
and on another
most influential
counsellor, "to expel the English
gave no answer
till
but
parts of Hindoostan;"
is
Mustapha had
and then observed
retired,
ini(!iuitous proposal, "
to one of
My
hi.>
Masta-
child,
a soldier, and wishes us to be constantly in need of his service
how came you
to join in
me, that 1 should use them
liis
his, for
What have
request?
now
It is
ill?
but should the sea be in flames
advice as
wa.s then his
from Calcutta and seize their wealth," he
nephews, who had seconded Mustapha's
pha Khan
III
death the Euro-
when urged by Mustapha Khan, who
occasion,
[Book
said, "lie feared that after his
peans would become masters of
•
OF INDIA.
JliSrOJJV
who
the English done against
difficult to
extinguish
can put them out?
the result would probably be
Never
on land:
fire
listen to such
This distinct alTusion to
fatal."
naval warfare shows that he had foi-med a just conception of the main arm of
British power, and deprecated collision with it as at once unjastifiable and
perilous.
It
would have been well
Surajah Dowlah had he entered into the
for
enlarged views which dictated this advice, and acted upon them.
CHAPTER
Surajah Dowlah,
Nabob
of Bengal
IX.
—His early career— First acts of
His expedition against Purneah
— His
his
government
—A
suspicion and hatred of the East India
factory of Cossimbazar seized and plundered
— Calcutta
besieged and taken
'rival
claimant
Company
—The
— The
horrors of the
Black Hole.
T
when
the time
Ali
Verdy was appointed
Behar, one of his daughters,
to the
who was married
government of
to his vounsfest
The event seemed so auspicious
that he declared his intention to adopt the boy and make him
his heir.
Mirza Mahmood, as he was originally called before he
nephew, gave birth to a
assumed the
character of
Dowlah.
title
son.
of Surajah Dowlah, received the kind of training which
considcred suital)le to his prospects.
overlooked, and he never
knew what
All his wishes were gratified, aU his faults
it
was
to be refused or contradicted.
natural cruelty of his temper appeared in the amusements of his childhood.
bird or animal within his reach
was
pated, his vices ripened with his years,
Dxi
the brate creation
w^s
feeling he seems to have
infamous profligates, with
bad,''and
safe
from
torture.
As might be
The
Ko
antici-
and the cruelty which he had practised
transferred to his o^-n species.
been an utter stranger.
whom
was
To every
virtuous
His only companions were
he used to patrole the streets of Moorsheda-
commit every form of indecency and
outrage.
With
his other \'ices he
possessed a certain degree of low cunning, which he employed in concealing
some of the worst parts of
his conduct from his grandfather, who, it
is
chari-
SURAJAH DOWLAH, NABOB OF BENGAL.
Chap. IX.]
table to suppo.se, though his general character
have been ignorant of his worst
musnud, and required
From
cessor.
all
villanies,
was well known
when, in 1753, he
and
the courtiers
531
officers to
to him,
.V.D. 17.00.
him on the
jjlaced
him
recognize
mast
as his suc-
that time Ali Verdy, without ceasing to hold the reins of govern-
ment, threw a large share of Ins authority into the hands of Surajah Dowlah,
who
of course perverted
it
to the worst of purposes.
Nuazish Mahomed, as the eldest nephew, naturally thought himself best
Dissatisfact
entitled to the succession,
li;ul
for
Dacca,
some
its
to conceal his dissatisfaction.
He
though resident at Moorshedabad, jield the government of
years,
and from
and took no pains
revenues acquired enormous wealth, which enabled iiim to
keep a large body of armed
men
In himself, as he was possessed of
in his pay.
ion of
Niuizish
Mahomed
at authority
possi'siied 'ly
.^urajah
Oowlah.
very moderate talents, and had nothing warlike in his disposition, he was not
His two leading
dangerous.
one named Hossein Cooly
and
capacity,
it
ministei-s,
Khan and
other Hossein Addeen, were
tiie
was deemed necessary
Moorshedabad with
however, an uncle and a nephew, the
to
his mjister, the nepliew
Najar Nuttoo
Sino's
Muook,
in:.,
The uncle
remove them.
iit
men
of
resided at
Dacca, where he act,ed as deputy-
Dacca.— From Tanorama
.if
Djwc
i
•
Ali W'rdy wished to act warily in the ilismissal of these
governor.
he feared that Nuazish,
if
alarmed by any hasty
Dacca and assert his independence.
rizing,
fears
and having no scruples as to the
by taking the nearest
Hossein
Khan
Khan was
and
ship,
Surajali
road.
step,
would
idea of tempo-
determined to rid himself of
His hired assassins enteiing
in the
dead of the night; and a few days
ass<xssinated in
after,
Hossein Cooly
Syed Ahmed, who,
as they
civil
Nuazish
were both aspiring to the nabobother,
now saw
the necessity of
uniting their mterests, and leaguing against Surajah Dowlah, as their
already told.
stabbed
Dacc<a,
open day in the streets of Moorshedabad.
had hitherto acted independently of each
A
all
^
his brother
enemy.
as
at once retire to
Dowlah had no
atrocity,
officers,
war was imminent, when they both died suddenly,
common
as has been
Monierof
Hossein
cooiyKhan.
532
AD
Deaths wiiich happened so opportunely
1750.
have been attributed
uncliaritablt'iiess,
regarding tiiem as natural.
Tw,) rival
claimants
t.. throno
""'*''
oy JM>iA.
Jll.s'](jJtv
of
Their
to
agency, but
was
to allow
the arrangements which Ali Verdy had
all
.
,
.
appeared, however, that his
,
made
J
II.
Dowlah might, without
for Surajuh
hi.s
effect
,liooK
all
him
writers agi-ee in
to take the benefit
in his favour.
It soon
the nahobshij) wa« not to remain unchal-
title to
Gheseety Begum, Ali Verdy's daughter, had succeeded to the wealth
lenged.
of her late husband Nuazisli, and
saw no means of saving
it
from the rapacity
new nabob, excej^t by placing herself at the head of a powerful party.
Her sex made it impossible for her to claim the government in her own name,
of the
and she therefore
old,
set
up a competitor
in.
the person of an
the son of a deceased brother of Surajah Dowlah.
infant
two years
Another competitor
appeared in the person of his cousin, Shokut Jung, governor of Pumeah.
Could
he have succeeded, the inhabitants of Bengal would not have gained much by
the change, as
it
would have been
choose between them, so closely
difficult to
did they resemble each other in ignorance and profligacy.
The
title
of the
by Gheseety Begum was evidently bad, as the father of the
infant was only a younger brother.
Not only, therefore, had Surajah Dowlah
justice on his side when he resisted the Begum's attempt, but he was also furnished with a plausible pretext for the measures he adopted against her.
As
his owTi aunt and Ali Verdy's daughter, she was certainly entitled to be treated
with all the leniency consistent with safety, but it is not easy to condemn him
claimant set up
for dispossessing her of a palace,
where
the discontented spirits of the capital
all
would have rallied around her, and depriving her of treasures which had been,
and would in all probability continue to be employed in secretly undermining
or openly assailing his government.
Origin of
quarrel be-
^
who had become dewan
Hossein Coolv Khan, and made common
Hindoo, of the name of Raibiillub,
"
tween Sura- after the assassiuatlon of
jah Dowlah
and Bengal liis widow, bciug perfectly
......
presi ency.
^,^^^y^
*'
to XuazisL
cause with
aware of the treatment which awaited him from Su-
Dowlah, had rcsolved, even before Ali Verdy's death, to provide against the
danger by removing his famjly and treasures.
where they would be beyond the nabob's
the plan he adopted was to send
The
reach.
them away
difficulty
was
to find a place
They were then
in Dacca,
and
in the charge of his son Kissendass,
under pretence of making a pilgrimage to the celebrated Temple of Juggernaut,
on the coast of
Orissa.
In prosecuting
proceeded with several loaded boats
of Bengal
by one
of
its
this intended pilgrimage, Kissenda.ss
down
the Ganges, as
if to
enter the Ba}'
mouths, but stopped short, and sailed upwards
he
till
reached the Jellinghee, by which the Ganges communicates with the Hooghly.
He was
thus enabled to enter
tlie latter river.
certed scheme, for his real destination
father
Tliis
was
in fact the precon-
was not Juggernaut, but
Calcutta.
HLs
had prevailed with Mr. Watts, the chief of the Company's factory
Cossimbazar, to apply to the presidency for permission to Kissendass and
family to halt for some days in Calcutta.
at
liis
It does not appear very distinctly
J
SURAJAll DUWLAH.
Chap. IX.
533
whether Mr. Watts was duped by Rajbullub into the belief that nothing more
a.d. i756.
than a halt was intended, or whether he was aware that the real object was to
Be this as it may, Mr. Watts' application
in behalf of Kissendass was successful, and he arrived in Calcutta, where he
was hospitably received by Omichund, an extensive Hindoo merchant, who had
large connections at Moorshedabad, and was naturally inclined to conciliate the
secure
permanent British
protection.
good- will of so influential a person as Rajbullub.
The
arrival of Kissendass,
presidency, filled Surajah
and the reception given
Dowlah with
to
him
Not only had
at the British
''^"rajah
large treasures, on
rage at tue
the confiscation of wliich he had confidently calculated, escaped, but the very
KitsBn,iL!
rage.
body of foreign merchants, whose settlement
idea that a
whom
only by sufferance, should protect any party
victim,
was
He
galling to his pride.
in the country existed
he had marked out as a
immediately proceeded to the palace, and
gave utterance to his disappointment and indignation, exclaiming, that the
suspicions
which he had long entertained of the English were now confirmed,
and that they were evidently in league with the faction which meant to contest
now on his death-bed, turned to
surgeon of the factory of Cossimbazar, who was attending him proand put a variety of searching questions to him, asking, How many
Ali Verdy,
his succession to the nabobship.
Mr. Forth,
fessionally,
soldiers
it
were in the factory at Cossimbazar? Where the English fleet was
would come
answers
to Bengal
satisfied
him that the
already sufficient
iiad
—and
with what object
it
had come
British, in the expectation of a
work upon
their hands,
—whether
The
to India?
war with France,
and were in no condition to
pro-
voke the hostility or even risk the displeasure of the Bengal government
Surajah Dowlah was silenced, but not
satisfied,
and was
ceal his feelings, that his determination to sack Calcutta
so little careful to con-
and expel the English
was openly talked of
This ominous circxmistance and the previous conversation with Mr. Forth,
is
said not to have been
communicated to the presidency; but
was given them when a
was
received,
letter,
sufficient
warning
dated two days after the death of Ali Verdy,
demanding the delivery of Kissendass and
his treasures.
The
letter
purported to come from Surajah Dowlah, and seems to have borne sufficient
evidence of
its
the bearer of
genuineness.
The governor and
council,
however, learning that
a brother of Ramramsing, the head of the
it,
spies,
had come
small boat, landed in the disguise of a pedler, and proceeded in the
to the house of
Omichund, chose
crafty Hindoo, who, having
first
instance
was an invention
to conclude that this
in a
of this
by some recent changes in the mercantile arrangesome of his importance, had devised this cui'ious
ment of the Company, lost
method of endeavouring to regain it.
This extraordinary conclusion once
formed, it was gravel}' resolved that both the messenger and the letter were too
suspicious to be received,
boat,
and turned
off"
and Ramramsing's brother
with insolence and derision.
M'as lim-ried
back to his
Treatmentof
ofuamram""^^
;
534
A.D.
lilSTOltY
The
IT&O,
to pacify
Siirajali
[iJOOK IJl.
presidency, after they liad thas committed tliemselves, appear not to
have been perfectly
Attempts
OF INDIA.
with the propriety of their proceeding, and
sati.siied
structed Mr. Watts to give explanations which might prevent
He was
quences.
thought to have .succeeded
;
for,
when
any
in-
evil conse-
his vaqueil or agent
appeared at the durbar, and stated the grounds on which Kamrantsing's brother
had been treated as an impostor, Sui-ajah Dowlali gave no sign of emotion or
He
displeasure.
made no
mind, and
had
acted, indeed, as if the matter
entirely from his
pa.s.sed
further communication to Mr. Watts or the presidency
respecting Kissendass and his trea-sures.
At
this
very time
letters arrived
from England stating a rupture with
France was inevitable, and ordering the .settlement to be put in a
The work was immediately commenced but
defence.
a.s
;
dilapidated state as to
considerable
number
make
it
the fort
was
.state
in such a
neces.sary rather to rebuild than repair
of labourers were employed, in the
first instance,
of
it,
a
to repair
a line of guns which were placed atong the brink of the river opposite to the
west side of the
fort.
When
proceeding at the head of an
these repaii-s were begun, Surajah
army
of 50,000
and expel them, enough
in
and a
letter arrived
It
remained to carry tidings to him of the operations
still
Their nature and extent were of course exag-
which they were engaged.
gerated,
Purneah, to encounter his
for
was known that he had a number
and though the presidency had used every effort to discover
cousin and rival claimant, Shokut Jung.
of spies in Calcutta,
men
Dowlah was
from the nabob, in which, after stating that he had
been informed that the English were building a wall and digging a large ditch
around the town of Calcutta, he peremptorily ordered them to
the fortifications to the state in which they were before.
Tlie gover-
more candour than good
desist,
and
restore
Mr. Drake, the gover-
nor,
answered this
full
extent to which the operations had been canied, and. the motives which,
letter \\'ith
policy
;
he explained the
nor's letter
of explanation.
as they originally dictated their
commencement, rendered
it
expedient to continue
"The nabob," he said, "had been misinformed by those
who had represented to him that the English were building a wall round the
town they had dug no ditch since the invasion of the Mahrattas, at which time
such a work was executed with the knowledge and approbation of Ali Verdy
in the late war between England and France, the French had attacked and
taken the town of Madras, contrary to the neutrality which it was expected
and complete them.
;
would have been preserved in the Mogul's dominions
;
and that there being
at
war between the two nations, the English
were under apprehensions that the French would act in the same manner in
Bengal to prevent which they were repairing their line of guns on the bank of
present great appearance of another
;
the river."
Its effect
on
Tliis
answer was received by the nabob on the
17tli of
May,
at Rajamahal,
the nabob.
and threw him into a transport of
attendants
who were most
rage,
which astonished even those of
familiar with the violence of his temper.
his
It is not
I
SURA J AH DOWLAH.
IX. 1
ClIAP.
easy to see
why
it
should have had such an
OOO
His dignity may have been AD.
effect.
offended at the very suppo.sition that Europeans should presume to
within his territories witliout his sanction
that if they did
;
and
still
more
1756.
make war
at the assumption,
the
so,
party attacked would be
obliged to trust to their
own
resom-ces, instead of
leaving
and
it
him
to
to repel
punisli the aggi-essor.
Beyond
was
there
this,
%M
nothing in the answer to
provoke an outburst of
passion
even
])roudest
and most
sen-
The
of tyrants.
sitives
rage,
the
in
real,
if
and
not
merely assumed to give
RflNS OF THK Ha.IAU'3 rALACE, UaJAMAHAI,
From
nil oriictnHl ilrawiiiK
by Cuplain Smith, forty- foiirth Regiment.
a coloui' to further pro-
was
by perceiving that a plan whicli he had long
been meditating, and. a revenge which was rankling in his mfnd, were in
ceedings,
probabl}' provojced
Were
danger of being frustrated.
as
would enable
it
Calcutta put into such a state of defence
to resist the attacks of tlie French,
operations had been rendered famous throughout India,
tresses previously
master of
it,
up within
if
and
its
deemed
ritle it
precincts
imj)regnable,
how
Npw,
therefore,
skill in siege
by the capture
of for-
make
himself
could he be able to
of the fabulous wealth which
?
whose
was the
was believed
decisive
to be treasured
moment.
Calcutta,
not forthwith attacked, would set him at defiance, and both the fam^ whiiih
he anticipated as
would be
lost to
its
him
conqueror, and the plunder on which his heart
was
set,
for ever.
by some such m6tives as. these, the expedition to Punieah was The factory
of Cossini
immeaiately postponed, and the anny began its march back to Moorshedabad. bazar attack
anil
Its movements were too slow for the nabob's impatience, and a detachment of jiillageU
8000 men was pushed foi-ward to invest the Company's fi^ctory at Cossimbazar.
Though the garrison consisted only of twenty -two Europeans and twenty
Instigated
t'd
topasses,
no attempt was made
ment were contented
ing
it
to carry
it
by a sudden
onset,
and the
.detach-
to remain for nine days after their arrival, merely watch-
so as to preclude either egress or ingi'ess.
On
the 1st of June, the nabob came up with the main body of the
The idea of
resistance seems not to
have been entertained, as the
anny
fortifications,
undeserving of the name, consisted only of a brick wall, three feet thick, with
small bastions at the angles, but without ditch or paUsade.
formed the outer wall of a
series of
Part of the curtain
chambers looking inward, and affording,
b}'
'
JJJSTOl'tV
o.'K)
A.D
17.16.
or INDIA.
their roofs, a terrace resembling ramparts.
Tliese,
overlooked from without by Vjuildings at the
Mr Watts
by
tiio
cannoii were
still
di.starice
sufficient for^only
immediately on arriving, sent a mes.sage for
obtaining assurance of personal protection.
invectives,
and ordered
Mi-.
up
the revenue might have lost
No
honey-
-ing
Tlie nab^jb,
oVjeyed,
after
received with insfjlena;
new works they had
their protection,
raised,
and refund whatever
pas.sports of trade
Mr. Watts, alarmed for his
and the two other members of the council being sent
example.
•
who
by the granting of dustuks or
to parties not entitled to them.
paper,
GOO charges.
W'^atts,
Tlie
yanJfl.
to sign a j)aper, importing that the pr&sidency of
government tenants under
all
of only 100
He was
Calcutta should, within fifteen days, level any
deliver
III.
however, were complett^ly
more defective than the works, most of them b
combed, and the ammunition was
and
fHooK
life,
signed the
imitated his
for,
terms of capitulation were made, and a party of the nabob's
troops took possession of the place without opposition.
seal
up what
The
soldiers in the factory, after
effects
they found
command
Moorshedabad. One
;
but they disobeyed, and
of
at
of the
were to
stole the greater, part.
enduring three days of such contumely, that
them went mad and
the ensign in
Tlieir orders
members of
shot himself, were imprisoned
council,
and the junior servants of
the factory, were allowed to retire to the Dutch and French factories; but
^d
Mr. Watts
the other member, instead of being sent, as they expected, to
communicate the nabob's resolves
to the presidency,
were detained in the camp,
and told that they were to accompany the nabob himself to Calcutta.
was the first intimation they received of his determination to attack it.
Dilatory
preparatioiisofthe
This
The extreme violence and injustice
exhibited by the nabob at the very outset
o
must havc made it almost palpable to the minds of the presidency that nothing
%i
less
than the complete destruction of the settlement was aimed at
the vafei hope of deprecating his wrath, before the final step
was
;
and
yet, in
taken, letters
were daily despatched to Mr. Watts, instructing him to express their readiness
to demolish everything that could be considered a recent addition to their fortifications.
The
letters
reached Mr. Watts
;
were probably intercepted by the nabob, as they never
but the presidency, while writing them, could not well act
at variance with the offer they contained,
and thus nearly three weeks passed
away without any preparation against the coming danger. Had a proper use
been made of this intervening period, by applying for reinforcements to the other
presidencies, and making the most of the means of defence at their disposal, the
governor and council might have set the nabob at defiance, and given the
first
example of what a mere handful of our countrjTnen can achieve, when true
heroism inspires them, against mjTiads of native Indians.
Unfortunately
neither the Eiu"opean soldiers nor civilians in Bengal were, at that period, ani-
mated by that
spirit wliich in
our
own
times has been so illustriously displaced.
Wlien, at length, the struggle arrived they were far less di.sposed to face
to flee
y
from
it.
it
than
SUEAJAH DOWLAH.
CiiAr. IX.]
The
letter
which
filled
the nabob with so
much
537
and whs the
rage,
ostensible
was received by him
cause of his abandoning the expedition to Purneah,
a.d. 1756.
at
Rajamahal on the 17th of May, and though his intention then announced was
never revoked, and he from that day continued his march southwards, evidently
fiist
note of alarm was
sea, as
the south monsoon
bent on mischief, the 7th of June arrived before the
The passage by
despatched to Madras and Bombay.
was then blowing, was
in less
impossible,
than thirty days.
could be received
It
was
Dutch and
'^'"'
'
and an overland message could not be carijed
any answer
therefore evident that long before
nabob would have ample time to do
tlie
Applications
Conscious
his worst.
of the desperate predicament in which they were thus placed, the presidency
applied to the Dutch at Chinsurah, and
.
•
French at Chandernagore, and
tlie
endeavoured to persuade them that they ought to unite their forces as in a com-
mon
The former simply refused
danger.
What
their protection.
the fact that the
nabob
number
of Indian matchlock-men
garrison consisted of 2G4 men,
to 250,
be infeiTed from
by a present
pi opitiated
(
erected, provisions
was augmented
were
laid in,
and
The regular
to 1500.
as militia
amounted
forming an aggi-egate of 51 -i, but of these two-thirds were topasses,
remaining
third,
With such
c
mustering in
whom
all
no reliance could be placed, and of the
174, not
more than ten had seen
feeble resources a successful defence
c
•
^
•
was more than
of escape.
On
1
(»
therefore the attention of the presidency was, first of
service.
doubtful,
and
•
directed to the
all,
means
the opposite side of the river Hooghly, about five miles below
Calcutta, the native fort of Tanna,
narrowest part of the channel.
free outlet to the sea,
was only advancing,
it.
may
and the inhabitants enrolled
Armenians, and Portuguese, on
^
activity.
would admit, were
under
ith their effects
now tin own entirely on their
Works f defence, such as the
presidency,
began to display some
shortness of the time
the
Chandernagore was
The
of 200 barrels of gunpowder.
resources,
a\
that protection would have been
in passing
mockery, proposed
latter, as if in
abandon Calcutta, and place themselves
that they should
own
—the
seemed
to
The
mounting thirteen guns, commanded the
necessity of secuinng this fort, so as to give a
so in-gent, that
it
was determined, while the nabob
assume the offensive and endeavour to gain possession of
Accordingly, on the morning of the 13th of June, two vessels of 300 tons, and
two brigantines anchored before
it,
and opened a
fire
which at once dislodged
the garrison, consisting of not more than fifty men.
landed, spiked
some of the guns, and threw the
intended to retain the
fort,
A
rest into the river.
for the
If
it
was
the true plan would have been not to destroy the
guns but point them so as to repel any attack on the land
was soon apparent,
party immediately
side.
The mistake
very next day a detachment of the enemy, 2000 strong,
arrived from Hooghly, drove the few Europeans and lascars within the fort id
their boats,
and
resisting
any attempt
to dislodge
them by
a cannonade, obliged
the ships to weigh anclior and return to Calcutta.
The same day when the
Vol.
I.
ships sailed against
Tanna a
letter
was
intercepted,
68
The fort of
Tanna
tivkcn .md
538
AD,
1756.
Jll.S'JOl'.V
This confirmuig
of danger.
S\ir:ijali
Ly the
afldressed to Ortiicliund,
was immediately put under
OF
hetid 8py,
tlie
strict
[Book
JNlJJA
and
.suspicion
advi.sing liiin to put
liis
effects out
Oniiehund
])reviouHly entertained,
confinement in the
Kissendass
fort.
III.
wa.s, in
Dciwlah's
•iilvance
uDon
lik« manner, confined; but
when an attempt was made toappreliend (^michundw
Cal-
cutta.
brother-in-law, a serious fray took place.
apartments, and not only did
all
the peons and armed domestics in
head, a native of high caste, to save the
exposed to strangers, rushed
stabbed himself
expedition that
many
himself in the female
Omichunds
a forcible entrance into them, but the person at their
seiB/ice resolutely resist
tlien
He had concealed
in,
women from
the dishonour of being
slew thirteen of them with Ids
Meanwhile the nabob was
own
hand, and
ha.stening forward with such
of his troops died of fatigue and .sun-stroke.
On
the
1
otii
June he reached Hooghly, and immediately after transported his army to the
The militia and rnilitai-}Calcutta side, by means of an immense fleet of boats.
of
n-a.
T
e
n
t
s
^°^^'
A ^
THE TEPPtTORr
CALCUTTA
a
A
IN
immediately repaired to their
posts,
and
all
1757
the natives took to flight, with the
exception of about 2000 Portuguese, whose claim as Christians was so far recognized as to procm'e them admission into the
fiis first
operations.
fort.
At noon of the 16th the nabob was seen approaching from the north. His
first movement showed that he had not taken any means to acquaint himself
with the
Had
locality.
he turned eastward he would have arrived 'where the
Mahratta Ditch had not been completed, and met with no
this
he came directly in front of a deep
and formed of
itself so strono-
There was indeed a bridge over
had recently been
'ship
where
ri^Tilet,
obstacle.
it
Instead of
enters the Hooghly,
a defence as to render the ditch unnece.ssarv.
it,
but this was defended by a redoubt, which
and the approach to it was, moreover, flanked by a
When
of eighteen guns, which had been stationed there for that purpose.
erected,
the point of attack
men were
rations
was perceived the greater part
posted near the banks of the
was
riviilet.
to send forward a detachment of
of the
The
Company's matchlock-
first
of the nabob's
oj^e
4000 men, with four pieces of
1
'
"
SURAJAH DOWLAH.
IX.
(iiAr.
539
•
Here, from
cannon, into the adjoining thickets.
an incessant
(lark,
iiiglit all
was
fire
was kept up by both
in the afternoon
tliree
sides without
any
till
a.d. irse.
At mid-
result.
and Ensign Pischard, whq commanded the redoubt, suspecting
still,
from what he had learned on the Coromandel coast of the Indian mode of warfare,
that the
seized
enemy were buried
and spiked
in sleep, crossed the rivulet with his party,
and returned without
their four guns, cleared the thickets,
the loss of a man.
On
Omidiund's chief peon
the following day the nabob chanfjed his tactics.
'had not stabbedjiimself piortally; and,
had caused himself to be carried
to.
breathing indignation and revenge,
still
By his
the enemy's camp.
advice the attack
on the north was abandoned, and an entrance was easily effected from the
through various passages where there were no defenders.
thus in the hands of the enemy,
session of the quarter
An
chants.
to the
who
made
1
y the
and took pos-
principal Indian mer-
to dislodge them,
and the space
defenders became gi'adually morfe and more contracted.
Had
efforts
made them more
and
it,
and
Fort William,
efficient.
however, like that of Cossimbazar, scarcely deserved the name.
the river, about half-way between the north
left
the fort
been considered tenable they would probably have at once retired into
by thus concentrating their
east,
The suburbs were
set fire to the great bazaar,
which had been inhabited
unavailing attempt 'was
state of Fort
It stood near
Com-
i-outh extremities of the
pany's territory, and formed nearly h parallelogram, of which the longest sides,
and west, were each 200 yards; the breadth on the south side was 130,
and on the north only 100 yards. The walls, not more than four feet thick,
formed the outer side of chambers, and were in several places pierced with
the east
windows; the terraced
The four
bastions, one at each angle,
two on the south
side
chambers supplied the place of ramparts.
roofs of these
were
e.ach
mounted with ten guns, but the
were rendered useless to each other by a
The
houses which had been built contimious to the wall.
were, however, strong
mounted on them.
mounted
enough to bear the
The
line of
ware-
roofs of the warehouses
firing of three-pounders,
which were
east gateway, forming a considerable projection,
witii five guns, three in front
which formed the proper works of the
and one on each
fort,
was
Besides these,
flank.
a line of heavy cannon, mounted in
embrasures of solid masonry, was placed outside, on the brink of the
river,
under
the west wall.
It is plain
employed
from this description
how
in the construction of the fort.
very
little
engineering
skill
had been
In addition to other disadvantages
it defectiM
was overlooked by the English Church, opposite to the north-east bastion, and
several other houses belonginff to the English town,
part of spacious detached inclosures,
which consisted
and occupied the gi'ound 000
the east and half-a-mile to the north and south of the
things into consideration,
it is
fort.
for the
j-ards
Taking
most
towards
all
these
easy to understand the reluctance of the defenders
to allow themselves to be cooped u]> within the fort,
and
work.sof
their consequent anxiety
lO
AD,
irso.
IllS'IOKY
to dispute every inch of
or INDIA.
ground an they were
ingly erected three batteries, each mounting
one at the
field-pieces,
mand
di.stance of
[Book
300 yards from the east gate, so as
yards to the south of the
was bridged over
sides bordering
at a point
fort,
on the
Uj c<5ni-
Mahratta Ditch; the
to the
it
second in a street commencing about 200 yards north of the
its
accord-
two eighteen-poiinders and two
the i)rincipal avenue leading due east from
in that direction with one of
They
oljliged to recede.
111
fort,
river;
and continuing
and the third 300
where a road leading north and south
to give passage to a rivulet.
The
principal approaches being
thus secured, breast-works with palisades were erected in the smaller
and
inlets,
trenches were dug in the more open gi'ounds.
The enemy's
appeared that the defence of these outworks required a far greater
It soon
progress.
than the garrison could
force
afford.
many points remained by which
selves of the houses
The
the walls.
and
the
Even had they been sufficiently defended,
enemy could penetrate and, availing them;
inclosures, advance,
without once
became too unequal
contest thus
lo.sing shelter,
to be long succe.ssfully main-
Post after post was necessarily abandoned, and the whole
tained.
were taken the very
first
near to
day they were attacked.
tlu-ee batteries
This result spread general
consternation, and, with the exception of the comparatively few Europeans,
all
The enemy were of com'se proportionably emboldened, and not only kept up an incessant firing, but made attempts to escalade.
On one of these attempts, made at midnight, the governor ordered the drums to
were stupified with
fear.
beat the general alarm, but the summons, though thrice repeated, did not
bring forward a single
was impossible
man
except those on 'duty.
and most sanguine not
for the bravest
could not be long delayed.
In such a state of matters
It
was some
it
to feel that a fatal Lssue
consolation, however, to
know
the worst should happen, the means of escape had been provided
that, if
A ship,
and
who plied them,
European women were
seven smaller vessels, and numerous boats, with the natives
were lying before the
embarked
and
;
except the
at
two
common
As night approached
fort.
in the
council broke
morning a council of war,
to
which
all
the British,
immediately or be deferred to the following night.
up without any formal
abandonment was not
the
were admitted, met, to deliberate whether escape
soldiers,
to the ships should take place
The
all
resolution; but, as the
carried, the natural conclusion
immediate
was that the other
alter-
native had been adopted.
General con
stemation.
In the morning, when
it
was intended
to
embark the Portuguese women and
children, a scene of inextricable confusion arose.
in the night,
The enemy
hoiises
and
Many of the boats had deserted
and not a few of those which remained were upset by overcrowding.
in the
meantime were not
inclosures
idle.
on the banks of the
Having gained
river,
and endeavoured to bm'n the ship and other
arrows.
In the panic which
their
own personal
safety than on
to prevail
any united
all
the
they shot down the helpless
fugitives
now began
possession of
vessels
by means
many became more
of
fire-
intent on
effort for the general benefit.
Two
j
SUKAJAII DOWLAH.
CiiAP. IX.
541
by several of the militia, in superintending the
embarkation of the'European women, had accompanied them to the ship, and forNor was this the worst. The ship suddenly
gotten or been unable to return.
members
of council, attended
weighed anchor, and the other
following in her wake, sailed
vessels,
Many of the
Govindpore, about three miles below.
militia, believing
Not long
abandoned, rushed to the boats and quitted the shore.
down
ad.
irse.
to
themselves
^''s''* "^ '•'«
after Mr. Drake, "»J
'«"'
niamlaiit.
the governor, seeing only two boats remaining at the wharf,
and several of
his
acquaintance preparing to escape in them, followed the disgraceful example.
He was
indeed only a
and might have some shadow of excuse when he
civilian,
momentary
entirely forgot himself under the influence of
but what can
terror;
own
be said for Captain Minchin, the military commander, who, valuing his
more than honour and duty,
precious person
Can we wonder
the governor?
sailed off in the
same boat with
that for a time those thus foully and mercilessly
abandoned could do nothing but vent execrations against the fugitives ?
The
and
soldiers
militia within the fort
now numbered
On
only 190.
re-
covering in some degree from their astonishment and indignation, they pro-
Then- position, though
ceeded to deliberate.
desperate,
to
and
it
Their
eldest
member
was not yet altogether
might therefore be possible by acting with piiidence and energy
keep the enemy at bay
of escape.
fearful,
first
step
till
the}' could provide
was
to appoint a
of council present,
was
new
themselves with some means
Mr. Pearkes, as the
governor.
entitled to the
office,
but he waived his
i"'"-'
g""'*""
lef'
flit.:
and Mr. Holwell was appointed.
right,
The task which thus devolved upon him
the extreme, and he appears to have performed
was
difficult in
On
the return of two or tliree boats to the wharf he took the precaution of
it
with judgment.
locking the western gate, in order to prevent any more desertions.
At
the same
time he ordered the ship, which was originally stationed opposite to the northern
redoubt,
and
still
remained
there, to
come down immediately
preparations for continuing a vigorous defence
get on board of her.
was
there
was not
when
crew at once abandoned
another resource.
still
to be
her.
The
and leave no means untried
ea^sily
was
civil
were
volunteei-ed
at Govindpore,
and
it
would not recover from
to bring off their
their
unmanly
abandoned companions.
required, for the ship, once again before the fort, could
from
to prevent the gan-ison
was strange that the anticij)ated relief from Govindpore was not
and still stranger that it w;xs not in a manner extorted by all the
It
;
signals of flags
With
still
and military authorities on board
have repelled any attempt of the enemy
embarking.
out.
effijrt
This was a fearful disappointment, but
ves.sels
imagined that the highest
Indeed no great
should become possible to
she struck on a sandbank, and stuck so
of them, after feeling themselves secure,
panic,
it
and made
The ship immediately weighed anchor, and all were buoj^ed
with the hope of a speedy rescue
fast that the
till
to the fort,
by
day,
and
fires
by
night,
which the garrison
continuall}-
threw
a cowardice and heartlessness almost unexampled, the ships at Go\and-
pore beheld the signals unmoved, and the ganison were abandoned to their
fate.
t..
theii
51--
AD.
lll.STOUY
The
1756.
[Book
III.
on which the shameful desertions from the ^jiniw»n took place the
(Icay
enemy warmly attacked
Atioiiiptsto
INDIA.
()!•
the
fort,
but were so vigorously met that they desisted
about noon, and contented themselves during the
rest of the
day and the suc-
ceedmg niglit witli setting fire to all the adjacent houses, except those which
gave them a command of the ramparts. On the following morning their efforts
became more determined than ever, while the mejms of resistiince were raj^idly
becoming feebler and
While some of the defenders were
feebler.'
resisting with
the courage of despair, others were entreating or clamouring for a capitulatioiL
To calm the
latter class Mr.
Holwell caused Omicl.und,
in the fort, to write a letter to
commanding a
considerable
who
wa.s
a prisoner
still
Monichund, the g(A'ernor of Hooghly, who was
body of the besieging army, and threw
over the
it
This letter requested him to intercede with the nabob for a ces.sation of
wall.
hostilities, as
the garrison were ready to submit, and were onl}' resisting in order
to preserve their lives
The only
and honour.
determined attempt to escalade,
It
.
was
an.-.wer the letter received
repulsed, but at a fearful
was a
In the
los.s.
course of a few hours. twenty- five of the garrison were kiUed or desperately
wounded, and seventy more had received slighter
The common
hurts.
moreover, had intoxicated themselves by breaking into the arrack
no longc r under
Tiie foit
,
.
addressed to RoyduUub, and threw
it
forced open the western gate.
rushed
A
parley ensued, and
tlie
was not
finished
endeavouring to escape, had
soldiers,
Part of
man was
entmy when
the}-
saw
it
opening
while others gained admission by tscalading the wall where, by a
in,
most absurd arrangement,
resistance
answer to one with which a
The drunken
the fort was taken.
.
,
over the north-east bastion, and at the
flag of truce, in
advancing on the part of the enemy.
when
and were
store,
Mr. Holwell prepared anothei- letter of similar import,
control.
captured.
same time hung out a
soldiers,
was
impossible,
it
formed the abutment of warehouses.
and the garrison surrendering
their
Fm-thei
arms were made
prisoners.
siirajah
Dowlah
the fort.
in
The capturc being
® thus
effected
*•
on the
21.st of
June, the nabob, at five in the
afternoon, entered Fort William, and seating himself in state, surroimded
his general,
Meer
Jaffier,
and
his principal officers, received their congi-atulations
on the great achievement which he had peiformed.
on being presented to
sent
liim,
were received with
manifested in even daring to defend the
ciAolity.
fort,
been searched, and, to the nabob's
had been found
of the countless
rapacity
Ki.ssenda.ss,
Mr. Holwell was then
?
in
it.
The treasury had already
only 50,000 rupees
infinite disappointment,
Could
this
be
sums which had inflamed
all
had been
was told to divulge the place
where the wealth of the Company was concealed.
(£.5000)
Omichund and
and, after a severe reprimand for the presumption which
for,
by
which he was to
his imagination
In two other conferences whicli he had with
receive, instead
and provoked
^Ir.
his
Holwell before
seven o'clock he returned to the same subject, and then dismissed him with
repeated assurances of personal safety.
Mr. Holwell, from whose narrative the
.
SURAJAH DOWLAH.
Chap. IX.]
account of«the subsequent catastrophe
mean
not
"
to violate his word,
is
543
derived/ believes that the nabob did
and only gave a general order that the
ad
i:
j)risonei-s
should for that nidit be secured."
Mr. Hoi well on returning found his fellow-prisoneis surrounded bv a strong
Fort Wili.i.\m.— From a
jirint
by Van Ryue,
*
1754.
«
guard,
down
who
as soon as
it
was dark ordered them
to collect themselves
and
sit
quietly under a verandah, or piazza of arched masonry, which extended
on each side of the eastern gate, in front of the chambers already described as
abutting on the wall.
were
in flames,
and
At
this
in
both to the right and
factories,
were seen moving about with
parties
the prisoners imagined that
iires.
time the
it
was intended
'to
torches,
suffocate
and some of
them between two
This was a mistake, for the torch-bearers were only searching for a
which to
confiije
During
them.
this search
left,
})lace
they were ordered into that paii
of the verandah wliich fronted the baiTacks, along wliich
was a
large
wooden
The prisoners readily obeyed this .order,
for it now seemed that the worst which was to happen to them was to spend a
night on the platform, at a season when all the air which could reach them
through the openings of the piazza was required to temper the excessive heat.
])latform for tlie soldiers* to sleep on.
No sooner,
however, were they within the space in front of the barracks than the
guard advancing, some with pointed muskets,
tars,
forced
them back
prison; or, as
it
into a
room
othei*s
with chibs and
at the southern extremity.
was generally tenned,
the Black Hole.
cubical space of only eighteen feet, completel}' inclosed
•
It
ch*a\\ni
was the
scimi-
soldiers
The whole formed
by dead walls on
a
all sides,
except the west, where two windows, strongly barred with iron, furnished the
only supplies of
air,
but gave no ventilation, as at this time no breezes blew
except fcom the south and
east.
'
Few were aware
of the nature of the horrid
Holwell's Tracts, page 387, et seq.
'"''«
'"'»=''
HISTOIiy OF INJ>1A.
5it
AP
place
they found themselves crammed within
till
Horril)le
was about eight
It
wm
Their whole number
behind them.
1
when they
o'clock
[Book
III.
and had th& door shut
it
1-6.
entered,
and
in a
very few minutes
KulferingB.
Attempts were
the dreadful consequences began to appear.
the door, but
who had
opened inwards and could not
it
bt-
made
first
ma/le to force
Mr. Hoi well,
to yield
secured a place at one of the windows, seeing an old officer "
who
seemed to carry some compassion in his countenjince," offered him 1000 rupees
them separated
to get
saying
it
was
was
its
woik.
offer
was increased
awake him.
diu-st
First, profuse perspiration,
off,
Mernwhile
then
ragii
g
but soon returned
to 2000 rupees, but the
whose orders
Tlie nabob, without
and no man
asleep,
The
impossible.
answer was the same.
He went
two apartments.
into
it
could not be done,
suffocation
and
thirst,
lastly, in
few instances, raving madness followed, before death relieved the
was
general cry
— Water
water
!
!
and
was doing
not a
The
sufferer.
by
several .'kins of it were furnished
the natives outside, some apparently from compassion, but others from brutal
merriment, holding up torches to the windows to enjoy the desperate struggles
which l^ok place among the unhappy prisoners as each supply was handed
From
nine to eleven this dreadful scene continued.
had already
freely.
At
was
fallen victims
six in the
easily executed,
so great that the sui-vivors
morning an order arrived
for so
many dead
twenty minutes elapsed before
Of the 146 who had been
and these more dead than
After this the number
it
in.
who
began to breath more
to open the prison.
It
was not
bodies were lying behind the door that
could be forced back so as to leave a passage.
thrust into the dungeon only twenty-three
came
out,
Strange to say, one of these was a woman, a
alive.
native of India though of English parentage, and of such personal attractions
that
Jaffier carried her off as
of the
nabob.
a trophy to his harem.
Surajah Dowlah must have been well aware of the barbarity perpetrated,
Heartlessiiess
Meer
by
at least in his name, if not
any
signs of
stand,
was
humanity and
carried
new
to be kept a prisoner
others of the survivors
treasures; the rest
contrition, that
before him,
treasures, threatened
him
his authority,
when Mr.
so far fi'om
Holwell, stiU unable to
injuries if he refused to disclose them,
;
showing
he rudely interrogated him as to concealed
he was accordingly put in
who were supposed
were
and yet was
to
fetters,
know something
and ordered
along with two
of the imaginary
Most of them, unwilling to remain
set at liberty.
within the nabob's reach, proceeded to Govindpore,
b\it
found guards stationed
any communication between the shore and the Company's vessels still
lying there.
Two or three, however, managed to get on board, and brought
to prevent
tidings
which must have wrung the hearts of those who had been instrumental
in bringing such a catastrophe
by
deserting them,
perhaps," as Mr.
'
on their comrades by a double cowardice
and then leaving them
Orme justly remarks,^
"
to perish unsuccovu-ed.
—
first,
"Never,
was such an opportunitj" of performing
History of MilUanj Transactions in Hindoostan, vol.
ii.
page 78.
'
I
Chap.
a.
SURAJAH DOWLAH.
IX]
54-;5
heroic action so ignominiously neglected; for a single sloop, with fifteen brave
men on
board, might, in spite of
anchoring under the
all
the efforts of the enemy, liave
have carried away
fort,
The plunder of Calcutta
all
who
come
ksc
up, and,
suffered in the dungeon."
far short of the nabob's expectations.
fell
ad
No
were foi-thcoming except those of Omichund, who, in consequence of
the hard measure dealt out to him
treasures
by the presidency, had not been
permitted to remove them, and
said to have
*^_-,.^
is
been pillaged of £4(),()()0
many
money, besides
in
.—
valual)les.
Even the quantity and value
of the
Company's merchandise were
less
than might have been anticipated.
The capture had been made at the
wrong season.
The investments
provided had been shipped off before
when
the previous April,
soon
made navigation
the
mon-
impossible;
the imports of the
past year had
been mostly disposed
of,
and no new
to those wlio penshea in the Black Hole, Calcutta—
WriUrj Buildings in the background. i—Danielli Oriental Scenerj
monument
the
cargoes had yet anived from England.
Owing
°
was estimated at not
goods
D
^
of this only a small portion escaped the hands of
to these causes the
more than £200,000.
Even
Companv's
i
^
the soldiers, or the embezzlement of the
for it to the treasury.
The nabob
loss in
officials,
therefore
who
tI'o nai.oi) s
disapi«>iiit
ment.
should have accounted
had made, on the whole, only
a
barren conquest, and consoled himself for the disappointment in the maunei-
by pompously changing the name of Calcutta to
Alinagore, or the Port of God, in commemoration of his victor}^ and by maltreating Mr. Hoi well and his two companions, who were sent as prisonei"s ti
Moorehedabad, and subjected to nuich hardship and indignity.
The nabolj,
suitable to his character,
flattering himself that the British
would never dare
to
show themselves again
command of Calcutta, with a gamson of 3000 men,
and proceeded homewards to cany out the expedition against Punieah, which
he had so suddenly abandoned. After crossing the Hooghly Avith his army he
determined to make the Dutch and French factories feel the weigiit of his disin Bengal, left
pleasure.
Monichund
in
In passing southward he had imperiously ordered them to join
standard with
all
their forces.
They
declined;
his
and he now sent a message
them with extirpation if they did not forthwith send him a large
contribution by way of fine.
Ultimately the Dutch compounded for £45,000,
threatening
This obelisk was erected by Governor Holwell,
It is not undeserving of notice, that Mr.
Holwell himself survived the catastrophe more than
ferry years, and died in 1798, aged eighty-seven. The
'
in 1756.
Vol.
I.
Writers' Buildings were so called from being the
residence of the junior officers of the East India Company.
Immediately beyond this edifice is the old
court-house ; the road leads on to the Lall Bazaar.
69
"'*
'*"!'"''
ture
llLSTOliY
r)l()
AD.
1750.
piiHiiiaiii-
and the French
made in
The
INIHA.
(Ho(,K III
Tlie difference in favour of tlie latter
for £85, 000.
consideration of the present
vessels at
(>]•
<A'
was prohahly
gunpowder already mentioned-
Govindpore had not remained there with the intention
of
inity of the
Bhipsat
On
rendering any assistance to the Calcutta garrison.
only to their
fears,
ingly have quitted
them
friglitened
When
they had continued to
it
altogether,
so that they
sfiil
down
the contrary, yielding
the river, and would will-
had they not encountered a new danger, which
were glad to return to their former anchorage.
they were endeavouring to pass the fort of Tanna the cannon, with
which
had again been mounted, opened upon them, and drove two of the
it
smaller vessels ashore.
This sufficed to spread a panic through the whole
fleet.
That the danger was magnified by excessive timidity was proved a few days
after,
when two
Bombay came up
ships from
of the fort without injury.
Thvus
the river and sustained the
fire
reassured the fleet again weighed anchor,
passed Tanna without any loss of the least consequence, and reached the town
of Fulta, the station of all the
at least
the
till
Not long
Dutch shipping. Here
it
was determined
to remain,
monsoon should change, provided the nabob did not
after their arrival
they were joined by several other
agents from the subordinate factories of Dacca, Balasore, &c.,
inteifere.
ships,
who
and the
naturally
anticipated a similar fate to that which had befallen Cossimbazar and Calcutta.
In this opinion they were not mistaken, for the nabob had no sooner reached
Moorshedabad than he issued orders
for the confiscation of all the English pro-
perty within his dominions.
Thougli the uabob did not molest the fugitives at Fulta their sufierings were
Sufferings of
at Fuita°
Ever dreading that they might be attacked they did not venture
not over.
sleep
on
shore,
and crowded the
vessels,
where they
lay,
to
most of them on the
decks, without shelter, exposed to the inclemencies of one of the worst climates
in the world, dm-ing its unhealthiest season.
Numbers were
in consequence
by malignant fever, which infected the whole fleet. The evils thus
produced by natiu-al, were greatly aggravated by moral causes. Many, conscious
carried off
of the light in which their conduct would generally be viewed, and unable to
reflect
on
it
without shame and remorse, endeavoiu-ed to excidpate themselves
at the expense of their neighbours.
in
Much time was
thus spent to no purpose
mutual recrimination, and no course of united action was
possible.
At
last,
however, after a course of wrangling, the authority of the governor and the
other
members of
a military
council
officer, set
necessary assistance.
was acknowledged, and one of
out for Madi'as, to represent
theii'
their number, with
condition and solicit the
—
DELIBERATIONS AT MADRAS.
Chap. X.]
CHAPTER
-3+7
X.
for Bengal — Recapture of Calcutta — Naval and military
Madras — Armament
—Treaty of peace with the nabob — Capture of the French factory at Chandernagore
Recommencement of hostilities — Conspiracy to depose the nabob —The battle of Plassey.
Deliberations at
sails
operations
~~'
"^
''
HE
first
danger impending over the Com-
intelligence of the
.\.d.
nse.
pany's settlements in Bengal reached Madras on the loth of
July.
It
was not sent
as to
till
after the capture of the factory
and consequently
at Cossimbazar,
^
off
what might have happened
left
room only
for conjecture
subsec^uently to that event.
Judging by what had happened on other occasions, the Madras presidency did
not view the matter in a very serious
Native governors had repeatedly
liglit.
cjt«te of
Madras.
threatened as much, and even done more violence, and yet allowed themselves
by a sum of money before proceeding to extremities.
Why might not the same thing be repeated now ? These and similar considerations had the more weight at Madi'as, because that settlement had then full
employment for the force at its command. An application had been made l)y
bought
to be
at last
oft'
Salabut Jmig for assistance to throw
had been resolved
table,
and
it
to gi-ant
A
it.
oft"
his connection with the French,
war with France was
was known that the French government
maintain
its
also regarded as inevi-
in the prospect of
it
were
would
scarcely be able
when
united to
ground, and therefore nothing but the direst necessity would justify
the despatch of
any portion of
land
was
force.
it
In such an event Admiral Wat-
preparing a ]iowerful armament for the East.
son's squadron, then lying in the roads,
and
.
It
it
The same argument applied
to Bengal.
impossible, however, after the intelligence which
to the
had
l)een
and a detachment of 230 men, mostly Europeans,
received, to ignore
it
was despatched
Bengal in the Company's ship Delaware, which had recently
for
entirely,
arrived from England.
It sailed
on the 20th of July, and arriving
in the
Hooghly on the 2d of August, found the fugitives pining away at Fulta.
Sickly and dispirited as they were no co-operation was to be expected from
them, and the detachment, far too feeble to venture unaided on offensive operations,
had no alternative but
to
sM-amps soon made fearful havoc
I
On
known
encamp
in the vicinity of Fulta,
among them.
the 5th of Aug-ust the full extent of the Bengal
at Madras.
been bought
off",
as
whose deadly
There was
now no room
many had
too readily
for conjecture.
before.
became
The nabob had not
and com})lacently assumed, but had,
under circumstances of ineffable barbarity, inflicted on the
blow than had ever been sustained
cata.stro})iie
The most
Company a
flourishing
heavier
and productive
An
exjwdi
gai re»->ive.i
"'*""
o\H
A
D. 1766.
or INJMA.
lllS'JOIiV
[lUxiK
of all the presidencies wa,s, in fact, anniiiilated, an<l notliing but
could save
Company from
tlie
members
before them,
of
It is latlier strange tliat,
ruin.
Mudraa council were found
tiie
the
with
recovery
fact
tliis
to argue that the
Jung
claims of Salabut
have
itH
lil.
preference,
sliouhl
and
chums of Bengal would be
still
that
the
satisfied
by
sending a fifty-gun ship, and deputies
to treat with the nabol*.
absurd as
now
it
Tliis view,
appears, would iiave
mem-
been adopted had not one of the
bers,
possessed of sounder judgment
and more enlarged experience, put the
)
natter in its true light, and succeeded,
war
after a long
of words, in bringing
over the whole council to his opinion.
Tlie resolution ultimately adopted,
by Admiral Watson,
assented to
Hudiion.
of war,
having on board an adequate land
Previous
Before the armament could
force,
sail
([Uestions to
be solved,
Who
decided.
should
command
was that the whole squadron,
should proceed to Bengal.
remained to be
several periDlexing
o points
i
i
i
the land forces
What
?
and council of Calcutta?
The
them, or to act independent of them?
The members of the
considered.
late
and deemed
necessary for their
it
the grossest misconduct.
own
Was
he to be subject to
last of these questions
Calcutta
wrangling at Fulta, had each sent separate
should be the extent
In what relation ought he
of his authority both in acting and in negotiation?
to stand to the late governor
after
obtaining the sanction of a council
— From print after T
Admiral Watson.
and
lettei's
was
first
council,
not satisfied with
to the
Madras presidency,
exculpation to charge each other Mith
Taking the matter as they represented
it,
they had
proved unworthy of the authority with which they had been invested, or were
so divided
right
by mutual animosities
as to be incapable of exercising
had the Madras presidency
sidencies
to sit in
judgment on them
were co-ordinate, and accoimtable only
long, therefore, as the
Still,
it.
what
The three
pre-
to the court of directors.
So
(
appointment of the Calcutta council remained uncancelled
their jurisdiction within tlieiv presidenc}', notwithstanding the ^•iolence
had deprived them of
it,
was unquestionable.
Mr. Pigott, the
which
governor of
Madras, proposed to solve the difficulty by proceeding in jjerson to Bengal with
the united powers of commander-in-chief, and general representative of the
Company
in all other affairs.
council invest
him with such powers? and
mander was he
had of
his
This was mere extravagance.
own
likely to prove,
sufficiency?
when
if
How
could his
he had them, what kind of a com-
his only qualification
This proposal havinsr
fivllen
was
tlie
opinion he
to the ground, a kind
—
EXPEDITION FROM MADUAS TO BENGAL.
Chap. X.]
549
was adopted by acknowledging Mr. Drake and his council as a
with full powers in civil and commercial atlairs, and reserving to
of middle course
presidency,
themselves, or the officer
whom
they might appoint, independent power in
ad.
nco.
all
things military.
The next point was the choice
j)0wer
on
was
whom
whom
There were only three pereons
to be intrusted.
this choice could
commander, to
of the
Colonel Adlercron, as the
fall.
He had
as a king's officer, not
first
in his
Life of Clive
requested
(vol.
i.
mind afterward took
Sir
John Malcohn
had at one time
with the whole of his majesty's
place,
and they
justified it
A
bursement of the immense
they have
loss
mainly on the ground that
may
be taken, towards reimColonel Lawrence had
.sustained."
the Indian experience which Adlercron wanted, and had, as
his exploits in the Carnatic,
change
upon our request, and that the Company
to return hither
not have any part of the plunder that
shoiild
by
letter, inserted
this service
him,
deference to
little
137, 138), that the presidency
him "to imdertake
"he could not engage
all
p.
To
it.
and pressed him "to give the necessary orders accordingly."
troops,"
of
from his
had the
in rank,
never seen service in India, and
dependent on the Company, showed
It seems, however,
their agents.
choicoofa
in the presidency
most legitimate claim, and was by no means disposed to forego
however, there were strong objections.
independent
tliis
we have
seen
by
He
proved both an able and a successful warrior.
deserved the utmost confidence, and had he obtained the appointment would
undoubtedly have added to his
It
laurels.
may have been
fortunately
unceremonious manner in which he appears to have been set
afi'ected,
that
recpiisite to
it
but the
aside, required a
"The climate of Bengal
an asthmatic disorder with which Colonel Lawrence was
stronger justification than
was so adverse to
Orme
;
adduces, wlien he says,
was thought he would be disabled from
incessant activity
tliat
the .success of this expedition, of which the tennination
was
limited
to a time."
After Adlercron and Lawi'ence were rejected, Clive,
of Fort St. David,
was the only
He had
consideration.
them imder the
the very
turned to him as
The following
letter,
175G, after his appointment
first
notice of the presidency,
tlie
most
arrival at Madras, gives so
com-
on the expedition which was destined
set out
crown
the British Indian emph'e, that
quoted entire
eligible
good an account of
his feelings
his
ciive ap-
written to the com-t of directors, October 11 th,
and
when preparing to
own fame and found
installed as governor
whose claims were worthy of a moment's
officer
early brought
who had probably from
uiander.
now
it
to
deserves to be
:
—
Honourable Gentlemen, From many hands you will hear of the captiu-e
of Calcutta by the Moors, and the chain of misfortunes and losses which have
happened to the Company in particidar, and to the nation in general every
"
;
breast here seems filled with grief, horror
a tale to unfold,
and
1
must beg leave
and resentment
to refer
you
;
indeed,
it
is
too sad
to the general letters, con-
ush leciingK
^^^'
AD
17SC.
HISTORY
sultation.s,
Upon
''*'"""^*-'"
my
you a
will give
[Book
full
J
II.
account of this catnAtroj^he.
melancholy occasion the governor and council thought projjer to
this
*in^"amr'
viow*.
and connnittees, which
IMJiA.
i)y
"^^ ^^
^^"'"^
As soon
P^^^ce.
which was at
service,
a.s
an expedition was resolved upon,
last accepted,
and
1
am now
barking on board his majesty's squadron, with a
offered
I
upon the point of em-
body of Europeans,
fine
of spirit and resentment for the insults and barbarities inflicted on so
Biitish subjects.
I
myself that this expedition will not end
flatter
full
many
witii the
taking of Calcutta only, and that the Company's estate in those parts will be
and more
settled in a better
lasting condition than ever.
There
reason to
Is less
ai)prehend a check from the nabob's forces than from the nature of the climate
and country.
expedition
The news of a war may likewise
however, should that happen, and
;
we
India, I hope
country and the
my
wanting on
me
Company
;
and
I
be commenced in
have a true sense of
my
duty
beg leave to assure you that notiiing
I
Success on this occasion will
in the esteem of those to
whom
great respect.
In another
ho.stilities
this
my
to
be
shall
part to answer the ends of an undei'taking on which so very
depends.
will fix
with the success of
be able to dispossess the French of Chandemagore, and
shall
leave Calcutta in a state of defence.
much
interfere
letter to a director
I
fill
my
the measure of
joy, as
it
have the honour to subscribe, with
— "A few weeks
he says
R. Clive."
ago
I
was happily
seated at St. David's, pleased with the thoughts of obtaining your confidence
and esteem, by
of improving
Company's
now
my
application to the civil branch of the Company's affairs, and
and increasing the investment but the
;
estate at
Bengal has superseded
at this presidency
squadr-on,
Calcutta,
and
difficult task,
from the nabob for the
to gain satisfaction
You may be
his majesty's
may
think satisfactory,
may
assured I will never turn
Two months
which the Com-
my
utmost
is
precarious
and doubtful,
not allow time for such an undertaking.
my
back to Bengal,
efforts towai'ds
if
not oidered from
obtaining the desired
succes.s."
did not sail
havins:
in debate, the expedition
ir
I
o been spent
The squadi-on
the 16th of Octobcr.
Admiral Watson's
flag
;
fire-ship
;
till
consisted of the Kent, of sixty- four, bearing
the Cumberland, of seventy, bearing Admii-al Pococke
flag; the Tiger, of sixty; the Salisbury, of fifty; the
and a
losses
The recapture of Calcutta appears no ver}'
but om- further progress for reducing the nabob to such terms as
thence, without trying
guns,
am
in those parts.
from the prospect of a war which
force,
other considerations, and I
upon the point of embarking on board
the gentlemen of Calcutta
land
blow given to the
with a very considerable body of troops, to attempt the recovery of
pany have sustained
n.e squa
.iron and
all
fatal
s
Bridgewater, of twenty
together with three Company's ships, and
two smaller
vessels as transports.
of 900
Europeans, 250 of
sepoys.
The
instructions
refused redress,
The land force, under Colonel Clive, consisted
them belonging to Adlercron's regiment, and 1500
recommended the attack of Moorshedabad itself, if the nabob
and the capture of Chandemagore if war with France should
I
ARRIVAL OF THE EXPEDITION IN THE HOOGHLY.
Chap. X.]
proved
Tlie lateness of the season nearly
be declared
northern monsoon was setting
strong that during the
first
in,
was necessary
it
As
Bay
of Bengal,
felt,
recro.ss
The
making
behind; and the
for Balasore Roads, struck
miles from
continue her course,
Tiie
voyage
when
fire-ship,
;
on a sandliank, which stretches out several
Both got
Point Palmyras.
was
away to Ceylon the MarlCumberland and Salisbury, in
unable to stem the violence of the monsoon, bore
fell
it
and then ])roceeding
and thus gain the entrance to the Hooghly.
borough, sailing heavily,
a.d. itsh.
were so
the only ])racticable
north along the eastern coast, where the currents are less
opposite to Balasore,
nortli
twelve days, instead of making progress,
to cross the
The
fatal to the fleet.
and the currents from the
canied six degrees of latitude to the south of Madras.
passage
5^1
was driven south
off,
but the Cumberland, unable to
to Vizagapatam.
Ultimately, on the
20th of December, more than two months after leaving Madras, and exactly
half a year from the
day when Calcutta was taken, Fulta was reached by the
whole squadron, except the Cumberland and Marlborough.
was a
250 of the European troops were on board the one, and
serious loss, as
most of the heavy
their strength
artillery
was obtained
had been shipped in the
other.
Some
for duty.
from the court of
more than thirty were
degree of order, however, had been restored by a despatch
directors,
appointing Mr. Drake and three other members of
council a select committee for the conduct of all political
M.ajor Kilpatrick, previously associated with them,
Colonel Clive
now
Little addition to
at Fulta, for half of the detachment imder Major
Kilpatrick were dead, and the remainder so sickly that not
fit
Their absence
added, increased the whole
Letters had been procured at
affairs.
and Admiral Watson, and
number
Madras from Mr.
and military
to seven.
Pigott, the governor,
Mahomed
Nabob of Arcot, and Salabut Jung, Soubahdar of the Deccan, exhorting
Surajah Dowlah to give recb*ess for the wrongs he had inflicted; and these,
along with others, written by Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive, were sent
Ali,
On
open to Monichund, governor of Calcutta.
receiving for his answer that he
durst not forward to his master letters couched in such menacing terms,
resolved to
commence
Accordingly the whole
hostilities forthwith.
ing the vessels previously at Fulta, quitted
day anchored ten miles below the
a
commanding point on the same
fort of
it
fleet,
it
was
includ-
on the 27th December, and next
Budge Budge.
This
side of the river as Calcutta,
fort,
situated on
and only twelve
by land, though double that distance by water, was the
first object of attack.
It was not expected to oflfer any resistance, and the only
anxiety felt was to make prisoners of the garrison while they were making their
escape.
With this view an ambuscade was devised. At sunset Clive landed
miles south-west from
with 500
men
it
of the battalion, and
all
the sepoys, and proceeded, under the
direction of Indian guides, across a country full of
numerous deep
this
rivulets.
swamps, and intersected by
The mere march must have been
was greatly increased by the neglect
to provide
full
of hardship, but
any bullocks
for
draught
oiwr.itions
""""'""^
'>32
A.
It.
i7Mi.
ULSKjUY
Their place was necoasaiily
or })unlen.
had to drag along two
lih.i.iierH
j^i^
fi^m-
ijj
Ol'
^]jg
field-pieces
They set out
vicinity of Budge Budge till eight
and a timlird of ammunition.
tlie
next moniing.
The whole march by land looks
so characterized
by Clive
himself,
was much against
tliat it
boats to land
them
at the very place
more
still
who
and that he applied
the rainy season, as
it
to the admiral for
arrived, after suffering " liard-
where they
This blunder, therefore, was not his; but there was
serious nature from
which he cannot be
The place occupied on arriving was a
pated.
like a Ijlunder; and, indeed, is
says, in a private letter to Mr. Pigott,
his inclination,
ships not to be described."^
another of a
[liooK 111
by the men themselves, who
sujijditMl
and did not reach
afternoon,
INDIA.
was ten
and a half north-east of the
feet
below the
large hollow, probably a lake in
level of the plain.
It
was a mile
a mile from the river, and half-a-mile east of a
fort,
The eastern and
highroad leading to Calcutta.
so easily excul-
part;
of the southern banks of
hollow were skirted by a village, which seemed to have been recently aban-
tlie
The two
doned.
field-pieces
were placed on the north
plan of the ambuscade was as follows
:
— The
The
side of this ^illage.
grenadiers and 300 sepoys were
detached to take possession of a village on the bank of the river adjoining the
wall of the
The company of volunteers were posted
fort.
nv.
It
on the
Clive with the rest of the troops continued in the hol-
west side of the road.
1
in a thicket
was expected that when the garrison
in the fort discovered the troops in
possession of the village adjoining the north wall, they
would mistake them
for
the whole of the attacking force, and vmder that impression endeavoured to
by making
escape
for the highroad.
volunteers, opening
While they were hastening along
upon them from the
hollow, whei-e their slaughter or captiu-e
Asui-prise.
the
thicket,
easily effected.
The idea of
dano-er to themselves seems never to have entered the
commander
or his soldiers.
make
their rest
more easy were allowed
all
to quit
the
would drive them towards the
would be
They were
it
mind
of
worn out with fatigue, and to
their arms.
Even the ordinary
precaution of .stationing sentinels was neglected, and in a few minutes they
were
Not
all asleep.
from Calcutta with
them within a
1
so the
The previous day Monichund had anived
500 horse and 2000
distance of
acquainted with
enemy.
two
all Clive's
turn them against himself.
the village, had not lain
miles,
He was now encamped
foot.
and having by means of .spies made himself
arrangements, was only watching the oppoi-tunity to
The
troops,
huddled in the hollow or scattered
down above an hour when
of the village suddenly broke their slumbers.
The
ensued
;
fire
been ordered a
in
a volley from the east side
soldiers rushed in
Had
that part of the hollow where their arms were grounded.
the reach of the enemy's
with
alarm to
a retreat out of
would probably have
fatal panic
but Clive, whose presence of mind never forsook him, made his men
way into the ^^llage at
artillerymen, who on the firet
stand firm, and detached two platoons which forced their
the point of the bayonet.
'
This gave time to the
Malcolm's Memoirs of Lord
Clive, vol.
i.
page 153.
.
(HAP.
X
ADVA^X'E UPON CALCUTTA.
•
had rushed into
tilarm
tlie
hollow, to regain their guns
which that of the enemy soon slackened.
was a coward, and on receiving a
upon the
to fire
village,
concluded on the very
who
Malcolm,
and open a
it is
through the turban was so frightened
"
had the cavalry advanced
not improbable that the war would have been
first trial
This
of hostilities."'
is
questioned by Sir John
"had no means
says that, owing to the thick jungle, cavalry
where they must have been
seen,
mitted to be the more competent authority of the two; but, in
defend the honour of his hero, forgets the time and
of the surprise.
by men who were
could they have been seen in the dark, and
was undoubtedly committed
could be done to repair
was due
zeal to
liis
If,
were openings through which cavalry might have penetrated,
as he admits, there
gross mistake
manner
and the
must be ad-
Sir John, from his profession,
possibility of surprise defeated."
A
a.d. ivse.
hollow at the same time that the infantry began
tlie
of advancing, except through openings
how
under
fire,
Fortunately for Clive, Monichund
According to Orme,
that he thought only of flight.
and charged the troops in
hall
553
far less to
it,
;
and though Clive did
cannot be denied that his
it
fast asleep?
.success
on
that
all
this occasion
conduct than to good fortune.
Immediately on Monichund's retreat the whole of the troops were marched
BudgeBudge
taken.
to the village adjoining their fort,
and there found the Kent, which had outsailed
the other vessels, anchored in front of
and to
assist in it
up
straggled
250
sailors
it,
assault
One
were landed.
to the ditch, crossed
sentinels, hallooed to the
The
it.
was deferred
till
who had
of these,
got drunk,
scrambled over the rampart, and seeing no
advanced guard that he had taken the
indeed evacuated by the enemy,
next day,
who had
only waited
till
it
It
fort.
was
was dark enough
to conceal their retreat.
The impression produced by the affair at Budge Budge was somewhat
singular.
The British, astonished at the resolution displayed in venturing to
attack them, began to think that they had underrated the Bengal troops, and
even Olive was dispirited.
says,
You
"
will find
In the
letter to
by the return that our
Budge was greater than could well be
often repeated," he afterward adds,
" I
Mr. Pigott, already referred
loss in the skirmi.sh
.
.
he
near Budge
If such .skirmishes were to be
spared.
cannot take upon
ments about our future success against the nabob
afi'air
to,
me
my
to give
open
senti-
the
little
above mentioned was attended with every disadvantage on our
side.
.
.
Indeed,
I
fear
we
shall labour
under
in the
many
field
;
of these disadvantages
when attacked by the nabob; and I take it for granted he will be down
On the other hand,
before the Cumberland and Marlborough can aiTive."
Monichund, who had formed rather a contemptible opinion of the British, from
the facility with which Calcutta
in order to palliate his
quitted
it,
leaving only
'
had been taken, now magnified
own defeat; and no sooner reached Calcutta than lie
500 men in the fort, and proceeded northward to com-
Omie's Militarii Transactions,. vol.
•
Vol.
I.
their prowess
ii.
page
F b 124.
^^
Results of
the captun
HISTOKY OF INDIA.
554
A.D. 1756.
niunicate his terror,
first
[Book
and afterwards
at Hoo^lily,
nabob
to the
III.
hiiiLself at
Moorshedabad.
Calcutta
recovered
To prevent the fleet from coming up the river, Monichund ha^l prepared a
number of ships, laden with bricks, intending to sink tiiem in the narrowest
The appearance of tlie sloop-of-war frustrated
part of the channel, near Tanna.
the execution of this scheme
;
and the
rest of the fleet, leavin;^ Budj^e Budrje
the 30th of December, anchored on New-year's
was abandoned without
firing
a shot.
Tlie
Day
on
opposite to Tanna, which
next morning Clive, with the
greater part of the troops, landed at Aligur, a fort opposite to Tanna, and
Admiral Watson, with the Kent and
advanced by the highroad on Calcutta.
him
Thjer, an'ived before
nonade compelled the enemy, in
A
the fort and the town.
by the force of their canmore than two hours, to evacuate both
opposite Fort William, and
little
detachment sent ashore, under command of Captain
When
Coote, immediately took possession.
Clive anived he naturally expected
and was mortified above
to be recognized as military governor of Calcutta,
measure when Coote showed a commission from Admiral Watson, by which he
was himself appointed governor, and
place
further orders.
till
arising
This was another of the
At
ofiicers.
first,
as neither party
command
upon him.
of
wdiile the
it,
his majesty's
would give way, the
admiral threatened
if
up the
instances of collision
aff'air
Clive, admitted into the fort, insisted
a very threatening appearance.
fire
many
from jealousies and misunderstandings between
Company's
ing the
specially instructed not to dehver
and the
assumed
on retain-
he did not evacuate to
Before such extremities were resorted to explanations took place,
and a compromise was
effected,
on the assurance that
it
by which
Clive waived his claim to the
would afterwards be given him.
command
In accordance wnth
arrangement Admiral W^atson remained in possession, and the next day
this
up the
delivered
fort to the
Company's representatives
in the king's name.
This last proceeding throws some light upon the quarrel, and shows that
Misunderstandinga
more was involved in it than at first sight appears. From the very first, before
it was known what view the court of directors would take, Mr. Drake and his
colleagues insisted that, notwithstanding the loss of Calcutta, tlieir authority
and hence Mr. Manningham, the member of council
remained
entire,
had sent
as their
stronger now, for a
new commission had
military affairs of the presidency.
independent of
had been aware of
it,
and
therefore
it
all
it
was
still
the political and
It is not to be supposed that if the governthis
commission they would have made Clive
was not unreasonable
office,
to expect that
when
he would either resign
independent powers, or at least keep them in abeyance.
view, but
case
arrived from England expressly em-
he arrived and found them regularly installed in
his
The
this presidency.
powering Mr. Drake and three of the council to conduct
of IMadras
the}'
deputy to Madras, formally protested against the independent
powers with which Clive was invested by
ment
whom
Such was not
seems to have been Admii-al Watson's; and hence
his
theii* quarrel.
m
(
ATTACK UN HOOGIILY.
X.|
HAi'.
which had nothing personal in
it,
555
originated in a determination on the part of ad.
1757.
the one to uphold the authority of the Calcutta coniniittee, and on the part of
the other to give effect to the instructions which he
How
bitterly Clive felt at the treatment he
1
friends,"
IIf
ever imdertook this expedition.
•
cannot help regrettmg that
I
at Madras.
had received appears from several
— "Between
Pigott:
passages in a private letter to Mr.
.
had received
he says, "IciivesinUignation.
mi
The mortifications
have received from Mr. Watson and the gentlemen of the squadron in point
of prerogative, are such that nothing but the good of the service could induce
me to submit
he characterizes
secret
Speaking of the commission granted to Captain Coote,
to tliem."
as a " dirty
it
underhand contrivance, carried on in the most
manner, under a pretence that
never entered
my
intended the same thing, which,
I
Again, referring to the true cause of
thoughts."
"
understandings and heartburnings, he observes,
much
dissatisfied at the authority I
my own
sentiments, if
I
was not
am
property,
Company's
vested with.
It
to .acknowledge that 1
interests
and the means of recovering
;
it,
would be contradicting
still
still
possess the opinion
more prudent,
or
more
sorry to say, the loss of private
seem to be the only objects which take
up the attention of the Bengal gentlemen."
the same opinion in
am
for, I
the mis-
all
The gentlemen here seem
that the gentlemen of Madras could not have taken a step
consistent witli the
I declare,
Farther on he gives utterance to
harsher and even rancorous terms
you guard against everything these gentlemen can say
for,
;
—"
I
would have
believe me, they are
bad subjects and rotten at heart, and will stick at nothing to prejudice you and
tlie
gentlemen of the committee
;
they have not spared one another?
I shall
no excuse, even among themselves
finds
should not induce
me
to dwell
opinion without acting upon
it
;
how
indeed,
;
should they do otherwise
only add, their conduct at Calcutta
and that the
among them."
and
when
therefore,
riches of
Peru and Mexico
Clive could not entertain an
when
the committee sent
him a
demanding that he should place himself under them, he answered, "I do
not intend to make use of ray power for acting separately from you, without
letter,
you reduce me to the necessity of so doing
;
but, as
fai*
as concerns the
executing these powers, you will excuse me, gentlemen,
up;
I
cannot do
it
if I
without forfeiting the trust reposed in
means of
refuse to give these
me by
the select com-
mittee of Fort St. George."
Intelligence havinor been received that the recapture of Calcutta
had thrown
Attack
14
the
enemy
into
great consternation, and that the nabob's army would not be
ready for some time to march from Moorshedabad,
it
was determined
to take
advantage of the interval by assuming the aggi-essive and attacking Hooghly.
This place, situated on the right bank of the river, twenty-seven miles above
Calcutta,
titious
was regarded
as the royal port of Bengal,
importance in addition to that which
population.
As the
object
possible, the capture of it
now was
was good
it
to bring the
and had thus an adven-
derived from
nabob
its
wealth and
to terms as speedily as
strategy, as nothing
seemed better calcu-
1
<
1
•
UlSTOKY OF INDIA.
o.3(i
A.D. 1757.
[Book- III
lated to convince liim of the disasters which he mi^^ht bring upon
The town, though
continuing obstinate.
open,
was guarded by 3000
moreover, defended by a fort with a garrison of 2000 men.
hy
hinis<:;lf
rnen, and,
Considering the
importance of the meaiLS of defence, the force employed in the attack seems
very inadequate.
three other vessels, having on board
command
Hoogldy
twenty-gun
It consisted of only a
of Major Kilpatrick
1
Such, however,
was
town only saw the
The
encounter.
The intended
to reach
divisions
British troops landed,
foii
to prepare their
and then made
was battered by the
3000 men
vessels
in the
without risking an
night,
and then attacked
till
off
one of them by feint on the main gate, while the other, con-
;
and
The o
garrison, seeing
o
breach.
Hooglily.
was thus a failure,
means of resistance.
sui-prise
their pusillanimity or dismay, that the
sisting of a party of troops
c ipture of
was expected
It
tlie
in one tide, but a delay of five days took place in coasequence of the
and the enemy, forewarned, had ample time
two
and
50 Europeans and 200 sepoys, under
and Captain Coote.
ship having struck upon a sandbank.
in
ship, a sloop of war,
sailors,
111
under Captain Coote, stormed at the
their assailants
on the ramparts,
fled out precipi-
These easy successes made the British over-confident,
tately at the lesser gate.
and Captain Coote, who had proceeded three miles
to the north with only fifty
Europeans and 100 sepoys, and destroyed several granaries of
rice,
narrowly
escaped as he was returning, from being ovei^whelmed by the fugitive troops,
who, unknown to him, were lying in the neighbourhood watching his movements.
By
the loss of a single man.
any
as Mr. Mill gratuitously asserts, without adducing
If,
authority, the capture of
]>lunder,"^ the result
Hooghly was undertaken
must have been disappointment,
was obtained was estimated only
DuHng
vvarbetweeii
tain
and
and dexterity he disengaged himself without
singular good fortune
the cxpcditiou
to
'"
solely
with a \'iew
t<j
as the value of all that
at £15,000.
Hooghly,
arrived
intelligence
that
the long
expccted War between Great Britain and France was actually declared.
Fr.ince.
m Bengal
•
state 01 matters
-n
l
thus assumed an ominous appearance.
had 300 Europeans and a train of
that they
artillery at C handernagore,
would at once join the nabob.
])robability
be overmatched.
enable them to keep the
Tlie
rm
-n
Tlie French
•
i
l
field,
The whole
and
and
In that case the British would in
force then in
to all appearance the larger part of
dii'ected Clive to return as early as possible
spared.
A
all
Bengal would scarcely
about to be withdi'awn, as the Madras presidency, alarmed for their
had
was feared
it
own
it
was
safety,
with what troops could be
vigorous and successful prosecution of the war against the nabob
being, in consequence,
deemed
hopeless, the tone of the
Bengal
select
committee
was immediately lowered, and they resolved to lose no time in endeavouring to
negotiate a peace.
With this view they opened a communication with the
him
banker, Juggut Seat, and condescended to request
behalf
The nabob's
fears
'
had formerly inclined him
Mill's Bi-itish India, vol.
iii.
to
page 175.
to mediate in their
come
to terms,
but the
[|
ATTEMPTED NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE NABOB.
Chap. X.)
Hooghly made him
attack on
to
march southward and avenge
tiation
had
whom
those
passed,
and
and
furious,
Juggut
it.
his
army was immediately ordered ad
aware that the time
Seat,
afraid to imphcate himself
the nabob had again
doomed
o.37
by interceding
for nego-
in behalf of
no further
to destruction, ventured
its:
-^"«n'i'< *"
«ith the
than to instruct Runjeet Roy, his ablest agent, to accomjjany the army, and at
Omichund was
the same time correspond with Olive.
also in the nabob's train.
During the nabobship of Ali Verdy Khan, he obtained the
far largest share of
by which the Company provided their shipments.
employment he had lost, because the Company, imputing a
This lucra-
the contracts
tive
in the quality of the
goods to his avarice, had determined, instead of em})loving
contractors, to deal at first
hand with the producers themselves.
His ottence
at
change was the main ground of the suspicion by which the presidency
this
thought themselves
his
deterioration
goods from Calcutta,
(luence
smy,
when
it
was
His fortunes had in conse-
attacked.
been shattered, for besides the large sum of money found
his loss
in his trea-
by the destruction of houses and other property was immense.
His whole thoughts and
For
imprisoning him, and ]>reventing the removal of
ju.stified in
were
efforts
this purpo.se the ftivour of the
necessary to him.
now employed
in obtaining compensation.
nabob and of the Company were equal 1}'
The former he had secured by
ingTatiating himself with
Mohun Loll, the principal favourite at the court of Moorshedabad the latter
he now hoped to recover by aiding their endeavours to procure a peace.
The
Company has thus two influential agents in the nabob's canq\ For the time,
;
however, they seemed to have
failed,
and the nabob continued
to advance.
In the eagerness to negotiate, the necessity of providing against the onl\-
Hetoini-.i
izes.
alternative
had not been overlooked.
About a mile
and half that distance from the bank of the
The spot was well
river, a
to the north of Calcutta,
camp had been
chosen, for having the river on the west,
fortified.
and a large lake and
two miles beyond the Mahratta Ditch on the east, an
enemy from the north could not enter the Company's territory without coming
in sight of it.
The artillery, which had hitherto been the great want, iiad at
extensive marshes about
by the arrival
January the nabob's anny began to
length been supplied
Hooghly.
away an
Yevy fortmiately
it
On
the 30th of
cross the river, about ten
miles above
of the Mdvlborough.
had not been joined by the French, who threv
excellent opportunity of crip])ling, if not crushing their rivals,
by
reviving the chimerical idea of neutrality between the two companies, while
war
Avas raging
auxiliaries, the
between their respective nations.
nabob seemed
to cross, proposals of peace
gi'eat
so formidable that
were forwarded to
Even without the French as
even after his anny had began
him.
He received them with
apparent cordiality, and at the same time continued his march.
2d of February he propo.sed a conference with deputies, but
promise of sending them passports.
arm}'
was seen advancing
at full
failed to
On
keep his
The very next morning the van of
march from the
north-ea.st.
From
the
his
the nature
ami
continues
HISTOKY OF
558
AD.
1767.
INl^IA.
[Book
III.
of the ground tlieir progi-ess might eawily have been 8t<")pped; Vjut Clive, unwill-
ing either to divide
force or to conirnence hostilities while the lea«t lioj)e
liis
of accommodation remained, allowed
them
ground outside the
ditch,
selves along the
with
Company's
clubs, entered the
Most of them
tf) pa«.s.
Redoubt
sallied out
them-
but a predatory horde, anned only
teiritory,
and were engaged
houses of the natives in the north part of the town,
at Perring's
sprea^l
when
a detachment posted
New
and expelled them.
in pillaging the
bodies of the
enemy
continued to arrive, and coolly began to entrench themselves in a large garden
midway between
the head of the lake and the ditch, and about a mile and a
half from the British camp.
punishment which
it
This
in.sult
provoked was an
was not
to be borne,
and yet the only
ineffective cannonade.
to the
Next momiug the main body of the enemy appeared, following the direction
of the van, but so eagerly was the hope of a possible accommodation still clung
deputies,
^o,
The uaiK.bs
that ou
north,
tlic
nabob again proposing a conference at a
two deputies were
sent.
On
village six miles to the
arriving they found, as might have been
They followed on
his track, and found him seated in quarters which he had taken up in Omichund's
garden, in the north-east part of the Company's territory, within the ditch.
It is difficult to account for the inertness manifested b}' Clive on this occanabob had started some hours
anticipated, that the
sion.
All the advantages derived from his fortified
before.
camp were apparently
lost
without any attempt to turn them to account, and at least part of the
enemy had without molestation
deputies might
now have
interposed between
him and
Calcutta.
considered their business at an end.
Tlie
The
nabob by
hastening on with his army, without waiting for them, had given the most
significant intimation of his designs.
be balked of an interview,
They were determined, however, not
and succeeded in obtaining
it.
to
P.oydullub, the
dewan, on their introduction to him by Runjeet Roy, deemed their application
for
an interview, under the circumstances,
so strange, that he suspected
being assassins, and insisted on having their swords.
insulted,
and were conducted to the durbar or
his principal officers,
many
coimcil.
They refused
them
to be so
Besides the nabolj and
others of inferior degree were present.
These had
apparently been selected for the largeness of their stature, and the ferocity
their coimtenances.
To give them a
cb'essed in thick stuffed dresses,
the deputies, as
if
lating with the
nabob
with
for entering the
them and
before,
terrific
appearance they were
they only waited the signal to miu"der them.
deputies, on leaving,
Alanned
more
ot
with enormous turbans, and kept scowHng at
offers of peace, the deputies
after reading
still
of
Company's
limits,
After expostu-
while amusing them
produced a paper of proposals.
The nabob,
refen-ing to the dewan, dismissed the assembly.
The
were whispered by Omichund to take care of themselves.
they
now
set
no limits to their
fears,
and, ordering then-
attendants to extinguish the lights, that the path they took might not be seen,
hastened off without waiting to confer with the dewan.
I
ATTACK ON THE NABOB'S CAMP.
Chap. X.]
The report of the deputies
left
no room
o5I»
for further negotiation,
determined to attack the nabob's camp in the morning.
and Clive
His force consisted of
650 men, forming the European battaUon, 100 artillerymen with six
800 sepoys, and GOO
pieces,
armed with
Ihe enemy mustered about 40,000 men, most of them
firelocks.
encamped between the ditch and the
general,
Meer
Jaftier,
Oinichund's garden.
morning,
but a considerable part with the
The attack was made, but proved
summary account of the matter: — "About three
my
whole
force,
entered the enemy's camp, in a thick fog, and crossed
Had
doing considerable execution.
eight o'clock,
must
when we were
liave
;
The
instead of which
loss
on
his part
Europeans, 100 sepoys, and two field-pieces;
but blamed the attack as
opinion,
which
and says that "the men ought
is
marched
to
it
usuall}' does
about
thickened,
severe,
and
his troo})s
Orme
we
six
the ditch, the
and occasioned
amounting
is
to
120
were not only
decidedly of this
have assembled at Perring's Redoubt,
not half a mile from Omichund's garden, to which they might have
in a spacious road, capable of admitting twelve or fifteen
This seems plausible, but an obvious objection
facility of attack
is,
that,
men
abreast."
by that an-angement,
would have been purchased by leaving the nabob an easy
main body of
his army,
main body, and proceeding
gi-jidually
outlet to join the
the
o'clock in the
horn's,
was
ill-concerted.
committee at
About
camp without
it
than
about two
in
it
the fog cleared up, as
entire masters of the
been decisive
our mistaking the way."
dispirited,
..iiw/s
*^'""'*
leaving only a few Euro-
200 new raised bucksarees, to guard our camp.
peans, with
action
far less successful
Clive, in a letter addressed to the secret
marched out with nearly
I
lake,
Attack t.y
clive on tlie
within the ditch, to protect the nabob in his quarters in
had been anticipated.
home, gives this
tield-
wlio had been landed at midnight, and
sailors,
a.d. ns;.
took the best means to
and thus
escape.
By
beginning with
towards the nabob's head-quarters, he
secui-e his person,
and, to
all
appearance, would have
succeeded but for a natural event of unusual occurrence, and therefore not
anticipated.
The moral
effect,
however, was as
gi'eat as if
the success had
The nabob, having received a practical specimen of the kind
of enemy he had to deal with, was much more disposed to be pacific.
The very next day after the attack he employed Runjeet Roy to write a
..
p
r
letter contaming proposals oi peace, and under the pretext oi proving his
been complete.
111
^
sincerity,
•
though probably more with a view to his own personal
1
'
Here, after various measages of negotiati(ni brought and cairied
ing terms were
treaty
by Runjeet
was concluded on the 9th of Febniary.
—that the nabob should
restore the
Its lead-
Company's factories, but with
only such of the plundered eflects as had been regularly brought to account
the books of his government
should think expedient
or
custom
—and
—permit them
— exempt
confirm
all
all
to fortify Calcutta in
any wa}'
in
the}'
merchandise with their dustuks from fee
the ])rivileges granted to
them
luib-.i..
iutiiiii(late<l,
concludes a
'**"^^
safety, retired
with his whole army, and encamped about three miles north-east of the lake.
Roy and Omichmid, a
The
since tlieir
fii-st
—
HISTORY OF INDIA.
•J(JO
AD.
1757.
amval
The naboh, now
the country.
in
[Hook
as anxiou.s for friendship as
Jil.
had
lie
previously been bent on hostile measures, thougiit the treaty did not go far
enough, and, only three days after concluding
and the new
an alliance
propo.sed
offen-
Chve wislie<l,
brought by Oinichund, was returned by him ratified the
and defensive against
sive
it,
article,
This was exactly what
enemies.
all
same day.
Defects in
meet the views of
file treaty did not
all T)arties
While
at Calcutta.
it
was
treaty with
the
n;iix)b.
undcr Consideration, Admiral Watson, with characteristic
Clive against trusting to the nabob's promises.
sir,
reached by his
politics,
with the terms, and expressed
been provided for the
is
Let
u.s,
therefore, not
well thra.shed, don't,
be over-
Many, moreover, were
losses of private sufferers,
by the
di.ssati.sfied
disappointment that no compensation had
tlieir
it .specially
not a few of
whom
had been
Their case had not been over-
pillaging of Calcutta.
and Clive had brought
looked,
he
but make use of our arms, wliich will be much more
prevalent than any treaties or negotiations."
absolutely ruined
" Till
he will be inclined to peace.
flatter yourself
cautioned
bluntne.ss,
under the nabob's
On
notice.
finding,
however, that he gave only promises, but refused to come under any fonnal
obligation on the subject, he could not permit the claims of individuals to stand
in the
way
what he believed
of
to be "the interest of the
Company."
In a
private letter to the chairman of the court of directors, he states the grounds on
aivesju^
"fit
which he acted with great
interest
force
and reputation of a
have been suspended.
I
and
soldier,
tlie
the conclusion of this peace might easily
know, at the same time, there are many who think
have been too precipitate in the conclusion of
knew
'If I had only consulted
clearness:
it;
but surely those
who
I
are of
two might have ruined the
Company's affairs, by the junction of the French with the nabob, which was on
tlie point of being carried into execution.
They never con.sidered the situation
this opinion
never
that the delay of a day or
of affairs
on the
to I'eturn
with the major part of the forces at
that,
positive orders sent
all
me by
the gentlemen there,
events; they never considered
with a war upon the coast and in the province of Bengal at the same time,
a trading
ment
and the
coast,
;
company could not
and, last of
the whole course of
fifty lacs to
all,
it
from the govern-
they never considered that a long war, attended tlurough
with
the Company."
was a statesman
subsist without a great assistance
success,
ended at
last
with the expense of more than
These views are well expressed, and prove that Clive
They
as well as a warrior.
obvious objection to the treaty.
It provided
fail,
however, to meet one very
no guarantee of any kind
observance, and thus left the nabob at full liberty to disregard
might think he could do so with impunity.
and what
this
It
was
when he
whose
fidelity is
says:
tells
us in the same
— "It cannot be expected that the princes of
always to be suspected,
engagements from principle
only.
It
is,
Avill
whenever he
therefore merely a promise,
was worth from such a quarter Clive himself
letter,
it
for its
tliis
country,
remain firm to then- promises and
therefore,
become absolutely necessary
ATTACK ON CHANDERNAGOKE.
"HAP. X.]
t
)
keep up a respectable force in
an obvious inference
561
province for the future.'
tliis
If
so, it
follows
a.d. 1757.
with such princes, obligations written
or verbal are in themselves worthless, and that, to give them any value, they
as
that, in treating
ought always to be accompanied with a material guarantee, which would operate
as a penalty in the
event of their being violated.
saw
a later period of his career both
Next
to peace
this necessity
be seen that Clive at
and acted upon
and defensive
seemed to follow from the terms
It
day when the
alliance
was
ratified,
Clive told
;
and
therefore,
Omichund
rrei)ai-ation..
ciianuer
nabob could
alliance against all enemies, that the
no longer continue to give any countenance to the French
the very
it.
with the nabob, the object nearest Clives heart was the
destruction of the French interest in Bengal.
of the offensive
It will
to
on
sound iiim
on the subject, and endeavour to obtain his consent to an attack on Chander-
He
nagore.
detested the very idea, and with good reason, for not only did the
revenue gain considerably by the French trade, but good policy dictated that
companies might be employed as mutual checks on each other, and
the rival
prevent the danger to which the native government might be exposed,
of
them were allowed
to gain
an entire ascendency.
The nabob
if
therefore
no secret of his unwillingness to withdraw his protection from the French
as
one
made
;
but
he only temporized, and did not expressly prohibit the attack, Clive deter-
mined
to carry it into effect.
With
•Tossed the river with his troops, a
this view,
on the 18th of February, he
The French had
few miles above Calcutta.
no difficulty in penetrating his design, and immediately claimed the nabob's
Their messengers found him on his return homewards at Auga-
protection.
deep, about forty miles south of
Moorshedabad
;
and having succeeded
vincing him that their destruction would endanger his
to write
a
letter,
peremptorily forbidding the attack.
interfering in their behalf, he
orders to Nimcomar,
prohibition
Meer
Jaffier,
made them
now governor
own
safety,
Not
in con-
induced him
satisfied
with thus
a pre.sent of 100,000 rupees, gave
of Hooghlj', directly to assist
was disregarded, and even made preparations
them
for sending
with half his army, to encamp at Chandernagore.
On
if his
back
seeing the
nabob thus decided, Clive made a merit of necessity, and, in conjunction with
Admiral Watson, gave both verbal and wi'itten assurances that the nabob's
wishes in the matter would be strictly attended
to,
and that the attack would
made without his sanction. As it thus appeared that the French were
not to be crushed by violence, the next best thing was to secure their neutrality;
and with this view, not only were negotiations resumed, but a treaty was
actually drawn up, and only waited to be signed when at the last moment a
demur took place. The French commissioners, when the question was put to
them, admitted that they were acting only in their own name, and could not
bind the government of Pondicherry. Though it must be admitted that a treaty
made under such circumstances would have been futile, the conduct of the
British was not ingenuous.
It is difficult to believe that they were not from
not be
I
Vol.
I.
71
''
562
A.D. 17^7.
the
JIISTOKV OF IN1>L\.
first
aware of the defect of powers which
they were employing
wiiile
negotiate
leluctancc to
now
French.
performed by Mr. Watis,
III.
pretended to have
tlie
French,
kinds of influence U) overcome the nabob's
all
proposed attack.
tlic
tliey
had ever intended to do more than amase
discovered, or that they
r.itii.,
(Rkjk
In this intrigue the principal parts were
who had become
the Company's representative at Moor-
shedabad, and Omichund, who, having succeeded in effacing the suspicions under
which he suffered so severely at Calcutta, was now become one of the Company's
most active and confidential agents. So zealous was Omichund, that when the
nabob
—suspecting
an intention of attacking Chandemagore, notwithstanding
his express prohibition
—indignantly asked him
to
answer
stric-tly
whether
tljey
intended to maintain or to break the treaty, he answered, that the English were
famous throughout the world
for their
good
England who on any occasion
told a lie
was
admitted to the
socid:.y
faith,
insomuch, " that a
man
utterly disgraced, and never after
of his former friends and acquaintance."
rather apocryphal declaration, he called in a Brahmin, and took
After this
what was
garded as a most solemn oath, by putting his hand imder the Brahmin's
Admiral
letters to
in
re-
foot,
and swearing that the English would never break the treaty.
Xhc prcssure brought to bear upon the nabob by intrigues with his ministers
and favourites was much increased by an alarm which reached him from a
different quarter.
Ahmed Shah Abdalee, haA-ing again invaded Hindoostan.
had entered Delhi, and was understood
eastern pro^dnces.
The nabob was,
an incursion into the
to contemplate
in consequence,
more anxious than ever
to
secure the British alliance, from which he anticipated important aid, in the
event of an Afghan invasion, and became
to sanction the attack of the
ask our assistance.
Can we, with
and leave our enemies behind us?
and we shall be unable to defend
situation.
I see
but one way.
less
French settlements.
Admiral Watson thus addressed him
feeling,
and
less
:
—
"
decided in his refusals
Taking advantage of
this
are going to Patna.
You
You
the least degree of prudence, march with you
You
will then be too far off to support us,
ourselves.
Think what can be done
Let us take Chandemagore and secm-e ourselves
from any apprehensions from that quarter, and then we will
every
man
in oui- power,
in this
and go with you even
to Delhi, if
you
assist
you with
will.
Have we
not sworn reciprocally that the friends and enemies of the one should be
And
regarded as such by the other?
pimish us
if
we do
not
fulfil
will not God, the avenger of perjurj',
What can
our oaths?
I say
more?
Let
me request
The answer was not speedy; and proof
having been obtained that the nabob was intriguing with the French, the
admiral assumed a harsher tone, and sent a letter concluding with the following
the favour of yom- speedy answer."
menace:
— "I now acquaint you that the remainder of the
have been here long ago, and which
win be
at Calcutta in a
vessel for
few days
;
which should
hear the colonel told you he expected,
I
that in a few days
more ships and more troops
troops,
;
and that
more
I will
I shall
despatch a
kindle such a flame in
—
ATTACK ON CHANDERNAGOEE.
your country as
all
the water in the Ganges shall not be able to extinguish.
Remember that he who promises you
with you or with any man whatsoever."
Farewell
5C3
this
!
This was rather strange language to address to an
.\.i).
itst.
never yet broke his word
ally,
an independent
prince,
i'i'«
"
-^^'^
evoKivo
whom
with
a treaty offensive and defensive had been concluded only a few
answer,
weeks before. The nabob, however, was a cowai'd at heart; and, thougli foaming
with rage, sent two letters in reply.
In the one, quietly pocketing the menace,
he contented himself witli excusing the delay which had taken place in the
payment
of the compensation due under the treaty
;
in the other, rather evading
than facing the subject of Chandernagore, he used the following expression:
"
You have understanding and
heart claims your protection,
you
generosity
will give
him
well satisfied of the innocence of his intentions
This expression, which
right that do."
more enigmatical
still
enemy comes
to
be spared; but,
At
occasion."
in the
work
your enemy with an upright
if
;
may
his life
;
if not,
;
but then you must be
whatsoever you think
be variously interpreted, becomes
of Mr. Orme,
who
gives
it
thus:
— "If an
you and implores yom' mercy, with a clean heart, his life should
if you mistrust his sincerity, act according to the time and
this
time Clive considered himself and the admiral so completely
bound not to attack Chandernagore "contrary to the expressed order of the
nabob," that he says they could not do
faith
;"
and
yet,
without being 'guilty of a breach of
it
with no better authority than they managed to extract from
the above dubious expression, they felt relieved of
might at
own
a case of so
least, in
much
Tliey refrained,
explanation.
all
They
their scruples.
dubiety, have asked the nabob to give his
and
it
must have been purposely,
when
for
they were proceeding with their preparations the explanation arrived unasked,
and amounted
to
an expressed retractation of any assumed previous
however, from giving
far,
nity."'
effect to the prohibition,
they treated
it
assent.
as
Perhaps the best explanation of the resolution to proceed at
maybe found
in the fact that three ships
"an
all
So
indig-
hazards
had just arrived from Bombay, having
on board three companies of infantry, and one of
artillery,
...
and that the Cinn-
berland, which parted from the squadi'on on the voyage from Aladras, had at
length reached Balasore Roads.
Tlie capture
of
^
cvdty.
The
Chandernagore was an enterprise not unattended with
settlement, situated on the right
of the toA^Ti of Hooghly, extended
lialf
inland.
The
fort,
bank
diffi- i^efences
of the river, and a little south
two miles along the bank, and a mile and a
standing about thirty yards from the water, and nearly
equidistant from the south and north extremities of the settlement, formed a
square of about 130 yards, inclosed by a wall and rampart, with a bastion at
each angle mounting ten gims.
parts,
Several more gvms were mounted on the ram-
and eight on a raveUn on the banks of the
gateway.
Beside these cannon, which were
'
Memoirs of Lord
Clive, vol.
all
i.
river opposite to the western
from twenty- four to thirty-
p. ]91.
f
.
Cliandernagore.
ULSTOHV OF INDIA.
5G4
A.I). irr.T.
two pounders,
six of leas calibre stood
Defences of
we have
th*- fort.
its wali.s.
seen,
hy proposing a
on the terrace of a church within
III.
The French, on learning the declaration of war, ha/1.
endeavoured to ward off the danger to which it exposed them,
and overlooking
as
[Book
much more
neutrality, hut, with
wi.sdora
and
foresight than had
C'liaudei-
been exhibited at Calcutta, continued in the meanwhile to make the best ase of
nagore.
the time in strengthening their defences.
100 yards of the
They demolished
walls, using the materials to
fonn a
measm-e supplied by batteries without the verge of the
commanding the
and approaches by
principal streets
water had not been overlooked,
150 yards south of the
t^)
dig a
foi-t,
to
whom
vicinity
;
Clive,
The
land.
command
it.
the narrowe.st part of
The
in positions
aj)proach by
tlie
channel, but
mustered GOO Europeans,
garri.son
only a half were regular troops, and 300 sepoys.
also expected
and
glacis,
not only had a battery been erected about
for
a number of vessels had been sunk in
Clive
and began
glaci.s,
Neither of these works was completed, but their defects were in some
ditch.
of
the buildings within
Some
assistance
was
from Nuncomar, who was encamped with a body of troops in the
but Omichund had succeeded in bribing him not to
interfere.
having been joined by the Bombay reinforcement, commenced
ho.stilitie.-
advances
against
it.
To avoid
on the 14th of March.
made
four batteries facing the south, he
approach from the west, along a road leading to the north face of the
fort.
French made the most of their position and, by means of detachments
;
the thickets, continued skirmishing
till
three in the afternoon,
into a battery under the protection of the north bastion.
in consequence
tenable,
of a
fire
houses, they sj^iked the cannon,
The
i)laced in
when they retired
This pro^^ng un-
of musketry kept up from some adjoining
and
The abandonment
retired into the fort.
this battery necessaiily involved that of those to the southward, as
now be
his
ol
they might
Their defenders were therefore recalled next morning.
attacked in rear.
All the batteries without the works had thus been rendered useless except the
one on the brink of the
ment near the southern
The 15th was employed
river.
esplanade,
by taking
in effecting a lodg-
possession of the adjoining houses,
under the shelter of which the besiegers suffered little from the
fire
of the garrison.
The 1 6th was employed in bringing up the artillery and stores, and the 1 7th
and 18th were chiefly occupied by the besiegers in keeping up a fire of musketr}'
from the tops of houses, shelling the
coehorns.
Kent,
No
On
decided progress, however, was made.
and Salisbury
Tiger,
fort fi-om a thirteen-inch
arrived, after
a very
mortar and some
the 19th, the ships
difficult
navigation,
and
mUe below the fort. The narrow channel in which the ships
had been sunk was now the main obstacle, as the ships so long as they remained
anchored about a
outside of
it
could not act with
effect.
Fortunately
it
was ascertained by
dili-
gent soundings, and the information of a deserter, that a practicable passage
still
remained.
by the
It
was therefore determined that the
ships should be forthwith tried.
the greatest danger
;
for the nabob,
effect of
Indeed, every delay
a bombardment,
was attended with
on finding that remonstrances had jH-oved
CAPTURE OF CHANDERNAGORE.
CnAr. X.]
was no longer
unavailing,
ji
with sending tln-eatening messages, but had
forward part of his army, as
;tually sent
common
satisfied
565
had at
if lie
RoyduUub, the dewan, advanced with
cause with the French.
1757.
make
resolved to
L'ust
a.d
this
(L;tachment within twenty miles of Hooghly, and would have been in time to
had not Nuncomar treacherously assured
jittempt the relief of Chandernagore
him of the
contrary.
Tiie attack
was
fixed for the 24!th.
At
sunrise on that
which had been completed on shore opened their
and
vigorously,
time established a decided
for a
when the ships were first brought into
The Tiger, in passing to the north-east
where she
finally
The
fire.
su])eriority.
action, a
bastion,
day two
batteries
-^ttsok ai.j
fort returned it
capture of
cinindei-
At seven
o'clock,
marked change took place.
wliich was her station, and
anchored at the distance of only
fifty yards, fired
her
first
i)roadvside at
the ravelin with such effect that that defence was immediately
abandoned.
The Kent was
before the middle of the curtain
such a deadly
fire,
Her
less fortunate.
;
allotted station
was the
ravelin
but in proceeding to occupy she encountered
that some degree of confusion ensued, during which the cable,
The consequence was,
tliat the ship fell back so far that she lay just beyond the south-east, and at the
same time exposed to a flank of the south-west bastion.
It was too late to
make a change, and the Salisbury, to which this ver}' position had been
assigned, was entirely thrown out of the action, the whole brunt of which was
instead of being stopped,
was allowed
borne by the Tiger and the Kent.
of the besiegers
was
to run to its end.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages the
hung out a flag of truce
was concluded. Though the defence
so telling that at nine o'clock the fort
At three in the afternoon the capitulation
was of short duration, its efficiency, while
which
liull
:
it left
She had received
the Kent.
it lasted, is
proved by the state in
six shot in her masts,
and 142
Among
who were both
the latter were the commander, Cai)tain Speke, and his
struck
recovered, bixt his son died.
ally attended
down by a single shot.
Ives, who was surgeon
Tlie captain ultimately
of the Kent, profession-
both of them, and gives such an interesting account of the heroism
displayed by the son, a youth of onl}' sixteen years of age, that
unpardonable to omit
When
tlie
in her
her casualties also were severe, amounting to nineteen killed and seventy-
two wounded.
son,
fire
down
into the after-hold his leg
was hanging only by
Great as his suffering must have been, he was thinking (mly of his
On
whose wound he feared had been mortal.
trary he
would be
it.'
he was carried
skin.
father,
it
became calm but when
;
earnestly asked the surgeon
if
it
was proposed
he had
to
l)eing assured of the con-
examine
dressed his father, " for
had been taken care of"
his
own wound, he
he could not think
of being touched
till
was already done,
" then," replied the generous youth, pointing to a fellow-sufferer
"pray,
sir,
his father
look to and dress this poor man,
'
Ives, .4
Voyage from England
to
who
India,
is
Being told that
this
groaning so sadly beside
p. 132-1.^4.
Heroism of
gpeke
—
5()6
J.
i-.'.7
'
OF
IIlriTOIiV
me.
He,
"
had been dressed already
too,
himself to the surgeon, observed, "Sir,
'it'
joiiiif:
spekc.
and the poor youth, on submitting
fear you mast amputate above the
;
I
solemnly and fervently ejaculated, " Good God, do thou enable
my
IIJ.
Ives replying "I must," he clasped his hands, and, looking upward,
joint."
HeriMHin
[Book
INJ>»IA.
my
present circumstances worthy of
was
told the surgeon that he
me
After
father's son."
behave
to
in
prayer he
tliis
and bore the operation ^ampu-
all submi-ssion,
tation above the knee-joint) without speaking a word, or uttering a groan that
The next day he was removed
could be heard at a yard distant.
pital at Calcutta.
A
able.
For the
change then took
first
eight or nine days the .s^nnptoms were favour-
and he died on the thirteenth day
place,
His father having been removed, not to the
operation.
house of a friend, the noble-hearted boy,
following note, written
by himself
very day on which he died:
must be
father
is
in,
when he
is
told
to the hos-
still
hospital,
after the
but to the
suspecting the worst, sent the
two o'clock in the morning of the
"If Mr. Ives wiU consider the disorder a son
he is dying, and yet is in doubt whether hi.s
in pencil at
not in as good a state of health.
If
JVIr.
Ives
is
not too busy to honour
which nothing but the greatest uneasiness could draw from me.
boy waits an answer." It is scarcely necessary to account for the verbal
this chitt,
curacies of the note
by mentioning
place;
is
he dead?"
danger, I assure you: he
tell
me
so?
word he
affectin
me
am now
at so early
valuable
narrative, that
self
It
satisfied
a place
No; nor
is
he in any
"Thank God! Then why did they
and ready to die." "At this time," says Mr.
in great distress; but I understood every
He
begged
my
pardon for having disturbed
;
for
who can
doubt, after reading the above
had William Speke been spared he woiJd have earned
among
for him-
the greatest and best of the naval heroes of his country.
ought to be added that Captain Speke was not unworthy of being the
father of such a son.
did
His heart was bound up in the
when taken below was
to teU
how
The
friend,
do you think
my
Billy
sui'geon answered, "If he lived
there
first
thing he
rejoice
was obliged by his silence
the tenth day he for the first time put a
my
and the
him by hopes of a recovery, but
and looks to prepare him for the worst. On
at last
long,
bo}'';
dangerously his poor Billy was wounded.
For some days the surgeon was able to
boy?"
direct question
may remain
on the
subject.
•
How
in a state of imcertainty ?
from the fifteenth day of the operation
would be the greatest hopes of
looking steadfastly in the surgeon's
my
"
sir."
an hour; and before the day was ended surrendered up a
Valuable, indeed
life."
the following dialogue took
almost well."
so inarticulately uttered.
deatlL
when
"My father,
"Who?"
"he had a locked jaw, and was
Ives,
HJ8
I
is
inac-
that the heroic sufferer had become delirious.
Mr. Ives immediately hastened to his bedside,
— "And
The
face,
On
his recovery."
he
said, "
Well
Receiving no answer, he could not but
the sixteenth day,
Ives,
know
crying bitterly, he asked to be left alone for half an hour, and
how
fares it with
the cause.
when
After
at the end
of tliat time Mr. Ives returned, " he appeared, as he ever after did. perfectly
I
DUPLICITY OF SURAJAH DOWLATT.
Chap. X.]
567
Captain Speke never perfectly recovered from his wound,
calm and serene."
and died at the early age of
He
forty-three.
a.d. 1757.
lived long enough, however, to
by
distinguish himself in the naval victory gained
Edward Hawke
Sir
off
In that action he commanded the Resolution of seventy, and obliged
Belleisle.
the Formidable, though
much
10
superior in force, to strike to him.
Though
the nabob had not disguised
*=
his displeasure at the expedition against
Tiie
iiai..,i),
Chandernagore, rumours of the approach of the Afghans were so prevalent, that
alarmclat
an Afghan
in his anxiety to secure the assistance of the British troops, he not only refrained
temporiizes.
.
nvaaion,
from expressing any indignation at
manders on their
success,
its
and made an
capture, but congi-atulated the com-
offer of the
pany on the same terms on which the French had held
more than questionable
;
for
he
still
retained a large
mediate spot between Hooghly and his
capital,
favourable opportunity of resuming hostilities
ComHis sincerity was
whole temtory
it.
to the
body of men
at
an
inter-
apparently to embrace any
and, so far from withdrawing his
;
protection from the other French factories in Bengal, gave an asylum in Cossim-
bazar to a body of their troops, consisting partly of some
Chandernagore before
prisoners of war,
was
it
had broken
fully established
by
and partly of others who,
fell,
their parole.
There can be
letters afterwards discovered
in correspondence witli Bussy,
who had
escaped from
little
doubt
—indeed
—that he was at
and in hopes that that distinguished
appear in Bengal at the head of a formidable
had become
after they
force.
In one
this
officer
it
time
would
letter to him,
written before Chandernagore was taken, the nabob says, " These disturbers
my
and Colonel Clive (Sabut Jung'), whom bad
fortune attend! without any reason whatever are warring against Zubal-ul-
of
country, the admu-al
Toojar'-'
(M. Renault), the governor of Chandernagore.
from his
letter.
I,
who
in all things seek the
every respect, and have sent him the best of
them and
[
fight the English
;
and
if it
This you will learn
good of mankind,
my
troops, that he
become necessary
assist
may
I will join
him
in
join with
him myself
hope in God these English will be punished for the disturbances they have
Be confident; look on my forces as your own. I wrote you before
for 2000 soldiers and musketeers, under the command of two trusty chiefs.
1
persuade myself you have already sent them as I desired; should you not,
I desire you will do me the pleasure to send them immediately."
In another
letter, written the week after Chandernagore was taken, he says, " I am advised
that you have arrived at Echapore.
This news gives me pleasure.
The sooner
you come here, the greater pleasure 1 shall have in meeting with you. What
raised.
can
I
They have without ground picked a
with M. Kenault, and taken by force his factory. They want now to
write of the perfidy of the English i
quai-rel
quarrel with M.
Law, your chief at Cossimbazar; but
oppose and overthrow
'
'
all their
proceedings.
Or " The Daring iu War," the title by which
Or "The Essence of Merchants."
Clivc
I
When you come
is still
known among
will take care to
to Balasore I will
the Datives in India-
HlSTOltY OF IN MA.
•"jG^
A.D. 1767.
assured of
Mutufti .lbsiiuulatii
Law
then send M.
These
my
your
to
assistance, unless
you
[Book Hi.
forVji<l
his setting out.
liest
good-will towards you and your company."
letters,
..,,.,,.,
written after the treaty offensive and defensive with the British
ri.
had been concluded, were undoubtedly a gross violation of
it
;
and as their sub-
though not their actual contents was known to Clive, he must now liave
stance,
been convinced that he had been somewhat precipitate in signing the treaty,
as it
had already become in
fact a
dead
Neither
letter.
however, was
7)arty,
yet prepared to proceed to extremities, and some time was spent by them in
The
endeavouring to outwit each other.
for saying that
with most of
the
he had not
its articles,
Company had
no pretext
naboVj, in order to leave
part of the treaty, complied liberally
ful tilled his
paying a large sum to account of the damage which
sustained
and then
:
with some show of reason, that
insisted,
army and navy, should forthwith return to
carrying with them the plvmder of Chanderaa-
the whole of the British forces,
The
Calcutta.
ships departed,
gore, valued at considerably
encamped on a plain
more than £100,000.
to the north of Hooghly.
Clive refused to move, and
This
.step,
while
it
could not
be regarded by the nabob in any other light than a direct menace, amounted
to a
violation of the orders which he had received from his employers at
One of tlieir main reasons for not giving the command to Colonel
Adlercron was because he would not promise to return whenever they should
require.
Clive had given this promise, and on the faith of it had been intrusted with powers which made him independent of the Bengal presidency.
Madras.
Up
to
a very recent period
determination to return
his letters to
Madras had contained assurances of
but their tone had recently
;
altered,
and
it
his
now
appeared that though the promise had never been recalled, a change of circum-
had occurred of such importance as
stances
What
iiie
nabob
pretends *"
iiismiss
the
this
change was must
now
The uabob, constantly urged
,^
to justify
him
it.
be explained.
to sm'render or dismiss the
French assembled
.
at Cossimbazar, pretended to adopt the latter alternative,
Had
remove westward into Behar.
would have sent them to join
Clive, so far
mode
in disregarding
of
from being
and even threatened
it,
sending a detachment in pursuit.
insufficient
to
he really intended to part with them he
their countrj-men in the
satisfied
and ordered them
Deccan;
and hence
with the dismissal, remonstrated against the
own
hands,
by
While thus condemned, on the one hand,
for
to take the
remedy
into his
compliance with the wishes of the British, the nabob was solemnly
warned by the French, on the
by dismissing them he was depriving
other, that
himself of the only soldiers on whose fidelity and prowess he could safely calculate.
M. Law, who was at their head, even pointed out distinctly the source
from which danger would
disaffected,
Many
and they were only waiting
his destruction.
of its truth,
arise.
of the nabob's principal officers were
to
combine with the English
to effect
This information was correct; but the nabob, though convinced
was too
irresolute to act
upon
it,
and, in dismissing M. Law, simply
X]
Ohap.
conspiracy AGAINST THE NABOB.
observed, that "if anything
"Be
assured,"
my
remember
was the
words
A conspiracy had
new
—we
is
indeed been formed
;
we
the last time
never meet again
shall
Company were not merely
the
should happen, he would send for him again."
"that this
reply,
569
and
;
it is
shall see each other;
nearly impossible."
it is
and
painful to add that Clive
had engaged
implicated, but
a.d. usr.
to take a leading
Con8i»'-a«y
against
iiabo
part in the execution of
despicable tyrant,
must
Ufe,
Admitting the
it.
and the con-sequent probability that
by
ere long have been terminated
had courted his
fact that Surajah
his
government,
what
violence,
Dowhih was a
right
if
not his
had those who
by it, to league with his subjects for the purpose of dethroning him? Even had the treaty never been concluded, or had open hostilities been again formally declared, it would have been
impossible to reconcile such a proceeding with any of the recognized rules of
alliance,
What
honourable warfare.
selves of the influence
it,
and
profited
then must be thought of
which they derived from
nabob into a
lulling the
obtained
fatal security,
who,
allies,
this character,
availing:;
them-
employed
it in
while measiu-es were being concocted for
effecting his ruin?
According to the accoimt of Clive himself the nabob "per-
formed almost every
article of the treaty, paid
delivered up Cossimbazar
tlierein taken.
wanting."
the other factories, with the
all
gentlemen write from thence that
Tlie
later
deliver
up the French
;
it
true
is
No
in his pay,
and has certainly
One day he
to his assistance.
army
orders his
march
to
;
in short, he
pany with none but
by the great men.
diff'erent
he has ordered them out of his
;
wi'itten to Deleyrit
tears
my
his
is
letters,
Twice
This induces
me
is
to acquaint
but he has retained
and Bussy
to send
vakeel,
men
and
sends for the vakeel, and
it,
a- week
he threatens to impale
a compound of everything that
menial servants, and
;
and turns out our
he next countermands
begs his pardon for what he has done.
Mr. Watts
is
consideration could induce
dominions, and they are at some distance from the capital
them
or nothing
yet from the tyranny, cowardice, and suspicion of
;
the nabob, no dependence can be had upon him.
to
little
he says, in a letter to Mr. Pigott, "The most of the articles
of peace are complied with
him
money and goods
he soon found reason to write in a very
Tt is true that
A month
spirit.
and
Mr. Watts the three lacs of rupees,
is
bad
univer.sally hated
you there
is
keeps com-
;
and despised
a conspiracy going
The very mention of such a thing might have awakened
sense of honour, and reminded him that it must necessarily be a nefarious
on against him."
Clive's
transaction, with
which
kind, however, occurs to
assistance,
mittee
For
it
would be pollution to intermeddle.
him
;
and he simply adds,
" I
No
have been applied to
and every advantage promised the Company can wish.
are of opinion
my own
part, I
am
it
idea of this
should be given as soon as the nabob
for
The comis
secured.
persuaded there can be neither peace nor security while
such a monster reigns."
From
the concluding part of this extract
pany were not yet prepared
Vol.
I.
for the
kind
it
may
be inferred that the Com-
of co-operation which Clive
72
was
<
ti.e
—
.
HISTORY OF
•'>70
A.
1).
1757,
evidently contemplating.
nabob
is
comediica
*^^
tli"
had no objections to countenance
Such appears
to
and take advantag*i
it,
have been their
first
view
but any scruples they had were afterwards overcome, and in their letter to the
parties to
thecou-
liooK ill.
Tiiey were for giving assistance only "as soon a«
^^ ^^'® event of its success.
^^
|
la other words, they were not disposed to act as principals
secured."
in the conspiracy, ]>ut
Irii^bT
INI HA.
.
committee at home they advocate direct co-operation, arguing that from
secret
si'iracj.
Dowlah was
the confederacy, must
detestation in which Surajah
^j^g
rather choose to call
it,
held, the conspiracy, or, as the\
succeed; but that
if
they with-
held their aid they could expect no advantages from such success; whereas,
they took a prominent part, they might look for remuneration for past
and
full
security against
any future misfortune,
weakness had before exposed them.
Olive's wish,
The
picions
tirst
similar to that to which the!:-
to prepare for
with
it
all
his charac-
thing deemed necessary was to dissipate any sas-
which the nabob had
felt,
the British as sincere and faithful
was greatly aided by a
losse.-.
The "prominent part" had always been
and he immediately began
teristic energy.
letter
and convince him that he might
In playing
allies.
which he received about
calculate on
game,
this deceitful
this
Clivv^
time from the Peishwa
Bajee Rao, who, after expressing indignation at the treatment the English
received from Surajah Dowlah,
posed to invade Bengal.
if
On
and
offering
to
haii
avenge their wrongs, pro-
condition of Chve's co-operation with his
troop.*-
he would repay double the amount of the losses that had been sustained, ana
vest the
I'roposai
Irom the
Mahrattas.
commerce of the Ganges exclusively
in the
East India Company
knew
the character of the Mahrattas too well to invite them into Bengal,
^
and the Only use which he made of the Peishwa's letter was to send it to tlitClive
nabob.
If
it
was
spurious, as
some
suspected,
and had been written
at the
suggestion of the nabob himself, as a means of sounding the Company, and
ascertaining
far
they were actuated by ambitious
would be equivalent to taking him in
letter
how
how
his
the return of the
snare
if it
own
^'iews,
;
was genuine,
could there be a greater proof of good faith than in preferring his alliance
to the tempting offers of the
"The
Mahratta?
letter,"
says Sir
and the nabob expressed himself much
gratified
John Malcolm,
by the conduc'
of Clive, who, on this occasion and others, endeavom'ed to remove the suspicions
One of
that Surajah Dowlah entertained of the designs of the confederates."
the other methods which Clive took of removing the nabob's suspicious, or.
as his biographer calls it, 'of luUing him into security," was as foUows:
"
was genuine
;
Having sent back the Company's troops
his
own independent
to Calcutta,
and ordered those undev
control into garrison, he observed in a letter to the nabob,
"that while the armies continued in the
field their
enemies would be endeavour-
harmony and friendship which subsisted between
he had therefore put his army into quarters and though he had
ing to interrupt that perfect
them
;
tliat
no reason to doubt his excellency's
with
all
;
strict
adherence
to,
and
full
compliance
the articles of the treaty, yet, nevertheless, he wished he could dis-
I
CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE NABOB.
C;:ap. X.j
o71
by withdrawing
appoint those hopes their mutual enemies entertained,
his
army
ad.
itst.
trom Plassey."
While Clive was thus endeavouring to impose upon the credulity of the
harmony and friendship wldch subsisted
between them," he was apparently by the same messenger who carried the
letter to the nabob sending letters to Mr. Watts with such passages as the fol"The nabob is a villain, and cannot be trusted; he must be overset,
lowing:
" As for any gratuity the new nabob may bestow on the
or we must fall."
nabob, and telling him of " that perfect
I'rogros* o»
racy iigainft
uowiaii.
—
it is left
troop.s,
to his generosity
and to your and Omichund's management."
"1 have wrote the nabob a soothing
accompanies another of the
Mohuu Loll (the nabob's chief favourite)
"To take away all suspicion 1 have ordered aU the
same kind, and one
your
letter; this
desire."
to
engage to be at Nusary in twelve hours after
will
which place
to fear
nothing
;
that I will join
backs; and that
if
him out
country.
of the
assistance,
he
a
him,
fails seizing
Assure him
and stand by him as Jong as
number
ministers
some
I
we
I
service,
Dowlah
Meer
Jaffier
march night and day
will
have a
man
and
at all events;
the
pay of the
engaged to defend, even against the nabob himself
to his
The
This
was
object
most
to
influential
however, there was
first,
who was to be the new
Khan, who commanded 2000
in
di'ive
we have now brought
determining
was Yar Luttief
but was at the same time
their
left."
in this his
At
and
ready,
be strong enough to
shall
and subjects were ready to concur.
difficulty in
aspirant
" Tell
of important preliminaries had been arranged.
get quit of Surajah
am
him with 5000 men who never turned
Before the conspiracy reached the point to which
it,
artillery
receive your letter,
I
to be the rendezvous of the whole army."
is
j]
" I
tumbrils to be embarked in boats and sent to Calcutta," but
and
agreeable to
The
nabob.
earlie-st tho ciaiM-
horse in the nabob's
Seats,
officer
whom
he was
ii.e
nabob-
^"^'
having requested
by him to Omichund, to whom
he stated that the overthrow of the nabob would be easy, in consequence of
a secret conference with Mr. Watts,
was
the general detestation in which he
referred
was held
;
and that
if
the English,
whom
he had sworn to extirpate, would take advantage of his absence on an intended
expedition to Patna against the Afghans, to seize upon Moor.shedabad, they
by proclaiming him as tlie new nabob, obtain any advantages for which
they might stipulate.
The scheme was approved by Mr. Watts, and forthwith
sanctioned by Clive.
Yar Luttief Khan was probably put forward by the
might,
Seats merely for the jnu-pose of sounding the views of the English commander,
for the
came
to Mr.
that the
Watts with similar proposals from Meer
Dewan
Roydullub, the Seats, and several
army had engaged
nabob
^
\.
very next day after the conference, an Aimenian of the name of Petrus
Jaffier,
who
he w^s in danger of assassination every time he went to
the
||j
—requested that
to join,
if
if
officers
—
declaring that
tlie
of the
dm-bar, and
fii-st
rank in
the English would assist in dethroning the
the scheme were accepted
tlie
terms should be
.settled
Ij
HISTORY OK INDIA.
o7:
A.u
1767.
III,
without delay, and that Colonel Clive would immediately Vjreak up hi« {;amp,
and soothe the nabob with every apfjearance of
.should
Meur
[Hook
commence.
Meer
JalTiur
pacific intentioas until hostilities
a far more important personage than
Jaffier, l)eing
Yar Luttief Khan,
))refcrre<l.
had no
late
He was
difficulty in obtaining the preference.
brother-in-law of the
nabob, Ali Verdy Khan, and held both under him and Surajah Dowlah
the office of paymaster-general, which necessarily gave
him
the army, and has caused
Ali
chief
command
Verdy made a
him great
influence witli
to be sometimes described as its commander-in-
trial of his
military talents,
by appointing him
of a large detachment, intended to expel the united Mahrattas and
Afghans from
His incapacity was, however, soon proved
Orissa.
;
and
enemy to gain decided
Meer Jaffier .showed his
indolence and pusillanimity had enabled the
Ali
Verdy was obliged
and endeavoured
laction,
Uj the
to supersede him.
by leaguing
to gratify his revenge
after his
advantages.
resentment,
secretly with a treasonable
and though, more from fear of the danger than a sense of returning
duty, he abandoned the league, he had gone too far to be forgiven, and
deprived of
B:s.intece
all his
He
employments.
period, as he figures
among
accession, dismissed
from
seems to have been reinstated at a
wa."-
the principal persons
whom
late-
Surajah Dowlah, on his
dt'Utis.
Meer
in order to
make way
Jaffier expressed his resentment, as before,
to assert his claim to the
shake himself free of
The
musnud.
all
it
;
who
favourites.
liimself at the
head
attempt had induced him
and he had insinuated himself
and
is
the only officer of dis-
stands chargeable with a direct participation in the atrocities of
the Black Hole.
The English woman, wdio sm'vived the horrors of that
was carried
triumph to Meer
off in
Such was the
His agree-
ment witli
tlie Com-
own
he was present in his capacity of buckshee
for
or paymaster-general at the capture of Calcutta,
tinction
by placing
failure of that
connection with
good graces of the nabob,
into the
for his
and encom'aging Shokut Jung, governor of Pumeah,
of a treasonable intrigue,
to
office,
man
Jaffier's
night,
harem.
who, again plotting for the overthrow of his master, was
His character must have been too well known to
selected to usurp his place.
pany.
invite confidence in his professions,
and care was therefore taken
to insert all
the obligations exacted from him, in formal written docimients, to which, not
with much propriety, the names of a public and a private treaty have been given.
The public
in
Meer
treaty, wi'itten in Persian,
Jaffier's o\yii
by the terms
commenced with the following
sentence,
hand: — "I swear by God, and the Prophet of God,
of this treaty whilst I have
life."
It is entitled,
"
to abide
Treaty made
with the Admiral and Colonel Clive" (Sabut Jung Behauder), and consists of
twelve
articles,
and a
thirteenth, called
an additional
article.
The
first article
simply agrees to comply with " whatever articles were agreed upon in the time
of peace" with the
Nabob Surajah Dowlah.
mies of the English are
Ai-ticle III. confiscates to
my
The second
article
is,
"The
ene-
enemies, whether they be Indians or Europeans."
the English
all
the effects and factories of the French
;
I
k
AGREEMENT WITH MEER
OnAP. X.]
ill
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and engages never
to settle in the three provinces."
tion as follows:
of rupees
Calcutta,
(£70,000).
ratta.
twenty
(£200,000)
lacs
them any more
Armenian
Company
Article VIII. gives to the
forces,
one
fifty lacs Agreemint
MeeiJumei
inhabitants, seven lacs compl^y.
the land within the
all
a.d. it&7.
and VII. give compensa-
Mussulmans, and other subjects of
to the
;
to "allow
English inhabitants in Calcutta,
Gentoos,
the
to
(£500,000);
573
and the maintenance of
for losses,
to the
;
more
Ai'ticles IV., V., VI.,
—To the Company
crore of rupees (£1,000,000)
JAFFIER.
Mah-
Ditch belonging to zemindars, and also 600 yards without the ditch.
Article IX. convei-ts all the land to the south of Calcutta, as far as Culpee, into
a zemindary, and gives
it
to the
manner
of revenue, in the same
Company,
however, to the payment
subject,
Article X. engages to
as other zemindars.
for the
maintenance of any English troops whose assistance
Article
XL, not
and
any new
to erect
Ai'ticle XII., to
fortifications,
may
pay
be demanded
below Hooghly, near the Ganges;
pay the aforesaid stipulated sums on being established
in
the government of the three provinces.
The
thirteenth, or additional article,
is
the counter-obligation, in which, "on
Tiie
com-
pany's
condition that
oath,
Meer
and execute
all
Jafiier
we wiU
Beliauder shall solemnly ratify, confirm
assist
Company,
Meer
declare on the holy Gospels,
Khan
Jaffier
we
will assist
as he caUs
upon us
him
to the
for that
utmost against
end
;
all his
article, as
by Admiral Watson, Mr. Drake, governor
to
them that
it
in
any other
in engaging to
fui-ther,
enemies whatevef, as soon
well as the treaty,
employ
was signed
of Calcutta, Colonel Clive, Mr. Watts,
Major Kilpatrick, and Mr. Becher, one of the membei"s of
been no objection to
and
;
respect, it is strange
council.
how
it
Had
to
wage open war against him.
the treaty, on the face of
it,
there
never occurred
all their force to obtain the soubahship for
a creature of their own, they were usm-ping the sovereign rights of the
emperor, and pledging them.selves,
to
provided that he, on his coming to be nabob,
This
shall fulfil the aforesaid articles."
and before
Beliauder, with all our force,
obtain the soubahship of the province of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa
that
by
the above articles, we, the underwi-itteu, do, on behalf of
the Honourable East India
God, that
Khan
if
Mogul
he resisted or resented their interference,
This ovei"sight
is
the more remarkable, becaase
Meer
recognizes the emperor's su])remacy.
Jaffier
King Alumgeer," and the date of the deed is
"the foui-th year of the reign." What right then had Meer Jaffier to rule over
provinces to which, even if he had been the next heir, instead of being a
designates him.self "servant of
stranger in blood, his title
would not have been valid
until confirmed at Delhi
?
and what right could the representatives of a body of English merchants have,
not only to sanction his usui-pation, but solemnly pledge themselves " to
him
to the utmost against all his enemies whatever?"
that will bear a moment's examination
;
but
it is
No
needless,
answer can be given
when
extravagant nature was done, to dwell on a matter which, in the
condition of the
assi.st
Mogul empire, may possibly have been regarded
as
so
much
of an
now degraded
mere
pmictilio.
comiter*^''*^'"®"
574
A.D
UISTOllV OF INDIA.
The private
1767.
treaty,
probably regarded
V)y
though
[Pm>ok III.
appears to have been an after-thought, was
it
some of the
parties as the
more important of the two.
"
In a passage, quoted above, Clive mentions, in a letter to Mr. Watts, that
>nvate
^ny gratuity the new nabob may bestow on the troops, it
generosity."
A more mercenary spirit was aftei'wards developed
^q
MeerJaffier,
to the
army and navy only had been
first
proposed
;
but,
when
is left
A
to
as
hi.s
gratuity
was
the matter
discussed in the select committee, Mr. Becher, one of the members, suggested
was reasonable and f»roper that
they should be considered." The hint was sufficient and it was resolved, as
Clive describes it in a letter to Mr. Watts, that, instead of tru.sting to Meer
that,
"as they had set the machine in motion,
it
;
Jaffier's generosity, his
make them
(the committee, in
lacs of rupees,
what
is
which you are included;, a present of twelve
and a present of forty
lacs to the
stipulated in the agi-eement.
the private treaty, and
to be
"private engagement should be obtained in writing to
misnamed
by means
presents,
of
it
army and navy, over and above
This engagement formed the sulyect of
'
enormous sums, while they
were regularly constituted
as the narrative proceeds, that there
was a
still
continued
It will be seen,
as debts.
third treaty of a very .singular
description.
(.live sets
out to per-
form his
part
ill
The ti'eaties, signed by Meer Jaffier, arrived in Calcutta on the 10th of Jime,
and two days after, the troops stationed there, together with 150 .sailors from
the
conspiracy.
the squadron, were proceeding
uji
the river, in a fleet of 200 boats, to join the
The danger of delay was
main body under Clive at Chandernagore.
A
plot to
soldiers,
many were
which so
The
openly; and Omi-
privy could not be effectually concealed.
both at Calcutta and Chandernagore, began to talk of
it
who from
chund,
*
manifest.
iKSsasSt^
.r
the
had a leading
first
share in
its
managre-
ment, had threatened
to divulge
it
the
to
nabob, unless his
lence
at
was purchased
an enormous
The nabob's own
picions
and
was
Ghavt at M00BSHEDAB.U). —From
a drawing by Captain Smith, 44th Regiment.
si-
cost.
sus-
were aroused,
his first impulse
to
palace,
attack
the
and thus ob-
tain possession of the
person of Meer
fate
Jaftier.
Had
he acted on
impending over him; but he hesitated,
and was
it
he might possibly have escaped the
after putting
Meer Jaffier on his guard,
overwhelmed with astonishment and ten-or, when the sudden flight of
Mr. Watts from Moorshedabad revealed the fulJ macmitude of the danger, that he
so
;
1
OLIVE'S
Crap. X.j
descended from menace to entreaty, and
To
Meer
this
swore upon
made
during a
Jaffier assented, and,
'"Co
overtures for an accommodation,
visit
but Meer Jaffier had no
when anything
assistance to the
scioiples,
could be gained
and was ready
by
to
commit any amount of perjury
The nabob
it.
so secure after this recon-
felt
with his paymaster-general, that on the loth he sent a letter to Clive,
whom
inveighing bitterly against the treachery manifested by Mr. Watts,
scious guilt alone
had forced to
at Plassey;
As soon
ordered the whole of his
ment
him
but God and the Prophet would puuisli
violated."
at Plassey,
and
con-
"Suspicion," he said, "that some trick wa.s
flee.
intended, liad been the real cause which induced
was
1757.
which the nabob paid to him,
Koran that he would neither join nor give
tlie
ad
This was of course in direct contradiction to the oath of the treaty
English.
ciliation
MARCH
army
to keep his
tho.se
by
whom
so long
the treaty
as he had thus committed him.self to hostilities, he
army
also
to assemble forthwith at their former
encamp-
wrote M. Law, who had proceeded with his soldiers
no farther than Rajamahal, to join him with the utmost expedition.
The nabob's message of defiance must have passed another which
on
Clive,
ciive',.stiie.
nient of
commencing
his march,
grievances, real
had addressed
and imaginary,
to
him.
After enumerating
the
all
grieT.ame*.
which the English had been subjected by the
to
nabob's caprice, violence, and perfidy, he announced that he had determined,
with the approbation of
all
who
are charged with the
Company's
1
affairs,
proceed immediately to Cossimbazar, and submit their disputes to the arbitration of
Jaffier,
RoyduUub, Juggut
Seat,
further claims; but that
then
demand
if it
his great
appeared his excellenc}- had broken
satisfaction for all the losses sustained
charges of their
army and navy.
being so near, and
it
requiring
He
men;
that
only 100 sailors to garrison
left
many days
whom
800 were Europeans.
and a howitzer.
and
it,
The
by the
it,
English,
he should
and
all
thf
added, in conclusion, "that the rains
necessary to wait upon him immediately."
of
and others of
should appear he (Clive) deviated from the treaty, he then swore to give up
if it
all
Meer
-to
receive
an answer, he found
Clive, in quitting
set out at the
it
Chandemagore,
head of about 3000 men,
artillery consisted of eight six-pounder?
Bold as he was, he would not have ventured to commence
uismaroh
fn>ni
operations with this force had he not trusted to the promise of
Jaffier
Chan-
.iema.;..re
With great anxiety, therefore, he continued his march day by
while Meer Jaffier, not only did not make his appearance, but returned
to join
day,
Meer
him.
no answer to repeated messages which were sent to him.
was not until the
17th, when the army had advanced far on its way, and, by means of a detachment sent forward under Captain Coote, had captured the towTi and fort of
It
Cutwali, situated at the confluence of the Hadjee with the Bhagaruttee, that
the
for,
first letter
from Meer
Jaffier arrived.
Its content^
were very unsatisfactory,
instead of announcing his approach to form the promised junction,
in rather
ambiguous terms of the
reconciliation with the nabob,
by which he had bound himself not to take part against him.
it
s[)oke
and the oath
Meer
Jaffier
t
HISTORY OF INDIA.
576
AD.
1767.
S lupifiiouR
(
[Book
by
of course declared that the whole was, on his part, a trick,
nabob more
arrived, in
which he gave only the vague intelligence that
easily
t<^
wliich he lioped
but when, on the 19th, another
to lure the
his ruin;
ill.
lett<ir
tent would be
hi.s
oiiduct of
.MeurJiiflitr.
and excased himself
either on the left or the right of the army,
more
explicit,
messages,
meant
because guards were stationed on
suspicions
Olive's
to deceive him, or
was
further advance
the roads
all
had miscalculated
On
his strength.
not being
intercept
t^)
Meer
were thoroughly roased.
for
Jaffier
all
either
either supposition
perilous in the extreme.
which matters now appeared to Olive is evidenced by a letter
written to the secret committee, on the same day on which that of Meer Jaffier
was received: " The party I sent has taken Outwah town and fort. Both are
The
light in
—
Notwithstanding which,
strong.
from Meer
ligence I receive
or
want of
effort,
anxiety at the
I feel the greatest
and
Jaffier;
if
he
is
not treacherou.s, his so/ag froid,
strength, will, I fear, overset the expedition.
by means
upon him
of a Brahmin, to prevail
little intel-
am
I
trying a last
to m.arch out
and join us
have appointed Plassey
1
the place of rendezvous,
and
have told him at the .same
time, unless he gives this or
some other
proof
sufficient
of the sincerity of his intenI will
tions,
not cross the
river; this, I hope, will
meet
with yo\ir approbation.
shall act
1
with such caution
as not to risk the loss of our
Uhait at Cutwah, uu me Ganges.— From LieuteaautColonel
forces
Forrest's
Tour ou thu GangtB.
them,
it
in our
They say
power
there
is
a considerable quantity of grain in and about this place.
we may maintain
the rains, which will greatly distress the nabob
may
Clive holds
a council
war.
'if
;
and
how you
think
I
should
act, if
I desire
Meer
you
Jaffier
If
we
our situation diu-ing
either reduce
him
to terms
be depended upon, or give us time to bring in the Beer
Rajah, Mahrattas, or Ghazi-u-din.
freely,
we may always have
to bring about a revolution, should the present not succeed.
can collect eight or ten thousand maimds,
which
and whUst we have
;
will give
Bhoom
your sentiments
can give us no assistance."
The dubiety and indecision thus expressed, were not produced by a momentary fit of despondency, for on the 21st of June, two days after despjatching
the above letter, Olive, unable to satisfy himself as to the course which it was
expedient to pursue, or decide
war, and submitted to
situation,
it
it
on his own
the following
responsibilit}-,
without assistance, and on om* own bottom,
attack the nabob
;
or,
held a coimcil of
— "Whether,
question:
whether we should wait
tUl
in our present
woidd be prudent to
joined by some coimtry
it
CLIVE HOLDS A COUNCIL OF
Chap. X.]
power?"
Tlie council consisted of sixteen
members, of
whom
The former was thus
and seven the negative.
iitfirmative,
U
\VA1{.
i
nine voted the
carried,
A.D. 1757.
Clive not
only vothig with the majority, but lending
liis
influence to secure
ordinary
opinion
by
violating the
and giving
routine,
own
his
instead of beginning with the
first,
youngest
it
Eyre Coote, who had
officer.
already given proofs of the military genius
which
made him famous
afterwards
in
Indian warfare, stood at the head of the
To
minority.
Dowlah was now
Surajah
appearance,
all
safe,
at least from the
conspiracy which was to have discardeil him,
in
order to
make way for Meer
and
Jaffier,
Bengal was not to be revolutionized
one of
its
own
till
petty rajahs could usm-p the
government or one of the most worthless
Sir
Eyre Coote. — From
a print after H. Morlaiid.
;
viziers
who had
in the plot
;
ever held
or the
office at
Company,
the covu't of Lelhi could be bribed to mingle
in despair of accomplishing their object
by other
means, should resort to the miserable alternative of leao-uing with the Mahrattas.
But though the majority of the council of war had voted as Clive had in a
Olive
litfter-
miiies to
by anticipating instead of waiting to receive tiieir opinion, he
was not himself satisfied. The arguments of Coote had not been lost upon
him, and within an hour after the council broke uj), the army received orders
manner
dictated,
to be in readiness to start
said,
by Orme,
next morning.
to have been }>roduced after
meditation in an adjoining grove.
moment
;
for,
This change of opinion in Clive
It
is
an interval of deep and solitary
must, indeed, have been an anxious
even after the absurdity of stopping where he was had become
apparent, he could not act in opposition to his
viction
praceeil.
own
and the decision of the council of war, without
previousl}' declared con-
feeling
how immensely
he had added to his responsibility.
The hazards which the army was now about to run were of the most
formidable description.
It was occupjdng the town of Cutwah, and could not
reach the nabob's army without passing into a large flat which, from being
nearly inclosed by two arms of the Ganges, was known by the name of the
island of Cossimbazai".
the passage of which,
Between
loss.
indefinitely increased
and the army ran a
had the enemy known how
have been successfully disputed,
without serious
it
or,
to use his advantages,
river,
might
This obstacle overcome, the peril of the position wa.s
Retreat was impossible.
18,000 cavalry, in a position where,
I.
and rapid
at all events, could not have been effected
3000 was about to encounter an army of not
Vol.
deej)
if
a reverse
A
body of troops not exceeding
less
was
than 50.000 infantry and
sustained, not a
man would
73
Fonniiliible
ilirtiiultie.s.
;
'
578
AD.
17.17.
HISTOllV OF iNJjlA.
escape to
the
tell
The
tale.
after a letter arrived
and suggesting the
river
from Mcer
was crossed witliout
Jafiier,
iii;u-ehe8
to
and shortly
him by
but, in other respects,
sur|)rise;
immediately sent back the messenger
-i
who
with the answer "that he .should march to Pla-ssey witliout delay,
i
and would the next morning advance six miles turther to the village of Daudbrought
I'lLssey.
oppo.sition,
III
giving notice of the nabob's movements,
possibility of taking
so far from satisfactory, that Clive
ciive
[Eook
it,
iiii
pore
;
but
nabob."
Meer
if
••i/'i
him there he would make peace with the
Meer Jaffier s information, the nabob had airived at
Jaffier did not join
According to
Muncarra, a village six miles south of Co.ssimbazar, intending there to entrench
himself and wait the event.
This information proved false; for
when
Clive
arrived at Plassey, at one in the morning, after a fatiguing march of fifteen
miles, the continual
sound of drums,
l)any the night watches of
clarions,
and cymbals, which alwa3-s accom-
an Indian camp, told him that the nabob's army was
The intention to encamp at Mimcarra had been formed in
the belief that Clive would advance immediately after the capture of Cutwah
but from circum.stances already explained, his movements not having been .so
rapid as was expected, the nabob quickened liis own pace and arrived at Plassey
not a mile distant.
Naturally of a cowardly disposition, and surrounded by treachery,
before him.
of which the evidences could not have escaped his notice, the nabob became
more and more desponding
arrival, his
attendants had gone out, one
the time of
he was not aware that they had
man who had
In the immediate
hostile
Plassey.
in regular rows,
was
inclosed
left
him
one, to say their usual prayers, at
alone,
he exclaimed
—
till
own gloomy
"
reflections,
looking up he perceived a
Starting up, and
Surely they see
mango
me
dead.
trees,
and extending about 800 yards, with a breadth of
by a
its
west side along the bank of the
and
short distance north of the grove
RoyduUub, while encamped
planted
300.
It
and a ditch nearly choked up with weeds and
slight bank,
distant at the southern extremity 200 yards,
At a
in his
Plassey was a grove of
\'icinity of
brambles, and slanted with
fifty.
the evening of his
secretly entered the tent, probably to steal.
calling loudly for his attendants,
The
by
Being at the time absorbed
.sunset.
On
as the danger approached.
here,
had tlirown
river,
which was
at the north not
more than
was an entrenchment, which
up.
It stretched for about 200
yards from the bank of the river, in a line nearly parallel to the north side of
the grove, and then diverging to the north-east,
for
was continued
in that direction
The nabob's army was encamped within
about three miles.
this entrench-
ment, and began at daybreak, on the 23d of June, to issue from various openings
and advance towards the grove.
His
artillery consisted of forty to fifty
pieces of caimon, mostly of the largest calibre.
Several of them were mounted
on a redoubt constructed in the entrenchment, in the angle formed by the
change in
its
direction
;
four of
them on the bank of a
large tank about 900
yards south of the redoubt, under forty Frenchmen, headed by one Sinfray
two on a
line
with the tank, and
close to the river.
The
;
and
rest of the artillery,
•
THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY.
CiiAP. X.]
reserved to
accompany the army
in its
579
movements, was placed on machines,
a.d. 1757.
each forming a kind of stage, about six feet high, and large enough to contain
a cannon, with
its
ammunition, and the gunners required to manage
machine was dragged along by forty to
size,
til'ty
yoke of white oxen of the
and attended, moreover, by an elephant trained
by shoving with
to assist at difficult tugs
Meer Mudden, the son of Mohun
river,
with 5000 horse and 7000
largest
Behind the posts occupied by Sinfray, and the
his forehead.
two cannon near the
Every
it.
The
foot.
rest of the
L(^ll,
was stationed
army, consisting of separate
compact masses, foraied an immense curve which commenced at a hillock of
situated without the entrenchment, about 300 yards east of the redoubt,
trees,
'^
•"'''""t
cauuonade.
The
and terminated about half a mile east of the southern angle of the grove.
two, three, and four pieces together, were stationed at the different
artillery,
openings between the columns in the curve.
Clive had fixed his head-quarters
on the
at a hunting-house of the nabob, situated a little north of the grove,
bank of the
having ascended to the
river, and,
surveyed the vast host in
roof,
hemming him in on every side, except that towards the river.
At first, to show the enemy how unable they were to intimidate him, he abandoned the shelter of the grove, and drew up his little army in front of it in a
The battalion occupied the centre, while the sepoys in
line facing the tank.
s|)lendid array
two equal divisions formed the wings.
the right,
and three on the
left
Three of the field-pieces were placed on
of the battahon
;
the other two field-pieces and
the howitzers were advanced about 200 yards in front of the left wing.
eight o'clock the
ke})t
up
for
some
first
shot
time.
was
It
fired
now, advancing nearer,
for the
by the enemy, and a distant cannonade was
produced no
fired
result,
with great vivacity, though to very
troops remained quietly seated
among
in line of battle he
He knew
his
purpose,
little
the trees, while the artillery,
Though Clive had drawn
sheltered behind the bank, continued the cannonade.
up
men
enemy, who
and Clive again placed
This apparent retreat elated the
under the shelter of the grove.
At
had no intention of bringing on a general engagement.
the advantages which night
with his original design,
it
would give him and hence,
was resolved
;
in accordance
at eleven o'clock, after consulting his
cannonade during the day, and attack the camp at mid-
officers,
to continue the
nlght.
After this resolution his pei"sonal presence was less necessary, and he
caimoiwde
to be cou-
retired into his quarters to snatch
is
said to have been fast asleep,
an interval of
when Major
rest.
He had
lain
down, and
Kilpatrick sent to inform
him that
he had a good opportunity of seizing the tank which Sinfray occupied, and was
about to advance for that purpose with two companies of the battalion and two
field-pieces.
Clive started up, and running to the detachment stopped
same time reprimanding the major
for acting
without orders.
He
it,
at the
soon perceived,
however, that the j)roposed attack ought to be executed, and placing himself at
the head of the detachment, found little difficulty in driving out Sinfi-n}'
Frenchmen, and obliging them to
retire into the redoubt.
and
his
tinuci
.lur-
580
AD.
A
17.07
which CHve had not ventured to
upon
to be forced
cngagfiaent
brought on.
A
the cannonade.
day
liim before the
exposed on the machines,
still
of
and
it
when
mo.st faithful of his officers,
enemy, and the
ilurint:
n
i
the ammunition
when a heavy
at noon,
it
The
u.seless.
from
fire
tiie
nabobs only misfortune.
this the
was brought
wa« about
were repeatedly
^ heard
powder
Nor was
III.
the enemy's ammunition lay
serious misfoiiune befell
machines immediately .slackened.
For, about the very time
As
closed.
i)artial
exijlosions
'
'
more
tlie
anticijjate before nndnight.
of rain rendered a great part of the
fall
[Book
JMjJ.A.
great change had taken place in the condition of
victory,
AKBiiciai
OF
lll.STUKY
failed,
Meer Mudden, the best
into his tent moi-tally
wounded
Vjy
a cannon-ball, and died in his presence, after uttering a few words expressive of
his
own
loyalty
and the want of
The nabob had
in others.
it
beyond the reach of danger, alternately yielding to
in his tent,
buoyed up with assurances of
He now
victory.
imder the influence of terror and despair sent
arrived, the nabob,
of Ali
throwing
his
for
lost all
remained
hitherto;
self-command, and
As soon as he
implored him in the name
Meer
tm*ban on the gi-ound,
Jaffier.
Verdy Khan, the brother-in-law of the one and grandfather of the
other,
and honour. Meer
Jaffier
to forgive the past,
readily promised
and become the defender of
all
that
plete his treachery, first
had oassed, and
uro-ing
was asked of
liim,
his life
and immediately proceeded
by sending a message to
him either to an instant
camp; and secondly, by urging the nabob
Clive, informing
was not
delivered, as the messenger
cannonade
was
to
him of what
army within the entrenchday.
The mes.sage to Clive
to recall his
afraid to proceed with it during the
but the treacherous advice, backed by the influence of Roydullub,
;
another of the leading conspirators, was, after some demur, adopted, and the
was
com-
or a nocturnal attack on the
ments, and renew the engagement on the following
order
and
his fears
Mohun
issued to retire within the camp.
Loll,
who was
fatal
probably
aware of the motives which dictated the advice, and foresaw the inevitable consequences, at
first
refused to obey, and showed that the very attempt to retire
would spread an universal
and
panic,
army
the whole
tlii-ow
into confu-sion.
His remonstrances, however, were unavailing
;
and the preparations
for retiring
were immediately perceived in the almost
total cessation of the
cannonade
on the part of the enemy, the j^oking of the trains of oxen to the unwieldy
at
'While the detachment was driving Sinfray from the tank, the portion
ot
this stage that Clive
Tiie victory
movement
was
machines, and a gradual retrograde
of the whole army.
had been aroused by Kilpatrick
It
message.
s
of Plassey.
the nabob's
behind th§
was
army
rest,
stationed farthest to the south-east
and even advance in the direction of the
at first misunderstood,
was done before
troops acting so suspiciously were those of
off"
Meer
the ma.sk, and openly declared himself
been any longer
doubtful.
O"
gi"ove.
to linger
The movement
and Clive ha\ang sent a detachment to oppose
further progress, some execution
thrown
was observed
Jaffier's
it
their
was ascertained that
Jaffier,
Had
who had now
the
at last
the issue of the battle
conduct would have decided
it.
Clive,
when
I
THE VICTORY OF PLASSEY.
CiiAv. X.]
once certain that he could calculate on the neutrality
a large
part of
tlie
army opposed
carried at once both the redoubt to wliich Sinfray
manding
immediately to the east of
hillock
By
it.
not the co-operation
if
to him, determined
581
on a vigorous
had
made acquainted with Meer
mounted a camel, and
With
horsemen.
tied at its
seeing the baggage of a whole
camp lying
The
advance with acclamation.
miles,
brought them in the evening to Daudpore.
killed
and wounded was only seventy-two
is
effort,
re-
who had gained
it,
continued for about six
pursuit,
;
The
on the
other,
was
won
The victory
oOO.
unexpectedly, almost without
most important that had been
landed on
first
pursuit,
that of the vanquished was also
in its results the
gained in India since Europeans
The
loss of the victors in
computed by Clive himself at not more than
thus feebly contested on the one hand, and
im
and nothing
unplundered, but on being promised a donative, received the
it
to
and
soldiers
2()()()
before them, were naturally reluc-
order
trifling,
The nabob, on
accompanied by about
The
fruits of the victory.
and
effoi-t,
and the British advance,
his departiu^e all idea of resistance ceased,
mained but to reap the
tant to leave
i)ace,
itot.
five o'clock the British force
Jaffier's de.sertion
utmost
ad.
and the com-
retired,
was within the entrenchment, and in possession of the camp.
being
of
shores.
its
It
founded the
British empii'e in the East.
On
the evening of the battle
Meer
Jatfier,
who had remained encamped
in cuveKUutes
him on
his success,
and on the following day met hini by appointment at Daudi)ore.
Conscious
how
free
the neighbourhood, .sent a mes.sage to Clive, congratulating
was not
dilatory and even suspicious his conduct had been, he
misgivings as to the manner in which he would be received, and hence,
(
>n
his
destruction.
Clive, seeing his alann, soon reassured
it
to
the capital
and
idle
him by hastening forward
This dastardly prince was
in his palace,
still
he sent
off"
But
it
flight.
was
On
and had
plain, liow-
the morning
the inmates of his seraglio with fifty loaded ele-
and was only lingering behind
his escape.
It
last.
from his conduct, that he was only meditating
after the battle
Oi'issa.
ceremony, and Meer Jaffier after a short delay proceeded
given out that he intended to defend himself to the
])hants,
when
complete the \nctory by the capture of Surajah Dowlah
to
his trea.sures.
ever,
from
be a signal for his
embrace him, and salute him Nabob of Bengal, Behar, and
was no time for
to
naixii..
approach the guard drew up and rested their arms to pay him the usual
honours, he mistook the com})liment, and suppo.sed
to
;',s
till
the darkness of night should favour
His preparations were not completed when the news of Meer
Jaffier s arrival told
dress of a menial,
him he had not a moment
and canying a casket of
out at a window, accompanied only
by
liis
to lose.
Hastily assmning the
most valuable jewels, he slipped
his favourite concubine
and an eunuch.
At the palace wharf he entered a boat which had been previously prepared, and
was carried up the river at a ra])id rate.
^Feer Jatfier
was not informed
of the nabob's flight
till
midnight, and imme'3
ll
582
AD
1767.
Being
tlias fnxstrated in liin
the person of his kte master, he
made
sur.j
Moor^<^.ea;l
111.
denign of seizing
of the next most important object,
The whole value found
possession of his treasury.
I
[liooK
diately .sent parties in pursuit.
by taking
st;iteoftim
OF IMjIA.
llLSTO);\
in
arnount<'d
it
only to 150 lacs of rupees, or £1,500,000 sterling, thougli Mr. Watts had with
slugular extravagance estimated
city
his
meanwhile remained
at twenty-four crores, or £24', 000,000
it
in confusion
army prevented any attempt
escorted
by 200
of the battalion
but the gi-adual apjiroach of Clive with
;
make
and 300
his entrance
sepoys,
a palace spacious enough to accommodate
Mr. Watts and Mr. WaLsh, with
00
1
.sepoys,
make arrangements
to the
till
the
and established
2fJth.
He was
his quarters in
had been sent forward on the 25th,
state of the treasury,
and endea-
payments of the sums which Meer
Jaffier
was now very apparent he had not then the means
By the public and private treaties he had incurred obligations
had promised, but which
of discharging.
for
arrived within a short
the troops that came with him
all
and had spent the interval in ascertaining the
vouring to
He
at insun-ection.
distance on the 25th, but did not
The
it
amount of £2,750,000, whereas
his treasury, if drained of its last rupee,
would yield only £1,500,000. Nor was
sums, immense presents were expected.
this
all.
Of
In addition to the stipulated
these no less than £100,000 were
destined for Clive, £80,000 for Mr. Watts, £50,000 for Mr. W^alsh, £30,000 for
Major Kilpatrick, and £20,000
sents under the circumstances,
name than
for Mr. Scrafton.
and
The acceptance of such
after the state of the treasury
pre-
was known.
name might be used
for it afterwards appeared that Meer JaflBer in making them was under the
impression that he had purchased an influence which might enable him to escape
deserves no better
Even
extortion.
a worse
from the obligations he had contracted to the Compan}' and to other
cuve
seats
on the mils
nuJ
parties,
CUve, immediately after his entrance, proceeded to the nabob's palace, where
Mcer Jaffier and all the great
The musnud or throne stood
Jaffier, after
the
desirous to avoid
officers of
it.
and placed him upon
retii-ed to
Clive perceiving
it.
hall of audience
in the
first salutation,
the city were waiting to receive him.
this,
This done, he
usual forms, and ha\'ing presented
a different part of the
made
him with a
obeisance to
and
all
as
him
as
if
it,
nabob in the
plate of gold rupees, addressed the
them on the good fortune
which had given them so excellent a prince in exchange
sufficient,
hall,
took him by the hand, led him to
great officers through an interpreter, congratulating
The hint was
unoccupied, for Meer
for a despicable tATant.
the persons present imitated Clive's example, by
The following morning the nabob retm'ned
Clive's visit, and at once opened the subject which he knew to be nearest the
hearts of both of them the obligations he had undertaken, and his present
inability to pay them.
It was agreed to refer the matter to the Seats, to whose
doing homage and presenting gold.
—
house they forthwith proceeded, attended by Watts, Scrafton, Meerun,
nabob's son, and Roydullub.
the
Omichund, who was attending, followed, under
the impression that he stood high in Clive's estimation, in consequence of the
OMICHUND'S CASE.
Chap. X.J
583
A
important part which he had played in the revolution.
invited to the carpet at the conference
place for himself in the
.vd. itot.
mind when, instead of beingwith the Seats, he was left to find a
The cause of this treatment
the hall.
was wrong must have passed through
thing
suspicion that some-
outward part of
his
must now be explained.
While the conspiracy
for the
overthrow of Surajah Dowlah was in progress,
Omichund naturally expected an ample compensation
heavy
suffered
loss
Company, who had imprisoned him on
servants of the
He had
for his services.
from the plunder of Calcutta, and great
from the
injustice
sus])icions,
which
groundless were never substantiated, and yet he had voluntarily taken
reward
is
is
used in
its
When
life.
ordinary moral sense, to designate what
\ip his
the term
due to merit,
is
it
Conspiracy, whatever be the
impossible to say that he deserved anything.
and the conspiracy in which Omichund took
active a part was carried out with a very large amount of treachery and per-
form which
so
been discovered, would have cost him his
it
not
if
and bect)me the most active agent in a conspiracy,
residence at Moorshedabad,
which, had
omicimnds
jury,
and
it
assumes,
for the
is
a crime
;
most part from mercenary motives.
Still
Omichund was no
worse than his fellow-conspirators; and therefore, while the fugitive governor
of Calcutta
and the other members of the
select
committee were putting
claims for tens of thousands, on the ground, as one of
"they had set the machine in motion,"
instrumental in keeping
going
it
setting an extravagant value
mission of five per cent, on
When
till
the
why
should he,
finished,
He
to
is .said
the sums found in Sm'ajah
it,
that
who had been
work was
on his services?
all
them expressed
in
so
be blamed for
have iisked a com-
Dowlahs
treasury.
he made this claim, he gave a significant hint, or rather uttered a
direct menace,
that
if it
were not granted he would compensate himself by
It is doubtful if
divulging the conspiracy.
serious sense in
he ever made the menace in the
which Mr. Watts interpreted
would ever have given
effect to
it,
as he
it,
and most improbable that he
was too acute not
Surajah
Dowlahs overthrow was
effect of
breaking with the conspirators would be his
inevitable,
to perceive that
and that therefore the ultimate
own
ruin.
Be
this as it
may, when Mr. Watts returned the public treaty, as finally revised, and containing an article stipidating a
the select committee
payment of
thirty lacs (£300,000) to
Omichund,
could scarcely find therms strong enough to express their
abhorrence of his rapacity, and their virtuous indignation at his threatened
treachery.
case
It
was dangerous
to
expunge the
Omichund might be tempted
to
article
altogether, as in that
do his worst; and
it
appeal's to
have
been suggested, that as a kind of compromise the sum should be reduced from
thirty to
twenty
Uics.
It
was reserved
expedients, to suggest a plan which
the conspiracy,
and punish him
for the
mind
of Clive, ever fertile in
would at once keep Omichund
faithful to
for his real or fancied treachery.
Besides the public and private treaties above explained, there was, as
luis
tik st.puiat-
;
HLSTOliN
584-
A.D. 1757.
UK INDIA
been already hinted, a third treaty, of a very
fact,
[Book
It was,
.singular description.
this dupliciite
omiuiiun.i.
Omichund,
had
all
the aj)[)earance of an original, and
to satisfv liim that his intere.sts
was written on red
paper, but
all
To
knew was
only to be used for the
effect as the
pui-Y)0se of
name
his
but having gone so far they were not
;
obstacles,
and the admiral's signature was
The deception
Tiie
t(^
|»re-
distinguish
genuine treaty,
to a
document which
it
now
made
Iih
The honour-
peq^etrating a fraud.
able feelings which dictated this refusal mijjht have
pause
such
the signatures were genuine, with a single
Admiral Watson refased to put
exception.
a-s
had not been neglected.
from the other, which alone was to receive
It
Externally
was sliown
paration of this duplicate was the plan which Clive had devised.
it
in
a duplicate of the public treaty, with one very important difierencc
contained an article giving twenty la&s of rupees U> Omiciiund.
Deception
III.
the select committee
by ordinary
to be deteired
forged.
Omichund by the substitution of a false for a
genuine treaty was completely successful. Though him.self full of wiles, he wa->
so firm a believer in English honour, that we have .seen him vouching for it
How, then, could he suspect that
to Surajah Dowlah with a solemn oath.
the representatives of the Company had combined to cheat a Hindoo Vjy pahning
upon him a document which they knew to be tainted both with fraud and forgery? He went accordingly to the Seats in the full belief tliat no individual
had a more direct interest than himself in the an-angemenis about to be made
for the payment of the sums stipulated in the treaty.
While seated aloof he
was probably too distant to catch the purport of the proceedings. After the
treaties
were
practised on
and acknowledged, a long discussion took
read, examined,
place,
the result of which was, that only one-half of the stipulated sums should be
paid immediately
at a valuation;
—two- thirds in
Orme:
'
"
The conclusion cannot be better
who Avas waiting in
fortune; when Clive said,
Scrafton said to
Its effects,
;
plate, jewels,
and
effects,
in three years,
by equal
told than in the
words of
The conference being ended, Clive and Scrafton went towards Omi-
chund,
trick
and a third in
and that the other half should be paid
annual instalments.
—
coin,
you are
him
to
full
assurance of hearing the glad tidings of his good
It is
'
notv time to undeceive Omichund;' on wdiioh
in the Indostan language,
have nothing.'
sulphur; he sank back, fainting,
of his attendants caught
him
which they conveyed him to
'
OmichiCnd, the red paper
who
and would have
in his arms,
his house,
fallen to the gi'ound
and carried him
I'eturned insane, his
after to a
make
houi"s in stupid
Some days
famous one near Maulda.
and, contrary to the usual manners of old age in Indostan,
Oniie's Military Transactions, vol.
ii.
after
a pilgrimage to some pagoda,
mind every day more and more approaching
'
had not one
to his palanquin, in
where he remained many
ad\dsed him to
which he accordingly did soon
a
These words oveq^owered him like a blast of
melancholy, and began to show some s^miptoms of insanity.
he visited Colonel Clive.
is
page 182.
still
He went
and
to idiotism
more
to the
-
OMICHUND'S CASE.
CHAP. X.J
5S5
loimer excellence of his understanding, he delighted in being continuall}- dressed ad.
the richest garments, ornamented with the most costly jewels.
ill
of imbecility, he died
Orme
right
is
when
—admitting
would have betrayed the conspiracy,
will be disjiosed to
"'
to fear
—he
"
a-s
it
to be imcertain
whether Omichund
says, " as his tales
and
lieiieving the representations of his
was
part of his fortune
and he had the utmost venoreance of
of the English,
ai-tifices
Jaftier
and
his confederates
prevented Surajah Dowlali from
most trusty servants, who early suspected,
them
in oblivion
tlie
it
either morally or politically,
(
again a hundred times.
doing
in
man
his
if
threat in
Mr.
it
warrantable in such a case, and would do
it
same evidence, seems
to
Olive, in the course of the
own
justification that
"he had no
that "he thought art and policy warrantable in defeating the
In judging Olive's conduct on this occasion,
villain."'
in the woi'st possible light,
it
—
demands had not been apparently conceded, he would have put his
This was certainly Olive's belief; for immediately after
execution.
" I
have your
last letter, including the articles of
lonfess the tenor of tliem sui^irised
me much.
I
is
the greatest villain upon earth
strongest light,
to be, a villain in grain.
in the
How-
and at the smne time to give him no room
the one real, to be strictly kept
concluded,
ac([uaint
Meer
Omichund
Jaffier w^ith.
'
us.
the other fictitious.
be treated as he deserves.
will
On
by
to
employed to
fru.strate his intentions
lii.s
I.
.short,
this
This you will
Omichund deserved
returns, Do the means
Sir
— were they
warped
to the necessity of that
good
in accord-
John Malcolm undertakes
elaborate argument only shows
zeal for the reputation of his hero liad
moment
still
admit of justification?
ance with honoui-. eqiuty. and sound policy?
prove the affirmative; but
In
the as.sumption, then, that
the worst epithets here aii])lied to him, the question
Vol.
and gentlemen agree that
our intentions, inclosed you vnW receive two forms of agreement
su.spect
the
must
I
and that now he appears
what he was always suspected
ever, to counterplot the scoundrel,
artair
;
agreement.
in
immediately repaired to Oal-
<utta; and, at a committee held, both the ailmirals
Omichund
is
and assume
Watts had acquainted him with the demand and the menace, he wrote
answer:
for
interested motive
witli a design of disappointing the expectations of a
view Omichimd's conduct
fair to
that
;"
of such a
l)ur|)oses
'lut
and did
it,
rapacious
"
in
and would have ajiproved the declaration of
it "
sufficient for his
it
one word in reprobation
examination by the committee of the House of
his
said, in
'(Mumons, that he thought
consider
.say
His language rather implies that he saw nothing wrong
trick itself
-if
when he
left
and contempt."
Orme, while he thus expresses himself, does not
(.'live
Jaffier,
rupees he expected should have been paid to him, and he
2,()00,0()()
to enjoy
power
in the
and at length were convinced, that the English were confederated with
tlie
On
few
reading the account of the fatal effect of dive's
fleny that
In this state
about a year after the shock of his disappointment."
" trick,"
itst.
his
faith
how
to
comjiletely
judgment, and blinded him
which he
him.self inviolably
74
Futile atjustify the
"'"^''"""•
JlLST(JJiV
01-'
fbniied one of
tlie
.58(i
A.D.
i;.'.!.
maiutiiiiied,
and
wliicli
He
guished career.
INDIA.
admits that the concoction of the
tho.se
compelled by duty to have recourse to such an
*"
(lecoptioii of
J
II.
own
distin-
fictitious treaty
"must
l^riglitest features in IiIk
have been repugnant to the feelings even of
^"tT ''**i
[Hook
who deemed
artifice,
thems<.'lv<,'S
and that the
"
affect-
^"o termination of Omichund's life "must make an impression upon every wellconstituted mind;" but still insists that, "while we give a tear to weak and
Omichund.
we mast do
suffering humanity,
])elled
themselves com-
by circumstances, and by the situation in which they were
repress all private feeling,
tlieir
who deemed
justice to those
The
public duty."
and even
to incur oVjloquy, in the perfonuance of
committee are thus represented, by a
select
placed, to
very- extra-
ordinary flight of imagination, as actuated by the highest and purest motives,
and submitting with rare disinterestedness
to a kind of
Was
secure a great public benefit not otherwise attainable.
the transaction
is
bared of
colm has encumbered
Twenty
of money.
satisfied
saine effect
;
it will
lacs of rupees
promised by an
to his fellow-consjjirators.
would of course have had
of £200,000 to the treasmy of the
Company and
commit fraud and forgery?
When
article in the fictitious treats-
and therefore the only question to be answered
tatives of the
really so?
be seen that the only thing at stake was a sum
inserted in the genuine treaty
sum
it
in order to
the extraneous matter with which Sir John Mal-
Omichund, and induced him to remain true
The same sum
to save a
it,
all
martyrdom,
Nabob
tlie
very
Whether, in order
is,
of Bengal, the represen-
of British honour in India were compelled
It
would be an
t^j
insult to the understanding of the
reader to argue such a question, instead of leaving
him
to follow the natuial
own mind by answering it in the negative.
We must now follow Surajah Dowlali in his flight. His women,
impulse of his
siir.ijah
"with the
laden elephants, were captured the very day after their departure, at Bog-
flight'and
fifty
capture.
wangola, a town on the right bank of the Ganges, about twelve miles northeast of Moorshedabf.d.
Pursuers were also upon the track of the nabob, but his
swift boat had enabled lim to out-distance them, and, but for a strange fatality
movements and defeated his plans, he seemed about to escape.
Before setting out to encounter Clive he had sent a pressing in\-itation to M.
Law, who had immediately set out with his body of Frenchmen, and was within
a few hours' march of Rajamahal, when, hearing of the disaster at Plasse}', he
which attended
his
deemed it prudent to stop, and wait for fiu-ther intelligence. Had he proceeded
he would almost to a certainty have joined the nabob and saved him, as there
would have been little difficult}^ in defeating fm*ther pursuit, and reaching
Patna.
This was Surajah Dowlah's original intention, as he Imd reason to
believe that the governor of
Behar residing there remained
general defection, and would give
his flight in this
dii'ection,
him an asylum.
He had
faithful
accordingly shaped
and arrived without interniption
Here the boatmen, worn out with
their excessive exertions,
pass the night in the boat, while the nabob
and
liis
amid the
at Rajamahal.
were pei'mitted
to
two attendants sought
SURAJAH DOWLAH'S CAPTLTRE AND DEATH.
Chap. X.]
that he was here acci-
shelter ashore in a deserted garden.
Orme's account
dentally recognized at break of day,
by a person who had
remember him, from having been deprived of
months
before,
stopped
short
when
on
ad
it.-.
too good reason to
his ears Ity his orders, thirteen
at this place he
the
expedition
to
steps
to
and retraced
Purneah,
is
:,b7
his
•M*-
execute the fatal resolution of expelling
the Eneflish from Ben'ral.
The native
that the person
who had been
account
is,
thus maltreated
fakir,
was
either a dervise or
and that by a singular coincidence
the place
where the nabob sought shelter
was the
cell
He
of this very devotee.
was received with much apparent
but his
pitality;
hos-
host, stimulated at
once
by revenge and the hope of reward, took
the earliest opportunity of communicat-
ing
important discovery to Meer
his
Meer
Cossim,
Jaffier's
who was then
mahal.
brother-in-law,
commander
of Raja-
His capture being thus
effected,
the
Dowlah
Surajah
Gateway
.at
Rajamahal.— From Lieutenant
Uiicon's
First Impressions of India
was hurried
back,
suffering every kind of indignity consistent wnth the preservation of his
life.
At midnight he was brought as a felon before Meer Jaffier, in the pjilace which
so lately was his own, and, throwing himself on the ground, earnestly asked
Meer Jaftier was or affected to be moved, and a consultation
only for life.
ensued, during which the question of
life
formal decision was given
Jaffier
of
what was
to follow,
await his
off to
was
freely discussed.
must have been
perfectly
No
aware
bed leaving the unhappy prisoner
Meerun, a worthless 3'outh of seventeen, who, having
given his opinion for murder, was not slow in bribing a wretch
first
to perpetrate
but Meer
when he went
in the charge of his son
from the
;
or death
it.
fate.
Surajah Dowlah had been removed to a distant chamber to
He was
As soon
not kept long in suspense.
as the murderer
entered he saw his purpose in his looks, and begged a few moments" respite to
perform
liis
Even
ablutions and say his prayers.
speedily despatched
by the blows
of a poignai'd.
was denied, and he was
In the morning his mangled
this
remains, after being exposed through the city on an elephant, were carried
to the
tomb
of Ali
Verdy Khan,
the twentieth year of his
age,
his maternal gi\indfather.
and the
Worthless though he was. his tragical
the question
influence
at
fifteenth
fjite
month
He was
only in
of his government.
excited general commiseration, and
must often have been asked. Why did not the English, whose
the court was paramount, not interfere to prevent it
Clive,
?
Death of
'u"™|!|jl
'
588
AD.
1757.
when
iII.ST(M{V
he urged
new
tlie
naljr^h to ])re.ss
to secure the person of SuniJMh
mast not
dictate,
toucli his
life.
committee of
This precaution, which mere liumanity .seemed
t>>
may have been from
it
said,
visit,
He was
for that
and brought
immediately cut
to
at last taken in
Moorshedabad on the 2d
in.stant
by the nabob's son. and, as it
Next morning the nabob paid me
off
i.«.
n
necessary to palliate the matter on motives of policv
and occasioned some commotions among
many
of the jemidar.>
tho.se in his favour."
M. Law, after losing the opportunity of .saving Surajah Dowlah, and hearing
a party of
Frdiich to
after-
Surajah Dowlah was
was
Surajah Dowlah had wrote letters on the road to
of the army,
Attemi>ts of
it
"
after his flight; iiowevei", he
without the father's knowledge.
and thought
When
oversiglit.
he contents himself with sajnng.
the neighbourhood of Kajamahal,
late at night.
forward to Moorshedahad and endeavour
\u'
some days
till
III.
fB*^>oK
subject, in a long letter wliich he addre.s.sed to tiie secret
director.s,
not discovered
INDIA
Dowlah, niight have made him aware that
he omitted to use;
wards referring to the
Ol-
.
of his capture, immediately marched back with his
body of troops into Behar,
excite a
counterrovolntion.
intending to ofier their services to Kamnarain, the governor, who, as he had
formerly promised to support Surajali Dowlah, would now,
be disinclined to assume independence.
forming alliances with neighbouring
the
new nabob
tiie
very heart of Bengal.
at defiance, but to
By
it
was
suppo.sed, not
accepting of French assistance and
might be possible not only to
chiefs, it
assume the
and cany the war
offensive,
This danger seemed so formidable to Meer
that he immediately called Olive's attention to
it,
.set
into
Jaftiei-
and urged the expediency
of
endeavouring to make prisoners of the French before they could reach Patna.
The natural course would liave been
purpose. As yet, however, though he
by the ])opular voice, he did not feel
to
have employed his own
soldiei-s for this
professed to have been called to the throne
so secure as to be able to part
with any of
the troops on whose fidelity he could calculate, while, for very obvious reasons,
it
would have been madness
saw the dilemma
to
employ those
whom
he suspected.
mind
Clive easily
by undertaking to send a detachment of his own troops in pursuit of the French. The
detachment, consisting of 230 Europeans, 300 sepoys, fifty lascars, and two fieldThe baggage and
pieces, was placed under the command of Major Coote.
stores
in
which he was
were laden in forty
were not ready
to start
placed,
and
set his
boats, which, besides being
at ease
very imperfectly equipped
from Moorshedabad before the Gth of July.
By
this
time the French had got half-way to Patna, and were almost beyond the reach
of captm-e.
The
expedition,
howevei',
deserves
notice
courage and perseverance displayed by those employed in
Coote's
expeiUtiuii
against
tUem.
for
the remarkable
it.
The troops arrived at Rajamahal on the 10th, and the boats on the 1 1th of
Meer Cossim was expected to give all necessary assistance, but sent onl\July.
120 horsemen,
who
therefore left behind.
'
refused to proceed without
two months' pay, and were
Major Coote, thus thrown on
Letter dated 26th Jul^.
Memoirs of
his
Cliie, vol.
i.
p.
own
2<j:i.
resources, set out
MAJOR
Chap. X.]
589
COOTE'S EXi'KlJlTION.
again on the 13th, and in five days reached Bhaugulpore, a distance of sixty-five ad.
miles.
Here
five miles in
fied in
it
was ascertained that the French had passed Patna, which
~
abandoning the pursuit as hopeless
deterred
by ordinary
is fifty-
Major Coote might now have been
advance, four days before.
justi-
^'^*^
ailrniices to
but he was of a character not to be
;
1:57.
Mongiiir
and by the 21st accomplished twenty-five miles
obstacles,
more, which brought
him
Monghir
to
The detachment had
expected to find a
resting-place within
—a
place
its
fort
of
considerable
strength, situated
a
on
precipitous rock,
washed by the Ganges; butthegaiTison,
instead of admitting
them,
walls,
manned
the
lighted their
The Fort of Monohib.— From
Bacon's Oriental Portfolio.
matches, and gave
such unequivocal proofs of hostile intentions, that
circuit
and continue the march
still
Europeans became mutinous.
only remained to
make a
now
so near
Coote was
farther westward.
Patna that he was determined to reach
onward when he encountered an
it
it
obstacle
at
hazards,
all
and was
on which he had not
still
pressing-
calculated.
It required all Coote's enei'gy to
The
maintain them
uisiwidproi-eeilings
As they mui'mm*ed at their hardships and fatigues, he endeashame them into their duty by putting them into the boats, while he
in discipline.
voured to
himself continued to marc'i at the head of the sepoys.
to
Futwa
rain,
or Futtooha,
which
is
though perfectly aware of
letters
within ten miles of Patna.
his approach,
it
to the
want
of timely notice.
way he
it,
It thus
appeared that, however
he was not yet prepared to
Ramnarain's intentions miglit
them.
The boldness of Coote's march, with a mere handful of men.
200 miles through a country
him.
On
known
but two
for the escape of the French,
hostile
be,
proceeded
Hitherto Ramna-
had taken no notice of
were now received from him apologizing
and ascribing
In this
to be unfriendly,
for
avow
above
had perhap.s overawed
the 2Gth the whole of the detachment, as well as the boats, reached
Patna, and took up their station at the Company's factory, a spacious building,
situated on the
city.
bank
of the Ganijes. outside but close to the western wall of the
Ramnarain having made himself acquainted with
tiie
exact strength of
the detachment, and probably also with the mutinous spirit which part of them
had manifested, was now
less
disposed to profess friendshi]), and, on frivolous
pretexts, declined to receive the visit
which Coote had proposed to pay him
J
5U0
A.D.
17.-.7.
HISTOIiY OF INDIA.
Matters, consecjuently, assumed a very ominous appearance.
overheard talking of a design to
time,
lootes
[Book
tlie
men were
'I'wo
the detachment, and, at the
ma.ssiicre
III.
same
con(hict of the Europeans
alternative but to
became so diwjrderly that CVjte had no
biing thirty of them to a court- martial, which sentenced
lirnmess.
them
The
to be flogged.
infliction of
a rare example of firmness and decision
the detachroent,
such a punishment at
;
but
it
must
trying a time
.so
neceasarily have
and consequently added to the impending danger.
is
weakened
Coote wa«,
notwithstanding, determined to persevere in the original design of the ex{>edition,
and made preparations
The camp attendants and
to continue the pursuit.
boatmen now took alarm and deserted
many
of the
l)laces
were supplied and the detachment, after reaching Dinapore and crossing
By
great exertions their
;
the Sone at
its
bank of the
latter river,
confluence with the Gange.s, proceeded
Company had a
till
up the right
they arrived opposite to Chuprah.
factory for the collection of saltpetre, which
or .southern
In this place the
is
made
in large
was therefore deemed expedient to
cross over, but from the want of boats and other assistance, three days were
consumed in the operation. At Chuprah Coote learned that Law's party had
quantities in the surrounding districts.
It
reached Benares, and been favourably received by the rajah,
who was dependent
on Sujah Dowlah, Nabob of Oude.
To have proceeded would have been to ri.sk
collision with this formidable enemy, and it was therefore determined to wait for
further orders.
On the 1 2th of August a letter was received from Clive, ordering the return of the detachment to Patna, there to concert with
Khan, Meer
Jaftier's brother,
Mahmood Amy
a scheme for wresting the government of Behar
Not a moment was lost and the very next day the troops,
carried swiftly down the stream by the current, landed at Patna, and resumed
tlieir quarters in the factory.
Coote saw that the only chance of overthrowing
Ramnarain was to assault the citadel, then ganisoned by 2000 men, and make
him prisoner. The attempt was not only daring, but must have seemed almost
desperate; and j^et Coote would have made it, had not Mahmood counselled
Before
delay, in order to give him an opportunity of seducing the garrison.
the result was ascertained, Meer Jafiier, who had suggested the depo.sition of
from Ramnarain.
;
Ramnarain, became suspicious of the designs of
HfliBrecaUed.
his
own
in consequence, recalled,
and arrived with the detachment
the 7th of September.
The expedition thus
results,
mander displayed
di'ew all eyes
upon him
Coote was,
at Mooi-shedabad, on
failed of its object.
The indomitable
however, were important.
brother.
resolution
Its indirect
which
its
com-
as one of the destined hei'oes of
Indian warfare; and, at the same time, made a powerful imjiression on the
minds of the natives, convincing them how hopeless would be any attempt to
arrest the progress of a nation, a
mere handful of whose
wander hundreds of miles througli their country, as
without meeting an enemy bold enough to attempt
The very same day on which Coote
set out
on
if
soldiers could thus
defying attack, and yet
it.
his
remarkable expedition, an
"ciiAi-
THE NAROIW
X.|
'J'REASURES
ARRIVK
IN CALCUTTA.
The
extraordinary scene was exhibited in Calcutta.
spoils of
o[)l
Meer
Jaffier's
rupees, in coined silver,
were
received,
packed in 700
and despatched
chests,
down the nver in 100 boats. At Nuddea these were joined by all the boats of
the squadron, and many others, the whole "proceeding with banners displayed,
and music sounding, as a triumphal procession, to contrast that in which the
Dowlah returning the year
inhabitants of the Ganges had seen Surajah
Never
from the destruction of Calcutta.
prize in solid
is
for it
;
amounted
(in
mint would scarcely be
the coined silver
was not the regular
treiisun.* at
CalcutU.
the
one time, obtain such a
The
the mint) to £800,000 sterling."
intelligible
Arrival of
before
whom
Oime, from
before," says
" did the English nation, at
made,
money
refierence to the
its;
After a variety of discussions and equivocations, 7,271,0GG
treasury arrived.
whole quotation
ad.
without the explanation that
ciu"rency of the country, but collections of
which had been hoarded up in the treasury of Moor-
coins of various countries,
shedabad by successive nabobs.
The
arrival of so
much money, and
the distribution cf
it
}»artly
among
those Gmerai
(lifftision
whom
the pillage of Calcutta had ruined, naturally diffused universal joy.
Almost every femily found
itself
suddenly raised to affluence, commerce revived,
and the whole settlement gave signs of rapid and unexampled
however, were not without
benefits,
engendered, and, at a time
own
had not forgotten his
which cannot easily be
unite in deploring, as
bittered his
life,
terminated.
It
where
his
when unusual
interests,
justified,
it
A
alloy.
Clive, as
displayed.
and had shared
and which
was
spirit
we have
in the spoil to
seen,
an extent
most unqualified admirere must
his
led to
the act by which
must be admitted, however, that
in
most mercenary
gave his enemies a handle for the charges which em-
and probably
comrades
The
pro.sperity.
generosity might have been expected,
was unblushingly
the meanest selfishness
wealth
arms or colleagues
it
was prematurely
in all pecuniary arrangements
in council
were concerned, Clive's
conduct was characterized by a nice sense of honour and great disinterested
ness,
and
The
select
in
this respect often contrasts
committee, while providing for themselves a most liberal com})en-
sation in the event of Clive's success,
in the
honourably with their rapaciousness.
were not willing
to incur responsibility
event of failure; and hence, after giving their express sanction to
vious proceedings,
and taking
credit to themselves for " setting the
all
pre-
machine
in
motion," addi-essed a letter to him, which could only be interpreted as a mere
attempt to reap the profit without incurring any of the hazard.
was written before the
b.attle,
says:
and
Clive,
answering
— "I cannot help thinking that had the expedition
it
after the
miscarried, you
To another letter from the comwritten the very day when the battle was fouMit, he thus reiilies:
" I
would have
mittee,
battle of Plassey,
This letter
laid the
whole blame on me."
—
have received your letter of the 23d instant, the contents of which are so
indefinite
and contradictory that
an intent to clear yourself at
I
my
can put no other construction on
it
expense, had the expedition miscarried.
than
It
'^""^
results
of
—
692
AD.
1767.
put
me
in inind of tlie
^((cide,
te,
OK
JILSTOltV
Romanos
INJJlA.
famous answer of the
The
vincere posae.'"
;
iJc.'ljjliiu
IJook III.
Aio
oracle to Pyirlius
triumj>harit result of the expedition
saved the committee frf)m the imf^enerous course which they appear to have
contemplated; but when the division of the
of the select committee, was virtually
their
all
entitled to share in the
money
consequence of the active part which
in
and on
allotted to that body.
saw
its
by signing the
of the
certainly was;
and
a proof of the utter emptiness of
Meicenary
military,
it is
all
more than
after,
pro})able that he him.self
he received in his
much
somc of the better and more prominent
army and navy,
was
]^)erson
as to
services
in the victory,
it
to maintain that
.sailoi's,
by
it
since
between them,
made through
Clive to the
squadi'on could not a.scend
could not be denied that this present
belonged exclusively to the troops engaged.
understood, and that the
of his character, re-
ought to share
As the
troops who, under him, had gained the victory.
enough
pai-ts
it .served
which there could not be any misunderstanding,
meaning was that the two
and take part
vexation, while
Besides the nabob's so-called donation to
another and the largest present appears to have been
selfish
own
lo.ss
earthly possessions, and died of fever, after
lated to the division of prize-money.
the river
It
illness.
to bring out
the obvious
to
by
the example,
.set
to follow his example.
selfi.sh
Auotlier pccunlary di.spute, which gave Clive
the
and exeiled himself
he was compensated in reputation for the
same opinion, when, not many days
a few days'
without admitting
admiral had refased to damage his character
that, as the
fictitious treaty,
He
of money.
Clive,
reasonableness,
deducting his part, most of the others were too
was perhaps thought
ground thought himself
this
though he offered at once to
effectual; but,
it
so,
])roceedings.
the strict ju.stice of the claim,
make
discussed disputes of a
Admiral Watson, though not fonnally a member
disgraceful character arose.
he had taken in
money was
All this
was
clear,
but some were
the term "troops" only .soldiers .should be
who
actually sei'ved in the expedition,
had no
To obtain an equitable settlement of this and various other points, CHve
assembled a council of war, which was attended by officers deputed from ever}'
branch of the troops. After much discussion, and in the face even of a strong
claim.
]irotest
made by
Clive, the majority
claim of the sailors
Officers
who came with
came
to the shameful decision that the
the expedition should not be recognized.
who had committed themselves
thus far
had no
scniples in going
further, and, in order to prevent the possibility of appeal against their meditated
injustice,
proceeded to vote that the division
In vain did Clive represent that
into effect.
till it
was
shroffed,
injustice.'
They
and the agents of both
still
the council of war.
persisted,
till
"
.shoiild
the
be immediately earned
money
could not be divided
parties present, without the gi-eatest
Clive overruled their votes, and broke up
So bent, however, were they on can-ying their
ihey sent him what they called a "remon.strance and protest."
its
contents
may
point, that
The nature
of
be learned from Clive's admirable answer, the principal part
MERC'ENAKY SPIRIT OF THE MiLiTAUY.
CiiAiv X.]
was
of which
as follows:
— "Gentlemen, —
Had you
trance and protest.
commanding
You
say
3'-ou
a
sum
money from
of
the nabob, entirely negotiated
So very
!
money
return to the nabob the
;
In
Had
I
rosit}^
to receive
owing
entirely
is
not interfered gi'eatly in
find
it,
you had been
the greatest disrespect and ingratitude
in the face of
my
;
it
and,
left to
sufficiently
which
what
your
interest.
the Company's gene-
rewarded in
receiv-
have been treated with
I
is still
worse, you have flown
authority for overruling an opinion, which,
own
to his option
remind you, that
to
to the care I took of
in return for
;
me
pains
it
who, perhaps, would have thought you
ing a pi'esent of six months' pay
it
in the plains of Plassey, after
it
gentlemen,
short,
in re-
preBsiug
You have stormed no town and
not.
you
neither did
the defeat of the nabob.
it,
a promise of
by me, can be deemed a
it is now in my power to
already advanced, and leave
whether he will perform his promise or
found the money there
from
far
tliat
it
cuve's fimiiies-s
.
.
how comes
Pray, gentlemen,
matter of light and property
what you are
as officers, could never have
were assembled at a council to give your opinion
about a matter of property.
a.d. 1757.
own reason, those
am persuaded such
officer, 1
own honour
highly injurious to your
esca])ed you.
have received both j'our remons-
I
consulted the dictates of your
of justice, or the respect due to your
a paper, so
59.3
if pa,ssed,
would
,
and been of the worst conThis answer, and
sequences to the cause of the nation and the Company."
the decisive step of ])lacing the officers who brought the paper in arrest, and
have been highly injurious to your
sending a captain,
who had
reputation,
to Calcutta, opened the
Either brought back to a sense of duty, or alarmed
eyes of the remonstrants.
much they were
at finding that in selfishly grasping at too
all,
down
acted as ringleader,
risking the loss of
they made their submission and were forgiven.
This dispute, and various others, which, though of a
less glaring,
were of a
very disagreeable nature, leave no room to doubt that the sudden influx of
11
wealth,
I'll
obtained by
1
nearly emptying the
mercenary and rapacious
On
•
1
sjiirit
among
-11'
nabobs
iiT/i'i
had dinused
treasury,
all classes, civil
a
and military, in Calcutta.
much money
allowing so
much
to
be exacted by others,
they had done enough to deserve
feeling,
that,
directors,
it.
who
could not like
It was, perhaps,
in his very long letter to the secret
and
for himself,
him plead that
owing
some such
to
committee of the court of
dated a month after he entered Moorshedabad, while giving very
full details as to
the
money which Meer
the insufficiency of the treasury to pay
had bound himself
Jaffier
it,
to pay,
and
he makes no allusion to the private
treaty in which the select committee, in stipulating for a donative to the
army
and navy, had inserted an exorbitant donation to themselves, nor to the
enormous sums which, without being
of presents.
ttional.
The omission could
it is difficult
to account for
stii>ulated,
scarcely be a
it
had been received
mere
ovei-sight:
in the
name
was
inten-
if it
on anv other supposition than that
it
on
iiis
accession.
seeing this result Clive must have had some misgivings as to the propriety
of the course he had pursued, in accepting so
Sumsi«i.ii..v
was
HlSTOilY OF INDIA.
o94i
A.D.
1757.
a delicate subject, which
it
to justify.
stij^ulation
navy, but exclusive of that to the Comjtany, amounted
the rate of exchange which
member
the time
The whole sum
Uj the army and
—taking
the rupee at
Of
to £1,238,575.
this Clive
of the select committee and commander-
and in the form of an unstipulated gratuitous donation, £234,000.
in-chief,
Company.
bcjre at
it
received in his capacities as
Advantages
gained by
IJI.
wfjuld be imprxident to mention incidentally, and
it
was then judged premature U> attempt
paid by Meer Jaffier to individuals, including the
which
[booK
It is not easy to overrate the
advantages which
tlie
revolution in Beiigal
secured to the Company.
The money mast have been
them
All the land within the Mahratta Ditch, and for a
for all their losses.
circuit of
600 yards without
have been, from
it,
granted them in absolute property, must
of great
its position,
sufficient to compen.saUj
and increasing
value,
and the zeminflary,
very vaguely described as including the countiy lying south of Calcutta, be-
tween the lake and the
as far as Culpee, must,
river,
notwithstanding the
reservation of the customary payments, have added largely to their revenue, and
still
more largely
secured
river,
by the
of navigation was, moreover,
stipulation that no forts should be erected on the
from Hooghly downwards
exactions and annoyances
passports
The freedom
to their power.
;
banks of the
while the internal tiade was set free from
by the
would no longer be Hable
certainty that the
Company's dustuks
to question, at least
on frivolous
all
or
ground.s.
Instead of existing merely on tolerance as traders, the victory of Plassey had
made them a
another
won
for
;
great political power.
They had unmade one nabob and made
and imless they were voluntarily
to recede
from the high position thus
them, the three great provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa must
henceforth acknowledge
them
as,
to all intents, their lords paramount.
proceeding to trace the further progress of this gi'eat revolution,
necessary to return to the Carnatic, which
was likewise about
to
Before
it
will be
become the
theatre of important events.
CHAPTER
XI.
— Desultory warfare— Arrival of a French squadron —Lally, com— Naval action — Siege and capture of Fort David — Siege
Tanjore — Siege of Madras — French reverses — Forde
the Northern Circars — Battle of Wandiwash
—Siege and capture of Pondicherry—Destruction of French interests the Deccan.
Position of affairs in the Carnatic
mander-in-chief of French forces
St.
o!
in
in
HE
presidency of Madi-as,
when they
fitted out the expedition
to Bengal, anticipated its return before the
impending rupture
between Great Britain and France should be actually
or at least in time to enable
them
to
ward
off the
declared,
dangers with
which they would in consequence be threatened.
In
this
Affairs in the
Carnatic.
expectation,
owing
to the course of events in Bengal, they
were disappointed.
J
I
AFFAIRS IN TRt. CARNATIC.
Chap. XI.
Clive,
convinced that he could not serve the
595
Company
interests of the
so a
u. 1757.
by overthrowing Surajah Dowlah, retained all the troops which
lie had taken with him, and ventured, on his own responsibility, to disregard
Thus weakened by the absence of a
the orders repeatedly sent him to retui'n.
large part of their forces, the presidency of Madras remained on the defensive.
effectually as
The French,
in the meantime,
were not disposed to avail themselves of any
They expected the arrival of a powerful
imprudent, while they had the prospect of striking
superiority which they possessed.
armament, and deemed
a final blow at
all
it
the British settlements in India, to risk
A
in partial operations.
almost seemed as
it
if
...
.
the declaration of hostilities between
-Veiitraiitv
between the
companies,
governments had only made them desirous of remaining at
their respective
being only a temporizing expedient, the
This neutrality, however,
peace.
by engaging
loss,
kind of neutrality had hence been established between
,
the companies, and
any
result not of choice
but of accidental circumstances, was necessarily of short
was soon found that neither party could safely remain on the
defensive.
The Nabob of Arcot, though now nominally in possession of almost
the whole territory which he claimed under that title, was unable to derive any
regular revenue from it and his British allies, who had obtained large tracts of
duration.
It
;
land in assignment of the debts which they had incuiTcd in his behalf, were
unable to
in the
make them
effectual for
payment.
of the nabob's brothers, one
north and another in the south, were in open revolt; and numerous
tributaries, influenced
by
their example, plainly intimated their determination
The
not to pay unless under compulsion.
thus
Two
made
officer at
apparent,
the presidency
necessity of an immediate effort being
ordered Captain
Trichinopoly, to proceed southward with
effect the
subjugation and settlement of
detachment northward to NeUore.
Calliaud,
all his
Madura and
commanding
disposable troops, to
Tinnevelly, and sent a
Neither expedition proved successful.
In
an attempt to storm NeUore a serious repulse was received; and the siege
of
Madura was suddenly abandoned,
in order to
Trichinopoly, against which the French,
state in
lected
which
it
had been
left,
had
provide for the safety of
when made aware
secretly sent
of the defenceless
an overpowering
force, col-
on the spur of the moment by emptying Pondicherry and other places
The measure was dexterously planned, but very
of their ganisons.
ferently executed,
his
way
to
it
and Trichinopoly was saved by
into the city after the
impossible,
enemy supposed
Calliaud, who,
carried on
by both
tliemselves
and
sides,
infinite
its
immediate objects had
as if in
by making
that they had rendered access
performed the only memorable achievement in
tory warfare, which, after
indif-
failed,
desul-
this
continued to be
mere wantonness, with no advantage to
misery to the inhabitants.
The
result was,
on the
whole, unfavourable to the presidency, who, while their sources of revenue
were dried up by the devastation of the country w^iich ought
to
have
furnished them, were constrained to purchase the departure of the Mahrattas,
Deauit..ry
3
A.D,
I7r,8.
msTOlCY OF
lit)
who
made an
liad
IN 1)1 A.
incursion into the Caraatic,
LBooK in
and demanded a large sum aa
tlie
arrears of chout.
On
2Hh
the
of February,
who had
Admiral Pococke,
1758,
Bucceeded
Admiral Watson, arrived at Madras, with the ships of war from Bengal
Admiral Stevens, exactly a month
Arrival of a
;
and
with four ships of the line from Bom-
after,
This formidable squadron sailed on the 17th of April to the southward,
bay.
Kreiich force
under Lilly
ii»
wneral.
had raised were suddenly damped on the 28th, when a
of twelve sail, evidently French, was descried making for the road of
but the hopes which
guvcnior-
s(i[uadron
Fort
David.
St.
It
it
was commanded by Count d'Ache, and had on board Count
an
Lally,
officer
of
descent, who,
Iri.sh
having ac-
quired distinction in European campaigns, had been
sent out with the most extensive powers as governor-
French settlements in India.
general
of all
He was
accompanied by the regiment of
the
which mustered 1080
royal artillery, and
strong,
liLs
name,
a small nimiber of
many officers of distinction
This
armament, which had long been expected, had been
by the French government, with a strong
sent out
unhesitating conviction that, with the other troops
Thomas Arthur, Comte de Lally.
From a French
already collected at Pondicheny,
it
wa.s destined
print.
to achieve a series of triumphs.
conviction stronger than in Lally himself,
who was
In none was this
commence
so impatient to
operations, that leaving the rest of his ships to anchor in the vicinity of the Fort, he
hastened off to Pondicherry to proclaim his commission, and tu'ge the immediate
departure of the troops there, with
the siege.
all
This precipitancy displayed far more energy than wisdom, and raised
up a host of obstacles which might
Preparations
the necessary requisites for carrj-ing on
more calmness and
easily
He had
deliberation.
have been avoided by acting with
no doubt a right to expect that the
for the siege
of Fort St.
most essential preparations had been already made, and that at
David.
difficulty
fore
was
would be found in procuring the means of
his surprise
be provided.
lution
events no
Great there-
transport.
and indignation on learning that everything remained
In these circumstances prudence coimselled delay
had been formed, and
difficulties,
furnish an opportunity of acquiring
new
so far
were on the march from Pondicherry
command of Count dEstaing.
It
from changing
;
but his
it,
to
reso-
would only
by surmoimting them. On
of them Europeans and half
distinction
the very evening of his arrival 2000 men, half
sepoys,
all
for
Fort
St.
David, under the
had not even been deemed necessary to obtain
exact knowledge of the roads or furnish provisions.
The consequence was,
that
they went astray, and, after a niglit of hardship and fatigue, arrived in the
The following day, when other
troops were despatched, and with them artillery, stores, and baggage, blunders
still more serious were committed.
Without paying the least regard to the
morning in a
state bordering
on
staivation.
CAPTURE OF
Chap. XI. j
feelings
and prejudices of the
Ji^V
natives, Lally Issued a general order, compelling
without distinction of rank or
all,
FOirr ST. DAVID.
caste, to
a.d. irss.
supply the want of bullocks and
by becoming themselves drawers and carriers. When
the governor and council, aware of the general ferment
other beasts of burden,
this order
was
which
would produce, endeavoured to prevent the execution, but Lally,
their fears, and even impugning their motives, persisted in his own
it
lidiciding
reckless
issued,
He was
coiu".se.
who took
population,
consequently regarded with abhorrence by the native
by deserting on every opportunity, and
their revenge
rendering no service which they could possibly avoid.
own
Lally was thus blundering and raising up obstacles to his
VVliile
the fate of his whole
armament was hanging
success,
indecisive
The
gagemeut
a trembling balance.
in
British squadron, after reaching the north extremity of Ceylon, steered again
of India,
for the coast
and arrived
Negapatam on the very day when the
oif
French squacbon was entering the road of Fort
course northward along the shore,
it
no
Admiral Pococke threw out the signal
thrown out
the challenge thus
the 29th,
was
to
him
came
.sooner
Continuing
Da\ad.
enemy than
in .sight of the
and when come up with, about noon of
His .squadron, diminished
waiting, with his ships in line of battle.
by a ship and a frigate which had gone with Lally to Pondicherry,
amoimted
to nine
sail.
engagement proved
French sheered
off,
The
British squadron consisted of only seven
After
indecisive.
apparently not for
had
it
la.sted
an hour and a half
The
increased, one of their ships, the
The
of nuitual consent.
Bien Aime, of
six days after the action before
it
having run
total wreck.
Count d'Ach(^ reached Pondicherry.
The troops he had with him were immediately landed and marched
As the
David.
sent
by
sea,
difHculty of land ti-ansport
and improvident proceedings, the
Lally's rash
for the siege, operations
artillery
The garrison
effective,
when
and
It
2.50
topasses.
its
Such a
first
made
its
by the
whom
280 were
which had been run ashore
appearance, and of
1
GOO
-sepoy-s, lascars,
force placed within a fortification which,
so complete that
only serious defect, should have been able to
so.
of May,
and were continued with con-
frigates
and improvements, had been rendered
was not
Everything being
consisted of 619 Europeans, of
seamen taken from two
the French squadron
additions
was
and
Fort
and ammunition were
commenced on the 14th
erection of a battery in the vicinity of Cuddalore,
siderable vigour.
off to
had been greatly increased by
and put ashore near the mouth of the Penaar.
now provided
loss of the
was considei'ably
fifty- eight gims,
and become a
ashore, in consequence of cutting her cable,
St.
tlie
very much damaged
British,
French during the action was the more severe, and afterwards
was
The
sail.
were unable and perhaps had no great inclination to follow.
The combatants thus parted by a kind
It
still
but to reassemble their ships, which
flight,
had become scattered, and resume the action.
in their rigging,
its
Count d'Ach^ did not decline
for chase.
;
St.
make a
by means of
want of space
protracted defence.
Instead of acting on a kind of regular plan, the
commander
of
siege
and
tortst.
David.
;
5i)H
A.I)
17r,8
JJISTOllY
expresses
it,
"to lavish away their
saw, h(!ard, or suspected."
inflicted, for
St.
Fort
[FJOOK III.
the fort seems to have contented himself with allowing
Orme
.Siego <if
OF INDIA.
"twenty of the
Uavid.
little
By
interruption.
within 200 yards of the
thirteen mortars kept
The
they sustained more injury than they
glacis,
disabled and the
proceed
to
and from twenty-one pieces of cannon and
up an incessant
with a constantly increasing supen-
fire,
who were now beginning
no good purpose could be gained by
Of
not speedily relieved.
his
own guns were
were thus permitted
besiegers
the ammunition of which they had been so
Pococke with
Mr
as
the 3()th they had advanced their trenches io
ority over that of the defenders,
fall if
ganwm,
night and day on everything they
carriages of their
works themselves shaken."
with
way
In this
fire
tlie
squadron was
want of
the commencement, when
lavi.sh at
to feel the
was now evident that the
there was still some hope.
It
it.
this
known
to be
must
place
Admli-al
on the coast; and as he had
already gained some advantage
Itardcn
Iw
it
was natur-
ally expected that he
would not
over his opponent,
allow Fort
David
St.
without a strenuous
save
He
it.
effort
to
make
did indeed
northward
Sadrass,
fall
and after ha\-ing been
this effort;
driven
to
as
had worked
back, but with so
as
far
way
his
much
diffi-
culty, that
he only gained four
leagues in
two
On
days.
28th he descried the French
the
fleet
lying in the road to Pondicherry
but Count
d' Ache's
courage had
cooled after his pre%'ious encoun-
rORT S^DAYID
ter,
and instead of accepting the
1756
challenge to fight, he resolved,
of Yards
with the sanction of
and the governor and
council, to
keep his ships moored near the shore under the protection of the
batteries.
Lally, hearing of this resolution
and ashamed of
it,
hastened firom the
bringing with him a detachment of 400 Europeans and as
Count
d'Achc
declines the
lie
tendered to Count d'Ache to serve on board the
consequence of the great number of sick
cliallenge of
tlie Britisli
fleet.
his captains
Ijeen the only excuse for not risking
now removed by
doned.
Lallj'^'s
offer,
fleet.
who were on
many
sepoys,
siege,
whom
The want of men,
in
shore in the hospital, had
an engagement, and as
this obstacle
was
the previous pusillanimous resolution was aban-
Count d'Ach^, however, though thus compelled
to quit the protection
of the shore, had no intention to eng^age if he could possibly avoid
it
;
and
IK
SURRENDER OF FORT
XL]
Chap.
therefore,
while
being
taking advantage of the wind,
Admind Pococke had
One
able to pursue.
ST.
DAVID.
saw Count
d' Ache's
lation, in sucli
to
a
d. i75«.
was obliged
to give
and the whole squadron,
way and return northward
the garrison, after being buoyed with the hope of
squadron enter the road, they at once abandoned
flag of truce.
relief,
all
idea of
The
capitu-
terms as the victors chose to dictate, was soon arranged, and the
French took possession of the
was
David,
of his ships, the Cumberland, sailed so badly that
and on the 2d of June hung out a
further resistance,
St.
him depart without
the mortification of only seeing
losing instead of gaining ground,
When
Fort
steereji directly for
she operated as a continual drag upon the others;
to Alumj)arva.
oi)i)
place.
The
made
use they
first
of their conquest
Their strength was far greater
raze the fortifications to the ground.
than they had imagined, and they had good reason to congi'atulate themselves
on their good fortune in having met with defenders so unskilful and pusillanimous, that
all
their lavish firing killed oidy
The
twenty men.
of Fort St.
fall
David was immediately followed by that of Devicotta, which was abandoned
by
its
garrison the
Lally,
elated
•^'
moment
the
enemy were
above measure with these
celebrate a Te Deura,
ject there should
and
fix
seen approaching
successes, set off for
'
upon the scene of
have been no room
it.
his
for doubt.
Pondicherry to
next conquest.
He had
"^
On
this sub-
Exultation
of Lally
hi*
.it
succem
spared no means to
increase his force, having for that purpose bared all the forts of their garrisons,
recalled the
detachment which had so long kept Trichinopoly in a state of siege
by occupying the
island of Seringham,
and in
spite of remonstrance voluntarily
by peremptorily withdrawing him and all his troops from the Deccan, at the very time when French
ascendency tliere, after being well nigh overthrown, had again been triumphrelinquished
all
the advantages which Bussy had gained,
antly established.
Nothing could justify Lally
in the adoption of such measures
but the determination to strike one great and decisive blow at British interests
in the Carnatic,
and hence the universal
be to capture Madras.
belief
was that
That presidency was, of
busily engaged in preparing against a siege
cheering intelligence arrived that Lally and his
in great alarm,
course,
deemed
next attempt would
his
and
but certain, when the
all
army had
set out in
an opposite
direction.
After celebrating his triumph in Pondicherry, Lallv turned his attention to
the state of the finances, and learned that the treasury
fact
was almost empty.
The
not only disappointed him, but aroused his indignation, for he strongly sus-
pected that the greater part of the
officials
were engaged
in systematic embezzle-
To a man of his
and he was unsparing
ment, enriching themselves by plundering their employei's.
warm temperament
suspicion
in his sarcasms against the
much time was wasted
to proof;
governor and council.
in unprofitable bickering.
only became more pressing.
I
was equivalent
An
open quan-el ensued, and
Meanwhile the want of money
The troops were clamoiu-ing
for their arrears of
his pecum
ties,
and
to relieve
them.
HISTOliV OK JNIJIA.
W)l)
A.D. 1758.
ance be undertaken with an exhausted treasury?
dient which
In 1751
it
tlie
raising
money.
thouglit might
King of
})re.sent relief
'schfue for
was
Tanjore,
meet the
when attacked hy Cliunda
by granting him a bond
available?
Tiie
liooK HI.
In this perjjlexity an
necessities of tlje ease
Why
was suggested
Tliis
bond was
in
make
it
not attempt to
same kind of pressure
which had extorted
^
exj>e-
had pinx-hased
Saliil*,
for 5,G()(),()0() rupees.
of the government of Pondicherry.
P'^'^session
I
from the kin^,
"^
it
^
might be successfully employed
Not only were
peculiarly favoural)le.
payment.
to extort
upon
effectually
whom
the British, to
could look for assistance, unable to furnish
prisoner had been found
Tlie circum.stances
it,
but in the
alone the king
David a
fort of St.
whose presence with the araiy might be made to work
This prisoner was Gatica, the imcle of a claimant to
his fears.
the Tanjore throne, whose pretensions the Madras presidency, tempted
and other advantages, rashly undertook
offer of Devicotta,
The proceedings, which were
detailed
finding
;
it
and
it is
were
by the
to support in 1749
disgraceful to the presidency, have already been
therefore sufficient here to mention, as the result, that on
impossible to succeed
by
force,
they suddenly changed
sides,
and made
a sordid bargain, by which, in return for the cession of De^ncotta
by
the
reigning sovereign, they not only ceased to be the protectors, but engaged to
become the
A timely warning
jailers of the claimant.
enabled him to escape
;
but his uncle,
who managed
what was intended
him, and was tlie more
for
of
This was the hapless
formidable rival of the two, was imprisoned in his stead.
individual
who was now
to be a tool in the hands of the French to extort
money, in the same manner as his nephew had been used by the British to
extort the cession of a
A
tally's
fort.
roving expedition to Tanjore was thus, under the influence of pecuniary
expedition
against
fiLU i o rG
'.
_
_
embarrassiuent, preferred to the siege of Madi'as; and Lally, lea^dng 600
own
men
of his
camp of observation between Alumparva and Pondicheriy, commenced his march southward with the remainder of
the army. The improvidence manifest jd on his former expedition was repeated,
regiment, with 200 sepoys, to form a
as if the lesson of a dear-bought experience
troops,
had been
lost
upon
liim
;
and the
not only unprovided with the means of transport, but destitute even
of necessary
food,
were subjected to every species of privation, in passing
through a country of singular
Before reaching Carrical, to which, as
difficulty.
the place of rendezvous, the heavy artillery and cumbrous stores had been sent
by
sea,
they had crossed no fewer than sixteen
only after wading through extensive
flats
of
them accessible
They were thus
rivers, several of
mud and
sand.
employed during seven days, and in the whole seven had not once received
a regular meal.
his country,
among
his
had
own
other quarters.
Tiie
little
King
now
that the
enemy had amved
in
army which he had collected, not only
but by means of reinforcements drawn from various
confidence in the
subjects,
The
of Tanjore,
British,
who
should have been his principal resource,
rather tantalized than assisted him,
by sending him
a
detachment of 500
Chap. XT.
sepoys,
EXPEDITION AGAINST TANJORE.
1
with ten European artillerymen, and 300
drawn from the neighbouring polygars.
enemy
unable to cope with his
But
open
in the
or native peons,
Colleries,
King
the
if
field,
601
of Tanjore
have the
effect of
the city of Tanjore,
its issue,
would
Lally was within six miles of
procuring a respite.
when he
was
he was at least his equal in
diplomacy, and opened a negotiation, which, whatever might be
at least
a.d. itss.
received a message from the king, proposing that
a conference should be held with a
view
to arrange the
terms of accommo-
Delusive
negotiation.
dation.
Nothing was more anxiously desired by the French commander, who
probably had begun to
feel that
of very doubtful policy,
other enterprises
the enterprise in which he
inasmuch as
it
was only delaying the execution
of far more importance.
moment might be
was engaged was
of
In order, therefore, that not a
he halted his army, and sent forward two deputies, a
lost,
demand was payment of the principal and interest of tlie bond granted to Chunda Sahib. The
king made an offer so paltry that it might at once have been rejected. The
deputies, however, deemed it necessary to report ^it to Lally, who sent them
hack with a demand strangely modified. Instead of the whole sum due under
captain and a Jesuit, with full powers to treat.
the bond, he
and 10,000
Their
first
would accept 1,000,000 rupees in money, 600 draught
lbs.
weight of gimpowder.
As
the latter part of the
bullocks,
demand would
have acquainted the king with the fact that in the hurry of the expedition, this
essential
element of warfare had been very inadequately provided, the deputies,
The king
refused the bullocks, on the plausible pretext that his religion did not allow him
to supply them
but seemed willing to increase the amount of his money offer.
Ijally, when made aware that the gunpowder had not been mentioned, disapproved of the prudential considerations which had influenced the deputies, and
sent them back, not only to mention it, but to insist upon it as an indispensable
part of the airangement.
Tiie result was as had been anticipated.
Monacjee,
who was still the king's general, scouted the proposal as an insult, and tlie negomore prudent than
their principal,
had the good sense to suppress
it.
il
;
tiation terminated abruptly.
Lally,
now anxious
to recover the time he
had
lost,
immediately moved his
Re8"mi>tiou
of hostilities
camp, and took possession without opposition of the pettah or suburbs, on the
east side of the city wall.
attempting a
Only a few
siege.
and those shipped
for Carrical
cannon were brought
liis
As
yet,
pieces of ordnance
had not
forw^ard, the
sincere desire for peace,
however, he was totally miprepared for
arrived.
had accompanied the army,
At
when some heavy
last,
king became once more alarmed, and to prove
made a payment
of 50,000 rupees to account, on
receiving the Jesuit and a lieutenant-colonel as hostages for
advance in the event of
hostilities
being renewed.
On
repayment of
this
this footinjj negotiations
were renewed, and seemed approaching to a successful
result,
when
Lally,
thinking he had obtained proof of the king's insincerity, sent Dubois, the commissary of his army, to reproach him witli his insincerity.
Vol I.
At
the .same time
76
602
A.D. 1758
lilSTOIlY
OF
INJ^IA.
[Bo<>K
li
summoned a council of war, and having obtained from it a confirmation of
his own opinion, that no reliance couM l^e placed on professions of peace, and that
he
the siege ought fortiiwith to be commenced, and prosecuted with the utmost
town and
vigour, wrote a letter denouncing vengeance on both
even threatening to caiTy
his detei'mi nation to defend himself to the last extremity.
Calliaud, who, though repeatedly applied to for assistance,
as negotiations with the
and
king and his whole family an slaves to the
This threat fixed the wavering resolution of the king,
Mauritius.
nounced
off the
c^juntrj',
now
French were pending,
who
an-
Captain
had hesitated so long
sent from Trichinojjoly a
reinforcement consisting of 500 of his best sepoys, with two excellent sergeants,
and seventeen cannoneers.
Siege of
After determining on the siege, Lally pushed on the necessary operations with
Tiiujore.
great activity
and two breaching
;
batteries,
one of three and the other of two
The
guns, were opened, on the 2d of August, within 400 yards of the south wall.
what had been expected.
effect fell far short of
Five days' firing produced a
breach of only six feet wide, and yet exhausted so
much
of the imperfect supply
of ammunition, that only 150 charges for the cannon were
troops
was
man.
Nor was
troops,
were excellent
still
more
this
The supply of the
amounting to no more than twenty cartridges a
deficient,
The Tanjorines, though
all.
left.
skinnishei-s,
and had
verj^ ineffective as regidar
much
so
increased the difficulty of
obtaining provisions, that not more than two days' consumption remained.
Rumours,
began to
too, of
a naval engagement, in which Count d'Ach^ had been worsted,
and the whole prospect looked
prevail,
a council of war, and submitted to them, as the
with or raise the
Of
siege.
advocated the bolder course
Its failure.
it.
;
it,
the
French camp.
after the retreat
commenced,
fiture,
was not
and
serious
rest,
and
;
He was
to follow
Lally,
and
his
operations,
Admiral Pococke,
to prevent its
Monacjee, on being
forces,
made
and well nigh succeeded
repulsed with difficulty, and continued,
with clouds of cavalry.
The damage
cannon and
lieav}-
his discom-
baggage, had reason
army on an almost miraculous
escape
when they
Their anxiety, however, was not at
which met them was the English squadi'on riding
anchor in the mouth of the
Ineffectual
secret.
though burning with shame at
at length succeeded in reaching Carrical.
for the first sight
two
with LaU}- at their head, decided against
at the loss of all his battering
to congratulate himself
an end,
onl}- alternative, to assault forth-
immediately collected aU his
in surprising the
inflicted
gloomy that Lally summoned
the twelve officers fomiing the council only
This decision could not long remain a
acquainted with
so
after
at
river.
endeavouring in vain to reach Fort
premature surrender, retraced his
steps,
St.
David in time
and anchored in the Road
Here eight weeks were spent in making repairs and in obtaining
necessary supplies, and the 25th of July arrived before the squadron was again
of Madras.
ready to put to
on the 27th,
Having sailed on that day it came
and beheld Count d'Achd's squadron at
sea.
in sight of Pondicheirv
anchor.
Before night
I
'
NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.
Chap. XI.l
both squadrons were out
another
at
sea,
and seemed equally determined
make ad
to
The weather, however, proved
strength and prowess.
trial of their
603
irss.
so
unfavourable that they were tossed about, occasionally losing sight of each
and were not able to meet, front
other,
2d of August.
The
was fought not
battle
discomfiture of the French,
tained serious damage.
to front,
who drew
far
and form
from
their lines,
till
and ended
Carrical,
saved them from pursuit.
Tlieir usual tactics
in the
had
off after several of their ships
the
sus-
Wiiile
the British aimed chiefly at the hulls of the vessels, they aimed chiefly at the
masts and rigging, and thus crippled their opponents so effectually that thougli
Admiral Pococke threw out the signal
In
fruitless.
less
a general chase
for
proved utterly
it
than ten minutes Count d'Ach^ and his ships were nearly
This distance was rapidly increased, and within four liours
out of cannon-shot.
hindmost French was
after the action ceased the
five miles in
advance of the
I!
As it was hopeless to continue such a chase Admiral
Pococke returned, and was anchored, as has been stated, in the mouth of the
river, about three miles oflf Carrical, when Lally amved from his ill-fated
foremost British ship.
attempt on Tanjore.
Count d'Ach^, now
satisfied of the inability
of his
"^
squadron to encounter
/
COIKl.l.t
Road of Pondicherry, as close to the
shore as the depth of water would allow.
He was haunted with the idea that
Admiral Pococke was remaining to windward solely with the view of seizing the
Having this conviction, he felt
first available opportunity to attack him.
that of the British, again anchored in the
insecure even under the protection of the batteries of Pondicherry,
dismay of
make
its
inhabitants announced his determination to
way
the best of his
to the Mauritius.
i>.i«t.iriiiv
Lally, startled
cpiit
by
and
tin-
l.f
Kmith
to the
the coast, and
this intelligence,
;
j
hastened to Pondicherry, and backed by the authority of a mixed council which
he had
])artly
summoned to discuss the matter, endeavoured, partly In' persuasion and
by menace, to induce Count d"Ach^ either to encounter the Englisli
squadron once more, or at least to defer his departure so long as
on the
coast.
He
captains, declared
with
much
set sail
'
all his
admiral, sui)ported
continued
by
i
all his
impossible either to fight or remain, and after consenting,
it
reluctance, to leave
with
The French
did not succeed.
it
ships
500 of his
and turned
his
sailors
to serve
on
shore,
back on India.
under his recent
Lally, while smarting
and marines
failure at Tanjore,
was not disposed
'•«">
re«si)lvts
_
_
to
allow the whole, or even the larger portion of the blame to rest on his
shoulders,
their
and found
httle difliculty in satisfying himself that if all
duty as well as he did
thus attempting his
own
own officei-s
up a new host
Charges of misconduct were
tification to
know
tiiat
mi
the siege
had done
the result would have been veiy different.
1
u
made rash and intemperate charges
and the leading members of the government. He
of enemies who fought him with his own weapon.
vindication, he
both against his
thus stirred
his,
own
fi'eely
bandied to and fro; and Lally had the mor-
throughout the settlement, and
in its highest ofiiiial
:
I'
lllSTOUY
(JO-t
A.D. 1758
circles,
more
was
he was denounced as
(jr
inconiijcttiit, and, wliat
insulting, stigmatized as a coward.
to
wipe
INL>1A.
he must have
Tiie true
Tanjore by some
off the disgrace of
[Book
way
to
Ijrilliant
III.
felt to l^e still
answer
his accusers
achievement, and his
thoughts turned at once to Madras, the capture of which would at once recover
all
the fame which he ha<l
He was
could render to his country.
]>rise
was by no means
and he the most important
lost,
service
perfectly aware, however, that the enter-
During the time which he had
hopeful.
which he
lost in
Tanjore
the British presidency had been busily employed in improving their meaiLs of
defence and the departure of Count d'Achd leaving Admiral Pococke in complete
;
possession of the sea, not only
supplies,
made
it
easy for liim to pour in
but would expose the besiegers to
by the sudden landing of troops
before, the treasury was exhausted
tlie
all
necessary
danger of attacks and
suq^rises,
at their most vulnerable points.
;
and
it
was again
Then, as
necessary, at the expense
of considerable delay, to engage in subordinate operations merely for the pur-
pose of endeavouring to replenish
derations that Lally speaks in his
So discouraging were
it.
own Afemoire
and expected
possibility of a successful siege,
to
all
these consi-
as if he never contemplated the
do nothing more than bombard
the place, pillage the Black Town, and devastate the surrounding countiy.
Subordinate
Bcforc Setting out for Madras Lally had judged
operations.
,.,.
.
.
.^..
it
expedient, for reasons
already mentioned, to engage in several military operations of minor importance.
Saubinet, an officer
whom
he had despatched with a detachment to the west,
captured Trinomalee on the 10th of September, and Carangoly a few days
The Chevalier de
with another detachment, had recovered Trivatore.
Crillon,
made a
Lally himself, in the meantime,
tour of inspection, visiting Alumparva,
Gingee, and Chittapet, on the
way
the place of rendezvous for
the separate detachments.
by Bussy, who,
but with a
He had
full
all
to
Wandiwash, which he had appointed
in obedience to the peremptory orders
Here he was joined
which he had received,
brought his troops with him as far as Nellore, and then hastened
for-
attendants, in the hopes that from his representations he
might be permitted to return before the
dulity,
as
conviction of the pernicious consequences, had quitted the Deccan.
ward with a few
realized.
after.
evils
which he foresaw were actually
and
Lally, however, received his statements with indifference
and attached Bussy permanently to
seen that the French thus lost
all
his
own
ai-my.
incre-
It will shoiily be
the ascendency which they had established at
the court of the Deccan, and exposed themselves to an attack which ultimately
deprived them of the large and valuable temtory which had been pennanently
ceded to them in the Northern Ci rears.
While at Wandiwash, Lally sent Count
It proved unnecessary
d'Estaing with a detachment against Arcot.
Sahib, the late
Chunda
invested with the
title
Sahib's eldest son,
of nabob,
Lally,
whom
elated, considered the surrender of Ai'cot so
for
Rajah
the French had recentl}'
had already succeeded by bribeiy
the governor of his so-called capital.
now
whom
;
in corrupting
even the semblance of success
important an event that he set
'
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF MADRAS.
XL]
Chap.
out to receive
the discharge of
it
After making his entry in a triumphal form, under
in person.
it
all
605
by causing
the cannon, he endeavoured to magnify the event
to be proclaimed, with
much
and
ostentation, in Pondicherry
all
the other
ffratifyinfj his vanity
French garrisons.
While thus o
J he overlooked a captui'e
1
J
a
^
which would have been of much more consequence. The fort of Chingieput,
situated thirty-six miles south-west of Madras,
was justly regarded
The
possession of
it
had neglected
might
it
by
Strange to say, both French and
the latter fm'nishing
have been overpowered
easily
escalade,
awoke
Lally
it,
by open
it
force,
Briti.sli
who might have carried
secure it.
At length, when
to
to a sense of its importance, he found that the presidency
had
The
cap-
however,
whole
to
wliile the foimer,
;
anticipated him, and added greatly to the strength of the garrison.
ture,
still
seeming
po.ssible,
he resolved to march against
it
I!
with his
and made application to the government of Pondicherry to
him with the funds necessary
i»it.
only with a handful of troops, which
made no attempt
day,
ofChingle
and other
would therefore have contributed greatly
the success of the meditated siege.
inMiortancc
key
as the
of the country on which that city depended for supplies of provisions
necessaries.
a.d. i768.
fui-nish
The old answer was returned.
to put it in motion.
The treasury was empty, and all the money which could be immediately sent
amounted only to 10,000 rupees (£1000). The roving expeditions in the Carhad not paid
natic
their
own
expenses, the
and Lally saw no alternative but
to
power of borrowing was exhausted,
abandon
his design, place his troops in can-
tonments, and return to Pondicherry, where, as usual, he vented his indignation
in sarcasms against its officials.
The
Madras being now regarded as a
siege of
ceitainty, the presidency con-
Pieparations
for tlie siege
tinned to increase their means of defence.
all
They
the Europeans in garrison at Trichinopoly
was anchored
monsoon
in the road, foimd it necessary
on the approach of the northern
Bombay, obtained from him 100 men, forming the marines of
They had previously received a reinforcement by the Company's
ship Pitt, of fifty guns, which
two ships of the
line,
had
left
England with
six others
intended to join the admiral's squadron.
was a regiment of the king's
troops,
On
board these
but of these the Pitt brought only
Pococke had sailed on the 11th October with the
till
felt
confident that no
movement
full
of importance
good the defence
till
00
Admiral
sanction of the presidency,
all
events be able to
make
the expected reinforcement of troops should arrive, or the
change of monsoon should enable the squadi'on to return.
its
1
would be made by the enemy
the rains should cease, and that they would at
Only a week
departure, an unexpected arnval of treasure from the Mauritius,
100,000 rupees brought by M. Moracin,
detachment, inspired Lally with
new
who had been
hopes.
left
\\
under convoy of
men, with their commanders, Colonel Draper and Major Brereton.
who
of Madra.s
and when Admmil Pococke, who
to sail for
the squadron.
ships
;
recalled Captain Calliaud with
after
and
of
in charge of Bassy's
Accordingly, as the arrival of the
rainy season was unusually delayed, he put his troops in motion.
Chingieput
I
'
'
606
A
D
1768
OF INDIA.
illSTOltV
was suppo.sed
to be his object;
and as both
H(/OK
were now
parties
III.
fully alive to its
im[)ortance, the presidency, alarmetl for the safety of a supply of provisions
which
wa.s then
on the
way
and on
to
the
arrival
which
to
it,
ful
ability
its
make
a
of
succe.ss-
defence would
greatly depend, re.solved
immediate-
ly to take the field,
1200 Euro-
with
peans
sepoys
by
Mount
St.
Thome, near Madras.— From Hunter's
and
1
800
— forming
far tlie larger
part of the ^Iadra.s
Picturestjue Scenery of Mysore.
garrison. One-half
of these troo})«,
under Colonel Draper, advanced to Yandaloor, about half-w^ay
between Madras and Chingleput; the other
Lawrence, halted at
St.
half,
under command of Colonel
Tiiom^, in a position which both covered Madras and
These movements defeated the
kept open a communication with Draper.
enemy's design on the convoy of provisions, and the safety of Chingleput was
effectually secured.
Lally
s
disappointment was great.
The danger of leaving
such a place in his rear was sufficiently obvious, but he detennined to run
the risk, as he had only a choice of
difficulties,
and might,
in attempting to
take Chingleput, lose the only opportunity which he might have to lay siege to
Madras.
Qn
Lally ap-
the 7th of December, Lally,
now advancing wdth
his whole army, halted
pears before
.Madras.
at Vaudaloor.
All the British troops which had taken the field were
tioned at St. Thomd, under Colonel Lawrence.
still sta-
This able and cautious
officer
had no intention to risk a general action; and therefore, on penetrating the
object of a feint
which Lally employed with some
dexterity, in the hope of
placing himself between the city and the camp, he struck his tents and
moved
with his whole force to the Choultry Plain, lying about a mile and a half south-
west of Fort
1
2th,
St.
George.
Lally halted at
when he again moved and continued
was meanwhile kept up by both
object in
sides
;
St.
Thome
till
his approach.
the morning of the
A
smart cannonade
but as Colonel Lawrence had no other
removing without the walls than
to gain time,
approached, and marched with his main body into the
he retired as the enemy
fort,
leaving only some
detachments of Europeans and sepoys to guard the passes of the Black Town.
As soon
as the fort
was thus occupied, the
and committed the defence of the siege
covmcil of the presidency assembled
to the governor, Mr. Pigott,
with a recom-
'
Chap.
THE SIEGE OF MADRAS.
XL]
607
inendation to take the advice of Colonel Lawrence on
the outposts were called
amounted
whom
to
little
in the fort
in,
1758 Europeans and 2220 sepoys.
the
cavalry, excellently
encampment
at St.
The
mounted and
number which had
arrack, in
irss.
Thom^ was abandoned.
Of
troops.
The
refuge
besiegers
the former, 300 were
Orme,
disciplined, and, according to
"
the
The Black To^vn not admitthe French gained easy possession of it, and immedi-
which the common
of some spies, most of
.\.d
hitherto appeared together in India.
Among
ately began to pillage.
Tiie siege,
other things they discovered a large quantity of
soldiers indulged so freely, that, according to the
them were
This report suggested to
unfit for duty.
Colonel Draper the probable success of a
it,
who took
details of the siege possess little interest.
ting of effectual defence,
i-eport
all
Besides these, 300 horse, on
dependence could be placed, accompanied the nabob,
when
After
the whole force available for the defence of Madras
numbered 2700 Europeans and 4000 native
greatest
occasions.
all
He was
sally.
authorized to attempt
and about midnight marched out of the western ravelin at the head of 500
picked men.
Black
Town
So
careless
were the enemy, that they reached a main street of the
without being discovered, and would probably have gained a decided
advantage had not the driunmers of the detachment, who were mostly black
boys, suddenly, of tlieir
own
accord, beat the gi-enadiers' march,
by a general huzza from the whole
Thus put upon
line.
their guard, the
succeeded, after a short struggle, in repairing the effects of the
nearly cut off the retreat of the attacking party.
the whole
and
was
to give the besiegers
discipline of the gan-ison
of the
and very
sides,
but the result on
Daoieli's Oriental Scenery.
an unfavourable impression of the courage
—an impression, indeed, so unfavom-able, that one
most experienced of the French
officers
proposed a general assault, and
The
volunteered to lead the principal attack himself
was probably more bravado than
tion of batteries
sui-i)rise,
enemy
Several blunders, perhaps
unavoidable in the darkness, were committed on both
Black Town, Madras. —From
II
and been followed
seriousness,
was not
was immediately commenced.
A
propo.sal, in
entertained,
which there
and the
erec-
few days' experience within
Mit.uii
r
I*
cos
.\.D
1759.
IILSTOKY OF INDIA.
the fort satisfied the nabob, and he
relief of the garrison,
lying in the
road.s,
was
at
Ills
[Book
own
request,
and greatly
III.
to the
shipped with his family on board a Dutch vessel which was
and engaged
to land
him
at Negapatam,
whence he might
easily proceed to Trichinopoly.
Deaiutory
Xlic opcratioas of the besiegers
own
rcsult of their
bjsiegers.
were much retarded by
For some time
improvidence.
obstacles, partly the
they had invested the
after
the greater part of their artillery, which had Ijeen sliipped at Alumparva,
fort,
was at sea detained by contrary winds, and they were unable to open
Meanwhile they were kept constantly on the
before the 2d of January. 1759.
both by
alert
sallies
by Mahmood
from the garrison and by detached
Issoof,
their fire
parties,
an excellent sepoy commander of
headed
chiefly
Olive's training,
who
intercepted several of their convoys, and devastated the country from which
When
they derived their principal supplies.
It proceeded only
tive.
fort,
from two
batteries,
the
fire
did open
was very
it
ineffec-
and was more than answered by the
the works of which remained uninjured, though the shells did considerable
damage
to the
satisfied
with their
most conspicuous public
before they ventured to resume
effect
it.
By
thrown up
little
were the besiegers
time the number of their guns had
this
Not a few of
which had been commenced
produced was proportionably greater.
the guns of the fort were disabled, and the trenches
at a breastwork
So
that they desisted, and allowed several days to elapse
first fire
been increased, and the
buildings.
close to the sea,
580 yards from the covered way, had
been gradually advanced by zigzags to the distance of
On
fifty yards.
the 23d
The cause proved to be
a want of ammunition, and they were waiting for a supply by a brigantine which
had sailed from Pondicherry on the 14th, when intelligence was received which
of January, the fire of the besiegers began to slacken.
Admiral Pococke
completely changed the prospects of besiegers and besieged.
had arrived at Bombay on the 10th of December, where he had been joined by
the
Rumours
two
ships of the line from
ships,
having on board GOO
sailed
under convoy of two
Lally was
of
now aware
England
men
;
and on the
31st, six of the
Company's
belonging to Colonel Draper's regiment, had
frigates,
and were on
that the assault,
if it
their
was
way
to be
to Madras.
made
at
all,
could not
ail assault.
be
much
longer delayed.
place on the very night
Indeed, a general rumour prevailed that
when
the intelligence
was received, and
whole garrison remained at their posts under arms
was groundless
;
and another fortnight was
any appearance of being
till
it
to take
in this belief the
morning.
The rmnour
to elapse before a breach
practicable could be efiected.
was
which had
Meanwhile the
siege
continued, though the hopes of the besiegers were becoming fainter and fainter.
On
She proved to be the
Company's ship Shaftesbury, and was one of those expected from Bombay. As
the worst sailer among them, she had been made the hospital ship, and left
the 30th, a vessel
was descried
to the southward.
both
behind on the 7th of the month off the south of Ceylon.
Shortly
wind and current began to favour
reach the destined
her,
and she was the
first to
after,
J
TUE SIEGE RAISED.
Chap. XI.
She added nothing
[)ort
to the strengtli of the garrison, for the only soldiers
board were thirty-six men,
tary stores.
sick
all
;
on
a.d.
1759.
but she brought what was become even more
—thirty-seven chests of
men
On the
necessary than
G0<)
silver,
and a
large quantity of mili-
7th of February a breach was made, which
Lall}-,
who was
a breach
and had become very impatient, thought practicable. His
engineers and artillery officers on being consulted, were not only of a different
naturally sanguine
opinion, but volunteered, though unasked, to add, that the continuance of the
seemed to them only a
siege
sacrifice of the lives of
men without any
proba-
this
desponding view with much
vivacity, could hardly avoid perceiving that there
was only too great a proba-
bility of success.
though he combated
Lally,
proving
bility of its eventually
During the
correct.
weeks of the
first
pay had been stopped
soldiers
had received only
gether
and while the native troops were gradually thinning away by
tlie
;
half- pay; latterly, their
and the bomb-shells wholly expended, and
difficulty that a precarious
procured.
enougli to
Amid all
make a
reinforcement.
it
the
alto-
desertion,
The gunpowder was
Europeans were threatening to become mutinous.
nearly,
siege,
was only with the utmost
and very inadequate supply of provisions could be
these discouraging circumstances, the garrison, already strong
was
successful defence,
in daily expectation of a powerful
Nothing more was necessary than
its
an instant
arrival to compel
by contrary winds and currents, which had obliged them to make their voyage by proceeding along the
east coast of the Bay of Bengal, at length, on the 1 Gth of February, made their
abandonment of the
The
siege.
long detained
ships,
appearance in the north-east, steering directly for the road.
Lally,
tion
"are adequate to describe the
was
at once taken,
effect
but as a cloak to
it,
"No
which they produced.'
he kept up his
fire
words," says Amvaior
His
resolu-
with more vivacity
was about
to be made,
and the garrison were once more kept a whole night under arms.
This ap})a-
than before.
The rumour again spread that the
rent activity and resolution
besiegers
were seen in
feint
was unable
compelled to raise the
siege,
Town
;
which he had
to ashes, in the event of being
and besides leaving cannon amounting
fifty-two pieces, he did not even attempt to transport his sick
was not an oversight
So hurried was
Plain.
to execute the resolution
to reduce the Black
first
and when morning dawned the
;
march towards the Choultry
full
their departure, that Lally
formed from the
was only a
assault
for in the hospital
in all to
and wounded.
where forty-two Europeans were
needless to say that no such recommendation
The whole
the performance of a simple act of humanity.
rison during the siege, including those
amounted
to 579
accurately known, but
that
it
Vol.
it
in order to secure
loss of
men by
the gar-
;
the loss of the besiegers
in
is
not
Europeans alone to at
tiic siege
raised.
•
has been inferred from an intercepted letter of
must have amounted
I.
/»
It
deserted or were taken prisoners,
Europeans and 7G2 sepoys
.
^L
who
was required
It
lying,
a letter was found, in which he recommended them to the governor's care.
is
fleet.
letist
700.
Lall}-,
Considering
77
/
lllSTUUY OF
610
A.D. i7&r.
111.
the casualties were fewer than iniglit have been expected; Vjut both besiegers
and besieged, while displaying abundance of
to
skill
and courage, were cautious not
expose themselves unnecessarily, and avoided serious loss
most part under
interruption,
and turn
Lally v/as permitted to continue his retreat with
cover.
and
retired
Vjy fighting for
upon Arcot.
to another quarter
There
we must
the
little
for the present leave him,
which had become the scene of important events.
Shortly after Bussy had, by withdrawing with his troops from the Deccan,
state of
the Deccan.
[Book
\S\)IA.
relinquished the fruit of
all his
distinguished achievements, the intrigues which
had long been carried on at the court of Salabut Jung, and
liad repeatedly
threatened to overthrow the French ascendency, broke out afresh, and even
The soubahdar, who was a man
proceeded to open violence.
of a feeble and
indolent character, became a mere pageant in the hands of his brother
Nizam
Ali and Basalut Jung, who, though pm-suing .separate and opposite schemes of
deemed
ambition,
annoimced
serious;
it politic for
a time to combine their
his determination to depart, Salabut
and when he went
When
interests.
Jung could
scarcely' believe
Bussy the guardian angel of
him he would
his life
was bent on
reached
it
ship,
by
and
fortune,
and
He
called
distinctly intimated that
own unliappy fate as sealed. He liad
Nizam Ali, at first contented to use him as
consider his
good cause for his forebodings,
his tool,
him
to take his leave, the timorous old soubahdar, throwing
aside all restraint, expressed himself in terms bordering on de.spair.
the day he lost
Bussy
for
seizing his throne.
In the course of nature he would have
without a crime, as he had been recognized as his heir to the soubah-
but he was too impatient to wait, and secured the object of his ambition
first
imprisoning and then murdering his brother.
These, however, were
only the ultimate results of Bussy's recall; the more immediate results were
manifested in the Northern
known
where the French had
The importance of
as absolute masters.
too well
Cii'cars,
some time ruled
their possessions in this quarter
be overlooked even by Lally, with
to
for
was
rashness; and
all his
by wliich Bussy was recalled, he enjoined him to leave,
imder an officer of the name of Conflans, as many troops as might be deemed
necessary to insure their safety. Under ordinary circiunstances the nmnber left
would have sufficed, but a danger not apprehended was at hand, and Conflans,
whose military talents were of the lowest possible order, was totally unfit to
therefore, in the letter
contend against
state of
Northern
it.
Bussy, in answer to
an earnest application from Surajah Dowlah, had
determined to lead a force into Bengal by
had marched north
to the sea-port
town
way
of Orissa,
and with that view
of Ganjam, where he
was deterred
from proceeding farther by intelligence of the capture of Chandemagore.
In
retracing his steps he
was bent on retaliating the injuiy which French commerce
had thus
and led
factories
sustained,
his troops against Yizagapatam,
which the English Company possessed within the
They were devoid
of
any means of
effectual resistance,
and the other
limits of the Circars.
and were
all
captm'ed
I
I
XI
Chap.
THE NORTHERN CIRCARS.
J
towards the end of 1757.
to the
Tlie loss to the
Gl
Company was
serious, for in addition
AD.
1758.
goods and other property pillaged from them, they were forcibly excluded
from a profitable branch of trade, those of the factories situated on arms of the
Godavery
been
having
accustomed
annually to provide
700 bales of excel-
'WSfc-
i
lent cloths at a cheap
home
rate for the
The
market.
re-
covery of the facto-
from
wrested
ries
them was of course
earnestly desired
the
by
Company; and a
rajah of the
name of
Anunderauz, whose
Peer Misjid and Hill nkak the Dolphins, Vizagapatam.
From
the Mdckcnzie Dra»'ings. £u»t India Uou^e.
territory lay in the
Rajahmundry and
provinces of
Cicacole, doubtless
aware of
this desire, offered
Anuni1erati7
seizes
them
his assistance.
Deeply offended at some arrangements which Bussy had
upon
Vizajja
putani.
made, he no sooner heard of his
made himself master
dash
French from
all
The attempt was
the provinces which had been ceded to them.
by himself single-handed, and he
therefore
overtures to the presidency of Madi-as, offering to reinstate
them in
When,
Vizagapatam
in
His ambition now was to expel the
of Vizagapatam.
too formidable to be undertaken
made
than he took up arms, and by a sudden
recall
as the first pledge of his sincere desire for their alliance.
consequence of the threatening aspect of
affairs in
the Carnatic, his offers
Offers
the
were declined, he made the same
propo.sal to the presidency of Bengal.
voted delusive and chimerical by
independent of
to
its
other merits,
all
the
had the
it
members except
special
him
He must
but some compensation might
a diversion in their favour.
vinces in danger,
whom,
have
regi'etted
which had only been temporarily intrusted to
for the expedition to Bengal,
by creating
to
was
recommendation of promising
do good service to his former emi)loyers at Madras.
his inability to return the troops
Clive,
It
would be obliged
The French, seeing
be given
their ceded
\n'o-
either to submit to the loss of them, or to
succom* them by weakening themselves in the Carnatic.
important object would be gained.
now
A
In either case a most
delay of some months, however, was
The proposal of Anunderauz was made in July, 1758, and no action
could be taken upon it till the change of the monsoon in September or October.
necessary.
In the interval the question was naturally asked,
spared for an expedition to the
Madras,
when
Circai-s,
— Wh}',
if
troops could be
should thev not be sent at once to
the certainty of an approaching siege would enable them to give
it
to
Britisli.
A.D. 1758.
OF INDIA.
illSTOlJY
(il'^
The question did not admit of a
answer
was
and there
;
is
dictated, not so
emergency render
authorities there
much by a
conviction of
of an ingenuous
being the
its
On
tlicse
whereas,
neces.sary;
it
be sul>
still
might imitate the example which Clive
•
them
th«;
and
liimself haxl set,
to return.
to the Circars
i
i
Anunderauz having been determined, the command of
to act in conccrt with
to Colonel Forde.
regiment in the king's
presidency to take the
It will
they were sent to Madras,
if
and similar prudential considerations, an expedition
.
was given
This
service,
command
originally attached to Adlercron's
officer,
had quitted
of their
it
it
on the invitation of the Bengal
army
in the event of Clive's departure.
be seen that the wisdom of this choice was fully justified by the event.
2000 sepoys, and 100
expedition, consisting of 500 Europeans,
with six brass six-pounders as
field-pieces, six
a howitzer, and an eight-inch mortar,
Anunderauz,
October.
cotah, about
the river in the end of September,
left
from Calcutta
Forde's
mohurs
to
tcrms ou whicli
had been supplied with rupees and gold
military chest
speedily exhausted, and
tlic rajali's
promise by
but at the same time decUned to furnish any
an aggregate amount of about £14,000.
sum would be
fulfilled his
Company, who had been sent
to a servant of the
for that piupose,
the 20tli of
till
his troops at the fort of Cossim-
had already
to the westward,
up Vizagapatam
delivering
money.
who was encamped with
twenty miles
lascars,
twenty-four pounders for battery,
but owing to tempestuous weather did not reach Vizagapatam
Treaty with
being
best, as of its
In the Circars the troops would
easily find pretexts for refusing to allow
The
lea.st
the authority of the Bengal presidency, and might be recalled should any
ject to
the Circars.
or at
ground to suspect that the preference given to the Circars
the safest and most politic course.
peilition to
full,
III.
make
the direct aid so urgently n!(iuired, instead of being employed merely to
a diversion?
Forde's ex-
[Kook
It
was evident that
some time was spent
and Company's
forces
this
in adjusting the
At
were to co-operate.
length
Anunderauz.
a regular treaty was drawn up, stipulating that
plunder should be equally
all
—that the countries conquered should belong
divided
and towns at the mouths of
rivers,
to the rajah, the sea-ports
with the revenues of the
to them, being, however, reserved to the
alienation or restitution of the territory
without the consent of both parties
—that
Company
annexed
districts
no proposal
for the
and towns acquired should be entertained
—and that the rajah should furnish 50,000
month for the expenses of the army. Before this treaty was concluded,
the united army moved so slowly that nearly a month was spent in advancing
thirty miles beyond Cossimcotah.
At length, however, the march was commenced in earnest, and on the 3d of December Conflans, who had collected the
French troops from all parts, was seen strongly posted about forty miles from
rupees a
Rajahmundry, on the highroad leading to
consisted of 500 Europeans, with
a large
number
it
more cannon than they could use
of native troops, including 500 horse
original force gained
much
in
numbers but
His
from Vizagapatam.
little
and 6000
force
at once,
and
sepoys.
Forde's
in efiective strength
from his
EXPEDITION TO THE NORTHERN CIRCARS.
Chap. XI.]
junction with the
5000
foot,
army
wliose wliole
he had
and ad.
consisted of 500 paltry horse
most of them armed with pikes and bows.
which he furnished were four
of value
whom
rajaii,
()13
In
the only things
fact,
managed by
field-pieces,
forty Europeans
collected.
Forde, having advanced to within four miles of the French camp, endea.
,
.
,
1
At
communication with Rajahmundry.
off their
last,
Foniedefeats
the French
1^
•
1
1
voured to bring them to action by threatenmg to place himself in their
and thus cut
1759.
by a
rear,
series of
]
manoeuvres, he succeeded in convincing Conflans that he was afraid of him, and
was preparing
petent
commander
forming his
line,
to forego all
left
the advantages of his position.
either side
all
their guns.
in which
Forde a decided advantage.
to rally ordered a charge,
After a
which resulted in the capture
After the flight had become general, a stand might
been made at the camp, but those within
threatened,
order.
which broke the French ranks, he drove them back in disorder,
and before they had time
of
little
The confused manner
almost entirely to the European.s.
fire
Suddenly
were quickly routed, and the decision of the
Conflans had formed his line gave
murderous
to induce this incom-
he advanced to the attack in much haste and
The native troops on
day was
Nothing more was necessary
to retreat.
and then
liasteiied off in the
it
only waited
who
liave
an assault was
Among
utmost confusion.
none was more conspicuous than Conflans,
till
still
the fugitives
i
rode with such speed that he
measured the distance of forty miles before midnight, and sought refuge in
Rajahmundry.
Here he was joined by the wrecks of
his
army, but his fears
pursued him, and Forde, on arriving next day, found the place evacuated.
the fort a large quantity of ammunition and militaiy stores
was
still
In
found.
This victory was gained on the 9th of December, and, had Anunderauz been
less
"'•'
further
t
tardy in his movements, might have been immediately followed by more
He
brilliant successes.
did not
then only employed himself
make
'
his appearance
till
the IGth, and even
endeavouring to evade the payments to which he
in
|
had bound himself by express
modified to the effect that
as a loan,
and that
all
all
To meet his wishes the treaty was
money furnished by him should be considered
stipulation.
the
•
I
the countries which might be conquered beyond the
|
Godavery, with the exception of those belonging to the French, should be
equally divided between
his shuffling conduct,
plish all the objects
motion
first
till
him and the
British.
In the altercations caused by
more time was wasted than might have sufficed to accomThe army could not be again put in
of the expedition.
the 28th of January, 1750.
Its destination
was Masulipatam.
town of impoi-tance on the road was Yalore, or more
';
ij
1
The
properl}' Ellore, the
I
capital of a province of the
same name, one of the four ceded
to the French.
j
The
British reached
it
on the 0th of February; Anunderauz,
contributions on the right and
and
be
after his arrival
made
wove
so
left,
many
before the 1st of March.
did not
make
who had been
his appearance
pretexts for delay that a
Colonel Forde had
new
now more
till
levying
the 18th,
start could
cau.se
not
than ever
j
Git
A.D. 1750.
which he had heen
to regret the iiitermiiialjle delays to
new enemy was
arrived that a
Appoariiiice
i)t
[Book
lILSTUitV «jr INJJIA.
III.
subject, for intelHgence
al>out to enter the fiehi
Coniians, after his defeat, had sent letters to Salaljut
Jung
earnest!}- uiging
Hjilal)iit
J lint; witli
him
to
march with
army from
his
Il^deraba^J to Masulipatam.
There,
Vjy
an iirmv
uniting their forces, they miglit Ijoth destroy the British troops and punisli
Anunderauz
reap the
1:)egun to
When
for his revolt.
the souhalidar received
he had
tlie.se letters,
of Bassy's departure, and, indolent as he was,
Ijitter fruits
would gladly have made any exertion that might have the effect of inducing
him to return. Such an event would have been most distasteful to Nizam Aii
and
who were
intrijTuers
tlio
leajjued with him.
At
the .same time, they were
anxious to take advantage of any change which
might facihtate their
re-
covery of the ceded pro-
and hence,
vinces;
after
wavering as to the course
to
be
became
pursued,
con%anced that
Salabut
Jung might be allowed
to march with his army
to Ma.sulipatam.
Basalut
Jung, entertainincr view.^
which made the Mendship of the French desirable,
Ba.stions
and Defences.
a,
Francois,
b,
Dutch, ...
c,
St. John's,
d,
e,
f,
g,
.
.
8 guns.
5
.18
Cameleon, .10
Small gate,
Churchyard,
Great gate.
foot.
h. Ravelin,
Pettah,
i,
„
k,
,,
1,
.,
m,
5 guns.
...
6
„
8
,,
p, 2
.
8
,,
q.
Michael,
8
.4
Engodour,
Saline,
St.
.
.
,,
n, Watergate,
8
,,
o,
.8
,,
8
English batteries, 4 guns.
„
18
,,
2
„
24
,,
and
Battery on other side
of the water to flank
r,
2
troops from his govern-
The Attack.
guns 12-pounders.
-^
brought a bodv of
ment
of Adoni.
After
„
joining, near the Kistna,
2 mortars,
the united force mu.stered
guns 18-pounders,
2 guns 24 poimdera.
and
15,000 hoi-se and 20,000
Forde had thus the alarming prospect of encomiteriiig, instead of
three armies.
A
soldier of less nerve
one,
would have paused before committing
His courage and
himself to a contest with such fearful odds.
decision,
on the
and he determined to proceed. On the 6tli of
of Masulipatam, and on the same day received the
contrary, rose with the danger,
March, he came in sight
gratifying intelligence that Lally had been compelled to raise the siege of Madi-as.
Miisidi-
Masxilipatam consisted of a town and a
The town, a
fort.
place of great
patam and
its fort.
extent, occupied a rising
the sea
by a narrow
ground between two morasses, and was separated from
belt of sandliills.
town, and communicating with
way 2000
3'ards in length,
fi'om north to south,
it
The
fort,
situated south-east of the
across one of the morasses
by a broad
cause-
formed an in'egular parallelogram 800 yards long
and about 600 yards broad.
On
the west, north, and east
5
("HAP
it
OPEKATIONS AGAINST MASULIPATAM.
XI.]
was
inclosed
the discharge of
61.
by the morass, and on the south by a sound partly formed by ad
an arm of the Kistna. The only hard ground within a mile of
the fort, on the north
its .
and west, was formed by a few patches of sand which rose
above the morass, but on the east the belt of sandhills was only about 800
yards distant.
Conflans with his troops was encamped in the town, and might easily,
throwing up an entrenchment on the hard ground between
way
placed an insuperable barrier in the
he only waited
way
into the
till
the invading force appeared,
fort.
to the north-east, while
his station
The defences
though modernized by the French after they took possession of
not be considered strong.
mud
The south
position in the sovmd.
causeway,
1
;
whom
he
of the fort,
in 1751, could
and the
walls,
com-
faced with brick, were on the west, north, and east flanked with
eleven bastions.
its
There was a ditch but no glacis
it
cause-
on the sands
Anunderauz and the Zemindar of Narsipore,
had induced to join him, took possession of the town.
posed of
Instead of this
and then retreated by the
Thus unobstructed, Forde took up
^"^t" "^
morasses, have
tlie
of Fordes approach.
by
side
was considered
to be sufficiently defended
The gateway was at the north-west
by
angle, facing the
20 yards of which was converted into a oaponiere, terminating in a
strong ravelin.
The
fort,
number
besiegers were far too few in
and determined
to attack it
to
make
regular approaches to the
by batteries erected on the sands on the
east,
This position, besides being the nearest to the walls, had the advantage of
giving ready access to the shore, on which the battering artillery which had
been brought by sea was to be landed.
in
consisted of fom* twenty-four, four eigliteen,
the attack
pounders,
trenches.
Ultimately the whole artillery emplo3'ed
and two twelve-
mounted on three detached batteries, without the communication of
It was certainly a very bold, not to say a rash attempt, to take such
Not only should the fire of the fort have been
able to overpower that which was brought against it, but the garrison outnumConflans, however, was too ignorant and timid to
bered the attacking force.
turn his advantage to account, and remained cooped up within the walls, employing his means of defence so im])erfectly, that dm-ing the eighteen days
employed by the besiegers in erecting their batteries, the incessant fire from the
While thus favoured by the pusillanimity of the
fort killed only five men.
garrison, Forde was beset with dangers.
On the 19th of ^larch, six days before
a place
by such
feeble means.
the batteries were completed, the whole of his Europeans broke out in
and threatened to march away
money already
due,
if
mutiny
they were not immediately paid the prize
and assured that
if
they took Masuliiiatam the whole of the
The former demand could not be comwas empty, and the latter was in direct oppo-
booty would be delivered up to them.
plied witli as the military chest
sition to the
Company's
the captors.
No
regulations,
which gave only the half of the booty to
sooner was this disgraceful mutin}- overcome
by good temper
'
<"'i^' '*=-
besiege
Ma-
I
;
/
UIG
A.D. i7ao.
lilriTOKV ut
and
fiininess,
and the
i:sUL\.
[B^iOK
news airived that Basalut Juu^
Anunderauz and the zemindaj>>
batteries opened, than
with his army was only forty miles distant.
with him were so alanned, that in the course of the night, without a
warning, they marched off with their whole
return
it
till
was made
rushing to destruction instead of escaping from
The
Tlie assault
and capture
of Masuli-
On the
pa tarn.
for
batteries
had kept up a hot
fire
was now
to be done?
was absolutely cut
as disgraceful,
wall,
March
of
2.'3th
to the 0th April
could only be continued
it
Salabut Jung, and a body of French troops
An
off.
escape
and determined
by
now
sea
was
With
to storm.
possible,
still
this
sufficiently ruined to
fire
was main-
effect,
that three
view the
much
As
admit of mounting.
by land
but Forde rejected
one near the centre, and the other two at the extremities of
were
What
who had been
so near that the retreat
tained with double vivacity on the 7th, and with so
bastions,
were only
by that time the ammunition would be expended.
as
Uj
it.
from the
scouring the surrounding country, were
it
their flight they
evening of this day the engineers reported that
two days more,
not<; of
and could not be induced
forces,
them that by
palpaljle to
J 1 1.
tlie
eastern
the attack might thus
be made from more places than one, the attention of the garrison was distracted
and hence, while two
feints
of the north-east angle
were practised, the
met with comparatively
mitted to the Eiu'opean battalion, mustering in
ing party.
little
all,
made
at the bastion
obstruction.
with the
Rardwicke, 346 rank and
thirty sailors taken from the
The storm-
real attack
It
was com-
ailillerjTnen,
file,
and 1400
sepoys.
One would willingly tell of the heroism of the assailants, but unfortunately very
little was displayed, and success was not so much extorted by them as yielded
by their opponents. When the storming party was about to move. Captain
Callendar, appointed to lead them, was nowhere to be found.
He aftei-wards
appeared when the assault was understood to have succeeded, and met from a
stray shot the death which he had in vain endeavomred to escape by cowardice.
Even after the breach was mounted, and an advance made along the rampart,
the cry of "A mine!" produced such a panic, that Captain Yorke, who was gallantly heading the storming party, found himself suddenly left with only
drummers
;
and on hastening back to the breach, found
some even proposing
to
make
their escape.
persuasion, having induced a small
courage,
Conflans
and
trouble.
band
and the captm-e was achieved.
Seated in his
own
all his
men
two
in confu.sion,
Partly by threats, and partly by
to follow, the otliers regained their
Conflans, indeed, gave little fm'ther
house, he continued recei\Tjig
and sending contra-
surrenders.
dictory messages, and
To
his disgrace it
was no sooner summoned than he hastened
must be added, that when the prisoners were counted they
considerably outnumbered the captors.
Within the
fort
were found
and much valuable plunder.
the pi'incipal cause of
siege as a
mockery
to surrender.
;
its
1
Among them were
500 Em-opeans.
20 pieces of cannon, abundance of militar}-
The improbability of the
success.
assault is said to
The garrison had from the
first
stores,
have been
treated the
and being in expectation of a reinforcement from Pondi-
7
TREATY WITH SALABUT JUNG.
XL]
Chap.
cherry were only waiting
CI
arrival to sally out, and, in concert with the native ad.
its
1759
army now at hand, inflict signal punishment on the British for their presumpThe overweening confidence of the French was better deserving of punishtion.
ment, and received
it.
to the Northern Circars produced more brilliant results than
••
!!•
1
T
Salabut Jung and his advisers,
sanguine could have anticipated.
The expedition
the most
if^ii
•
Results of
capture of
Masiuipa-
though surprised and vexed at the capture of Masulipatam, were not without
hopes of being able to recover
tiie
it.
With
this
view they advanced within
nine miles, in hopes of meeting with the expected Pondicherry reinforcement.
away without landing
the troops, on finding that the place had fallen. After this new disappointment
Salabut Jung's politics underwent a sudden change.
Nizam Ali was openlyIt did arrive
;
but the ships which brought
plotting his overthrow;
and
seemed now unable to
assist him,
as the French,
hastened
it
on
whom
he had previously leaned,
he became anxious to provide for his
own
by exchanging the French for a British alliance. A negotiation opened
with this view was speedily followed by a regular treaty, by which Salabut Jung
ceded to the Company, in absolute property, Musulipatam and other districts
safety
in the
Northern
Circars,
forming a continuous tract of territory which extended
eighty miles along the coast, and twenty miles inland, and yielded an annual
revenue of 400,000 rupees.
He
engaged, moreover, not to allow the French to
have either troops or factories north of the Kistna, nor to seek or accept of
assistance
from them.
In return for these important concessions the
Company
only promised not to assist or give protection to any of the soubahdar's enemies.
He
appears, however, to have expected
assistance
was
to be given
more
;
him against Nizam
and on finding that no
Ali,
marched
ofi"
direct
in great dis-
pleasure.
Reverse after reverse had thus followed the French arms, and the Indian
empire, which they at one time seemed on the point of establishing,
ing like a dream.
in
which
still
little
who had
After raising the siege of Madras, Lally,
upon Arcot, endeavoured to maintain
his
retired
ground by a kind of desultory warfare,
advantage was gained by either
under his command might have
was vanish
side.
The number of troops
justified active operations
on a larger
scale;
but their spirit was bad, and his funds being again exhausted, ho abinptly con-
by withdrawing from the field, and disposing his army in
different cantonments.
The main body, consisting of 11 00 Europeans, accompanied him to Pondicherry, where he determined to wait till a long expected
cluded the campaign
The Madras presidency were also
though the season would have allowed the
reinforcement and squadron should arrive.
^expecting reinforcements, and hence,
[campaign to be protracted a
[the interval of repose
little
which
longer, thoy willingly availed themselves of
Lall}'
had offered; and imitated
[distributing their troops in a series of forts, which,
)ut,
his
example by
commencing with Chingle-
near the Paliar, continued northwards, so as to form a kind of
Vol.
I.
78
cui've.
Active
interrupted
(51
A.D. 1750.
JIlSTOkV OF IM^IA.
y
having Madras
for its centre.
the only activity displayed
was
While
in
^)<>i\\
sending out small
ceeded in driving off about 0000 head of
leiiifoice-
were thus
i>arties to
ill.
in cuntoninent«,
make
piedatory
In these the Corn[)any's troops were particularly expert, and suc-
incursions.
iiiiiisUfKet
arrnies
[Bo.,K
cattle.
On the 28th of April, 17o9, Admiral Pococke arrived with his squadron from
Bombay but, in order to keep to the windward of Pondicherry, and watch tiie
;
in,;iits.
expected squadron of the French, did not come farther north than NegHjiatarn.
In the end of June, three of the Company's usual ships arrived from England
They brought 200 recruits, and the promise of a much more important reinforcement by other ships. This was the 84th regiment of 1000 men, commanded by
Coote,
mand
who was now
its lieutenant-colonel,
and had been appointed
to the com-
of the Company's troops in Bengal, with the option, however, of remain-
ing with his regiment in the Carnatic, should his presence there seem more
While general joy was diffused throughout the settlement by
necessary,
intelligence, the
governor and council were in possession of a secret which
them with gloomy forebodings.
The court of directors, dazzled
b}'
prospects wlncn had been opened in Bengal, imagined that from
ficient
funds might be obtained to supply the wants of
and under that
Thus at the
im})ression
ver}^
had resolved
to
all
the
it
this
filled
bi-illiant
alone suf-
the presidencies;
send no more treasure
1700.
till
time when everything announced an approaching campaign,
from which the most decisive results were anticipated, the presidency, alread}almost overwhelmed with debt, were to be
and incalculable demand on
Naval
left to strucjcjle
unaided
ac^ainst
a
new
their resources.
Admiral Pococke, misled by a Danish
vessel
which reported that a French
operations.
fleet
of twelve sail
had arrived
that port, and reached
French
having the
on the 3d of July without obtaining any tidings of
In returning, he cruised
ships.
of the island,
it
at Trincomalee in Ceylon, immediately sailed for
and had the good fortune
first
for a short time off the north extremity
to
meet with four of the Company's
ships
division of Coote's regiment on board, as well as provisions and
stores for the use of his
own
squadron.
He
therefore proceeded with the newly
an-ived ships to Negapatam, and after tran.shipping the supplies, allowed them
to continue their
voyage to Madras, wliere the troops were landed and detained
for the use of the presidency.
On
the 20th of August he again sailed for Trin-
comalee, and on the 2d of September descried the French
manded, as
fleet.
It
was com-
by Count d'Achd, and, having obtained a large reinforcement
both of ships and men, numbered eleven sail of the line and tliree frigates. The
British squadron consisted of nine sail of the line, a frigate, two Company ships,
and a fire-ship. Both fleets immediately prepared for action but their relative
before,
;
positions
and the
state of the
weather did not allow them to come to
close
when au engagement commenced which lasted two hours
without producing any decisive result. The French, by retiring as they had
quarters
till
the lOth,
done on the previous occasions, acknowledged themselves defeated, but
sailed so
'
AimiliAL POCOCKE AND COUNT D'ACHE.
Chap. XI. J
much
(liiy
bli)
better than the British as to liave no difficulty in eluding pursuit.
way
best of his
position of
a.d kop.
Admiral Pococke returned to JNegapatam, and Count d'Ach^
after the battle
made the
The
His
to Pondicherry.
arrival did little to
improve the
The whole troops
affiiirs.
him were no
more than 180 men; and the money,
had brought
lie
witii
though doubled by the capture of an
English East Indiaman, amounted in
How
to only £33,000.
all
was such
a reinforcement to supply the serious
loss
men sustained by
and how was such a
of
verses?
to
recent repaltry
sum
meet either past arrears of pay or
current expenses?
Count d'Ach^,
in-
stead of troubling himself with such
questions,
had anxieties of a
difierent
kind which he thought sufficient to
occupy
that
his attention.
He had
heard
Admiral Pococke's squadron was
Admiral Sir George Pococke.— From a
portrait
engraved by Aligmet.
about to be reinforced by four men-
and
of-war,
what coidd he expect but
a new encoiuiter? So determined, therefore,
was already too strong
as it
destruction if he should be forced to
for him,
was he to depart that he refused to go ashore, and gave orders to prepare
sailing in the course of twenty-four hours.
with universal alarm and indignation.
Tinnanv
of
aiimirTr
for
This annoiuicement was received
and military
All the civil
authorities,
together with the principal inhabitants, assembled at the governor's, and assuming the character of a national council, imanimously resolved that the precipitate
departure of the squadron woidd be ruinous to the public interests.
remaining
d'Acht?
inflexible,
a protest was drawn
departed he wovdd be held responsible for the
uj),
loss
Count
declaring that if he
of the settlement,
compelled to answer for his conduct to the king and the ministry.
He
and
had
and was some leagues out at sea when one of the ships which
had been accidentally detained reached him and delivered the protest, together
actually departed,
with a copy for each of his captains.
ately
summoned
of Pondicherry.
after,
it,
a council, and, after a short delay, anchored again in the road
The hopes thus
raised
when he had an opportunity
and
finally
as a kind
Staggered at this proceeding, he immedi-
to
were soon disappointed
engage the
Briti.sh
;
for a
few days
squadron, he declined
departed on the 30th of September, leaving behind him, however,
of compromise. 000 men, of
whom
500 were Eiu'opean
sailors
or
marines.
When
arrival
the campaign again opened, the presidency, in expectation of the
..
,...
n
^
•
•
of Colonel Coote with the reniainnig division of his regiment, were
Bntisu
r--
^erse before
w.m.iiw.ish.
C20
A.D.
1709.
JliSTORY OF IM>JA.
averse to undertake any operation
contrary, Iiaving only an interim
[Bijok III.
Major Brereton, on the
of importance.
command of
was anxious
the troops,
to signalize
himself before he should be superseded, and by great urgency obtained] a wjnsent
to
attempt the capture of Wandivviwli.
fantry and 800 horse,
1
500 of the
His whole
fc^niier
and
1
00 of the
latter
j,^
^lie
viciuity of
''
successfiil at
wamiiwabh.
little
interruption
The French having
o obtained
Waudiwasli on the 28th.
in-
European, marched
from Conjeveram on the 2Gth of Septemljer, and arrived with
Breretonun
4080
force, consisting of
intelli-
gence of his motions, had considerably augmented their force; but he was not
aware of the
and
fact,
in the belief that they
received reinforcements, thought
with the least possible delay.
it
were only expecting, and had not
good generalship to ad^ance to the attack
Their Europeans he believed to be only 900,
whereas they were in fact 1300.
Confident in his supposed superiority, he
deemed caution unnecessary, and the very next day
attack the
enemy
position within the forts
and
these circumstances failure
enemy magnified
upon Conjeveram.
the French
numbers
who
greater,
and under the protec-
inevitable,
till
was
and a severe
repul.se,
besides native troops, advanced to
to
In
which
ilajor Brereton main-
sustained,
the ith of October, and then retired
arrived the day after and took the
now amounting
but their
more formidable than he imagined.
was almost
Wandiwash
Bussy,
force.s,
far
into a great victory,
tained his position at
their
inclosures of a large town,
was
tion of the guns of the fort,
the
Not only were
at midnight.
after his arrival prepared to
command
1500 European foot and 300
Conjeveram
to offer battle,
of
cavalr\-,
but Brereton,
now as dispirited as he had previously been confident, had no inclination to risk
a new disaster.
Eussy, thus unopposed, sent back the main body of the arm\'
to
Wandiwash, and proceeded with an European detachment of 400 horse and
150 foot to Arcot.
Basalut Juug, Salabut Jung's brother,
Fiench
negotiations
with Basa"°^'
,
,
.
who
held the government of Adoni,
,
had amved on the northern
and made overtm-es which
the French deemed so hopeful, that Bussy was on the way to join him and
concert an alliance.
With this view he had proceeded to Arcot, and continuing
his
journey had
left it
frontier of the Caruatic,
a day's march behind him,
when his fui-ther progress
Wandiwash had broken out
army at
in open mutiny.
More than a year's pay was due to them, and they had a
belief, well or ill founded, that much money which ought to have been employed
The mutiny,
in discharging their arrears had been intercepted and embezzled.
was arrested by the
at
first
only
pait-ial,
intelligence that the
increased
by the
discipline
employed
to suppress it
;
and the
marched out and encamped on the
The
height which Major Brereton occupied before he made his ill-fated attack.
whole
troops, leaving their ofiicers behind,
soldiers eventually carried their point,
and did not return
to
duty
till
they
received half a year's pay in hand, a promise of the rest in a month, and a
general pardon.
Bussy,
by
halting
till
the mutiny
precious time, and, on reaching Basalut Jung,
was
suppres.sed, lost
had the mortification
some
to discover
NEGOTIATIONS WITH BASALUT JUNG.
Chap. XI.]
that he
his views
had changed
and
risen in his demands.
621
The
fact of the
a.d. 1750.
mutiny had not been lost upon him and he became doubtful whether he might
not by an alliance with the French be only involving himself in a falling cause.
;
His proposals
that the French were no longer in
—obviously dictated by a
refuse anything— were: — That on receiving a present sum of four
belief
a condition to
of rupees for the pay of his troops, he would return with Bussy to Arcot,
lacs
forthwith recognized as nabob of the province, and of
provided he were
Trichinopoly and
dependencies;
its
— as
the
first
step in this agreement, the
the countries of which they
French should at once surrender to his authority
all
had actual possession, he drawing the revenues by
his o^vn
to
them
for a third of the
amount
;
— other countries which might be conquered
by their united armies were to be his
deduction of a third
;
absolutely'',
— ultimately, when
the British, or reducing
them
dewan, but accomiting
to terms,
without being subject to the
made by conquering
peace should be
should become absolute lord of the
lie
whole Carnatic according to ancient usages, and the French cease to have any
claim whatever to any part of the revenues.
others in which Basalut
sulted,
Jung s
and future advantage was alone con-
were too extravagant to be seriously entertained, and Bussy began to
He had
retrace his steps.
been obliged to proceed as
ftir
as Kurpa, to
which
Jung liad retreated and had thus, without securing any advantage of
least moment, performed a march of 100 miles in a direct line, and of not
than 300 miles by road, much of it over barren tracts and through the
Basalut
the
less
;
windings of mountain
his
pi'esent
These proposals, accompanied with
valleys.
new
Before he returned
disasters
had befallen
countrymen.
greatest difhculty
Lally's
had
all
along been the want of funds.
The
La"? ««"dicioiuly
revenues obtained from the lands ceded to them, or in their possession, had
never sufficed in the days of their gi-eatest prosperity to meet the expenses in
the field
;
and,
would be able
rent found
fore,
now
to
that a series of reverses had
made
it
doubtful whether they
maintain their ground, the zemindars and other parties
many
in opening a
plausible excuses for withholding
new
campaign, to
make
it.
It
was
liable in
necessary, there-
.some decided effort to procure funds.
After various projects had been discussed, Lally became satisfied that the south
The country beyond Ootatoor had for some time
suffered little from the ravages of war, and the island of Seringham in particular,
which was still in French possession, woidd shortly reap a harvest, of which the
was the most hopeful quarter.
share belonging to the government of Pondicherry
rupees.
for;
and
was estimated
at GOO, 000
Situated as Lally was, this seemed to him an object well worth fighting
in order to secure
of dividing his army.
He
it,
he determined to hazard the very dangerous step
accordingly despatched M. Crillon to the south witli
a force consisting of 900 Europeans and
1
'200
native troops, with ten pieces of
cannon, and concentrated the remainder of the araiy in the vicinity of Arcot,
from which
it
might be moved on any place that was threatened.
divides
**'
iiis
:
622
A.D. 17.W.
lIl.ST(Jlt^'
The Madras
[Book
to lose
no time
II
vohiiiUirily
commencing the «im-
in
This they were able to do under the most favourable auspices.
pai<^n.
blunder.
INJJlA,
were no sooner made aware how LalJy had
[)resi(lency
weakened himself than they resolved
Ooote profitB
Ol
Colonel
remainder of his rej'iment, had anived at Madras on the 27th
(Joote, witli the
of October, and, in the exercise of the discretionary
power with which he had
been intrusted, decided to remain in the Canaatic.
On
the 21st of Novembei-
he set out for Conjeveram, where the larger pait of the troops of the presidency
were in cantonment
;
a council of war, at which
forces,
was decided
it
that, in the di\nded state of Lally's
To
an attempt should be made to capture Wandiwash.
intention,
about to
conceal this
and leave the enemy in doubt as to the place on which the blow was
fall,
Coote sent Captain Preston
M-ith a
and Major Brereton with another
gleput,
moved with
there,
command, assembled
and, immediately after assuming the
the
mam
He
body on Arcot.
and learned with
detachment to remain at Chin-
to attack Trivatore, while he himself
enemy encamped
exjjected to find the
surprise that they
had removed
future
¥AKJ)I¥ASH
His
to Chittapet.
coui-se
had not been
when an
detemiined,
express
N 1759
arrived from Major Brereton
with
tlie
gratif3'ing
intelli-
gence that, besides taking Trihe had
vatore,
mai'ched on
Wandiwash, and made himself
master of
suburbs.
its
Coote at once determined to
follow up this succe.ss
forced march.
On
by
he
an'i\dn<;
found that Brereton had
most completed a battery
for
the south-west angle of the
Captiu'e of
two eighteen-pounders, erected
fort.
a
al-
so as to bear on
In the course of the night another
batter}- to
bear on the same angle was commenced.
On
the following day, the 29tli of
November, both batteries opened their
fire,
and before noon had made a
Wandiwash.
The
practicable breach.
500 horsemen and foot
body of French
garrison
French
other
by
troops, consisting of
was summoned
officer,
was commanded by a native officer, who had
under him, but he had accepted the assistance of a
fort
who
68 Europeans and 100 sepoys.
to surrender,
two answers were retunied
given him.
who
the
last,
the
specified hour.
on the wall and
Company
in
but required an answer
Shortly after the expiry of the time, the French appeared
called out that they
mir.d on their part
districts,
by
and
what teims would be
Coote promised to continue liim as a dependant of the
the government of the fort and the rent of the
by a
sent to ask
the
—one
declared his determination to hold out to the
the native governor or killedar,
When
were ready to surrender
This change of
was doubtless produced by the known intention
of the
MOVEMENTS OF COOTE AND LALLY.
Chap. XI.j
killedar to accept the terms whicli
had been
It
oflered.
o23
is
admitted, indeed,
a.
a
1759.
that he had signed his acceptance just as the British troops entered the fort,
and
on the pretext that he was too
yet,
He was
were shamefully violated.
related to the family of
long been connected with the French,
mveterate an enemy
made with him
Chunda Sahib, liad
the stipulations
late, all
and was held by Mahomed Ali
to be so
he set more value on the possession of him as a
tliat
On
prisoner than the reduction of the fort.
such irrelevant and miworthy
grounds the Madras presidency became parties to an act of gross treachery, and
the killedar, after refusing to disclose his treasures, or
for his
pay ten
ransom, was confined in a fort on one of the highest
Lally
now
discovered,
when
lacs of rupees
hills of Velloi'e.
too late, that he had committed a fatal error in
oti' er
auvceiites.
Not only was he imable
dividing his army.
to relieve Wandiwjisli, but he could
not conceal from himself that other forts were destined to share the same
fate.
Carangoly, a large fort situated twenty- five miles E.N.E. of Wandiwash, was
next attacked, and
fell
like
it,
and obtaining better terms.
sidered as
as
tlie
thougli not without
capital of the nabobshi]), the possession of it
Preparatory to the siege of the
move from Coverypauk and take
opposition
was next
Coote's attention
an object of primary moment, though
portant.
making a
—the garrison of the
in itself
called to Arcot.
Con-
was naturally regarded
was comparatively unim-
Coote ordered a detachment to
fort,
post in the city.
fort,
it
better defence
Tliis
was accomplished without
which was only half a mile
distant, looking
on as unconcerned spectators, while possession was taken of the nabobs palace
and the adjoining
streets.
It
was
not,
allow the capital to be wrested from
saw
it
however, to be supposed that Lally would
him without a
seriously threatened, he sent a peremptory order recalling Crillon with
his force
from Seringham.
fruitless visit to
Bassy, too, arrived most opportunely from his long and
him not only
Basalut Jung, bringing with
taken away, but a considerable body of good horse
him.
The moment he
struggle.
The aspect of
affairs
whom
all
he had induced to join
The
was thus somewhat changed.
ment, after they had collected
fa.scines
and other
British detach-
and even commenced
materials,
the ei'ection of a battery, were obliged suddenly to
the troops he liad
decamp
;
and
Bus.sy's horse
taking advantage of his departure for Pondiclierry, spread themselves over the
country, and committed every species of devastation.
of Mahrattas,
who had been hovering on
descend into the low country to
sell
sum
the same time a body
the western frontiers, prepared to
themselves to the highest
Madras presidency deeming their terms too high,
agent gave a
At
of 20, 000 rupees in hand,
horse who, without joining their camp,
made
tried to lower
l)idder.
them
;
The
the Frencli
and thus obtained a body of 1000
their appeai-ance
between
Ai'cot
and Conjeveram.
Coote
witli his
1
army
next evenmg took up
troops
quitted
••
a position
when moving towards
Wandiwash on
the 13th of December, and
Tillwhich enabled him
I'l
each other, whetlier from
•
1
to intercept the
.Vi'cot
Motimi
inoveiiiente
enemy s
or from Chittapet.
ofc.«.toani
^'"^'
^2^
A.D.1760.
On
IILSTOIIY
the IGth
lio
advanced
OF INDIA.
[Book
six miles nearer the former town.
III
Meantime Busnys
horse and the Malirattas continued their course of plunder to Huch an extent,
that the inhabitants took refuge in the forts and woods, and ceased
any
supplies of provisions to the British camp, whicli
ened with starvation.
To
was
tfj
Ijinng in
in consequence threat-
increase their difficulties, the rain began to
As the be.st alternative that now remained, Coote quitted liis
and placed his army in cantonments in Coverypauk and the adjacent
torrents.
Shortly after Coote's retirement, Lally,
who had
in
fall
position
villages.
Ijeen exerting him.self to the
utmost, quitted Chittapet with a largely augmented force, and advanced to
Arcot.
This
movement compelled Coote again
to take the Held,
and he took up
a strong position at a point nearly equidistant from Arcot and CoverjT:»auk
Here, with a large tank in front, a morass on each flank, and a rear accessible
only along a causeway, he remained on the defensive, both becaase the
enemy
was
far superior to
negotia-
tion
by
liLs side.
whicli it
him in cavalry, and he was waiting the result of a
was hoped that the Mahrattas might be gained over to
Lally, too, waiting for the return of the reinforcement
late to save
Masulipatam, and mistrusting the
had good reasons
after their late mutiny,
for not
which had arrived too
spirit of his
assuming the
European troops
Both
offensive.
armies consequently remained within their encampments.
^^"y
conjeTeram
In the beginning of January, 1760, the negotiation with the Mahrattas again
terminated in favour of the French.
rupees, but proposed to
in ready money,
The Madras
pay in conditional
and were of course
bills
;
prefeiTcd.
pre.sidency offered 00,000
the French sent the same
On
sum
the 8th of January, Innis
Khan, Morari Row's general, joined their camp with a new body of 3000 moiuited,
and a greater number of
foot plunderers.
Lally's star
seemed once more
in the
ascendant, and he quitted his
encampment to commence active operations. Coote
suspected that the recovery of Wandiwash was his object, and sent orders to the
officer whom he had left in command to defend it to the last extremity.
At
the same time, sending off his baggage to Cover^q^auk, he began to move eastward
along the north bank of the Paliar.
Lally kept moving at some distance from
the southern bank at a very slow pace.
He had an object in view, and was preparing to gain it by a stratagem.
He had been told that the British army
derived
its
supplies of rice from large magazines of
this belief
he executed a
as soon as
it
body of 300
was dark
series of
set out,
it
stored at Conjeveram.
In
dexterous manoeuvres to cover his design, and
taking nearly
all
the cavalry of his
army and
sepoys, with the utmost expedition crossed the Paliar,
and
a
after
town at eight o'clock in the
morning.
He had no difficulty in entering it, but it was only to meet disappointment.
His information had been false. The stores of rice were imaginary,
and the plunder found within the town was almost wortliless. The pagoda,
indeed, contained a stock of military stores but it was a place of some strength,
occupied by two companies of sepoys under an English Heutenant and as he had
a march of fifteen miles, pounced suddenly upon that
;
;
XL
CiiAi'.
I
no means of forcing
LALLY BEFOllE WANDIWASR.
625
make
a hasty retreat, after
it
it,
only remained for him to
levenging- himself on the inoffensive inhabitants
Lally, after this disapjwintment,
by
A.D. 1760.
setting fire to their houses.
was more anxious than ever
to perform
some
l-all.V
ra^^olves to
which might revive the
exploit,
He
troops.
spirits
know
could not but
and
him
raise
in tiie estimation of his attempt
that the failure of most of his recent measures
the
capture of
Wandiwiisli.
had suggested grave doubts of his capacity; and that the re])utation of Bussy, of
wiiom he had always entertained an unworthy jealousy, had risen
own had
as his
in ])ro])ortion
These facts galled him to the quick, and made him so
sunk.
impatient that he was almost ready for any attempt, however rash.
exerted himself to check this wild
.spirit;
and,
when it was proposed
Bussy
forthwith to
attempt the capture of Wandiwash, suggested a far more judicious course.
English, he said,
would not
lose
Wandiwash without
The
risking a battle to save
it.
That battle the French
would
fight
be
obliged
under great
vantage.
A
of
force
their
the
di.sad-
large part
necessarily be
in
to
siege,
would
employed
and the
main body thus weakened, being
obliged
to
lemain where they could
cover the siege, would
hjive
no choice of
posi-
tion.
The better
plan,
CoNJEVERAM. near to the Great Pagoda. —From the
Mackpntle Drawings. East India Home.
therefore,
to engjvge
would be not
in operations
which might make
it
neces.sary to
risk
a general
Coote's
counter
action,
but to keep together on the banks of the Paliar, and employ the Mahrattas
ravaging the country and cutting off
in
tiie
enemy no
all
alternative but either to fight
sources of supply, so
when he would
or be foi-ced to seek subsistence under the walls of Madras.
Lally
would not have relished from any
one,
was most
who, he was uncharitable enough to think, liad given
His determination, therefore, was to
hazards.
])ected
Coote,
who had
attack upon
it,
left
it
a.s
to leave
rather decline
it,
This advice, which
imi)alatal)le
from Bussy,
from unworthy motives.
attenijit the siege of
Wandiwash
at
all
hastened off to Conjeveram on hearing of the unexit
on the 14th of January, and having crossed the
—
encamped on the l7th near Outramaloor a position which, besides being
equidistant from Trivatore, where Bussy iiad been left with the main body of
Paliar,
tlie
French army, and Wandiwa.sh, at which Lally had now arrived
\\'ith
in person
a considerable detachment, had the additional advantacfe of securing the
communication with Chingle[)ut, and through
it
with
jMadra-s.
Lally, after
taking possession of the subiu'bs of Wandiwash, threw entrenchments across
Vol.
I.
79
luoveitiLiit.
626
A.D. 17C0.
the openings of the streets leading to
erected near the
the
OF INDIA.
IIISTOIIY
tlie fort,
same spot wliich Coote had
same angle which he succeeded
selected,
must
when
arrive,
to fire
upon
shortly after joined
Coote, though suffering from
watching his opportunity, which he knew
enemy prepared
the
was intended
He waa
in breaching.
provisions, kept his position,
III.
and commenced a battery which,
by Bussy from Trivatore with the main body.
want of
[Book
to as.sault,
a.s
he would then have an
option of attacking the besiegers, or the division encamped in the plain to cover
Bussy, thus confirmed in the view he had taken of Coote's probable
them.
tactics, reiterated
the siege
advice,
of
was now
Coote,
.-\Vproach
a better opportunity
till
army together by
the advice to keep the whole
;
than ever to
less inclined
who had
but Laily,
listen to
desisting from
formerly rejected the
it.
on learning that the battery had opened
and breached the
its fire,
the two
armies.
main rampart, quitted
encampment
his
at Outramaloor,
bourg, within seven miles of Wandiwash.
tain of
same name
and advanced
to Tirim-
In the vicinity of the latter a moun-
stretches above a league from north-east to south-west.
French army was encamped opposite to the eastern end of
two miles from the
On
fort.
Tiie
mountain, aVjout
this
the 22d of January Coote hastened forward at the
head of two troops of European and 1000 native cavalry, together with two
He was
companies of sepoys.
first
descried
by the Mahrattas, who were lying
with their plunder along the north-east foot of the mountain
he took possession of
whole plain clear up to their camp.
necessity, while the
Shortly
about
after, observing,
lialf
ground beyond was well adapted
it,
and went back
intention to lead
them on
received with acclamations
to the line of infantry, to
to a general encracrement.
by the whole
troops
;
a mile
for .shelter
whom
Tlie
him
announcement was
and he led them on
in battle
Here they
stood in full view of the French camp, without perceiving any motion in
Coote outmaiiiEuvres
Lallv.
The day began
to wear,
foot so covered with stones
till
it,
or
fort.
and Coote proceeded with
towards the south side of the mountain,
to
he announced his
array to the ground which the cavalry were already occupjTng.
even hearing the sound of firing against the
and
for the display
action of the whole army, he ordered the division he had brought with
form upon
skir-
It
some gardens and other inclosures which might be used
to the right,
on
and some
was on the whole to his advantage,
the ground which the enemy quitted, and saw the
mishing took place between the cavalry.
for
;
his army, stiU
drawn
he reached a tract of ground at
and fragments of
its
which the
rocks, that cavalry, in
enemy's main superiority consisted, could not act upon
up,
Here he halted
it.
opposite to the French camp, at the distance of about a mile and a half, expect-
ing that the defiance which he thus threw out would be accepted.
time, perceiving that the
to skirt the
as to
give
have
mountain
it
him one
on the
till
enemy
still
remained
quiet,
he again moved, intending
he should arrive opposite to the
right.
The
effect of this
of the strongest possible positions.
After some
fort,
and then turn
movement would have been
While the
tract of
so
to
mountain
—
XI
CiiAP.
THE CONTENDING FORCES.
I
debris secured his left flank, he not only
on
of the fort
his right,
sally of the garrison,
their batteries in the town,
when
advisable.
He might
had thi'own up
d. itoo.
Tiie
Kreucu
any
enemy from
all
entrenchments and other defences
tlie
iu front of their position entirely useless.
than he penetrated the object of
it,
a
and attack them with the whole army, either on the
though he had failed to anticipate this movement, no sooner saw
venting
it
tire
then, if necessary,
reinforced, drive the
sufticiently
flank or iu the rear, thus rendering
whicli they
would have the protection of the
but could not be prevented from throwing into
number of troops that might be deemed
by a
()^7
it
and, as the only effectual
;
it
commenced
means of now
The camp,
determined no longer to delay the encounter.
Lally,
as if
it
pre-
had
been suddenly aroused from a state of lethargy, beat to arms, and the troops
were seen issuing forth to occupy the ground in
marked out
front,
which had previously been
as a battle-field.
whole French force di*awn out consisted of 2250 Europeans, of
Tlie
whom
force.
Besides these, 150 Europeans
300 were cavalry and 1300 sepoys.
sepoys continued at the batteries against the
3000 horse
service to guard their
own camp, and remain on
The
of pillaging the British baggage.
On
The Mahrattas numbered
fort.
but instead of taking part in the action, they considered
;
the right the European cavalry
and 300
it
sufficient
the watch for an o])portunity
was
Frencii order of battle
as follows:
next, the regiment of Lorraine, musteiing
;
400
men next
again, the Indian battalion,
400,
whose
were under a tank, which had been retrenched, and in which
;
left
700
;
were posted 300 men, chiefly miu-ines from Count
who had
and
lastly, Lally's
d' Ache's
regiment,
squadron, or soldiers
returned after failing to relieve Masulipatam. Another tank, in the rear
of the retrenched one,
from Kurpa.
was occupied by 400
Tlie rest of the se])oys,
sepoys,
whom
Bussy had brought
900 in number, were ranged behind a
At each extremity of this ridge
Europeans.
Of the artillery, in all six-
ridge which ran along the front of the camp.
was a
retrenclnnent, guarded
by
fifty
teen field-pieces, fom* were placed in the retrenched tank, and the remainder in
sections of three each
The
British
between the
army
different bodies of troops forming the line.
consisted of
1
900 Europeans, including eighty cavalry,
1250 black horse, and 2100 sepoys, and was ranged in three distinct
the
first
centre,
On
were Coote's regiment on the
right, the
and Draper's regiment on the
left
;
all
Company's two battalions
all
In
iu the
these without their grenadiers.
the flanks of this line were 1800 sepoys, 900 on each.
were
lines.
In the second line
the grenadiers of the anny, amounting to 300, and having on each
flank 100 sepoys.
The
third line
peans occupying the centre.
field-pieces, a little in
was formed by the
Two
cavalry, the eight}' Euro-
companies of sepoys stood apart, with two
advance of the
left
of the
first line.
The
artillery consisted
of twenty-six field-pieces.
The action was commenced by Lally
in pei-son.
While the British were
marcliing up, and before they were within cannon-shot, he put himself at the
^he
Brit:»ii
G28
A
D. iTio
I
of india.
ni.sTon\
|ii.K,K
head of the European cavalry, and, after a large sweep of the
As soon
(lash at the third line.
plain,
two guns, were ordered
to fall back at an
angle which woidd enable them to take the attacking cavalry in flank
Wiiii.iiw.ij^i.
made a
as his intention "was perceived, the sepr>ys of
the separate detachmerit, with their
L;iiij'8
iii.
At the same time the black
made a show of wheeling round
a.s
they
were approaching
horse, thus tiireatened to
attacked in
to face the enemy, but only,
rear,
and apparently of
be
threw themselves into confusion that they might
set pur]r)Ose,
The eighty Europeans, thus left alone, prepared notwithstanding to receive the charge.
Fortunately for them it was unnece.ssary.
The two guns of the sepoys, admirably managed by Captain Barkei*, opened
have a pretext for
flight.
with
on the attacking
svich
effect
they galloped
that
party,
having accomplished or even attempted anything.
no choice but to follow the
fugitives.
A
them impatient under the
The regiment of
their assailants
effect
and
Lally,
they were sustaining
The engagement was soon
line.
Lorraine, formed in a column twelve in front, advanced
were within
fifty
both on the front and flanks.
who by his
yards, when they
orders reserved their
fired
The colmnn though staggered did not
way and
by a shot exploded,
tank immediately abandoned
killed.
•
i
it.
With the whole of Draper's regiment and
it
sepoy.s.
Coote ordered Major Brereton to advance
i
just carried
wounding eighty men.
number of those posted in the
Their example was followed by the 400
this confusion,
in
killing or
Such was the consternation produced, that a large
To take advantage of
conflict at the
About the same time a tumbril
fled in disorder.
the retrenched tank struck
Brereton
stop,
It did not last long, for the column, unable to sustain
point of the bayonet.
Major
fire
a volley with deadly
and in an instant the two reiriments were minted in dreadful
the shock, gave
on returning
Their impatience was seconded by his
almost at a run against Coote's regiment,
till
;
loss wliich
impetuosity, and he gave the order to advance.
general along the whole
had
cannonade had in the meantime com-
without being brought to close quarters.
own
without
Lally, thus left alone,
menced. The sui)enority was decidedly with the British
to his infantry, found
ofl'
.seize
with great gallantry when he
fell
the retrenched tank.
He had
The
mortally wounded.
posses-
sion of the tank exposed the left flank of Lallys regiment, which, as soon as
two
field-pieces
now
all
it,
but
lost to
was taken
little
were brought
upon
it,
began to waver.
making a
the French, and Bussy, in
prisoner.
resistance,
to play
gallant effort to retrieve
The other wing and centre of the enemy's
and the sepoys who were posted behind the
ordered to advance, refused to obey.
Lally,
now
ance was useless, abandoned his camp, which the
without opposition.
Had
army must have been
The day was
ridge,
on being
convinced that further
victoi-s
resist-
immediately entered
Coote's black horse been worth an3^thing the French
utterly dispersed
cautiously aloof, overawed
fine offered
by the steady
;
but instead of charging they kept
front of the
anxious to redeem the disgrace of their early
flight,
European cavalry, who
enabled Lally to effect the
J
FURTHER SUCCESSES OF COOTE.
Chap. XI.
On
retreat in tolerable order.
whole
Tiie
[)uted at
loss
foi-t
and ha.stened
in charge of the batteries,
left
passing the
629
he was joined by the party ad,
off in the direction of Chittapet.
was coniamounted
of the French, in killed, wounded, and prisoners,
The
GOO Europeans.
killed
koo.
and wounded of the
British
only to 190.
Lallv,
•^
(.'hittapet
^°^^
continuing
1
o captures
® his retreat, committed the seiious blunder of quitting
without reinforcing it and Coote, on whom no advantage was ever chittai.et.
;
thrown away, determined
commanded
;
it.
In
was ordered
at Coverypauk,
invest the fort of Arcot
the country
to capture
and
1
tlie
meantime Captain Wood, who,
advance with his garrison and
to
000 of the black
iiorse
between Alumparva and Pondicherry,
were sent south
to ravage
in retaliation for the previous
devastations committed by the French and their Mahratta allies in the districts
of the English
in
Company.
Both expeditions were
successful.
though they had proved wortldess on the
particular,
excellent marauders,
eighty-four villages.
and returned with 8000 head of
The black horse
of battle, were
field
cattle, after
having burned
In giving such details one naturally thinks of the fearful
amoimt of misery which must have been endured by the native peasantry,
while thus involuntarily made parties to a war in the issue of which they had
no
1
interest.
700,
Chittapet was invested by a detachment on the 2(jth of January,
and made only a show of
resistance.
On
when
the 29th,
the whole
army
encamped within cannon-shot, a battery of two eigh teen-pounders was com-
menced and completed
the
by
fire
At
in the course of the night.
five the
opened, and proved so efiective that the breach
eleven.
The
garrison, consisting of only fifty-six
had no idea of standing an
assault,
next morning
was nearly
practicable
Europeans and 300
and surrendered at
sepoj's,
The same
discretion.
day Innis Khan, deterred at the com'se of events, quitted the Carnatic with
all
Ins ^iahrattas.
On
defence
the 1st of February Coote arrived before Arcot.
by Clive the works
of the fort had been
much
Since the celebrated
imj)roved.
The
mostly in the solid rock, had been dug to an unifonn de])th of six feet
and covered way had been carried entirely round
;
;
ditch,
a glacis
and from the middle of the
communicating with the fort by a gate with a drawbridge, projected.
The siege immediately commenced, and the fire of three batteries was opened on the 5th. Owing
to a want both of artillery and ammunition not much progi-ess was made.
The
north side of the covered way, a strong ravelin, mounting six guns and
by the 9th not only had the sap
but two breaches had been made to within six
approaches, however, were pushed on, and
reached very near the glacis,
feet of the
much remained to be done and the
unexhausted, when Coote was greatly but agreeably
bottom of the rampart.
means of defence were
still
Still
surprised at receiving a voluntary offer of sin-render.
an-anged, and the gi'enadiers of the
possession of the gates.
The
;
The terms were soon
army were allowed next morning
garrison, consisting of 247 Europeans,
to take
and nearly
•^''^"^
illSTOUV
6'*J<>
A.P. 1T60
as
many
IxNDIA.
i)l-
sepoys, had not lost three men,
LJ>>oK Jll
and might
liave held out for ten
days
longer before the assault could have been risked
The
resources were almost exhausted,
coote rejects
from Mortiz
treasury did
t,he
betwecu
tlic civil
tlie fruits
army
now gloomy
prospects of the French were
little
of his victory.
bitter (luarrels
Ali,,
had, after the capture of Arcot,
encamped
he might be called to account for the suspicious,
reap
Bi-itish
in that direction, feared that
if
not hostile course which he
for
levy tribute.
of
t<j
some time pursued, and sent Coote a sum of 30,000 rupees. He refased
stating that he was not authorized either by the nabob or the presidency to
had
it,
and recriminations
on iiearing that the
in Vellore,
Their
for replenishing
Coote meanwhile continued
autiiorities.
Mortiz
the extreme.
and the schemes suggested
more than revive
and military
in
homage
Mortiz Ali replying that
to a great
was a present
it
commander, according
to the
to himself, as a
custom of the
mark
country-, the
money was accepted, but only to be added to the general stock of the prizemoney of the army The honom-able contrast which Coote's conduct on this
occasion presents to that of the civil and military authorities in Bengal, when
similarly tempted, will not be overlooked.
Coote marched from Chittapet on the
His continueJ suei
ceases.
29tli at
m-
Tindvvanum, a place of
large resort, situated at the junction of several
roads leading to Pondicheiry, from whicli
The
object of this
February, and arrived on the
26tli of
it is
only twent3''-five miles distant.
march could not be misunderstood
;
and the French, who had
commenced the war in the full confidence of establishing an imdisputed supremacy, became aware that their next struggle must be for existence. To prepare
for the worst, they endeavoured to obtain possession of all the commanding posts
in the vicinity.
One of the most important of these was the fort of Pennacoil,
situated about eighteen miles north-west of PondicheiTj^
its
position
and
its
strength of protecting the intervening
previously been in a great measure overlooked
at
and capable both from
;
and induced the
it,
native governor to admit a party of French with some cannon into
and
Ai'cot,
had
but immediately after the defeat
Wandiwash, Lally saw the use which might be made of
the capture of Chittapet
It
territory".
it.
After
suspecting that he had committed himself
to the losing party, he wrote Coote, pretending that the
French had gained
him in ousting them. It seemed
worth while to put his sincerity to the test and hence, when the rest of the army
was on the way to Tindyvanum, Coote had preceded them with most of the
admittance by surprise, and offering to
assist
;
cavalry,
and two companies of sepoys, and advanced as
consisted, as usual, of a pettali or town,
mud
walls,
and the
latter
the height of 300 feet at
the other.
for a siege.
little
avail
fort
;
the former
PermacoiL
its
narrow end, and
all
had the
to
gi-adually lowering to 200 feet at
the assistance he had promised
garrison,
It
smTOunded with
crowning the summit of a precipitous rock, rising
The governor gave
have been of
and a
far as
;
but
it
would
though smaU, been properly provided
Shortly after the attack began their
fire
slackened from want of
COOTE'S CONTINUED SUCCESSES.
Chap. XI.]
ammunition.
Still,
derable loss of
life
631
however, they maintained the defence manfully at a consi-
to the besiegers,
many
Lally on this, as on
and
a.d. itoo.
days elapsed before they surrendered.
six
other occasions,
was only a
little
A
too late.
large
detachment was actually on the way to throw
reinforcement of
a considerable
the
into
stores
when
fort,
men and
of
intelligence
Coote's approacii frustrated the design.
The reduction of the
still
in pos-
French might now be considered
session of the
as
places
merely a work of time, and the British
attack
to
j)roceeded
MJmost unvarying success.
hideed,
by
Lally, that
fort
after
fort
It
with
affirmed,
is
had they, instead of
directing their attention to subordinate objects,
marched
might
liave
du'eet
upon Pondicherry, they
made themselves masters
On
eight days.
of
it
in
such a subject he ought to
be a good authority; but as he makes this
statement
when
was
his object
to
show how
shamefully the authorities had acted in not
providing better for
defence, it
its
may
he
Sepoys,
Bengal Army. — From
Solvyn,
L«s Htndouf.
presumed that there was some exaggeration
...
differently, and therefore acted more cautiou.sly bv not
Coote thought
°
"
attempting to take Pondicheny till it was rendered in a manner defencein
it.
•'
by the capture of all the places from which it might have drawn assistThough the French squadron had long been withdrawn from the coast,
ance.
less,
and that of the British been reinforced to a strength which
before possessed,
or
some more
it
was not impossible
enteqiri.sing
that, as
naval commander,
a
last resource,
might make
it
liad
never
Count d'Ache,
his
appearance
from the Mam-itius, or directly from France, and by throwing in supplies
enable Pondicherry to maintain a protracted defence.
fore,
that
all
It
desirable, there-
These places on the Coromandel
were now only two: Alumparva to the north of PondicheiTV, and Carrical
Coote,
to the south.
still
suffering from a
Permacoil, intrusted the siege of
Alumparva
wound which
to
built of stone,
third day.
made
same time
and inclosed by a wet
he had received at
Major Monson.
on the 10th of March, and though a place of some strength.
tions
was
the places where sucli ships could rendezvous, and enjoy even a
temporary protection, should be reduced.
coa.st
It
was invested
liaN-ing a fort solidly
ditch, surrendered at discretion
on the
more consequence, the preparawere on a greater scale. As it was intended at the
Carrical being considered a place of
for besieging
to
an army as possible near Pondicherry, in order
supplies from tlie suiTOunding country, some difficulty was
maintam
to intercept all
it
as large
^'^v*-^""
(if
places
.
aronn.i ron-
Ill
A.D. 1760.
OF INDIA.
IIISTOltY
(;;3'2
found in j)rocuring
hucIi
a force as was judged ade<juate.
ciency 300 marines were obtained from the
artillerymen, 1000 sepoys,
and
fleet,
six field-pieces
and the King of 1 anjore was
Captuiv of
[Look
J
To
III.
Buj^ply tlie defi-
00 European
firelock.s,
were l^rought from
foity
^'ricliinf^ixdy,
and eveiy kind of
Major Monson, who was again to c<^;mmand, having emljarked with
assistance.
refpiested to .send his army,
Ciirrioal
a party of troops from Alumparva, anchored in the road of Can-ical on the 28th
of March, and
was
which had sailed from Madras with the
appointment was
same evening, by a squadron
joined, in the course of the
stores.
Considerable
di.s-
was discovered that the King of Tanjore had paid
no attention to the request made to him, and that none of the expected reinforcements had yet arrived.
It was determined, notwithstanding, to effect a
felt
when
and
artillery
and commence the
landing,
it
nece.s.sary
of defence had been greatly oveiTated.
was
regularly constructed, but
foii in
its
was
works.
The
It sopn
in the form of a parallelogram,
fort,
of such limit'ed dimen.sions as to be rather a
miniature than one for actual service.
breadth only 50 yards.
appeared that the means
This, indeed,
Its
whole length was 100, and
was exclusive of the
each angle, but these admitted only three guns in their
this defect each of the four curtains
guns.
On
had been
To compensate
faces.
was covered by a
one at
bastion.s,
mounting
ravelin
six
the 5th of April, ten days after the landing, a considerable breach
effected
;
and though much remained
could be obtained, the governor was
to be done before acce-ss to
summoned
expectation he expressed his readiness to do
so,
it
Contraiy to
to suirender.
provided he were allowed to
was refused he made no furtlier
The besiegers
objection, and resigned the place without firing another shot.
Only three men had been killed in the
could scarcely credit their success.
"When
march out with the honours of war.
attack,
and
"Never, perhaps," says Orme, "was
five in the defence.
an armament prepared
this
to succeed
with so
little
lo.s.s,
excepting
.so
great
when De La-
bourdonnais took Madi'as in 1746."
French
treaty witii
Hyder
Aii.
Tlic Capture
of these
'
maritime places was followed by that of Yaldore and
^
^
others, SO that
places of
Pondicherry was in a manner
any consequence, not in
]iossession,
its
hemmed
immediate
in on eveiy
;
menced
in earnest.
blow to French power
Lally on his part was not
every quarter from which
it
in India,
idle,
if
Hyder
French
accomplished
was now
and turned
to be com-
his attention to
seemed possible that aid could be drawn.
other quarters, he thought of Mysore.
and no
These, however, could not
be any obstacle to the siege of Poudicheny and this task, which
finishing
;
vicinity, I'emained in the
except the forts of Gingee and Thiagur.
would give the
.side
AJi, destined to
make an
Among
impor-
tant figure in Indian warfare, had succeeded in u.snrping the whole power of the
With him Lally opened a communication through the intervenof a Portuguese monk, who bore the title of Bishop of Halicarnassus, and
government.
tion
was not unwillmg
to
employ the influence which he acquired in
cliaracter for political purposes.
Through him the bargain which
his religious
enlisted the
FRENCH TREATY WITH HYDER ALL
XL]
Chap.
Mahrattas in the French service had been concluded, and
633
was
it
therefore not
a.d. itgo.
unlikely that he would be able to conclude a similar bargain with the Mysoreans.
Hyder
was
Ali,
though virtual ruler of Mysore, did not
therefore anxious to possess
some place of strength on the
frontiers, in whicli
Thiagur was
he might always be certain of finding an impregnable asylum.
just such a place
which he agreed
asore, which,
and he was therefore
;
'•
by
easily induced to enter into a treaty
that, in return for the cession of the forts of
with their dependencies,
and
feel perfectly secure,
Thiagur and Elvan-
were to remain the property of the My-
soreans in perpetuity, as long as the flag of France existed in India," he wouhl
immediately furnish a body of 2000 horse and 3000 sepoys, to be employed in
the French service,
and paid at the rate of 100,000 rupees a month.
delivery of Thiagur he
was
to supply
an additional 1000 horse and 2000 sepoys.
All these forces, united with those of the French,
clearing the Carnatic,
After the
and afterwards
were to be
in conquering
first
employed
Madura and Tinnevelly.
These countries when conquered were to belong absolutely to Hyder
was, moreover, to receive nearly a half of
The
secret of this negotiation
®
all
in
who
Ali,
the Caniatic conquests.
had been
that the
so well kept,
'
Madras
pre^
^Tivai
of Mysore
_
sidency heard of
it
time on the 24th of May, while they were busy
for the first
with the preparations for the complete blockade of Pondicherry.
believed to be an idle rumour, which Lally had set afloat for
purpose; but
first
all
doubt on the subject was
set at rest
Pondicheny
small parties had passed undiscovered from
In this
way 200 Europeans
accompanying the M3^soreans in
first it
was
some concealed
actual arrival of the
Meanwhile
Mysore troops at Thiagiu- on the 4th of June.
division of the
to Thiagur.
by the
At
troops
to Gingee,
and thence
been assembled for the purjiose of
liad
march
their future
to Pondicherry.
Attempts
were made to interrupt their progress, but they dexterously avoided an encounter
by changing
their course,
and on the 23d of Jiuie an-ived
They had been cumbered with an immense convoy of
bringing 2000 head as far as Trivadi.
of
them were here
left
safely at Ariancoopan.
cattle,
and succeeded
in
In order to hasten on, the greater pait
behind, and idtimately not more than 300 airived at
Pondicheny.
The Mysoreans who had arrived were onlv 1 ')00 cavalry, and had been sent
forward by Hyder Ali, not so much in fulfilment of the treaty, as to obtain a
formal ratification of
sibility
;
Lally had carried on the negotiation on his
it.
but as a rumour of his
recall
the
all
members
of council.
to the
Lally,
own
They
mean subterfuge
by drawing up a
signatm*e,
Vol.
it.
I.
responinsisted
by him, but by Deleyrit the governor,
This placed them in a kind of dilemma.
professed to disapprove of the terms of the treaty,
lose the benefit of
own
had become prevalent, Hyder Ali
that the treaty should be signed not only
and
*'
*
*'
therefore signed
;
They
and yet were unwilling
to
but at the .same time had recourse
of endeavouring to throw the whole responsibility on
secret document, in
and embodied
all
which they protested against their
their objections.
As soon
as the treaty
80
was
-^
°"*''''"
force
<iefeafe<i
I
6.3 i
A.D. 1700.
llItiTOKy Ol' INDIA.
[B«^oK Hi,
Mysoreans went away, {promising a Hpeedy return with their
signed, all the
whole force and abundance of provisions.
word;
for
They were even better than
but gained a victory by the way. Their
they not only arrived,
consisting of 1000 horse,
French army,
had arrived within sight of Trivadi,
when they were encountered by Major Moore, who had gone
European infantry, 50
The manifest
sepoys.
before risking a battle
;
f«.>rce,
1000 sepoys, and 200 Europeans or topasses of the
witii eight pieces of cannon,
at the head of 180
tlieir
inferiority of
to intercept
huasars, 1000 black hoi-se,
them
and 1100
numbers should have made Moore paase
but either because he was not in a condition to refase
or from over- confidence, he attempted to stand
liis
it,
ground, and owing to some
unexplained mischance or misconduct, sustained a disgraceful and total defeat
The Mysoreans were afterwards allowed
their arrival at Pondicherry
deserved
less
it
;
were received with a long
and on
They
salute of cannon.
what was
besides the troops, they brought,
for,
justly
deemed
ntjt
important, 3000 l^uUocks, carrying their baggage and drawing their artillery,
and 3000 more laden with
Ci>ote
to proceed without inten-uption,
When Moore met with
rice
and other
provisions.
the above disaster, Coote
was encamped with
his
army
captures
Villenore.
at the foot of the hill of Perimbd, preparing for the siege of Villenore, a fort
about
W.S.W. of Pondicherry, and now the only
five miles
the complete investment of
arrived,
would make every
serious obstacle to
Believing that Lally, as soon as the Mysoreans
it.
effort to
save this
fort,
he proceeded, with that happ}'
union of enterprise and caution which charactei'ized
all
his
movements,
to
strengthen his position by a redoubt and several retrenchments judiciously
selected, so as
both to protect his army in the event of an attack by superior
numbers, and furnish a basis for offensive operations.
not unnecessary
for after the
;
His precautions were
Mysoreans arrived, Lally, detennined to
lose
no
time in relieving Villenore, set out for that purpose at the head of the whole
he could muster.
forces
His numbers were
far superior to the British,
and he
had every prospect of compelling Coote either to raise the siege of the fort, or
risk an action under vmfavourable circumstances in order to maintain it.
Lally s
bad fortune
still
attended him.
The
garrison,
though few in numbers, and
moment "with assault, might easily have stood out for two days.
The commandant thought otherwise, and hung out a flag of truce, which was
threatened every
instantly followed
prise,
by
surrender.
but of course produced very different sensations.
very moment when he
Lilly's
The event took both armies equally by
of his career he
least
expected
had never been
it,
sur-
Coote, successful at the
declared that during the whole course
who had
arrived within
so fortunate.
Lally,
when he saw
the British flag flying on the
disappointv.iant.
cannon-shot,
was
horror-sti-uck
ramparts, and hastened back to seek the protection of the guns of Aiiancoopan.
Coote, shortly after the capture of Villenore, having been reinforced
by 700
of the
nabob's force, and 500 of his cavalry, marched up to the bound hedge with almost
all his
native troops, but without any Europeans.
His object was to
tr}"
the
J
COOTE BEFORE PONDICHEEKY.
Chap. XI.
635
temper and courage of the Mysoreans by defying them to an encounter with ad.
tlieir
own countrymen.
irco.
Previous events had discouraged them, and they decHned
the challenge.
The junction of the Mysoreans with the French was not
so formidable in its
^'.vw.reaiiB
finally quit
direct as in its indirect consequences.
marauding
lected in the face of
parties,
The nabob's revenues could not be coland yet there was no other source fi-om
Pomudierr)'
which the funds necessary to cairy on the war could be obtained, as the directors at
home had intimated
presidency, instead of being able, as the directors imagined, to
had been obliged to borrow largely
the other presidencies,
Pecuniary emban'as.sments, however, was
for
now
meet the wants
for its
own
of
necessities.
the only danger to be feared,
reinforcements were arriving from different quarters, and in particular,
towards the beginning of August, six
000
and the Bengal
their resolution not to supply them,
men
Company
drafted from regiments in England.
rapidly becoming weakened.
ships
amved, having on board
The French, on the
The Mysoreans, increased
contrary, were
about 10,000, were
to
unable to render any service ecpial to the monthly pay for which they had
stipulated
;
and, notwithstanding their dexterity as marauders,
want
felt
No
own consumption.
[)rovisions sufficient for their
thin their ranks.
The
among
wiien they should
deem
at last,
horse, possessing better
it
when they found
narrowed, the greatest
expedient, remained
of the whole
from the glacis of Pondicheny.
.
from British detachments before
those
who had
alliance.
Desertions in
the sepoys, as greatly to
of regaining their
homes
steadily at their posts, but
communications with the open country gradually
their
})art
means
more
bring in
sooner was the pressure of
than they began to repent of their French
consequence became so numerous, particulai-ly
ftiiled to
body suddenly decamped
They were hotly
they made their
moved
off,
and
one night
much
pursued, and suffei-cd
A
escape.
remained, as well as a division of oOO
steps in order to elude pursuit,
in
few nights
who had
in a short time not
after,
retraced their
one M3'sorean
remained.
The time seemed now arrived
for establishing a oomi^lete
blockade of Pondi-
Prcimratioiis
for besieging
_
cherry both
by
sea
bound hedge, with
and
its
land.
It
was
necessar}'
for
this purpose that the
redoubts, should be in possession of the British army, and
that the squadron should remain on the coast even during the approaching
mon.soon.
Coote thought
should be captured.
Europeans;
but
it
The
it.
moreover, necessary that the fort of Ariancoopan
force necessary for this purpose
was estimated
at
SOO
seemed doubtful whether such a number could be safely
witiidrawn from the camp, which mustered in
all,
inclusive of garrison
detachments, only 2000 European and GOOO native troops.
It
was
and
therefore
army from being too much weakened, to
squadron on shore. They amounted in all to 422
determined, in order to prevent the
employ the marines of the
Europeans, and were landed at Cuddalore on the 27tii of August.
seasonable reinforcement
II
Another
was obtained on the 2d of September, by the
arrival
it.
G30
AD
1760.
OK INDIA.
IIISTOllV
of several
Company
[B^JOK III,
having on board part of a Highland regiment
ships,
were under convoy of three ships of war, two of them of sixty guns
joined to the other
increased the whole stjuadron
shi])s
under the command of Admiral Stevens, to seventeen
The joy caused by the
Cooto super
now
sail
They
These
each.
before Pondicherry,
of the
line.
and troops was much damped
arrival of tliese ships
xeduii in
conniiaiiil
l)y
the commissions which they brought from the
by Coldiifl
Muiisou.
and Monson
Jirereton
very moment
The
triumph.
appointing Majors
Office,
lieutenant-colonels, with prior date to the commission of
This distinguished
Colonel Coote.
War
when he was
officer
was thus
preparing to crown
virtually superseded at the
done him was, however, rather accidental than premedi-
injustice
been issued under the belief that he was actually serving, or at
serve there, as the
new
colonels
met a
soldier's
Major Brereton had, as we have
coa.st.
death at Wandiwash.
Monson was
have done himself honour by continuing
to serve
at his post,
still
under Coote as
temporary obscuration of rank, however, was too great a
utmost which he could bring himself to propose was to
could not be listened
and Coote, immediately
to,
least aVjout to
were expressly ordered not to assert their com-
missions while he remained on the
when
the presidency alleged that
declared that on
He may
its
have made
it
command
this declaration the
forces for
an expiring
secrecy, that Coote,
unaware
till
in
many
spies in
On
the attack actually commenced.
horse,
and 900
troops,
amounting
sepoys, ha'sdng
Monson even
would be raised
Being per-
surprise.
siege,
he mustered
to
the 4th of September the
1400 Eiu-opean infantrj^ 100
camp
in four divisions, to take
had been previously assigned them.
in the rear of the camp, did not an'ive in time to
the concerted signal was given;
the expected diversion was not
a partial success, to
Monson
and the other
made
own
in the
plans.
His
all,
divisions,
in their favour,
as
it
attack
disappointed
were obliged,
after
retire.
the objections of Monson,
his
By some
commence the
The intended attempt on Ariancoopan had been abandoned
woundeil
much
so
Pondicherry, was totally
mistake, the division which ought to have been the most effective of
when
when
all his
marched out of the town, and passed
the boundary hedge, approached the British
possession of the post which
beliind,
it
was concerted with some skiU and
though he had
whole of Lally's disposable
European
It
to
more readily in consequence of a bold
no condition to stand a
effort.
of the
could not be wanted, and
departure the blockade of Pondicherr}-
aware that he was
This
meant
of course he
attempt which LaUy made to take the British camp by
fectly
and the
retire to Madras.
As a matter
to him, prepared to sail for Bengal.
This
before.
sacrifice,
g'i\^ng over the
seen,
and might
take his regiment along with him, but generously consented to leave
was
final
Coote had been originally appointed to Bengal, and the commi.ssions had
tated.
army
by a
his exploits
all
first
who was now
object
was
able to caiTy on
tjie
to seize the four redoubts
openings of the bound hedge, and
commanded
in deference to
siege according to
which were placed
the leading avenues to
I
OPERATIONS AGAINST PONDIUIIERRY.
XL]
Chap.
the town.
With
his failure.
The
637
view a night attack was resolved, and would have com- ad.
pletely succeeded but for a blunder similar to that to which Lally had owed
this
rear of one of the leading divisions becoming separated
management from the
van, caused so
much delay
first
The
fire.
shot from a twenty-fom* pomider, double loaded with langi-age, killed
men and wounded
eleven
by mis-
that daylight began to ap})ear,
and enabled the defenders of one of the redoubts to open a murderous
very
Among
twenty-six.
the latter
was Colonel Monson
struck with a piece of iron which broke both the bones of his
himself,
ireo
Notwithstanding
& this disaster two of the redoubts were
leg.
carried.
wound might have been followed by fatal results to the
»
The officer next in command was a Major Rolert Gordon, who had
Colonel Monson's
.
•
1
i)esiegers.
more than once absented himself from
in other respects
incompetent.
C'>ote
rtstmiies
the
commauii.
hoir of danger, and was
his post in the
Fortunately Coote had not yet sailed for Bengal,
and readily consented, at the request both of Monson and the presidency, to
resume the command, and
arrived only in time.
of the redoubts,
by
General discontent
finish the
work which he had
so well begun.
He
Gordon, as obstinate as ignorant, had risked the recapture
refusing to take the advice of a Miser officer than himself
also,
produced by a deficient supply of provisions and sick-
Under Coote's skill and vigorous command the
Of the two remaining redoubts in the bound
gathering clouds disappeared.
hedge one was volmitarily abandoned by the enemy without a struggle, and the
In consequence
other forced, though not without some loss to the assailants.
ness,
had begun
to prevail.
of these successes the whole of the
bound hedge was
in possession of the be-
who were thus enabled to convert one of the main defences of the town
into a new means of annoyance.
October had now arrived, and active operations were necessarily postponed in
siegers,
the prospect of the approaching monsoon.
\^
^11
This temporary cessation of hostilities,
liowever, afibrded no real relief to Pondicherry
Provisions had begun to
fail,
Ponaioiierry
blocka.led.
.
Its
worst eneni}' was within.
and unless new supplies could be obtained, famine
must soon compel a sun-ender.
To diminish the consumption, Lally proposed the
immediate expulsion of the black inhabitants, but the general coimcil which be
assembled to consider the subject did not see the necessity of the case so strongly
as he did,
and broke up without a
decision.
Many
of the Eiu'opean families,
liowever, obtained Coote's permission to pass without interruption to the
or
Dutch settlements on the
cocost.
The attempts made by Lally
resoui'ce
(lingee,
liearts
to obtain provisions general!}- failed.
he entered into a negotiation with the Mahrattas,
their appearance, in the
Wiis offered
who had
As
.
again
hope of turning the course of events to their own
which had once belonged
were
Danish
to them,
was the great
a last
the aid of
made
profit,
object on which their
and Balajee Rao must have been strongly tempted when he
500,000 rupees in hand the moment he should appear with his anny.
set,
and the cession of Gingee as soon as the siege of Pondicherry' should be
Laii.v «eek»
raised.
theMnh
638
AD.
1700.
Tlie Maliiiitta
was
eliiel'
too cautions
protracted the negotiation
Preparations were
cniei treat-
OF INDIA.
IIISTOIIY
and wily
to
c(jJuiiiit liinisfclf
the oj)poi'tunity was
till
now made
tf>
[Book
!li.
at once,
aii<l
lost,
convert the hlockade of Pondicherry into a
iiient of tlie
natives.
November a
regular siege, and on the IGth of
sary stores arrived from Madras.
vessel laden
with
seeing these preparations, could no
Lally,
made more
longer consent to postpone the execution of the proposal he had
than a month before, and turned out of the gates
tlie
whole of the natives, with
number
the exception of a few retained as domestics, to the
sexes and all ages.
They made
their
would be permitted
to pass, but
it
than that of their expulsion.
less
way
was
refused,
400, of both
glaci.s,
them back
ruth-
and
;
When
imploring re-admi.ssion.
some attempted to clamber over into the covered way, and were
upon and
fired
1
meet with treatment more
British outposts drove
they gathered in despair at the foot of the
it
to
of
boundary hedge, hoj>ing they
to the
was only
The
the neces-
all
Seven days the wi-etched
killed.
between the town and the British
.survivors
and with no food
posts without shelter,
The
except the roots of grass which they picked up.
kept wandering
guilt of this
honid inhu-
manity was shared both by besiegers and besieged, but by no means in an equal
Lally could plead necessity for what he had done
degree.
Coote could plead
;
nothing but the advantage which he might gain by an act of horrid inhumanit}'.
Foiu" ricoclict battcrles, intended only to hai'ass the garrison
Adisastniis
by a
cro.ss fire
of ricochet shot along the streets and ramparts, were opened near midnight ot
the
of December, and continued their
8tli
ammunition expended upon
tlie
it,
though
when very
fatigue of the garrison
on an allowance of a pound of
certainly
it
little
rice a day,
scarcely
had the
able to bear
with a
the six
intervals durins:
and was
It did very little execution,
following days.
at
fire
worth the
effect of increasing
They had been put
meat at intervals but
it.
little
;
even this limited consumption so much exceeded some casual supplies by
that
by the end
more than three
of
all
At
days.
unexpected quarter.
squadron, in
December the public
On
twelve
store did not contain provision for
this time, however,
were riding
in
from an
760, while the British
Pondicheny Koad, a sudden hurricane
1000 Europeans belonging to them perished.
to the sea.
;
The
disasters
were not confined
camp were blown to
was destroj'ed and the
All the tents and temporary caserns of the
the ammunition brought out for immediate
sea breaking over the beach,
boundary hedge, ruined
Gloomy
1
relief
Six of the vessels foundered, or were driven ashore, and no fewer than
arose.
pieces
they derived some
the very last day of the year
sail,
sea,
all
u.se
;
and ovei"flowing the whole
tract as far as the
the batteries and redoubts w^hich the
The inhabitants of Pondicherry, when the sun
army had
rose clear the next
raised
morning
prosjiects at
roii.iicherry.
and sliowcd them the general devastation, regarded
Heaven.
Had
only 300
men been
they would not have found
however, was impossible.
1
able to
it
as a deliverance from
march out three hours
00 of the besiegers together to
Though the
garrison
after daylight,
resist
had suffered
them.
little,
This,
they could
639
SURRENDER OF PONDICHERRV.
XL]
Chap.
not caiTy their ammunition dry, nor drag the artillery over inundated
could, therefore, do little
They
ships expected with supplies
was dispersed
^s([uadron
newed
eleven
i:gi.
from Madagascar might arrive while the British
Even
or driven from the coast.
these wishes soon failed
re-
PONDICHKRRY
«N0
SVIROMS
ITS
'^_
I
road
their
by
blockaded
again
A.D.
more than give utterance to earnest wishes that
despondency
saw
they
of the line,
sail
consisting
tliose
with
and
them,
fields.
of
chiefly
which had wea-
thered the storm, and
others
which
e.scaped
it
had
by being
at the time at sea be-
yond
The
reach.
its
damaged works
of the
besiegers also were repaired, while the gar-
rison
I)}'"
were
want
they
Scidc
so pressed
7 f.^->..y>»
that,
when
had by a well
a a
a, Fii-st
b b
dd
d,
c c c,
encampment. July 17.
Hodoubts erected, July 18.
b.
Second encampment. Sept.
Third encampment, Oct.
10.
conceived and executed attack carried a redoubt and taken a consideraljle
number of prisoners, Lally, to save the additional drain on his store of provisions, was obliged to make an open confession of approaching famine by sending
them back on
On
their parole.
the 10th of January a battery often guns and three mortal's opened
its Siege and
surrender of
fire,
and trenches were begun on the north
Blancherie, or Bleaching
after a battery
side, just
Town, the houses of w Inch afforded good cover shortly
;
was completed within 450 yards
postpone
to
have thought
it.
it
It
proved unnecessiiry.
Durre,
superior of the Jesuits,
an interpreter.
commandant
They were the
On
the 15th, as the sun
both in
its
It
style
council.
and substance.
which he asserted that the
had
1
or to
50 yards
was
setting,
artillery.
Father Lavaur,
council,
with
two memorials, one signed by Lally,
The one by Lally wsis very charac-
As
if
he had been about to dictate
terms, not to receive them, he set out with a long
" Engli.sh
off"
preceded a deputation, consist-
of the royal
bearei-s of
it
be commenced about
and Moracin and Courtin, membei"S of the
and the other by the governor and
teristic,
their approaching fate,
to
a flag was seen approaching from the town.
ing of Colonel
The garrison
attempt either to ward
useless to
Another battery was about
nearer the walls.
of the walLs.
They saw
scarcely attempted to interrupt these works.
and seem
within the skirt of the
t^iken
and irrelevant preamble,
Chandernagore against the
in
faitii
Poi.dicherry
;
IIISTOKY UF INDIA.
(iM)
AD.
[Book
III.
of the treaties of neutrality wliicli had always suljsisted between the Eiirojx-an
1761.
nations in Bengal, and especially between the English and French;" and that
"
the government of Madras had refused to
eluded between the two crowns."
s.irroniier of
Owing to
the conditions of a cartel con-
fulfil
this conduct it
was "out of his power,
rondiiharry.
as responsible to the court of France, to propo.se
Pondicherry
for
want
;"
any capitulation
for the city of
but "the troops of the king and company surrender themselves,
of provisions, prisoners of
war
to his Britannic majesty, conformably
In consequence of this surrender
to the terms of the cartel."
"
Mr. Coote rnay
to-morrow morning at eight o'clock take possession of the Villenore gate
;
and
on the same hour the next day of the gates of the citadel; and, as he
may
lias
may
the force in his
own
think proper."
This, strictly .speaking, finished Lally's part in the surrender
hands, he
but he continued as follows:
I
demand
that the mother
asylum wheresoever they
dictate such further conditions as he
— "From a
and
shall
principle of ju.stice
sisters of
Rajah
and humanity
alone,
Saliib be permitted to seek
an
think proper, or that they remain prisoners with
the English, and be not delivered into the hands of
Mahomed
Ali Khan,
still
tinged with the blood of the father and husband, which he shed, to the shame
indeed of those
who
delivered
up Chunda Sahib
to him, but to the .shame like-
wise of the commander of the Engli,sh army,
who ought
a barbarity to be committed in his camp."
Lally's
not to have suffered such
memorial concluded with his
consent "that the members of the council of PondicheiTy
sentations on
what may more immediately concern
...
make
their
own
repre-
their particular interests,
and
those of the colony."
The govcmor and council seem
Terms of
capitulation.
obtain
The
all
they wished
it
have determined that
and the
was
own
with everything belonging to them
French
;
"
and that
be destroyed
till
"
and
" their effects
;
;
it.
and mer-
Roman
the churches, the houses of the ecclesias-
whether within or without the
and receive under the English
to ask for
disposal;" that "in their favour the
to be maintained
religious orders,
they did not
were of the following purport:
of the inhabitants be preserved,
cantile goods left to their
Catholic religion
if
would not be because they had omitted
requisitions of their memorial, accordingly,
—That the houses
tics,
to
city,
be preserved,
the missionaries be free to go and come,
ilag the
no buildings or
same protection as they had under the
and no
-part of
the fortifications
the decision of their respective sovereigns."
Coote returned
edifices,
a written answer to Lally's memoi-ial, declining discussion on the subject of
Chandernagore as
ject of dispute,
irrelevant, or to be
bound by a
cartel
which was
still
the sub-
but offering to accept of the surrender at the time stated
;
the
troops becoming prisoners of war, "to be treated at his discretion, which should
not be without humanity.'"
As
to the
mother and
sisters of
Rajah Sahib, they
"should be escoi-ted to Madras, wdiere proper care should be taken for their safety,
and they should not on any account be delivered into the hands of the Nabob
Mahomed
Ali."
THE BRITISH ENTER PONDICHERRY.
(HAP. XI.]
On
()+l
the IGth of January the gi'enadiers of Coote's regiment took possession a.d
who was
Villenore gate; and in the evening Lally,
of the
by delivering up the
tumult, anticipated the period fixed
apprehensive of
On
citadel.
the
fol-
lowing morning the British flag was hoisted, and saluted by a thousand pieces
_
_
U"i>oi>"i»
rity of Ijilly
_
of cannon, being those of every ship in the road, of all the posts
of the field artillery,
itc.i
and
batteries,
and of the ramparts and defences of Pondicherry.
in
Pondi
There
cannot be a doubt that the surrender was inevitable, as the provisions would
not have sufficed for
No
two days more.
fault could therefore
M. Lally for not protracting an impossible defence,
that the inhabitants generally regarded
him
and yet
be found with
was
it
too evident
as the prime cause of their disaster,
On
and would willingly have wreaked their vengeance upon him.
the third day
when he was about to depart for Madras, about 100 persons, mostly officers, and also two members of council, assembled at the gate,
and the moment he came out in his palanquin, assailed him with hisses, threats,
after the surrender,
and opprobrious
was attacked
after,
that he
by a
It
epithets.
in the
Dubois, the king's commissary, on coming out an hour
same way. Stung at
was ready to answer any
man
of the
name
was a barbarous
The rash challenge was
one.
who
of Defer,
this reception, he stopped
Dubois was an old
assassination, for
instantly accei)ted
him dead at
at the second pass laid
and said
man and
his feet.
short-sighted;
and yet such was the feeling of the bystanders that his death was regarded as a
them would
meritorious act, and not one of
There
detected in the leading
tion
alnises
and meant
officials,
That the knowledge of
this fact
may, without any want of
registrar,
to
and
had something
charity, be inferred
who, the moment the old
man
of
the civil inhabitants were 381
;
;
were in equal abundance.
of this
most imj)ortant capture
mar
;
to
which he had
do with his assassina-
from the conduct of the
came forward and
fell,
the artillery
fit
in
the
seized his papers.
town amounted
for service
to
were 500 pieces
The arms, ammunition, and military
cannon and 100 mortars and howitzers.
stores
irregularities
submit them to the home govern-
They were never heard of afterwards.
The total number of European military taken
2072
Dubois was known
the result not merely of personal hatred.
it,
have taken formal protests against the
ment.
burying him.
reason to believe that this inhumanity was, at least in some of those
is
who manifested
to
assist his servants in
Great were the rejoicings at Madras on account
but amid
all
these rejoicings a delicate question
harmony between the civil and the militjuy
authorities.
To whom did Pondicherry belong ? It was surrendered by Lally
to his Britannic majesty, and so accepted by Coote.
Mr. Pigott understood the
arose,
and threatened
matter differently
;
to
the
and on the fourth day
after the surrender
demanded that
Pondicherry should be delivered over to the Macb-as presidency, as having
become the property of the English
Eiist
India Company.
Coote demurred, and
submitted the demand to a council of war, composed of the leading
army and navy engaged
Vol.
I.
in the capture.
officers
Their opinion was that the
of the
demand
81
Dispute beaii.ithe
presiaoucy.
;
()^2
A.D. 1761.
OK INDIA.
IIISTOJIY
when he found argument
could not be maintained; but Mr. Pigott,
cut the matter
hy intimating
sliort,
[Book
tliat if
III
unavailing,
Pondicheiry were not delivered
tin-
money for the pay of the king's tnxjps, or the .subsistence of the French prisoners.
As there was no other source from which the
necessary funds could be drawn, the council of war had no alternative but i/j
presidency would not funii.sh
yield the point under prote.st.
The
The war which the
fortifi-
British
and French carried on
India had from the
in
cationa of
Pondicheny first
been truly a war of extermination.
demolished.
The existence
powers was deemed
as independent rival
that one or other must perish.
impo.ssible,
when
Accordingly,
two nations there
of the
and both therefore saw
Lally sailed fnnn France at
the head of an expedition which anticipated nothing but a series of triumpiis, he
by
his
government to destroy any British maritime
India that should
fall
into his hands.
was
insti-ucted
po.sse.ssion in
These instructions were intercepted, and
furnished a plausible ground for retaliating the barbarous policy which they
The presidency of Madras,
enjoined.
Pondicherry was
therefore, as .soon as
delivered over to them, is.sued orders for the demolition of
They were
speedily obeyed, and the citadel
and
all
fortifications.
its
the other defences were
converted into heaps of ruins.
With
Annihila-
the
fiiU
of Pondicherry the French
power
in India
was
to all intents
tion of
French
annihilated
ascendency
— the
in India.
;
but three places of some importance
settlement of Mah^, on the Malabar coast,
and Thiagur in the
and the
of Gingee
forts
Telli-
mouth of a stream which descends from
the
Two
of them,
on the south bank of the stream, were crowned with small
forts, Vjut
Western Ghauts.
like itself
remained to be reduced
Mahe, situated seven miles south-east of
Carnatic.
cherry, occupied a height at the
its
still
chief defence
In
immediate vicinity are several
its
was Fort
St.
George, occupying a larger
hills.
hill
on the other bank.
The only dependencies of Mahd were five small forts situated at some distance
to the north, and a factory at Calicut.
In the beginning of Januar}', 1701,
several vessels from England had landed troops at TellicheiTy, to be employed
in the reduction of
dency,
it
Mahe
was necessary
;
but as
it lies
within the limits of the
to have their authorit}'' before
chiefs.
employed by the governor in forming
alliances
The
presi-
and
this
interval
was
attacking
authority did not arrive before the beginning of February.
diligently
Bombay
it,
with the neighbouring
Their assistance was absolutely necessary, for the whole Em'opean mili-
tary available for defence did not exceed 100, while theu* assailants, under Major
Hector Monro, amounted to 900 European and 700 native
chiefs
had promised
liberally,
when
the push
came not a
troops.
single
Though
man
the
appeared
and the governor counted himself fortunate when, instead of being obliged
surrender at discretion, he
efl'ected
a capitulation, which in addition to other
advantages secured to the garrison the
at British expense to the Isle of
viously invested
to
full
Bourbon
honom-s of war, and their conveyance
or to Europe.
by Captain Stephen Smith with
Gingee had been pre-
eight companies of sepoys.
It
was commanded by one
of Lally's officers of the
being summoned, answered, that even
GOO sepoys, and 1000
if
name
of Macgregor, who, on
men
besieged by 100,000
forts
Colleries, or natives of the adjoining hills;
but he
'^
_
_
believed the mountains
would not have been
and one of
|)enalty,
This, however,
out,
tlie
to
even
if
they were really
He
so.
impregnable forts was scaled and taken by
his
was only a
_
be impregnable, and displayed a security Avhich
justifiable
a.d. i:ci.
His gamson consisted only of 150 Euro-
could not be reduced in three years.
l^eans.
'
643
THE FATE OF LALLY.
Chap. XI.]
})artial success, for
the two strongest forts
Capture of
(;iii(,'ee and
Tiiiagur.
paid the
sur])rise.
still
held
in the deadly nature of the climate, under
and had a powerful auxiliary
which the sepoys, though 1000 had been added to their number, were rapidly
melting away.
Macgregor, however, after
The
nffered to capitulate.
terms, though
all
his blustering, lost heart,
somewhat extravagant, were
conceded, and on the 5th of April he marched out with
all
and
readily
the honours of war.
Thiagur, which had returned to the French after their alliance with the Mysoreans
was broken
ment
of sixty five days by Major Preston.
reducing
visions
it
shared the same
w[),
ftite,
and bombard-
after a blockade
Though
there
was
little
prospect of
except by famine, the governor capitulated, with two months' proin store
still
;
and as
unconscious of the advantages of his position,
if
only asked to receive the same treatment as the troo])S taken in Pondicherry.
The
fate of Lally deserves to
preceded his arrival in France
;
His unpopularity in India
be recorded.
though with the consciousness of injured
«and
innocence he took the initiative, and brought formal accusations against the
leadinfj officials to
in
which
his
whose
command had
had raised up a host of
brought
all sorts
his
ears.
The
which had been entertained, had
indignation
it
;
from their
the victim,
whom we
cherry,
and
ministei"s
own
to
shoulders.
and Lally was confined
had returned
I documents, the one a
the public
language
tongues, and
sanguine hopes
mind with astonishment and
behoved either to bear the responsibility or transfer
some other
liave seen
loss of India, after all the
filled
his
own
These were received by the
of railing accusations against him.
government with willing
di.sasters
terminated, he soon found himself i)ut upon his
manner and the intemperance of
enemies, wiio a.s.sailed him with venomous
The arrogance of
<lefence.
and misconduct he attributed the
nejjliy-ence
There was no
in the Bastile.
difficulty in selecting
Father Lavaur, the Jesuit,
forming part of a de})utation at the .surrender of Pondito
France and died.
Among
liis
^lapers
were found two
fulsome panegyric, the other a defamatory
libel
on Lally.
Considered as evidence, the documents could only neutralize each other; but
there were circumstances in Lavaur's conduct which ought to have thro^vn the
balance in Lally s favoiu*.
but also an unscrupulous
iS'ot
liar.
had petitioned the government
only was the Jesuit
As
if
known
to be a bitter hater,
ruined by the capture of Pondicherry, he
for a small pension as a
means of
subsistence,
and yet he had died worth £00,000, in gold, diamonds, and bills of exchange.
The evidence of such a man was worthless; and yet it was shamelessly paraded
T'-e cite of
G44
A.D. 1761
IlISTOllY
OF INDIA.
[liooK
before the pu})lic, doubtless with the view of exciting antipathy if
After lying eighti^en months in the
estaltlish guilt.
Ba.stile,
couM not
it
Lally was confronted
with his accasers, but betrayed his old haughty and intractable
Trial of
III.
spirit
t/j
such
a degree as not only to exasperate the witnesses, but to prejudice the judge
Lally.
appointed to report on the
Under such circumstances the result could not
trial in despotic France, when political end.s were
was a mere mockery. After the lapse of other
case.
be doubtful.
Then, as now, a
to be gained
by a
conviction,
eighteen months, the case was ripe for decision, and the parliament of Paiis
were subservient enough to do what the court expected of them.
His con
They found
the accused guilty of having betrayed the interests of the king, the state, an<l
<luiiiiiation.
the East India
Company, and condemned him
made known he was taken
Before the sentence was
from
common
which was now
criminal
hands to heaven, and
and then removed, not
coiLsidered too honourable a place for him, but to
When
jail.
and beheaded
before the court, de<n"aded
his military rank, stripped of his military (jrders,
to the Bastile,
the
to be attainted
the sentence was read to
exclaimed, " Is this the
reward of
him he threw up
forty-five years' ser\-ice!"
and snatching up a pair of compasses which lay with some maps on a
made an attempt
He
is
He
liis
taljle, lie
and was doomed to drink the
That veiy afternoon he was taken out of prison with a
to pierce his heart.
failed,
bitter
cup to the
di'egs.
large
gag
mouth, to prevent him from addressing the spectators, carried
in his
.
beheaded.
in a
common
sixty-fifth year of his age.
—had thus been
Lally
men
Three
judicially
it
of note
He was
— Labom-donnais,
Dupleix, and
ofiicials
of the French East India
Company.
be doubted that an institution which called for such monstrous
more than deserved
all
the calamities which
had
fallen
upon
In following out the com'se of events in the Camatic,
from the not
in Bengal,
less
saciifices
it?
we have been
led awa}-
important events which, during the same period, had occuired
and were beginning,
after the
fii'st
excitement was over, to unfold
their true character.
Masula Boat,
IJaeiJ
in the
murdered in order to divert the public hatred
from the incompetent and corrupt
Can
and there beheaded.
cart to the Place de Greve,
OD the coast of Coromandel, more especially at Mudras and Pondicherr>-. for traDsporting light goods and passengers
across ilie Dars and through the surf.
CiiAP.
NABOBSHIP OF MEER
XIL]
645
JAFFIEl?.
i
CHAPTER
XII.
and Clive governor of Bengal — Attempt upon
by the Mogul's son — Hostilities
— Departure of Clive — His successors, Hohvell and Vansittart — Meer Jaffier deposed,
and Meer Cossim appointed nabob — Meer Cossim deposed, and Meer Jaffier reinstated — Nugumud-Dowlah titular nabob — Clive's second government — Dewannee of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa
Meer
Jaffier nabob,
it
with the Dutch
granted to the Company.
LIVE had
Dowlah
him
found
to flight
there,
it
a comparatively easy task to put Surajali
and induce him
was a task of greater
indifferent
nabob, but
still
more
To
and phiee Meer Jaffier on the musnud.
to
1:57.
keej)
govern witli wisdom and vigom*,
This was })artly owing to the
difficulty.
new
character and very moderate abilities of the
to tiie circumstances in
a.d
which he was
placed.
His fellow-
NaiwUship
conspirators naturally expected to share largely in the fruits of his success, and jamer
took offence
when
the rewards which they received
value which they attached to their services.
The
fell
short of the extravagant
sums of
distribution of large
money had been anticipated but in the very first days of the government, the
greater part of what had been found in Surajali Dowlahs treasury had been
;
required to meet the
first
instalments due to the Company, and pay the enor-
mous sums granted
or extorted imder the
Thus, at the outset,
when nothing but
name
of presents to their
sei'\'anis.
a liberality approaching to lavishness
could have gratified the selfishness of the nabob's courtiers,
good-will of the population generally, he
was compelled
and
conciliated the
either to practise a
made him contemptible, or to have recourse to measures of
extoi'tion which made iiim detested.
When pursuing the object of his ambition,
Meer Jaffier liad readily promised everything that was asked of him.
The
performance was then both distant and conditional, and many things might
niggardliness which
occur before
it
could either be asked or enforced
;
and he had imagined,
cxpressl}' states,' that " his liberalities to individuals,
who were
as Oraie
the heads of the
English nation, would relax their strictness in the public terms."
In plainer
words, he thought that the large sums which he had given as presents would
have operated as bribes, and disposed the recipients to overlook defalcations
where the
interests of the Com]-tany only
his disappointment,
sternly insisting
were concerned.
not unmingled with indignation,
"on the payments of the treaty monies
Great, therefore,
when he found
as they
was
Clive
became due."
There was another kind of interference which touched the nabob more nearly,
and
a
is
said to
have been regarded by him with abomination.
nabob within
his
own
province was absolute, and Meer
'
Military Transactions, vol.
ii.
page 195.
The authority of
Jaffier,
when
seated
G46
A.D. 1767.
HISTOKY OF INDIA.
on the musnud, was not disposed
tf^
been exercised by his predecessors.
not choose that commands
Meer
.lafiier
jealous of
IJritish
infiuence.
in the
[Book HI.
any of the powers which had
He had partiahties and hatreds, and did
relinquish
army, or the administration of the govem-
ment, sliould bc intrustcd to any but liis own favourites.
He accordingly
T
1
meditated many changes but when he would have carried them inU> effect, he
;
was mortified above measure
Some
necessary.
and even sworn
of these changes
would have been
violations
them would have been contrary
to; others of
and on these and similar grounds Clive did not hesitate to
he would not permit them.
nabob put
Who
then
is
cipate himself from British ascendenc3^
which could excite the
He
least suspicion of a
tell
to .sound policy;
him bluntly that
was the question which the
resolution was taken to eman-
ma.ster?
and from that moment
to himself;
own was
of promises made
to find that another consent beside his
his
w^as careful, however, to do nothing
change in his feelings
;
and
tlierefore,
while Clive continued at Moorshedabad, nothing could exceed the deference paid
to all his wishes
and
opinions,
on terms of intimacy and
On
His scheme
and both the nabob and
his
son lived with him
familiarity.
the 14th of September, 1757, Clive having set out for Calcutta, leaving
for dimiiijshiii" it.
Watts, Manningham, and Serafton at Moorshedabad, to transact the Company's
affairs,
Meer
The leading agents
Hindoos.
no time in endeavom-ing to carry out his own views.
Jaffier lost
in the conspiracy
Through them
other servants of the
which overthrew Surajah Dowlah were
chiefly the previous negotiation
Company had been
carried on;
with Clive and the
and
it
was
therefore
probable that through them also their futm-e influence in the goverament would
Reasoning thus, the nabob's
be exercised.
possible, extinguish the
Roydullub the dewan.
first
object
was
to cm-tail, and, if
At the head
was proposed to
power of the Hindoos.
With him,
therefore, it
of
them stood
begin, but with
the greatest caution, for Roydullub, aware of the feeling with wliich he
was
regarded at court, not only stood upon his guard, but had obtained from Clive
a guarantee of personal safety.
and was important only
as
The
first
step taken against
an indication of what might be expected
Ramramsing, who, besides being head of the
summoned
to
him was
Moorshedabad to
spies,
indirect,
to follow.
was Rajah of Midnapore. was
settle the accounts of his distiict.
Being
consi-
derably in arrear, and suspicious of what was intended, he did not go in person,
but sent his brother and nephew,
Roydullub, wdth
who were immediately thrown
whom Ramramsing had always
that this violent proceeding
been closely connected, believed
was the precursor of a
and established connections in
into prison.
similar requisition to himself,
different quarters, determined, if necessary', to
by force. He was even suspected of ha^4ng stirred up two rebellions
one by Ramramsing, who, on hearing how his brother and nephew had been
treated, assembled 2000 horse and 5000 foot, with which he threatened to retu'e
into the jungles with which his country abounded; and the other by Ogul
repel force
—
-
Sing,
whom
Surajah Dowdah had appointed governor of Purneah.
DISTURBED STATE OF BENGAL.
Chap. XII.]
These
647
both headed by Hindoos, and presumed to liave been
revolts,
insti-
AD.
1757.
gated by RoyduUub, drove Meer Jatiier from his course of dissimuhition, and
made him avow
his determination to treat
Roydullub as a
rebel.
A
kind of
MeerJaffier'.s
quaiTelwitli
open
hostilities
were accordingly declared and the dewan, while
;
still
continuing-
HoyiluUuli.
to hold his office, not only refused to visit the nabob, but assembled a force of 1000
men
to set
him
was
ciliation
at defiance.
effected,
Through the influence of Clive an apparent recon-
and an interview took
place, at
which the nabob and
his
dewan swore "oblivion of former distrusts and future friendship." Nothing
could be more false and hollow and Roydullub, while he evinced suspicion b};
keeping his house under pretence of sickness, gave a decided proof of hostility
by refusing
to allow the troops under his
own control
to take part in the expe-
dition to Purneah.
While peace was
tiius
maintained with
difficulty in the
very centre of Ben-
Conspiracy
ofAuinianet"
gal,
the frontiers were assuming a threatening aspect.
to seize the fort
Dacca, the
was headed by Ammanee Khan,
Cuouk and
lIu*ji:iNi.i:
Uh.aitn.'
— From Sir C.
In Dacca a conspiracy
a son of Serferaz
Khan, the
UOyley's Antinuities of Dacci.
nabob who preceded Ali Verdy and though prematurely discovered, was not put
;
down without
the aid of troops furnished by the Company.
direction, in Behar,
In the opposite
a formidable rebellion seemed so imminent that Clive
left
Calcutta and put himself at the head of his troops to marcli directly for Patna.
The rumour which prevailed was that Ramnarain, to whom a strong suspicion
of disaffection still attached, had formed an alliance with Sujaii Dowlah, the
Nabob
of Oude, and that they were preparing to unite their forces with the
view of marching into Bengal.
Meer
'
Jaffier to the
The chouk
of the city
is
known
Another rumom* was,
musnud was disapproved
very ancient, situated in the part
as the Old Nekaus; it is a square
of about 200 yards in extent; and fruit, vegetables,
at Delhi,
and
mosque was
sweets,
toj-s
tliat
and that an intrigue was
are e.xposeJ for sale in
built in 1C76.
quUics of Dacca.
the elevation of
— Sir
it.
The
C. D'Oyley's AtUi-
Khan.
J
HISTOUY OF INDIA.
648
A.D. 1767.
on foot to proclaim Mirza Mundee, the
11
son of Surajali Dowlah's brother, as
infjint
This latter rumour was traced to Meerun, Meer
nabob.
Atrocious
[Book
with what wicked intention soon appeared;
for
Jafiier's eldest son,
and
on the morning of the 10th
conduct of
Meenin, tiie
November, 1/57, Moorshedabad was thrown mto con.stemation by the announce-
"on"'**
ment
1
tliat
a band of
ruffians, hired
by Meerun, had broken
Ali Verdy's widow, where the infant
widow
•
1
was
into the palace of
living under the charge of his grand-
Ahmed, and murdered liim. It was added that
both the widows had shared the same fate.
They had only been seized and
sent off in boats to Dacca, the rumour of their murder having been circulated,
and even their fictitious funeral perfbirned, to prevent any attempt that might
mother, the
of Zaindee
have been made for their rescue, had
it
The one murder, however, was barbarity
his son generally detested,
tioned
it
nor
declaration,
it
knew
was
of
known that they were still alive.
enough to make both the nabob and
been
though the former declared that he neither sanc-
it till
was
it
was given
If credit
perpetrated.
to this
surely a dismal reflection for the inhabitants of Bengal that
they were already under a government which cormived at such crimes, and
ha«l
the prospect of being, sooner or later, subjected to the government of the ver\'
who
wretch
was never
Rebellion of
On
Happily, however, as will be seen, this prospect
perpetrated them.
realized.
the 25th of November, 1757, Clive arrived with
liis
troops at Moor-
Ogul Sing
suppressed,
shedabad, and on the 30th set out at the head of 550 Europeans and 1500
sepoys to join the nabob's army, wliich had advanced on the expedition to Purneah, as far as Raj amah al.
In
rebellion.
and
all
less
Clives presence alone sufficed to put
down
the
than a week after his arrival Ogul Sing was taken prisoner,
the chiefs in league with
threatened rebellion in Behar
still
him submitted
remained
;
or fled the country.
and the nabob, who was bent on
removing Ramnarain, urged an immediate advance on Patna.
advantage, and refused to
move
until all the pecuniary claims
of the treaty should be satisfactorily arranged.
the assistance of RoyduUub, through whose
patents behoved to pass.
The
and
saw
liis
stipulations
This was impossible without
office as
The nabob was thus
Clive
dewan
all
in a dilemma.
money
He
bills
and
mu.st either
RoyduUub under
such conditions as would not allow him afterwards to recede.
The latter course,
which was indeed the only rational one, was strongly advocated by Clive.
Through his mediation, and with the security of his guarantee, RoyduUub, who
forego the expedition to Patna, or effect a reconciliation with
had previously refused to quit Moorshedabad, arrived in the camp, and the
nabob and dewan once more made a solemn renunciation of their suspicions and
animosities.
treaty
still
The preliminary
obstacle being thus removed, the parts of the
remaining unfulfilled were easily aiTanged.
The payment
of twenty-
by order on the treasmy
Moorshedabad for one-half of the amount, and by tuncaws or orders, payable
the revenues should be realized, by the Phousdar of Hooghly and the Rajahs
three lacs of rupees, actually due,
was provided
for
at
as
of
CLIVE'S EXPEDITION TO PATNA.
Chap. XII. j
Burdwan and
executed,
the
to
take
possession
(if
the ceded lands
south
lacs,
payable in ad.
1757
Patents were also
districts.
M
empower-
Company
ing
Other nineteen
Kislmugiu", for the other half
were secured by other tuncaws on the same
April,
649
Calcutta,
of
with the authority
of
but
zemindary,
subject to a reserved
annual payment to
the nabob of 222, 958
rupees.
The revenue
of these lands, like
that of
many
others
Part op the City of Moorshedabad.
in the province,
—From Col.
Forrest's
Views on the Ganges.
was
allowed by the Mogul government to the actual nabob as jaghire, or a pension
We
for his expenses.
Clive
shall hear of it again.
was now ready
to
accompany the naboli
to Patna,
naturally cuves
l)ut
required to be informed, before starting, as to the precise object of the expedition.
The nabob, seeing
narain,
it
useless to dissemble,
and give the government
The nabob,
to
some one of
in forming this resolution,
might be anticipated
pointing out
tiie
that
more immediate dependants.
his
had overlooked the
was more discerning
raise
it
made under a
This suggestion must have been
design of giving the government of Behar to his
to
influence.
strengthen, whereas he
An
was now
it
own
conciliate
conviction
to
him
;
but
both interfered with his
brother,
and would con-
intent on diminishinjx. British
opinion of Clive, distinctly stated and enforced b}' sound argu-
ment, could not, however, be lightly set aside; and
much
;
would be better to
Ramnarain did not entertain the treasonable designs imputed
tribute
which
which Ramnarain might form, and then
Clive
nothing could be more distasteful to the nabob, as
after
difficulties
after
it.
the standard of independence, suggested that
thiin to oiist him.
Ram-
and
in executing
possible alliances
avowed
his intention to remove
irresolution
it
was
therefore arranged,
and tergiversation on the part of the nabob and
counsellors, that Clive should write a letter to
and assuring him of safety and favour.
his
Ramnarain, inviting an inter^^ew
Meantime the army continued
its
march
on Patna in three divisions, Clive with his troops leading the van, Roydullub
men following, and the nabob with the main bod}By the way letters arrived from Delhi, advising that
with his force of 10,000
bringing up the rear.
patents, confirming
Meer
Jaffier in the nabobship,
had been made
out.
They
had been delayed merely because the exhausted treasury at Mooi-shedabad could
not furnish the
Vol.
I.
money expected
at the
Mogul
court,
where
all
things had become
82
)>tiliu.lf
inter
of
Uiimuaraiu.
/
HISTORY UF INDIA.
^'•'^0
In go-anting
venal.
A.D. 1758.
was informed
visitofriatn
on the occasion Clive had not been forgotten,
titles
III.
for he
tlirough the Seits that he had been created a muvJivJjddr of 0000
under several pompous names.
lior.se,
Tiarain to
[Book
Ramnarain, as the army
j advanced, con'
_
tinued taking mea.sures for
Clive.
but as soon as he received
Ganges to pay Clive a
its
invitation,
He
visit.
liaxl
he gave proof of the
it
by complying with
inspired
Clive s letter
defence.
liis
not yet reached him
confidence which
full
and embarking
in his boats
arrived on the 25th of January,
;
it
on the
and the next
day proceeded, in company with Mr. Watts, to wait upon the nabob, who
received him with all the honours due to his rank, yet not refraining from
certain .slights indicative of his real feelings.
So equivocal, indeed, was
conduct, that Clive's su.spicions were roused, and
who had
Meer
jaffier
Ramnarain and Roydullub,
make common cause.
when startlincr
o intelligence
o
previously been at variance, resolved to
Matters Were in this unsatisfactory state
•'
alarmed.
his
The Nabob of Oude,
it
was
said,
had resumed
his aggres.sive designs,
arrived.
and was
about to advance from Lucknow, accompanied by a large body of Mahratta horse,
Law who had
and the European troops of M.
Meer
Allahabad.
chief arrived to
;
filled
and in order
his protection at
with alarm, more especially after a Mahratta
demand twenty-four
He was now
from Bengal.
be insolent
was
Jaffier
been living under
lacs of rupees as the arrears of tribute
had
as submissive as he
to conciliate Clive,
whose
previou.sly
due
been disposed to
had again become
ser\'ices
indispensable to him, he fulfilled the obligations which he had imdertaken in
regard to Ramnarain, by formally confirming him in Ids
of Behar.
Clive
for the
great reluctance.
petre
to take advantage of the nabob's altered feelings,
Company a monopoly of all the saltpetre made witliin his
The nabob made many objections, and ultimately consented with
and requested
dominions.
was not slow
of deputy-governor
office
Tlie terms offered
were indeed the highest at which the
salt-
monopoly had ever been farmed, but he knew that the stipulated rent was
the utmost he could receive from the
renter,
Company whereas
;
in the case of a native
he had an unlimited power of exaction in the shape of presents.
On
obtaining this rather questionable monopoly, Clive proceeded to enforce another
claim, the justice of
which could not be denied.
was a
his troops in the nabob's service
lac a
The
stipulated
The demand of the
lacs
had been
both under this head and others which
arrears,
had accumulated, in consequence of the
tuncaws, was not arranged without
ot
month, and though nearly four
months had already been consumed in the campaign, only two
received.
monthly pay
anything from the
difficulty of realizing
difficulty,
because the alarms fi'om Oude and
the Mahrattas having died away, the nabob had returned to his tortuous pohcy,
and was again intriguing
Ramnarain
allowed to
for the
.
firmncss disconccrtcd his schemes, and
retain his
govemmen
•
jjgj^j^y^
wlule the wholc
Clive's opinion of
first
Chve's sagacity and
removal of Ramnarain.
^
,
.
•
Ramnarain remained in possession
•
p l
ot his
army returned by slow marches towards Moorshedabad.
Meer
Jaffier
had undergone considerable modification.
His
communications with him when the conspiracy was planned, had impressed
him favourably, and he speaks of him
When
MEER
CLIVE'S OPINION OF
Chap. XII.]
in
051
JAFFIER.
one of his
man
letters as a
a
d. itos.
he placed him on the musnud, he congratulated the com'tiers present on
good fortune in having received so excellent a sovereign.
their
of sense,
was now
In a
different.
His language
committee of directors he says:
letter to the select
—
cuve-s
upiuiou of
'
'
I
am
concerned to mention that the present nabob
and not at
all
in the space of a
few months, and miglit have proved of
known attachment
were on foot at one time."
is still
significant:
and you may be
;
No
to him.
— "The nabob's conduct
he has been wanting to
make
in our
You cannot imagine
march
to this place
who
his brother,
of Behar, in prejudice of Ramnarain,
is
and
;
come down and pay
him
Not one of
or treat with him, without
He had no
ance from me."
'•
we took
Before
would come
the
field,"
he
my joining
the
him, he
lias
payment of ten more."
hopeful terms.
districts,
was with the
observes, " it
A
adds
:
—
"
money
"
now
government, as to be
to maintain himself quietly in
sing,
it.
For
able,
in
still
more
be solicited on
is
Nothing but a
;
On
expedition, without blood.shed, has been
total revolu-
He
afterwards
and the nabob seems
oureelves,
we have been
so fortiuiate
most considerable persons
in the
successively supported Rainrani-
to acquire the general confidence
all sides.
now become
with a small degree of prudence,
by the constancy with which we
RoyduUub, and Ramnarain,
friendshii>
is
for
become absolutely necessary, as
is
happily ended
in these transactions, as to attach to us the
and,
and
and given security
the discharge of the debt
are greater than he can answer.
All domestic troubles are
;
to Patna.
greatest difficulty the
government can well interrupt your payment.s."
so well fixed in his
kingdom
of a.ssur-
Referring to the tuncaws or assignments on the revenues of certain
independent of the nabob, which precaution
tion in the
march
subsequent letter to the directors
he says, that through them
his calls for
lacs,
he
his respects.
to issue out of his treasury 10,000 rupees;
already paid twenty -five
since
whom
lettei*s
reason, however, to repent of his
nabob could be prevailed upon
since
to,
the
a Gentoo, universally
desired to write to him, to engage
his rajahs
in
a greater fool than
beloved and respected, and that in breach of his promises to me,
to
weak
is
whenever we are wanting
assured,
had these three weeks past
Nabob
himself,
consequence to
fatal
than three rebellions
less
a force to overawe and protect him, ruin will ensue.
his anival,
his
In a letter to Mr. Pigott, written from Patna, his
and more
plainer
l>eyond conception
trouble I have
jieer Jaffier.
His mismanagement threw the country into great confusion
but for our
language
capacity,
little
and confidence of
blessed with the talent of gaining the love
principal officers.
himself,
a prince of
is
the whole
we may
crowned with
all
and make our
pronounce, that this
the advantages that
could be expected or wished to the nabob and the Company."
On
the
march from Patna, the nabob halted
to
amuse himself
witl' hunting, ciiveretuma
to Mixirelie
and pay a pilgrimage
to a celebrated
tomb
in the vicinity of Rajamahal.
Clive
Jabiui.
t
continuing to proceed, accom})anied by Roydullub, reached Moorshedabad on
the 15th of May, 1758.
The
state of the city astonished him.
The markets
i
652
AT).
17:^8.
HISTORY (W INDIA.
were deserted, the shops
away
to send
Complaint
On
shut,
many
of the princiiud families were preparing
and signs of trepidation were everywhere apparent.
their effects,
who
he learned that Meernn,
in(|uiry,
[Book HI.
w?i.s
still
more impatient than
his
of Olive
againiit
Ramnarain and Roydulluh, had no
father for the removal of
.sooner learned
Meenin.
was accompanying Clive
that the latter
quitted
in his return Uj the capital,
than he
with great precipitation, giving out that he had reason to saspect
it
own
designs against his
life,
and had therefore resolved
conduct struck terror into the inhabitants,
and bloodshed of a new
the devastation
who
His
to join his father.
them but
.saw nothing before
Clive might well be angry,
revolution.
for the
charge of treasonable designs was levelled at him
and he
therefore wrote the nabob, complaining in the sharpest terms of Meerun's
conduct,
a.s
and declaring that he would no longer remain
in Bengal .sacrificing
This decided course broujjht both the nabob and
zeal to distrust.
and they both apologized
their senses,
well as Roydullub,
in the
too
still
much
to
The nabob,
most submissive terms.
even abandoning his sports and intended pilgrimage, hastened home
Meemn
but Clive,
;
offended to desire an interview, had preA^ously set out for Cal-
cutta, ordering
2000 of the sepoys to
and the
follow,
rest,
together with
the
all
Europeans, to remain at Cossimbazar.
New
On
foiin of
government
tor Bengal
presidency.
Hardwicke arrived from Engthe arrangements wliich the directors had made in
the 20th of June, the Company's ship
land, bringing accounts of
consequence of the
loss
By
of Calcutta.
their
first
arrangement,
made
August, 1757, they committed the government to a select committee of
of
whom
Clive was to be pi-e.sident;
in
five,
but in the following November, they
appointed a council of ten, in which the four senior members were to preside
alternately each for three months.
Calcutta for the
first
Intelligence of both aiTangements reached
time by the Hardivicke, another
vessel,
though prexdously
despatched with the August arrangement, not ha^^ng yet arrived
tors
had been
legislating in the dark,
ment would have been, under any
revolution which had recently taken
cognizant,
made
council, Clive
it
had no
place.
It has
to
to Madras.
far
direc-
A rotatory govern-
from wisely.
circumstances, a clumsy device, and the
place,
wholly impracticable.
the directors had assumed, on wdiat
had returned
and
The
but of which the directors were not
In this new and strangely constituted
been said that no slight was intended, as
must have appeared good
It would, however,
have been at
groiuids, that
least
he
more courteous
have acted on the supposition that cu-cumstances might have occurred to pre-
vent his departure, and to have assigned him the place to which his past
vices entitled him.
being
still
The appointment might have been made
in Bengal;
and hence, even
rendered the appointment ineffectual,
public testimony to his merit.
and made no
If Clive
secret of
it
if his
would
ser-
conditionally, on his
previous departure should have
stiU
It is certain that
have been gratifying as a
CHve himself
felt
aggrieved,
it.
was indignant, the new members of
council were above measure
I
perplexed.
attempt to
ArPOINTED COVEr.XOR.
('LIVE
Chap. XII.]
()53
They were naturally proud of their new dignity, but felt that any
conduct the government without him would be woi-se than futile.
They were aware that nothing but fear could induce the nabob to remain
and that the moment he was set
faithful to the obligations he had undertaken
free from the commancUng influence which Olive alone had over him, the large
;
sums of money
all its
a.d. itss.
^y ^^^
menibere of
^"''•'^
<<>"i'cii
to
remaining due under the treaty never would be paid, and
still
other stipulations would either be violated or indirectly evaded.
liiHu-
enced by such considerations, they took the only course which seemed open to
them, and addressed a letter to Clive, in which, after stating the objections to
and
the rotatory governorship,
waive
all
readiness 'at this juncture of affairs to
their
personal honours and advantages," they
president of the Company's affairs in Bengal,
He had
Honourable Company."
name
Watts, whose
not to accept.
stood
He was
first
a person
"
an
in the rotation,
appointed by the
is
when he
spiteful feelings,
said:
by Mr.
his determination
and declared
above being influenced by
being
offer of
previously been sounded on the subject
strong reasons for his intended refusal,
my
till
made him
and gave
— "Both the public and
private advices, I think, i)lainly discover that the presidency of Bengal
by no means intended
for
me by
and a tem[)orary
the court of directors;
may
acceptance can only expose me, upon the further alterations which
from Europe, to circumstances of disgrace in the eyes of
ment, which,
to the
I believe, it is
Company's
affiiirs."
resolved to exclude
able
;
unnecessary for
me
tlie
to remark,
was
arrive
country govern-
might be prejudicial
If the directors had, as he here supposes, deliberately
him from the
office
of president, this objection
was unanswer-
but further consideration, and especially the very friendly tenor of a letter
from Mr. Payne, their chairman, convinced him that their omission of his name
might be explained without construing
accepted the offer in a
to
be
dissatisfied
letter, in
it
which he says: —
by the noble example of public
all
Though
Jissigned, after
liead of the general conunittee in the letter of the
waive
"
with the court of directors, for laying
form of government, without any reason
to
an intended
into
spirit
think
I
me
have
I
last, yet,
set me, I
private considerations, where the general good
cjiuse
aside in their
is
as
animated
have determined
concerned
;
and
as there is
no doubt but the government of a single person, involved as we are
now with
the country powers,
must have
infinite
advantage over that compli-
cated form of government established from home, I shall, from
(though both
my
health and private concerns strongly require
Europe), accept the offer you have done
me
the honour to
my
tradicting, to
have only anticipated the
it
tiiat
motive He aceepu
it.
returning to
make me,
time as our employers have appointed a president in the usual form.
a manly as well as fortunate decision, for
'
till
such
This was
eventually proved, instead of con-
final
wishes of the directors,
who no
sooner heard of the victory of Plassey, than they abandoned their new-fangled
rotatory scheme,
and
II
new
me
having named
3d of August
which you have
and he
slight;
formall}* aj (pointed Clive governor of Bengal.
'
Got
A.D. 1758.
viHitof
Meor
OF INDIA.
lILSTOliY
The Company's
Olive's wisdom and
affairs
coast could not
concealed from the naljob, and
were certainly
The
energy.
]je
in a critical
state,
in.
and required aU
successes of the French on the Coroniandel
Jaffier
to Calcutta,
[b<j<jK
tlie
natural consequence
.
was
to
make him
hopeful that he miglit yet be
favourite schemes, though
The
it
had
sary to slacken the rein which
In these circum.stances, Clive
his
felt it neces-
he had hitherto held on the nabob's move-
things which, at a
have peremptorily interdicted.
will,
all
also suffered a serious diminution Ijy the
expedition to the Nortliern Circars.
many
to carrj' out
should be in defiance of Clive and the Company.
British troops in Bengal
ments, and overlook
arjle
As an
he invited him to Calcutta.
Feal Chaeba, or Elephant's-head State-boat
additional
His
an appropriate occasion; and Meer
own
Jaffier,
lO)
more favourable
;
time, he
means of conciliating
instalment as governor
with
Moor Puskee,
all
would
his goodfuiiii.shed
his train, descending the
or Peacocks-head Pleasiire-boat
(6).
Flora 8olvyii, Le« U'.ndous.
Hooglily in a splendid
pomp and
Moorsheda-
pleasure, thousrli
...
oiily inducement to pay this visit.
_
bad
in his
capital
was entertained
for several
days with
festivity.
xhc mere love of
intrigiie.s at
fleet of boats,
dming
certain changes
the responsibility of which he
always
stronor in
He deemed
Meer
Jaffier,
was not
his
.
it
prudent to be absent from his
which he was most anxious to accomplish, but
was unwilling
maintained in his place as dewan, contrary to
to incur.
liis
Roydullub had been
avowed determination
to eject
Meerun had suggested a means of getting rid of him, and the father, well
aware of the savage nature of his son, left him to accomplish bis object in his
own way. In this he obtained important aid from Nuncomar, a Hindoo, who.
him.
Feal Charra means Elephant's Head, and takes
The one represented was
50 feet long by 4 feet wide; some old Hindoos say
tliey have been made lOl) feet long by 6 feet wide.
They have oars and sails, and are richly ornamented
within and without, and move with a number of oars.
Tlie master or most distinguished person is seated
before the rowers. The feal charras are very scarce;
rajahs and rich people only use them.
'
its
name from the prow.
Moor Punkee means
Peacock's Head. The rowers
with their faces to the prow. The
prince or leading persoQ smokes his hookah under a
particular canopy in front, and the grandees and servants of his retinue sit under another.
At the
head of the rowers is a jemidar, who regulates the
measure like the leader of an orchestra little bells
use paddles, and
sit
;
are fastened to the paddles.
long oar with which to steer.
The maaee
or pilot has a
—Solvyn, Les Hindous.
PLOTS OF MEEK JAFFIER AND MEEKUN.
Chap. XII.]
after
Ii55
having long been in the confidence of Roydulhib, had conceived the idea au
upon
of elevating himself
When the tuncaws
his ruin.
Nuncomar
of the treaty monies proved unproductive,
the fault lay with Roydullub
and volunteered, that
;
gi-anted for the
itgo.
pajment
artfully insiniiated that
if full
authority were given
ConBpiracy
against
The
make the amount forthcoming.
and Nuncomar thus became an
him, he woiild
to be accepted,
.
was too welcome not
offer
ostensible agent of the
RojUiaiub
Company,
while Roydullub lost his interest with them, and could no longer calculate on
This change of feeling was soon
their protection.
and
his son,
who
lost
no time in turning
made known
Roydullub, aware of the
to account.
it
nabob
to the
extent of his danger, requested leave to retire with his family and effects to Cal-
Even this was refused him, unless he previously
payment of the troops, who were clamouring for their
cutta.
were in
after
this state, the
nabob
on
set out
furnished
arrears.
money
for the
Wliile matters
Only two days
his Calcutta visit.
he was gone, Meerun surrounded Roydullub's house with a body of troops,
and was preparing
rescue, just in
to seize his person,
time to save his
life,
when
by sending him
off to Calcutta
Meerun, enraged at the escape of his principal victim, vented his
members of
his family,
and detained them as
came
to the
under
escort.
s])ite
on the
the Company's agents
prisoners,
till
Warren Hastings, who
had succeeded Scrafton as the Company's resident at Moorshedabad, was able to
send them also to Calcutta.
It
would be
useless to detail the series of intrigues
which followed, and in which the nabob and his
tion of Roydullub,
Alumgeer
from the west.
II.,
Shah Alum, the
and then better known by the
as heir apparent to the throne,
at the
for
them
to
employ
it.
The nabob, while thus occupied with despicable
intelligence
bent on the destruc-
showed that there were no means too base
accompUsh
in order to
son, still
had arrived
head of an army of 8000 men.
the hands of the vizier Ghazi-u-din,
thraldom by suddenly quitting Delhi.
with the sanction of his fother,
eldest son of the
title
Mogul emperor,
of Shazada, belonging to
him
at Benares in the beginning of 1759,
His father was virtually a prisoner
and he himself had only escaped
in
similar
This step appears to have been taken
who had
government of Bengal, Behar, and
intrigues, received startling Theahazmia
Orissa.
avowed, and hence the shazada appeared
previously conferred upon him the
This sanction, however, was not
in a
double character.
one view, he was his father's representative, and carried
all
According to
the weight wliich,
notwithstanding the low condition to which the empire had
fallen,
was
still
name of the ]\Iogul.
According to another view, he was a
who had quitted his father's court without permission, and was
attached to the
rebellious son,
engaged in treasonable designs.
This double character put
the different governors to ado])t the view which
it
in the
power of
was most accordant with
their
and hence many stood aloof while others flocked to
The most powerful chief who had openly espoused his cause
inclination or their interest,
his standard.
was Mahomed Cooly Khan, the governor of Allahabad
;
but
it
was underi^tood
uTnlres!
HLSTOilY OF ISI>IA.
G;jG
AD.
[Book
that Sujah Dowlali, Nal)ob of Oude, tliougli he kept artfully in
1759.
was disposed
to join hira as soon as he
would bring with him an important
The
Designs of
oIiyeiTgTi.
back«:^-ound,
proljability of success,
and
Lmw
\\'ith
auxiliary, in the person of M.
French party.
his
"^
saw any
tlie
III,
objcct of the siiazada
was not
Bengal, Behar. and Ori.ssa
concealed.
belonged to him as viceroy, and he was coming to claim his
Meer
apjieared tliat
Jaffier
was about
to
be treated as an
It thus
rights.
iisurj>er,
and could
only maintain po.ssession by defying the heir apparent of the Mogul empire.
How
durst he engage in such a warfare, which appeared to
legious?
How could
he hoj^e to succeed in
mutinying, and would in
enemy than they would
upon
Clive,
all
it
him?
who immediately saw
with his accustomed ardour and
with troops which were con.stantly
In this emergency, everything depended
the part he had to
and entered into
act,
his people give
of the shazada's motions, as there
me much more
would be
— "The
from the
little fear
it,
had thoughts of purchasing the shazada's
wrote as
follows: — "I have just heard
can scarce give credit to
of
money
it is,
;
to the king's son.
If
latter,
a piece of intelligence
which
I
sum
have Sujah Dowlah, the
you out of money
more, come from
till
this,
you
all parts
will
going to
offer a
to the confines of your countr\-,
you have none
should pursue this method,
with the means to
Clive, hear-
you do
who
excellenc}'^
The nabob,
is
many
your
retreat.
did the
that your excellency
Mahrattas, and
will bully
dis.sen.sions
concern than the news
former take the proper measures to secure his being well served."
ing of
it
In a letter to Hastings, directing him
decision.
to give confidence to the com-t of Moorshedabad, he says:
in his perplexity,
.sacri-
probability be no sooner brought in sight of the
desert to
between the nabob and
him almost
left in
your treasury.
wiU be furnishing the
it
raise forces, which, indeed,
If
king's son
ma}- endanger the loss of yom"
What will be said if the gi'eat Jaffier Ali Khan, soubah of this prowho commands an army of 60,000 men, should offer money to a boy who
country.
vince,
has scarcely a soldier with him?
of the English,
His letter to
CUve.
I
beg your excellency wiU rely on the fidehty
and of those troops which are attached
to you."
was well aware that lie
The
might have made most advantageous terms with the opposite party.
"
offers
shazada sent agents to him, who made him, to use his own language,
Clivc, wliilc
of provinces
him a
til US
pledging himself to Meer
upon provinces, with whatever
letter
Jaffier,
my heart could
from their master, who addressed him as
and delivered
The Most High and
desire:"
"
Mighty, Protector of the Great, Colonel Sabut Jung* Bahadm-," and concluded
thus:
— "In
this
happy
Bengal, I have erected
tion to bestow favour
'
The
known
was
my
making the tour of Patna and
standard of glory at this place.
his defence of Arcot.
right to grant
had
it
titles,
my pure
It is
upon you, the high and mighty, and
"Sabut Jung," by which Clive ia still
means "firm or daring in war," and
given him by Mahomed Ali, in allusion to
title
in India,
first
time, -with a ^'iew of
all faithful
inten-
servants,
Though Mahomed Ali had no
Clive was pleased with
engraved on his Persian
seal.
it,
and
LETTER OF THE SIIAZADA.
Xn.]
f'HAP.
agreeable to their conduct.
with weeds and thorns.
Tliis
and make
it
is
like a
garden of tlowers, interspersed
may
rest in peace
and
me
your business to pay your respects to
it
which will be great and happy
you should be earnest
It is proper
for you.
they
did,
as follows
me
ti.o
my
in
Know
favour.
must be done."
Clive dismissed the agents with a warning not to
if
Letter of
like a faithful servant,
doing thus, when, by the blessing of God, you stand high in
this
Know you, who
this my firman,
(piietness.
proper you should pay a due obedience to
is
a.d. irss.
shall therefore root out the bad, that the faithful
I
and good ryots ^God willing)
are great, that
world
657
:
come near him
The
he would "take their heads for their pains."
—
"I
have had the honour to receive your
again, for
he answered
letter
It gives
highnes.s's firman.
great concern to find that this country must become a scene of troubles.
beg leave to inform you, that
me
emperor, appointing
which constitutes
me
a servant of his; and as
pay that due regard
do.
must further beg leave
I
acquainting
vizier,
Cxinnot
to
your highness's
I
me
of your coming
and
down
orders,
here, I
would otherwise wish
ordei-s I
to inform you, that
horse,
')()()()
have not received any
I
am
mider the
engagements with the present soubahdar of these provinces to
times,
I
have been favoured with a sunnud from the
I
a mimsubdar of the rank of GOOO foot and
emperor or
either from the
ciive*
assist
to
strictest
him
at all
not the custom of the English nation to be guilty of insincerity."
it is
In declining the interview which the shazada's letter obviously invited, on the
gi'ound that he
had not "received any orders" from the court of Delhi, Clive
took stronger ground than he was probably aware of at the time, as afterwards
when Meer
appeared
It
was
in the following
Some
favour.
Mahomed
Ali
terms: —
Gohur
secure the person of
Know
(the shazada),
who
my
are
which he had received.
that you are under the .shadow of
have turned the brain of
my
my
beloved son,
and are carrying him to the eastern part
my servant,
to
my country.
to proceed immediately to Patna,
son and keep him there.
his attendants, that other people
my
"
edict
must be the cause of much trouble and ruin
therefore order you,
will gain
him an imperial
ill-designing people
of the empire, which
I
Jaffier sent
may take warning
You
and
are likewise to punish
thereby.
In doing this you
favour and have a good name."
Though Clive spoke and wrote slightingly of the shazada and his invasion,
Ramnarain, the governor of Behar, was susthere was gi'ave cause for alarm.
pected of being in league with the enemy, whose forces had rapidly increased to
30,000 or 40,000, while the whole force which the presidency could muster
amounted only to about 450 Europeans and 2500 sepoys. At tiie head of these
Clive set out, and after a short halt at Moorshedabad where he lectured the
—
nabob on
subjects,
his misconduct, which,
by
forfeiting the confidence of all chvsses of his
had the natural consequence of inviting foreign invasion, and at the
same time
"
complied with the nabob's solicitation to ride on the same elephant
with him, and adopted any measure that covdd support him in his administraVoL.
I.
83
critical state
ULSTUKY OF INDIA.
058
A.D. 1759.
tion"
—he hastened on
for Patna, wliich
nent danger of being taken,
llaninarain at
both parties, and actually paid a
Theshazalia'a attempt
on Patna.
was now
actually besieged
and
in
ill.
immi-
endeavoured to make friends of
first
visit to the
[Book
shazadas camp, apparently for the
puroose of asccrtaininf; what terms he could obtain from him.
Uitimattjly,
.
liowcvcr. On ascertaining that Clive
he would prove
victor,
suspicions raised
by
valiant,
he had no doubt that
field,
and therefore bestirred himself
his previous
and repeated
had taken the
assaults
away with
to do
tampering with the enemy.
His defence was
were successfully repulsed, though two
The
however, was
the
l^astions
when the
appearance of a detachment which Clive had sent forward under Ensign Matthews
were at one time
carried.
result,
still
doubtful,
threw the besiegers into despair, and they abandoned the siege with the utmost
The confederates who had joined the shazada had been using him
merely as an in.strument to accomplish their own ends. The Nabob of Oude, in
})articular, though he had been the chief instigator to the invasion, only turned
it to account by seizing upon Allahabad while the governor was ab.sent, and then,
precipitation.
to shake himself free of
all
responsibility,
seek an asylum in his territories.
his followers, proposed to
would not even allow the shazada
The unhappy
throw himself on
saw how dangerous a guest he might
act of humanity, however, he sent
prince, thus almo.st deserted
Briti.sh
protection
;
by
but Clive, who
prove, refused to receive him.
him a sum of money
to
As a mere
to relieve his present
necessities.
The nabob's joy
ciive's
was great in proportion to his fears, and
Clive by a grant which was equal in value to all
at this deliverance
he manifested his obligation to
that he had previously bestowed upon him, and which was destined to become
the subject of
much unpleasant
discussion.
from Delhi, he wrote to Juggut
dignities
Shortly after Clive obtained his
Seit, to
say " that the nabob had
made
him an omrah of the empire without a jaghire." The answer was, that 'the
nabob never granted jaghires in Bengal; that Orissa was too poor, but that he
might have one in Behar."
matter
till
Nothing more appears
the expulsion of the shazada,
Clive's application or
when
having been reminded of
it,
to
have been done in the
the nabob, either recollecting
declared his intention to use
every means in his power to obtain an order from Dellii for a jaghire, because,
as Mr. Hastings expresses
it
in a letter to CUve, he
was
"
ashamed that you should
do so much for him without the prospect of reaping any advantage to j'ourself
by
On
it."
a subsequent occasion,
when
Mr. Sykes was acting temporarily for
Mr. Hastings at Moorshedabad, the nabob returned to the subject, and, after
observing that "he had frequently had
seriously
upon
obviating
all
it till
to the
difficulties
by giving
Company to
inteifere the least with his
Company's
in his thoughts but never entered
now," stated that Juggut Seit had fallen upon a method of
the lands ceded to the
"would
it
affairs."
for the jaghire " the quit-rent arising from
the southward of Calcutta."
This, he thought,
government, and stood the clearest in relation
\
('LIYE'8 .IA(JH1I{K.
Chap. XII. J
It
is
([uit-rent
fact
impossible to doubt that the nabob
was the jaghire which woidJ
Juggut
Seit,
wlien he suggested
was
tioi)
right
when he
said that the
In
with his government.
least interfere
must have had a shrewd suspicion that
it,
no part of the ciuit-rent would ever be brought into the Moorshedabad treasury.
The nabob was already owing the Company
and
it
therefore,
a.d. iiyj
had he retained the right
to
far
it,
more than he was able
it
tiong
<^''je<=«'"
to pay;
would only have been
to
jagiure.
.see
mentioned as a sum which the Company had retained in their own hands as a
reduction p7'0 taiito of their debt.
To him,
therefore, it
was utterly worthless as
a source of revenue, and he lost nothing by parting with
The
it.
case of the
Company was so very different, that it is difficult to understand what the nabob
meant when he said that it was the jaghire which " stood the clearest in relation
to the
Company's
affairs.'
On
the contrary,
transference of the quit-rent to one of
which they could always make available
But the moment
the pa^Muent of
was
it
it
On
entii'ely lost.
show that the
fai-
worse
It
was
for the
of the nature of a security,
repayment of their advances.
validly transferred to Clive, or
any other British
subject,
covdd be enforced in the British courts of law like any other
was thus
Its character
debt.
to
servants placed them in a
as a set-ofF against him.
it
would be easy
So long as the quit-rent was payable to the nabob, they
position than before.
could always use
tiieir
it
this
entirely changed,
and
its
value as a security was
ground alone the Company miglit
version of the quit-rent into
what was
Avell
object to the con-
called Clive's jaghire.
But there were
other con.siderations which, without affecting the legality of the jaghire, showed
it
The Company might, without
dignity, consent to hold their ceded lands under the Nabob of Bengal,
fair or becoming to set a new landlord over their heads, and make
to be at the least unseemly
any
loss of
but was
it
and inexpedient.
them the tenants of one of their own servants? It ought always to have been
recollected, that however great Clive's services might have been, they were really
the services of those
was
who had employed
him, and that therefore,
in a ))osition to renounce the quit-rent, the renunciation
made
when
in the
Company's
One
be observed, that at
tiie
was already
the country which
them?
what decency or
Was
In that case the
it
effectual if necessary
all
ap-
not more than probable that ere long
by the Company would be actually
With
(piit-i-ent would necessarily fall.
virtually ruled
justice, then, could
transition to bind
it
time
con.sidered
great revolution had already taken place, and others to
pearance could not be distant.
ti'aiisferred to
It deserves also to
the nabob
ought to have been
was granted the government of Bengal could not be
the jaghire
as settled.
favour.
if
any one attempt during
this
interval of
down upon them as a permanent burden, to be made
by a decree of the Court of Chancery? The estimated
value of
the jagliiro.
annual value of the jaghire was about £30,000.
£300,000
;
and
had received,
thus, for the services of less
in
Tiiis,
at ten years' purchase,
is
than three years in Bengal, Clive
addition to his ordinary pay and emoluments, considerably
more than £500,000
sterling.
\
IIISTOKY OF INDIA.
0(50
A.u.
[Book
when an
Tlie invasion of the sliazada liad scarcely been defeated,
i75!i.
III.
an
ahtrni of
unexpected, thougli not less threatening description arose from a very difien-nt
nutcii ann;i
to Bengal
(quarter.
The Dutch had beheld
The French
ap])reliension.
tiiat theirs
successes in Bengal with
tiie iJritish
might share a similar
Was
had been annihilated.
factories
It
fate?
is
JJutch were at peace, this could hardly happen
it
envy and
not [Kjssible
true that while the British and
by open
violence
;
but the .same
The danger
thing might be accomplished by underhand means.
to which an
important branch of the Dutch trade had recently been expo.sed by the establish-
ment
monopoly
of a saltpetre
case in
Others of a similar nature might be expected to follow, and therefore
j)oint.
the true policy
was
on a footing which would command
to place their settlement
respect, or if necessary enforce
Its objects,
Company, was a
in favour of the English
by which the Dutch are
said to
There
it.
some inconsistency in the motives
is
According to one account,
have been actuated.
they had refused to recognize the revolution which had given the naboVj.ship of
Bengal to Meer
Jaffier, and, fearing his
which would enable them to defy
come
to
According to another account, they had
it.
an understanding with Meer
armament which, arriving
at a time
vengeance, determined to prepare a force
Jaffier,
when
and with
his sanction fitted out
an
the English Company's troops had been
diminished by the expedition to the Northern Circars, would enable him to shake
yoke which they had imposed upon him.
iiimself free of the
It is impossible to
decide between the conflicting motives thus attributed to the Dutch.
The only
important question for Clive, was to decide on the course which ought to be
when the armament should make its appearance. He had early made
up his mind to repel it at all hazards, though he was well aware how difficult it
would be to justify the proceeding. When remonstrated with by some of his
friends on the responsibility he would incur by opposing the passage of the
armament of a friendly power up the Ganges, he answered that " a public man
pursued
may
occasionally be called
principle he
was prepared
upon
to act with a halter
to act, but he
was
any precaution which might, ostensibly at
Dutch
ciiveapre
careful at the
least, place
it.
Tlic nabob,
even
not prepared to
if
avow
" to
from him an order
and hence,
him
in the right
to omit
and the
he had given his sanction to the Dutch armament, was
own name, but
and Clive therefore had
.
~,
little difficulty
m
.
.
procuring
oppose and prevent any foreign troops being brought into
made with the nabob bound him to obey;
Dutch, he could now assert that he w^as acting, not
it
in that of the
had the
which they desired
effect of
to appear,
Bengal government.
This was an important
depriving the Dutch of the character of
and exhibiting them
allies,
in that of aggressors.
body of troops arrived, they were
pretend that Negapatam was her destined port, and that having been
Accordingly,
obliged to
.
it,
in opposing the
point gained, for
in
same time not
this
This order the treaty
his country.'
in his
On
his neck."
in the wrong.
paratioiis to
opiwsB
round
driven from
when
it
by
their first ship carrying a
stress of weather, she
would again leave the Hooghlj-
as soon
J
;
ARRIVAL OF THE DUTCH ARMAMENT.
CiiAP. XII.
as she liad obtained a supply of
credit to this pretence,
water and
{)rovisions.
CIi\' e
661
refused to give any
Tanna and the
tives of the
was acting
all
boats and vessels pjvssing up the
proceeding called forth strong remonstrances from the re])resenta-
Tliis
river.
with orders to search
it,
Dutch company
at Chinsurah, but Clive persisted, asserting that he
in obedience to the nabob's orders,
which he was solemnly bound by
and
in fulfilment of obligations to
ti'eaty.
In October, 1759, the Dutch armament, consisting of six or seven capital
crowded with
sliips
received,
Meer
soldiers,
was
Jaffier
arrived at Fulta.
appeared a few days
after,
when
How
it
from the very
fact,
his previous orders,
testo,
when
and troops
by them that
or had been convinced
first,
fulfil
chastise
this boast
as soon as the setison
for their departure
nabob either had had an undei'standinir with the Dutch
was thus once more
Hence,
but he made
joined to other suspicious circumstances,
would be best promoted by allowing them
Clive
;
and that "they had
The season could never be more favom*able
certain that the
in a
he was
dilemma
still
;
to bring
up
his
own
tortuous policy
their troops if they could.
but as the nabob had not withdrawn
able to assert that he
was acting under them.
the Dutch, deeming themselves ripe for action, sent a kind of mani- a
•11I-111-
f.ii
in whicli tliey recapitulated
tlieir
he answered in
name
of the
colours, or attacked or
1
alleged grievances, and
and reprisals if their boats were searched and
their passage
vowed vengeance
up the river
Company, that "we had given no
to preserve the peace
that their boats had been stopped and searched,
and
obstructed,
insult to their
;
that
it
tranquillity of his country
and the advance of
their troo])s
opposed by orders from the viceroy, and under the emperor his master's colours,
his troops
;
that they
ready to interpose our friendly
tliis
must
oftices to
After giving
be thought, as he himself
lost
which he had resolved to
however, were not very adequate.
river to oppose the
may
somewhat of audacity," he
to follow out the decisive course
and that we were
mitigate his resentment."
answer, which under the circumstances
admits, to have " savoured
in
therefore apply to him,
no time
in preparing
ado]>t.
His means,
There were only three British ships in the
Dutch squadron of seven.
The
troops, also,
were
far
fewer
number, and instead of being concentrated, were obliged to be airanged
two separate detachments
— the
an.i
ciives
answer to
touched their proj^erty, or infringed their privileges
was incumbent on him
nutch
manifesto.
1
with respect to their bringing troops into Bengal, the nabob knew best how far
and by
MeerjaHier.
His evident con-
he meant to
in their trade,
(Higaged to leave the river with their ships
than at that very time, and this
was
a letter was received from him stating that he
had granted the Dutch some indulgence
would permit."
intelligence
had been playing a deceitful part
and disobedience of the Dutch.
the insolence
the
and on leaving Calcutta boasted that he would soon
light of the matter,
suspiti..u«
conduct of
When
living in Calcutta as CUve's guest.
fusion left little doubt that he
made
1759.
and a detachment, composed partly of the nabob's and
partly of the Company's troops, took possession of the fort of
battery opposite to
ad.
larger one being stationed under Captain
in
Knox
it.
G62
AD.
1759.
iilSTOKV
at Tanna,
INDIA.
(JF
[Hook
where the passage of the river could ha best disputed
under Colonel Forde,
intercept the
Dutch
now
troop.s
;
J
II
wliile the other,
returned from the Circars, proceeded northward to
should any attempt be
made
march thern
to
U) Chin-
surah by land.
Hostilities
conimencerl
Amid these preparations, what (Jive's feelings were will he Vjest explaine*!
" We found our sentiments a good deal embarrassed, doubtin his own words.
ing whether we should stand justified to our country and employers in commencing
hostilities against
an
ally of England, supposing
they should persist
in
In this situation, we
passing the batteries below with their ships and troops.
the next hour would bring us news of a declaration of
anxiously wished
war with Holland; which we had indeed some reason to expect by our last
advices from England."' Fortunately, the Dutch themselves removed all .scruples
commence
Having .seized a number of the
grain boats and other vessels belonging to the Company, they tore down their
colours, transferred the stores to their own ships, and treated their crews a.s
by being the
prisoners.
to
first
hostilities.
up the
Hostilities being thus openly declared, they proceeded
while
three
the
river,
Britisii
under command of
vessels,
Commodore
Wilson,
fol-
lowed at a short distance
in their
given
commodore
pass the Dutch and
to
were to
The orders
wake.
the
anchor above the batteries.
Before he had time to exeWoLACKS, Grain Boats of Calcutta.
changed the position of
demand immediate
sink, burn,
affairs
restitution of our ships, subjects,
this order
about 800 native troops
'I'lic
Dutcli
order,
and
after
ment
;
of
was
sent, the
order, " to
and property, or to
their refusal."
had
hostilities
and caused the transmission of a new
and destroy the Dutch ships on
November, when
cute them, the commence-
— From Soh-yn's Les llindous.
On
fight,
the 23d of
Dutch landed 700 European and
the very next day
Commodore Wilson
an engagement of two hours gained a complete
obe3'ed the
victory.
All
defeated.
the vessels of the Dutcli squadron struck their flag except one, which endea-
voured to escape, and was also taken.
Dutch
it,
hearing of the landing of the
detachment stationed at Tanna under Captain Knox quitted
troops, the
and marched
On
to reinforce that
repulsed an attack
made upon him
under Colonel Forde, who had
at Chandernagore,
and pursued the
with some slaughter to the very barriers of Chinsurah.
Captain Knox, he was preparing to invest
it,
previou.sly
when he
fugitives
Having been joined by
learned that the Dutch
troops which had been landed from the ships had arrived on the plain of Bedarra,
and been there joined by part of the Chinsurah
garrison,
which had eluded
his
THE DUTCH HUMBLEIX
ClIAP. XII.]
It
\'igilance.
said that he
is
6G3
had not then received authority
to fight, but seeing
the advantage of his position, wrote a note, stating that " if he
council, he could attack the
received
Clive
Dutch with a
fair prospect of
had the order
A.D. 1769.
in
destroying them."
the
note while })laying
at cards, and, with-
the
quitting
out
answered
table,
])encil, "
in
Dear Forde,
them immedi-
fight
ate! v.
will send
I
you
order
the
of
council to-morrow."
He
jis
obeyed, and was
successful
as he
CUINiJl
had
liu
-I iwlii
I
iuH'9
ill
India.
anticipated.
His
and about 800 sepoys,
consisting of only 3:30 Europeans
force,
after a
enemy consisting of 700
The Dutch, now comtroops.
short and bloody engagement, put to total rout an
['Europeans,
and a
still
larger
number
of native
and on acknowledging themselves
pletely humbled, asked submissively for terms,
the aggressors
and agreeing
to
pay
costs
and damages, obtained the
restitution
of their ships.
The
affair,
however, was not yet over.
Meerun, the nabob's son, arrived in
CoinlitioMs
dictatcil to
the neighbourhood of Chinsurah at the head of about 7000 horse.
suspicions
which attached
to his father
and
himself, as
Aware
of the
connived at the Dutch expedition, he would have endeavoured to wijie
them
off
to in the
for the
wjir,
his proceedings,
had not
most supplicating terms, interposed
Dutch on the following conditions
:
Clive, after being written
his mediation,
— That
Dutch.
having instigated, or at
least
by the severity of
tlie
and obtained peace
they should never negotiate
introduce or enlist troops, or raise fortifications in the country
that they
;
should be allowed to keep 125 Em-opean soldiers, and no more, for the service
of their factories of Cliinsurah, Cossimbazar,
forthwith send
away
all their
and Patna
;
and that they shouM
other troops with the ships which had brought
them.
The defeat of the Dutch armament was the
last service of
importance which
cuvere
golres to
He
Clive rendered before he took his dei)arture for England.
been preparing for this event, but when he announced
in
Bengal concurred in regarding
it
real difficulty
object.
He was
for
some time depm (or
as detennined,
as a public calamit}'.
winced under his reproofs, and deeply resented
thwarted in some favourite
it
had
Meer
Jaffier
all clas.ses
had often
his interference as often as lie wa.s
aware, however, that in cases of
he could calculate on receiving effectual assistance from him, and
he was therefore
filled Avith
alarm when he thoutrht of the
difficulties to
which
HISTORY OF IM>IA.
0()t
A D. 17.W
he might be reduced after he was
left to his
own
[Kook
and the
resources,
III.
urK;ertairi
support of the individual wiio might be called to occupy without being able
riivoro.iei)artfor
The shazada was again on the frontier meditating a new inwould he be able to repel it? Nor was this all. The a.scendeiicy
Olive's place.
fill
solves to
t/j
.
How
vasion.
which the Company had acquired had opened a door to innumeraV>le abases; and
the revenues of the government, as well as the general prosperity of the popula-
had been
tion,
by the preposterous exemptions claimed and
seriously diminished
the gross oppression often practised
on
and giving pennits
trade,
vidual
by the
officials
on
to others to carry
Company
in carrying
own
trade, for their
shown a willingness
All such abuses Clive had ever
profit.
of the
to
indi-
keep
Would his successor be similarly disposed? and if lie were, would
the task? Under the influence of such considerations, Meer Jaffier
within bounds.
he be equal to
would gladly have purchased
Clive's continued residence in
Bengal at almost
The leading civil servants of the Company were equally urgent in
pressing him to postpone his departure.
Warren Hastings, in paiticular, ad-
any
price.
dressed to
him a long
was "both by
Attempts
interest
and
which, while expressing his belief that the nabob
inclination heartily attached to the English," he
argued that the people about him would use every possible means to alienate
todis-suaJo
him.
letter, in
.
.
his affections,
and that as he was " but of an
would be impossible
and unsettled temper,
irresolute
for him, after Clive's absence
emboldened them
many
the mask, to hold out against the united influence of so
Next he reminded him
of " the dangers
we
us,
and in which
mentioning a
it is
very probable the nabob
not be
difficult to
is
it
would be
be doubled
will stand neuter."
inclinable to the French
persuade him that
off
evil counsellors.'
service, will
fact confirmatory of this view, he adds, " I
an argument that the nabob
throw
are threatened with from our natural
enemies the French, which, by your resignation of the
upon
to
it
;
After
do not advance this as
but
I
think
it
would
for his interest to suffer the
French to come into this country again, both for the increase of his revenues
(a
very prevailing argument) and to balance the power of the English."
last
argument
not,"
he says,
drawn from the state of matters at the Mogul court.
know
" in what light you may regard the proposal lately made from
is
Delhi, or whether the consideration of the further advantasres that
from a nearer connection with that court
(in
is
my
mav
result
which your intervention appears of
indispensable necessity) deserve to be thrown into the scale
it
The
" I
opinion that nothing can contribute so
much
;
though
I
must own
to establish the
power of
the English in this country on the most soHd and lasting foundation as an interest properly estabhshed at that court."
His
letter to
tlieEarlof
ciiathiini
had sufficient weio-ht to chansre Clive's resolution.
Nouc of thesc argumcnts
°
?
Some of them, indeed, rather tended to confirm it, as they satisfied him that some
of the most important objects pointed at might be
his presence in
England than by
more
effectually f^ecured
his continued residence in Bengal.
by
In the
beginning of 1759 he addressed a letter to the celebrated British minister
I
William
Pitt,
afterwards Earl of Chatham, in which
"
he goes on to say,
effected,
665
unfolded his views as to a d
lie
Much more may
yet in time be done
if
Com-
the
themselves in the manner the importance of their present pos-
will exert
and future prospects
deserves.
have represented
I
strongest terms the expediency of sending out, and keeping
them
a force as will enable
embrace the
to
first
them
to
up
cuve's viewi
as to the
.
sessions
ivo9
After referring to the great revolution which had been
the futm-e of India.
pany
LETTER TO LORD CHATHAM.
CLIVE'S
Chap. XIl.l
the
ni
constantly, such
future gov-
]"^^l^i
opportunity of further aggran-
dizing themselves; and I dare pronounce, from a thorough knowledge of this
and of the genius of the
coimtry's government,
people, acquired
and experience, that such an opportunity
application
reigning soubahdar, he adds,
us,
by
with the succession.
So
any apprehensions from
.small
it
little
Moreover,
young
fellow,
"
he
and
will be almost unsafe trusting
rejoice in so
so
him
Company to
and, in case of their daring
;
take the sovereignty upon themselve.s."
In taking this step there would be no opposition on the part of the people,
"would
is
a body as 2000 Europeans will secure us against
either the one or the other
be troublesome, enable the
and probably
his interest to break with
so cruel, worthle&s a
apparently an enem}^ to the English, that
to
it
the obligations he owes us would prove no restraint."
is
The
but Mussulmans are so
;
gratitude, that should he ever think
advanced in years, and his son
years'
will soon offer."
"retains his attachment to us,
still
while he has no other support will continue to do so
influenced
by two
happy an exchange
who
as that of a mild for a despotic govern-
ment;" nor on the part of the Mogul, whose sanction might easily be obtained
"
provided
viz., fifty
we agreed
to
pay him the stipulated allotment out of the revenues,
Indeed, adds Clive, "application has been
lacs yearly."
made
to
me
from the court of Delhi to take charge of collecting this payment, the person
intrusted with which
is
styled the king's dewan, and
dignity and power to the subah.
decline for the present, as I
of the subah
with a
;
the next person both in
this high office I
have been obliged to
unwilling to occasion an\- jealousy on the part
especially as I see
no likelihood of the Company's providing us
sufficient force to support properly so considerable
would open a way
An
am
But
is
an employ, and which
for our securing the subahship to ourselves."
obvious objection to the accomplishment of these views could not escape
"So large a sovereignty
a mercantile comjmny and it is to
the notice of Clive, and he therefore continues thus:
may
possibly be an object too extensive for
;
be feared they are not of themselves able, without the nation's assistance, to
maintain so wide a dominion.
matter to you, and submit
design, that
may
have therefore ])resumed,
to 3'our consideration,
hereafter be carried to
government's taking
you that there
it
I
will
in hand.
it
be
little
still
I flatter
VoL.
I.
less
than a
fifth
to represent this
whether the execution of a
greater lengths, be worthy of the
myself
I
have made
it
pretty clear to
or no difficulty in obtaining the absolute possession
of these rich kingdoms; and that with the Mogul's
paying him
sir,
own
of the revenues thereof"
consent, on condition of
Dwelling on this argu84
nis e«timat«
p.»eiiem
LrevemiM
"
G66
AD,
iroo.
which ho justly
meiit,
"
OF
J11,ST(JJ(V
Now
1
you
leave
Ijelieved to
IS
fJiooK
A.
1)1
be the most potent of
all,
he continues thus:
upwards of
to judge, whether an income yearly of
J 1 1.
£2,000.0()()
sterhng, with the possession of three provinces abounding in the most valuable
productions of nature and
whether
art,
be an object deserving the public attention; and
be wortli the nation's while to take the proper measures to secure
it
such an acquisition
—an acquisition which, under the management of
disinterested a minister,
would prove a source of immense wealth
so aljle
and
to the king-
dom, and might in time be api)ropriated in part as a fund towards diminishin'^
we
the heavy load of debt under which
at present labour.
who had been
This letter was delivered by Mr. Walsh,
C'liatliam's
Clive's secretary,
and
answer to
Clive's
letter.
was mentioned in
it
as one
who was "a thorough master
whole design, and the
to explain the
facility
with which
it
may
be executed."
After some delay he was admitted to an interview with the ministei-,
of the matter darkly, acknowledging that the affair
at the
the
same time,
" of
interview did not reach Clive
any information as to the
was
"
to
left
effect of his letter
may
but the immediate occasion of
duced by a
directors.
from the
The absence
of
have been one of the reasons
for hastening his departure,
letter
spoke
very practicable," but,
he had sailed for England.
till
who
him with the impression that
do what they pleased. The account of tliis
a very nice nature," and
Company would be allowed
and "able
of the subject,"
it
was the
di.sgust pro-
In answer to an address from the Euro-
pean inhabitants of Calcutta, he did not scruple to say that the ill-treatment
received in that letter had fully determined
and, in
common with
it "
as
it
in the plainest
most unworth}^ yourselves and
sidered, either as masters to servants, or
have been
post,
home
able,
felt
in whatever relation con-
He would
gentlemen to gentlemen."
convinced that he might be more usefully employed at
awakening the Company
ence to control
us,
terms, characterizing the
however, to overcome this passing disgust and remain at his
had he not
in
the service,
HolweU, Play dell, Sumner, and M'Guire, members
commented upon
of council, he
diction of
Messrs.
him "in throwing up
tlie
to their true interests,
and exerting
violent factions into which the court of directors
his influ-
was
at this
time divided.
Clive quits
Clive sailed from India on the 25th of February,
1
760.
Before leaving he
India.
had secured the appointment of Mr. Vansittart
as his successor in the govern-
ment, and of Colonel Calliaud as commander of the army.
ment took
effect
The
latter appoint-
immediately; but the former, as Mr. Vansittart had been
previously attached to the presidency of Madi'as, was deferred for a time,
and Mr. Holwell, by virtue of
his short tenure of office Mr.
seniority,
became temporary governor.
Holwell laboured hard, and was successful in con-
vincing his colleagues that another revolution in Bengal was necessary.
when Mr.
During
Hence,
Vansittart airived in July to assume the government, the whole
scheme was laid before him.
Meer
Jaftier
was
to be persuaded, or if necessary
forced into a resignation of all executive authority, and to rest satisfied with a
REAPPEARANCE OF THE SHAZADA.
Chap. XII.J
667
merely nominal sovereignty, while the reality was to be exei'cised by Meer CosMr. Vansittart, as a stranger, was naturally disposed to be
sim, his son-in-law.
gxiided
by the
more than
his
and on
local experience of his council,
own independent
its
nature and
some important military
to turn for a little to
their representations,
much
convictions, concurred in the proposed revolu-
Before proceeding to explain
tion.
results, it will
be necessary
operations.
Calliaud had arrived from Madras with a reinforcement of troops, toward
As the reappearance
the end of November, 17o9.
tier
a.d. neo.
had spread general alarm, he
set out for
withtitieof
Moorshedabad with 350 Europeans,
He was
1000 sepoys, and six pieces of cannon.
of the shazada on the fron-
Theshazada
there joined by 15,000 horse
and twenty-five pieces of cannon, under the command of Meerun, and proceeded
in
During the march,
the direction of Patna.
Emperor Alumgeer
the shazada
title
was
to resist
had become the
His former
legal possessor of the imperial throne.
him on the same grounds
from his
invasion of the
and consequentl}^ that
his vizier, Ghazi-u-din,
therefore exchanged for that of
as a fugitive
new
during the confusion produced by a
11.,
had been murdered by
Abdallees,
intelligence arrived that the
Shah Alum, and
He
as formerly.
was now
it
could no longer be regarded
but as invested with
father's court,
impo.ssible
the rights of the
all
The empire, however, was completely dismembered, and the
Mogul.
nabobs and governors, though
still
different
some degree overawed by the name, con-
to
tinued to pursue any course which seemed most conducive to their own. interest,
by the change
as if totally unaffected
Tiie only
new emperor was
cause.
was
He
little
did
Nabob
the
least to
and soon found
benefited,
He was
able,
liis
with some
been invested with the
make some show
difficulty, to
make
who had warned
an'ive,
marched
ful defeat.
zeal, and,
liiiii
Patna
itself
an engagement
town
his appearance once
now
Meer
Jaftier
to be animated
till
he himself siiould
woidd probably have
fallen
had not Calliaud hastened
The emperor
hastened back as
aid of boats,
behind, no sooner became aware of his movements, than he
fa.st
as the perverse delays of
which carried
horse followed by land,
his
Meerun would allow and by the
infantry rapidly
;
down
mountainous
the Ganges, while the
came up with the enemy on the 7th of March.
emperor, thus brought to bay, dexterously avoided
tract; and, after
many
.an
hardships,
The
engagement by striking
made
His oiwrn-
in his flight reached patnafms
of Behar, and thei-e took the bold step of marching directly into Bengal.
Calliaud, thus left
into a
Alum
hope of gaining glorv. and only su.stained a disgrace-
forward, and completely repaired the disaster.
the
that Shah
contrary to the express injunctions of Calliaud,
ajjainst risking
out, in the
of espousing his
fidelity to
had been suspected during the previous attack, seemed
with a superabundant
office of
resources totally inadequate to any
Ramnarain, the governor, whose
more before Patna.
place.
espoused the cause of the
much lukewarmness,
however, with so
it,
great enterprise.
He had
of Oude.
and behoved at
vizier of the empire,
who
of political importance
individual
which had taken
in succession
his appearance
on
["'iHami'
HISTORY OF INDIA.
6(i8
AD.
1700,
Alum
vaiicea to
same boldness with which he had conceived
tlie
succcssful dasli at the capital,
he lingered
till
Calliaud,
Putua.
and even taken Meer
who had been
Thus frustrated
reach of him.
cavalry,
and retraced
was again within
by the obstructions
nabob to furnish him with
two
in
assaults,
was preparing
This
officer,
arrived unseen
who had made
a flying march, remarkable for
by the enemy, took them by
for a
the arrival of a detachment
forward by Calliaud, under Captain Knox, proved the death-blow to
hopes.
But
Here he was joined by M. Law, with
when
successful,
jilan
Jaffier himself prisoner.
refusal of the
his steps to Patna.
which promised to be
III
he might have made a
following on his track,
French party; and though repulsed
third,
it,
he executed his
in his object, he profited
which Calliaud experienced from the
his
Had
plains only thirty miles west of Moorshedabad.
tlie
with
si.ah
[Book
surprise,
its
.sent
all
his
rapidity,
and compelled them
pre-
cipitately to raise the siege.
The only
governor of
who now remained zealous in Shah Alum's service was the
Purneah, who had collected an army and was on the march to join
chief
by Meerun,
Calliaud, accompanied as before
him.
give him battle
fought and
and while oh the march received
;
won by Captain Knox.
This gallant
from Rajamahal to
set out
intelligence that
officer
it
been
liad
having been ordered to
harass the enemy's rear, crossed from Patna to the other side of the Ganges
with only 200 Eiu-opeans, a battalion of sepoys, and about 300
He had
horse.
determined to surprise the enemy's camp during the night, but mis.sed his way.
and when morning dawned, found himself
in presence of a force of 12,000.
nearly surrounded, he could scarcely have
made
With
it.
his
mere handful of
his escape.
Being
Nor did he attempt
troops, he boldly risked the encounter,
and
after
The governor of Purneah, thus unable
cope with a small detachment, had no inclination to face the main army under
a conflict of six hours proved victorious.
t(3
him and
cap-
In the hope of gaining the large
trea-
Calliaud and Meerun; who, following up the pursuit, overtook
tured his heavy baggage and artillery.
Death of
Meer Jaf
sures
which he was reported
son,
rains
had
fiei's
Meerun.
After
it
have with him, he was
with unusual violence.
set in
had continued four days,
July, 17G0.
awful end,
left
They
his tent
pursued, though the
was struck by lightning on the 2d
Meerun,
all perished.
none to regret him
still
This pu.'suit proved fatal to Meerun.
It contained, beside himself, a story-teller,
in patting his feet.
this
to
;
of
and a servant employed
who by his
crimes had merited
but to prevent the confusion and
])ro-
bable disbanding of his army, the fatality was concealed for several days, and
Calliaud succeeded in reaching Patna in safety.
K vents on
When
Meerun's death became
known
at Moorshedabad, the troops broke
Meerun's
death.
out in mutiny, and surrounding the palace threatened the nabob with instant
death,
if
he did not immediately satisfy their arrears of pay.
His treasury was
empty, and peace was only restored by the interposition of Meer Cossim, the
nabob's son-in-law,
became security
who advanced a
for the
payment
present
sum
of three lacs of rupees, and
of the rest of the aiTears within a specified
SCHEME TO DEPOSE MEEK JAFFIER.
("HAP. XII.]
Meer Cossim,
time.
had stipulated that he
in granting this assistance,
At
he regarded as the next in succession to the nabobsliip.
was aspiring
;:(>uuded
on
by Mr.
subject
which ouglit to have
His proposal was
countenance.
;
manner
gentleman how unworthy he was of the
to seat himself
a
d. kuo.
and when
Holwell, had signified his readiness in a
satisfied that
sliould
very time he
this
without waiting for succession
to the possession of it
tlie
G()!)
least
on the musnud, by causing
his
Scheme
jaBiermici
cls'lui^'""^
Mr. Holvvell says that "'he expressed much
father-in-law to be assassinated.
astonishment and abhorrence at the overture," and distinctly told Meer Cossim
" that unless he
dropped
all
mention, as well as every intention and attempt of
the measure he had intimated, the conference
Meer Cossim,
there."
from being abashed, could not even understand Mr. Holwell's
so far
which only made him fear that he
and expected."
still
must end
was not
"
much
so
Strange to say, the negotiation with this would-be
continued, and issued in a formal treaty,
name
stripped of everything but the
by which Meer
of sovereign, and
it
stipulated that the
sum due
to
Jaffier
was
On
maintenance of a
them should be
sufficient force in Bengal,
and that
was
to be
forth-
the part of the
paid, that the
Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong should be assigned
districts of
for the
was
assa.ssin
Meer Cossim was
with to be invested with the whole executive authority.
Company,
scruples,
he lioped
his friend as
to
them
five lacs of rupees
should be given as a present for the war in the Carnatic.
The pretexts for this treaty were the contempt and detestation which Meer
Jaffier had provoked by his misgovernment, his inability to contend with the
with which he was surrounded, and the state of the Company's
difficulties
finances,
which made
absolutely necessary that their existing claims on the
it
government should be
and those which could not
satisfied,
fail
to arise in future
by some material guarantee. When all these things are
injustice and im]-)olicy of the new revolution are still mani-
be secured beforehand
admitted, the gross
fest.
Whatever the demerits of Meer
Jaffier
might
be,
they could scarcely be
man who, though bound to him by the closest affinity,
way to the throne by assassinating him. The pecuniar}be diminished by the substitution of a new nabob, who
greater than those of the
would have carved a
difficulties
could not
brought no
new
own, nor could the general confusion of the
resoui'ces of his
government be diminished by abrupt revolutionary changes.
pany stood bound by solemn
ti'eaty to
Besides, the
Com-
maintain Meer Jaffier on the throne, and
there could not be a greater breach of faith than the arbitrary determination to
depose him.
But
it is
imnecessary to examine the ostensible pretexts for this
dishonourable and iniquitous proceeding, since the real motive, though carefully
concealed at the time, was soon disclosed, and proved that the leaders in the
new
revolution, while pleading public principle, liad only been consulting their
avarice.
On
the very night
he made a tender of twenty
mittee.
They were not
when
lacs of rupees to
refused
;
Meer Cossim was signed,
the members of the select com-
the agi-eement with
but
it
was deemed decent
to decline acceptance
t->
Corrupt
pioyo.i
L
<>70
AD.
JIISTOIIY C>F INI>IA.
the affairs of the country were settled, and
till
1760.
They might have waited long
Mucr
Jaffier
jjq
clepoaedand
they
'J
Imrry to renew his
offer,
"^
_
Qf
i.en»ioneii
tlie
mouey
refresherl
liis
;
finances
th(;
surmounted
were
III.
flourishing^.
and as Meer Cossim seemwl
in
memory,
J' and demanded rmymcnt
J
I
thus shamefully extorted, £30,000 went into the pocket of Mr.
demand
Mr. Vansittart, after refusing to concur in the
Holwell.
his scruples,
and accepted £58,000 as
of payment,
his share.
had been made without the knowledge of Meer
All these arrangements
Jaffier,
for sucii a peri(jd
[Book
who became acquainted with them
for the first
time when a deputation
of the council of Calcutta waited upon him, for the purpo.se of conferring with
him generally upon matters of government.
who headed
Mr. Vansittart,
the
deputation, laboured to impress the nabob with the abuses of his administration,
and having thus wrung from him an expression of
by the advice of
one among
"
his willingness to
his English friends, suggested the propiiety of
thus gradually led to confess that old age and grief for
tions
had
all
that
it
seemed
for struggling
with
and that none of
difficulties,
Meer Cossim of giving him
so capable as
along been cunningly aimed
Meer Cossim should be sent
at,
was urged, aroused the nabob's
was now gained
;
suspicions,
his rela-
The point which
aid.
and
This proposal, and the
for.
employing some
The old nabob was
the death of Meerun
the nabob's children" to set affairs in order.
had incapacitated him
be guided
it
was proposed
ha.ste
with which
and he withdrew, complaining of
was expected that the business would be resumed next day; but as
the nabob made no communication, the deputies threw off the mask, and .sent
fatigue.
It
a letter acquainting
him that
Calliaud was ready to execute
threw him into a transport of
of
thirsty character he
him, and took
Impolicy
and
up
them
rage,
which he had been the dupe.
sovereignty, or to trust his
measures were taken, and that Colonel
all their
life
necessary
if
by
and he complained
The information
force.
bitterly of the treachery
Ultimately disdaining to accept of a nominal
in the
hands of a son-in-law, of whose blood-
was too well aware, he accepted of the pension
offered to
his residence in Calcutta.
was impossiblc that a transaction marked by so much duplicity and
The inhabitants, indeed, looked on with comparative
could prosper.
It
bitter
fruitsoftiiis
'
tice
ference to a change of masters which,
if it
promised
little
injusiiidif-
amelioration of their
condition, could scarcely
make
bitter fruits
were
reaped in Calcutta
where the council became divided into two parties
—the
itself,
it
worse than
it
The
was.
ffi'st
one cordially approving, and the other decidedly condemning the revolution
which had been
effected.
To the
former, of course, belonged those
niary circumstances had been greatly improved
by
it
;
whose pecu-
while the other consisted,
not indeed exclusively, but mainly of those who, not having been members of
the select committee, did not share in the extorted money, and could conse-
quently boast of being actuated by pure and disinterested motives.
Even had
Mr. Vansittart not furnished too good a handle for the vituperation of this
party, there
were circumstances
in his
nomination which made
it
anything but
DISSENSIONS IN THE COUNCIL
Ohai>. XII.
He
acceptable.
liad
Leen brought from a
G7I
diti'erent presidency,
and was thus
.VI). 1701.
viewed by several members of the council as an intruder, who, without any
had broken
better qualification than the recommendation of Olive,
in
upon the
DisseiiBioiiH
in the lieu
rotation which nmst, sooner or later, have put
object of tiieir ambition.
Meer
Jaffier's
at the very time
government was held a
chamber of Calcutta was
council
sufficient
when
the unsettled state of
i'ov
by the
first
dethroning him, the
had a bare majority, and
dismissal of his })rincipal supportei's.
They had signed the remonstrance which Clive drew up
before he sailed, and in
which he complained in no measured terms of the language employed
general letter of the directors.
the remonstrance,
subscribers
still
They
and vindicated
gal cuuiK'il.
the scene of acrimonious discussions and
itself
ere long left in a minority
in possession of the highest
grouml
The governor from the very
violent dissensions.
was
Tims
them
in their turn
their dignity
in the
were equally offended with
by ordering
that any one of the
in their service should forthwith
be dismissed, and not only dismissed, but sent
home
to England.
way some
In this
of the most
members of comicil were lost to it, at
the time when they could least be spared, and were
supplied in some instances by men equally devoid
experienced
of experience and temper.
The kind of
Meer Cossim, now
to pursue,
installed as nabob,
remained
was about
time uncertain.
for a short
Shah Alvun was again hovering on the
and
Avas necessary,
it
which
administration
internal
frontier,
home
before settling the
government, to be relieved from the expense and
alarm of a foreign war. Accordingly, Major Carnac,
who had assumed
the
command of
the Briti.sh
in India, fixed his head-quai-ters at
army
Patna in the
beginning of January, 1701, and as soon as the
rains
ceased,
commenced
the campaign.
Shah
Shah Alvm. — Froraa
Uinil>H> miniature,
copied in FrmcckUa't Lif« of Siiah Alum.
Alum was
only at a short distance to the west, and
being overtaken before he could muster an adequate
Law had
we
were rather to
liave already seen,
neo^otiate
than
fiirht.
An
easily defeated.
advisable to decline
it,
ofier of the
Caniac's
dewannee had,
might soon
arrive.
when
it
would no longer be
But, even apart from this considera-
seemed important to form such a connection with the emperor as would
secure the sanction of his
necessar}"^ to adopt.
solicited
name
to
whatever measm-es
NegDtiatiiiii:
with Shah
been made to Clive; and Mr. Yansittart, following
out his views, was disposed to think that the time
tion, it
was
joined him with his Frenchmen, and was taken prisoner.
instructions
as
force,
it
mifjht be thoujrht
Carnac accordingly, instead of following up his victory,
an interview, and after some demur was permitted
to visit
Shah Alum
.'Mum.
;
672
A.u. 1701
IllSTOllY
A
in his camp.
new
with
siiahAiuin
I
il:itioii
•
i
i
Alum
Icdge Shall
[Book
easily formed,
and
I
J
I.
returned
tliey
Here, Meer Cossim, after betraying great jealoasy of the
Company had
connection which the
f>,,
was
friendly understanding
together to Patna.
\c(ommo-
OF INDIA.
as emperor,
provinces of Bengal, Beliar,
thus formed, was induced to acknow-
and received formal investiture from him of the
and Orissa, on an engagement to pay an annual
Shah Alum shortly
revenue of twenty- four lacs of rupees.
took his
after
departure for the west, intending to endeavour to obtain possession of his capital.
Carnac escorted him to the confines of Behar, and, on parting, received a new
offer of the
for the
Mccr Cossim being thus
Severity of
Sim's gov-
dewannee
was able
to give his
Company.
relieved from all apprehension of a foreign invader,
undivided attention to domestic
affairs,
and displayed abun-
The
dance of vigour, though of a more than questionable description.
difficulty of his predecessor
had been an empty
treasury.
was
It
greatest
this
which
kept his army constantly in a state of mutiny, and furnished the council of Cal-
Meer Cossim's
cutta with the only plausible ground for deposing him.
object therefore
was
and supply funds
money, both to meet present demands
to supply himself with
With
for future emergencies.
first
this
view he was
rigid in calling
When
the collectors and farmers of the pubhc revenue to account.
balances
were due, he was undoubtedly entitled to exact them, but the mere wealth of
the parties was often held to be sufficient evidence of their guilt, and large
sums were extorted by cruelty and
terror.
none was supposed to have accumulated
narain; and Meer Cossim,
was determined
It
was
who hated him
so
Of all the .subordinate governors
much wealth as the Hindoo Ram
as cordially as
Meer
Jaffier
had done,
by destroying him.
Ramnarain had obtained
at once to gratify his hatred and his avarice
necessary, however, to proceed with caution.
a guarantee of his personal safety from Clive, and had subsequently rendered
important service by resisting the attempts of Shah
permanent footing
to obtain a
protection of the
violence.
so,
Still
He was
Company, and seemed consequently
he was liable to account.
and was met by delays and
and he had
in the province.
little
difficulty in
evasions.
How
his confederates
thus under the special
secure from direct personal
Meer Cossim called upon him to do
This was just as he had anticipated
making out a
governor and council of Calcutta.
Alum and
plausible case of complaint to the
could he carry on the government, and
how, moreover, could he discharge the obligations he had imdertaken to the
Company,
if,
through their interference, one of the largest
revenue was emboldened to withhold pajonent, and even
Unfortunately the
Qnaiieiasto ject.
Ramnarain.
civil
set
collectors
him
of the
at defiance?
and military authorities took opposite views on the sub-
Major Camac and Colonel Coote, who had superseded him on
from Madras, believed that Meer
Co.ssim, in calling for accounts,
employing a subterfuge to further his designs on Ramnarain's
life.
his an-ival
was merely
They had
too good grounds for this belief; for they were not only aware of the nabob's
anxiety to get the Hindoo into his power, but had been offeied large bribes to
XI I.J
Chap.
connive at
BUSES OF THE COMPANY'S SERVANTS.
.^
Mr. Vansittart, on the otlier hand, seeing nothing but what was
it.
Meer Cossim's demand, insisted that every facility should be
Coote and Carnac still refusing to abandon the course which they
reasonable
\
073
a.d. irei.
in
given him.
had taken, and which they held to be the only one consistent with honoin* and
equity, a violent quarrel ensued
Pe'-fiJ'"'!*
-f
lumim-
and Mr. Vansittart, with the sanction of a
;
majority of his council, took the extraordinary step of recalling both these
The remainder
officers to Calcutta.
narain, deprived of the protection
seized
by
of the plot
was
which had been solemnly pledged to him, was
enemy, pillaged, and thrown into
his remorseless
Rani-
easily cairied out.
prison.
If Mr. Vansittart's object in thus shamefully sacrificing
Ramnarain, was to
hind Meer Cossim to British interests, the result must have miserably disap-
A
pointed him
a violent
Ellis,
conciliate,
its
first
much more
serious nature immediately arose.
day he entered upon
office,
as
if
his object
His
but to exasperate the native government.
proper fruits
disgraced
a
Mr.
i.e-
cotsim ana
i^uiy.
and arrogant man, had been appointed head-factor at Patna, and
from the
acted,
(piarrel of
Q'lairti
him
;
and Meer Cossim, stung
in the
folly
to
soon produced
insults
which
eyes of his subjects, began to meditate revenge.
The
name
abuses practised under the
Meer
bitter complaint.
had been not
Jaffier
to the quick
of private trade
by repeated
had long been a subject of
had not been a month on the musnud when he
remonstrated against the loss sustained by the public revenue by claims of
exemption from custom on the part of Em-opean
natives professing to be authorized
by them.
officials
of the
Company, or
The trade of the Company was
By
wholly foreign, and was consequently confined to imports and exports.
express treaty, neither of these were liable to customs or transit duties.
exemption was perfectly understood, and couUl not be challenged.
This
But besides
the foreign trade there was a most important inland trade, for which no such
The Company,
exemption could be claimed.
in fact,
had no concern with
Their servants, however, very indifferently paid by fixed
to
engage in
in itself
it,
and derived from
it
salaries,
were allowed
injustice.
Not
with being placed on a footing with native traders, the European
only
•111
availed themselves
1
This was
the better part of their incomes.
a great abuse, and ultimately became a crying
I'lii
the dustuks
oi
or pa.s.sports
r»i'
of their
it.
sati-sfied
officials
not
employers,
smuggle goods which they were never designed to cover, but boldly
to oftuecomjwny
'*
a.sserted
own behoof duty free.
excluded from their own markets, since
that they were entitled to carry on private trade for their
The native
it
traders
was impossible
who
were thus virtually
for them, while
burdened with
They were hence reduced
paid none.
commercial agents to the British
officials,
duties, to
or of paying large
the privilege of being permitted to trade in their name.
public revenue
of the abuse,
was
and
mined no longer
Vol.
I.
compete with those
to the alternative of either
sums
to
becoming
them
for
In either case the
Meer Cossim had previously complained
of Mr. Ellis had exa.sperated him, was deter-
grossly defrauded.
after the insults
to tolerate
it.
Monstrous
pretensions
1
There cannot be a doubt that in this he had
85
8 ser-
auts.
HLSTOltY OF INDIA.
674.
AD.
iroj.
on Ids
justice
side,
and did not draw an exaggeiated picture when,
"From
addressed to the governor, in March, 1702, he said,
Compiaints
cuttii
to Cossiinbazar,
Patna, and Dacca,
of Meor
Cossim.
_
gomastaks,
officers,
lectors, renters,
no power to
in every
and agents
all
_
And
officers.
di.strict,
the English chiefs,
is
'a grievance which
calls
and other servants
month
in oil, fish,
and other things; and every man with
fully borne out
Mr. Vansittart, dated only a
colours, allow
on a trade
village, carry
a Company's dustuk in his hand regards himself as not
This statement
with their
_
besides this, the gomastaks
market and
in every
in a letter
the factory of Cal-
and magistrates, and setting up the Company's
my
IIJ.
in every district of the government, act as col-
straw, bamboos, rice, paddy, betel -nut,
pany."
[Book
.
than the Com-
less
by Mr. Hastings, who,
later, describes
in a letter to
the evil complained of as
loudly for redress; and will, unless duly attended
to,
render ineffectual any endeavours to create a firm and lasting harmony between
the nabob and the Company."
Selfish
and
The coursc which ought
to
have been pursued
is
obvious.
The
private trade
impolitic
views of
of the Company's servants ought to have been absolutely interdicted, or at
couucii."
events subjected to such regulations as would at once protect the revenue and
But by
the native trader.
members of
council
whom
in Calcutta
were these regulations to be made
were themselves the worst
offenders,
having the power of legislation in their hands, were determined
what might, they would never allow
their emoluments.
enough
to lay the
it
?
that,
all
The
and
happen
to be used for the purpose of curtailing
Mr. Vansittart, feeling himself powerless, was not bold
axe to the root of the
evil,
and proposed,
as a compromise,
that the trade should be open to the Company's servants as before, but subject
to the
thought he had obtained,
ment.
much keen debate, he obtained, or
powers from the council to make an amicable settle-
payment of the regidar
With
this
full
duties.
After
view he had an interview with the nabob, and obtained
his
by which, to prevent the inconvenience of
the Company's servants engaged in private
reluctant consent to an arrangement
repeated stoppages, the goods of
trade were to pay a duty of nine per cent, on the prime cost in one slump sum.
This was far less than was exacted from the native traders, and Mr. Vansittart
returned, in the belief that if he
had erred
in
any part of the bargain,
it
only in having exacted too favourable terms for the Company's servants.
must hence have been with some
surprise
and indignation
were divulged, he found them bitterly assailed by
all
that,
the
when
was
It
the terms
members of
his
At a full meeting of council, specially called to
members voted that the private trade of the Company's
council except Mr. Hastings.
consider the subject, ten
servants
article
was
like tb.e public trade of their masters,
duty
free,
and that the only
on which they ought to pay anything, and that more from com-tesy
than legal obligation, was a duty of 2^ per cent, on salt. Not satisfied with
passing the disgi-aceful resolution, they caused it to be forthwith notified to the
nabob.
EUPTUliE WITH MEEU COSSIM.
Chap. XII.]
It is
probable that the nabob, though he expressed disappointment at this ad.
notification,
of
G7o
was not
wliolly dissatisfied with
which he comphiined could not be
He saw
it.
that the grievances
remedied by the arrangement
effectually
i762.
^^^''
cowim
decUirua the
concluded with Mr. Vansittart, and he was thei'efore not unwilling that the
He was
whole question should once more be thrown open.
take the course which seemed to
him most expedient.
iniai.dtiudo
thus at liberty to
As the
servants of the
Company, backed by the council at Calcutta, insisted on trading free, he would
no longer offer any opposition, but on the contrary would extend the privilege
to all classes of the population,
by announcing
would be levied on the inland
this step,
but
it
was
He had
repeatedly threatened to take
so obviously destructive of one of the
public revenue, that
it
was taken
main sources of the
would never carry
for granted he
it
into
Great then was the disappointment and consternation at Calcutta when
effect.
it
trade.
that in future no duties whatever
was known that the private trade monopoly under which
so
many
had been made, and so much extortion practised, was cut up by the
showed on
council
this occasion that there
No
employers would be injuriously affected, recorded
nabob was bound to exact duties from
pany's servants
resisting this
his
own
it
interests of their
as their opinion that the
subjects
and leave the Com-
Vansittart and Mr. Hastings again stood alone in
Mi-.
free.
The
fewer than eight of the
and hypocritical pretext that the
false
roots.
was no amount of extravagance and
iniquity which they were not prepared to commit.
members, under the
fortunes
monstrous decision.
After adopting
it,
they actually sent a
deputation to the nabob in the hope of being able to persuade or terrify him
into acquiescence.
sword could decide
But the quarrel was now
irreconcilable,
and nothing but the
it.
While the deputies, Messrs. Amyatt and Hay, were vainh* endeavouring
.
.
.
.
.
.
to accomplish the object of their extraordinary mission,
arms
for the British
deputies
demanded
troops at Patna were stopped
their instant release, but the
Mr. Ellis was removed from his
was
still
more
told that he
servants
decided.
must remain
office as head-factor, or
When
as
by native
The
the troops of which in
This step was followed by
the deputies proposed to depart, Mr.
an hostage
who had been imprisoned
officers.
nabob positively refused unless
that capacity he had the control were withdrawn.
another
some boats loaded with
for the safety of
at Calcutta.
It
Hay
some of the nabob's
was vain
to
dream any
longer of amicable accommodation, and both sides began to prepare for open
war.
The rashness of Mr.
Ellis precipitated the event.
been alarming the presidency
witii accounts of the
ceived himself to be surrounded, and urging
them
granted,
for
some time
dangers with which he con-
him with discretionon any emergency without
to invest
ary powers, in order that he might be able to act
waiting for specific instructions from Calcutta.
He had
His request wsvs unfortunately
and he no sooner learned the reception which the deputies had met
with, than regarding
it
as an open declaration of war, he ordered out the
An open
rupture.
676
AD
I76:i.
lli.STUKY
and by a sudden onset
troops,
however, stood out; and
citadel,
Hostilities
witli
Meer
t'ossim.
uuidf;
having returned, regained
was now the turn of the
their factory for
town
as easily as they
After a short
The
same time; and
all
who had been taken
which ensued
He
As soon
is
lost his
He
it.
It
retired to
they found their
factory of Cossimbazar
to detain him.
lost
up the Ganges
attacked them, and
district
was taken and
at both places
When
resisted,
were
Mr. Ellis attacked
A party
Patna Mr. Amyatt had only begun to journey homeward.
him by the nabob endeavoured
had
to boats, hastened
sent off prisoners to the strong fort of Monghir.
'J'hi-
first surjjrise,
and they
i-esistance,
Here the commander of the
they were obliged to surrender.
of Patna.
on the
tied
British to act on the defensive,
and betaking themselves
towards Chuprah.
])lundered at the
who had
town almost
tiie
[B«joK in.
himself master of the
tlie troops,
that j)urpose.
position untenable,
OF INDIA.
sent after
and in the
scuffle
life.
as hostilities
were thus commenced, the presidency, as
if
they were
deposeil.
absolute lords of the country,
i,s.sued
a proclamation on the 7th of July, 1763,
deposing Meer Cossim, and replacing Meer Jafiier on the musnud.
The
old
nabob had continued to reside in Calcutta, and thouoh now more unfitted
than ever for government, by age and
to
As a matter
it.
had ambition enough
to aspire
of course he accepted whatever conditions were proposed
and imdertook
to him,
disease,
in particular to re-establish the
monopoly of private
trade in favour of the Company's servants, by allowing their goods to pass duty
free,
while those of the natives were heavily burdened.
l)laced
Mr. Vansittart in a very
nature to
all
awkward
These proceedings
predicament, but he attached his sig-
the documents, subject, however, to the salvo, that he did
it
without
The Company's army, consisting of 750 Europeans, together with a considerable number of sepoys and native
cavalry, had previously started, under the command of Major Adams, fi'om the
neighbourhood of Chandernagore, and proceeded northward to Augadeep, not
far from Cutwah, wheie they were joined by Meer Jafiier, now on the way
to lesiime possession of the capital.
Meer Cossim, determined not to jaeld it
without a struggle, had thrown up entrenchments, and occupied them with an
prejudice to his former declarations and opinions.
army, formidable not only from
able
number
its
numbers, but fr(^m containing a consider-
of sepoys, regularly trained
m European discipline, and commanded
by an European adventurer of the name of Suniroo, who was of Swiss origin,
and had been a sergeant in the French army. After a short but decisive
His
defeat.
Meer Cossim's entrenchments were stormed,
and Moorshedabad was entered without opposition. The Adctors, after a short
action, fought
on the
24?th of July,
delay, continued their
march up the banks of the Hooghly, and on reaching
enemy encamped on the plain of Gheriah,
was much more keenly contested than before,
Sooty, on the 2d of August, found the
and prepared
to offer battle.
It
but, after a conflict of four hours, at one time with doubtful issue, British valoiu'
again prevailed, and gained a complete victoiy.
MASSACRE AT PATNA.
Chap. XII.]
Meer Cossim, while
danger within the
his troops
fort of
were thus
677
had kept aloof from ad.
fighting,
Monghir, venting his rage and gratifying his savage
nature by several atrocious murders.
Among
his victims
were Ramnarain, who
had never been released from the prison to which he was consigned when Mr.
two members of the famous banking
these murders had inspired him with courage, he
Vansittart shamefully abandoned him, and
As
family of the Seits.
made
OudanuUa
or
Oondwah
have had 00,000
men
The
pieces of cannon.
now taken up
Meer Cossim
is
to
British barely mustered in
fort,
and
all
3000, and yet with these
of
when he
some time been meditating a
residing at Patna
when advancing
vipon that fort,
an ominous allusion
the success which
you
it
learned that Monghir had fallen.
lioriid
had received a
to his prisoners,
you have gained, merely by
what manner
this shall
massacre
letter
;
for
Major Adams,
from him, in which,
he concluded thus: "Exult not upon
treacher}'
or three places, over a few jemidars sent
shall see in
British pm-sued, invested
Meer Cossim had previously placed himself beyond the reach
He had
two
After
it
was
in
said
has been alleged, bribed
danger, and
for
The
after a short siege compelled, or, as
to surrender.
after
a
Meer Cossim's temporary courage forsook him, and he hastened back
Monghir, followed by the wreck of his army.
the
cossim.
within the entrenchment, which was defended by 100
succeeded in both capturing the fort and storming the entrenchment.
this defeat
Defeat of
Nullah, a strong fort situated near the
bank of the Ganges, eight miles south of Rajamahal.
right
t(^
if
bold to quit his fort and joined his army, which had
.strong position at
irea.
and night
By
by me.
assaults,
the will of
God
The only
be revenged and retaliated."
answer that could be returned was to denounce his brutality, and threaten
it
with signal vengeance.
him
It
He
for the fall of
cared not,
and he issued the inhuman order
desperate,
at once executed to the very letter
was
and that of
Fullarton,
made
to butcher all the prisoners.
by Suraroo, who, by
his
own hand
his emissaries, slaughtered every one of the prisoners except Dr.
whose professional services had caused Meer Cossim to except him.
The number of Englishmen thus murdered
them were Mr.
council,
Moncrhir had
in cold blood
exceeded 200.
Among
who almost merited his fate, and Mr. Hay, a member of
fellow - deputy of Mr. Amyatt on the absurd mission about
Ellis,
and the
jirivate trade.
Meer Cossim, aware that he had placed himself beyond the pale of mercy,
(lid
not await the arrival of the British at Patna, but hastened to cross the
Caramnassa, which formed part of the boundary between Behar and the
tories
of the
The garrison he left made a spirited but
and the town was taken by stown on tiie Hth of November.
Nabob
unavailing defence,
Thouo-h there was
terri-
of Oude.
now
little
hope of overtaking the blood-stained
fugitive, the
was continued and the British army, early in December, encamped on
the banks of the Caramnassa in order to watch the motions of Meer Cossim, who
had assumed a more formidable appearance than ever in consequence of having
pursuit
;
Massncre.it
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
078
AD.
17C4.
[Book
formed a junction with the Emperor Shah Ahjm and Sujali Dowlah, the Nabob
of Oude, who, as has been already mentioned, had been appointed
lunctionof
When
sim with
expedition against Bundelcund.
peroTmi.i
Nabob
of
III.
''i^
Ijis
he crossed the river they were both at AUahaVjad preparing
Tliey received liim with
all
vizier.
for
an
the respect due to
rank as nabob, and promised him their assistance to recover the provinces
fj-oni
which
was not undeserving of
their assistance, he volunteered to
own
against Bundelcund with his
confederates
To show
represented himself as most unjustly expelled.
lie
and was
troops,
that he
head the expedition
so successful that his
were impressed with a favourable opinion of
his
cause,
new
and
declared their determination to unite as soon as the season would admit in a
common
invasion of Bengal.
The presidency, notwithstanding the
successes
which had attended
their
by no means free from apprehension. Meer Jaffier's name carried
no weight with it, and they found themselves involved in a war which mere
distance made difficult and expensive, and which, if permitted to spread, might
They were therefore
soon extend over the greater part of Northern India.
arms, were
extremely urgent that Major Carnac,
command, should
at once
who had
assume the aggressive, or at
advanced position which had been taken
impracticable to do either.
Mutinous
Smpany's^
''™^'
their previous services
again been appointed to the chief
up.
way
seemed to him
They thought that
rewarded, and had been worked
sufficiently
in convincing not a
of bettering their circumstances
Desertion, accordingly,
masters.
it
disaffected.
upou by cmissarics of the enemy, who succeeded
the most effectual
events maintain the
Unfortunately,
His troops were
had not been
all
few that
would be by changing
became alarmingly frequent; and when the
enemy began to advance, Carnac, afraid to risk the encounter, retired upon
Patna.
The enemy followed, in hope of interposing between him and the toAvn
and when they failed, came up boldly in front of the walls under which he was
encamped, and offered him battle. However unwilling he might be, it was
scarcely in his
power
to decline
it.
On
the morning of the 13th of May, the
enemy commenced with a cannonade, and under cover of it made a general attack,
wlilch was kept up with great spirit, and was not finally repulsed till evening
began to close. The British, thus far victorious, were unable to derive any advantage from their victory
;
while the enemj', instead of retiring, kept hovering about,
watching an opportunity to repeat their attack.
Durino- the continuance of this unsatisfactory state of matters, negotiations
were repeatedly attempted.
of
Attempted
Meer Cossim and Sumroo.
^^^^^^gj^g
tiating
this
vizier
and yet the semblance of negoThe only thing gained was time, and
vicws, there could be no agreement,
was kept up
for several weeks.
was of considerable importance,
ing an
/
The
ccssion of the whole province of Behar.
nego la ions,
demanded the delivery
not only refused, but demanded the
Between parties entertaining such
Carnac. as a preliminary,
army
in the field
for in the interval the difficulty of maintain-
had greatly increased
;
and the emperor and
his vizier
MUTINY OF SEPOYS SUPPRESSED.
XI I]
CiiAr
becoming suspicious of each
good
other's
faith,
betrayed a willingness to treat
The emperor, in particular, offered to enter
with the Company. It became unnecessary to make a Unal
separately.
overtures before the confederacy Wiis broken up,
the vizier, who, alarmed for the safety of his
sti-ong
679
own
a.u. 1:04
into regular alliance
choice between these
by the sudden departure
territories,
of
threatened by a
detachment which Carnac had sent across the Ganges, hastened
off"
to
defend them.
Major Carnac was succeeded by Major Hector Monro, wlio arrived with a
by
reinforcement which he brought
spirit wiiich
had crippled
sea from
Bombay.
his predecessor's operations
very day of his arrival, a whole battalion of sepoys set
accoutrements to join the enemy.
them while
A
prisoners.
found the mutinous
the
cannu: n»
inulBf"'""^
with their arms and
off"
in pursuit,
It
On
prevalent.
.still
body of troops sent
and brought them back as
asleep,
He
Monro
came
was absolutely
u[)on
neces-
make an example, and Monro was determined that it .should be of a kind
sufficient to strike terror.
Having picked out twenty-four who were understood
sary to
most criminal of the mutineers, he brought them before a com't-martial
to be the
of native
who found them
officers,
guilty,
death the commander should appoint.
them should be blown away from guns.
pose, four gi-enadiers
and sentenced them
to
He immediately ordered
When they were tied up
who had been condemned,
any kind of
that four of
for this pur-
stepped forward and requested
that, as
they had always had the post of honour, they should be the
suffer.
This extraordinary precedence was allowed them.
suff'ered,
the sepoys intimated tlirough their European officers that they would
not allow any more to be executed.
Monro was not to be thus deterred.
and ])lacing them at intervals m the
p]uropeans, he ordered the sepoys to
symptom
to
After they had
.
loading the field-pieces with grape,
first
ground their arms, intimating
After
ITline of
that,
/«
nis firmne««
'" quelling
mutiny.
on the
They
were completely overawed, and looked on without a murmur, while sixteen more
were blown from the guns. Four remained, but with no intention to respite
least
of
he would order the artillery to
refiLsal,
them, for they were immediately sent
the frequency of desertion from
it,
it
off"
fire
upon them.
to another cantonment, where,
from
appeared that the example of an execution
was particularly required.
The mutinous
spirit
being thus quelled, Monro brought the troops out of
cantonments as soon as the cessation of the rains permitted, and on the
September commenced
his
field-pieces.
5th of
march westward at the head of an army consisting of n^ victi.r>-
857 Europeans, 5297 sepoys, and 918 native cavalry.
twenty
1
111
all
/0/2 men, with
After encountering some resistance at the passage of the
Sone, where some breastworks had been thrown up, and suff'ering considerable
annoj'ance from cavalry which
of October at the
town and
hung on
fort of
his line of march, he arrived on the
22d
Buxar, situated on the right bank of the
Ganges, nearly equidistant between Patna and Benares.
Here the Vizier Sujah
Dovvlah and Meer Co.ssim were occupying an entrenched camp, with an army
G80
OF INDIA
llLSTUliV
[Book
III.
//
AD.
iMi.
estimated variously from 10,000 to 00,000 men.
Ganges on
left
and Buxar
numbers they disdained
Monro's
victory
tlie
to act
in the rear,
was
"Their
having the
po.sitioii,
strong, but wnfident in their
on the defensive, and on the morning of the
2.Sd
cat
Huxar.
Monro's intention to surprise the camj)
were seen advancing to the attack.
during the previous niglit had been frustrated by
tlie failure
whom
had now no
of the spies
he had sent out to return with the necessary information, and he
enemy had
option but to fight in open day on ground which the
battle lasted three hours,
after the
and appears
enemy saw themselves
The
to have been stoutly contested, for even
defeated they retired slowly in.stead of breaking
into a tumultuous flight.
Their greatest
stream, over which there
was a bridge of
loss
in close pursuit ordered the bridge to be
troops thus left behind were
chosen.
drowned or
was sustained
The
boats.
at the crossing of a
vizier seeing the British
About 2000
broken down.
of his
This order to destroy the bridge
slain.
was, in the opinion of Major Monro, the best piece of generalship which Sujah
Dowlah showed that day. But for it, he said, " I would either have taken or
drowned his whole army in the Caramnassa, and come up with his treasure and
jewels, and Cossim Ali Khan's jewels, which, I was informed, amounted to between £2,000,000 and £3,000,000." Besides the 2000 who perished at the bridge,
enemy lost other 2000 in the
cannon.
The British loss was also
the
847, or rather
Submission
of the
emperor.
more than a ninth of
field of battle,
severe,
their
together with 130 pieces of
amounting in
whole
killed
and wounded
to
force.
The victory of Buxar was immediately followed by overtures of peace both
from the emperor and Sujah Dowlah. The former, indeed, was so far reduced
in his fortunes that he scarcely ventured to
assume the character of an inde-
pendent prince, and offered to submit to any terms that might be dictated to
The only return he asked was protection against his own vizier, who, he
complained, was treating him as a state prisoner.
The British commander
him.
having no authority to
treat,
wrote to Calcutta for instructions, but so deter-
mined was the emperor to escape from the thraldom in wdiich he was
in the interval before the instmctions arrived he
and every night encamped
for safety as near
kept
them
held, that
army,
close to the British
as he could.
At
last,
when
a favourable answer arrived from Calcutta, the protection which he had previously enjoyed on mere sufferance was regularly granted, and he
as
treat.
ally of the
Company.
Sujah Dowlah was equally anxious for the cessation of
The Nabob
of Oude
offers to
no longer the enemy but the
to purchase it
by paying twenty-five
was recognized
hostilities,
To
this
Sujah Dowlah
his refusal
time,
still
wanting
still
—the delivery of Meer
refused his assent.
by a feehng of honour, and yet
Meer Cossim,
so far
offered
lacs of rupees as the expenses of the war,
twenty-five lacs to the army, and eight lacs to the commander.
pensable requisite was
and
He
One
indis-
Cossim and Sumroo.
seemed to be influenced
in
this could hardly be, for at this very
from being treated with the hospitality due to a
was suffering the greatest indignity, and had almost been reduced
to
guest,
beggary
ATTEMPT ON CHUNAR.
CUAV. XII.]
by
681
extortion and the violent seizure of his treasures.
were not even pretended.
scruples of honour
him was, that being
delivering
own
and would
make him a
to
his The negountions with
The true
prisoner.
Sumroo, on finding that Meer Cossim was no longer able
reason was different.
to be his paymaster,
any attempt
was
.
.
resist
had abandoned him, and was now with
He
in the vizier's service.
him was
sujah
broke'u'ofl.
his sepoys enlisted
At
was, therefore, unwilling to part with him.
length, however, on finding that the delivery of
i764.
reason assigned for not
Tlie
at the head of the battalions of sepox's he
_
master,
In regard to Sumroo, ad.
still
insisted
on as an
indispensable pi'eliminary to the conclusion of a treaty, he endeavoured to effect
by proposing that, instead of being delivered up, he
The plan was to give an entertainment, and murder
should be assassinated.
him in the midst of its festivities. To make sure of the right man, deputies
from the English camp who knew Sumroo's person were to be present and
a singular compromise
witness the death.
It
almost unnecessaiy to say that the proposed compro-
is
mise was at once rejected, and the negotiation was broken off
At the commencement
On
Benares.
At
of the necrotiation,
the British aiiny had advanced to
°
"^
_
termination
its
it
resumed
the same time a strong detachment was
and succeeded
ing
Lucknow, the
in the direction of Allahabad,
.sent into
the territories of Oude proper,
in effect-
capture
the
march
its
of
capital.
Anotiier enterprise un-
dertaken by the main
anny was less successThe strong fort
ful.
of Chunar, or Chunar-
^awe'
ghur, situated on the
bank
right
of
the
Ganges, lay so near the
of
line
march that
it
Fort ok Chin akohuk— Fmm an
original drawing, by Capt. U. Smith, )4th Regt.
was deemed imprudent
to leave
it
behind in the enemy's possession.
rising abruptly
ascend
till
it
Its site
from the river to the height of
reached the height of
UG
feet.
was a sandstone
104; feet,
and continuing
The whole
a rampart, measured 750 yards in length by 300 in breadth.
that,
notwithstanding the
strength of
might be carried by a night
the place
A
still
was subsequently
more important
which, though strongly
attack.
carried
success
fortified,
its
position
and
rock,
its
area,
It
to
inclose.l 1)y
was supposed
fortifications,
it
The attempt was made and failed but
after a regular breach had been effected.
;
was obtained by the capture of Allahabad,
made only a feeble resistance. The emjieror,
excluded from Delhi, immediately took up his residence in Allahabad,
which, with a considerable tract of surrounding country, had been guaranteed
still
Vol.
I.
86
Fa>i""of
attempt ou
cinmar.
IILSTORV OK INDIA.
(5^2
A
i>.
17G5.
Territories
IFI
by a treaty wliicli the presidency had concluded with hirn in name of
Tiii« was only a first instalment of a much more extensive
the Company.
guarantee, for he was ultimately to be put in posse.ssion of the whole territo
granted to
ti.eeraperor
[Book
hiiri
,
torics of Sujali Dovvlal),
The
liis
latc vizier,
with
whom
he was
now
openly at war.
presidency, however, had, in giving this guarantee, undertaken
their superiors
more than
would allow them to perform, and the part of the treaty relating
to the other territories
was
become a dead
destined, as will be seen, to
letter.
During these transactions, another event, fraught with more important consequences,
had taken
Meer
place.
Jaffier, after his restoration to
the musnud_
had accompanied the army, and remained the reluctant spectator of a war which
he would willingly have terminated by a cession of territory or any other
His treasury was as empty as
fice.
rate of five lacs a month, he
discharge, but
Death of
Meer Jaffier.
ever,
and
in addition to
had not only heavy arrears
was pestered by
their servants
war
sacri-
expen.ses at the
to the
Company
to
with indefinite demands of com-
In his eagerness
to resume a throne which it would have
°
been his wisdom to decline, he had agi'eed to this so-called compensation, which
pensation for
losses.
"^
_
_
consisted for the
most part of imaginary claims of damage
but continued mounting up,
lacs,
when he agreed
This compensation,
private trade.
at last it
till
for the stoppage of
was estimated at ten
exceeded more than five times
to
it,
the original estimate.
In the hope of more readily obtaining pa^Tnent, the
council brought the old
nabob down
in
where the constant
to Calcutta,
which he was kept brought on a serious
It
illness.
proved
fatal
irritation
;
for, after
languishing a few weeks, he was with difficulty removed to Moorshedabad, and
died there in the beginning of February, 1765.
The question of
succession remained to be settled, and
taken up by the presidency, who, having the power
saw many reasons
in their hands,
Appoint-
ment
-jij^Q
only individuals
"^
of Ins
saccessor.
legal
title.
could be
nomination completely
without delay to exercise
Both of them were
Had
according to the
regarded
as rival claimants were Meer
"^
illegitimate,
and therefore without any valid
they been legitimate, the better
Mahometan
title
was in Nujum-ud-Dowlah
Nujum-ud-Dowlah was
was only a boy
preferable.
He was
of about six years of age.
In another
Company.
i-espect
about twenty, while Meerun's son
This difference, indeed, was of
consequence, as the nabob was in future to be a mere puppet, while
to centre in the
by
law, which, in.stead of continuing the succession
representation, always prefers a surviving son to a grandson.
was
it. .<
Surviving son, Nujum-ud-Dowlah, and a gTandson by bis eldest
Jafficr's cldcst
son Meerun.
who
for proceeding
of
was immediately
Such being the
real object,
all
little
power
something might
have been gained by appointing a nabob who was incapable of acting from
nonage.
infant
may
This, however,
was counterbalanced by a
serious disadvantage.
nabob could hardly be supposed capable of making
presents,
An
and yet
it
be affirmed, without any breach of charity, that on these presents the
nabob-makers of Calcutta were
far
more intent than on the
interests of their
\
OLIVE'S RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.
Chap. XII.]
The
employers.
liad
fact is
G83
when
undeniable for at the very time
;
succeeded Mr. Vartsittart as governor, and his council shared
so-called presents to the
the musnud,
amount of £139,357
new covenants
by the court
unexecuted on the council
table.
new nabob was
expressly taken
bound
was
manner
in like
powers of government,
civil
and
military,
sordid oon
"comi.;uiy'»
'^''*"^-
but
;
on
old
its
Company not running
counter to those of their servants were more carefullj' attended
v^hole
itoj
and the
defied,
to leave the private trade
In the other arrangements, the interests of the
footing.
re-
and were l}ing
Private trade also had been interdicted
in regard to it the authority of the directors
to
Company from
of directors,
ad.
among them
Nujum-ud-Dowluh
for raising
interdicting the servants of the
ceiving presents had been sent out
who
Mr. Spencer,
were transferred
were to undertake the whole defence of the country, employing
and the
to,
They
to them.
for that
purpose
the revenues of the assigned districts of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong,
together with five lacs of inipees to be paid monthly
sources
;
by the nabob from other
and were to have a complete control over the whole
by means of a deputy nabob, or naib-subah,
whom
administration
civil
bound himself
the nabob
appoint by their advice, and not to dismiss without their sanction.
invested with the whole
executive
Nujum-ud-Dowlah, aware of
a Hindoo,
whom we
series of intrigues.
this,
authority,
was
possessed
iiis
to appoint
employ
Nuncomar,
patron Roydullub by
and abused the confidence of Meer
whom
and acquired an unbounded influence over Nujum-ud-Dowlah,
to
This deputy,
the real nabob.
fact
was extremely anxious
have already seen supplanting
He had
in
as the instniment of his villainy
;
to
i\
Jaffier,
he hoped
but the presidency, thoroughly
acquainted with his character, refused to ratify his appointment, and succeeded
in securing it for
entitled to
Mahomed Reza Khan, who was
it.
The leading events which took
been traced,
it
will
now
place after Clive's departure from India having
be necessary to follow him to England, and attend to
the transactions in which he
was there taking a prominent
was most opportune for
following the British arms, and India
of his arrival
pride could find
any
gratification.
his fame.
part.
The time
Disaster had everywhere been
wjis the only quai-ter in
which the national
His achievements there were consequently
magnified even beyond their deserts, and
He was
in every respect far better
all classes
vied in doing
him honour.
not indisposed to turn this tide of favour to account, but an attack of
illness so severe
difficult to
that " for twelve months," to use his
pronounce whether he was to live or
own
language, "
die," frustrated
many
it
was
of his
and even deprived him of a part of the reward which he thought due
merit.
In a letter to Major Carnac he says, " If health had not deserted
intentions,
to his
me on my first
arrival in England, in all probability I
had been an
instead of an Irish one, with the promise of a red riband.
bought the
title
(which
is usual),
obtained are free and voluntary.
but that
My
I
I
know
was above, and the
wishes
may
Englisii peer,
I
could have
honoui-s
I
have
hereafter be accomplished."
ciive'g re
EugUnd.
1
684
Ill.SJOltV
INDIA.
<Jf
[ho(,K III.
f
A.D. 1763.
His ambition,
thus appears, was not satisfied; and
it
wliom
see the ministry through
DiBsatisfac-
ouve.
He was
iie
which he had riedulously laboured
his interest at court
to establisii, failed
he was confidently calculating upon
had the mortification
it
to defeat
him
and
dissatisfied,
secret
an attack which had been darkly
his jaghire
had
India,
the
in
much
suffering under gi'eat pecuniary embarrassment, felt
and Mr. Sullivan, the chairman, gave him
wouM
committee
when
at the very time
been regularly paid by the Bengal presidency to his agents
who were
parhament,
in
Though the proceeds of
threatened by the court of directors.
directors,
to
anticipated higher advancement dispkiced.
more disconcerted because
the
lie
to understand that the
communicate with him on the
He
subject.
himself
seems not to have been without misgivings, and for some time pursued a course
which displayed none of his characteristic
to
me
do nothing to exasperate them (the
to
my jaghire.
cusable
if I
Indeed,
did not
resentments.
an object of
make every
why
one of the reasons
it is
I
"
My
friends
they are silent as
importance that
.such
other consideration give
way
I
should be inex-
to it
and
;
this
is
cannot join openly with the Bengal gentlemen in their
depends upon you,
It
directors), if
more
in fact
In a letter to Mr. Amyatt he says,
prudential than chivalrous.
advise
and was
fearlessness,
my
friend, to
make me a
free
man, by
getting this grant confirmed from Dellii, and getting such an acknowledgment
may
from under the hands of the old nabob and the new nabob, as
to
His anxiety
jaghire.
put
It
all
himsclf,
me
our enemies at defiance."
painful to see such a
is
enable
man
as Clive reduced to the necessity of gagging
and confessing that he could not act as a "free man," because he was
afraid of giving offence
The worst of
it is, tliat
which might prove injurious
to his pecuniary interests.
he seems unconscious of the degradation which he was
thus voluntarily imposing upon himself, and hence again and again brings
under
tiie
notice of his correspondents as if
not the least cause to be ashamed.
In a
it
it
were a matter of which he had
letter to Mr.
Pybus, of Madras, after
describing Sullivan as " the reigning director," and as " keeping every one out of
the direction
who
more weight and
political
is
endowed with more knowledge,
who
behaviour has exasperated most of the gentlemen
their resentments
;
and
I
should think
have such an immense stake in India.
it
They
My
at defiance those
according to his
sordid motive.
who at present show no
own confession, acting
likely to
have
"This kind of
are lately
come
are surprised I do not join in
very surprising
if I did,
future power,
depend upon the receipt of the jaghire money.
ingly,
would be
influence than himself," he continues thus:
from India, particularly those from Bengal
all
or
I
my
considering
I
future gi-andeur,
madman to set
me." He was thu.s,
should be a
inclination to hurt
in a public matter from a selfish and
Peace on such terms was at best a hollow truce
;
and accord-
no sooner was Clive convinced that the dominant party in the court of
directors
might be turned
to influence the election of
out,
than he declared open war against
it.
In order
17G3 he manufactured an enormous number of
votes.
OPPOSITION TO CLIVE.
Chap. Xll.J
The
t585
was then £500, and he employed £100,000 in this very (lisThe other party, backed by the Bute ministry, to which
manoeuvre.
(qualification
creditable
Clive
was opposed, were equally unscrupulous, and scenes
At
nature were exhibited.
had
Clive's party
He had
the meetings ot
of the most scandalous cuveand
general courts oi proprietors
tlie
a. d. ires,
a minority
so decided a majority that he considered the victory as gained. ^t"india
supported by
Sullivan,
entirely miscalculated.
government, and by the great body of proprietors,
the influence of
all
who had
"°"**
established an influ-
ence with the existing directors, and were eagerly waiting for the fulfilment of
made
promises which had been
to them, carried
his
by
list
a triumphant
majority.
Clive, being thus defeated in a contest in
engaged, was not
meant
long in doubt as to the course which his opi)onents
left
One
to pursue.
which he ought never to have
of the
first
uses which they
transmit orders to the Bengal presidency to
made
stop
of their victory
further payments
all
account of Lord Clive's jaghire, and furnish an account of
viously made.
ceeding
else
was
restrained
by any ordinary
Clive
scruples?
measure dealt out
at the harsh
to
first
him by the
which
shown that they were not
felt,
on
this pro- His
to be expected from the victors in a contest in
the combatants on both sides had from the
taken out of court by a compromise.
The
directors,
and immediately took the
all
it
was impossible
the petty squabblings
among
there, so
tion with
his
which
own terms;
it
As he had founded
man
was threatened.
it
was
and of the commencement
sudden end to
the directors, and was followed
he was regarded as the only
and
intelligence of the massacre at Patna,
to foretell the issue, put a
general call for Clive's return to India.
It
not neces-
it is
judicially investigated,
of the violent dissensions in the council at Calcutta,
of a war, of which
,iiBi)ute.i.
or affected to feel astonishment
would be painful to dwell on the proceedings, and fortunately
were never
rigi.t t4)
to be
only remedy which seemed open to him, by instituting a suit in Chancery.
sary, as the merits of the case
to
the payments pre-
all
There was much indecent haste and vindictiveness in
but what
;
was
capable of saving
Clive had
it
now
by
a loud and
the British empire
it
from the destruc-
in his
power
and, tiiough he cannot be charged with taking an
to
make
undue ad-
vantage of his position, he certainly showed his determination not to yield a
which he deemed of importance.
single point
The
first
question which called for settlement
was that of
general court of proprietors would at once have set
entirely in his favour; but he thought
(piestion of
it
it
tlie
The
by deciding
at rest,
unbecoming
jaghire.
it
to dispose of a grave
law by a resolution proposed and carried in a moment of excitement,
and he therefore begged
might be able
which
Discu-ssiun
he trusted would lead to an amicable adjustment.
The question of appointment
reaj,poii,t
was not
contest.
delay, that he
settled without a
keen and even doubtful
general courts were held on the subject.
pied with preliminary matters.
At
The two
to
submit a
first
the third the subject
No
propo.sal
fewer tlian four
were principally occu-
was brought formally
'i"X*"
ULSTUIIY UF ISbLV
(J.SG
A.D. 1761.
[Book HI.
under discussion by a motion that the nomination of Mr. Spencer as governor
of Bengal should be referred back to the court of directors for their re-consider-
The
ation.
object of the motion, of coui-se,
way
thus prepare the
Clive
reappoiutetl.
it
was
Lord
for
by a majority
lost
new
pared for a
struggle
was
Olive's appointment.
warm
But, after a
The Clive
of 184; to 141.
and
to cancel the nomination,
debate,
party, thus defeated, pre-
by a wholesale manufacture of votes
and at a subse-
;
quent meeting, held on the 12th of March, 1701, carried the following resolu-
to
— "That
was the desire of the general court that Lord Clive be requested
take upon him the station of president of Bengal and the command of the
tion:
it
Company's military
The
upon
forces,
his arrival at that presidency."
having no alternative but to make an appointment which they
directors
would most willingly have
contented themselves with instructing their
resisted,
secretary to send Clive a letter inclosing a copy of the above resolution, and
informing him of their readiness to provide for his passage in the manner that
Want
of
cordiality
between
Clive
and the
lUrectors.
might be most convenient
for him.
His answer was equally
" I
laconic.
have
received your letter inclosing copy of the last resolution of the general court.
must
you
desire
will return the directors
every convenience for
ration
my
passage."
was impossible; and
my thanks
While such
therefore Clive
I
for their offers of preparing
feelings existed, cordial co-ope-
was right when, at a subsequent
general court, held on the 21st of March, he declined to declare his acceptance
of the appointment
He made
known.
till
the issue of the approaching election of directors
no secret of his motives.
would be
in vain for
was
Company
not again to enter the service of the
chair, for "it
It
him
his positive determination
while Mr. Sullivan
filled
the
to exert himself as he ought in the office
of governor and commander-in-chief of their forces,
if his
measures were to be
thwarted and condemned at home, as they probably would
directors,
was
be,
by a
court of
under the influence of a chairman, whose conduct upon man}' occasions
had evinced
his ignorance of
East India
be his personal and inveterate enemy."
affairs,
The
and who was
election
his friends
;
and Sullivan was run
known
which was thus
to
to decide
Both the chau-man
the whole matter proved fiivourable to Clive's supporter.s.
and deputy were
also
so closely, that he cari'ied his
by only a single vote. All obstacles were now removed,
acceptance was immediately declared.
The lawsuit as to the jag-
seat in the direction
and
Clive's
hire
was
also
arranged in terms of a compromise which Clive himself proposed,
and by which the Company engaged
Agreement
during his
life, if
to
pay him the quit-rent
he should not live so long.
What was
for ten yeai-s, or
become of
to
it after-
as to the
jaghire.
wards does not appear to have been openly declared, but the understanding
was, that the Company, who had previously farmed out the lands included imder
the jaghire at £100,000, while their quit-rent
fell
short of £30,000, were, in the
event of Clive's death, to be absolute proprietors.
At
have
the time of Clive's reappointment,
fallen into such disorder, that it
afftiirs
in Bengal
would be necessary
were understood to
to
make
his
powers
'
J
PKIVATE TllADINCi INTKRDKTKI).
Chap. XII.
His own suggestion was, that he should be intrusted with
almost absolute.
dispensing power in the civil and political affairs," that
it,
"
GST
that whensoever I
myself, that resolution
may
The
was almost equivalent
to
it,
;
but they did
by making him the head of a select committee,
so far independent of the council, as to be
they judged proper without consulting
mittee, Mes.srs.
rowers
directors did not confer these oucuve.
consisting, besides himself, of four individuals, appointed
and made
itim.
as he him.self explains
absolute powers, at least in the form in which he asked them
wliat
a ad.
think proper to take any resolution entirely upon
to take place."
is
is,
"
Two
it.
Sumner and Sykes, accompanied
on
his recommendation,
empowered
to act
members
of the
Clive fi"om England
Among
General Carnac and Mr. Verelst, were already in India.
whenever
of the com-
the others,
;
other arrange-
ments to which an understanding was come, the most important related to the
private trade,
and
old directors were
posed of
letter to
it
still
in
office,
greatly to their credit,
and
difficulties,
iTG-i,
while the
they had taken up the former subject and
—
the Bengal presidency:
standings,
In February,
to the receiving of presents.
"
by the following passage in their general
One grand source of the disputes, misunder-
which have occurred with the country government,
appears evidently to have taken
its rise
from the unwarrantable and licentious
manner of carrying on the private trade by the Company's
and the revenues justly due
from his natural
subjects,
to
respect,
him; the diverting and taking
the trade in the inland part of the country, to
which neither we, nor any other persons whatsoever dependent upon
under our protection, have any manner of
these disorders,
all
we do hereby
and
receipt of this letter, a final
trade in
salt,
and consumed
betel-nut,
in the country."
right.
and
u.s,
or
In order, therefore, to renied}'
positively order
effectual
tobacco,
proved by Clive, who, in a
their
servants,
gomastaks, agents, and others, to the prejudice of the subah, both with
to his authority
dis-
and
direct, that,
from the
end be forthwith put to the inland
other articles whatsoever, produced
all
This interdict on private trade was fully ap-
letter
addressed to the directors, 27th April, \7Gi,
— "Strict and impartial justice should ever be observed;
thus expressed himself:
but
let
that justice
come from
ourselves.
The
tobacco having been one cause of the present disputes,
will be restored to the nabob,
I
hope these
and your servants absolutely forbid
This will be striking at the root of the
them.
and
trade, therefore, of salt, betel,
evil."
articles
to trade in
Unfortunately, these
enlightened and disinterested views did not find favour with the general court
of proprietors, who, in a meeting held 18th
lution:
— "That
it
May, adopted the following
reso-
be recommended to the court of directors to reconsider the
orders sent to Bengal, I'elative to the trade of the
articles of salt, betel,
Company's servants
in the
and tobacco, and that they do give such directions
for
Company and the subah, as
by settling here at home the restric-
regulating the same, agreeable to the interests of the
to
them may appear most prudent,
tions
under which
this trade
either
ought to be carried
on, or
by
referring
it
to the
Privaietra.i
.lictedton...
^r^uTta"
//
bys
A.U. 1765.
ilLSTOJiY Oh' INDIA.
tradint;
may
prevent
all
further disputes between the subaii and the
Com-
pany."
In consequence of this recommendation, the previous orders of the
directors
were modified, and
rcginliiig
private
JIJ.
governor and council of Fort William, to regulate this important point in sudi
a manner as
Rflj;nl.'ition9
[Book
and "
presents.
it
was
and
to the governor
left
after
council,
consulting the nabob, to form a jn-oper and equitable plan for carrying on
On
the inland trade."
the subject of presents the orders of the
were
directiji-s
more peremptory, and new covenants, dated May, 1704, were sent out to be
executed by all servants, civil and military, of the Company, binding tiiem to
pay
to the
Company
presents received from natives,
all
if
amount exceeded
the
4000 rupees, and not to accept of any present exceeding 1000 rupees in value
without the consent of the presidency.
Clive sailed from England on the 4th of June, 1704, and had so tedious a
Olive's
outward
voyage.
passage that he did not reach Madras
learned, for the first time, that the
sion,
it
was
In the same
in our power."
had been brought
so completely in the
"scarcely hyperbole to say,
on
fact,
this subject I cannot
though he knew of Meer
if
To-morrow the whole Mogul empire
written privately to Mr. Rous, chairman
letter,
"We must become
not in name, perhaps totally so without
be certain tiU
Jaffier's death,
my
the value of
much
its stock,
as could be
this time,
so satisfied thai the
Company
on a new course of prosperity, which would greatly advance
that he wrote on the same day to his agent in London,
desiring that whatever
as
but
he was not aware of the steps which
;
to enter
di.sguise,
At
arrival in Bengal."
had been taken to appoint a successor but he was
was about
to a conclu-
power of the Com-
of the court, seven days after his arrival at Madras, he added,
nabobs ourselves in
Here he
the 10th of April, 1765.
in Bengal
and that the terms of peace were
pany, that
is
war
till
money he had
borrowed
in his
in the public funds, or
anywhere
name, should be, " without
loss of
else,
and
a minute,
invested in East India stock."
His
Clive arrived in Calcutta on the 3d of May, and lost no time in
fir.st
proceedings
at Calcutta.
the exercise of his extraordinary powers.
conscious of the
awkward
position in
Some
which they
of the
stood,
commencing
members
of council,
were disposed
to take
advantage of some ambiguous expressions which occurred in the commission to
the select committee, and to put their
own
interpretation
Clive denied their right even to inquire, and gave
would be
full
time to give their opinion
necessary to ask
his opponents,
it.
By
when
them
upon them
;
but
to understand that
it
the select committee judged
it
taking this high ground he intimidated the boldest of
though he at the same time provoked a hostility which afterwards
followed him to England, and subjected him to imputations and insults which
his
proud
spirit
proved unable to endure.
deterring him, only stimulated
afterwards expressed
it,
" to
do
him
my
the odium of the whole settlement.
Difiiculties,
to exertion.
duty to the
" I
however, so far from
was determined,"
public,
though
I
as he
should incur
The welfore of the Company required
vigorous exertion, and I took the resolution of cleansing the
Augean
a
stable."
Chap. XII.]
PROHIBITION OF PRESENTS.
This opprobrious epithet
is
Company's
ciple
servants,
by no means inappropriate
any regard
class
of the
how much
and
in the
form
It is impo.ssible,
how-
to decency,
most insulting and oppressive to the native population.
ever, to forget
every
for in
a.d. ives.
from the highest to the lowest, the great actuating prin-
avarice, manifested without
was
;
68i)
of the corruption might have been traced to the bad
example which Clive himself had
set,
and there
is
comiiaions
t„,„','!ai.y«
"*"""**
therefore something painfully
incongruous in the high-flown style which he sometimes employs.
Thus, in
a letter written to General Carnac, three days after he had entered upon
office,
when I make no doubt of discoverThe council," he adds,
ing such a scene as will bo shocking to human nature.
" have all received immense sums for this new appointment (of a nabob), and are
so shameless as to own it publicly.
Hence we can account for the motive of
paying so little respect to me and the committee ;" and then, warming as he
"Ala.s! how is the
proceeds, breaks out into the following exclamation:
English name sunk
I could not avoid pajdng the tribute of a few tears to the
To-morrow we
he says, "
sit in
committee,
—
'
and
leparted
<
I
lost
fame of the
Briti.sh
nation (irrecoverably
do declare, by that Great Being who
the searcher of
is
we must be accountable, if there must be an
a mind superior to all corruption, and that
great and growing
I fear).
all hearts,
hereafter, that I
T
am
or perish in the attempt.'
evils,
so,
However,
and
am come
to
whom
out with
determined to destroy those
The cutting
retort to
which
he laid himself open in using this language seems never to have occurred to him.
The covenants which
interdicted all the servants of the
Company from
accepting presents had arrived in the previous January, some weeks before the
death of Meer
Jaffier,
and consequently were
in possession of the council
when
they set them at defiance, by taking presents on the succession of Nujum-ud-
They had endeavoured
Dowlah.
to evade the obligation
Himsy device of allowing the covenants
to
by the very bold but
When
remain unexecuted.
ques-
tioned on the subject, they hypocritically pretended that their a]>parent contempt
of authority was, in fact, an act of deference to
nants was a matter of so
anything
final
much consequence
about them
till
Lord
miijht no longer avail, one of the
that " the
it,
that they could not think of settling
Clive's arrival.
first
for the signing of the cove-
That
this ludicrous excuse
resolutions of the select committee
covenants be executed innnediately."
When
this
resolution
was
was
read to the council they argued strenuously for delay, and only yielded on
being told that the only alternative was to sign or be suspended the service.
It is
not unworthy of notice that
army for
and a member of the
mitted to the
grounds.
He had
of Benares.
as he
Vol.
so
I.
the covenants were afterwtirds trans-
signature, General Carnac, though commander-in-chief,
select committee, refused.
It was, however,
on special
received a present of 80,000 rupees from Bulwant Sing, Rajah
The covenants bore
was not aware of
altered,
when
a date antecedent to that of the present
their existence, he refused to sign
as not to lay
him open
to the
till
;
but,
the date was
charge of having violated them.
87
Attempt
to
covenauts
.'IgHiMft
l)rc8eiits.
///
690
A.D, 1765.
111ST(JRY
[Book
III.
Another present to a much larger amount, given him by Shah Alum, who.se
necessitous circumstances
Presents
OF INDIA.
after
must have made
it
verv inconvenient, was bestowed
The sum was two
he had received notice of the covenants.
lacs of rupees,
received by
General
Carnac.
equal, according to the rate of
exchange at the time, to £23,333; making,
with the previous present from Bulwant Sing, a
present
was
so clearly illegal that
the directors,
Carnac accepted
and in the meantime lodged
To sanction such a
it
The
total of £32,000,
it,
latter
subject to the approval of
in the treasury of the presidency
present, at the very time
when
the signature of the cove-
nants was enforced under the penalty of suspension from the service, was to
establish a very extraordinary precedent
;
and
yet, in such different lights does
by
the same thing appear, according as personal predilections are affected
Clive strenuously supported the present in
—
the following terms
:
it,
" I shall
that
only
say that Carnac has acted with such moderation and honour in the service of
the Company, and with such good deference and attention towards his majesty
the Great Mogul, that the directors must be the most ungrateful of men,
do not by the return of
this ship, or the first conveyance, order
with a due encomium on his
services, disinterestedness,
him
if
they
this mone}',
and modesty."
Truly,
Carnac, after pocketing one present, whicli was only saved from illegality
if
an
and hankering
accident,
after another
which was clearly
illegal,
by
and which
the directors could not sanction without stultifying themselves, deserved such
an encomium, Clive should not have boasted much of
In regard to the private trade,
stable."
means such
as
regulations adopted were
At that time he
considered the abolition of
he did not actually originate a scheme by which the present trade,
instead of being thrown open to
all
the inhabitants on equal teims,
verted, at least in three of its leading articles, into a rigorous
of the Company's servants.
in consequence of a
The scheme
have
this
is
said to
it is
was
con-
monopoly in favour
have been rendered expedient
most important change which took place at
circumstances of the Company, and
Treaty with
the emperor
by no
necessary in order "to strike at the root of the evil," whereas he fully sanc-
tioned, if
to
Aucjean
might have been anticipated from the views which Clive had
expressed before leaving .England.
it
tlie
" cleansinor the
this
time in the
therefore only fair before judging of
it
change fully in view.
The Empcror Shah Alum had, as we have seen, thrown himself on British
projection, and entered into a treaty, in which the most important stipulations
in his favour
and
assisted in conquering all the territories
Oude.
to
were that he should immediately be put in possession of Allahabad,
which belonged
to the
Nabob
of
This was a very serious undertaking, though there seemed httle reason
doubt that the army which had already achieved so
able to accomplish
it.
many
successes
The nabob, however, was determined not
would be
to yield with-
out a struggle, and endeavoured to repair the disaster at Buxar, by forming
alliances
with Ghazi-u-din, the vizier (who, after murdering Alumgeer, usurped
possession of the districts around Deliii), with certain of the Rohilla chiefs, and
THE NABOB OF BENGAL PENSIONED.
Chai'. XII.]
This confederacy was far more formidable in appear- a
with a body of Mahratt<as.
The members, pursuing
ance than in reality.
and rendered
interest,
sions.
At last,
As a
last resource
ends,
made with
and so feebly that the
he recurred to negotiation,
The impolicy of
the emperor had become apparent, and
to modify, or if necessary set aside its
after long hesitation, it
had been resolved
of the three provinces of Bengal, Behar,
and
Orissa,
d. ncs.
had no common
to find that he could obtain liberal terms.
the treaty which had been
was determined
se[)ai-ate
their promised aid so tardily
nabob's affairs became desperate.
and was delighted
0!)1
riie
Nabob
l,„,'".iioa
^"'"'^"tiate-
it
most important provi-
to accept of the
dewannee
and thus by transferring the
collection of the revenues as well as the military defence of the country to the
Company, put an end
to the possibility of future collision with the nabob.
The accomplishment of
this
who
important work was reserved for Clive,
wa.s The xaimb
to suggest
it,
and had repeatedly explained the grounds on which he
was convinced that
it
must sooner or
the
first
later
become absolutely
necessary.
On
the 24!th of June Clive left Calcutta on this important mission, and proceeded
to Moorshedabad,
first
where he obtained the consent of Nujum-ud-Dowlah to
several important modifications in the treaty
He would
musnud.
to the
Nuncomar, and was greatly
forced
upon him
as
fain
made with him when he was
raised
have placed himself under the guidance of
dissatisfied that
deputy or naib-soubah.
Mahomed Reza Khan had been
Without yielding
to his complaints,
advantage was taken of them to limit the exorbitant power of Reza Khan, by
jissociating
Juggut
all
with him as colleagues the old dewan Roydullub, and
Seat,
the three,
tiie
banker
and at the same time exercising a vigilant superintendence over
by means of a
British resident.
This, however,
was only
prelimi-
Under the treaty the military defence of the
country was undertaken by the Company, who obtained for that purpose a permanent assignment of the districts of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong.
With this im})ortant exception, all the other revenues belonged to the nabob,
who levied them in his own name, and for his own behoof, under deduction of
By the new arrangement tlie nabob
the annual tribute payable to the Mogul.
nary to a
still
was converted
greater change.
into a
mere pensionary, and, instead of drawing an
revenue, was restricted to an annual pension of fifty lacs of rupees.
was
this
directly
to be his only interest in the revenue,
from the
collectors,
and he was
In future
to receive it not
but at second hand from the Company,
sequence became his paymasters.
indefinite
who
in con-
There cannot be a doul)t that the nabob would
gladly have escaped from the degrading conditions thus imposed upon
Resistance, however,
was out of the
his only alternative.
ters,
question,
and unreserved compliance was
The transaction which made the Company
of the three provinces of Bengal, Behar. and Oris.sawas
a ratification was
Low
still
deemed
as the fortunes of the
and continued
liini.
now
ab.solute
mas-
completed, but
necessary.
Mogul had
fallen he
was
still
nominally supreme,
to be appealed to as the valid disposer of kingdoms, long after he
converts
into II more
ptiiisiouary.
G92
A
D. 1765.
HISTORY OF IM>IA.
had ceased to
that the
Olive's
Company,
any
real authority within tiiern.
as he
had voluntarily
It wa.s desirable, therefore,
civil
when he threw himself on
offered,
comply with any terms which they might be pleased to
ingly after accomplishing
(jliject
liis
JJI
and military power of the
In this there was little difficulty,
whole
in apjjropriating the
three provinces, should obtain his sanction.
vi»it to
Allahabad.
liave
[Book
at Moorshedabad,
their
protection, to
dictate.
Clive accord-
by reducing the nabob
to the condition of a pensioner, pursued his tour in the direction of Allahaljad,
Tbe Palace, Allahabad.' — From
Daiiiell's
Views in India
that he might there, in conjunction with General Carnac, obtain from
Alum
a formal sanction of the
It is not to be denied
Uib
;in-
new
revolution which he had just accomplished
Shah Alum had good cause
that
Shah
When
treatment he received on this occasion.
to complain of the
he entered on possession of
iiounceraeiil
t.u
Sliuh
Alum.
Allahabad and the adjoining
the ultimate possession of
Instead of this he was
districts, it
all
was under a treaty which promised him
the territories which belonged to Sujah Dowlah.
now informed
that he must rest satisfied with the small
upon him, and with the annual payment
of twenty-six lacs of rupees from Bengal.
Besides this tribute he had right
to a jaghire in that country which yielded several lacs, and to a lai'ge amount
extent of territory already
of arrears, but
confei'i'ed
when he claimed them, was simply
past arrangements as cancelled.
In future
than a mere pensioner of the Company.
in the double character
'
cut
away
whatever
could
not
be
conveniently
up with plaster and
whitewash, and hid by stands for arms and deal
fittings.
Still its plan can be made out
a square
is
he, too,
There
is
was
must look on
to be nothing
carefully covered
;
all
more
something almost ludicrous
which Shah Alum was thus made to assume.
This palace "is now the arsenal; a brick wall
has been run up between its outer colonnades, with
windows of English architecture, and its curious
pavilions and other accompaniments removed; and
internally,
told that he
In the
by eight rows of columns, eight in
each row, thus making in all sixty-four, surrounded
by a deep verandah of double columns with groups
of four at the angles, all surmounted by bracket
hall supported
most elegant and richest design, and
altogether as fine in style and as rich in ornament
capitals of tlie
as anything in India."
Architecture, vol.
i.
— Fergusson's
Handbook
of
TREATMENT OF SUJAU DOWLAH.
CiiAP. XIT.
one he
seen higgling with the representatives of the
is
G9o
Company, and
endeavom-ing to increase the amount which they had allotted
ance
in the other, he assumes all the airs of
;
for his
vainl}-
A D
mainten-
an absolute sovereign, and gives
TreiUmentof
S)iali
away
by a mere stroke of the pen. It is not untime when the grant of the dewannee of the three
vast and populous i)rovinces
worthy of notice
that, at the
17C6
l.y
Alum
the
C'oIU]KlllJ.
provinces, yielding a revenue estimated at from £3, 000, ()()() to £4,000,()()0 sterling,
was obtained,
Olive's jaghire
have enjoyed
it for
was not
ten years, or on his death,
expressly bestowed on the
Company.
was previously included
to observe,
forgotten, the reversion of
only thing gained by granting
if it
This reversion,
speciaUy,
was
after he should
should sooner happen, being
in the grant of the
it
it
it is
almost unnecessary
dewannee, and hence the
to give
legal effect to the
arrangement respecting the jaghire, which had previously been made between
Clive and the directors.
The only person who had reason to congratulate himself on the liberal treatment which he received was Sujah Dowlali. He had been the mo.st formidable
and inveterate enemy of the Company, and had not only taken Meer Cossim
and Sunn'oo under
sacres
his protection,
which they had
though perfectly cognizant of the horrid masbut had placed himself at the head of a con-
i)erpetrated,
federacy avowedly leagued for the purpose of expelling the British altogether
There would, there-
from the country.
fore,
have been no injustice in carrjdng
out the treaty which engaged to deprive
him altogether of
transfer
them
was not
justice,
the more
his
Shah Alum.
to
and
territories,
Indeed,
it
but policy, that dictated
terms which
favourable
he
received after a series of disastrous defeats
had compelled him to throw himself unconditionally on
the
mercy of
his con
The Company had never been
querors.
ambitious of territorial aggrandizement;
and
dewannee of the three
last
declining
repeatedly
after
accepted
it,
provinces,
the
had at
more from necessity than
bfJAH DowLAH. - Kiom a drnwing
in iKKMcssioii of ilw
Bojral AtlKlic Socittjr.
choice.
So long as the revenues were
payable to the nabob, his interests were at variance with those of the Com-
pany and
The
occurring.
effectual
their agents,
and misunderstandings and
accejitance of the
collisions
were constantly
dewannee by the Company seemed the only
remedv, and on this oround alone
it
was recommended b\ the
select
committee, and at last sanctioned with some degree of reluctance by the court
The great
object
now was
tion of such a frontier as
to
make
possession safe
and permanent by the fonna-
would give the best security against foreign invasion,
I.'lier.ll
tumis
],;niiite«l
to
tlio X:tlxib
of Ou.lo.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
()94
AD.
1765.
and afford the necessary
provements.
The only
leisure for the introduction of important internal im-
In the treaty with Shah Alum,
own
had been overlooked.
this object
putting him in possession of the territories of Sujah Dowlah
effect of
would have been to protract
his
[Bo(jk 117.
Too
hostilities indefinitely.
feeble to provide for
made head
defence within the country, he never could have
the Afghans and Mahrattas,
who were watching an
against
oppoitunity to extend their
conquests.
Reiisons
for
It
was
to such considerations as these that Sujah
the
liberality
which was shown him.
He was
Dowlah owed the favour
the hereditary prince, and both from his posi-
to Siijah
Uowlali.
tion
and
his talents
was supposed most capable of
interpo.sing
an
effectual barrier
between the possessions of the Company and the foreign invaders who had
long been intent on gaining a footing in them.
To fit him for the part thiLS
assigned him,
it
was necessary not only
to leave his strength unimpaired, but to
convince him, by generous treatment, that he could not advance his interest more
than by linking his
effectually
own
fortunes with those of the
entering into close alliance with them.
Accordingly,
when
Company, and
Clive set out to con-
clude the treaty with Sujah Dowlah, the select committee, doubtless echoing
his
own
say, "
is
sentiments, furnished
him with a paper of
instructions, in
which they
Experience having shown that an influence maintained by force of arms,
we ought to promote, ruinous to
we earnestly recommend to your
destructive of that commercial spirit which
the Company, and oppressive to the country,
you will exert your utmost endeavours to conciliate the aflfections
of the country powers, to remove any jealousy they may entertain of our unbounded ambition, and to convince them we aim not at conquest and dominion,
lordship, that
but security in carrying on a free trade equally beneficial to them and to
With
this
view policy requires that our demands be moderate and
and that we avoid every appearance of an
us.
equitable,
inclination to enlarge our territorial
The sacrifice of conquests, which we must hold on a very precarious tenure, and at an expense more than equivalent to their revenues, is of little
consequence to us yet will such restitutions impress them with a high opinion
of our generosity and justice. For these reasons we think Sujah Dowlah should
possessions.
;
be reinstated in the
dominions, with such limitations
full possession of all his
only as he must see are evidently calculated for om' mutual benefit.
decline insisting
upon any terms that must prove irksome
to his high
We
would
spii'it,
and
imply a suspicion of his sincerity."
A
Terras of
treaty in which the party able to dictate terms
the treaty
generously was easily arranged, and Sujah
fifty lacs
his
whole
felt
disposed to act so
Dowlah gladly consented
to
pay
of rupees as the expense of the war, in return for the restitution of
territories,
except the districts of Korah and Allahabad previously
ceded to Shah Alum, and for a mutual alliance by which the contracting parties
became bound to
in
assist
each other against
all
foreign invaders.
regard to Meer Cossim and Sumroo no longer existed.
The
difficulty
The former had taken
.
«f
treaty with SUJAH DOWLAII.
xti.)
Chai'.
ief'ui>"e
Sujah Dowlah did
Cfive
o
had entered the
aiuono- the Roliillas, the latter
all
ventui'ed to
The only
J point
1
either.
and ad.
as to
and therefore objected
so strongly that the point
was not
DuwJaiian.i
i«uiy.
original
its
and
pressed,
it
liberty to trade duty free.
This liberty, however, was scarcely regarded as a boon, for at this time
three provinces were supposed to be the proper limits both of trade
settlements at so vast a distance
;
tlie
and of con-
In regard to the former, the presidency could foresee no benefit
Company from maintaining
to
In this he probably suspected a repe-
was merely stipulated that the Company should have
quest.
to
tweenSujali
same process by which Bengal had been wrested from
tition of the
ires.
heTre.itybe-
which
demur was a proposal that the Company should be empowered
establish factories within his territories.
rulers,
service of the Jats,
when he engaged never
that could be required of him,
to
any
J countenance or protection
I
695
to the
while in regard to
the latter, even Clive declared in a letter to the directors, shortly after conclud"
ing the treaty,
My
resolution was,
and
my
hopes will always be to confine our
assistance,
our conquest, and our possessions to Bengal, Behar, and Orissa.
go further
is,
in
my
opinion, a scheme so extravagantly ambitioas
that no governor and council in their senses can ever adopt
scheme of the Company's interest be
When
entirely
new
and absurd,
unless the whole
it,
modelled."
Clive returned to Calcutta in September, a series of irksome duties
lay before him.
He had
presents, but as large
and were
first
To
therefore,
enforced the signature of the covenants interdicting
sums had been received
after the covenants
though unexecuted, legally binding,
to institute a strict inquiry in
regard to them.
it
had
irksome uxk
cuve.
arrived,
was judged necessary
This inquiry was, indeed,
unavoidable, for Nujum-ud-Dowlah, dissatisfied with the arrangement which had
forced
Mahomed Reza Khan upon him
arrival than he hastened to Calcutta,
as naib-soubah,
and made
it
no sooner heard of
a foraial complaint
tliat
away twenty lacs of rupees
Mahomed Reza Khan's defence was
naib had emptied his treasury by paying
sents to the
members of
council.
Clive's
the
in pre-
that he
was not a voluntary agent, but on receiving intimation of the sums which the
members
of council expected had no option but to
The
pay them.
recipients of
This was
the so-called presents denied that they had used either force or terror.
perhaps true, but the in(]uiry proved that they had intimated their expectations
in a
way which made
was not
unjust, which,
it
impossible to refuse them, and the sentence therefore
on the ground of
the governor, and nine other leading
The question of
seen,
private trade
officials
still
from the Company's
remained.
endeavoured to strike at the root of the
the 8th of February,
engaging in
quence of
it.
tlie
17()4',
still
The
evil,
by sending out an
prohibiting the servants
of the
interference of the general court of proprietors
same ship
in
which Clive
service.
directors had, as
This judicious order they had been obliged to
in a letter sent out in the
they
this misconduct, dismissed Mr. Sj)encer,
sailed
;
we have
Arrange
nieut
order,
on
Company from
recall, in
conse-
and accorthngly,
from England, while
expressed their conviction that the existing regidations as to the pri-
ii8
j,rivat«
'"*'''
to
—
;
lllSTUKY UF INDIA.
696
A.D. 1765.
[Book
111.
vate inland trade were "so injurious to the nabob and the natives that they
could not, in the very nature of them, tend to anything but the producing
general heartburning and dissatisfactions," and rec^uired that their order of the 8th
.\rrangeiiient as
to
private
trade.
of February slmuld in the
consult the nabob as to the
upon
to
same
to
meantime be
manner
enforced, they told the committee "to
of cairying on the inland trade, and there-
form a proper and erjuitable plan for that
by such
the directors, accompanied
purj^jo.se,
and transmit the
remarks, as might enable them to give their sentiments and directions
upon, in a
full
it
explicit manner."
which Clive and the
instructions
and
and
was
select
spirit at least, if
be carefully observed.
committee had received on the subject
s;ilt,
betel,
and tobacco
any arrangement subse-
not the letter of these instructions would
This, however,
was not the
scheme was framed by which the three leading
Monoijoly of salt,
tliere-
This letter contained the only special
therefore to have been expected that in
quently adopted, the
and
explanation.s, observations,
—were converted into a
On
case.
the contrary', a
articles of the inland trade
strict
monopoly for the exclusive
betel,
ami tobacco
behoof of the servants of the Company.
This scheme, which was diametrically
secured by
servants of
opposed
the Company.
change of circumstances which had taken
to the instructions
of the directors, could only be justified
they understood that the nabob was
still
When
place.
the directors wrote,
in actual possession of the revenues,
and consequently had a
special interest in suppressing the abuses
amount had been
seriously diminished.
By
altered.
so
by the great
The
case
by which
their
was now completely
the grant of the dewannee, the whole revenues of the country had
been transferred to the Compan}^ and the nabob was only to receive a pension
of a definite amount.
how
position to
lacs.
So
far
was the
nite pleasiu-e
;"
sum
of
money
for himself
says:
—
"
He
pay any regard
dancing
to tlie
and household at
girls as I please."
his will
with
infi-
Thank God,
I
There was thus no occasion
nabob in the new arrangement,
now
to
received the pro-
and, on retiring from the interview, exclaimed, "
now have as many
him
payment
any consequence
existing nabob from feeling the degrading
which he was thus reduced, that Clive
posal of having a
to
therefore no longer of
the revenues were managed, so long as he was sure of receiving
of his fifty
shall
was
It
all
modes
of carrying
The only interests
to be protected were those of the Company and of the natives, and Clive thought
that the plan which the select committee had devised would at once secure this
The salaries of
protection and accomplish another object of vital importance.
on the inland trade being
to
him equally
indifferent.
the Company's servants were totally inadequate, and the private inland trade
was the
cliief soiurce
from which they had been accustomed to make fortunes or
to obtain maintenance.
torily cut
off",
to beggary.
Now
therefore,
when
this source
was at once peremp-
they saw nothing before them but a sudden descent from affluence
The
salary of a
member
of council
was only £350, and
it
was
perfectly notorious that the establishment which his position in society rendered
necessary could not be kept up at less than £3000.
The
directors, in abolishing
CiiAP.
tlie
XII
MONOPOLY OF PRIVATE TRADE.
I
G97
inland trade, ought to have given due weight to this consideration, and
a.d. itcs
been prepared when they suppressed an obnoxious source of income to provide
This they entirely failed to do; and hence Clive considered himself
another.
entitled to supply the omission
Tlie plan
by
adopted was as follows:
the trade in
The partners consisted of the Company's
bacco.
and the stock was divided among them
classes,
were allotted
first class
,
mean^ at his disposal.
partnership was formed, and
objectionable
—A society or
cany on
vested with the exclusive right to
.shares
tiie least
;
members of
To the second
class
to eighteen persons
—the governor,
five
the second in council,
;
colonels,
two shares
each.
or two-thirds of a share each
—namely, one chaplain, three lieutenant-colonels, and fourteen
To
senior merchants.
the third class were allotted nine shares, being one-third
of a share each to twenty-seven persons
at the presidency,
vatu trauo
o7iIl^'|^'*
and two
shai-es,
to-
To the
in certain definite shares.
council
were allotted twelve
and
iKutnureiup
thirty-five shares, distributed thus
the other ten
betel-nut,
servants, arranged in three
the general or commander-in-chief, three shares
three shares
salt,
The mono
two
first
—namely, four majors, four
first
surgeons
surgeons at the army, one secretary in council, one
sub-accountant, one Persian translator, and one suVj-export-warehouse keeper.
To compensate the Compan}^ who in their new position as dewan were entitled
to draw a considerable revenue from the monopolized articles, an ad valorem
duty of 35 per cent., estimated to produce £100,000 per annum, was paid, and us
a security to the natives some precautions were taken to prevent the enhanced
Though nothing can be more objecprice naturally produced by a monopoly.
tionable in principle than the
pol}' of the articles
saries of
life,
which, next to
annum.
of public officers
all
who had
was that from the
This being the
£3500 and hence, the
;
income of £17,500.
mono-
profit of a
sums
realized
were
the privilege of sharing in
])artner.ship a
])rofit
by the
formed in Bengal the principal neces-
rice,
there cannot be a doubt that the
furnish ample .salaries to
calculation
payment
sufficient to
Clive's
it.
would draw £7000 per
colonel
on two shares, each share must have yielded
must have given an
determination not to derive any
five reserved to himself as governor,
As he had
declared his
pecuniary advantage from his re-appointment, he appropriated the whole of
profits thus received to the
members
of his household,
brother-in-law, his secretary, and his surgeon,
from England.
The court of
directors,
all
of
and more especially
whom had
to his
accompanied him
on being made acquainted with the
,
tlie
plan,
.
,
adhered to their former views, and in their general letter to the select commit-
— "Much has been urged by our servants at different times
tee wrote as follows:
in favour of the right to this trade,
The words
absurd claim
Company
own
mean by
I.
these words, a
subjects, is such
trying to refute
Vol
phirmaund
shall bring or carry, cOc, are
Delhi could
their
of the
which we have always treated as a most
it.
are,
Whatever goods the English
duty free.' To suppose that the court of
monopoly of the
an absurdity that we
With respect
'
to the
shall
Company,
it
necessaries of
not
is
lose
life
over
time or words in
neither consistent with
88
ri.m dis
approved by
.lirectore.
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
698
A.I). iTc-,.
honour nor their dignity
their
more immediately our
Tiie director.s
and
to give
interest
them no occasion
of the
a sentiment
monopoly,
therefore,
we think
to
promote such an exclusive
and duty
to look
to protect
disobeyed
;
entire abolition."
We
us, for
trading in
salt,
cannot.
any shape whatever, and do hereby confirm
These orders were too explicit to be directly
but the execution of them was suspended on the ground, that before
therefore impossible, "without ruin to individuals
an
and
betel-nut,
they were received the contract for the second year had been formed, and
to fix
now
is
it
cherish the inhahitanis,
such a monopoly would necessarily suggest.
tobacco, or admit of this trade in
its
and
trade, as
III.
on every Engli.shrnan as their national enemy,
approve the plan you have sent
our orders for
[Book
earlier date for the abolition
and
it
was
confu.sion to the puljlic.
than the 1st of September, 1767
Even
was extended to enable the society to collect their debts and realize
their capital, and their operations did not ceasa till September, 1768.
Another arrangement which Clive made at this time was deserving of more
praise, thougli it subjected him to a larger amount of obloquy.
Owing to tlie
this date
cuve
applies
to the
Madias
pre-
....
.
thesuppiyof
resignations, voluntary or compulsory,
thrcomcii"
Calcutta,
and the bad
spirit
which had taken place in the council of
manifested by some of those
came necessary in supplying vacancies
to deviate
who
remained,
be-
it
from the ordinary routine and
appoint those only who, from character and experience, might be both able and
willing to carry out the reforms which had already been introduced or were
contemplated.
seemed vain to look
It
The most
sidency.
eligible
for such persons witliin the
had perished
in the
Bengal pre-
Patna massacre, and the
committee did not hesitate to declare that the whole
still
select
of junior merchants
list
within the presidency, did not contain the names of more than three or four
individuals
They
whom
therefore,
they "could possibly recommend to higher stations at present."
on their own responsibility, subject of course to the approval of
the directors, applied to the Madras presidency for four of their ablest civil
and on
servants,
their arrival gave
them
seats in the council.
It
was not
to
be expected that a measure which not only broke in upon the established rule of
seniority,
but virtually charged those
who would have
succeeded under that rule
with incompetency, would escape severe animadversion and violent opposition.
The whole settlement was thrown
into a ferment,
and the individuals who con-
ceived their interests to be inj uriously affected, not contented with subscribing a
formal memorial of complaint, took the
eflfect
their object
by means
less justifiable step of
attempting to
of private associations, wliicli Clive denounced as
"destructive of that subordination without which no government can stand."
Failing to obtain their
Discontent
of petty
main
object, the
and insulting annoyances.
No
members engaged
visits
to persist in a series
were to be paid to the president
qX tins
proceeding,
no invitatious from him or any other member of the
be accepted; and the
glect
and contempt.
highest
officials.
new
counsellors from
select
committee were to
Madras were to be treated with ne-
In pursuing this course they were abetted by some of the
Two members of council
signed their memorial "in testimony
THKEATENED MUTINY.
CiiAr. XII.j
699
of their sense of the injustice done to the younger servants," and the secretary ad.
was deprived
of the council took such a prominent part in the association that he
much difficulty in
dealing with the insubordination of the civil servants, but a much more serious
The greater part of the European officers in the army
task was awaiting him.
of his
and suspended from the
oflfice
Clive had not
service.
itcs.
inJignation
ciive.
had become disaffected and were on the point of mutinying.
According to a plan framed by Clive the army had been formed into three
European
brigades, each conczsting of a regiment of
lery, six battalions
infantry, a
of sepoys, and a troop of native cavalry.
under Colonel Sir Robert
Fletchei*, \vas stationed at
Colonel Smith, at Allahabad
;
and the
third,
Monghir
;
company of artilThe first brigade,
the second, under
under Colonel Sir Robert Barker,
From
at Bankipore, about four miles west of Patna.
the earliest time the
serving in India had, while on active service, received in addition to
officers
their ordinary
of Plassey,
pay an allowance known by the name of
Meer
this allowance,
Jaffier,
on
whom
the
hcitta.
After the battle
payment of the troops devolved, doubled
and from that period accordingly doable Ixdta had been
paid.
So long as the nabob drew the revenues and paid the army out of them, the
Company
did not .share the burden.
were assigned
districts
for
payment
The
case
was
of the troops,
and
pany obtained the grant of the whole dewannee.
when certain
more when the Com-
altered finst
still
Thereafter, the maintenance
Tiie directo™
was borne entirely by the Company, and every deduction that toaMwh
Influenced by this consi- '^^^^
could be made was so much added to tlieir income.
of the troops
deration and the financial difficulties with which they were struggling, the
directors
were desirous to enforce economy wherever
practicable,
At the time
other measures resolved to aboli.sh the allowance of double batta.
when
it
was
first
granted, Clive had distinctly
warned the army
and among
to regard
it Jis
an indulgence which they owed entirely to the personal feelings of the nabob,
and which the Company would not be
accordingly no sooner
felt
dispo.sed to continue.
was received with
so
directors
it,
and
The very
pro-
the burden than they began to com})lain of
sent out positive orders that double batta .should be abolished.
posal
The
much
indignation,
strances from the officers, that the governor
and
called forth such strong
remon-
and council were intimidated, and
chose rather to disobey the orders than incur the obloquy and risk the danger
of carrying
The
them
directors,
into execution.
determined not to be thus defeated, called Clive's attention
particularly to the subject,
on
and
in the instructions
which he took out with him
his re-appointment, repeated their orders for the abolition of double batta
in the
most peremptory form.
He was
detennined to execute them
;
and had
no sooner brought the war to a termination by the treaties concluded with Shah
Alum and Sujah Dowlah, than an
intimation was given by the select com-
mittee that double batta should cease on the 1st of January, 170G.
tion
was made
in
favour of the second brigade, both because
its
An
excep-
station at Alia-
en vo carries
into effect,
HISTORY OF INDIA.
700
A.D.
1766,
habad was beyond the
limits of the
Company's
[Book
territory,
and
sidered while watching the threatened invasion of a large
Abolition
to be actually in the
On
field.
returning into cantonrnents
of double
batta.
no batta at
The
might be con-
it
body of Mahrattajs
it
was
to be reduced
and Monghir were to draw half
to single batta, while the brigades at Bankipore
Within the presidency, except during marching or actual
batta only.
III.
service,
was allowed.
all
abolition took place at the time appointed,
escence of the
who appeared
officers,
they had often threatened.
abandoned the opposition which
to have
Clive, delighted
and with the supposed acqui-
with the
Calcutta in the
result, left
end of March, 1766, and proceeded northward with General Carnac,
He was
pose of regulating the collections of revenue for the ensuing year.
employed at Moorshedabad, when he was startled by a
letter
for the pur-
thus
from the council
at Calcutta, dated 19th April, inclosing a remonstrance against the reduction of
by nine
batta, signed
captains, twelve lieutenants,
we have
third brigade, stationed, as
Patna.
This was alarming
the 28th of April,
Tlie officers
army
mutiny in
of the
consequence
mand
of the
when a
j&rst
:
and twenty ensigns of the
seen, at Bankipore, in the
neighbourhood of
but the extent of the danger was not suspected
letter
was received from
Sir Robert Fletcher, in com-
brigade, stationed at Monghir.
seemed determined to make another attempt
till
He
stated that the officers
for the recovery of batta,
and had
intimated their intention to resign their commissions at the end of the month,
though they would continue to serve in
May as
volunteers.
This letter inclosed
another from Sir Robert Barker, which mentioned in more explicit terms his
was reason
discovery of a serious combination, which there
own
not confined to his
On further
brigade.
inquiry,
it
to apprehend
was
appeared that the com-
bination extended to the whole army, and had originated at Monghir, as early
as December, 17G5.
belonging to
it
martial might
lives,
condemn
the
life
of any one of their associates
whom
batta was restored.
nification of those
conspirators
additional security, a fund
who might be
was formed
it till
for the
double
indem-
cashiered, or the purchase of commissions for
To this fund civilians were said to have subscribed
At first the second brigade, stationed at Allahabad,
to the amount of £16,000.
refused to join in the plot.
As they were actually in the field, an exception had
been made in their favour, and the reduction of batta was not to take place in
them
gagements
between the
As an
a court-
Each, moreover, engaged under a penalty of
to death.
£500, not only to resign his commission, but not again to accept of
Jlutual en-
officers
took an oath binding them to secrecy, and to preserve, at the
own
hazard of their
The
It was, in fact, a regularly organized plot.
in the king's service.
their case
till
they should be placed in cantonments.
On this ground they stood
aloof for a time, but ultimately the influence of the officers in the other brigades
prevailed,
and they made common cause with them. The number of commissions
collected for resignation
Clive
was
just the
amounted
man
to nearly 200.
to deal with such a
crisis.
The only
case in which
he appears to have ever thought of concession v/as in that of the second brigade.
;
i
A large
701
CLIVE SUPPRESSES MUTINY.
Chap. XII. J
body of
tlie
was
Mahratta.s
and a
in motion,
battle
was
daily expected,
a.d. ree.
In these circumstances Colonel Smitli was instructed, in the event of being
make
reduced to the utmost extremity, to
regard to the other brigades the most decisive steps were taken.
forward
all
the officers in
to be written to
whom
In
peace with the malcontents.
Besides sending
he could confide, Clive caused urgent letters
Madras, requesting that
all
officers
spared should be forthwith despatched for Bengal.
who
could
i)0ssibly
cuve-g
suppresHii.t:
'""""^
be
Tiie free merchants at
Calcutta were also urged to accept of commissions, temporarily or permanently,
while
all
the officers
who resigned were
be there tried by court-martial.
malcontents.
They had
down
to Calcutta to
These measures completely disconcerted the
rtiade sure of victory
and no sooner saw the probability of
failure
without providing against defeat,
than
all their
confidence forsook
Either because they feared to take so bold a step or deemed
them.
sary,
ordered to be sent
common
they had not attempted to enlist the sympathies of the
and when the struggle came found that
their resignations they
it
unnecessoldiers
By
had grossly miscalculated.
tiiey
had simply excluded themselves from the
service,
and
made way for others who were ready to suj)ply their place. On the 15th of
May, when Clive arrived at Monghir, the confederacy was already broken up.
Two days before, when the officei's who had resigned were ordered to quit the
garrison, the European soldiers got under arms intending to follow them.
The
sepoy battahon was immediately called out, and order was without much diffiIt seemed, indeed, that the
culty restored.
They had imagined
misapprehension.
of the malcontents, and were astonished
them instead of putting himself
at once returned to their duty.
European
soldiers
were acting under
that Sir Robert Fletcher
when they found him taking part against
at their head.
It soon
On
being thus undeceived they
appeared that the opinion which they
had formed of their commander was not unfounded.
arrival Sir Robert Fletcher acknowledofed that he
The very day of dive's
had known of the combination
of the officers since January, though he had not mentioned
communication
late
till
in April.
was himself one
it
in
any
official
His excuse was, that he had seemed to
approve of the scheme in order that nothing might be done without his knowThis was too flimsy to be received, and further inquiry having
ledge.
room
to
doubt that he was an abettor,
if
left little
not the actual originator of the mutiny,
he was at a later period brought to a court-martial and dismis.sed the service.
From Monorhir
Clive proceeded without loss of time to Bankipore, where he
arrived on the 20th of May.
Though
mo.st of the officers of the third brigade mutmeep*.
stationed here had resigned their connnissions, only a few had insisted on their
immediate acceptance, and been accordingly sent
off for Calcutta.
only resigned prospectively against a given day, and were
duty.
The moment Clive
and they were glad
arrived, all idea of further
still
The
rest
had
continuing to do
contumacy was abandoned,
to be permitted to retract their resignations
what humiliating condition
Treatment
under the some-
of engaging to serve for three years,
and not to
702
A.D. 1766
JllSTOiiY 01' I-NDIA.
1-esign at
any time without giving a
[booK
III.
Tiie second brigade, tliough
year's notice.
the last to join the combination, ap[)ears to have been the most reluctant to
('iiiiduct
(if
al)andon
The greater pait
it.
of the troops
composmg
it
been marched
iiad
the officers.
above lOO miles beyond Allahabad, and were watching the movements of 00,000
Mahrattas who had arrived at Calpee, under the command of Balajee Rao. Tiic
enemy being thus
in siglit, the British officers
to have reserved their grievances.
were bound
for the time at leasi
Instead of this honourable course, tliey took,
advantage of their position, and sought to extort a compliance with theiidemands, by tendering their resignations in a body with only two exceptions.
Those who resigned immediately were sent
off to Calcutta
who
the others
;
resigned prospectively were glad before the arrival of the period which they had
fixed to be permitted to retrace their steps.
ment
were not
in garrison at Allahabad
Fort of Allahabad. — From
till
!
officers of
the European regi-
so easily intimidated,
and did not vield
Hod-'e's Select Views In India.
a battalion of sepoys arrived from the camp, having performed a march of
04 miles in
fifty-four hours.
The mutiny was now suppressed mainly through the indomitable firmness
Ijeiiiency
of
The
tlie
sentences.
which Clive manifested
in
own
liis
who acted immediately under
person,
It only
him.
and was able
remained
to transfuse into al
to inffict
1
punishment on
those who, from their rank or their violence, were regarded as the most criminal.
From
the very
first
Clive had declared that the law must take
would
that the ringleaders at least
Only
prevailed.
of
mutiny no
six officers
were
capital sentence
thus very imperfectly satisfied
act for the
were
Company's
legally valid,
mercy.
On
this
service,
and
it
was
and though they were
was pronounced.
;
all
it
found guilty
Clive's sense of discipline
but a defect had been discovered
making
doubtful
if
m
the
was
mutiny
the proceedings under
it
therefore wisely resolved to lean to the side of
ground the mildness of the sentences pronounced by the
martial can be easily justified.
and
Lenient measures, however,
suffer death.
tried,
its course,
It is
more
difficult to justify
court-
the conduct of the
703
"OLIVE'S FUND.'
Chap. XII.]
directors in refusing, ni .several instances, to give effect
and more
especially in reinstating Sir Robert lletcher,
installed as commander-in-chiet* at Madras,
even to
tliese sentences,
whom we
d. itso
shall again see
and taking a jjrominent part
had been
transaction only less discreditable than that for which he
a
in a
previousl}'
cashiered.
At the very time wlien Olive was thus called to maintain the discipline of Tiiee«tabI'slinient of
f
ay
ii'i
tne army agamst the great body oi its otncers, he had announced his determi- "ciiv««
•1
nation to confer upon
it
111
•
A
^
the very liberal donation which, largely augmented
by the nabob and afterwards by the Company,
Ijy
the
name
•
Meer
of "dive's Fmid."
what
constitutes
known
had expressed a
Jather, on his death -bed,
wish to leave Olive a legacy of five lacs of rupees.
is still
first
been insinuated that
It has
sum was a legac}^ only in name, and was in fact a ])resont by which the
members of Meer Jaffier's family not only wished to manifest their gratitude
for the elevation which they owed to the victor of Pl.issey, but hoped to conciliate his future favour
If it was only a present, it was evidently struck at by
the new covenants, and notiiing could have been more preposterous than that the
this
governor specially appointed to enforce these covenants should set an example
of violating them-,
still
if it
legacy, the propriety of acce])ting
it
was
because, although not contrary to the letter,
it
was
was tridy a
moi'e than doubtful,
i'vidently at variance Avith the
method
felt
sj)irit
of perpetuating the abuses
of the covenants,
and furnished an easy
which they were meant to
supj)ress.
Olive
the difficulty, and was conscious that, whatever became of the money.,
could not appropriate
it
to himself
lie
without incurring the obnoxious charge of
breaking the promise he had repeatedly made, not to derive any pecuniary
lienefit
from
his re-appointment.
us the abolition of double batta
a graceful
In these circumstances
was about
and appropriate compensation
to
it
occurred to him that
to be enforced, it
would be at once
employ the legacy in establishing a
by wounds, disease, or
length of service, but also their widows might be pensioned.
The announcement of this determination set at rest the questions which tlie bequest would
fund out of which not only
naturally have raised
any opinion
;
officers
and the
and
coui-t
soldiers disabled
of directors, wisely abstaining from giving
as to it^ true character or legal validity,
"his loidshi'p be en)i)owered to accept of the
Siiid
unanimously resolved, that
legacy or donation, and they
do highly ap[)rove of his lordship's generosity in bestowing the said legacy of
five lacs in so useful
a charity
;
and they hereby consent and
agi'ee to accept of
the trust of the said fund, and will give directions that the same be can-ied into
execution in legal and proper form."
The
five lacs of rupees produced, accord-
ing to the rate of exchange at the time, £02,833,
tlie
brotiier
and successor
To
this Syf-ul-Dowlah, n*
of xNujum-ud-Dowlah, wlio died at Mooi'shedabad, in
May, a few days after Olive
rupees, equivalent to £37,000.
lishing the fund
6s. Hd.
set out to quell the
On
the
Gtli
mutiny, added three
lacs of
when
estal)-
of April, 1770,
was formallv executed, the accumulated
the deed
interest
amounted
to
'""oiuit.
1
;
HISTORY OF INDIA.
70
AD.
1766.
The whole
£24,128.
and at 8 per
cent.,
amounted
capital of the fund thu.s
the rate of interest which the
[Book
III.
to £123,001, 6«.
8cZ.,
Company
agreed to pay, pro-
duced an annual income of £9912, to be expended in pensioas.
^^/""against the
contemputed.
After suppressing the mutiny Clive proceeded
a kind of congress was held.
Cliuprali, wliere
Shah Alum's
minister,
It
excluded from Delhi, was bent on gaining possession of
it,
which might throw the whole empire into confusion.
now
danger was
whom
to be apprehended, he
of Oude, the Jat,
in resisting the
himself,
and a warfare
Instead of an alliance
he regarded as the only enemies from
was
and the Rohilla
demands and
whom
serious
desirous of forming a confederacy
against them, and laid the foundations of a treaty
Nabob
and had engaged the
Clive at once declared against
which he saw only ruin to Shah Alum
with the Mahrattas,
Shah Alum, hitherto
by assuring them that the Com-
pany's troops would form part of the expedition.
this proposal, in
chiefs,
by which the Company, the
were mutually to
assist
each other
repelling the incursions of the Mahrattas.
the terms were finally arranged, Clive, attaching
ance to be derived from such distant
The
Calcutta on the 30th of July.
allies,
to
was attended by Sujah Dowlah,
and deputies from the Mahrattas.
assistance of the Mahrattas for that purpose,
Camac
with General
little
Before
importance to the
assist-
took his departure and arrived at
disagreeable service in which he had been
engaged, the exertion he had been obliged to make, and a clima,te to which his
constitution
was
ill
He had previously
adapted, had seriously aifected his health.
intimated his determination to return to Europe, and in answer to a letter from
the directors earnestly requesting
cuve's
health
seriously
affected.
year, replied^ "It
is
now a month
him
to continue in the
since I
government
have been in so deplorable a state of
health as to be wholly unable to attend to business, and
it is
gaunot survivc the malignity of this climate another year."
urging their request, had
"When we
said,
for another
past a doubt I
The
directors, in
consider the penetration with which
your lordship at once discerned our true interest in every branch, the rapidity
with which you restored peace, order, and tranquillity, and the unbiassed integgoverned aU your
rity that has
actions,
we must
congratulate your lordship on
being the happy instrument of such extensive blessings to those countries
you have our
sincerest
;
and
thanks for the great and important advantages thereby
Nor did they
obtained for the Company."
confine themselves to thanks.
After
arguing that "another years experience and peaceful enjoyment of our acquisitions
might
them on a
fix
basis that
might give great hopes they may be
lasting as they are great," they continued
sacrifice
we
ask your lordship to
make
thus — "We
as
are very sensible of the
in desiring your continuance another
year in Bengal, after the great service you have rendered the Company, and the
difficulties
you have passed through
in which your
own example
in accomplishing them,
has been the principal means of restraining the
general rapaciousness and corruption which had brought
of ruin.
These
services,
under circumstances
my lord,
oiu:"
affairs to the
brink
deserve more than verbal acknowledgments
CLIVE FINALLY QUITS INDIA.
Chap. XII.
70.5
and we have no doubt that the proprietors will concur with us in opinion, that
some solid and permanent retribution, adequate to your great merits, should
crown your
was not
Clive
and
lordship's labours
success."
encomium pronounced on
insensible to the high
his sei'vices, cuve
nor indifferent to the reward, which, though only vaguely descriljed as "some
solid
and permanent
retribution,"
a.d. kot.
was understood
qiutiuaia
to be nothing less than a grant
of his jaghire in perpetuity; but the state of his health admitted of no answer,
and he was moreover convinced that every material object contemplated
in his
re-appointment having been accomplished, the evils apprehended from his
dejjar-
ture were in a great measure imaginary.
was more than a match
subordination,
tempted
to
provoke
hostilities
;
for
The army, again brought into due
any foreign power which might be
the double batta and other expenses which bore
most heavily on the treasmy had been subjected to due retrenchment; Mr.Verelst,
for
whom
were
the governorship was destined, as well as the select committee,
to continue in office,
was disposed
to give full effect to the
which had been introduced and the Company, now
dent revenue, which the least sanguine estimated at not
sterling,
improvements
in possession of
;
an indepen-
than
less
who
£1,()()0,()0()
seemed about to enter on a career of unprecedented prosperity.
CUve
sat in the select committee for the last time
on the
1
Gth of January,
ins -lopar-
17G7, and on the 29th finally quitted Bengal for England in the Britannia.
His measures had encountered much opposition, and excited in
who
many
of those
by them a vindictive
The general
spirit, which they afterwards took an opportunity of gratif^'ing.
feeling of the presidency was, however, decidedly in his favour, and was not
considered their interests to be injuriously affected
inaccurately expressed
by the
select
tors shortly after his departure.
and as he
and
left
licentious
it,
they observed,
committee in a
Comparing the
"We
letter addressed to the direc-
state of
Bengal as he found
it
beheld a presidency divided, headstrong,
a government without nerves; a treasury without money; and
;
a service without subordination, discipline, or public
spirit.
We may
add, that
amidst a general stagnation of useful industry and of licensed commerce, individuals were accumulating immense riches, which they had ravished from the
msulted prince and his helpless people,
of discontent, poverty,
and oppression.
dency and these provinces.
who groaned under
Such was the condition of
Your present
liberal supplies to China, the state of
the imited pressure
this presi-
situation need not be described.
The
your treasury, of your investment, of the
and of the whole country, declare it to be the strongest contrast to what
was flattering. In other quarters of the
was."
His reception
in Emjland
'^
^
service,
it
world disaster had generally attended the Briti-sh arms.
Their triumphs in
India thus presented a striking contrast, which brought Clive more prominently
into view,
and
obliofed
keep a prudent
The
silence.
proprietors of the
Vol.
I.
even those who would have detracted from his merits to
Nor was applause
the only reward which he received.
Company, instead of requiring
to be
prompted by the
89
nurecepfJon.
in Ens'ar.
*
HISTORY OF INDIA.
TUG
A.D. 17G7.
directors,
took the initiative
in
[Book
IIJ.
recommending that the possession of the jaghire
should be extended to him and his representatives ten years beyond the period
Clive's
which had been previously
tenure of
tlie j;ighire
by the unanimous vote
carried
extended.
fixed,
and a resolution
to this effect
was ultimately
of a general court.
It is necessary to add, that this magnificent grant
was accompanied with
cumstances which diminished the gratification derived from
it.
Clive had
cir-
left
India in miserable health, and had very imperfectly recovered on the homeward
voyage.
While he was thus
indifferent to him,
or
fame and emolument were comparatively
suffering,
and he appears
to
have been more offended at the
lukewarmness of some on whose friendship he had
at the universal recognition of his merit.
extravagant hopes in the proprietors,
for a largely increased
actual position of the
Company's
affairs,
calculated, than delighted
The grant of the dewannee had
who had begun
The
dividend.
acquainted with the
were anxious
for delay.
ally
it for
some time
to
directors being thus opposed to the wishes of the proprietors, natur-
endeavoured to justify their opposition by giving an unfavourable view of
Some
their finances.
Power and
The additional
and extraordinary
realized,
expenses had been incurred which would more than absorb
The
rai.sed
in consequence to clamour
directors, better
revenue confidently predicted had not yet been
come.
hostility
what disparagingly
of
them
of their
even, in order to justify this view, .spoke some-
new
and objected
territorial acqui.sitions,
to the
activity of
his
enemies
extended grant of the jaghire as extravagant.
Clive
felt
indignant, and hesi-
tated not to say that the directors in thus acting were endeavouring to gain
own ends at
porter.s, and made
their
upon him.
to
of India stock.
after
it
more easy
Not a few
had returned
This misunderstanding cooled some of his sup-
his expense.
of those
England with
The
influence
for his enemies to
mature their meditated attack
whose malversations he had punished
their ill-gotten gains,
which they acquired
and become
in this
in
Bengal
large pm'chasers
way was
so great, that
an action had been raised for the pm'pose of obliging some of the greatest
delinquents to disgorge the sums which they had illegally received in the
of presents, they succeeded in inducing the general court to
name
recommend the with-
drawal of the action, and guarantee them from future proceedings by a vote of
indemnity.
The sympathy with notorious delinquency manifested by
was ominous, and
Clive, shattered in health
and depressed in
this vote
spirits, retired
into
the country, not without a strong presentiment of the harsh scrutiny to which,
through the relentlessness of enemies and the lukewarmness of friends, his whole
public
Important
life
was soon
to be subjected.
In consequence of the revolution effected by Clive's achievements in Bengal,
results of
Clive's
a
new
era in the history of India commenced.
On
their original character of
achieve-
ments.
merchants the Company had engrafted that of conquerors, and were henceforth
to rule
of
with absolute sway over myriads
them only
as traders.
who had
previously
known
or heard
Hitherto, while the relation with the natives
was of
a less intimate and more precarious nature, they have occupied a very subordi-
iiate
SOCIAL HISTORY OF INDIA.
XII.]
Chai'
])lace in tlie narrative,
and any reference made
toms has only been incidental.
A
now be
,,
though
tlieirs,
the
l)e
policy ot
manner
in
to their
manners and
eus-
has ciianged
it
tlie
Till
acloi)ted by
IT
Maiinenmnd
government depends on
customs of
tiicUmdoos
rulers
which their interests are affected by them.
still
But how can
No
this
people
Their peculiarities, including even their
can be governed on abstract principles.
most irrational prejudices, must be considted, since the very same laws under
which one nation would be prosperous and happy might produce universal
content and wretchedness in another.
who
rule
rulers,
should
leading features of the population.
under which society pre.sents
it is
indispensable,
itself
is
first
of
all
both
acquaint themselves with the
In the case of India the remarkable forms
make
the knowledge of
and the temporary suspension
compensated by the insertion of a
of whatever
It is absolutely necessary, therefore,
dis-
and those who confine them.selves to the humbler task of
reviewing the policy of
detail, as
them
as interesting as
of the narrative will be fully
ample as our limited space
will allow,
most singular in the opinions and practices of Hindoos.
accordingly, the next
ito:.
remains
its
understood without a previous knowledge of their social position?
that tliose
ad.
more intimate acquaintance with them must
The country
iii'/'i
measures
and the
formed.
707
book of our history
will be devoted.
4^^'- ^
Patilf, employ tnl for transiporting the pi-oducts of Imjer Bonsai
down the GanK^s.