205. More commonly called Ghazee-u-Deen.

206. Prince Royal.

207. Shah Alum signifies "King of the World."

208. 22d February, 1760.

209. 2d July, 1760.

210. August, 1760.

211. This treaty was concluded on the 27th September.

212. Vol. I. p. 98.

213. A curious and minute account of the progressive steps taken in effecting this revolution is given in a letter to Clive (dated the 3d December, 1760,) from Mr. Lushington, who held the situation of linguist to the army, and who was an eye-witness of the incidents he describes. After detailing Mr. Vansittart's visit to Moorshedabad accompanied by a hundred and eighty Europeans, six hundred sepoys, and four pieces of cannon, that force might be used in case Meer Jaffier should refuse to comply with his demands, and mentioning that he had delivered to the Nabob three letters explanatory of his intentions, to which he waited a final answer, Mr. Lushington proceeds:—"We waited all the next day; but no answer coming, the Governor thought it proper not to lose any time, and therefore ordered Colonel Caillaud to go by water with his detachment, so early that he might surround the palace at daybreak; sending at the same time a letter, acquainting the Nabob that he had sent the Colonel to settle those affairs which he had conferred with him about, and to which he had promised to give an answer, but none was brought. The Nabob sent word to the Colonel he would give no answer until the troops returned to Moraudbaug, as he never expected such treatment from the English. Some few conferences were afterwards held by Mr. Hastings and myself with several of the Nabob's ministers; but as nothing could be agreed on I was sent back to Moraudbaug, to give an account of our proceedings to the Governor, and to have his final order whether we should storm the palace in case the Nabob refused to comply. He answered he wished not to spill the blood of a man whom he raised to such dignities, but that the affair must be finished before sunset. With this I returned; and found, to my great surprise, Cossim Ali Khan's standards, and the nobits^[c] beating in his name. Colonel Caillaud now told me that the Nabob had sent out the seals to his son-in-law, and offered to resign the government if the English would be security for his life. This was immediately agreed to, and a meeting was held between the Colonel and the Nabob, who made the following speech, as well as I can remember:—'The English placed me on the musnud; you may depose me if you please. You have thought proper to break your engagements. I would not mine. Had I such designs I could have raised twenty thousand men, and fought you if I pleased. My son, the Chuta Nabob (Meeran), forewarned me of all this. I desire you will either send me to Sabut Jung (Lord Clive), for he will do me justice, or let me go to Mecca; if not, let me go to Calcutta; for I will not stay in this place. You will, I suppose, let me have my women and children; therefore, let me have budgerows and be carried immediately to Moraudbaug.' The Governor saw him soon after this, and he made much the same speech to him, adding, he could be nowhere safe but under the English protection."

That Mr. Lushington did not concur very cordially in the measures described, may be inferred from his concluding observations. "The Company," he observes, "are to receive the countries of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong, for this service. I, therefore, should be glad to know how this Nabob will be any more able to pay his people than the old man, after having given away a third part of his revenues."

c. Large drums.

214. Seer Mutakhareen, vol. ii. p. 164.

215. 1761.

216. In a letter to Major Carnac, dated the 7th of May, 1762, Clive observes, "Although I am convinced of the goodness of your heart and intentions, yet there is a warmth and fire in your disposition which often carries you beyond the rules of prudence; and, whatever your friends in India may say of the letter you sent the Board, I wish you never had wrote it, for it gives room to such designing men as Sulivan to do you more prejudice than you can imagine."

The same sentiments had been previously expressed by Clive, in a letter to Mr. Vansittart, 3d of February, 1762. "I am most heartily concerned," he says, "that Carnac has been induced to take part with your enemies in the Council. He has an excellent heart, and a very good understanding; but the warmth of his temper in this instance has got the better of both."

217. Dustuck, a permit, exempting goods from the payment of duties.

218. Verelst's View, p. 47.

219. Mr. Hall and Mr. Amyatt.

220. "The question is," Mr. Vansittart observes, in a letter to Clive, dated the 25th of February, 1763, "whether the salt, beetle-nut, and tobacco trade shall be carried on with the Company's dustuck, or pay duties to the country government, and go with their dustuck. I am of the latter opinion, and assured the Nabob I would not grant dustucks for these articles, but that myself and any other English gentlemen who had a mind to trade in them, should pay the government's duties and take out their dustuck. This, and some rules I proposed for restraining the overgrown power of the English gomastahs employed in carrying on this trade, and giving the officers of the government their due authority, were disapproved by the rest of the Council; and it was resolved to call down the members from the subordinates to make the necessary regulations upon these points at a full board. * * * * Where the abuses will end I know not; for where the Nabob's officers have the power and the courage to oppose and prevent the unlawful attempts of our gomastahs, they are not contented with that, but, in their turn, oppress and injure in a most extravagant and insufferable manner, so that it is a difficult matter to keep a proper balance; and I shall be obliged to you if you will take an opportunity of giving Mr. Sulivan your sentiments on the subject."

A very different view of this subject is taken by Major Carnac. In a letter to Clive, dated the 26th of February, 1763, he observes: "Mr. Vansittart's interview with the Nabob, instead of removing our grievances, has occasioned their being exceedingly multiplied and carried beyond sufferance. He, in conjunction with Mr. Hastings, without consulting the rest of the Board, established a set of regulations, whereby a duty of 9 per cent. is laid upon all articles of inland trade without exception; and the disputes of our gomastahs and others in our employ are subjected to the decisions of the Nabob's officers. These concessions are so evidently shameful and disadvantageous to us, that it is not to be conceived they could ever have been submitted to, except by persons who were bought into them; and, indeed, it is confidently asserted, and generally believed, that Mr. Vansittart got seven lacs by his visit to Mongyr. The members of the Council, then at Calcutta, passed a severe minute of censure upon the President's procedure, and summoned the absent members, in order to devise a speedy and effectual remedy for the complaints received from every quarter. They have been some time assembled, and have absolutely forbid the regulations being complied with, and have issued out orders to repel by force any insults that shall in future be offered, or obstructions to our trade. It is, indeed, high time," he adds, "to overset the ruinous system which Mr. Vansittart has so industriously endeavoured to establish: by a strange contradiction, he deposes one Nabob under pretence of mal-administration, and then asserts the successor to be independent, and master of his own actions, and uses all possible means to render him so, and to increase his power. We have so sensibly felt the ill use made thereof by Cossim Ali Khan, that the man must be wilfully blind who does not see the necessity of immediately checking his career, and the consequences that must result from his being suffered to run on." From these observations, it may safely be concluded, that the gallant Major was a better soldier than statesman.

221. The following letter, dated the 15th of June, 1763, which we find entered in the copy book of Mr. Amyatt, was meant to report to Mr. Vansittart the failure of his mission. The original never reached its destination. "I am favoured with yours of the 8th and 9th instant. We waited on the Nabob, and delivered him your letter: he was highly incensed, and expressed great contempt for us and our forces, and told us he expected nothing else than a war; that we might go and remain at our tents till we received the Council's orders, and then signify the same to him by writing—which he supposed would be much the same as your letters to him; if so, he should dismiss us, but expected Mr. Hay to remain a hostage till those prisoners we had of his were released. The stopping our arms is not equal to the seizing his aumils, he says; and our troops being in his pay, they shall not remain at Patna; and peace or war depended on their removal, which he found would not be the case. All my endeavours to establish a friendship and confidence have been in vain; nor can I convince him we did not intend breaking with him, or to disgrace him by being obliged to seize his aumils, but necessitated so to do. He seemed inclined to quarrel, or rather resolved we shall have no influence, or free intercourse, or trade through his country, but what he pleases. I have had a very disagreeable time with him, and shall be heartily glad when free from this embassy, which I have, to the utmost of my power, endeavoured to conclude, in bringing about a lasting peace and friendship, and reconcile the Nabob to every body; but to no purpose, nor can it be effected."

222. 1763.

223. A well-informed friend of the author remarks, that he was not a German, but a Frenchman or Swiss, of the name of Sombre, which, perhaps, had been his nom-de-guerre when in the French service.

224. Cossim Ali was his son-in-law.

225. Mr. Vansittart, in his communications with the Nabob, rejected this present previous to the treaty, as it might appear the price of its stipulations: but he intimated, at the same time, that there would be no objection to such present after the obligations of the treaty were fulfilled. The following is a list of the presents acknowledged to have been received on this occasion:—

Vide Parl. Reports, vol. iii. p. 311.

226. This protest, which is in the form of a letter, is dated the 11th of March, 1762.—Vide Parl. Rep., vol. iii. p. 252.

227. Messrs. Holwell, Pleydell, Sumner, and M'Guire.

228. The provinces of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong.

229. February 6, 1765.

230. February, 1765.

231. This man has been before mentioned. He was justly objectionable to the British government on account of the various intrigues and treasons in which he had been detected; and was imprisoned at Calcutta for his correspondence with its enemies during the reign of Cossim Ali.

232. Vide Mill's British India, vol. iii. p. 318.

233. There is some confusion in Mr. Mill's account of this transaction (vol. iii. p. 330.), from that accurate historian having overlooked the fact, that the appointment of Nujum-ud-Dowla was managed by Mr. Spencer and his council, Mr. Vansittart having previously set out for Europe.—See 3d Report of Committee of 1773, p. 21.; and Scott's Hist. of Bengal, vol. ii. pp. 439-447.

234. An exception must be made of the deposition of Meer Jaffier: Suraj-u-Dowla, and Cossim Ali respectively forfeited their authority in consequence of their unsuccessful attempts to destroy the power of the English.

235. 1763.

236. 1764.

237. Vide Parliamentary Reports, vol. iii. p. 312.

238. 1764.

239. Captain Williams' Memoir of the Bengal Native Army.

240. This letter is dated 27th April, 1764.

241. Clive's clear and practical mind here puts the question on its real basis. There is no other alternative.

242. "For the good of the Company," Clive observes in the letter already quoted, "I would propose that you should always have, in Bengal, four, or at least three, thousand Europeans; to consist of three battalions of seven hundred each; four companies of artillery of one hundred each; and five hundred light horse."

243. This select committee was composed of Lord Clive, General Carnac, Mr. Verelst, Mr. Sumner, and Mr. Sykes. The two latter accompanied Lord Clive from England.