and sanguinary. Le Bourdonnais had, in 1746, worsted the fleet of his opponents and taken Madras. But quarrelling with Dupleix, he was ordered home, where, unable to withstand the calumnies raised against him, he soon after perished in the Bastile. For a time the genius of Dupleix prevailed. Meddling openly in the strifes of the Deccan, he espoused the cause of Chunda Sahib as claimant of the throne of the Carnatic. The reigning prince sought help from the English; and Arcot, the capital of the province, was more than once taken and retaken. Among the earliest allies of the English on the Coromandel coast was the Rajah of Tanjore. In 1742, the reigning prince had been deposed by domestic revolution, and Pretab Sing obtained the throne. The authorities at Madras having no concern in the event, acknowledged the new prince without hesitation. Their correspondence with him was continued without any interruption, and mutual expressions of fidelity and confidence were interchanged for more than seven years. At the end of this period, Sahuji, the exiled rajah, solicited their aid in effecting a counter-revolution. He offered, by way of recompense if they should succeed, to grant them the fort and Jaghire of Devecotah, and undertook to pay all expenses of the war. They accepted the offer. Pretab was their ally; they had recently sought his assistance against the French; they had no pretence of provocation to urge against him; nevertheless "they despatched an army to dethrone him.' "1 The expedition failed, but a second was resolved on. They determined, however, says their apologist Malcolm, "that the capture of Devecotah, not the restoration of Sahuji, should be their first object." The fort was accordingly invested and taken. And no sooner was this Mill, book IV. chap. ii. 2 Memoir of Lord Clive, vol. i. chap. i. al accomplished, than they entered into a negotiation with Pretab Sing-agreed to desist from all further hostilities— not only to abandon him for whom they pretended to have theretofore fought, but engaged to secure his person and to receive a fixed sum for his maintenance, on condition of being suffered to remain undisputed masters of Devecotah and the circumjacent territory.1 This was the beginning of the conquest of Hindustan. In 1751, the French were successful everywhere; then fortune veered: fresh troops were sent out from England, and unobservedly a young adventurer about the same time threw down his writer's pen in one of the Company's offices in Madras, and asked leave to join the ranks. It was that young man who changed the destiny of the East. Robert Clive was, in 1740, an idle and passionate boy, engaged chiefly in acts of petty plunder, and other mischief done and suffered at his hands by the quiet folk of Market Drayton. His father being able to make nothing of him, got him a clerkship in the Company's service. The dull routine of commerce was ill suited to his bent; he was not indifferent to gain, but his love of excitement was greater. He fought from time to time a good many duels, but this afforded him only casual occupation; and, gladly seizing the opportunity of escape from innocuous employment, he went with enthusiasm to the wars. His intuitive skill and versatile daring were soon recognised; and it is not too much to say that he was the means of saving his countrymen from extirpation during the period of Dupleix's victories. The general peace of 1754 left the rival intruders in possession of no great increase of territory. But in the course of the struggle the all-important truth had broken 1 Mill, book IV. chap. ii. on the minds both of natives and Europeans, that the hosts of the former were unable to contend with the arms and discipline of the latter. "No valour could equalise the combat, and the impressions produced by defeat were rendered tenfold greater by a comparison of numbers. The wellcommanded and well-trained battalion moves amidst myriads of opponents, "like a giant with a thousand hands which defend and strike according to the dictates of one mind," and to whom an ill-disciplined multitude fighting hand to hand can offer effectually neither injury nor "resistance." On the other hand, it is true, to use the words of Malcolm, that "Hindustan could never have been subdued but by the help of her own children." At first it was Nizam against Arcot, and Arcot against Nizam; then Mahratta against Moslem, and Affghan against Hindu. Nor should it be forgotten that to the early conviction of the amazing odds which European arms and discipline secured, much of the anxiety of the native princes to engage their assistance must be traced. " 3 When peace was signed in 1754, the first article of the treaty bound the Companies of both nations "to renounce for ever all Indian government and dignity, and to interfere no more in the differences that might arise between the princes of the country. Chunda Sahib was dead, and Mohammed Ali, the friend of the English, was acknowledged Nawab of the Carnatic. By way of assuring the unambitious equality of the rival colonies, the French consented to relinquish four valuable districts of which in the course of the war they had acquired possession. But hardly was the ink of this compact dry, when Mohammed Ali 1 Memoirs of Clive, vol. i. Introduction. Political History of Central India, by Sir John Malcolm. tempted the servants of the English Company with half the spoil which might be won, if they would help him against certain feudatories, whom he represented as owing him large arrears of tribute. The promise of booty dazzled them, and they agreed. The French expostulated and appealed to the terms of the treaty, and to their surrender of the four districts as a pledge of their desire of peace; but all in vain. They were driven once more to arms. But Dupleix was no longer at the head of their affairs, and the only officer of ability they possessed at the time in that quarter of the world, was engaged in maintaining a perilous position in the Deccan. Their affairs grew desperate, and would have been lost. without further struggle, had not events still more important suddenly called the attention of their opponents to another and more memorable scene. Azîm-shâh, son of the Emperor, filled for a season the post of Soubahdar of Bengal. After him it was occupied successively by Sujah Khan and Seraffrez, his adopted son. Aliverdy Khan, one of the Omrah of Sujah's court, had for his ability been appointed Naib of Behar, and eventually he rose in 1739 to the dignity of Soubahdar. His personal qualities were such, that though inexorably firm as a ruler, the hand of resentment was never uplifted against him. His government for eighteen years was one of prosperity and peace. He quelled the insubordination of lesser chiefs, and acquired a reputation for wisdom and humanity greater than most of his contemporaries. While the Company kept to their proper business as traders, he steadily befriended them, protecting their rights, and extending their privileges; but he brooked no disregard of his authority, and permitted no exaction or ill-usage of his people to go unredressed. In 1749, the merchandise of certain Armenian and 1 Hindu traders had been seized by the King's ships in the Indian Sea, on the real or alleged ground that it belonged to the French, with whom we were then at war. Complaint was made to the Nawab, who thereupon wrote to Fort William a peremptory demand for restitution. "These merchants were the kingdom's benefactors. Their imports and exports were an advantage to all, and their complaints were so grievous, that he could not forbear any longer giving ear to them. As the Company were not permitted to commit piracies, he wrote them that, upon receipt of this, they should deliver up all the merchants' goods and effects to them, as also what appertained to him, otherwise they might be assured of due chastisement, in such manner as they least expected." The Nawab appeared to be terribly in earnest; for we find the Company's agents recommending the gift of a fine Arab horse to his Highness, and nuzzurs to his courtiers, to "keep him in temper." The President at Calcutta tried to cajole the Armenians into signing a paper expressive of satisfaction with the Company's procedure, under threat of expulsion from the settlement if they did not comply; but this they stoutly refused to do; and Aliverdy having seized the English Factory at Cosimbuzar, the dispute was only settled, after much negotiation, by the payment as damage of twelve lacs of rupees. He had other differences with the Company; but regarding them as valuable customers, with whom it was not for his interest absolutely to quarrel, he took care never to press matters to extremity; and during his reign their opulence increased, though they had encroached but little beyond the narrow confines allotted them at the beginning of the century. According to the custom of adoption, Aliverdy, being childless, designated his nephew, Suraja Dowla, as his heir; |