In 1625 the Company.s authorities at Surat made an attempt to fortify their factory but the chiefs of the English factory were immediately imprisoned and put in irons by the local authorities of the Mughal Empire which was still in its vigour. Similarly, when the Company.s English rivals made piratical attacks on Mughal shipping, the Mughal authorities imprisoned in retaliation the President of the Company at Surat and members of his Council and released them only on payment of 18,000.
Conditions in the South were more favourable to the English as they did not
A View of the City of Surat In the Early Seventeenth Century Courtesy: National Archives of India, New Dtthl
have to face a strong Indian Government there. The great Vijaya- n^gar Kingdom had been overthrown in 1565 and its place taken by a number of petty and weak states, It was easy to appeal to their greed or overawe them with armed strength. The English opened their first factory in the South at Masulipatam in 1611. But they soon shifted the centre of their activity to Madras the lease of which was granted to thc;zn by the local Raja in 1639. Madras was then a strip of coastal territgjry six miles long and one mile broad. The Raja authorised them td fortify (he place, to administer it, and to coin money on condition of payment to him of half of the customs revenue of the port. Here the English built a small fort around their factory called1 Fort St. George.
By the end of.the 17th " Century the English Company was claiming ftill sovereignty over Madras and was ready to fight in, defence of the claim. Interestingly enough, from the very beginning this Company of profit- seeking merchants was also determined to make Indians pay for the conquest of their own country. For example, the Court of Directors of the Company wrote to the Madras authorities in 1683: would have you to .strengthen, and fortify our Fort and Town (Madras) by degrees, that it may be terrible against the as&ault of any Indian Prince and tbe Dutch power of India .... But we mutt needs desire you so to continue your bosincaa (but with all gentleness) that tbe inhabitants may pay the full charge of all repairs and fortifications .......................................................................................................
The Island of Bombay was acquired by the East India"Company from Portugal in 1668 and was immediately fortified. In Bombay the English found a large and easily defended port For thatrea&on, and because English trade was threatened at the time by the rising Maratha power, Bombay soon superceded Surat as the headquarters of the Company on the West Coast.
In Eastern" India, the English Company had opened its first factories hi Orissa in 1633. In 1651 it was given permission to trade at Hugti in Bengal. It soon opened factories at Patna. Balasore, Paoca and other places in Bengal and Bihar.
Fort St, George, Madm Caurttty: ArcJtatalogical Survey of Iwtfta, New Delhi
It now desired that in Bengal too it should have an independent settlement. Moreover, their easy success in trade and in establishing independent and fortified settlements at Madras and at Bombay, and the preoccupation of Aurangzeb with the anti-Maratha campaigns led the English to abandon the role of humble pet.i.tioners. They now dreamt of establishing political power in India which woi>ld enable them to compel the Mughals to allow them a free hand in trade, to force Indians to sell cheap and buy dear, to keep the rival European traders out, and to make their trade independent of the policies of the Indian powers. Political power would also make it possible for them to appropriate Indian revenues and thus to conquer the country wiLh its own resources, Such plans were explicitly put forward at the time. The Governor of Bombay, Gerald Aungier, wrote to the Directors of the Company in London, "the time now lequfres you to manage your gena&l commerce with the sword in your hands," In 1687, the Directors advi&ed the Governor of Madras to: establish such a policy of civil and military power and create and secure such a luge revenue to maintain both as may be the foundation of a large, well- grounded, secure English dominion in India for all lime to Come.
In 1689 they declared; The increase of our revenue is the subject of our care, as much as our trade: tis that mi"st maintain our force, when twenty accidents may interrupt our trade; "tis that miut make us a nation in India .............................................................
Hostilities between the English and the Mughal Emperor broke out in 1686 after the former had sacked Hugli and declared war on the Emperor. But the English had seriously miscalculated the situation and underestimated Mughal strength. The Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb was even now more than a match for the petty forces of the East India Company. The war ended disastrously for them. They were driven out of their factories in Bengal and compelled to seek refuge in a fever-strickcn island at the mouth of the Ganga. Their factories at Surat, Masulipatam, and Vizagapataoi were seized and their fort at Bombay besciged. Having discovered that they were not yet strong enough to fight the Mughal power, the English once again became humble pet.i.tioners and submitted "that the ill crimes they have done may be pardoned." They expressed their willingness to trade under the protection of the Indian rulers. Obviously, they had learnt their lesson. Once again they relied on flattery and humble entreaties to get trading concessions from the Mughal Emperor.
The Mughal authorities readily pardoned the English folly as they had no means of knowing that these hannless-looking foreign traders would one day pose a serious threat to the country, instead they recognised that foreign trade carried on by the Company benefited Indian artisans and merchants and thereby enriched the State" treasury. Moreover, the English, though weak on land, were, because of their navat supremacy, capable of completely ruining Indian trade and shipping to Iran, West Asia, Northern and Eastern Africa and East Asia. Aurangzeb therefore permitted them to resume trade on payment of Rs. 150,000 as compensation. In 1691 the Company was granted exemption from the payment of custom duties in Bengal in return for Rs. 3,000 a year. In 1698, the Company acquired the zamindari of the three villages Sutanati, Kalikata, and Govindpur where it built Fort William around its factory. The villages Boon grew into a city which came to be known as Calcutta. In 1717 the Company secured from Emperor Farrukh Siyar a farman confirming .the privileges granted in 1691 and extending them to Gujarat and the Deccan. But during the first half of the 18th century Bengal was ruled by strong Nawabs such as Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan. They exercised strict control over the English traders and prevented them from misusing their privileges. Nor did they allow them to strengthen fortifications at Calcutta or to rule the city independently. Here the East India Company remained a mere zamindar Of the Nawab, Even though the political ambitions of the Company were frustrated, its commercial affairs flourished as never before. Its imports from India into England increased from 500,000 in 1708 to 1,795,000 in 1740. This increase was recorded in spite of the fact that the English Government forbad^ the use of Indian cotton and silk textiles iii England in order to protect the English textile industry and to prevent export of silver from England to Tndia. Thus at a Jime when the English were pleading for free trade in India they were restricting freedom of trade in their own country and denying access to Indian manufactures.
British settlements in Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta became the nuclei of flourishing cities. Large numbers of Indian merchants and bankers were attracted to these cities. This was due partly to the new commercial opportunities available in these cities and partly to the unsettled conditions and insecurity outside them, caused by the break-up of the Mughal Empire. By the middle of the 18 th century, the population of Madras had increased to 300,000, of Calcutta to 200,000 and of Bombay to 70,000. It should also be noted that these three cities contained fortified English settlements; they also had immediate access to the sea where English naval power remained far superior to that of the Indians. In case of conflict with any Indian authority, the English could always escape from these cities to the sea. And when a suitable opportunity arose for them to take advantage of the political disorders m the country, they could use these strategic cities as spring-boards for the conquest of India.
The Internal Organisation of the Company The Charter of 1600 granted the East India Company the exclusive privilege of trading East of the Cape of Good Hope for a period of 15 years. The Charter provided for the management of the Company by a committee consisting of a Governor, a Deputy-Governor, and 24 members to be elected by a general body of the merchants forming the Company. This committee later on came to be known as the Court of Directors. and its members as Directors..
The East Indian Company soon became the most important trading company of England. Between 1601 and 1612 its rate of profit came to nearly 20 per cent per annum. Its profits were derived both from trade and from piracy, there being no clear dividing line between the two at the time. In 1612 the Company made a profit of 1,000,000 on a capital of 200,000. During the entire 17th century the rate of profit was very high.
But the Company was a strictly closed corporation or a monopoly. No non-member was allowed to trade with the East or to share in its high profits. However, from the very beginning English manufacturers and those merchants who could not secure a place in the ranks of the monopoly companies carried on a vigorous campaign against royal monopolies like the East India Company. But the monarchs threw their influence behind the big companies who gave heavy bribes to them and to other influential political leaders. From 1609 to 1676, the Company gave loans amounting to 170,000 to Charles II, In return, Charles II granted it a series of Charters confirming its previous privileges, empowering it to build forts, raise troops, make war and peace with the powers of the East, and authorising its servants in India to administer justice to ail Englishmen and others living in English settlements. Thus the Company acquired extensive military and judicial powers.
Many English merchants continued to trade in Asia in spite of the monopoly of the East India Company. They called themselves Free Merchants. while the Company called them Interlopers.. These Interlopers in the end compelled the Company to take them into partnership, A change of fortunes occurred in 1688 when Parliament became supreme in England as a result of the Revolution of 1688 which overthrew the Stuart king James II and invited William III and his wife Mary to be the joint sovereign of Britain. The "Free Merchants" now began to press their case on the public and the Parliament. The Company defeuded itself by giving heavy bribes to the King, his ministers, and members of the Parliament. In one year alone it spent 80,000 on bribes, giving the King 10,000. In the end, they secured a new Charter in 1693.
But time was running against the Company; its success was shortlived. In 1694, the House of Commons pa.s.sed a Resolution that "all subjects of England have equal rights to trade in the East Indies, unless prohibited by Act of Parliament." The rivals of the Company founded another Company known as the New Company. It gave a loan of 2,000,000 to the Government at a time when the Old Company could offer only 700,000. Consequently, the Parliament granted the monopoly of trade with the East to the New Company. The Old Company refused to give up its profitable trade so easily. It bought large shares in the New Company to be able to influence its policies. At the same time its servants in India refused to let the servants of the New Company carry on trade there. Both companies faced ruin as a result of their mutual conflict. Finally, in 1702, the two decided to join forces and together formed a united company. The new company ent.i.tled The Limited Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies. came into existence in 1708.
The Government and Organisation of the Company.s Factories in India As the East India Company gradually grew in power and tended to acquire the status of a sovereign state in India, the organisation of its factories in India too changed and developed accordingly. A factory of the Company was generally a fortified area within which the warehouses (stores), offices, and houses of the Company.s employees were situated. It is to be noted that no manufacture was carried on in this factory.
The Company.s servants were divided into three ranks: writers, factors, and merchants. They all lived and dined together as if in a hostel and at Company.s cost. A writer was paid 10 pounds (100 rupees) a year, a factor 20 to 40 pounds (200 to 400 rupees), and a merchant 40 pounds (400 rupees) or a little more. Thus, they were paid Very low salaries. Their real income, for which they were so keen to take service in India, came from the permission the Company granted them to carry on private trade withirt the country while the trade between India and Europe was reserved for the Company.
The Factory with its trade was administered by a Governor-in-Council. The Governor was merely the President of the Council and had no power apart from the Council which took decisions by a majority vote. The Council consisted of senior merchants of the Company.
The Anglo-French Straggle in South India The English East India Company.s "schemes of territorial conquests and political domination, which had been frustrated by Aurangzeb at the end of the 17th Cfntury,1 were revived during the 1740.s because of the visible decline of the Mughal power. Nadir Shah.s invasion had revealed the decay of t^e central authority. But there was not much scope for foreign penetration in Western India where the vigorous Marathas held sway and jn Eastern India where Allvaicii Khan maintained strict control, [n Southern India, however, conditions were gradually becoming favoui- able to foreign adventurers. While central anthoi ity had disappeared join there after Aurangzeb.s death, the strong hand of N i2am-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah was also withdrawn by nis death in 1748. Moreover, the Maratha chiefs regularly invaded Hyderabad and the rest of the South collecting chaulh. These raids resulted in politically unsettled conditions and administrative disorganisation. The Carnatic was embroiled m fratricidal wars of succession.
These conditions gave the foreigners an opportunity to expand their political influence and control over the affairs of the SouLh Indian states. But the Fnghsh were not alone in putting forward commercial and political claims. While they had, by the end of the 17th century, eliminated their Portuguese and Dutch rivals, France had appeared as a new rival. For nearly 20 years from 1744 to 1763 the French and the English were to wage a httter war for control over the trade, wealth, and territory of India.
The French East India Company was founded in 1664. It made rapid progress after it was reorganised in the 1720"s and soon began to catch up with the English Company. It was firmly established at Chander- nagore near Calcutta and Pondicherry on the East Coast. The latter was fully forlilicd. The French Company had some other factories at several ports on the Ease and the West coasts. It had also acquired control over the islands of Mauritius and Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
The French East India Company was heavily dependent on the French Government which helped it by giving it treasury grants, subsidies, and bans, and in various other ways. Consequently, it was largely controlled by the Government which appointed its directors after 1723. Moreover, big shares in the Company were held by the n.o.bles and other rentiers who weie more interested in quick dividends than in making the Company a lasting commercial success. So long as the loans and subsidies from the Government, enabled the directors to declare dividends, they did not care much about the success or soundness of its commercial ventures. State control of the Company proved harmful to it in another way. The French state of the time was autocratic, semi-feudal, and unpopular and suffeicd from corruption, inefficiency, and instability. Instead of being forward-looking it was decadent, bound by tradition, and In general unsuited to the times. Control by such a state could not but be injurious to the interests of the Company.
Tn 1742, war broke out in Europe between France and England. One of the major causes of the war was rivalry over colonies in America. Another was their trade rivalry in India. This rivalry was intensified by the knowledge that the Mughal Empire was disintegrating and so the prize of trade or territory was likely to be much bigger than in the past. Anglo-French conflict in India lasted-for nearly 20 years and led to the establishment of British power in India. The English Company was the wealthier of the two because of its superiority in trade. Tt also possessed naval superiority. Moreover, its possessions in India had been held longer and were better fortified and more prosperous. Materially, therefore, the advantage lay with the British.
The war in Europe between England and France soon spread to India where the two East India Companies clashed with each other. In 1745, the English navy captured French ships off the South-east coast of India and threatened Pondicherry. Dupleix, the French Governor-General at Pondicherry at this time, was a statesman of genius and imagination. Under his brilliant leadership, the French retaliated and occupied Madras in 1746. This led to a very important event of the war. The British appealed to the Nawab of Carnatic, in whose territory Madras was situated, to save their settlement from the French. The Nawab agreed to intervene as he wanted to convince the foreign merchants that he was still the master of his territories, He sent an army against the French to stop the two foreign trading companies from fighting on his soil. And so the 10,000 strong army of the Nawab clashed with a small French force, consisting of 230 Europeans and 700 Indian soldiers trained along Western lines, at St. Thome on the banks of the Adyar river. The Nawab was decisively defeated. This battle revealed the immense superiority of Western armies over Indian armies because of their belter equipment and organisation. The Indian pike was no match for the Western musket and bayonet, nor the Indian cavalry for the Western artillery. The large but ill disciplined and unwieldly Indian armies could not stand up against the smaller but better disciplined Western armies.
In 1748, the general war between England and France ended and, as a part of the peace settlement, Madras was restored to the English. Though war had ended, the rivalry in trade and over the possessions in India continued and had to be decided one way or the other. Moreover, the war had revealed to the full the weakness of Indian government and armies and thereby fully aroused the cupidity of both the Companies for territorial expansion in India.
Dupleix now decided to use the lessons he had learnt in the recent war with the Nawab of Carnatic. He evolved the strategy of using the well- disciplined, modern French army to intervene in the mutual quarrels of the Indian princes and, by supporting one against the other, securing monetary, commercial, or territorial favours from the victor. Thus, he planned to use the resources and armies of the local rajas, nawabs, and chiefs to serve the interests of the French Company and to expel the English from India. The only barrier to the success of this strategy could have been the refusal of Indian ruters to permit such foreign intervention. But the Indian rulers were guided not by patriotism, but by narrow-minded pursuit of personal ambition and gain. They had little hesitation in inviting the foreigners to help them settle accounts with their internal rivals.
In 174S, a situation arose in the Carnatic and Hyderabad which gave full scope to Dupleix.s talents for intrigue. In the Carnatic, Chanda Snhib began to conspire against the Nawab, Anwaruddin, while in Hyderabad the death of Asaf Jab, Nizam-uI-Mulk, was followed by civil war between his son Nasir Jang and his grandson Muzaffar Jang. Dupleix seized this opportunity and concluded a secret treaty with Chanda Sahib and Muzaffar Jang to help them with his well-trained French and Indian forces. In 1749, the three allies defeated and killed Anwaruddin in a battle at Ambur. The latter.s son, Muhammad Ali, fled to Tnchinopoly. The rest of the Cainatic pa.s.sed under the dominion of Chanda Sahib who rewarded the French with a grant of 80 villages around Pondicherry.
In Hyderabad too, the French were successful. Nasir Jang was killed and Muzaffar Jang became the Nizam or Viceroy of the Dcccan. The new Nizam rewarded the French Company by giving it territories near Pondicherry as well as the famous town of Masuhpatam. He gave a sum of Rs. -500,000 to the Company and another Rs. 500,000 to its troops. Dupleix received Rs. 2,000,000 and a jagir worth Rs. 100,000 a year. Moreover, he was made honorary Governor of Mughal dominions on the East coast from the river Krishna to Kanya k.u.mari. Dupleix stationed his best officer, Bussy, at Hyderabad with a French army. "While the ostensible purpose of this arrangement was to protect the Nizam from enemies, it was really aimed at maintaining French influence at his court. While Muzaffar Jang was marching towards his capital, he was accidentally killed. Bussy immediately raised Salabat Jang, the third son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, to the throne. Tn return, the new Nizam granted the French the area in Andhra known as the Northern Sarkars, consisting of "he four districts of Mustafanagar, Ellore, Rajahmundry, and Chicacole.
The French power in South India was now at its height, Dupleix.s plans had succeeded beyond his dreams. The French had started out by trying to win Indian states as friends; they had ended by making them clients or satellites.
But the English had not been silent spectators of their rival.s suocesses, To offset French influence and to increase their own, they had been intriguing with Nasir Jang and Muhammad Ali. In 1750, they decided to throw their entire strength behind Muhammad Ali. Robert Clive, a young clerk in the Company.s service, proposed that French pressure on Muhammad Ali, besieged at Tnchinopoly, could be released by attacking Arcot, the capital of Carnatic. The proposal was accepted and Clive a.s.saulted and occupied Arcot with only 200 English and 300 Indian soldiers. As expected, Chanda Sahib and the French were compelled to raise the seige of Trichinopoly, The French foices were repeatedly defeated. Chanda Sahib was soon captured and killed. The French fortunes were now at an ebb as their army and its generals had proved unequal to their English counterparts.
Dupleix made strenuous attempts to reverse the tide of French misfortunes. But he was given little" support by the French Government or eveh by the higher authorities of the French East India" Company. Moreover, the high French officials and military and naval commanders constantly quarrelled with one another and with Dupleix. In the end, the French Government, weary of the heavy expense of the war in India and fearing the loss of its American colonies, initiated peace negotiations and agreed in 1754 to the English demand for the recall of Dupleix from India. This was to piove a big blow to the fortunes of the French Company in India, The temporary peace between the two Companies ended in 1756 when another war between England and Fiance broke out. In the very beginning of the war, the English managed to gain control over Bengal. This has been discussed in the next chapter. After this event, there was little hope for the French cause in India. The rich resources of Bengal turned the scales decisively in favour of the English. Even though the French Government made a determined attempt this time to oust the English from India and sent a strong force headed by Count de Lally, it was all in vain. The French fleet was driven off Indian waters and the French forces in the Carnatic were defeated Moreover, the English replaced the French as the Nizam.s protectors and secured from him P/lasuIipatam and the Northern Sarkars. The decisive battle of the wai was fought at Wandiwash on 22 January 1760" when the English General Eyre Coot defeated Lally. Within a year the French had lost all their possessions in India The war ended in 1763 with the signing of ihe Treaty of Paris. The French factories m India were restored but they could no longei be fortified or even adequately garrisoned with troops. They could seive only .is centres, of trade; and now the French lived in India under British protection Their dream of Empne in Tndia was at an end. The English, on the other hand, ruled the Indian sea. Freed of all European livals. they could now set about the task of conquering India.
During their struggle with the French and their Indian allies; the English learnt a few important, and valuable lessons. Firstly, that in the" absence of nationalism in the country, they could advance their political schemes by taking advantage of the mutual quarrels of the Indian ruleis. Secondly, the Western trained infantry, European or Indian, armed with modern weapons and backed by artillery could defeat the old-style Indian armies with ease in pitched battles, Thirdly, it was proved that the Indian soldier trained ani armed in the European manner made as good a soldier 33 the European And since the Indian soldier too lacked a feeling of nationalism, he could he hired and employed by anyone who was willing to pay him well. The English now set out to create a powerful army consisting of Indian soldiers, called sepoys, and officered by Englishmen, With this army as its chief instrument and the vast rcsourccs of Indian trade and territories under its command, the English East India Company embarked on an era of wars and territorial expansion.
EXERCISES.
1. Discuss the development of European trade with India from the 15th to 18th centuries.
2. Trace the growth of trade of the English East India Company and
its influence on India from 1500 to 1744, 3. What were the factors which contributed to the Anglo-French struggle in South India? How did it lead to the subversion of Indian political power?
4. Write short notes on :
(a) The Portuguese in India, (b) Trade in spices, (c) The Dutch in India, (d) Aurangzeb and the East India Company, (e) The organisation of the English East India Company.s factories in India, (f) Dupleix, (g) The French East India Company.
Based upon Survey of India map with the permission of the Surveyor General of India, The territorial waters of India extend into the sea to a distance of twelve nautical miles measured from the appropriate base line.
CHAPTER IV.
The British Conquest of India I. Expansion of the Empire, 1756-1818 British Occupation of Bengal T.
HE beginnings of British political sway over India may be traced to the battle of Pla.s.sey in 1757, when the English East India Company.s forces defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The earlier British struggle with the French in South India had been but a dress rehearsal. The lessons learnt there were profitably applied in Bengal.
Bengal was the most fertile and the richest of India.s provinces. Its industries and commerce were well developed. As has been noted earlier, the East India Company and its servants had highly profitable trading interests in the province. The Company had secured valuable privileges in 1717 under a royal farman by the Mughal Emperor, which had granted the Company the freedom to export and import their goods in Bengal without paying taxes and the right to issue pa.s.ses or dastaks for the movement of such goods. The Company.s servants were also permitted to trade but were not covered by this farman. They were required to pay the same taxes as Indian merchants. This farman was a perpetual source of conflict between the Company and the Nawabs of Bengal. For one, it meant loss of revenue to the Bengal Government. Secondly, the power to issue dastaks for the Company.s goods was misused by the Company.s servants to evade taxes on their private trade. All the Nawabs of Bengal, from Murshid Quli Khan to Alivardi Khan, had objected to the English interpretation of the farman of 1717. They had compelled the Company to pay lump sums to their treasury, and firmly suppressed the misuse of dastaks. The. Company had been compelled to accept the authority of the Nawabs in the matter, but its servants had taken every opportunity to evade and defy this authority.
Matters came to a head in 1756 when the young and qulck-tempct.ed Siraj-ud-Daulah succeeded his grandfather, Alivardi Khan. He demanded of the English that they should trade on the same basis as in the times of Murshid Quli Khan. The English refused to comply as they felt strong after their victory over the French in South India. They had also come to recognise the political and military weakness of Indian states Instead of agreeeing to pay taxes on their goods to the Nawab, they levied heavy duties on Indian goods entering Calcutta which was under iheir control. All this naturally annoyed and angered the young Nawab who also suspected that the Company was hostile to him and was favouring his rivals for the throne of Bengal The breaking point came when, without taking the Nawab.s permission, the Company began to fortify Calcutta in expectation of the coming struggle with the French, who were stationed at this time at Chandernagore. Siraj rightly interpreted this action as an attack upon his sovereignty. How could an independent ruler permit a private company of merchants to build forts or to carry on private wars on his land? Moreover he feared that if he permitted the English and the French to fight each other on the soil of Bengal, he too would meet the fate of the Carnatic Nawabs. In other words, Siraj, was willing to let the Europeans remain, as merchant but not as masters. He ordered both the English and the French to demolish their fortifications at Calcutta and Chandernagore and to desist from fighting each other. White the French Company obeyed his order, the English Company refused to do so, for its ambition had been whetted and its confidence enhanced by its victories in the Carnatic. Tt was now determined to remain in Bengal even against the wishes of the Nawab and to trade there on its own terms. It had acknowledged the British Government.s right to conttolall its activities, it had quietly accepted restrictions on its trade and power imposed in Britain by the British Government; its right to trade with the East had been extinguished by the Parliament m 1693 when its Charter was withdrawn; it had paid huge bribes to the King, the Parliament, and the politicians of Britain (in one year alone, it had to pay 80,000 in bribes). .Nevertheless the English Company demanded the absolute right to trade freely in Bengal irrespective of the Bengal Nawab"s orders. This amounted to a direct .challenge to the Nawab.-s sovereignty. No ruler could possibly accept this position. Siraj-ud-Daulah had the statesmanship to see the long-term implications of the English designs. He decided to make them obey the laws of the land.
Acting with great .energy but with undue haste and inadequate preparation, Siraj-ud-Daulah sejzed the English factory at Kasimbazar, marched on to Calcutta, and occupied the> Fort William on 20 June 1756. He then retired ,from Calcutta to celebrate his easy victory, letting the English escape with their ships, This was a mistake for he had underestimated the strength of his enemy.
The English officials took refuge at Fulta near the sea protected by their naval superiority. . Here they waited for aid from Madras and, in the meantime, organised a web of intrigue and treachery with the leading men of the Nawab.s court. Chief among these were Mir.Jafar, the Mir Bakshi, Mawck Chand, the Officer-in-Charge of Calcutta, Amichand, a rich merchant, Jagat Seth, the biggest banker of Bengal, and Khadim Khan, who commanded a large number of the Nawab.s troops. From Madras came a strong naval and military force under Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive. Clive reconquered Calcutta m the beginning of 1757 and compelled the Nawab to concede all the demands of the English.
The English, however, were not satisfied, they were aiming high. They had decided to instal a more pliant tool in S i raj-vid-Daii! ah.s place. Having joined a conspiracy organised by the enemies of the young Nawab to place Mu Jafar on the throne of Bengal, they presented the youthful Nawab with an impossible set of demands. Both sides realised that a war to the finish would have lo be fought between them. They met for battle on the field of Pla.s.sey, 20 miles from Murshidabad, on 23 June 1757 The fateful battle of Pla.s.sey Was a battle only in name. In all, the English lost 29 men while the Nawab lost nearly 500. The major part of the Nawab.s army, led by the traitors Mir Jafar and Rai Durlabh, took no part in the fighting. Only a small group of the Nawab.s soldiers led by Mil Madan and Mohan Lai fought bravely and well. The Nawab was forced to flee and was captured and put to death by Mir Jafars son Miran.
The battle nf Pla.s.sey was followed, in the words of the Bengali poet Nabm Chandra Sen, by "a night of elei nal gloom for India."
The English proclaimed Mir Jafar the Nuwub of Bengal and set on I to gather the reward. The Company was granted undibpuled right 1o free trade in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa It also received the zamindari of the 24 Parganas near Calcutta. Mir Jafar paid a sum of Rs, 17,700,000 ascom- Soldier in Uniform-Under the Mughal . Government in Bengal Courtesy: Notional Archives of India, New Delhi pensation for the attack on Calcutta to the Company and the traders of the city. In addition, be paid large sums as gifts. or bribes to the high officials of the Company. Clive, for example, received over two million rupees, Watts over one million. Clive later estimated that the Company and its servants had collected more than 30million rupees from the puppet Nawab. Moreover, it was understood that British merchants and officials would no longer be asked to pay any taxes on their private trade.
Seapoy in1 Uniform-In the Service of East India Company.s Government in Bengal Courtesy. National Arckives of India, New Delhi
The battle of Pla.s.sey was of immense historical importance, it paved the way for the British mastery of Bengal and eventually of the "whole of India. It boosted British prestige and at a single stroke raised them to the status of a major contender for the Indian Empire. The rich revenues of Bengal enabled them to organise a strong anny. Control over Bengal played a decisive role in the Anglo-French struggle. Lastly, the victory of Pla.s.sey enabled the Company and its servants to ama.s.s nntold wealth at the cost of the helpless people of Bengal. Asthe British historians, Edward Thompson and G.T. Garrett, have remarked: To engineer a revolution had been revealed as the most paying game in the world. A gold l.u.s.t un~ equalled since the hysteria that took hold of the Spaniards of Cortes. and Pizarro"s age filled the English mind. Bengal in particular was not to know peace again until it had been bleed white.
Even though Mir Jafar owed his position to the Company, he soon repented the bargain he had struck. His treasury was soon emptied by the demands of the Company.s officials for presents and bribes, the lead in the matter being given by Clive himself. As Colonel Malleson has put it, the single aim of the Company"s officials was "to grasp all they could; to use Mir Jafar as a gloden sack into which, they could dip their hands at pleasure." The Company itself was seized with unsurpa.s.sable greed. Believing that the kamdhemt had been found and that the wealth of Bengal was inexhaustible, the Directors of the Company ordered that Bengal should pay the expenses of the Bombay and Madras Presidencies and purchase out of its revenue all the Company.s exports from India, The Company was 110 longer to merely trade with India, it was to use iis control over the Nawab of Bengal to drain the wealth of the province, Mir Jafar soon discovered that it was impossible to meet the full demands of the Company and its officials who, on their part, began to criticise the Nawab for his incapacity in fulfilling their expectations. And so, in October 1760, they forced him to abdicate in favour of his son- in-law, Mir Qasim who rewarded his benefactois by granting the Company the xammdari of the districts of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong, and giving handsome presents totalling 29 lakhs of rupees to the high English officials.
Mir Qasim, however, belied English hopes, and soon emerged as a threat to their position and designs in Bengal. He was an able, efficient, and strong ruler, determined to free himself from foreign control, He believed thit since he had paid the Company and its servants adequately for putting him on the throne, they should now leave him alone to govern riengal. He realised that a full treasury and an efficient army were essential to maintain his independence. He therefore tried to prevent public disorder, to increase his income by removing corruption from revenue administration, and to raise a modern and disciplined army along European lines. All this was not to the liking of the English. Most of all they disliked the Nawab.s attempts to check the misuse of the farman of 1717 by the Company.s servants, who demanded that their goods whether destined for export or for internal use should be free of duties. This injured the Indian merchants as they had to pay taxes from which the foreigners got complete exemption. Moreover, the Company.s servants illegally sold the dastaks or free pa.s.ses to friendly Indian merchants who were thereby able to evade the internal customs duties. These abuses ruined the honest Indian traders through unfair compet.i.tion and deprived the Nawab of a very important source of revenue, In addition to this, the Company and its servants got intoxicated by their new-found power. and "the dazzling prospects of wealth.and, in their pursuit of riches, began to oppress and ill-treat the officials of the Nawab and, the poor people pf Bengal. They forced the Indian officials and zamindars to give them presents and bribes. They compelled the Indian artisans, peasants, and merchants to sell their goods cheap and to buy dear from them. People who refused were often flogged or imprisoned. These years have been described by a recent British historian, Pcrcival Spear, as "the period of open and unashamed plunder." In fact the prosperity for which Bengal was renowned was being gradually destroyed.
Mir Qasim realised that if these abuses continued he could never hope to make Bengal strong or free himself of the Company.s control. He therefore took tbe drastic step of abolishing all duties on internal trade, thus giving his own subjects a concession that the English had seized by force. But the alien merchants were no longer willing Lo tolerate equality between themselves and Indians. They demanded the reimposition of duties on Indian traders. The battle was about to be j"oined again. The truth of the matter was that there could not exist two masters in Bengal. While Mir Qasim believed that he was an independent ruler, the English demanded that he should act as a mere tool in their hands, for had they not put him in power?
Mir Qasim was defeated in a series of battles in 1763 and fled to Avadh where he formed an alliance with Shuja-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Avadh, and Shah Alam II, the fugitive Mughal Emperor. The three allies clashed with the Company.s army at Buxar on 22 October 1764 and were thoroughly defeated. This was one of the most decisive battles of Indian history for it demonstrated the superiority of English arms over the combined army of two of the major Indian powers. It firmly established the British as masters of Bengal, Biliar and Orissa and placed Avadh at their mercy.
Clive, who had returned to Bengal in 1765 as its Governor, decided to seize the chance of power in Bengal and to gradually transfer the authority of Government from the Nawab to the Company. In 1763, the British had restored Mir Jafar as Nawab and collected huge sums for the Company and its high officials. On Mir Jafar.s death, they placed his second sort Nizam-ud-Daulah on the throne and as a reward made him sign a new treaty on 20 February 1765. By this treaty the Nawab was to disband most of his army and to administer Bengal through a Deputy Subaii- dar who was to be nominated by the Company and who could not be dismissed without its approval. The Company thus gained supreme control over the administration (or nizamat) of Bengal. The members of the Bengal Council of the Company once again extracted nearly 15 lakhs of rupees from ihe new Nawab Froni Shah Alam II, who was stilLthe t.i.tular head of the Mughal Empire, the Company secured the Diwani, or the right to collect revenue, of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Thus, its control over Bengal was legalised and the revenues of this most prosperous of Indian provinces placed at its command. In return the Comiv.n;. gave him a subsidy of 2 6 million rupees and secured i"nr him (lie dviics of Kora and Allahabad. The Emperor resided in ihc foil of Ulahabad foi
The Nawab of Avadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, was made to pay a war indemnity of five million rupees to the Company. Moreover, the two signed an alliance by which the Company promised to support the Nawab against an outside attack provided he paid for the services of the troops sent to his aid. This alliance made the Nawab a dependent of the Company. The Nawab welcomed the alliance in the false belief that the Company, being primarily a trading body, was a transitory power while the Marathas and the Afghans were his real enemies. This was to prove a costly mistake for both Avadh and the rest of the country. On the other hand the British had very shrewdly decided to consolidate their acquisition of Bengal and, in the meanwhile, to use Avadh as a buffer or a barrier state between their possessions and the Marathas, Dual System of Administration of Bengal The East India Company became the real master of Bengal at least from 1765.
Its army was in sole control of its defence and the supreme political power was in its hands. The Nawab depended for his internal and external security on the British. As the Diwdn, the Company directly collected its revenues, while through the right to nominate . the Deputy Subahdar, it controlled the Nizamat or the police and judicial powers. The virtual unity of the two branches of Government under British control was signified by the fact that the same person acted in Bengal as the Deputy Diwan on behalf of the Company and as Deputy Subahdar on behalf of the Nawab. This arrangement is known in history as the Dual or Double Government. It held a great advantage for the British: they had power without responsibility. They controlled the finances of the province and its army directly and its administration indirectly. The Nawab and his officials had the responsiblity of administration but not the power to discharge it. The -weaknesses of the Government could be blamed on the Indians while its fruits were gathered by the British. The consequences for the people of Bengal were disastrous: neither the Company nor the Nawab cared for their welfare. In any case, the Nawab.s officials had no power to protect the people from the greed and rapacity of the Company and its servants. On the other han"d, they were themselves in a hurry to sxploit their official powers.
This Company.s servants had now the whole of Bengal to themselves and their oppression of the people increased greatly. We can quote Clive himself: I shall only "say that such a scene of anarchy, confusion, bribery,1 corruption, and" extortion v*>as neverseen or heard of in any country but Bengal, nor such and so . many foFfuneaacquired jn so unjust and rapacious a mannei. The three provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, producing a clear revenue of 3 millions sterling, have been under the absolute management of the Company.s servants, ever since Mir Jafar.i restoration to the subahship", and they have, both civil and military, exacted and levied contribution*1 from every wan of power and consequence, from the Nawab down to the lowest zamindar.
The Company.s authorities on thei r part set out to gather the rich harvest and drain Bengal of its wealth. They stopped sending money from England to purchase Indian goods. Instead, they purchased these goods from the revenues of Bengal and sold them abroad. These were knowu as the Company.s Investment and formed a part of its profits. On top of all this the British Government wanted its share of the rich prize and, in 1767, ordered the Company to pay it 400,000 per year.
In the years 1766, 1767, and 1768 alone, nearly 5.7 million were drained from Bengal. The abuses of the Dual Government and the drain of wealth led to the impoverishment and exhaustion of that unlucky province. In 1770, Bengal suffered from a famine which in its effects proved one of the most terrible famines known in human history. People died in lakhs and nearly one-third of Bengal.s population fell victim to its ravages. Though the famine was due to failure of rains, its effects were heightened by the Company.s policies.
Wars Under Warren Hastings (1772-1785) and Cornwallis (1786-1793) The East India Company had by 1772 become an important Indian power and its Directors in England and its officials in India set out to consolidate their control over Bengal before beginning a new round of conquests. However, their habit of interfering in the internal affairs of the Indian States and their l.u.s.t for territory and money soon involved them in a series of wars.
In 1766 they entered into an alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad to help him in attacking Haidar Ali of Mysore in return for the cession of the Northern Sarkars. But Haidar Ali was more than a match for the Company.s armies. Having beaten back the British attack, he threatened Madras in 1769 and forced the Madras Council to sign peace on liis terms. Both sides restored each other.s conquests and promised mutual help in case of attack by a third parly. But when Haidar Ali was attacked by the Marathas in 1771, the English went back on their promise and did not come to his help. This led Haidar Ah to distrust and dislike them.
Then, in 1775, the"English plashed with the Marathas. An intense struggle for power was taking place at that time among the Marathas between the supporters of the infant Peshwa Madhav Rao II, led by Nana Phadnis, and Raghunath Rao. The British officials in Bombay decided to take advantage of this struggle by intervening on behalf of Raghunath Rao. They hoped thus to"repeat the exploits of tfyeir countrymen in Madras and Bengal and reap the consequent monetary advantages. This involved them ini a long war with the Marathas which lasted from 1775 to 1782,
In the beginning, tbe Marathas defeated the British forces at Talegaon and forced them to sign the Convention of Wadgaon by which the English renounced all their conquests and gave up the cause of Raghunath Rao. But the war was toon resumed: This was a dark hour indeed for the British power in India, All the Maratha chiefs were united behind the, Peshwa and his chief minister, Nana Phadnis. The Southern Indian powers had long been resenting the presence of the British among them, and Haidar Ah and the Nizam chose this moment to declare war against the Company.
Nana Phadnia (From a Portrait in Jagmohan Temple, Mysore) Courtfjy: Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi
Thus the British were faced with the powerful combination of the Marathas, Mysore and Hyderabad. Moreover, abroad they were waging a losing war in their colonies in America where the people had rebelled in 1776. They had also to counter the determined design of -the French to exploit the difficulties of their old rival.
"The British in India were, however, led at this time by their brilliant, energetic, and experienced Govern or-General, Warren Hastings. Acting with firm resolve and determination, he retrieved the vanishing British power and prestige. A British force under G.o.ddard marched across; Central India in a brilliant military manoeuvre and after a series of victorious engagements reached Ahmedabad which he captured in 1780. The English had found in the Marathas a determined enemy, with immense resources. Mahadji Sindhia had given evidence of- his power which the English dreaded to contest. Neither side won victory and the war had come to a standstill. With the intercession of Mahadji, peace was concluded in 1782 by the Treaty of Salbai by which the status quo was maintained It saved the British from the combined opposition of Indian poweis.
This war, known in history as the First Anglo-Maratha War, did not end in victory for either side. But it did give the British 20 years of peace with the Marathas, the strongest Indian power of the day. The British utilized this period to consolidate their rule over the Bengal Presidency, while the Maratha chiefs frittered away their energy in bitter mutual squabbles. Moreover, the Treaty of Salbai enabled the British to exert pressure on Mysore as the Marathas promised to help them in recovering their territories from Haidar All. Once again, the British had succeeded m dividing the Indian powers.
War with Haidar Ali- had started in 1780- Repeating his earlier exploits, Haidar Ali inflicted one defeat after another on the British armies in the Cariiatic and forced them to surrender in larger numbers. He soon occupied almost the whole of the Carnatic. But once again British arms and diplomacy saved the day. Warren Hastings bribed the Nizam with the cession of Gnntur district and gained his withdiawal from the anti-British alliance. During 1781-82 he made peace with the.Marathas and thus freed a large part of his army for use against Mysore. In July 1781 the British army under Eyre Coote defeated Haidar Ali at Porto Novo and saved Madras. After Haidar All.s death in December 1782, the war was carried on by his son, Tipu Sultan. Since neither side was capable of overpowering the other, peace was signed by them in March 1784 and both sides restored all conquests. Thus, though the British had been shown to be too weak to defeat either the Marathas or Mysore, they had certainly proved their ability to hold their own in India. Not only had they been saved from extinction m the South, they had emerged from their recent wars as one of the three great powers in India.
The third British encounter with Mysore was more fruitful from the British point of view. The peace of 1784 bad not removed the grounds for struggle between Tipu and the British; it had merely postponed the struggle. The authorities of the East India Company were acutely hostile to Tipu. They looked Upon him as their most formidable rival in the South and as the chief obstacle standing between them and complete domination over South India. Tipu, on his part, thoroughly disliked the English, saw them as the chief danger to his own independence and nursed the ambition to expel them from India.
War between the two again began in 1789 and ended in Tipu.s defeat in 1792. Even though Tipu fought with exemplary bravery, Lord Cornwallis, the then Governor-General, had succeeded through shrewd diplomacy in isolating him by winning oyer the Marathas, the Nizam, and the rulers of Travancore and Coorg. This war again revealed that the Indian powers were shortsighted enough to aid the foreigner against another Indian power for the sake of temporary advantages. By the treaty of Seringa- patam, Tipu ceded half of his territories to the qllies and paid 330 lakhs of rupees as indemnity. The Third Anglo-Mysore war destroyed Tipu.s dominant position in the South and firmly established British supremacy there.
Expansion under Lord Wellesley (1798-1805) The next large-scale expansion of British rule in India occurred during the GovernorTGeneraJship of Lord Wellesley who came to India in 1798 at a time when the British were locked in a life and death struggle with France all over the world.
Till then, the British had followed the policy of consolidating their gains and resources in India and making territorial gains only when this could be done safely without antagonising the major Indian powers. Lord Wellesley decided that the time was ripe for bringing as many Indian states 4S possible under British control, By 1797 the two strongest Indian powers, Mysore and the Marathas, had declined in power, The Third Anglo-Mysore war had reduoed Mysore to a mere shadow"of its recent greatness and the Marathas were dissipating their strength in mutual intrigues and wars. In other words, political conditions in India were propitious for a policy of expansion: aggression was easy as well as profitable. Moreover, the trading and industrial cla.s.ses of Britain desired further expansion in India- Hitherto they had favoured a policy of peace in the belief that war was injurious to trade. But by the end of the 18th century they had come to think that British goods would sell in India on a large scale only when the entire country had come under British control. The Company too was in favour of such a policy provided it could be pursued successfully and without adversely affecting its profits, Lastly, the British in India were determined to keep French influence from penetrating India and, therefore, to curb and crush any Indian state which might try to have dealings with France. The security of the Company.s dominion in India was threatened by the impending invasion of Zaman Shah, the ruler of Kabul, who could expect support from the Indian chiefs in northern India and who was invited by Tipu to join in a concerted effort to oust the British from this country.