BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA. 381 quarters, Calcutta was the head-quarters of the English, Chandarnagar European of the French, and Chinsurah of the Dutch. These three settle- head. ments were situated not far from one another upon reaches of 1740. the Húglí, where the river was navigable for sea-going ships. Calcutta is about 80 miles from the sea; Chandarnagar, 24 miles by river above Calcutta ; and Chinsurah, 2 miles above Chandarnagar. Húglí town, to which reference has so often been made, is almost conterminous with Chinsurah, but lies one mile above it. 1740-56. Murshid Kulí Khán ruled over Bengal prosperously for twenty-one years, and left his power to a son-in-law and a grandson. The hereditary succession was broken in 1740 by Alí Vardi Alí Vardi Khản, Khán, a usurper, but the last of the great Nawabs of Bengal. In his days the Maráthá horsemen began to ravage the country, and the inhabitants of Calcutta obtained permission in 1742 to erect an earthwork, known to the present day as the Maráthá ditch. Alí Vardi Khán died in 1756, and was succeeded by his grandson, Siráj-ud-Daulá (Surajah Dowlah), Sráj-uda youth of only eighteen years, whose ungovernable temper Daula, led to a rupture with the English within two months after his accession. 1756. Hole' of Calcutta, In pursuit of one of his own family who had escaped from his vengeance, he marched upon Calcutta with a large army. Many of the English fled down the river in their ships. The remainder surrendered after a brave resistance, and were thrust for the night into the 'Black Hole' or military jail Black of Fort William, a room about 18 feet square, with only two small windows barred with iron. It was our ordinary garrison 1756. prison in those times of cruel military discipline. But although the Nawab does not seem to have been aware of the consequences, it meant death to a crowd of 146 English men and women in the stifling heats of June. When the door of the prison was opened next morning, only 23 persons out of 146 remained alive.1 Watson. The news of this disaster fortunately found Clive back again Clive and at Madras, where also was a squadron of the King's ships under Admiral Watson. Clive and Watson promptly sailed to 1 The contemporary record of that terrible night is Holwell's Narrative. The original materials have been carefully examined, and much misrepresentation has been cleared away by Dr. H. E. Busteed, in the Calcutta Englishman, several dates, 1880. The site of the Black Hole' has been lately identified, at the entrance to the lane behind the General PostOffice; and the spot has been paved with fine stone (1884). the mouth of the Ganges with all the troops they could get Calcutta together. Calcutta was recovered with little fighting, and the recovered, Nawab consented to a peace which restored to the Company 1757- all their privileges, and gave them ample compensation for Battle of Plassey, 1757. How the victory was gained. Its small results at first. their losses. It is possible that matters might have ended thus, if a fresh cause of hostilities had not suddenly arisen. War had just been declared between the English and French in Europe; and Clive, following the traditions of warfare in the Karnátik, captured the French settlement of Chandarnagar. The Nawab Siráj-ud-Daulá, enraged by this breach of the peace within his dominions, took the side of the French. But Clive, acting upon the policy which he had learned from Dupleix, provided himself with a rival candidate (Mír Jafar) to the throne. Undaunted, he marched out to the grove of Plassey, about 70 miles north of Calcutta, at the head of 1000 Europeans and 2000 sepoys, with 8 pieces of artillery. The Bengal Viceroy's army numbered 35,000 foot and 15,000 horse, with 50 cannon. Clive is said to have fought in spite of his Council of War. The truth is, he could scarcely avoid a battle. The Nawab attacked with his whole artillery, at 6 A. M.; but Clive kept his men well under shelter, 'lodged in a large grove, surrounded with good mud banks.' At noon the enemy drew off into their entrenched camp for dinner. Clive only hoped to make a 'successful attack at night.' Meanwhile, the enemy being probably undressed over their cooking-pots, he sprang upon one of their advanced posts, which had given him trouble, and stormed an angle of their camp.' Several of the Nawab's chief officers fell. The Nawáb himself, dismayed by the unexpected confusion, fled on a camel; his troops dispersed in a panic, and Clive found he had won a great victory. Mír Jafar's cavalry, which had hovered undecided during the battle, and had been repeatedly fired on by Clive, to make them keep their distance,' now joined our camp; and the road to Murshidábád lay open.1 The battle of Plassey was fought on June 23, 1757, an anniversary afterwards remembered when the Mutiny of 1857 was at its height. History has agreed to adopt this date as the beginning of the British Empire in the East. But the immediate results of the victory were comparatively small, and several years passed in hard fighting before even the Bengalis would admit the superiority of the British arms. For the 1 These numbers and the account of the battle are taken by the author from Clive's Ms. Despatch to the Secret Committee, dated 26th July 1757. The quotations are Clive's own words. RESULTS OF PLASSEY, 1757. 383 moment, however, all opposition was at an end. Clive, again following in the steps of Dupleix, placed Mir Jafar upon the Mir Jafar, Viceregal throne at Murshidábád, being careful to obtain a 1757. patent of investiture from the Mughal court. tions to the Enormous sums were exacted from Mir Jafar as the price of Pecuniary his elevation. The Company claimed 10 million rupees as com- compensapensation for its losses. For the English, native, and Armenian English. inhabitants of Calcutta were demanded, respectively, 5 million, 2 million, and 1 million rupees; for the naval squadron and the army, 2 million rupees apiece. The members of the Council. received the following amounts:-Mr. Drake, the Governor, and Colonel Clive, as second member of the Select Committee, 280,000 rupees each. Colonel Clive also received 200,000 rupees as Commander-in-Chief, and 1,600,000 rupees as a private donation;' Mr. Becker, Mr. Watts, and Major Kilpatrick, 240,000 rupees each, besides 'private donations,' amounting in the case of Mr. Watts to 800,000 rupees. The gratifications of a personal character, including the donation to the troops and the fleet, aggregated £1,238,575;1 while the whole claim amounted to £2,697,750. The English stil cherished extravagant ideas of Indian wealth. But no funds existed to satisfy their inordinate demands, and they had to be contented with one-half the stipulated sums. Even of this reduced amount, one-third had to be taken in jewels and plate, there being neither coin nor bullion left. four Par At the same time, the Nawáb made a grant to the Com- Grant of pany of the zamindári or landholder's rights over an extensive Twentytract of country round Calcutta, now known as the District ganás, of the Twenty-four Parganás. The area of this tract was 882 1757. square miles. In 1757 the Company obtained only the zamindári rights-i.e., the rights to collect the cultivators' rents, with the revenue jurisdiction over them. The superior lordship, or right to receive the land-tax, remained with the Nawab. But in 1759 this also was granted by the Delhi Emperor, the nominal Suzerain of the Nawáb, in favour of Clive, who thus became the landlord of his own masters, the Company. Clive was enrolled among the highest nobility of the Mughal Empire, with the rank of commander of 6000 foot and 5000 horse, and a large allotment of land near Calcutta, in 1759. This military fief, or Clive's jágír, as it was called, subse- Clive's quently became a matter of inquiry in England. Lord Clive's jagir, 1 For a full statement of the personal donations, see Mill's History of British India, vol. iii. pp. 367, 368 (Wilson's ed. 1840). 1759. Clive, first Governor of Bengal, 1758; claims to the property as feudal Suzerain over the Company For a full account of the different grants, and the powers granted by them, see Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. i. (TWENTY-FOUR PARGANAS), pp. 19, 20. 2 GOVERNORS AND GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF INDIA UNDER THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, 1758-1858. 1758. Lord Clive, Governor. 1765. Lord Clive (second time). 1785. Sir John Macpherson (pro 1786. Marquis of Cornwallis. 1798. Sir Alured Clarke (pro tem.). 1805. Marquis of Cornwallis (second 1805. Sir George Barlow (pro tem.). 1807. Earl of Minto. 1813. Earl of Moira, Marquis of 1823. John Adam (pro tem.). 1828. Mr. Butterworth Bayley (pro 1828. Lord William Cavendish Bentinck. 1835. Sir Chas. Metcalfe, afterwards 1836. Earl of Auckland. 1856. Earl Canning. ENGLISH MISRULE IN BENGAL. 385 Two powers threatened hostilities. On the west, the Shahzáda or Imperial prince, known afterwards as the Emperor Shah Alam, with a mixed army of Afgháns and Maráthás, and supported by the Nawáb Wazir of Oudh, was advancing his own claims to the Province of Bengal. In the south, the influence of the French under Lally and Bussy was overshadowing the British at Madras. Oudh The vigour of Clive exercised a decisive effect in both directions. Mir Jafar was anxious to buy off the Sháhzáda, who had already invested Patná. But Clive marched in person to the scatters rescue, with an army of only 450 Europeans and 2500 sepoys, army; and the Mughal army dispersed without striking a blow. Clive also despatched a force southwards from Bengal under Colonel overcomes Forde, in 1759, which recaptured Masulipatam from the French, French in and permanently established British influence throughout the Northern Circars, and at the court of Haidarábád. He next attacked the Dutch, the only other European nation who might yet prove a rival to the English. He defeated them defeats both by land and water; and their settlement at Chinsurah Dutch. existed thenceforth only on sufferance. Madras ; agement, set up, From 1760 to 1765, Clive was in England. He had left Mismanno system of government in Bengal, but merely the tradition 1760-64. that unlimited sums of money might be extracted from the natives by the terror of the English name. In 1761, it was found expedient and profitable to dethrone Mír Jafar, the English Nawab of Murshidábád, and to substitute his sonin-law, Mír Kásim, in his place. On this occasion, besides Mir Kásim private donations, the English received a grant of the three 1761. Districts of Bardwán, Midnapur, and Chittagong, estimated to yield a net revenue of half a million sterling. But Mír Kásim soon began to show a will of his own, and to cherish dreams of independence. He retired from Murshidábád to Monghyr a strong position on the Ganges, commanding the only means of communication with the north-west. There he proceeded to organize an army, drilled and equipped after European. models, and to carry on intrigues with the Nawab Wazir of Oudh. He resolved to try his strength with the English, and found a good pretext. The Company's servants claimed the privilege of carrying on their private trade throughout Bengal, free from inland dues and all imposts. The assertion of this claim caused Mír Kásim affrays between the customs officers of the Nawáb and the with the native traders, who, whether truly or not, represented that English. VOL. VI. 2 B breaks |