A. D. 1767. WAR WITH HYDER ALLY. who they thought were retreating; and thus, to their mutual surprise, they encountered. The first struggle was for the hill, which Capt. Cooke secured for the English. The two armies were then drawn out in array of battle. The English had 1400 infantry and 30 cavalry, Europeans, 9000 Sepoys, and 1500 of Mohammed Ally's good-fornothing cavalry. The army of the allies is stated at 70,000, one half of which was cavalry. It was drawn up in a crescent, half-circling the British army. The English cannon having nearly silenced that of the enerny, was turned on the dense masses of their cavalry, who, having stood the fire for some minutes in the expectation of getting orders to charge, and receiving none, at length turned and fled. Hyder, who saw that all was lost, drew off his cannon, and advised the Nizâm to do the same; but he spurned at the idea, and declared that he would sooner perish. The approach of the English, however, abated his courage, and he soon was one of the most forward in flight. The victors captured 64 pieces of cannon; their loss was 150 men, that of the enemy was supposed to be 4000. 97 Cananôr miscarried, with considerable loss. In The war this year was adverse to the English, very much in consequence of the Presidency having imitated the practice of the jealous republics of Venice and the United Provinces, in sending two members of council to the army as fielddeputies, without whose consent no operations could be carried on. One of the first acts of these civilians was to cause the loss of the fort of Mulwâgul, by insisting on the European garrison being withdrawn, and their place supplied by some of the troops of Mohammed Ally. Col. Wood, in an attempt to recover it with a small force, fell in with the entire army of Hyder, and he was on the eve of being totally routed, when a stratagem of Capt. Brooke, who commanded the baggage-guard, turned the event of the contest. This officer, who had with him only four companies and two guns, drew these last by a circuitous and concealed route up to the summit of a flat rock, where they were to be served by the wounded artillerymen, while all the rest of the sick and wounded, who were able to move, were to swell the ranks on the summit. When all was ready, the guns opened a fire of grape on the enemy's left flank, and all, both sick and well, raised a shout of, "Hurra! Smith! Smith!" Both sides thought Smith was arrived ; and Wood, taking advantage of the confusion it caused, drew up his men in such a manner that he was able to repel all Hyder's subsequent attacks, and force him to retire with loss 3. As the rains were approaching, the English went into cantonments. But the active Hyder continued his operations; and having reduced one or two small places, he proceeded to attack Amboor, which, seated on the summit of a granite mountain, was defended by Capt. Calvert, with a small garrison. Hyder having dismantled the lower fort, Calvert retired to the citadel. The Killidâr being discovered to be in correspondence with Hyder, he and his men were disarmed. Hyder, though disconcerted, continued to fire on the fort, and at length effected a breach, but in an inaccessible place. He made various attempts to surprise the fort, but in vain; and he offered Calvert a large sum of money and the command of half of his army, if he would surrender; but he was told to send no more such messages, if he respected the lives of his servants, as the bearers would be hanged in the breach 2. The siege had commenced on the 10th November; and on the 7th December, the troops of Col. Smith, marching to the relief of Amboor, were in sight. At their approach, Hydering, left Bâglôr exposed to attack, of which the retired, and ascending the Ghâts, quitted the Carnatic. The Nizâm, weary of the war, had already entered into secret communication with Col. Smith. It came to the knowledge of Hyder, who affected not to be displeased regarding it, as being for their eventual advantage. The Nizâm, thus relieved from anxiety, speedily concluded a treaty, by which the revenues of the Carnatic Balagât, a country now held by Hyder, were transferred to the English, on their agreeing to pay the Nizâm seven lacs a year, and the Marattas their chout; and the tribute for the Circars was reduced from nine lacs perpetual to seven lacs a year for a term of six years. While Hyder was engaged in the Carnatic, some of the Malabar chiefs resolved to make an effort to recover their independence. A force was sent by sea from Bombay to their aid. Mangalôr and some other places were taken; but an attempt on 2 It is lamentable to read that this gallant officer was afterwards tried by court-martial, and convicted, of defrauding the Company by false returns. Some time after, Col. Wood, by making an attempt to relieve Oosoor, which Hyder was besieg active enemy took advantage; and the consequence was, that two thousand persons lost their lives in the rush which they made to get into the fort when the Mysoreans entered the town. Wood, on his return from Oosoor, again fell in with Hyder's army, and would probably have been defeated, had not Major Fitzgerald, on hearing the firing, hastened to the spot with the other division of the English army; and Hyder retired at his approach. Wood, though brave even to temerity, was now in such a state of despondence that, on the representations of Fitzgerald, he was removed from the command, and ordered to proceed to Madras under arrest. The forts held by the English were now falling everywhere into the hands of Hyder. In December he entered the district of Baramahâl; and, as he was advancing to the reduction of Eroad, he fell in with a party of 50 Europeans and 200 Sepoys, under Capt. Nixon. When the enemy advanced to the attack, the Europeans fired, and 3 The Romans defeated the Samnites by a similar stratagem. See our History of Rome, p. 157. H then rushed on with the bayonet. They perished, oppressed by numbers; the Sepoys were cut down in their ranks; and of the whole party no one escaped but Lieutenant Goreham, whose knowledge of the language enabled him to obtain quarter from one of Hyder's officers. Hyder then made Goreham translate into English a summons to Capt. Orton to surrender Eroad, inviting him at the same time to come in person to Hyder's tent, and assuring him of liberty to depart if a surrender could not be arranged. Strange to say, he came, and was of course detained; for, as Hyder alleged, and as we regret to say was the case, Capt. Robinson, the second in command, had been taken some time before, and was dismissed under parole not to serve again during the war. Hyder, however, offered Orton leave to depart, if he would write an order for the surrender of the place, the garrison having liberty to retire with their property to Trichinopoly. He at first refused, but finally consented; and Robinson actually obeyed the order! The garrison, as might have been expected, were marched prisoners to Seringapatam, and there Robinson ended his days in a dungeon. The same was the fate of the garrison of another fort, which surrendered on the condition of being allowed to depart on parole; Robinson's conduct, and that of the government who employed him, being in both cases Hyder's excuse. Nearly all their previous acquisitions had now been wrested from the Company; and in the beginning of 1768, Hyder sent one of his generals to Madura and Tinnivelly, while he himself ravaged the country about the Caveri. The Presidency, partly to save the unfortunate peasantry from ruin, partly urged by want of money-for they had been obliged to suspend their investments for England, and even so they had not funds to carry on the war more than four months-made proposals for an accommodation. At Hyder's desire Capt. Brooke was sent to him, on whose report of his intentions, Mr. Andrews, a member of council, repaired to his camp, and returned with proposals to be submitted to the Council. These, however, being deemed inadmissible, hostilities were resumed. Col. Smith again took the command of the army; but no encounter of any moment occurred. In the latter end of March, when the two armies were about 140 miles south of Madras, Hyder, suddenly dismissing his infantry and the greater part of his cavalry, put himself at the head of 6000 horse, and, on the 29th, he appeared on Mount St. Thomas, near Madras, whence he despatched a letter to the governor, requesting that Mr. Dupré, a member of council, might be sent to him. As it was in Hyder's power to plunder the town, ravage the country, and pillage and destroy the garden-houses of the president and council, before Smith's troops could arrive, his demand was complied with at once, and a treaty was concluded, of which the two principal articles were, a mutual restitution of conquests and mutual aid in defensive wars. Thus was terminated, and with more advantage to the English than they had any reasonable right to expect, a war imprudently, if not unjustly commenced, and feebly and unskilfully conducted by the president and council of Madras. The Di 4 4 The President was Mr. Palk, a clergyman, and a relaive of Gen. Lawrence. rectors threw much vague blame on them, especially for the very wisest part of their conduct, the conclusion of peace, which they said would tend to lower them in the eyes of the natives. The reply of the presidency was, that "they were compelled to make peace for want of money to wage war." While such was the state of affairs in the Carnatic, Bengal was enjoying tranquillity. Clive had been succeeded by Mr. Verelst as chief governor; and at the close of the year 1769 this gentleman resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. Cartier. In 1767, the Dûranee Shah made the last of those expeditions with which India has been so often afflicted, from the mountains of Afghanistân. His march was directed for Delhi, in which case he would probably have encountered the troops of the English. But he did not come beyond the Punjâb, where he had some contests with the Sikhs. An expedition was soon after sent by the government of Calcutta to restore the rajah of Nepâl who had been expelled; but from the nature of the country it was unable to effect its purpose. In 1768 came out a peremptory order to end the trade of the Company's servants in salt and the other articles, and to leave it entirely to the natives; the governor's one and one-eighth on the revenue was also to cease. To replace these, a commission of two and a half per cent. on the net produce of the dewannee revenues was granted, to be divided into one hundred equal shares, of which the governor was to have thirty-five, and others in proportion. CHAPTER XIII. Revenues of Bengal-Proceedings in England-Appointment of Supervisors-Distress of the Company - Bills regulating it-New Government of Bengal. WHEN Clive obtained the dewannee of Bengal for the Company, he expressed a decided opinion that, after paying all the expenses of government, it would leave a considerable annual surplus revenue. Had Clive remained in India, and had his plans and suggestions been acted on by the Directors at home, such might have been the result. But this, as we have seen, was not done; adequate salaries were not secured to the servants of the Company; the restrictions on private trade were withdrawn, and, moreover, a new mode of diverting to individuals a large share of the revenue sprang up. This was the civil and military charges for buildings, &c. "Every man now," says Clive," who is permitted to make a bill, makes a fortune." The division of the powers of government between the Nabob and the Company was productivc of mischief, and had its effect in diminishing the revenue, which was further reduced by the evasion of the payment of duties by the servants of the Company. Capital was continually going out of the country, for the investments to England and China, which now, instead of being purchased by goods and bullion sent from home, were to be furnished from the revenues of the province; and as these revenues were every day more absorbed in the expenses of government, and checked or intercepted in the ways we have mentioned, the diffi A. D. 1768-70. PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. culty of obtaining the necessary sums continually increased. Add to this, that the war with Hyder was a great drain on the exchequer of Bengal, Toward the end of 1769 it appeared that there was an excess of disbursements over receipts, and the remedy proposed was, "to open their treasury door for remittances;" that is, to receive the large sums which the servants of the Company were annually sending home, and to give bills for them on the Company in England. This was, no doubt, a very agreeable mode to all parties in Bengal, but it threw the Company at home into great difficulties when the amount of these bills happened to exceed that of the sale of the investments out of which they were to be paid. To prevent this evil, the Directors limited the amount for which they permitted the government of Bengal to draw bills on them, and their wealth-amassing servants then paid their surplus cash into the French and Dutch factories, getting in return bills on Europe, and thus these Companies were enabled, in a great measure, to trade on British capital. Such was the condition of the finances of Bengal when Mr. Cartier succeeded to the office of governor on the 24th December, 1769. In the following year, the annual rains were withheld by Providence, and India was visited by dearth and famine, which swept away one-third of the population of Bengal, and made a proportionate reduction in the revenue. In the same year the young rajah died, and was succeeded by his brother Mubarkud-dowlah. The president and council continued the allowance to him which had been arranged by Clive, but the Directors wrote out that, as he was a minor, they thought sixteen lacs of rupeees quite enough for his support, and ordered no more to be paid, and thus, how justly we need not say, they added thirty-four lacs a year to their revenues. While such were the proceedings in India, the proprietors at home were not negligent of their own interests. Filled with vague notions of the inexhaustible wealth of the East, and having before their eyes the huge fortunes accumulated in a few years by the servants of the Company, and which were displayed in many cases with an Oriental pomp and magnificence, they panted for a share in the golden harvest. For some years past, the dividends on East India stock had been six per cent.; but, in 1766, a vote of the Court of Proprietors raised it at once to ten per cent. In vain did the Directors, who knew the real state of things, and that money must be taken up at a heavy rate of interest to pay this dividend, remonstrate; in a general court on the 6th May, 1767, a dividend of twelve and a half per cent. was voted 5. But their cupidity was destined to meet a check. The idea of the wealth of India and the desire to partake in it, had also seized the ministers of the Grown ; & committee of the House of Commons to inquire into the state of the Company had been voted by parliament, which met early in November, 1766, chiefly for this purpose, and a few days after the proprietors had voted themselves twelve 5 The Directors had instituted legal proceedings against Johnstone, and the others who had taken presents at Nujum-ud-dowlah's accession. These men, who were now at home with plenty of money, and of course of influence, seized the present occasion of procuring a vote of the proprietors to drop the prosecutions. Life of Clive, iii. 185. | 99 and a half per cent., a bill passed the house forbidding any increase of dividend for the present, and directing that dividends should only be voted by ballot, and in general courts summoned expressly for the purpose. It was insisted on the part of the ministry, that the territorial acquisitions of the Company, or those of any subjects, belonged to the crown. But they did not observe that the dewannee was of quite a different nature; and that the Company was merely a zemindâr to the emperor, to whom, or to the Nabob, the dewannee should of right revert, if the Company were required to resign it, or if their charter should expire; and the only question was, whether the crown or the Company should have the surplus revenue of Bengal, a thing which, in reality, had no existence at the very time they were disputing about it. After a vast deal of argument and contention, an act was passed in April, 1769, allowing the Company to retain the revenues of Bengal for a term of five years, on condition of paying every year 400,000l. into the exchequer ; they might, if the revenues allowed it, increase their dividends up to twelve and a half per cent., at the rate of one per cent. in each year; if the dividend fell below ten per cent., the payment into the exchequer should be reduced in proportion, and should cease altogether if it fell to six per cent. It was also provided that the Company should annually export a certain quantity of British goods, provide for the payment of their simple contract debts, the reduction of their bonded debt, &c. &c. The whole blame of the disappointment of the golden dreams of India was thrown on those who had the management of the Company's affairs in that country, and it was resolved to institute a strict investigation on the spot. For this purpose, under the title of Supervisors, and vested with nearly the whole powers of the Company, Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Scrafton, and Col. Forde, all of whom had been high in office in India, were selected to proceed thither. They sailed in a frigate which was sent out at the desire of the Company; but the frigate and those on board of her were never heard of more. She probably foundered or went down in a hurricane. The debt of the Company in India went on accumulating; they were utterly unable to provide for the bills drawn on them, and yet, with all their difficulties staring them in the face, the Directors had the temerity to propose to the proprietors, in 1770, to raise their dividend to 12, and in the two following years, to 121 per cent. These augmentations were cheerfully voted; but such a desperate course had its inevitable results. In July, 1772, the deficit in their accounts was 1,293,000l. They applied to the Bank for a loan of 400,0007., and when they had obtained this, for a further loan of 300,000l., but that body would only give 200,0007. ; and on the 10th August, the chairman and deputy waited on Lord North, the minister, and told him that nothing short of the loan of a million would save the Company from ruin. The minister had the Company now completely in his power. There had been two committees sitting on the subject of Indian affairs; the one called the Secret, the other (which was open) the Select Committee; and thus some, though rather imperfect, knowledge of the subject had been eli cited. The proposal of the Company to send out another set of supervisors was negatived, and a determination to regulate their affairs, whether they would or not, was openly expressed. A bill, embodying the views of the ministry, was brought in; and as by it the constitution of the Company would be greatly altered, all possible opposition to it was made, both in and out of Parliament. The Company and the shareholders who would be disfranchised by it petitioned, and were heard by counsel at the bar of both houses against it. The city of London also petitioned against it, as of dangerous consequence to all corporations whatever. But in vain: the propositions of the minister were carried by large majorities; and in June and July, 1773, two acts respecting the Company received the royal assent. The first was financial. Government agreed to lend the Company 1,400,000l. at 4 per cent., and not to demand the 400,000l. a year till that debt had been discharged; the Company during that time was not to divide more than 6 per cent., and not more than 7 per cent. till their bond-debt was reduced to 1,500,000l. After this, the Government was to receive three-fourths of the surplus receipts, and the other fourth to go to the liquidation of the bond-debt, or to the formation of a fund for contingent expenses; the territorial possessions to remain to the Company for the remaining six years of their charter. By the other bill, the qualification for voting in the Court of Proprietors was raised from 500l. to 10007.; the holder of 30007. stock to have two, of 6000l. three, and of 10,000l. four votes; the stock to have been in the possession of the voter for twelve months. The Directors were to be elected for four years, a fourth to go out annually. The government of Bengal, Bahâr, and Orissa was to be vested in a governor-general, with a salary of 25,000l. a year; and four councillors, with 80007. a year each. The other presidencies were to be subordinate to that of Bengal. A supreme court of judicature was to be established at Calcutta, consisting of a chief justice, with 8000l. a year, and three puisne judges, with each 60007. a year, to be appointed by the Crown. The first governorgeneral and councillors were to be named in the act, and were to hold their office for five years; the Company were then to appoint, subject to the approbation of the Crown. All the Indian correspondence relating to civil, military, or financial affairs was to be laid before the ministry. No person in the King's or Company's service was to receive presents; the governor, councillors, and judges were not to engage in trade. Such were the legislative acts which led to a new æra in the history of the Company. For those who, writing long after the events, judge all measures and events by an imaginary standard of right, and make no allowance for human ignorance and fallibility, nothing is more easy than to find fault with, and condemn all these measures; but 6 Mr. Mill is, if we may use the term, of the Smell-fungus school of philosophy, whose followers find fault with every thing, propose nothing, and their censures are frequently contradicted by experience. Thus he sneers at the idea of large salaries being any security against corruption, "as if there was a point of saturation in cupidity;" yet experience, both in India and England, has shown that it is a security, to the eye of candour they will perhaps appear as good as could well have been devised at the time. The one which, as we shall see, proved the greatest failure, was the Supreme Court; but with the high ideas which prevailed, and still too much prevail, of the absolute perfection of English law, we need not wonder at its establishment. The governor-general appointed under the act was Warren Hastings, Esq., the actual governor of Bengal; the councillors were Mr. Barwell, a civil servant of the Company, Gen. Clavering, Col. Monson 7, and Mr. Philip Francis. The chiefjustice was Sir Elijah Impey; the puisne judges, Messrs. Hyde, Lemaistre, and Chambers. CHAPTER XIV. Early History of Warren Hastings-New Mode of collecting the Revenue-New Courts of Justice-Arrest of Mohammed Reza Khan and Shitab Roy-Arrangement of the Nabob's Household-Emperor joins the Marattas — The Rohillas-Treaty of Benâres-Treatment of the Emperor -Extermination of the Rohillas. MR. CARTIER was succeeded in the beginning of 1772, as governor of Bengal, by Warren Hastings, Esq., the second member of council at Madras. This distinguished man, whose name will ever be associated with that of the British empire in India, was born in the year 1732, of an ancient, After honourable, but greatly reduced family. having been at one or two ordinary schools, he was placed by his uncle at that of Westminster. Here he greatly distinguished himself; but on the death of his uncle, the charge of him fell to a very distant relation, who being an East India Director, and not liking to be at the expense of giving him a classical education, resolved to send him out as a writer to Bengal. In Hastings reached Calcutta on the 8th October, 1750, just within two months of completing his eighteenth year. After stopping a couple of years in that city, he was sent to the factory of Cossimbazar, and he was there when it was taken by Sûraj-ud-dowlah. He was made a prisoner, but suffered to go at large, the chief of one of the Dutch factories giving bail for his appearance, and he remained at Moorshedabâd. He afterwards joined the fugitives from Calcutta at Fulta. the subsequent negotiations with that prince, Hastings was joined with Mr. Amyatt, and after his overthrow he was placed as a kind of resident at the court of Meer Jaffier. Clive saw his talents, and seems to have reposed much confidence in him. After Clive's departure he remained at the court of Meer Jaffier, and had a share in the act of his deposition, though it does not appear that he approved of it. When Mr. Sumner and others were dismissed, he became a member of council at and the best that could be devised. On one point Mr. Mill gives a decided opinion in favour of a measure, namely, the use of the ballot in popular elections; but with the example of the United States before our eyes, few now, we hope, will be found to share his admiration for that mode of voting. 7 See above, p. 82. 8 Suspected to be the author of The Letters of Junius. He had all the requisite malignity and disregard of truth. A. D. 1772. ARREST OF MOHAMMED REZA KHAN. Calcutta, and he there gave his support to Mr. Vansittart against the domineering majority. In 1762 he was sent on a mission to Meer Cossim} but his prudent and moderate suggestions were rejected by Johnstone and his party. In 1764, Mr. Hastings returned to England in the same ship with Mr. Vansittart. He was then the possessor of only a very moderate fortune, and no servant of the Company had ever left India with a fairer character. The narrowness of his circumstances soon obliged Hastings to seek for employment again in India. The knowledge which he displayed when examined on Indian affairs in the House of Commons had increased his friends in the Direction; and in 1769 he was appointed second in council at Fort St. George, and a member of the select committee there, nominated for the purpose of restoring the Company's affairs in the Carnatic. His succession to the office of president after Mr. Dupré, the present occupant, was also secured to him. In Madras, Hastings devoted his energies to improving the mode of providing the Company's investments; and his conduct gave so much satisfaction to the Directors, that, in 1771, they nominated him second in council in Bengal, with the assurance that, on Mr. Cartier's retirement, he should be his successor. This event took place early in 1772, and Hastings became governor of Bengal. The plan of divided sovereignty between the Nabob and the Company, devised by Clive, had not been found to answer, and the produce of the dewannee was nothing like what had been calculated on. It was therefore deemed advisable in 1769 that servants of the Company, named supervisors, should be placed in each district, for the purpose of superintending the native functionaries; and two councils, with authority over the supervisors, be established, the one at Moorshedabâd, and the other at Patna. This plan, however, was not found to answer any better than the former; and the Directors, anxious to get an income in any way, determined to effect a social revolution, such as had never hitherto taken place in India, and, as they expressed it, "to stand forth as Dewan," and manage and collect the revenues by the direct agency of their own servants. The plan adopted by Mr. Hastings and the council for collecting the revenues was, to let the lands on leases of five years; a committee, composed of the president and four members of council, should make circuits of superintendence through the country; the supervisors should be named collectors, and each have a native dewan joined with him; no collector's banyam or servant should be allowed to form any part of the revenues, and no presents should be accepted by any person high or low; and no money be lent on interest to any persons connected with the land. As the terms offered for the lands did not prove satisfactory, the plan of letting them by auction was adopted, the preference being given to the actual zemindâr or other middleman, when he offered a fair value; if not, he was pensioned off, and the lands let to another. The ryot was secured against taxation by a lease. The Khalsa, or supreme court of revenue, was removed to Calcutta ; the office of Naib Dewan was abolished; the council formed a board of revenue; and a native functionary named Roy Royan 101 acted in the Khalsa as superintendent of the district dewans. As the new system did away with the zemindary courts, those great instruments of oppression, two new ones were appointed in each district; a criminal named Foujdaree Adawlut, presided over by the collector with the Câzee and Muftee of the district, and two Moolavees or Mohammedan lawyers ; and a civil, named Mofussul Dewanee Adawlut, of which the collector also was president, aided by the dewan of the district, and other native officers. Two courts of appeal were established at Calcutta, a criminal, named Nizâmut Suddur Adawlut, and a civil, named Suddur Dewanee Adawlut. The office of Naib Dewan of Bengal had been held by Mohammed Reza Khân, whom Clive had made Naib Nizâm to the young Nabob. Against this man serious charges, all apparently originating with the infamous Nundcomar, had reached the Directors, and they sent out strict orders to seize himself, his family, his partizans and adherents, and bring them prisoners to Calcutta. This business was managed with great secrecy and dispatch by Hastings; and one of the chief reasons he assigns for so doing is, that Mohammed Reza Khân must, from his great wealth, have established " an interest with such of the Company's agents, as, by actual authority, or by representations to the Honourable Company, might be able to promote or obstruct his views ;" in plain English, he must have bought them. Shitab Roy, the upright and honourable Naib Dewan of Patna, probably as a partizan or adherent, was also arrested and sent to Calcutta. Neither of them, however, was thrown into prison, they were only required not to leave that city. The charges against Mohammed Reza Khân were, monopoly of rice in the time of the famine, embezzlement of the money of the Nizâmut, a balance due and not accounted for by him since the death of Meer Jaffier, as renter of Dacca, and a correspondence with the emperor and the Marattas. On all these charges he was honourably acquitted, after all the evidence that could be obtained against him had been produced. Shitab Roy, against whom there was really no charge, was likewise acquitted, and he was immediately appointed Roy Royan and Naib Nazîm of Bahâr; but he died soon after his arrival at Patna, and his son was appointed to succeed him in both his offices. It is due to Mr. Hastings to observe, that throughout all this business he seems to have acted with great fairness. A very important part of the office of the Naib Nazîm was the superintendence of the person and household of the Nabob. This it was resolved to divide into two offices, analogous to the guardianships of the person and of the property appointed by our court of Chancery. There were two persons who seemed to have a claim to the former office; the mother of the Nabob, and his uncle Ateram-ud-Dowlah, the brother of Meer Jaffier, Yet both of these were set aside, and the office was bestowed on Mooni Begum, a second wife or concubine of Meer Jaffier's. The reason assigned was, the ascendancy she had over the mind of the Nabob, being the only person of whom he stood in awe, and her having no children of her own, Hastings, in a private letter to the Directors, gives a further reason-her being the declared |