INDIA.] FLIGHT OF SURAJAH DOWLAH. 333 described by one of our naval officers, when beset with his boat's crew in a great city of China. I found," he writes, in words whose truth and earnestness are nearly akin, and perhaps superior, to eloquence, "that the top"mast of the flag-staff had been struck since the exe"cution; but I immediately desired that the boat's ensign "should be taken up, and made fast to the lower masthead, for I well knew, my Lord, that there is a sense "of support in the sight of that honoured flag, fly where "it will, that none can feel but men who look upon it in 66 some such dismal strait as our's."* 66 On the morning after the battle Meer Jaffier appeared at the English camp, far from confident of a good reception since his recent conduct. As he alighted from his elephant the guard drew out, and rested their arms to do him honour; but Meer Jaffier, not knowing the drift of this compliment, started back in great alarm. Clive, however, speedily came forward, embraced his trembling friend, and hailed him Nabob of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. It was agreed between them that Meer Jaffier should immediately push forward with his division to Moorshedabad, and that Clive and his English should follow more at leisure. But they neither expected nor found the slightest further resistance. Even before the day of Plassey was decided Surajah Dowlah had mounted a camel, and ignominiously fled from the field. He scarcely rested until he reached Moorshedabad. There he heard his councillors advise, some, surrender to the English,-others, perseverance in the war, others, again, a prolongation of his flight. To his own cowardly temper this last advice was by far the most congenial. In the evening he assumed a mean dress for a disguise, let himself down from a by-window of his palace, and embarked in a small boat, with the most precious of his jewels, and the favourite of his women. His design was to ascend the Ganges as far as Patna, and throw himself upon the protection of Law's detachment. Already had he reached the point where the blue hills of Rajmahal, the first outposts of the * Captain Elliot to Lord Palmerston, March 30. 1839. Parliamentary Papers, - CHINA. At Himalaya, rise above the wide level of Bengal. this place he landed to pass the night on shore, but was recognised by a peasant who had incurred his displeasure some months before, and whose ears he had caused to be cut off. The injured man now revealed the secret to some soldiers; and thus the Nabob was discovered and seized, and brought back in chains to the palace of Moorshedabad,-to the very presence chamber, once his own, now that of Meer Jaffier. The fallen prince, still more abject in spirit than in fortunes, flung himself down before his triumphant subject, and with an agony of tears implored his life. It is said that Meer Jaffier was touched with some compassion, and merely directed that his prisoner should be led away; but his son Meeran, a youth no less ferocious and cruel than Surajah Dowlah himself * gave the guards orders that he should be despatched in his cell. Barely sufficient respite was granted him, at his own urgent entreaty, to make his ablutions, and to say his prayers. Next morning the mangled remains were exposed to the city on an elephant, and then carried to the tomb of Aliverdi, while Meer Jaffier excused himself to the English for the deed of blood committed without their knowledge and consent. The installation of Meer Jaffier, as Nabob of Bengal, was performed with great solemnity. Clive himself led his friend to the MUSNUD, or seat of honour, and, according to the Indian custom, presented him with a plate full of gold rupees; he then, through an interpreter, addressed the native chiefs, exhorting them to be joyful that Fortune had given them so good a Prince. Nor did the new Nabob fail to bestow on his allies marks as splendid and more substantial of his favour. It was agreed, according to the previous stipulation, that the English should have the entire property of the land within the Mahratta ditch, and for 600 yards beyond it, and also the ZEMINDARY, or feudal tenure on payment of rent, of all the country between * Of Meeran Clive writes, two years afterwards: "Sooner or later "I am persuaded that worthless young dog will attempt his father's "overthrow. How often have I advised the old fool against putting "too much power into the hands of his nearest relations!" To Warren Hastings, Resident at Moorshedabad, September 21. 1759. INDIA.] FATE OF OMICHUND. 335 Calcutta and the sea. The money granted them in compensation for their losses, and in donatives to the fleet, the army, and the Committee, amounted to no less than 2,750,000l.*, although, as the wealth of Surajah Dowlah proved far less than was expected, it was not found possible to pay the whole of this sum at once. Clive accepted for his own share a gift of above 200,000l. When, some years afterwards, before a Committee of the House of Commons, he was accused for taking so much, he defended himself by saying, that he might, if he had pleased, have taken much more. "When I recollect," he said, "entering the Nabob's treasury at Moorshedabad, with heaps of gold and silver to the right and left, and "these crowned with jewels," - here he added an oath, and violently struck his hand to his head, "at this mo"ment do I stand astonished at my own moderation!" † 66 A painful office remained, to tell Omichund, that, notwithstanding the promise in his favour, he should have no share in all this wealth. As interpreter and spokesman for that purpose the British chief employed Mr. Scrafton, a civil servant of the Company. A meeting having been held at the house of one of the principal SOUCARS or bankers of Moorshedabad, Clive, at its conclusion, said to Mr. Scrafton: "It is now time to undeceive "Omichund." Mr. Scrafton, as if ashamed of the task, performed it in the fewest and shortest words. "Omi 66 chund, the red paper is a trick; you are to have nothing." At this announcement the unhappy dupe staggered back, as from a blow; he fainted away, and was borne by an attendant to his house, where, on recovering from his swoon, he remained for many hours silent and abstracted, and then began to show symptoms of imbecility. Some days afterwards he visited Clive, who received him kindly, advised him, for change of scene, to undertake a pilgrimage to some one of the Indian shrines, and was willing, on his return, to employ him again in public business. But the intellect of Omichund had been wholly unhinged, and he expired *Orme's Hist., vol. ii. p. 180. not many months from this period in a state of second childhood. The return of Clive to Calcutta was attended with general rejoicing and applause, and from this time forward, during several years, he was, in truth, master of Bengal. The East India Directors had, indeed, formed a most unwise scheme for conducting the government of Calcutta, by a system of rotation, but at the news of the victory of Plassey they gladly conferred the office of Governor on Clive. As a statesman he displayed scarcely less ability than as a soldier. It was his energy as both which upheld the feeble character and the tottering throne of Meer Jaffier. Thus, when, in 1759, Shah Alum, the eldest son of the Emperor of Delhi, succeeded in collecting a large army of adventurers, and marched down upon Bahar, the terrified Nabob was eager to purchase peace by the cession of a province or the payment of a tribute. Far different were the views of the British chief. "I would not," he wrote to Meer Jaffier, "have you think of coming to any terms. ..... Rest assured "that the English are staunch and firm friends, and that they never desert a cause in which they have once "taken a part." ""* Yet at this time the British force of Clive was much diminished by an expedition which he had sent out to the southern coast. With a little army, comprising less than 500 Europeans, he undauntedly marched to the aid of his ally; and such were now the terrors of his name, that at his approach the mighty host of Shah Alum melted away; the siege of Patna was raised, and the war ended without a blow. In gratitude for this great service Meer Jaffier bestowed upon Clive a splended JAGHIRE or domain, producing, according to Clive's own computation, an income of 27,000l. a year. 66 66 At nearly the same period Clive was directing from afar hostilities in the districts known in the Carnatic by the name of the "Northern Circars"; a tract of coast extending from the mouth of the Kistna to the pagoda of Juggernaut. These districts had been invaded by Bussy from the Deccan, and on his departure a French force, commanded by the Marquis de Conflans, had been left * Letter, February 10. 1759. INDIA.] ACTION WITH THE DUTCH. 337 for their defence. On the other hand, Clive sent thither a large detachment, under Colonel Forde, an officer trained under his own eye. The result was complete success; the French were worsted in a pitched engagement, and the English reduced Masulipatam against a garrison superior in numbers to themselves. Towards the close of the same year, 1759, the English in Bengal were threatened with danger, equally great and unforeseen, from the Dutch in Java. Although peace prevailed between the two nations the Dutch could not view without jealousy the success and renown of their commercial rivals; they entered into secret negotiations with Meer Jaffier, who, with the usual fickleness of Asiatics, had become desirous of deserting the English alliance; and they sent into the Hooghly an armament of seven large ships and 1,400 soldiers. The pretext was to reinforce their own settlement at Chinsura, and to obtain redress for the grievances which they alleged against the Presidency of Calcutta, especially the compelling Dutch ships to take English pilots on the river. It was a moment of anxious consideration for Clive. In the first place, although Colonel Forde had returned from the Circars, other detachments had gone out to assist their countrymen at Madras; and the squadron, commanded since the decease of Admiral Watson by Admiral Pocock, had long since sailed in the same direction. If Clive suffered the Dutch ships to pass up the river, and the Dutch troops to join the Nabob's, the English might be overpowered and driven from Bengal. If he attempted to stop them, there was the risk of kindling a war between the two nations, or, on the other hand, of being disavowed by the authorities in England, and consigned to disgrace and ruin. Nor were other personal motives wanting to dissuade Clive from action. At this very period he had entrusted a large share of his fortune to the Dutch East India Company, for speedy remittance to Europe. Nevertheless, in this emergency, Clive showed himself, as ever, firm, resolute, unwavering. He was informed that the Dutch had landed their troops, and committed various acts of violence, and a letter was addressed to him by Colonel Forde, stating, that if he had an Order of Council he could now attack the invaders with a fair prospect of |