With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an EmpireHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an Empire
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Fiction
"These affairs showed the rajah that the English could fight; a point
which, hitherto, the natives had been somewhat sceptical about. They
were afraid of the French, but they looked upon us as mere traders. He
had, too, other things to trouble him as to the state of the Carnatic,
and so hastened to make peace. He agreed to pay the expenses of the
war, and to cede us Devikota and some territory round it; and to allow
the wretched ex-rajah, in whose cause we had pretended to fight, a
pension of four hundred a year, on condition that we kept him shut up
in one of our forts.
"Not a very nice business on our side, was it? Still, we had gained
our point, and, with the exception of the ex-rajah, who was a bad lot
after all, no one was discontented.
"When the peace was signed, our force returned to Fort Saint David.
While they had been away, there had been a revolution in the Carnatic.
Now this was rather a complicated business; but as the whole situation
at present turns upon it; and it will, not improbably, cause our
expulsion from Southern India; I will explain it to you as well as I
can.
"Now you must know that all Southern India, with the exception of a
strip along the west coast, is governed by a viceroy, appointed by the
emperor at Delhi. He was called the Subadar of the Deccan. Up till the
end of 'forty-eight, Nizam Ul-Mulk was viceroy. About that time he
died, and the emperor appointed his grandson, Muzaffar Jung, who was
the son of a daughter of his, to succeed him. But the subadar had left
five sons. Four of these lived at Delhi, and were content to enjoy
their life there. The second son, however, Nazir Jung, was an
ambitious man, who had rebelled even against his father. Naturally, he
rebelled against his nephew.
"He was on the spot when his father died, while the new subadar was
absent. Nazir, therefore, seized the reins of government, and all the
resources of the state. The emperor has troubles enough of his own at
Delhi, and Muzaffar had no hope of aid from him. He therefore went to
Satarah, the court of the Mahrattas, to ask for their assistance.
"There he met Chunda Sahib. This man was the nephew of the last nawab
of the Carnatic, Dost Ali. Dost Ali had been killed in a battle with
them, in 1739; and they afterwards captured Trichinopoli, and took
Chunda Sahib, who commanded there, prisoner; and had since kept him at
Satarah. Had he been at liberty he would, no doubt, have succeeded his
uncle, whose only son had been murdered; but as he was at Satarah, the
Subadar of the Deccan bestowed the government of the Carnatic upon
Anwarud-din.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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