Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/727

 CiiAP. XIT.

TREATMENT OF SUJAU DOWLAH.

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one he is seen higgling with the representatives of the Company, and vainl}- endeavom-ing to increase the amount which they had allotted for his mainten- ance ; in the other, he assumes all the airs of an absolute sovereign, and gives away vast and populous i)rovinces by a mere stroke of the pen. It is not un- worthy of notice that, at the time when the grant of the dewannee of the three provinces, yielding a revenue estimated at from £3, 000, to £4,000,0 sterling, was obtained, Olive's jaghire was not forgotten, the reversion of it after he should have enjoyed it for ten years, or on his death, if it should sooner happen, being expressly bestowed on the Company. This reversion, it is almost unnecessary to observe, was previously included in the grant of the dewannee, and hence the only thing gained by granting it speciaUy, was to give legal effect to the arrangement respecting the jaghire, which had previously been made between Clive and the directors.

The only person who had reason to congratulate himself on the liberal treat- ment which he received was Sujah Dowlali. He had been the mo.st formidable and inveterate enemy of the Company, and had not only taken Meer Cossim and Sunn'oo under his protection, though perfectly cognizant of the horrid mas- sacres which they had i)erpetrated, but had placed himself at the head of a con- federacy avowedly leagued for the purpose of expelling the British altogether from the country. There would, there- fore, have been no injustice in carrjdng out the treaty which engaged to deprive him altogether of his territories, and transfer them to Shah Alum. Indeed, it was not justice, but policy, that dictated the more favourable terms which he received after a series of disastrous defeats had compelled him to throw himself un- conditionally on the mercy of his con querors. The Company had never been ambitious of territorial aggrandizement; and after repeatedly declining the dewannee of the three provinces, had at last accepted it, more from necessity than choice. So long as the revenues were payable to the nabob, his interests were at variance with those of the Com- pany and their agents, and misunderstandings and collisions were constantly occurring. The accejitance of the dewannee by the Company seemed the only effectual remedv, and on this oround alone it was recommended b the select committee, and at last sanctioned with some degree of reluctance by the court The great object now was to make possession safe and permanent by the fonna- tion of such a frontier as would give the best security against foreign invasion,

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