Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/22

16 some unexpected events enabled the company to obtain them.

In 1696, the Rajahs on the western side of the river Hughley, took up arms: they were headed by him of Burdawan, whose territory extends along the western side of the river, from Nuddeah to the island of Ingelee, and who likewise possessed a considerable district on the other shore, contiguous to Calcutta; so that the English, French, and Dutch companies, had each their principal settlement within his jurisdiction. The greatest part of the Nabob's army being near the court at Dacca, the rebels made great progress before a force sufficient to oppose them could assemble: and in the mean time they took Hughley, plundered Muxadavad, in the island of Cossimbuzar, and from thence proceeded to Rajahmahal. On the breaking out of this war, the three European settlements augmented their soldiery, and declared for the Nabob; of whom they at the same time requested permission to put their factories in a state of defence against an enemy, whose resentment they must incur by their attachment to his government. The Nabob ordered them in general terms to defend themselves; and they taking for granted, what was not positively forbidden, with great diligence raised walls with bastions round their factories: the Dutch about a mile to the south of Hughley; the French two miles lower down the river, at Chandernagore; and the English at Calcutta, a small town contiguous to Soota-nutty, where they had built their principal magazines. Such was the origin of the three European forts in the province of Bengal, and they were the first which the Mogul government suffered foreigners to build in any part of the empire. An English sloop prevented the Rajah from taking the fort of Tannah; and the garrison of Calcutta, consisting of fifty men, beat a body of his troops within sight of the town. The Dutch assisted the Nabob's troops to retake Hughley. The French did little, but appeared in arms, and fortified themselves, better than either of the other two.

The news of this rebellion alarmed Aurengzebe himself so much that he sent one of his grandsons, Azim-al-Shan, with an army, to