active 1737-1758 William Watts

“ Indeed they were so evident, as to fill all the Inhabitants of Calcutta with Alarms, that were but too well founded. Experience had already taught them, how far the Caprice of the Suba might go; and it was no way improbable, that if they were so unhappy as to fall again under his Power, they might, if possible, meet with still worse Treatment, which induced them to make the best Provision they could for their Defence; and to put the Troops into such Condition, as that, whenever Necessity required, they might be able to repel Force by Force. ”

“ Watts and the Select Committee both dissuaded any Steps of this kind, as inconsistent with the Company's Concerns, at least till they had secured the Money and Effects of the several Subordinates. On the other hand, they saw that Compliances did more Harm than Good, and that their Professions of adhering inviolably to the Peace, and their repeated Promises of Friendship and Assistance, only flattered the Suba's Pride, heightened his Notions of his own Power, and encouraged him to act with greater Violence and Insolence, of which they had but too many, and those flagrant Instances. ”

“ The two great Nations, inhabiting this Part of the Indies, differ widely from each other in their Complexions, Language, Manners, Disposition, and Religion. The Moguls (Moghuls) who are commonly called Moors or Moormen, are a robust, stately, and, in respect to the original Natives, a fair People. They speak what the English in India commonly call the Moors Tongue, which is in truth the Persian, 4or at least a Dialect of the Persian. They are naturally vain, affect Shew and Pomp in every thing, are much addicted to Luxury, fierce, oppressive, and, for the most part, very rapacious. ”

“ He had been many Years in the Country; was well acquainted with the Language, as well as accustomed to the Manners and Disposition of the Inhabitants; was much esteemed, and had many Connections with them. He understood their Politics also, at least as much as such fluctuating Politics as theirs could be understood; the true Interest of the Province, and the Constitution of Indostan in general, and the State of the neighbouring Governments in particular. Besides, he was personally known to all the Ministers, and had received very singular Marks of Esteem from the Suba himself. ”

“ Watts, whom he looked upon as a Man he could not deceive, as a Man whom he hated for that Reason, and, which was an additional Motive to his Resentment, though it should, if his Mind had corresponded with his Rank, have restrained it, as a Man absolutely in his Power. In order to execute the various Commissions with which he was charged more punctually, Mr. Watts, according to the Custom of Indostan, had employed a Person to act as his Agent, in the Language of the Country, a Vaqueel. Him, in the first Fit of his Fury, the Suba forbid his Court. ”

“ Calcutta was not the only Place where Doubts and Apprehensions reigned. They 74were to the full as strong in Muxadavad, with this additional and distinguishing Circumstance, that Discord spread itself through the Suba's Court, where the only Oracle that every Man consulted was his own Interest. Reverses of Fortune were equally sudden and frequent. The Courtiers that were in the highest Favour To-day, were To-morrow in the very Depth of Disgrace. No Man was secure, and therefore no Man was contented; and which is, and will be always the Case in corrupt Courts, the worst Men had the best Chance. ”

“ All Infant Governments are in their very Nature subject to Disorders. The new Suba, soon after the Departure of Colonel Clive, felt sufficiently, that, contrary to the first flattering Appearances, his Administration was not thoroughly established. Some of the Nabobs in his Province, dubious of his Intentions towards them, made no great haste to acknowlege an Authority that might be prejudicial 126to their own; and in the Indies, this kind of Delay is ever considered as Disobedience. ”

“ In a Word, when thoroughly and circumstantially explained, it will open as singular and surprizing a Scene to the View of the inquisitive and judicious Reader, as perhaps he will find in any History respecting our own Times, which, let me have Leave to say, are those that concern us most. ”

“ There is a known Custom throughout India, and in that Country more than in any other Custom has the Force of a Law, 122that Ten per Cent. is paid as Treasury Fees upon all Sums received, which those Gentlemen had Weight enough with Roydoolub to reduce to Five; and by the Help of this Concession, every thing was very soon adjusted, and the complete Moiety came into the Company's Possession. The candid Reader will probably think that Colonel Clive and Mr. Watts did, upon this very momentous Occasion, all that it was in their Power to do, and this was also their Sentiment ”

“ Hapless as a Man! more hapless as a Prince! he had as little Fear of falling into Difficulties, as, when fallen, he had Skill to get out of them.
An Attempt has been already made to 64give the Reader some Idea of the melancholy and mortifying Situation of Mr. Watts, who resided on the Part of the Company at the Suba's Court, whose Perplexities daily increased, and whose Anxieties hourly multiplied, though they had not yet reached to those Circumstances of Disgust and Distress that they afterwards did. ”

“ In all this, the Risk might be truly said to fall entirely upon himself; so that it is not easy to imagine, how any Man's Circumstances could be more critical than his actually were in this Conjuncture. ”

“ He fell again to caballing with the French; and instead of compelling those who had escaped to quit his Country, as he engaged expressly, he took that little Body of Men, which were about Patna, into his Pay, at the Rate of Ten thousand Rupees a Month, of which Mr. Watts procured the Intelligence, and communicated it to the Committee. He turned all his Attention towards Mr. Bussy, who, as he was made to believe, had an Army of Twenty thousand Men, and with which he might march speedily into his Dominions. ”

“ The Perplexities springing from such a Variety and Complication of Matters that were to be adjusted, the Mutability of the Suba's Nature, and his Want of Judgment and Experience, and the Difficulties naturally arising in settling the Concessions, which had been just extorted from him by Treaty, were not the only Circumstances that embarrassed this Negotiation. ”

“ The Gentoows, or Native Indians, are of a swarthy Aspect, as their proper Appellation Hindu implies; less warlike but more active and industrious than the Moors. They are a mild, subtle, frugal Race of Men, exceedingly 5superstitious, submissive in appearance, but naturally jealous, suspicious, and perfidious; which is principally owing to that abject Slavery they are kept in by the Moors; and their Vices are such as innate Cunning, of which they have a great deal, suggests to counteract those of their Masters. ”

“ Those who had nothing to lose, had all Things to expect; and by flattering their Prince's Humour, and complying blindly with all his Commands, the meanest and basest People about him grew quickly the most considerable. Those who had been in the Old Suba's Councils and Confidence, who were Men of Rank and Family, and who had both Estates and Reputations to risque, were, from those very Circumstances, Malecontents. ”

“ In this we follow only the Custom of other Nations. The Portuguese and the Dutch have not only general Histories of their Atchievements in the Indies, and separate Accounts of their respective Settlements, but numerous Memoirs of particular Expeditions, in which they have been exceeded by the French. We should therefore be wanting to ourselves, if, having performed as great Things as they, and having as authentic Vouchers, we should willfully suffer the viiMemory of them to be lost, and the Merits of our deserving Countrymen swallowed up in Oblivion. ”

“ The Company, by an Accession of Territory, has an Opportunity of making an ample Settlement; which, under proper Management, may be not only extremely serviceable to her, but also to the 133Nation; and having a Revenue from these Lands, the Mint at Calcutta, and the Lease of the Salt-petre at Patna, which amounts in the whole to One hundred thousand Pounds a Year, there is a Provision against future Dangers upon the Spot, and without farther Expence. These Benefits have clearly arisen from that Revolution, of which we have given an Account, and are due to those who conducted it. ”

“ How insignificant then is Power! How destructive is Wealth! when they fall into the 118Hands of him, who only possesses that he may abuse them!
There was a Circumstance attending the Fate of Suraja Dowlat, that perhaps contributed to make even the Manner of it less regretted. Mr. Law, who had been formerly the French Chief at Cassimbuzar, a Gentleman, to do him Justice, of Honour and Abilities, had collected Two hundred of his Nation for the Service of the Suba, and was within a few Hours March of him when he was taken ”

“ This was Charles Watson, Esq; Vice-Admiral of the Blue, whose amiable Qualities in private Life added Lustre to his public Character. His Sentiments were noble, generous, and humane, his Manners graceful, 123easy, and polite; no Gentleman was ever more capable of gaining the Esteem of those with whom he conversed, and no Officer ever understood better how to exercise the Benevolence and Sweetness of his own Disposition, without impairing his Authority. ”

“ He was no sooner informed of it, than he committed that Prince to the Custody of his Son, recommending to him earnestly in public, to take the surest Methods to prevent his Escape; but at all Events to preserve his Life. The young Man, instead of paying that Respect which was due to his Father's Commands, no sooner had him in his Hands, than he caused him to be privately put to Death. At this, when the Suba appeared to be displeased, his Son alleged, that the captive Suba had found means to write and convey Letters upon the Road to several 116Jemidars, in order excite a Revolt in the Army ”

“ Many of those, who would have totally lost the Fruits of long Labour and various Hardships, and who must have been Beggars if subject to any other Power, are again easy in their Fortunes, and some of them have already transported their Effects to their native Country; the proper Return for the Assistance they derived from her maternal Affection; and as these Events have distinguished the present Age and the present Administration, so their Effects will probably be felt in succeeding Times. ”

“ As ill as he was treated by him, he continued to render the Suba many good Offices; giving the Committee to understand, that, in all human Probability, they should gradually obtain all that they desired, and that therefore they should not be impatient. 66He prevailed also upon Colonel Clive to promise the Suba from time to time his Assistance; and he laboured more incessantly to convince that Prince, that, if he would confide in the English, he had no Reason to fear either foreign or domestic Enemies, with which, when he thought himself in Danger, he was well enough pleased ”

“ A Part of the French Troops made their Escape, and marched Northwards, after whom Colonel Clive sent a Detachment of Six hundred Seapoys, and Vice Admiral Watson ordered several Boats up the River of Hughley, to seize upon whatever was French Property; notwithstanding which, a great deal of the Company's Effects and Merchandize were concealed and carried away. This Blow was very decisive in reference to the French, whose Measures it entirely broke, by rendering the Schemes they had formed, with respect to the Suba, utterly impracticable. ”

“ They very well knew, that Men might be false to their Benefactors; but they rightly judged, that even the worst of Men, more especially when avaricious, would be true, where they could not possibly be false, without betraying their own Interest. ”

“ If the Mogul attempts to depose any of them, the Person to whom he gives the Commission must raise an Army, and force a Passage to the Government bestowed upon him with his Sword. The same thing happens with regard to the Phousdars, removed by the Suba's; and hence the Confusions that ensue, whenever the Pretenders to the same Post (who are also sometimes supported, as their Interest leads them, by the different trading Nations upon the Coast) to gratify their Ambition, 8create implacable, ruinous, and endless civil Wars. ”

“ At Day-break, on the Twenty-third, the Suba's Army advanced within a very small Distance, and with a manifest Design to attack the English Forces. He had about Fifteen thousand Horse, and between Twenty and Thirty thousand Foot, with upwards of Forty Pieces of heavy Cannon, which were managed by Frenchmen, upon whose Skill and Courage he greatly depended. The Van was commanded by Roydoolub, and the left Wing by Meer Jaffeir. About Six they began to cannonade pretty smartly on every Side, and this Distribution of their Cannon gave them two great Advantages ”

“ Copy of the Articles of Agreement
sent by Colonel Clive to William
Watts, Esq; May 2, 1757. An Alliance offensive and defensive against all Enemies: The French Fugitives to be taken and delivered up to us; all their Factories to be delivered up to us, in order to be destroyed; the French never to be permitted to re-settle in this Subaship; in Consideration of which, the English Company will annually pay the Amount of Duties usually paid into the King's Treasury on the French Trade, or a Sum not exceeding Fifty thousand Rupees annually. ”

“ Of the private Men there were Thirty-two killed, and One hundred wounded. The Enemy had Forty killed and Seventy wounded in the Fort. They must be allowed to have defended themselves with great Spirit and Resolution, and probably would not have submitted so soon, if they had not suffered severely from Colonel Clive's Batteries, and been still more galled by the Fire of his Men, from the flat Roofs of the Houses, which in Truth made it almost impossible for them to stand to their 50Guns. ”

“ The French, perfectly well informed of every Step taken or intended, and no less skilled in the Art of Intrigue, had most effectually retained several of those whom the Suba frequently consulted, or chiefly trusted, in their Interest by gratifying them with Presents. They had still a more powerful Tie on them than this, being in Debt Thirteen Lack of Rupees, or upwards of One hundred and Sixty thousand Pounds Sterling, to Juggut Seat, the greatest Banker in the Empire of Indostan, and the Second in Power 29in Bengal ”

“ At length the English stormed that Angle and Eminence at the same Instant of time, though the former was defended by Forty French, and a very numerous Body of the Suba's Troops, who had likewise in that Post Two Pieces of Cannon, and the latter by a considerable Corps of Foot and Horse. Some Persons of Distinction being killed immediately before, or at the Beginning of the Attack, the Enemy being dispirited by that, quickly gave way, and both the Posts were forced with a very trifling Expence to us, though they suffered severely. ”