PLASSEY: The Battle that Changed the Course of Indian History by Sudeep Chakravarti

Author:Sudeep Chakravarti [Sudeep Chakravarti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Published: 2019-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

12

WHEN CLIVE (FIRST) FOUGHT SIRAJ

‘…former inactivity did not proceed from fear’

On 13 October 1756, a week after Clive wrote to his father, he received formal orders from the Council at Fort St George for his expedition to Bengal. It was signed by the governor of Madras, George Pigot, Clive’s military mentor, Stringer Lawrence, his friend and later, Company chronicler, Robert Orme, Henry Powney, William Perceval and Robert Palk.

Rear Admiral Charles Watson of the British Navy, freshly arrived from Bombay, was tasked to lead a squadron of ships, ‘judging the re-establishment of the Company’s Settlements at Bengal to be of the highest importance to their welfare’. The admiral would also shepherd the Company’s ships—Walpole and Marlborough and the ketch Boneta —assigned to the expedition. They would altogether carry 528 European officers and men, ‘940 sepoys and 160 lascars with twelve field-pieces, one haubitzer [howitzer], and a necessary quantity of ammunition’. Clive would be commander-in-chief of the land forces, as the Council had ‘full confidence’ in his abilities.

They would in all likelihood meet most of the former Calcutta Council when they reached the Hugli, the two commanders were advised. Five of them, Drake, Colonel Lawrence, Watts, Manningham, and Becher had been made members of a Select Committee ‘for the management of all matters relative to the protection or preservation of the Company’s estate, rights and privileges’. This committee had in turn been appointed by the ‘Secret Committee of the Honourable East India Company’.

Now this Secret Committee had the future charted. It was a stunning example of the Madras-based subcontinental arm of a joint stock company headquartered in a suite of rooms in London’s Leadenhall Street directing an expedition of its own forces and that of the British government against the nawab of one of the subcontinent’s largest and most prosperous provinces who owed nominal allegiance to one of the greatest empires in the world, crumbling though it was. The course of action was spelled out in a separate letter to the Select Committee that awaited Watson and Clive at Falta, in which the commanders would be able to ‘observe our intentions in fitting out this armament, and this letter will serve to guide you in acting up to the spirit of these intentions’.

Essentially, a treaty would need to be signed with Siraj to the best advantage of the Company, and, if required, the threat of arms would freely be used to ensure Siraj signed that treaty:

Conformably to these intentions we have desired the gentlemen of the Select Committee appointed as before mentioned to form and deliver you a plan of such treaty, as they would recommend to be made for the best advantage of the Company with the Nabob of Bengal, and likewise a plan of such military operations, as they shall judge to be most likely to compel the Nabob to consent to the terms of the said treaty. They will probably desire your presence at their Councils. We need not recommend to you to assist them with your best advice, and we most earnestly require you to endeavour to preserve a good harmony throughout.

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