388 A. D. 1764. 



and even thefe he loon after diverted himfelf of in favour of Colonel 

 Clive, which donation became the fubjed of much public difcuflion 

 under the name of Clive's jagheer. He was moreover obliged to grant 

 them privileges in trade, fo excefllvely great, and fo prejudicial to his 

 cuftoms, that upon the whole his exaltation to fovereign power might 

 juflly be fald to have ruined him. He was reduced lo fuch neceflitous 

 circumflances, that he was driven to the defperate refource of opprefT- 

 ing his iubjeds beyond their abiUtics ; and yet he fell greatly in arrears 

 to his army, whofe good will was eflentially neceflary to fupport him 

 againfl the difcontents of his iubjeds, and to levy the taxes he laid up- 

 on them, and alfo to enable him to encroach upon thofe privileges he 

 had fo profufely granted to the Englifh. In this diftrefsful fituation he 

 was a':tacked by ieveral of the neighbouring powers ; and the govern- 

 ment of Calcutta, no longer inclined to favour or affifl him, refolved 

 to depofe him, and fet up his fon-in-law Mir Coffim Aly Cawn in his 

 place. 



The propofcd revolution was foon effected by Governor Vanfittart 

 and Colonel Caillaud ; and, as the price of his elevation, additional pay- 

 ments and privileges were obtained from the new nabob. 



Coflim was a man of much greater abilities than his predecefTor. He 

 felr the mifery and ignominy of his fituation : but he refolved to bear 

 it in fiience. till he (hould be enabled to bring about a proper opportu- 

 nity of afTerting the independence of the fovereignty, with which he 

 was inverted : and that purpofe he kept conftantly in view, as the ca- 

 pital objed of all his politics. By alfiduoufly cultivating the friendfhip 

 of the Englifli he was enabled to defeat a fon of the great Mogul, who 

 had attacked him, and with whom he foon after entered into an al- 

 liance. He aUb fupprefled the Indian rajahs, who had taken the ad- 

 vantage of his predecertbr's embarrafTmenis to throw off the yoke, and 

 compelled them to pay the antient tribute. His revenue being thereby 

 fomewhat improved, he was enabled to pay his army more regularly, 

 and to ertablifli quiet and good order in his dominions. And now he 

 thought himfelf m a condition to throw off his difguife, and to be- 

 come his own mafter. His firft rtcp was to remove his refidence from 

 Moorfhedabad to Mongheer, two hundred miles higher up the Ganges, 

 that his anions might no longer be expofed to the obfervations of the 

 Englifh at Calcutta. He lort no time in fortifying his new capital, and 

 in forming an army, which, by the acceffion of military adventurers 

 from various nations of Europe and Afia, he was enabled to arm, dif- 

 cipline, and furnifli with artillery, altogether in a ftile much fuperior 

 to what had ever before been feen in India. 



The free trade, which his predeceflbr and he had been obliged to 

 grant to the Englifh, was not only ruinous to his revenue, but alfo to 

 the trade of his fubjeds, all the commerce of the country being there- 



