5:iO
JliSrOJJV OF INDIA.
[Book III
A D. me. to establish. On one occasion he said, "lie feared that after his death the Euro- peans would become masters of many parts of Hindoostan;" and on another tifvola"^ occasion, when urged by Mustapha Khan, who wa.s then his most influential • counsellor, "to expel the English from Calcutta and seize their wealth," he gave no answer till Mustapha had retired, and then observed to one of hi.> nephews, who had seconded Mustapha's ini(!iuitous proposal, " My child, Masta- pha Khan is a soldier, and wishes us to be constantly in need of his service ; but how came you to join in liis request? What have the English done against me, that 1 should use them ill? It is now difficult to extinguish fire on land: but should the sea be in flames who can put them out? Never listen to such advice as his, for the result would probably be fatal." This distinct alTusion to naval warfare shows that he had foi-med a just conception of the main arm of British power, and deprecated collision with it as at once unjastifiable and perilous. It would have been well for Surajah Dowlah had he entered into the enlarged views which dictated this advice, and acted upon them.
CHAPTER IX.
Surajah Dowlah, Nabob of Bengal — His early career — First acts of his government — A 'rival claimant — His expedition against Purneah — His suspicion and hatred of the East India Company — The factory of Cossimbazar seized and plundered — Calcutta besieged and taken — The horrors of the Black Hole.
T the time when Ali Verdy was appointed to the government of Behar, one of his daughters, who was married to his vounsfest nephew, gave birth to a son. The event seemed so auspicious that he declared his intention to adopt the boy and make him his heir. Mirza Mahmood, as he was originally called before he assumed the title of Surajah Dowlah, received the kind of training which was
All his wishes were gratified, aU his faults
The
natural cruelty of his temper appeared in the amusements of his childhood. Ko bird or animal within his reach was safe from torture. As might be antici- pated, his vices ripened with his years, and the cruelty which he had practised Dxi the brate creation w^s transferred to his o^-n species. To every virtuous feeling he seems to have been an utter stranger. His only companions were infamous profligates, with whom he used to patrole the streets of Moorsheda- bad,and commit every form of indecency and outrage. With his other 'ices he possessed a certain degree of low cunning, which he employed in concealing some of the worst parts of his conduct from his grandfather, who, it is chari-
character of considcred suital)le to his prospects.
Dowlah. overlooked, and he never knew what it was to be refused or contradicted.
