Dangos 1520 canlyniad

Thank you for your letter regarding Mr Yarwic Sahib's complaint and asking me that I should write to the government timber suppliers at Purnia. They should not take any of the timber which Mr Yarwic had purchased. I had written to the appropriate authorities on this subject and the reply I have received from Sujit Ram is enclosed for your decision. -- Enclosure 1. -- I had reported previously from Bhagalpur that except for the timber required by you, and nearly twenty three thousands and nine hundred pieces of timber required on your orders and that of the Navab Sabitjang Bahadur, and on account of the purchases made by Mr Martin for Mr Yarwic Sahib, the rest of the timber is being taken away without paying any duty which is normally levied at one rupee a piece. I have written to Lord Clive on this issue but have not received any reply as yet. -- Enclosure 2. From Sujit Ram. -- Thank you for your parwanah and a copy of the letter from the Navab Sahib and another from Lord Clive regarding the complaint of Mr Yarwic Sahib that the government servants take away some of the timber purchased by him. My dear sir, we have come to know from Mr Martin, assistant to Mr Yarwic, that sixteen thousand and seven hundred pieces of timber were purchased by them. No-one has any quarrel with this and no-one would dare to take these from them. The total amount of tax duty which is fixed at one and half rupee per piece on the above timber would come to twenty or twenty five thousands rupees but because of your orders we have not claimed these duties. His complaint is based on nothing else but lies. It is not only him but also a number of other traders who are taking away timber without paying the appropriate duties. That is why we have appointed a darogha/overseer so that he can inspect the number of timber which are allowed free under your orders and charge duties on all the others that other traders take from that area. This will protect the timber purchased for the company from being stolen and illegally purchased. Following instructions received here I had asked all woodcutters not to interfere with the timber collected by Mr Yarwic. It is ten days since I sent for him to sign an agreement that, except for the timber purchased for the company, no other purchase or stealing will be allowed in future but I have not received any reply so far. I await for your instructions.

Sujit Ram, a messenger of Rajah Shitab Ra'e, had sent the enclosed report on the 13th of Rabi al-Avval, San 7. It is being sent to you for information. -- Enclosure: News-report from the West sent by Sujit Rae, messenger of Maharajah Shitab Rae, received at Azimabad on 13 Rabi al-Avval, Sann 7. -- My Harkaras who had gone to Farrukhabad have, after investigation, brought news that a prince who is a grandson of Bahadur Shah with fifty horsemen has reached Farrukhabad in a palanquin and Navab Ahmad Khan Bahadur has presented to him a secret nazr of five ashrafis. Mir Sulaiman and Hasan Askari Khan who were accompanying Imad al-Mulk Bahadur have arrived here to greet him as a king and later stood to attention in his presence; afterwards the prince was taken into the fort of Furrukhabad. When this news reached the King he became alarmed. He has sent his harakaras to the capital to confirm or deny this news and to find out the name of this prince and his identity. He has also sent a shuqqah by post to Navab Sabitjang Bahadur [Lord Clive] and to his master [Shitab Rae]. These may have been received by now. He has also instructed Navab Munir al-Daulah to come and see him immediately. He has a special shuqqah for Shuja al-Daulah Bahadur; he is also writing to Navab Ahmad Khan Bahadur Bangash and Badr al-Daulah Bahadur. I have already sent these shaqqas to you in case there is a settlement that the Marhattas and Imad al-Mulk will occupy the capital and start creating troubles after the rainy season. As Imad al-Mulk is responsible for all this mischief and as soon as he reached Furrukhabad he had devised this scheme. Navab Ahmad Khan Bahadur, Hafiz al-Mulk Bahadur and Raghunath Rao Marhatta have sworn together and have taken an oath from Javahir Singh. Although Navab Najib al-Daulah pretends to be aloof from all this he is also secretly involved in this matter. As you are a friend of the English you should inform them of these happenings.

Thank you very much for your reply to my letter advising me to make a distinction between the various types of guns ordered by you and the Nawab Mubariz al-Mulk Bahadur and to make sure not to mention the name of the English company in this respect and to keep an account of all the transactions and the amounts sent to Murshidabad. After receiving the orders from you and Nawab Mubariz al-Mulk Bahadur I had confiscated all guns, cannons, etc. and sent you the details. There is no chance that anyone will blame the English company for this; please let me know if you want me to follow any other procedure. I was given five Lac and eleven thousand rupees by your government and I have sent a detailed account of the above sum to Murshidabad.

Papers concerning assessment and rent-rolls for the year 1173 have been put together and, after all the excuses and settlements of the zamindars, the total sum amounts to twenty seven Lac, twenty five thousand one hundred and sixty three rupees. Complete details of what has been received and what is due have been sent to Mr Sanks who will be informing you in due course.

Thank you for your letter received on the 28th of Rabi al-Avval, San 7, informing me that you have received instructions from the directors of the East India Company in England forbidding all Englishmen from engaging in any business other than that of the goods received or taken out by the English ships. They should not undertake any business of import or export to neighbouring states or countries. These instructions are beneficial to the local population and in the interest of the Company. I hope you will instruct your harkaras to circulate these orders to all concerned. -- As far as the payment of instalment is concerned, the total amount due as salaries for the Company soldiers by the end of 1173 will be nearly eight Lac rupees. When you came here Nawab Shams al-Daulah had paid six Lac rupees as payment for the salaries of two months. The company had made a demand for a further four Lac rupees from Rabi al-Sani; as of the 15th of Rabi al-Sani a further sum of two Lac rupees will be due for payment. Payment for the salaries of administrative staff which is paid in every three months will amount to nearly one Lac rupees by the end of this year. In this way the total amount paid by the end of this year will be just over nine Lac rupees. A bank draft for the above amounts will be forthcoming on the due dates and, after deducting payments for salaries of local staff, I will send the rest to you promptly.

I was very pleased to meet Captain Dogral when he arrived at Allahabad on the 26th of Rabi al-Avval and came to the fort. He has given me your letter informing me that you are well and happy. -- -- Today, Sunday the 1st of Rabi al-Sani, is an auspicious occasion as Captain Dogral and Dr Hilton were invited by His Majesty to pay him a visit. Captain Dogral was honoured by H.M. with a khillat of five pieces of cloth, a gown and decorated headwear while Dr Hilton was given a khillat of five pieces of cloth and decorated headwear. Meanwhile, your letter which you had sent in the care of Mr Middleton was received by His Majesty. He was pleased to have received the news that you were well but was surprised at your complaint that you have not received any of his communications sent to you recently.

Thank you very much for your letter of the 25th of Zi al-Hijj informing me that Nizam Ali Khan was having some useless designs and that a comparatively small English force was able to defeat a huge army of Shuja al-Daulah together with those of the Rohilla sardars, Gosain, Mir Qasim Ali and Durrani. You have also informed me that Navab Nasir Jang has lost his life and his state at the hands of the French who did not have the ability to face the English army; moreover, that Nizam Ali Khan will have to face nothing but disgrace. As I was away at Chinapatam for the past eight months and have been worrying about my affairs I was pleased to have received you kind letter. I was also very pleased to read your assurances that you will never abandon me and would honour our friendship while you live and that while you are in this country you will always consider my honour as your own and will endeavour to protect and safeguard it from my enemies. I was also pleased to know from your letter that His Majesty has moved into Allahabad fort and that Raghunath Rao with his large army was going around on a rampage but being afraid of the English army he did not dare to cross the river Jumna. In your letter you have also informed me about the deaths of Malhar Holkar and the Navab of Bengal, Najm al-Daulah, and the appointment of his younger brother Saif al-Daulah as the next Nawab of Bengal. You have also informed me that you had gone to Azimabad to strengthen relations between Shuja al-Daulah, the Rohillas and Javahir Singh Jat. -- -- It is a great credit to the English company that after the demise of Mir Jafar Khan they installed his eldest son as the governor of Bengal and after his death his second son. -- I was very grateful to learn from your letter that when you go to see H.M next you will present my petition to him, or otherwise you will send one of your trusted men to do the same. I know that you will try your best that I receive the appropriate honours and titles from H.M. -- I have fully understood what you have written regarding the cases of Sadr al-Islam, a zamindar of Tajavar, and Haidar Naik. I hope that before you leave for England you can convince H.M not to issue any firman to Haidar Naik, Tajavar Valah and others. -- Just after writing this letter, while I was going to affix my seal, I received a firman from His Majesty bestowing great honours and titles on me. As a small gesture of my gratitude I am enclosing a nuzr of one thousand and one ashrafis.

I hope you have received the account of Mr Barban Sahib/Rajah Debi Singh that I had sent you sometime ago. Following your orders, Raja Debi Singh has been asked to go and see the Nawab Sahib. I hope he will soon be leaving to see him. -- As I have been working for the company for some time and have proved myself a friend and wellwisher of the public and the company I would appreciate if you could issue an official parvanah giving me powers to conduct all business in confectionary, grains and timber in this district.

I have received your letter of the 24th of Rabi al-Avval in which you enquire why Sukha Ram reached Azimabad before the arrival of Maharajah Janiji. As you may have come to know from the letter of Navab Mubariz al-Mulk Bahadur and my own letter to you that it would be better to send Sukha Ram with Mir Zain al-Abidin as he will be able to achieve better results.

Thank you very much for your letter. The latest news is that Maharajah Ram Narayan has gone to administer parganah Sarsa Katah; from here he will go to Daudnagar to collect the revenue of this district. As the case of Bhojpur is not settled yet, and it is on his way, he may if he gets a chance go and settle the affairs there. At the same time I have also learnt that he may wish to go to Azimabad. Whichever is the case I will let you know.

During the period that I took leave of you and returned to Faizabad I sent a number of letters to you but have not received any reply. I had earlier written to you that your messengers had informed me that the news reports and letters from here are received at Calcutta promptly and punctually. In case, during this period, the news reports do not convey to you some important news what is the guarantee that letters carrying important news reach you in time? It is necessary that you instruct the Darogha of post at your end that he should personally take the responsibility to collect and deliver all news reports and letters to you. -- I have already sent you an account of the Marhattas. In reply to the letter which I had written to Navab Ahmad Khan he has replied that he agrees with you but he points out that the distance between him and the Marhattas is more than four Karohs and there is no fort in between for protection and the English army is too far away. By the time they receive the news and reach there to help the situation will have gone out of control. Hafiz Rahmat Khan is facing the same dilemma because Navab Najib al-Daulah is in Najibabad. In this case it is better that you assign four, five or six battalions of your army for this campaign and at the same time that you instruct your commanders at Allahabad that if they receive any order from me regarding the Marhattas they should consider it as coming from you and act on it immediately. -- Enclosure: -- The latest news received from the fort of Chinar/Janalah is not very good. There is hardly any pieces of artillery left and most of the parapet, walls, etc. have been destroyed. It will take some time before I would be able to attend to it. I did not get any opportunity duing the past three or four years to go there. Your army has brought down seven cannons from the parapet and taken.them to Kama Kotah; they want to take them away to some other fort. As the Marhattas forces are approaching and our artillery is not in a good state I would appeciate if you could ask your commanders to return these cannons for the protection of the original fort.

I am very pleased to learn from your letter that you are happy and well. I am sending Mir Muhammad Alam to give you details of the affairs here.

I hope you are back in Bengal by now. Kindly let me know if Lord Clive is attending to my work. It would be good if you could send Mir Jamal al- Din Khan and Shams al-Din Muhammad Khan to remind him. -- P.S. Please remind him to send word to the emperor asking him to bestow further honours on me as he did on the rulers of the Deccan.

Thank you very much for your letter informing me that Mohan Prashad of Calcutta was living in Azimabad and that I should send him at once back to Calcutta. After a great deal of searching I found out that he has already left for Calcutta about ten days ago and by now he should have come to see you. If he fails to do so I will search for him again and follow your instructions.

I hope you have received my earlier letter in which I had informed you about the situation in pargana Baspore, near Chaklah Bandar Balsar. The Amil of this district lives in the above pargana. Damodar Bhij/Zumurrad Shaikh, a landlord of Fort Harbalpore, who is subordinate to the Faujdar of the Company is creating trouble and mischief in the area and has brought his forces into the above mentioned pargana. He is interfering in the administration of this district and as the above pargana falls amongst the mahallat belonging to this zamindar it will be necessary for our forces to cross over to his territory to evict him from our side. For this reason we have not asked our forces to go there. As there is a complete understanding and agreement between the Maharajah and yourself it is prudent that you advise him to stop this nuisance so that the Amil of this area can carry on his duties without further interference.

As there is a complete understanding and agreement between Maharajah Januji Bhonslah and your government and that so far there has been no cause for concern which could effect our relations adversely, we have been enjoying cordial relations between one another. But now I would like to bring to your notice that, as before, the zamindar of Harbalpore, i.e. Zamurrad Shaikh, has started creating mischief and it is necessary that as last year he should be reprimanded. In addition, if he persists in his actions he will be severely punished. We hear that he has brought his forces into Basalpore, near Bandar Balsar, and is interfering in the administration of the district. As this area is under your control I am surprised that you have allowed this mischief to take place. I am sure that you have not changed your policy regarding the Maharajah and I hope that the present situation will not effect our relations. -- I am staying at Bandar Balsar at present where I will wait for your reply to my letter.

I am glad to have received the news that you have returned to Calcutta safely. I hope you will honour me by writing to me regularly about your well-being.

The letters in this bundle are from Clive's third tour and beyond. They date from Nov. 3, 1766, to April 16, 1771.

I have been informed by Amir Beg Khan Bahadur that a Dutchman of Chochrah was involved in the murder of a person who had lodged a complaint against him in the criminal court at Hoogli. He later on sent his peshkar and took the Qazi and his associate to the house of the chief trader/Fakhr al-Tujjar. Investigations have proved that he is guilty of this crime. I am writing to you so that you could warn the Dutch not to interfere in the process of the court.

I have not received any news from you for the past four or five days. Please do let me know that you are well. Salam to Bibi Sahibah.