Indian Antiquary Vol 47

SR No.: 032539
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 386
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ NOVEMBER, 1918
On the 20th August 1756 Watts was appointed a member of the locally constituted Secret Committee of the Bengal Council, the other members being Roger Drake, the Bengal President, Major James Killpatrick, the chief military officer, and J. Z. Holwell, the hero of the Black Hole. Immediately after the arrival of Admiral Watson's squadron with Colonel Clive for the relief of Calcutta, bringing orders from the Court of Directors in England for the foundation of a regularly appointed Select Secret Committee, Watts became one of its members and attended its first meeting on the 12th December 1756.
Calcutta was retaken on the 2nd January 1757 and Roger Drake reinstated as President. Then followed the attack on Hügli and a Treaty with the Nawab on the 9th February. One of the conditions privately accepted was that the British should have a representative at the Nawab's Court, and Watts was selected for the office. His appointment was agreeable to Surâju'ddaula, who considered him a weak man, but Clive and the Bengal Council judged him fit for the post," being very well versed in the country language, and in their politics and customs." His position was a delicate one. He was charged to effect by diplomacy the fulfilment of the Treaty and all the objects which the Council had in view, such as complete restitution for losses sustained and a guarantee that no fortification should be erected on the river below Calcutta.
Watts was accompanied by a native adviser and agent, a Hindu merchant at Calcutta named Amir Chand, but known to contemporary Europeans and ever since as Omichund. He was a Panjâbî who for many years had acted as an agent for the English in their annual investment of Indian goods in Bengal, chiefly saltpetre. There were constant disputes with him and the other merchants who contracted with the Company, and in consequence, the Bengal Council changed its policy in 1753 and began to deal directly with the producers at the various "aúrungs" (factories) without the intervention of agents. Although Omichund continued to be the medium for the supply of certain goods, chiefly again salt petre, this proceeding on the part of tht Council naturally affected his friendly feelings towards the English and threw him into the arms of the native government, especially as he had been held in bigh esteem by Alivardi Khân, Suraju'ddaula's grandfather and immediate predecessor.
Apparently Omichund miscalculated his influence with the young Nawab and therefore deemed it wise to regain the favour of the English, for from the time of the expulsion of the Company's servants from Calcutta he used every effort to render himself invaluable to the Secret Committee. This, however, did not prevent the Bengal Council from issuing an order in January 1757 for the sequestration of his goods on suspicion of his complicity in the proceedings leading up to the Black Hole episode, but as no direct proof could be found 6 the order was rescinded. Omichund then induced Clive to take action on his behalf, with the result that he was allowed to accompany Watts to Murshidabad, on the 17th February 1757,' as confidential adviser and agent, and from the letters of Watts preserved among the Orme M88., he at first appears to have justified Clive's confidence in his loyalty.
3 Afterwards the celebrated Select Committtee, finally developing into the Foreign Department.
• As early as 1744 we find him in partnership with " Deepehund " (Dip Chand), a Patna merchant, dealing always in salt petre, the name of the firm being then "Omichund Deepehund," as the Europeans understood it. The partnership was apparently dissolved in 1746, after which date both Omichund and Deepchund contracted separately. 1. O. Records, Coast and Bay Abstracts, vol. V.
5 Orme, History of Indostan, vol. II, p. 51;1.0. Records, Coast and Bay Abstructe, vol. V, pp. 424-425. 6 The part he actually played in the Tragedy has never been cleared up. 7 Orme MSS., India, vol. IX, p. 2265.