Indian Antiquary Vol 47

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 281

NOVEMBER, 1918]
SIDE-LIGHTS ON OMICHUND
265
SIDE-LIGHTS ON OMICHUND: An Echo of the Intrigues before Plassey.
RY SIR RICHARD CARNAC TEMPLE. BT. OME years ago Sir George Forrest, in the course of his research us into the life story of
Robert Clive, found among the Clive MSS. belonging to his descendant, the Earl of Powis, two documents in Armenian (Plates I and II). Plate I shows an original letter addressed to Agha Petros and signed in the Panjâ bi character, "Amirchand " (Omichund). Plate II shows an unsigned copy of it, with a footnote, “Copy of Már Mirchand's letter." Neither document bears a date.
There is nothing to show why Clive should have got possession of both the original and the copy and have so carefully preserved them, beyond the fact that the letter is addressed to Agha Petros and indicates that he and Omichund were closely connected in some transaction of a confidential nature with Wach, a legitimate Bengali form for the name of William Watts, the Chief of the East India Company's Factory at Kasimbâzâr from 1752 to 1758. Btit a reference to the Orme MSS. preserved at the India Office supplies the explanation.
During the collection of matter for his History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Orme laid under contribution all the great actors in the drama of the foundation of our Indian Empire, including Clive and his immediate associates, and had copies and translations made of the papers and information supplied to him. Among a series of letters written by William Watts to Colonel Clive between the 29th December 1756 and the 27th June 17571 is a letter, clated the 8th June 1757, covering the Armenian document under discussion; but in order to understand both the document and its covering letter, it is necessary to review briefly the situation in Bengal at that period.
The events leading up to the determination of Suraju'ddaula, Nawab Governor of Bengal, to oust the British from his jurisdiction have been ably set forth by Mr. S. C. Hill in the Introduction to his Bengal in 1756-57. From this it appears that in May 1756 orders were issued for the seizure of Kasimbâzâr Factory, of which William Watts, then an old servant of the Company, had beert Chief since 1752. On the 1st June, Rai Durlabh, the Nawab's diwan, attempted to force his way into the Factory, but meeting with resistance, he treacherously persuaded Watts on the following day to pay a complimentary visit to the Na wâb at Murshidâbâd. Watts was seized and the Factory was subsequently surrendered by Matthew Collett, the next senior official.
Then occurred the Tragedy of the Black Hole and the capture of Calcutta on the 20th-21st June, and meanwhile Watts and Collett were kept with others of the Company's servants, in prison at Murshidabad, and subjected to much insult until the 24th June, when the Chiefs of the French and Dutch Factories at Chandernagore and Chinsurah obtained their liberty for them and became sureties for their appearance when required by the Nawab. They repaired to Chandernagore where they remained until the 13th August, when they joined the surviving members of the Bengal Council at Fulta on the Hûgli, whither the refugees from Calcutta had fled.
· Orme MSS., India, Vol. IX, pp. 2265-2317. Close to Murshidabad, the Nawab's headquarters