Battle of Buxar

How hopeless was the position of Mir Jafar is clear from the fact that he wants to punish some offenders like Ram Narayan, Rai Durlabh for disloyality but English held his hands.

Very soon, Mir Jafar creates nexus with Dutch against English, but clive estimated all situation and defeated Dutch in war of Bedara.

The Nexus of Mir Jafar and his failure to make the payments due to the Company annoyed the English.

Also read: Nadir Shah’s Invasion (1738–39)

Thus in 1760, under the pressure of the Company Mir Jafar decided to resign in favor of Mir Qasim.

Mir Qasim was the ablest Nawab among the successors of Alivardi Khan. After assuming power, he shifted the capital from Murshidabad to Munger in Bihar to allow a safe distance from the Company at Calcutta, reorganized the bureaucracy with the men of his own choice and remodeled the army to enhance its skill and efficiency.

Mir Qasim also sought to recognise and modernise his army on European pattern.

Qasim started manufacturing of Fireklocks and guns at Monghyr.

The Nawab Mir Qasim had to safe guard himself against shahzada ali gauhar (Bihar) ,who was constant source of danger for position of Qasim.

The compant thought they had found ideal puppet as Mir Qasim .

Mir Qasim was not Fit for Imperialism. The causes of conflict between Qasim and Company divided under two heads.

Immediate Cause
Real cause

Real cause was his political Ambitions.

Also read: Regional powers in 18th Century

To check the misuse of dastaks by Company’s servants, Mir Qasim decided to abolish the duties altogether but the British protested against this and insisted upon having preferential treatment as against other traders.

The Nawab-Company tussle over transit duty led to the outbreak of wars between the English and Mir Qasim in 1763.

The English gained successive victories at Katwah, Murshidabad, Giria, Sooty and Munger. (under Mr. Ellis)

Mir Qasim fled to Awadh and formed alliance with the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja- ud-daulah, and the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II, with a view to recover Bengal from the English.

The combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Awadh and Shah Alam II were defeated by the English forces under Major Hector Munro at Buxar on October 22, 1764 in a closely contested battle.

The importance of this battle lay in the fact that not only the Nawab of Bengal but also the Mughal Emperor of India was defeated by the English.

The victory made the English a great power in northern India and contenders for the supremacy over the whole country.

After the battle, Mir Jafar was again made the Nawab and Robert Clive concluded two important treaties at Allahabad in August 1765—one with the Nawab of Awadh and the other with the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.

Also read: The British conquest of India

Through the Treaty of Allahabad (1765):

Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula agreed to surrender Allahabad and Kara to Emperor Shah Alam II and pay Rs 50 lakh to the Company as war indemnity.

Clive did not want to annex Awadh and instead turned it into a buffer state.

Shah Alam II agreed to reside at Allahabad under the Company’s protection and issued a farman granting the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company. Thus the Treaty of Allahabad made the emperor a useful ‘rubber stamp’ of the Company.

Robert Clive set up the infamous dual system of government administration in Bengal after the Treaty of Allahabad (1765).

Also read: Significance of Plassey

Under the ‘dual’ or double government system,

the Company got both the Diwani (revenue) and nizamat (civil administration) functions of Bengal from two different sources- diwani from the Mughal emperor and nizamat from the nawab of Bengal.

Company appointed Two Deputy Diwans for exercising Diwani functions.

Mohd Reza Khan for Bengal
Raja Sitab Roy for Bihar

Under this system, the Nawab continued to handle the actual work of criminal, civil and police administration in lieu of a fixed payment by the Company.

This was a government system in which the native administrators held responsibility while the British enjoyed the authority or in other words, authority was completely divorced from responsibility.

This period was characterized by:

rampant corruption among servants of the Company who made full use of private trading to enrich themselves;

excessive revenue collection and oppression of peasantry;
the Company’s bankruptcy, while the servants were flourishing.

The Dual Government in Bengal failed miserably. It destroyed the trade, industry, and agriculture of Bengal.

The Company also did not remain unaffected by the evils of its administration. Its income both from revenue and trade suffered. The practice of private trade which remained the primary concern of its servants also proved disastrous to the fortunes of the Company.

Read Also: Battle of Plassey 1757

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