❍ British Rule in India Short Introduction :
The British conquest of India may be said to have begun with the battle of
Plassey fought in Bengal in 1757. Let us, therefore, first analyze the
historical forces and factors which led to the battle of Plassey, which in
turn opened the way for the ultimate conquest of Bengal. Among India’s
provinces, Bengal was the most fertile and the richest. The East India Company
established a factory at Hugli in Bengal in AD 1651 under Bridgeman. This was
followed by the opening of more factories at Patna and CassimBazar. As the
staples of commerce in Bengal could not be purchased near the coast, they had
to be procured from places lying far up the waterways of the Province.
Consequently, the Company was subject to payment of tolls at numerous customs
posts and meeting the demands of local officers.
In the seventeenth century, the principal articles of the English trade in
Bengal were silk, cotton goods, saltpeter, and sugar. The Company did not
derive much advantage from trade in Bengal owing to the irregular private
trade of the factors of the Company. Things changed in the eighteenth century.
The Company’s trade and influence steadily expanded during the first forty
years of the eighteenth century, in spite of the political disorders of the
period. The most notable event in the history of the Company during this
period was the sending of its embassy to the Mughal court in AD 1715. It was
conducted from Calcutta by John Surman. The object was to secure some villages
around Kalikata and also some concessions throughout Mughal India. Hamilton,
who joined the embassy as a surgeon, cured the emperor Farrukh Siyar of a
painful disease. The emperor, who was pleased with this, at once granted the
request of the Company
About this time, the question of additional fortification of Calcutta assumed
immense proportions. As in other parts of India, the English and French had
established their settlements in Bengal close to each other. The English
established their settlements at Calcutta and the French at Chandernagore. At
times, the French and the English fought each other, whenever a war broke out
between them in Europe, even if their relations in India were cordial. In AD
1756, there was a possibility of the outbreak of hostilities between them in
Europe. The English, therefore, mounted guns on the old fort, more as a
measure of protection against the French than as a prelude to a war against
the Nawab. They did not stop at that. They commenced additional
fortifications. What irritated the Nawab most was not so much the
fortifications themselves, but the manner in which they were done. The English
did not take prior permission from the Nawab. The fortifications were sought
to be completed without his knowledge. Siraj-ud-daulah, who was administering
the state at that time on account of the illness of Alivardi, justifiably
regarded the actions of the English as an infringement of the Nawab’s
sovereignty. Further, he had before him the example of the Nawab of Karnatak,
who suffered on account of the Anglo-French struggle in the Karnatak. He did
not, therefore, want the English and the French to fight in his dominions and
thereby undermine his authority as they had done in the case of the Nawab of
Karnataka. So he ordered the English as well as the French to demolish their
fortifications at Calcutta and Chandernagore respectively. The French obeyed
immediately. But the English did not oblige Siraj-ud-daulah.