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Indian Freedom Struggle (1707–1947 A.D.)

Notes and issued proclamations of peace and security in his own name. He sent a message to Raja Rajballab
to bring back the Emperor to Azimabad Patna, whilst he himself afterwards set out for Azimabad, in
order to wait on the Emperor, after attending to and reassuring his army, and making some settlement
in regard to their arrears of pay. Leaving his uncle, Mir Turab Ali Khan, as Deputy Nazim in
Murshidabad, Mir Qasim carried with himself all his effects, requisites, elephants, horses, and treasures
comprising cash and jewelleries of the harem, and even gold and silver decorations of the Imambara,
amounting to several lakhs in value, and bade farewell to the country of Bengal. After arriving at
Monghyr (Munger), and attending to the work of strengthening its fortifications, he marched to
Azimabad (Patna), in order to wait on the Emperor. Before Mir Qasim’s arrival at Azimabad, the
Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II had returned to that place, and the English going forward to receive
him had accommodated His Majesty in their Factory. Subsequently, Qasim Ali Khan also arrived,
had the honour of an audience with the Emperor, and received from the latter the title of Nawab Ali Jah
NaSiru-l-mulk Imtiazu-d-daulah Qasim Ali Khan Nasrat Jang. But the officers of the Emperor marking
some change in the conduct of Qasim Ali Khan marched back with the Emperor to Benaras, without
giving any intimation thereof to the aforesaid Khan. Nawab Qasim Ali Khan followed them up to the
confines of Buxar and Jagadishpur, and after pillaging those places returned to Azimabad, halted at the
residence of Ram Narain, and set himself to the work of administration of the affairs of that place.
Conflict with British
Upon ascending the throne, Mir Qasim repaid the British with lavish gifts. To please the British, Mir
Qasim robbed everybody, confiscated lands, reduced Mir Jafar’s purse and depleted the treasury. He
also transferred the districts of Burdwan, Midnapur and Chittagong to the British East India Company.
However, he soon tired of British interference and endless avarice and like Mir Jafar before him,
yearned to break free of the British. He shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger in present
day Bihar where he raised an independent army, financing them by streamlining tax collection.
He opposed the British East India Company’s position that their imperial Mughal licence (dastak)
meant that they could trade without paying taxes (other local merchants with dastaks were required
to pay up to 40% of their revenue as tax). Frustrated at the British refusal to pay these taxes, Mir
Qasim abolished taxes on the local traders as well. This upset the advantage that the British traders
had been enjoying so far, and hostilities built up. After losing a number of skirmishes, Mir Qasim
overran the Company offices in Patna in 1763, killing several Europeans including the Resident. Mir
Qasim allied with Shuja-ud-Daula of Avadh and Shah Alam II, the itinerant Mughal emperor, who
were also threatened by the British. However, their combined forces were defeated in the Battle of
Buxar in 1764, ceding control of the rich Ganges plain to the British.
The short campaign of Mir Qasim was significant as a direct fight against British outsiders by native
Bengali. Unlike Siraj-ud-Daulah before him, Mir Qasim was an effective and popular ruler. Their
success at Buxar established the British as conquerors of Bengal in a much more real sense than the
Battle of Plassey seven years earlier.
Mir Qasim was defeated by during the Battle of Murshidabad, Battle of Gherain and the Battle of
Oondwa Nullah.
Death
Plundered of most of his treasures, placed on a lame elephant and expelled by Shuja-ud-Daula after
he had been routed at the Battle of Buxar, 23 October 1764; he fled to Rohilkhand, Allahabad, Gohad
and Jodhpur, eventually settling at Kotwal, near Delhi in 1774.
Mir Qasim died in obscurity and abject poverty possibly from dropsy, at Kotwal, near Delhi on 8
May 1777. His two shawls, the only property left by him, had to be sold to pay for his funeral.

1.4 Clive’s 2nd Governorship and English in Bengal from 1757-1772

Settlement of Bengal the Dual System: Clive’s solution of the political tangle of Bengal was the
setting up of the infamous Dual System whereby the Company acquired real power while the
responsibility for administration rested on the shoulders of the Nawab of Bengal.

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