Salabat Jung - Conquest of Northern Circars By The French

Conquest of Northern Circars By The French

The acquisition of the Northern Circars is an important landmark in the history of the French in India. It placed at their disposal a contiguous territory of 470 miles of sea coast stretching from Orissa to the Coromandel Coast. These territories were also noted for their economic wealth; Machilipatnam was noted at this period for its dyeing and printing industry, while Rajahmundry abounded in rich teak forests. Srikakulam (Chicacole) was a rice producing area. The presence of the Eastern Ghats made this region unvulnerable to outside attack. The Eastern Ghats abounded in thick bamboo forests, and in those days of infantry and cavalry warfare, it was difficult for the enemy to penetrate through them.

The acquisition was made possible by the uprising of Syed Lashkar Khan who was bitterly opposed to the French predominance and other noblemen in the region. The treasury of the Nizam, was almost empty and the Nizam's troops had not been paid for six months. Salabat Jung found it still more difficult to pay the French detachment, and their pay was in arrears for two months. The French Sipahis, threatened to rebel, if their arrears were not paid, and Salabat Jung was forced to pay their salaries by raising a loan of 150,000 Rupees from the local Circars and from the revenue of Hyderabad. But the troops of the Nizam had to go without their pay. So, these soldiers started clamoring for the payment of their arrears and refused to go on the proposed Carnatic expedition unless their arrears were cleared. The general discontent was so great in the Nizam's army that even the nagar-beaters and camel drivers took a solemn oath not to proceed to the Carnatic until their salaries were paid. The Mughal soldiers openly went about saying, that the French were robbing the Nizam of his riches, which the family had accumulated for the past 60years, while the subjects of the Nizam, were starving. Their discontent was so great, that they went to the extent of threatening the life of Rumi Khan Fransisi, the agent of the French. De Bussy was ordered to ask Salabat Jung for the grant of the four Northern Circars, namely Ellore, Mustafanagar, Rajahmundry and Srikakulam (Chicaole), towards the maintenance of the French detachment.De Bussy, moved the matter with Salabat Jung, but Syed Lashkar Khan, saw, that the consideration of the matter was postponed for the time being and before Bussy could further move in the matter, he had to go to Machilipatnam on account of his illness.

Taking advantage of the financial distress of the Nizam and the general indiscipline that had crept into the French forces, Syed Lashkar Khan used all his ingenuity to make the French unpopular and their stay, untenable in the Deccan. He started exploring his moorings in a very cautious manner. Early in April 1753 he appealed to the British, to leave no stone unturned and to assist him to expel the French. The letter of Syed Lashkar Khan was intercepted by the spies of Dupleix but Syed Lashkar Khan, even after knowing it, did not desist from intriguing against the French. Though the plans of Syed Lashkar Khan against the French were welcome to the English, they could not send him any material help owing to their preoccupations in the Carnatic affairs. Syed Laskhar Khan tried to harass the French by with-holding their salaries. To the original detachment of 300 Europeans and 2000 Sipahis, Bussy added further a battalion of 5000 Sipahis, and all these were entirely under the personal command of Bussy. All together, their salaries amounted to, Rs.250,000, per month.

Bussy, accordingly started from Machilipatnam on June 25, 1753, and reached Hyderabad on July 15, 1753. He arrived in Hyderabad with the firm resolve not to leave the Deccan unless the financial condition of the Nizam warranted such a step. On his arrival he found that the French commandant Goupil was busy elsewhere, collecting the revenues, and that great confusion and disorder prevailed in the French ranks. He soon restored order and discipline among the 500 Europeans and 4000 Sipahis who were in Hyderabad and opened negotiations with the Qiladar, Mahmud Hussain. The latter, realizing that Bussy was not the man to mince matters, arranged the necessary money for the payment of the French troops. Bussy, cleared the arrears of pay of the troops partly by raising money from the Bankers and partly by advancing from his own private funds.

De Bussy, then called upon Goupil and Mainville to submit accounts of the money, so for, collected by the French troops. He found on a careful scrutiny of the accounts submitted that the French had over-reached themselves in collecting taxes, and that they extorted gratuities from the Nawabs and Palaiyakkarars (polygars) and oppressed the people in general. When Dupleix was informed of this he sent the following letter of admonition to the French officers;

“I have been informed that several of you have worried and tried the Nawab and other lords by the irksome demands for gratuities, almost always ill-founded. As such a procedure can be nothing else than extremely harmful to the transactions of the Company as also to the glory of the King and the nation, as it tends to bring disgust even to the very ones who much need out protection. It is absolutely essential to prohibit in the future all endeavors which have the slightest appearance of a solicitation and to forbid visits to the lords except after receiving the sanctum of the commander. Moreover, you arc warned, that you are all bound to consider yourself as being directly in the service of the kin? and the Company that you must deem yourself very fortunate to draw the higher salaries which you receive and that on no account yon should think of gratuities except in so far as circumstances may allow and that they shall be freely granted by those who have the power to do so. The King, the Company and I will it so and whosoever does not submit shall be a rebel.”

De Bussy realized that the irresponsible and arrogant manner of the French soldiers had alienated the people from them and that intrigues were afoot in the court against the French.Syed Lashkar Khan, the Marathas, especially Janu Nimbalkar and Raja Ram Chander, and the English at Fort St. George were interested in ousting, the French power from the Deccan. Syed Lashkar Khan, even after the arrival of Bussy, did not desist from plotting against the French. He induced Salabat Jung to write to Dupleix that the arrears, due lo the French troops must be deducted From the Rs.50,00,000 that Dupleix owed to the Nizam, as his deputy in the Carnatic. He also proposed that during the rainy season the French troops should be stationed at Machilipatnam so that they could collect the revenues with greater ease. Syed Lashkar Khan, though he advised the French in the above manner, at the same time sent secret instructions to the zamindars on the East Coast not to pay taxes to the French and to attack the French jagirs in the various districts. Encouraged by such messages, Raja Ram Chander of Ongole, seized Bandurti, with the help of the English.

Syed Lashkar Khan also put two younger brothers of Salabat Jung, Nizam Ali Khan and Basalat Jung into prison in the Fort of Daulatabad on the plea that the latter were intriguing with Mainville and ordered the French Commandant to return forthwith to Hyderabad.

He also made Salabat Jung to write to Bussy, suggesting that the French should stay, during the monsoons in Machilipatnam and that the Nizam would call them whenever he required their assistance. Apart from this, no sooner did he hear that Mahmud Hussain, the Qiladar of Hyderabad, had assisted Bussy in arranging the loans for the payment of the French troops, than he got him replaced by a new Governor. Seeing these maneuvers, De Bussy decided to deal with Syed Lashkar Khan, in a very drastic manner. He decided to adopt one of the following three courses; namely; to demand from the Nizam fresh territories lo maintain, the French forces and if the Subah refus¬ed to grant them, to seize certain territories and attach them to Machilipatnam which was under Moracin and inform Salabat Jung that those territories would be safe guarded by the French for the Nizam. But if either of these plans failed, Bussy, even decided to get the help of the Peshwa, against the Nizam in exchange for Surat being ceded to the Marathas. On being informed of these plans, Dupleix fully concurred with them and he sent to Bussy an additional force of 350 men. Of these, Bussy, dispatched 150 men to Machilipatnam, under the command of the Marquis of Conflans.

Feeling himself sufficiently strong, Bussy now decided to march against Aurangabad. Prior to this, he sent a letter to Salabat Jung, in which he reminded him that if he became the Deccan Subahdar it was mainly due to the efforts of the French.Saunders, the English Governor, remarked;

“The weakness of the Moors is now known and it is certain any European nation resolved to wage war on them with a tolerable force may overrun the whole country”.

De Bussy in Aurangabad in November 1753. His journey to Aurangabad was full of obstacles and he had to meet the silent opposition of the people, inspired by the maneuvers of Syed Lashkar Khan.Seeing this, Bussy decided to enter Aurangabad in full battle array; Syed Lashkar Khan seeing the preparations made by Bussy decided to yield and opened negotiations with the latter. On Bussy's arrival, Syed Lashkar Khan at the head of 21 nobles mounted on elephants went to receive him. Bussy, when he met them, contrived to arrange their order of arrival in such a manner that they had to dismount first as though doing obeisance to the French General.

On approaching Bussy, the Diwan, Syed Lashkar Khan dismounted from his elephant and bowed to the French General, seeing which, the other Deccan nobles followed suit. Bussy, getting down from his elephant embraced the Diwan. The latter then offered to surrender his official seals as a token of his resignation. Bussy, was shrewd enough to perceive that Syed Lashkar Khan was popular with the people, and whatever intrigues he had carried on against the French he had done for the noble purpose of ridding his country and his ruler of foreign domination. So Bussy, realized, that however much he desired to get rid of the minister, making him to resign openly was not the proper method. Hence he refused to accept the seals, and mildly hinted to the Diwan, that he would be satisfied with the cession of the Northern Circars to the French.

The Northern Circars, constituted the most fertile coastal strip of the Nizam's Dominions. They were watered by the three important rivers of the Deccan, the Krishna River, the Godavari and the Gundlakamma. Syed Lashkar Khan was loath to part with those fertile regions and he asked De Bussy, whether he would not be satisfied with territorial grants in the interior; but on finding that Bussy had set his heart on the acquisition of the Northern Circars alone, he gave way. On 23 November, a grand court was held at Aurangabad, and the treaty of Aurangabad, was signed between Salabat Jung and the French. By this treaty the four Northern Circars, Ellore, Mustafanagar (Kondapalli) Rajahmundry and Srikakulam (Chicacole) were granted to the French. The Sarkars were personally conferred on Bussy towards the maintenance of the French troops. It was also decided that the revenues of the Circars should be spent exclusively for disbursing the pay of the French troops.

At this period a Mughal Governor Jafar Ali, was in charge of the revenue administration of the Circars. So it was settled that if Jafar Ali, failed to remit the revenues to Bussy within the stipulated time, the sum should be made good from the treasury of the Nizam. Secondly, the safety of the person of Salabat Jung was entrusted to the care of the French, and further, it was agreed that the Nizam should not interfere in the administration of the Subah of Carnatic. It was also mutually agreed, that in matters of general administration also, the Nizam should govern the country in accordance with the wishes of De Bussy. Bussy in his turn agreed to support and befriend Syed Lashkar Khan. Soon after receiving the patent for the Sarkars, Bussy, instructed the French agent at Machilipatnam to take charge of those territories, and he dispatched 150 Europeans and 2500 Sipahis to French commander Moracin at Machilipatnam, to bring those territories under the French control.