Treaty of Allahabad between Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Lord Clive of British East India Company (16/08/1765)

The Treaty of Allahabad

In re : Granted Diwani rights to the East India Company

Dated August 16, 1765

Between

Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II of Bengal….FIRST PART

and

Lord Clive of the British East India Company…….SECOND PART

Whereas the Right Honourable Robert Lord Clive, baron Clive of Plassey, Companion on the most Honourable Order of the Bath, Major General and Commander of the Forces, President of the council and Governor of Fort-William, and of all the settlements belonging to the united Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies in the provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa ; and John Carnac Esquire, Brigadier General, Colonel in the service of the said Company, and commanding officer of their forces upon the Bengal establishment, are invested with full and ample powers, on the behalf of his Excellency the Nabob Najim al Dowlah, Subahdar of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and likewise on behalf of the united Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies, to negotiate, settle, and finally to conclude a firm and lasting peace with his Highness the Nabob Sujah al Dowlah, Vizier of the Empire :

Be it known to all those to whom it may or shall in any manner belong, that the above-named plenipotentiaries have agreed upon the following articles with his Highness.

1st. A perpetual and universal peace, sincere friendship, and firm union shall be established between his Highness Sujah al Dowlah and his heirs, on the one part, and his Excellency Najim al Dowlah, and the English East India Company, on the other, so that the said contracting powers shall give their greatest attention to maintain between themselves, their dominions, and their subjects, this reciprocal friendship, without permitting, on either side, any kind of hostilities to be committed from henceforth for any cause, or under any pretence whatsoever ; and every thing shall be carefully avoided, which might hereafter prejudice the union now happily established.

2d. In case the dominions of his Highness Sujah al Dowlah shall at any time hereafter by attacked, his Excellency Najim al Dowlah and the English Company, shall assist him with a part or the whole of their forces, according to the exigency of his affairs, and so far as may be consistent with their own security ; and if the dominions of his Excellency Najim al Dowlah, or the English Company, shall be attaked, his Highness shall in like maner assist them ith a part or the whole of his forces ; in the case of the English Company’s forces being employed in his Highness’s service, the extraordinary expence of the same is to be defrayed by him.

3d. His Highness solemnly engages never to entertain Coffim Aly khawn, the late Subahdar of Bengal, &c. Sumroo the assassin of the English, nor any of the European deserters within his dominions, nor to give the least countenance, support, or protection to them : he likewise solemnly engages to deliver up to the English whatever Europeans may in future desert from this into his country.

4th. The King, Shah Allum, shall remain in full possession of Cora, and such part of the province of Illahabad as he now possesses, which are ceded to his Majesty as a royal demesne for the support of his dignity and expences.

5th. His Highness Sujah al Dowlah engaged, in the most solemn manner, to continue Bulwant Sing in the Zemindaries of Banaras, Ghazipoew, and all those districts he possessed at the time he came over to the late Nabob Jaffier Ally Khawn and the English, on condition of his paying the same revenue as heretofore.

6th. In consideration of the great expence incurred by the English Company in carrying on the late war, his Highness agrees to pay them (fifty) 50 lacks of rupees, in the following manner, viz. (twelve) 12 lacks in money, and a deposit of jewels, to the amountof eight lacks, upon the signing of this treaty ; (five) 5 lacks one month after, and the remaining (twenty-five) 25 lacks by monthly payments, so as that the whole may be discharged in (thirteen) 13 monts from the date hereof.

7th. It being firmly resolved to restore his Highness the country of Banaras, and the other districts now rented by Bulwant Sing, notwithstanding the grant of the same from THE KING to the English Company ; it is therefore agreed that they shall be ceded to His Highness in manner following, viz. They shall remain in the hands of the English Company with their revenues, till the expiration of the agreement between the Rajah Bulwant Sing and the Company, being on the 27th November next ; after which his Highness shall enter into possession, th fort of Chunar excepted, which is not to be evacuated until the 6th article of this treaty be fully complied with.

8th. his Highness shall allow the English Company to carry on trade, duty free, throughout the whole of his dominions.

9th. All the relations and subjects of his Highness, who in any manner assissted the English during the course of the late war, shall be forgiven, and no ways molested for the same.

10th. As soon as this treaty is executed, the English forces shall be withdrawn from the dominions of his Highness, excepting such as may be necessary for the garrison of Chunar, or for the defence and protection of THE KING in the city of Illahabad, if his Majesty should require a force for that purpose.

11th. his Highness the Nabob Sujah al Dowlah, his Excellency the Nabob Najim al Dowlah, and the English Company, promise to observe sincerely all the articles contained and settled in the present treaty ; and they will not suffer the same to be infringed, directly or indirectly, by their respective subjects ; and the said contracting powers generally and reciprocally guarantee to each other all the stipulations of the present treaty.

(Sealed and approved

by THE EMPEROR.)

CLIVE, JOHN CARNAC, SUJAH AL DOWLAH’s Seal and Ratification, MIRZA COSSIM KHAWN, RAJAH SHETTABROY, MEER MASHA ALLAH,

Signed, sealed, and solemnly sworn to, according to their respective faiths, by the contracting parties at Illahabad, this 16th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1765, in the presence of us,—- EDMUND MASKELYNE, ARCHIB. SWINTON, GEORGE VANSITTART.

Fort-William,

September 30th 1765.

A true Copy.

sd/-

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL

Source: William Bolts, Considerations on India Affairs; Particularly Respecting the Present State of Bengal Dependencies (1772), Appendix No. XVII