ABSTRACT
The English now held in Bengal a position indistinguishable from that of the French in the Deccan. The Subahdar was of their making; their troops formed the only effective military force in the province; in so far as it might be expedient, their will was the determining voice in his counsels. The French had found this position liable to many inconveniences, the principal one of which was the jealousy which their predominance caused among the principal Muhammadans of the Deccan. But one difference between Bengal and the Deccan was that, whereas Nizam-ul-Mulk had chiefly employed Muhammadans in the higher posts of his administration, his contemporary in Bengal, Alivirdi Khan, had employed Hindus. These had to some extent survived Siraj-ud-daula’s reign, and in 1757 Rai Durlab was still Diwan, Ramnarayan was still the Nawab’s deputy in Behar.
