ahar the same authority as Mohammed Reza Khan had exercised in Bengal,
shared the same fate. Before giving directions for these arrests, the
company had come to the determination, that, whether innocent or guilty,
there should be no more in their offices, and that the departments of
revenue and finance, together with the department of law and
justice, should be placed in the hands of their own English servants.
Accordingly, Hastings swept the treasury, and the courts of law clean of
their old occupants, and the secondary direction of affairs was
placed in the hands of men who were enemies to Mohammed Reza Khan, and
creatures attached to his rival, Nuncomar. The clearance extended to
the young nabob's household, which was completely revolutionised and
changed. Ahteram-ul-Dowlah, his uncle, and the eldest existing male of
the family, petitioned to become his naib, or guardian, but this office
was conferred on the nabob's mother, Minnee Begum, who was originally
a dancing-girl, and who had been Meer Jaffier's concubine. At the same
time, Rajah Goordass, son of Nuncomar, was appointed dewan to the nabob,
whose duties were strictly to be confined to the household, and who was
to have nothing to do with the public business or public revenues of
Bengal. All these changes were effected without tumult, and the board
of directors expressed their entire approbation of all the appointments
which Hastings had made. After he had completed his reformation,
Mohammed Reza Khan and the Rajah Shitab Roy were brought to trial in
Calcutta, and although the court was of Hastings' own forming, and
extraordinary means had been adopted to prove their guilt, they were
both honourably acquitted: a proof that the motives of the board of
directors in ordering the arrest of Mohammed Reza Khan, and sanctioning
that of the Rajah Shitab Roy, were to get the whole power and the
government of the province into their own hands. From this time, indeed,
the public treasury and the superior courts of justice were placed under
English management, and the Nabob of Bengal was no longer nabob, except
in name. He resided at Moorshedabad, where he lived upon his annual
stipend, but the government of Bengal was conducted at Calcutta, which
Hastings considered now to be the capital of the province.

In his treaty with the Emperor Shah Alum, Clive had guaranteed that
potentate the quiet possession of Allahabad and Corah, with the annual
stipend of twenty-six lacs of r