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In 1765 British adventurer and administrator Clive of India, negotiated a firman or edict from the Moghul Emperor Shah Alam giving the British East India Company the right to collect the revenues of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. What was the comment of a Muslim onlooker to the arrangement?

Answer: He bitterly remarked, the whole transaction ‘was done and finished in less time than would have been taken up on the sale of a jackass’.

Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McCreedy

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