UNIV
THE
VOLUME I.
ID
THE
HISTORY OF INDIA,
THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE CLOSE OF
LORD DALHOUSIE'S ADMINISTRATION.
BY
JOHN CLARK MARSHMAN.
li/
VOL. I.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, READER & DYER.
1867.
[The right of Translation is reserved, ~[
-1
PRINTED BX HARBISON AND SONS,
ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
The compilation of this work was undertaken
at the request of the University of Calcutta, to assist
the studies of those who were desirous of competing
for its honours. The author has been encouraged
to publish an edition in this country on the kind
assurance of friends, that it may also be found useful
by those who are in search of a brief and compen-
dious narrative of the progress of the British empire
in India. So far as historical truth can be discovered
he is prepared to vouch for the accuracy of the facts
detailed in it, and he is not without a hope that
his efforts to present an impartial and trustworthy
opinion on the various transactions which have been
the subject and the sport of party-feeling, may be
found not altogether unsuccessful.
January 1st, 1867.
For the information of the English reader, it is
requisite to intimate that a crore of rupees is a million
sterling ; a lac of rupees, 10,000. ; a gold mohur, 32s. ;
a pagoda, 8s. ; and a rupee, 2s. ; also that a maun is
equivalent to 82 Ibs., and a seer to 2 Ibs.
CONTENTS
THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY TO THE GHUZNI INVASION.
Page
Boundaries and divisions of India 1
Hindostan and the Deccan .... .... .... .... .... 1
Chronology of the Hindoos ~. 2
Early history of the Hindoos .. 2
Ten divisions and ten languages 4
The Vedus 5
Jlunoo .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 5
The solar and the lunar race 6
Earau 6
The great war celebrated in the Muhabharut .., 7
The battle of Kooroo-kshetru .... 8
Influence of Ramu's expedition and the great war 9
The Takshuk invasion 9
Expedition of Darius .... 10
Eeligion of Boodh, spread of Boodhism 11
Expedition of Alexander the Great .... .... .... .... 12
H is progress and return ... It
His great projects and death !<*
Kundu, Chundra-goopta .... .... .... .... .... .... 15
'The Mugudu kingdom 16
The Ugnikools 17
Expulsion of the Boodhists .... 18
Cave temnles of India 19
Vikramadityu ... 19
The birth of Jesus Christ 20
The Andras . 20
ri CONTENTS,
Date. Page
Early history of the Deccau , .... 21
The Pandyas and the Cholas 21
Kerula, Telingana, Orissa, and Maharaatru ... 22
Rajpoots of Chittore 23
Mahomed 24
Early Mahomedan invasions 25
War between the Mahomedans and Chittore 26
The Cunouj Brahmins in Bengal 26
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE DYNASTY OF GHCZNI TO THAT OF TOGHLUK.
10091321.
Movements in Khorasan and Cabul 27
976 Subuktugeen .... -. 28
Invasion of Jeypal repelled 28
997 Death of Subuktugeen .... 29
Mahmood mounts the throne of Ghuzni 29
1001 His first expedition to India 30
1004 Second expedition 30
1005 Third expedition .... 30
1008 Fourth expedition; Hindoo confederacy defeated 31
Capture of Nugarcote ... .... .... .... .... .... 31
1011 Sixth expedition; Thanesur 31
1017 Ninth expedition ; capture of Cunouj 32
1024 Twelfth expedition ; plunder of Somnath 33
1030 Death of Mahmood .... 34
His character 35
1030 1040 Musaood; his conflict with the Seljuka 36
1040 1118 Succession of seven monarchs 37
1118 Byram ; his quarrel with Ghore 38
1152 The House of Gliuzni retires to India under Khusro .... .... 39
1186 The House of Ghuzni extinguished in the reign of Khusro
Malik 39
Antecedents of the House of Ghore 39
1152 Alla-ood-deea gives up the city of Ghuzni to plunder ... .... 40
1157 Gheias-ood-deen mounts the throne, and associates his brother
Shahab-ood-deen (Mahomed of Ghore,) with him in the
government ... .... .... .... .... .... .... 40
1191 State of the Hindoo princes 41
Bhoje raja ... 4-2
Mahomed Ghore defeated by the Hindoos .. 43
1193 He conquers Delhi and Ajmere .. .... .... .... .... 44
1194 Conquest of Cunouj ; emigration of the Rathores .... .... 45
1203 Conquest of Behar and Bengal ... ... 45
1206 Death of Mahomed Ghory ; extent of his territories; he utterly
demolishes the Hindoo power in Hindostan .. .... ... 46
1206 Kootub-ood-deen establishes an independent Mahomedan
sovereignty at Delhi 47
1211 Altumsh, the slave of Kootub, ascends the throne 48
1219 Conquests o; the Moguls under Jenghis Khan .... 48
CONTENTS. Vll
Date. Page
1236 Death of Altnmsh ~ ~. ~. .... 50
Sultana Rezia on the throne ; her abilities, weakness, and death 50
1246 Nazir-ood-deen sovereign ; Bulbun vizier 50
1266 Bulbun succeeds to the throne ; his virtuous reign 51
1279 Expedition against Bengal .... ... .... .... .... 52
1288 Kei-kobad's atrocities bring the dynasty to an end 53
1288 Feroze Ghiljie establishes a new dynasty - ; ;3
1294 Alla-ood-deen's invasion of the Deccaa .. 53
1295 He assassinates his father and mounts the throne .... .... 54
1297 Expedition to Guzerat 55
1303 Capture of Chittore 5
1305 1306 Mogul invasions of India 56
1306 Renewed expedition to the Deccan ... 57
1310 Farther invasion of the Deccan; extinction of the Hindoo
dynasty of Belial .. ... 57
1311 Kafoor carries the Mogul arms to the extremity of the Deccan,
and returns laden with booty ... ... 58
1316 Mobarik succeeds to the throne, is assassinated, and Ghazee
Toghluk extinguishes the dynasty 59
CHAPTER III.
FROM THE ACCESSION op THE HOUSE OP TOGHLUK TO THE ESTABLISHMENT
OP THE MOGULS, 1321 1526.
1321 Ghazee Toghluk 60
1323 Conquest of Telingana, and capture of Warungole 60
1325 A cce sion of Mahomed Toghluk; his wild character .... .... 61
He attempts to conquer China and fails .... .... .... 61
His tyrauny and exactions .... .... .... .... .... 62
1338 He attempts to remove the capital to Dowlutabad 62
1340 Revolt of the provinces 63
1344 A new Hindoo dynasty established in Telingana 63
Hindoo kingdom established at Beejuynugur .... .... .... 63
1347 General rebellion in the Deccan 64
135; Death of Mahomed Toghluk 64
Feroze Toghluk ; his public works .... .... .... .... 64
1394 General anarchy and dissolution of the monarchy .... .... 65
1395 1400 Four independent kingdoms 65
1398 Invasion of Timur 66
He plunders Delhi, and retires beyond the Indus 07
1414 Khi/Jr Khan Syud, founds a new dynasty .... .... .... 68
1450 The Syud dynasty extinguished by Beloli Lodi 68
Rise of the Lodi family ... .... .... .... .... .... 69
1478 Jounpore reannexed to the throne of Delhi .... .... .... 70
1488 Secundur Lodi, his bigotry and intolerance ... 70
1517 Ibrahim Lodi succeeds to the throne; general revolt of the
provinces .... ... .. .... 71
1401 Sultan Dilawur founds the independent kingdom of Malwa .... 71
1396 Mo/.ufler Shah becomes independent in Guzerat 72
1435-HS2 Reign of Mahtnood Khan Ghiljie in Malwa 72
VU1 CONTENTS.
Date. Paore
1456 Alliance between Malwa and Guzerat for the conquest of
Chittore 73
1482 Seraglio of Gheias-ood-deen of Malwa 73
1459151 1 Reign of the great Mahomed Shah of Guzerat 74
1512 Mahmood the Second of Malwa .. 75
Grandeur of Rana Sunga of Chittore 76
1526 Extinction of the kingdom of Malwa 77
1349 Hussun Guneu, first Bahminy king 77
1358 Conflict of Mahomed Bahminy with Beejuynugar 78
13971435 Reigns of Feroze and Ahmed Shah 79
1435 A lla-ood-deen's wars with the Hindoos 80
1463 Mahomed Shah Bahminy ^ 81
1481 His great minister, Mahmood Gawan. executed by his orders ... 82
1482 The Bahminy kingdom crumbles away, and five states formed
out of it 83
Rise of the Portuguese power 84
1497 Vasco de Gama conducts the first expedition to India .... 85
1499 Second voyage under Cabral .... .... .... .... .... 86
1502 Vasco de Gaina's second voyage .... 87
1508 Almeyda's naval actions 88
15071515 Albuquerque .... _ 89
CHAPTER IV.
MOGUL DYNASTY. BABEB TO AKBAB. 1526 1605.
Early career of Baber 91
1519 1526 His five expeditions to India 92
1526 Baber enters Delhi 93
State of India on Baber's accession 93
1527 Defeat of Rana Sunga 94
1529 Baber attacks Chunderee 95
1530 His death and character ^. 95
Humayoon succeeds to the throne 96
1533 He overruns Guzerat .... .... .... .... .... .... 97
1537 Tragic death of Bahadoor Shah of Guzerat 97
Origin of Shere Khan Afghan ... 98
1539 He defeats Humayoon ... 98
1540 Humayoon flies across the Indus .... 99
1542 Birth of Akbar 99
1540 1545 Illustrious reign of Shere Shah; his death 100
1545 1554 His two successors; the crown lost to the family .... 101
1543 Humayoon retreats to Candahar and Persia 102
1555 He recrosses the Indus, and regains the throne of Delhi .... 103
1556 His death 103
Accession of Akbar 103
Defeat and death of Hemu 104
1560 Arrogance and fall of Byram 104
Revolt of Akbar's generals 106
1564 Heroism of Doorgawuttee, a Hindoo princess 107
1566 Revolt of Akbar's brother 107
1567 Complete subjugation of the disaffected generals 107
CONTENTS. IX
Date. Page
Matrimonial alliances with the royal Eajpoot families .... 108
1568 Capture of Chittore 108
Singular mode in which it is commemorated 109
1572 Conquest of Guzerat 109
1550 Orissa conquered by the Affghans of Bengal .... .... .... 110
1576 Conquest of Bengal by Akbar Ill
1577 Revolt of the Mogul Officers in Bengal 112
1560 Destruction of the city of Gour 113
1587 Conquest of Cashmere 113
Attempt to curb the Khyberees 114
1591 1594 Conquest of Sinde and Guzerat 114
History of the Deccan in the 16th century ; the five kingdoms
of Beder, Berar, Golconda, Beejapore, and Ahmednugur .... 115
Rise and growing importance of the Mahrattas 115
1565 Hindoo kingdom of Beejuynugur extinguished at the battle of
Tellicotta 116
Portuguese during the 16th century 117
The great Beejapore gun 117
1570 Combined attack on Goa ... 118
1594 Complete pacification and settlement of Hindostan by Akbar 119
1595 Akbar's views on the Deccan ... .... 119
He enters the state of Ahmednugur ; the city defended by
Chand Sultana 120
1596 She cedes Berar and makes peace 121
] 597 Doubtful battle of Soneput ^. 121
1599 Akbar goes in person to the Deccse 121
1600 Capture of Ahmednugur 121
1601 Candesh absorbed 121
1605 Akbar's death and character 122
His religious views and toleration; his revenue reforms and
military system, and his Court .... .... .... .... 124
Division of the empire into soubahs ^. 124
CHAPTER V.
JEHANGEEB AND SHAH JEHAN, 1605 1658.
1605 Jehangeer ascends the throne .... .... 125
1606 Rebellion of Khusro 126
1611 Marriage of Jehangeer with Noor Jehan 127
Talents of Malik Amber ; he defeats Jehangeer 128
1614 Subjugation of Oodypoore .... .... .... .... .... 129
1615 Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to Delhi 129
1617 Second expedition against Malik Amber 130
1621 Death of Khusro 131
Empress alienated from Shah Jehan 131
1623 Mohabet sent against him 131
1625 Empress's hatred of Mohabet 132
1626 Mohabet seizes the emperor .... 133
Empress fights him, and is defeated 133
She is reconciled to him j release of Jehangeer 134
1627 His death and character ... 134
CONTENTS.
Date. Pa~*
Acesssion of Shah Jehan .... .... lt>4
His extravagant expenditure 135
Condition of the kingdoms of Beejapore, Ahmednugur, and
Golconda 135
16291637 Revolt of Jehan Lodi ; war kindled in the Deccan .... 136
1637 The kingdom of Ahmednugur extinguished 137
The emperor's accommodation with Beejapore 137
Golconda submits to pay tribute 137
Portuguese power in Bengal .... .... .... .... .... 138
1632 Capture of Hooghly and extinction of the Portuguese power.... 138
1637 Ali Merdan betrays Candahar to the emperor 139
His canal 139
1644 1647 Military operations beyond the Indus 139
Services of the Rajpoots in the Hindoo Kosh 140
1648 Persians retake Candahar ; three unsuccessful attempts to re-
cover it .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 140
1655 Aurungxebe viceroy of the Deccan; renews the war with its
princes 141
Career and talents of Meer Joomla 142
1656 Aurungzebe attacks Golconda ; plunders and burns Hyderabad;
exacts a large tribute ... 143
1657 Unprovoked attack on Beejapore; he is obliged suddenly to
proceed to Delhi 143
The four sons of Shah Jehan ... 144
Aurungzebe moves with Morad towards Delhi .... .... 144
Soojah takes the field, and is defeated by Dara 145
1658 Dara defeated by Aurungzebe 145
Aurungzebe deposes Shah Jehan and ascends the throne of
Delhi 145
Character of Shah Jehan 145
His peacock throne .... .... .... .... .... .... 14d
CHAPTER VI.
ADRDNGZEBE, 1658 1707.
1658 Aurungzebe gets rid of his three brothers .... 147
1662 His dangerous illness ; intrigues at the Court .... 149
Meer Joomla's disastrous expedition to Assam, 149
Rise and progress of the Mahrattas .... .... .... .... 150
The Mahrattas trained to war during the contests between
Beejapore and Ahmednugur 151
1594 Birth of Shahjee 151
1620 He succeeds to the jaygeer of Poona 152
1634 He endeavours to create a king of Ahmednugur 152
1627 Birth of Sevajee ; his early habits 152
1646 Begins his career by capturing Torna 153
1649 His constant aggressions ; his father seized as a hostage .... 153
1657 His correspondence with Anrungzebe 154
He plunders the Mogul territories 155
1659 Auruugzebe cedes the Coucan to him 155
King of Beejapore sends Afzul Khan to subdue him 155
CONTENTS. XI
Date. Page
Afzul Khan treacherously murdered 156
1662 The extent of Sevajee's possessions 157
Shaista Khan sent by Aurungzebe against Sevajee 157
1664 Sevajee plunders Surat 158
Great commercial wealth of that port .... 358
Death and possessions of Shahjee 159
Maritime exploits of Sevajee 159
1665 He submits to Aurungzebe ^ .... 160
Origin" of the chout ~ 160
1666 Sevajee goes to Delhi ; treated with hauteur 161
His civil and military institutions 162
16661670 Prosperous state of the Mogul empire 162
Aurungzebe breaks with Sevajee, who proceeds to levy cliout, 1<33
1671 Jinjeerah made over to the Moguls 163
1673 Aurungzebe baffled in the Khyber .... 164
1674 Sevajee assumes royalty with great pomp 167
1676 His expedition to the Carnatic .... .... .... .... .... 167
1676 Insurrection of the Sutnaramees 164
Iti77 Aurungzebe persecutes the Hindoos ; imposes the jezzia .... 165
1678 Revolt of the Rajpoots in consequence 166
1679 Aurungzebe attacks Beejapore 169
1680 Death and character of Sevajee 169
He is succeeded by Sambajee 170
1683 Aurungzebe's grand expedition to the Deccan; his splendid
camp ... 172
1684 He invades the Concan and is repulsed 172
1686 Invasion of Beejapore, and plunder of Hyderabad 173
Conquest and extinction of the kingdom of Beejapore .... 174
1687 Conquest and extinction of Golconda 174
Confusion in the Deccan 175
1689 Sambajee made prisoner and put to death .... 176
Sahoo becomes king ; Eam-raja regent, retires to Ginjee .... 177
1692 Extensive Mahratta depredations 177
Comparison of the Mahratta and the Mogul armies 178
1690 1698 Siege of Ginjee 178
1698 Eam-raja returns and makes Satara his capital 179
1700 New military plans of Aurungzebe 179
1702 1707 His increasing embarrassments 180
1706 He makes overtures to the Mahrattas 181
He returns to Ahmednugur pursued by them 181
1707 Death of Aurungzebe ; remarks on his reign .... 181
CHAPTER VII.
FBOM THE DEATH OP AURUNGZEBE TO THE INVASION OF NADIB SHAH,
17071739.
1707 Bahadoor Shah ascends the throne 182
1708 Dissensions among the Mahrattas 183
Daood Khan grants the chout to the Mahrattas .... .... 184
Origin and progress of the Sikhs 184
1712 Bahadoor Shah marches against them ; his death 185
Jehander Shah's brief reign .... 185
Xli CONTENTS.
Date. Paga
1713 Ferokshere ascends the throne of Delhi 185
Origin and progress of Nizam-ool-moolk 186
1714 Balajee Vishwunath becomes Peshwa .... .... .... .... 187
Hussein Ali, viceroy of the Deccan ., 187
Death of Daood Khan .... 187
1717 Hussein grants the chout by a convention to the Mahrattas .... 188
Remarks on this event 188
1718 Ferokshere put to death 189
1719 Accession of Mahomed Shah 189
1720 Revolt of Nizam-ool-moolk 190
Hussein Ali assassinated ... .... .... .... .... .... 190
Mahomed Shah abolishes the jezzia 190
1721 Origin of the royal family of "Oude .... 191
1723 Nkarn-ool-moolk, independent viceroy of the Deccan .... 191
1720 Death of Balajee Vishwumth 192
Bajee Rao, Peshwa .... .... .... .... .... .... 192
Affairs of Guzerat 193
1729 Bnjee Rao obtains the chout of Guzerat 193
1730 The two Mahratta royal families 194
1730 Origin of the Guickwar Family 195
Origin of the family of Sindia .... .... .... .... .... 195
Origin of the family of Holkar 195
1731 Convention between the Nizam and Bajee Rao 195
1736 Malwa ceded to Bajee Rao .... 196
Bajee Rao's exorbitant demands; he marches to the gates of
Delhi 196
1737 The Nizam defeated by Bajee Rao at Bhopal 197
Nadir Shah's antecedents and career 198
He invades Afghanistan and India 199
1739 He orders the massacre at Delhi 200
He plunders Delhi and the provinces .... .... .... .... 200
State of India after his invasion 201
CHAPTER VII.
RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH, 16001756.
The English in India before 1600 202
1599 Formation of the East India Company 203
Their first adventures .. 204
Power of the Portuguese at this period 204
1613 Firmans granted by the Eiaperor 205
1615 Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe 205
1620 First settlement in Benaal 206
1636 Privileges obtained by Mr. Boughton 2U6
1639 First establishment of the factory at Madras 207
1658 Cromwell grants a new charter to the Company .... .... 207
1661 Charter granted by Charles the Second 208
1662 Acquisition of Bombay 208
1668 Introduction of Tea into England 208
1664 French East India Company established 209
1667 The Dutch begin to trade with Bengal 209
1667 The Danes establish a factory in Bengal , 209
CONTENTS. XI11
Date. Page
1682 Bengal erected by the East India Company into a Presidency 210
Disturbance of the English trade in Beu.iral ... 210
1685 The Company go to war with the Great Mogul 211
1688 Bengal abandoned by the Company 212
1690 Eeconciliation with the Emperor 213
1690 August 24th, Charnock returns; foundation of Calcutta .... 214
1690 Ambition of the Court of Directors quenched for 50 years .... 215
1695 Fortification of Calcutta 215
1698 Rival East India Company; mutual injury 216
Depredation of Captain Kidd, the pirate 218
1700 Embassy of Sir W. Norris to the Emperor 2)8
1702 Union of the two Companies .... 219
Constant contests between the Soobadar of Bengal and the
Company's agents from 1700 to 1756 219
Moorshed Koolee Khan, viceroy of the three soubahs .... 221
1715 Embassy from Calcutta to Delhi 221
Mr. Hamilton disinterestedly obtains great privileges for the
Company 222
1715 Financial system of Moorshed Koolee Khan 223
1725 His death 223
Succeeded by Soojah-ood-deen 223
The Ostend East India Company 224
1739 Death of Soojah ood-deen ' 224
' 1740 Ali verdy Khan seizes the government 224
1739 Disputes between Bajee Rao Peshwa and Rughoojee Bhonslay 225
Rughoojee's expedition to the Carnatic 225
1740 Death of Bajee Rao 226
1740 Balajee Bajee Rao, Peshwa 226
1741 Invasion of Bengal by the Berar Mahrattas 227
1742 The Mahratta Ditch of Calcutta .... 227
1744 Continued Mahratta depredations ' 228
1745 Rebellion of Mustapha, the general of Ali verdy 228
1751 Ali verdy purchases peace by ceding Orissa to the Mahrattas,
and agreeing to pay chant .... ... .... 229
1710 Daood Khan appoints Sadutoola governor of the Carnatic .... 229
1732 On his death Dost Ali succeeds to the post 229
1736 Dost Ali defeated and killed by the Mahrattas 230
1741 Chunda Sahib sent prisoner to Satara .... 230
1740 The Nizam moves into the Carnatic, appoints Anwar-ood-deen
governor of the province, who founds the family of the
" Nabob of Arcot" 231
CHAPTER IX.
EFFORTS OP THE FRENCH TO ESTABLISH AN EMPIRE IN INDIA,
17461761.
1744 War between the English and the French 231
Labourdonnais' previous career .... .. .... .... .... 232
1746 Arrives off the coast with a large armament .... .... .... 232
Dupleix's early career 233
Labonrdonnais captures Madras.... 233
Fate of Labourdonnais on his return to France ... . 234
XIV CONTENTS.
Date. Page
Defeat of the Nabob's army by a handful of French troops .... 235
1747 Dupleix besieges Fort St. David; the Nabob changes sides and
joins him ... .. ... 236
1748 Fruitless siege of Pondicherry by Admiral Boscawen 237
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle terminates the war 238
1749 Expedition to Devi-cotta '^38
'J he ambitious designs of Dupleix 239
1748 Death of Nizam-ool-moolk 240
Nazir Jung sets up as K izam 240
He defeats Anwar ood-deen, who is killed in battle 240
1749 The English first espouse the cnuse of his son Mahomed AH ... 241
Mozuffer Jung and Clurnda Sahib besiege Tanjore 242
They are defeated by Nazir Jung 242
Dupleix's skilful manoeuvres 243
Nazir Jung attacked and killed by the French 243
1750 Mozuffer made Nizam by them 244
He appoints Dupleix governor of all the di.-tii'jts south of the
Kistna .. .. .... 244
1751 Mo/uffer Jung killed by the Nabob of Kurnool 246
Salabut Jung made Nizam by Bussy .... 245
1744 Olive enters the civil service of ihe Company 246
1751 He captures Arcot 246
Memorable sie<re of that pluce 247
1752 French defeated by Major Lawrence 248
Mysore Regent, the ally of Mahomed AH 24?
French defeated at, Bahoor by Major Lawrence .... .... 24^
Mysore Kegent. and Morari Rao go over to the French .... 249
1754 Godeheu arrives from Europe, supersedes Dupleix, and termi-
nates the war by a treaty .... 250
Fate of Dupleix 251
1748 Death of Saboo 251
1750 Balajee Rao, Peshwa, attains supreme power 252
1752 Progress .f Bussy 253
1753 He obtains the Northern Sircars, and acquires great power ... 254
1754 Predatory expedition of the Mahrattas 255
17551756 Movements of Salabut Jung 255
1756 Intrigues against Bussy baffled by his genius 256
1757 Bussy at the summit of success 257
1758 Bussy's career cut short by Lally 258
Lally's antecedents ; his arrival at Pondicherry 259
He attacks Tanjore without success 260
1759 He besieges Madras, and is discomfited 261
1760 Coote defeats Lally at Wandewash i!61
1761 He captures Pondicherry.... .... .... .... .... .... 262
Fate of Lally .... 263
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE CAPTURE OF CALCUTTA TO THE BATTLE OF PANIPUT, 1756
1761.
1747 Ahmed Shah Abdalee , 264
His first invasion of India .... 265
CONTENTS. XV
Date. Page
1748 Death of Mahomed Shah, accession of his son Ahmed Shah to
the throne of Delhi 265
The Nabob of Oude, pushed by the Bohillas, calls in the Mah-
rattas 265
1751 The Abdalee's second irruption 266
1753 Nabob of Oude becomes virtually independent 266
1754 Ghazee-ood-deen deposes and blinds the emperor 266
1756 The Abdalee's third invasion ; he sacks Delhi .... 267
The pirate Conajee Angria on the Malabar coast .... .... 268
Ciive captures his fort of Gheriah .... 269
Death of Ali verdy 269
Seraja Dowlah succeeds him as Nabob 269
Disputes between him and the governor of Calcutta 270
Condition of Fort William 271
Siege and capture of Calcutta 272
The tragedy of the Black Hole 273
Expedition from Madras to Calcutta 274
1757 Olive recaptures Calcutta and takes Hooghly 275
Seraja Dowlah marches to Calcutta and is defeated .... .. 276
Olive takes Chandernagore .... 277
Confederacy against Seraja Dowlah 277
Clive joins the Confederacy .... 278
He circumvents Omichund .... .... .... .... .... 279
Battle of Plassy 279
Seraja Dowlah flies to Rajmahal 280
Meer Jaffier made Nabob by Clive .... .^ 280
His large donations to the English .... 281
Fate of Seraja Dowlah .... 281
1758 Clive quells three insurrections 282
Colonel Forde sent to the Coast 283
1759 Ali Gohur invades Behar, and submits to Clive 284
Dutch armament in Bengal defeated 285
1760 Clive returns to England .... 286
1753 Ahmed Shah A'jdalee returns to Persia 286
1757 His son Timur expelled from the Punjab ; the Mahrattas plant
their standard on the Indus 285
Sudaseeb Rao Bhao, Mahratta generalissimo 286
Peshwa wrests large territories from Salabut Jung 287
1759 Power of the Mahrattas at its summit 287
Fourth invasion of the ^Abdalee 287
Murder of the Emperor Alumgir 288
Vast Mahratta army advances against the Abdalee, under
Sudaseeb Eao Bhao 289
Sudaseeb rejects the advice of Sooruj Mull; the Jauts with-
draw from him 290
1761, January 7, Decisive battle of Paniput; death of Sudaseeb;
total defeat of the Mahrattaa 291
Pe-shwa dies of a broken heart _ 292
XVI CONTEItrs.
CHAPTER XI.
BENGAL, 17611772.
Date. Page
1761 Condition of Bengal after the battle of Paniput 292
Mr. Vansittart, Governor of Bengal 293
Three members of Council summarily dismissed by the Court
of Directors 293
1760 Shahzada invades Behar, and is defeated by Colonel Calliaud 294
Captain Knox defeats the Nabob of Purneah 295
Death of Meerun 295
1761 Meer JafEer deposed, and Meer Cassim made Nabob of Moor-
shedabad 296
Meer Cassim's vigorous administration; he organizes an
efficient army 297
The Emperor's force in Behar dispersed by Colonel Carnac .... 298
1762 Meer Cassim despoils Ramnarayun, Governor of Patna .... 299
The transit duties ; disorders arising from them .... .... 300
Mr. Vansittart's convention regarding thorn with Meer Cassim 300
1763 It is rejected by the Council in Calcutta; Meer Cassim
abolishes all duties .... .... .... .... .... .... 301
Mr. Ellis seizes the city of Patna ; is overpowered and made
prisoner ... .... .... ... .... .... .... .... 302
The Council in Calcutta make war on Meer Cassim .... .... 302
Meer JafEer made Nabob a second time 302
Meer Cassim's troops defeated at Cutwa and at Ghereah. .... 302
He causes his European prisoners to be massacred ., 303
Meer Cassim's troopa defeated at Oodwanulla ; he flies from
Behar 303
1764 The Nabob Vizier invades Behar .... .... 304
First Sepoy mutiny quelled by Major Munro 304
The Nabob Vizier defeated at Buxar .... 305
Pecuniary arrangement with Meer Jaffier 306
1765 Death of Meer Jaffier .... 307
He is succeeded by his son, Nujum-ood-dowlah 307
Lord Olive's treatment by the Court of Directors iu England ;
they are constrained to appoint him Governor 308
Condition of Bengal 309
dive's arrangements with the Emperor, the Nabob of Moor-
shedabad, and the Vizier 310
He restores Oude to the Vizier 310
He obtains the Dewanny of the three provinces for the Com-
pany, 12th of August 311
1766 Mutiny of the European officers quelled by Clive 312
He establishes the Society for Inland Trade 314
1767 He returns to England ; is subject to the most unworthy
treatment 315
1774 He puts a period to his existence 316
17671772 Wretched condition of Bengal 316
CONTENTS. XVU
CHAPTER XII.
PROGBESS OF EVENTS AT HABEAS AND BOMBAY, 1761 1772.
Date. Page
1761 State of affairs at Madras and in the Carnatic 317
1763 Mahomed All instigates the Madras Government to attack
Tanjore 318
The Peace of Paris, and its anomalies 318
Nizam Ali, having previously deposed his brother, Salabut
Jung, puts him to death .... ... .... .... .... 318
1765 Clive induces the Emperor to make Mahomed Ali independent
of Hyderabad 319
He acquires the Northern Sirkars for the Company 319
1766 Treaty with the Nizam, 12th November 819
Eise of Hyder Ali 320
1755 He lays the foundation of his fortunes 321
1757 Peshwa besieges Seringapatam, which is relieved by Hyder .... 321
1760 Hyder assists Lally ; gains an advantage over the English .... 322
1761 His extreme danger; recovers his position, and usurps the
throne 323
' 1763 He conquers Bednore, and constructs a navy 324
1761 Accession of Madhoo Rao as Peshwa 324
1763 Nizam Ali invades the Mahratta dominions, and is defeated
byRaghoba 325
1765 Hyder defeated by the Mahrattas with great loss S25
1766 Confederacy of the Nizam and the Mahrattas against Hyder;
the Madras Government drawn into it 326
1767 The Mahrattas constrain Hyder to make peace .... .... 327
The Nizam deserts his English allies, and joins Hyder .... 327
Nizam and Hyder defeated at Changama 328
Expedition from Bengal against the Nizam .... .... .... 328
1768 He hastens to make peace ; treaty of the 23rd of February .... 329
Hyder proceeds to the western coast to repel an English
invasion 330
Campaign of 1768 unfavourable to the English 331
1769 Hyder dictates peace under the walls of Madras 332
17701771 War between the Mahrattas and Hyder 332
1771 He is completely defeated at Milgota 333
He demands aid of the English in accordance with the treaty,
but in vain '. 334
Sir John Lindsay sent as the King's representative to Ma-
homed Ali 334
1769 Mahrattas again invade Hindostan 335
1771 The Emperor throws himself on them and is installed at
Delhi 3?,5
1772 The Mahrattas invade Rohilcund ; the bond of forty lacs .... 236
The Mahrattas and the Emperor fall out; the Emperor obliged
to submit 3?6
1773 The Alahrattas enter Rohilcund for the invasion of Oude;
their plans disconcerted ; they retreat to their own country 337
CONTENTS.
Date.
1770 The singular anomaly of the Company's Government 337
Its vicious constitution 338
1771 Interference of Parliament 339
Financial difficulties of the Company 339
1773 The Regulating Act; appointment of Governor-General;
establishment of the Supreme Court 340
CHAPTER XIII.
HASTINGS'S ADMINISTRATION AND THE MAHBATTA WAB, 1772 1782.
1773 "Warren Hasting's antecedents 341
The condition of Bengal 342
1772 Warren Hastings appointed Governor of Bengal ; his reforms 343
1773 The first Rohilla war 343
1774 Destruction of the Rohillas 344
Remarks on this transaction .... .... .... .... .... 345
Arrival of the judges of the Supreme Court and the new
Councillors 346
The old Government abolished ; the new Government installed 347
775 Francis and his colleagues interfere in the affairs of Oude .... 347
Death of the old Vizier ; treaty with his successor 348
The begums claim the treasure and the jaygeers ; Mr. Bris-
tow's arrangement 348
Accusations multiplied against Hastings 349
Charge brought by Nundu koomar 349
Charge by his son and Munny begum 350
Nundu koomar executed on a charge of forgery brought by a
native 351
Remarks on this transaction 851
The Court of Directors condemn Hastings 352
1776 He tenders his resignation through his agent, and retracts it 353
1777 General Clavering's violent proceedings in the Council, and
his death .... 353
1780 Francis fights a duel with Hastings, is wounded, and retires
from the service 354
1777 New settlement of the land revenue of Bengal 354
1772 Death of Madhoo Rao Peshwa 355
Resources of the Mahratta empire at this period 355
1773 Narayun Rao Peshwa assassinated 356
1773 Raghoba becomes Peshwa ,.. 356
1774 Revolution at Poona ; the widow of Narayun Rao delivered of
a son ; Raghoba excluded 357
17551772 Affairs of Guzerat 357
1775 Raghoba negotiates with the Bombay government 358
Treaty concluded 358
Bombay government send a force to his aid ; battle of Arras 359
Mahrattas driven back to the Nerbudda 360
Treaty with Raghoba disallowed at Calcutta 860
1776 Colonel Upton sent to Poona, who concludes the Treaty of
Poorunder; remarks on it .... 361
Treaty of Poorunder disapproved in England 362
CONTENTS. XIX
Date. Page
1777 A Trench envoy received at Poona 363
1778 Revolution in favour of Raghoba at Poona 363
Counter revolution against him .. 364
The Bombay government send ac expedition to Poona to rein-
state Eaghoba , 365
1779 Its disastrous termination 366
Disgraceful convention of Wurgaum 366
1778 General Goddard's expedition across India 367
War between France and England 368
1779 General Goddard reaches Surat safely 369
Convention of Wurgaum disallowed at Bomoay and Calcutta 369
Eaghoba sent by Sindia to Hindostan, and escapes 3G9
General Goddard's success in Guzerat 370
1780 Capture of Gwalior by Major Popham 371
1781 Sindia's force defeated 373
1779 Confederacy against the English 373
1780 General Goddard captures Bassein 374
Hartley gallantly repulses the Mahrattas 374
1781 Failure of General Goddard's expedition to Poona 375
1779 Eoghoojee Bhonslay sends an expedition to Bengal which is
neutralized by Hastings 375
.1781 Hastings sends an expedition under Colonel Pearce down the
coast to Madras 375
Colonel Pearce treated with kindness by Roghoojee Bhonslay 376
Treaty with Sindia 376
1782 Treaty of Salbye with the Mahrattas, negotiated by Sindia .... 377
Nana Furnuvese hesitates to ratify it, till the death of Hyder 378
CHAPTER XIY.
HASTINGS'S ADMINISTRATION AFFAIRS OF MADRAS, THE SECOND
MYSORE WAB. 17711784.
1771 Mahomed All induces the Madras government to attack Tan-
jore ; treaty made by his son 378
1773 Second attack on Tanjore on indefensible grounds 379
The country delivered over to Mahomed Ali .". 379
1774 Court of Directors depose the Governor of Madras, and order
the country to be restored 380
1775 Lord Pigot Governor of Madras 380
1776 Deposed by his Council 381
1777 Restored by the Court of Directors, and dies 381
1778 Sir Thomas Eumbold, Governor of Madras 382
His conduct about the Guntoor Sircar inflames the Nizam, who
forms the grand confederacy 383
1781 Sir Thomas Rumbold dismissed by the Court of Directors .... 384
1773 Progress of Hyder Ali 354
1776 The Nizam and the Peshwa attack him and are foiled .... 385
He negotiates with Madras without success 386
1778 Capture of Pondicherry 386
1779 Capture of Mahe incenses Hyder 387
He joins the grand confederacy 337
XX CONTENTS.
Date. Page
1779 He terminates his disputes with Poona 387
1780 His great preparations for war _ 383
He bursts on the Carnatic - 389
Stupefaction -of the Madras Council 389
Toial destruction of Colonel Baillie's detachment 390
Hast ings's energetic measures 391
He suspends the Governor of Madras 392
Sir Eyre Coote goes to Madras and takes the command of the
army .... .... .... ... .... .... 392
1781 Gallant defence of Wandewash by Lt. Flint 398
Battle of Porto Novo ~ 393
Arrival of the Bengal force ~ 394
Battle of Pollilore 394
Battle of Solingur .... 395
Lord Macartney Governor of Madras .... 395
Capture of Negapatam 396
1782 Capture of Trincomalee ~. 396
The revenues of the Carnatic taken over by the English ..... 396
Defeat of Colonel Brathwaite by Tippoo 397
Despondent feelings of Hyder . 398
Eelieved by the arrival of a French expedition 398
Naval actions between the English and French 399
Indecisive action before Arnee 399
French capture Trincomalee 400
Admiral Hughes sails for Bombay .... .... .... .... 400
Great storm at Madras .... 401
Famine at Madras .... 401
Operations on the Malabar Coast 401
Tippoo sent to oppose an English force there 402
Death of Hyder, December 7th 402
Tippoo suddenly breaks up his camp and hastens back ; as-
sumes the royal authority ... .... .... .... .... 403
1783 Culpable supineness of General Stnart at Madras ... s .... 403
Tippoo returns to the Malabar Coast 403
Arrival of Bussy with a French force 404
General Stuart proceeds against him to 'Cuddalore 404
Naval action between the French and English 405
Operations before Cuddalore 405
Peace between France and England .... .... .... .... 405
General Stuart arrested and sent home M 405
Expedition from Bombay to Bednore , .... 406
Tippoo reconquers Bednore 406
He undertakes the siege of Mangnlore 406
Extraordinary defence of it ; it surrenders 407
Progress of Colonel Fullerton's army towards Seriniyapatam ... 408
Madras enters into negotiations with Tippoo ; he cajoles them 408
Colonel Fullerton stopped in the tide of victory by the Madras
Council 409
1784 Disreputable treaty of Mangalore 410
CONTENTS. XXI
CHAPTER XV.
HASTINGS'S ADMINISTBATION THE SUPREME COURT. PROCEEDINGS IN
ENGLAND. 17741784.
Date. Page
1774 Encroachments of the Supreme Court 411
1775 Dismay of the Zemindars 411
1775 1779 The Court interferes with the collections, and paralyzes
the whole system of government 412
1779 The Cossijura case 412
Hastings resists the violence of the Supreme Court 413
1780 Sir Elijah Impey made chief Judge of the Sudder Court .... 414
Remarks on this arrangement 414
Extraordinary aid demanded of Cheyt Sing .... 415
1781 He is fined fifty lacs by Hastings ; he escapes across the river 416
Hastings's danger ; he escapes to Chunar 417
Capture of Bidgegur, and distribution of the booty .... .... 417
1782 The begums of Oude; their spoliation 418
1780 Proceedings against Fyzoolla Khan 420
1783 Court of Directors censure Hastings ; he resigns 421
1785 His reception in England; his impeachment 422
.1786 Charges against him 423
The three principal charges 424
1788 Commencement of his trial 425
1795 His acquittal 427
Remarks on his public character and administration 427
1781 1782 Parliament appoint a Select and a Secret Committee.... 428
1782 Motion for the recall of Hastings 429
1783 Fox's India Bill 430
1784 Defeated in the House of Lords 432
Pitt's India Bill 432
Comparison of the two Bills 434
The Nabob of Arcot's debts, their origin ; their nefarious cha-
racter 435
1785 Mr. Dundas orders them to be paid off without inquiry .... 436
1785 Court of Directors remonstrate against this injustice ; Burke's
celebrated speech 436
Sequel of the Nabob of Arcot's debts 437
The two dark spots in the Indian Administration 438
The revenues of the Carnatic ordered from home to be re-
stored; opposition of Lord Macarteny .. 438
THE HISTORY OF INDIA.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY TO THE GHUZNI INVASION.
INDIA is bounded on the north and the east by
Boundaries and .
divisions of the Himalaya mountains, on the west by the
Indus, and on the south by the sea. Its length
from Cashmere to Cape Comorin is 1,900 miles ; its breadth from
Kurrachee to Sudiya, in Assam, 1,500 miles. The superficial
contents are 1,287,000 miles, and the population, under British
and native rule, is now estimated at 200,000,000. It is
crossed from east to west by a chain of mountains called the
Viiidya, at the base of which flows the Nerbudda. The
country to the north of this river is generally designated
Hindostan, and that to the south of it the Deccan. Hindostan
is composed of the basin of the Indus on one side, and of the
Ganges on the other, with the great sandy desert on the
west, and an elevated tract now called, from its position,
Central India. The Deccan has on its northern boundary a
chain of mountains running parallel with the Vindya, to the
south of which stretches a table land of triangular form, ter-
minating at Cape Comorin, with the western Ghauts, on the
western coast, and the eastern Ghauts, of minor altitude, on
the opposite coast. Between the Ghauts and the sea lies a
narrow belt of land which runs round the whole peninsula.
B
2 EARLY HISTOUT OF THE HINDOOS. [CHAP.
Chronology of Of the ancient history or chronology of the
the Hindoos. Hindoos there are no credible memorials. The
history was compiled by poets, who drew on their imagination
for their facts, and the chronology was computed by astro*
nomers, who have made the successive ages of the world to cor-
respond with the conjunctions of the heavenly bodies. The
age of the world is thus divided into four periods : the sutyu
yogu, extending to 1,728,000, and the second, or treta yogu, to
1,296,000 years ; the third, or the dwapur yogu, comprises
864,000 years ; and the fourth, or kulee yogu, is predicted to
last 432,000 years. A Jculpa, or a day of Brumlia, is com-
posed of a thousand such periods, or 4,320,000,000 years.
Extravagant as these calculations may appear, they are out-
done by the Burmese, who affirm that the lives of the ancient
inhabitants extended to a period equal to the sum of every
drop of rain which falls on the surface of the globe in three
years. The dates given for the first three ages must, there-
fore, be rejected as altogether imaginary, while the com-
mencement of the fourth, or present age, which corresponds,
to a certain degree, with the authentic eras of other nations,
may be received as generally correct.
Early history of India is designated by native writers Bharut-
the Hindoos, yursu, from king Bharut, who is said to have
reigned over the whole country. That he did not enjoy
universal monarchy in India is certain, though he was doubt-
less one of the earliest and most renowned of its rulers ; but
this fact loses all historical value when we are told in the
shasters that he reigned ten thousand years, and, on his
death, was transformed into a deer. Thus do we plod our
way through darkness and mystery ; at every step fact is
ronfounded with fable, and all our researches end only in
conjecture. The original settlers are identified with the
various tribes of Bheels, Coles, Gonds, Meenas, and Chooars,
still living in a state almost of nature, in the forests of the
Soane, the Nerbudda, and the Muhanuddee, and in the hills
of Surgooja and Chota Nagpore. Their languages have no
I-] EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF THE HINDOOS. 3
affinity with the Sanscrit, and their religion differs from Hin-
dooism. In those fastnesses, amidst all the revolutions which
have convulsed India, they have continued to maintain, un-
changed, their original simplicity of habits, creed, and speech.
They were apparently driven from the plains by fresh colonies
of emigrants ; and these were in their turn conquered by the
Hindoos, who brought their religion and language with them
from regions beyond the Indus, and, having reduced the inha-
bitants to a servile condition, branded them with the name of
soodras. Of the four Hindoo castes, three are designated the
twice born, which seems to indicate that they all belonged to
the conquering race, although the term is now applied exclu-
sively to brahmins. In the Institutes of Munoo reference is
also made to cities governed by soodras, which the twice born
were forbidden to enter, and the allusion evidently applies to
' soodra chiefs, who continued to maintain their independence
after the Hindoo invasion.
The Hindoos who originally crossed the Indus took pos-
session of a small tract of land, 100 miles north-west of Delhi,
about 65 miles by 30, which was considered the residence of
gods and holy sages, while the brahmins appear to have sub-
sequently occupied the country north of the Jumna and the
Ganges, stretching to the confines of north Behar. The
India of the Vedus, of Munoo, and the earliest writers was
exclusively confined to the region north of the Nerbudda, and
comprised but a small portion even of that limited quarter.
It was in the north that the four places of greatest sanctity
were situated during the early ages, though the Deccan now
contains many places of distinguished merit. The north was
also the seat of the solar and lunar races, the scene of chival-
rous adventures, and the abode of all those who are celebrated
in the legends, the mythology, and the philosophy of the
Hindoos. Even in the polished age in which the Ramayun
and the Muhabharut were composed, the south was the land
of fable, the dwelling of bears and monkeys, and it was not
till a very late period that these apes and goblins and mon-
B 2
4 TIIE TEN DIVISIONS AND LANGUAGES. [CHAP.
stcrs were transformed into orthodox Hindoos. It must,
therefore, be distinctly borne in mind that the revolutions
described in the sacred books of the Hindoos belong to Hin-
dostan, and not to the Deccan.
Some of the Poorans describe India as having
The ten T -i i i i
divisions and been formerly divided into ten kingdoms ; of
these five were situated in Hindostan, Surus-
wuttee, comprising the Punjab; Cunouj, embracing Delhi,
Agra, andOude; Tirhoot, from the Coosee to the Gunduk;
Gour, or Bengal, with a portion of Behar ; and Guzerat, which
evidently included Candesh, and part of Malwa. Five are
assigned to the Deccan, Muharastru, or the Mahratta coun-
try on the western coast, and Orissa on the eastern, coast ;
Telingana, lying between the Godavery and the Kistna;
Dravira, or the Tamul country, stretching down to Cape
Comorin ; and Carnata on the western face of the peninsula.
In correspondence with these divisions, which are compara-
tively modern, ten languages, of similar names, are enume-
rated as being current in them. Of these, the language of
the five divisions of Hindostan, as well as the Mahratta and
the Orissa are branches of the Sanscrit, modified by the mix-
ture of local and foreign words, and new inflections. The
Teloogoo spoken in Telingana as well as the Tamul and
the Carnata belong, however, to a distinct family, and the
only Sanscrit words found in them are those which have
reference to religious observances. The brahmins, crossing
the Indus, brought their own language from the west, where
it was in constant use as the ancient inscriptions in Persia
testify and diffused it through the north of India in connec-
tion with their religion. It thus became gradually mixed up
with the dialects of the different provinces, which at length
lost their original distinctions. The word Sanscrit signifies
refined, and that language bears every indication of having
received the improvements of the literati for many centuries,
till it became the most exquisite medium of communication in
the world.
I.] THE VEDUS AND MUNOO. 5
Tlle worsni P taught in the Vedus was the
earliest form of the Hindoo religion, and was in-
troduced into Hindostan by a body of priests, who crossed the
Indus either in the train of a conqueror or on a mission of
proselytism, possibly 1,400 years before our era. The Vedus are
a collection of hymns, prayers, and precepts, composed by
different authors, at different periods, and were delivered down
orally till the time of Vyasu, the bastard son of a fisher-
woman, though, on his father's side, of royal lineage, who
employed four brahmins to collect and arrange them. Their
leading doctrine is the unity of God, and the various divinities,
the personification of the elements, whom the devotee is re-
quired to invoke, are manifestations of the Supreme Being.
The gods are mentioned, it is true, but without any pre-
eminence, and never as objects of adoration ; and there is no
trace of the legends of Krishnu and Sivu to be found in
them. In that early age, indeed, there appears to have been
no images, and no visible types of worship. Though the
customs and habits of the Hindoos are said to be immutable,
yet, strange to say, in a country which still regards the Vedus
with profound veneration as the great fountain of religion,
the ritual they prescribe has become so obsolete that the man
who ventured to regulate his devotions by it would be con-
sidered in the light of an infidel.
Next in order comes the work called the
" Institutes of Munoo," a code of rules and pre-
cepts, religious and secular, collected together about 900
years before our area, and attributed to Munoo. It inculcates
the worship of the elements, of the heavenly bodies, and of in-
ferior deities ; but none of the objects of modern worship are
alluded to. Brumha is mentioned more than once, but the
names of Vishnoo and Sivu do not occur. Idols are noticed,
and one passage enjoins that they shall be respected, but the
adoration of them is discountenanced. The caste of brahmins is
in this code placed on an equality with the gods, and endowed
with extraordinary privileges ; but they were at the same time
6 THE SOLAR AND LUNAR RACE KAMU. [CHAP.
allowed to eat flesh, and even beef, when it had been offered
in sacrifice which was a daily practice and to intermarry
with soodras. The worship enjoined in Munoo appears to
have been succeeded by that of Brumha, which was almost,
if not altogether, spiritual. Then came the deification of
heroes, with which the popular system of idolatry may be said
to have commenced. Perhaps the creed of Boodh and of the
Jains may have been next in succession ; and there is every
probability that it was not till the boodhists had been expelled
from the soil of India that the Hindoo pantheon was com-
pleted to its full complement of three hundred and thirty-three
millions of gods ; and this was apparently effected under the
authority of the Poorans, of which the oldest is only a
thousand years old, and the latest about four hundred and
fifty.
The soiar and The Hindoo annals describe two races of kings
lunar race. as h avm g reigned in India, that is, in Hindostan,
from the earliest age, the race of the sun and the race of the
moon. Ikswakoo, the progenitor of the former, founded the
kingdom of Oude, and Boodh, the ancestor of the latter, made
Priyag, the modern Allahabad, the seat of his government.
We are, moreover, told that there was constant war between
the brahmins, the champions of the solar race, and the military
tribe of the kshetriyus, the adherents of the lunar race, until
Purusramu, a great solar prince, arose and extinguished the
warriors. They are said to have recovered their strength,
and chased king Sagur up into the Himalayu. Sagur was
evidently the sea-king of the Bay of Bengal, who engaged
largely in maritime expeditions, and extended his power, and
with it probably his religion, to the islands of the eastern
archipelago, in one of which, Bali, he is Btill worshipped as
the god of the ocean.
The Hindoo writers assign fifty'Seven reigns to
the period between Ikswakoo and Ramu, the
great hero and ornament of the solar race, whose deeds have
been immortalized in the great epic of Valmeeki. He was
I.] KRISHNU. 7
married at an early age to Seeta, the daughter of the king
of Mithila, another branch of the solar line, whose capital lay
within a hundred miles of Oude. He passed many years with
her in religious retirement in the forest till she was carried off
by Ravunu, the king of Ceylon. Karnu assembled a large
army, and having in his progress secured the assistance of the
king of the monkeys, marched southward through the great
forest of Dunduku, which terminated on the banks of the
Cavery. That forest is described as the abode of holy sages
and devotees, and of apes and bears. Crossing the Cavery,
Kamu entered on Junustan, or the abode of men the con-
tinental territory of Ravunu. The expedition was crowned
with success, and Ramu recovered his wife ; but having in-
advertently caused the death of his brother, he cast himself
into a river, and as the Hindoo writers affirm, was reunited to
the deity. The expedition of Ramu was the most chivalrous
exploit of that age, more especially when we consider the
very limited resources of the kingdom of Oude, with two in-
dependent sovereigns one at Mithila, and the other at
Benares, within a hundred and fifty miles of his capital. He
is, perhaps, the earliest of deified heroes, as his age is
generally fixed at 1,200 years before our era, though on
calculations by no means satisfactory.
The The next great event in the heroic age of India
Muhabharut. was tlle g^^ war? ce i e b rat ed in another Hindoo
epic, the Muhabharut. The main object of this poem is to
commemorate the exploits of Krishnu, another deified hero,
who took a prominent part in the contest between the Pandoos
and the Kooroos, two branches of the lunar line, for the
possession of Hustinapore, situated in the neighbourhood of
Delhi. Yoodistheer, the chief of the Pandoos, was resolved,
it is said, to celebrate the sacrifice of the horse, which implied
the possession of supreme dominion. The Kooroos burned
with indignation at this arrogant assumption ; and their chief,
unable to prevent it, had recourse to artifice. He engaged
Yoodistheer in deep play, and led him on to stake his wife and
8 BATTLE OF KOOROO-KSHETRU. [CHAP.
his kingdom, both of which were lost at one throw of the
dice, and he was obliged to go into exile for twelve years.
Krishnu, a scion of the royal family at Muttra, on the Ganges,
had already signalized himself in a conflict with the king of
Mugudu, in south Behar, and now, in conjunction with
Buluram, accompanied Yoodistheer and his four brothers in
their exile. The heroes wandered through the various provinces
of India, performing notable feats of valour, and leaving some
memorial of then: romantic adventures in every direction. At
the close of the period of exile Yoodistheer returned with his
companions to the banks of the Jumna, and demanded the
restoration of his kingdom. His opponent, Dooryudhun, re-
fused his claim, and declared that he should not have as much
land as could be covered by the point of a needle. There
remained, therefore, no alternative but to decide the question
by an appeal to arms.
The Battle of I n this great battle fought on the plain, where,
Kooroo-kshetru. fa a f ter t j mej ^ e i ast decisive battle between the
Hindoos and the Mahomedans took place, all the tribes in
northern India were ranged on one side or the other. Chiefs
from Culinga, the sea-coast of Orissa, and even the Yuvuns
the name generally given to the residents beyond the Indus
are said to have taken a share in it. It lasted eighteen days,
and the carnage on both sides was prodigious. Dooryudhun
was at length slain, and victory declared for the Pandoos ;
but when Yoodistheer beheld the field covered with the
bodies of friends and foes, all descended from a common
ancestor, he became disgusted with the world and determined
to withdraw from it. He entered Hustinapore and performed
the funeral obsequies of his rival ; after which he placed the
grandson of his brother Urjoon on the throne, and retired
to Dwarka, in Guzerat, in company with Krishnu, who had
founded a kingdom there. That hero was soon after slain
"at the fountain of the lotus," by one of the wild foresters
of the tribe of the Bheels. Yoodistheer proceeded through
Sinde towards the north, and is supposed to have perished in
l. THE RAMATUN AND MUHABHARUT. 9
the snowy range. According to the popular notion, he
ascended to heaven, which was by no means incredible, as
the paradise of more than one of the Hindoo deities is placed
on the inaccessible peaks of the Himalaya.
influence of These two events, the expedition of Ramu, and
these two the battle of Kooroo-kshetru, are the most impor-
tant in the annals of the lunar and tne solar race.
The genius of poetry has fixed the admiration of a hundred
generations on them, and supplied a rich mine of images from
age to age. The author of the Kamayun was Valmeeki, whom
the gratitude of his fellow countrymen has crowned with
the wreath of immortality, by ranking him among those who
never die. He is supposed to have flourished in the second
century before our era. The same period has also been
assigned to the composer of the Muhabharut. Indeed, from
the terms in which he describes the Yuvun Usoor, the
demon or giant who engaged in combat with Krishnu, it
has been conjectured that the poem must have been written
after the invasion of Alexander the Great. The author
was Vyasu, who has been confounded, through ignorance
or flattery, with the great man who collected the Vedus,
which is chronologically impossible. It is, moreover said, that
a Vyasu appears in every age, though it is certain that no
second Vyasu has since appeared among the poets of India.
Krishnu was deified after his death. His adventures, and
more particularly his flirtations with the milkmaidSj have ren-
dered him the most popular of gods among an amorous people ;
but the sects founded on the worship of Ramu, Krishnu, and
other deities, are among the more modern innovations of
Hindooism. Buluram, the brother of Krishnu, is said to
have founded a kingdom, of which Palibothra, the capital,
became the wonder of India, though even the site of it is
now matter of conjecture.
The Takshut The annals of Hindostan for several centuries
invasion. a ft er fo e asgume( j period of the great war, are
involved hi impenetrable obscurity, but it would appear that
10 EXPEDITION OF DARIUS. [dlAP.
about six centuries before our era, a new swarm from the
teeming hive of Scythia poured across the Indus upon the
plains of India. Another swarm, is supposed to have moved
down at the same time on the north of Europe, and settled in
Scandinavia, the cradle of the English nation. This simul-
taneous emigration to the east and to the west, may assist in
explaining that similarity of manners and customs which has
been discovered on many points between the Scandinavians
and the natives of India. These invaders were denominated
the Takshuk, or serpent race, because the serpent was said to
be their national emblem. Under their chief, Suhesnag, they
probably overran the northern provinces of Hindostan, and
became gradually incorporated with the tribes which had
preceded them. They flourished for ten generations, and
appear to have professed the Boodhist creed. Of this
dynasty was Nundu, or Muhanundu, who was seated on the
throne when Alexander the Great appeared on the banks of
the Sutlege, and was denominated by the Grecian historians,
the king of the Prasii, or of the east.
me expedition The first expedition to India from the west of
which we have anything like an authentic record,
is that of Darius, the king of Persia, who ascended the throne
of Cyrus, in the year 518 before our era, and extended his
conquests from the sea of Greece to the confines of India.
His admiral, Scylax, was then directed to construct a flotilla
on the higher Indus, and proceed down that stream to the
ocean. The report which he ' made of the wealth and mag-
nifiVvace of the country through which he passed, determined
Darius to attempt the conquest of it. He crossed the Indus
with a large army, and succeeded in annexing the countries
bordering on that river to his great empire. The precise
extent of his conquest cannot be determined, but there is
every reason to conclude that his Indian province must have
been of no inconsiderable magnitude, since it was esteemed
more valuable than any other satrapy, and is said to have
furnished one-third the revenues of the Persian empire. This
I.] BOODIIISM. 11
tribute, moieover, is said to have been paid in gold, while
that from the other divisions west of the Indus was delivered
in silver.
Religion of It was about the period of the Persian invasion,
, that Goutumu gave a fixed character to the insti-
stutions of Boodhism. It has been supposed that all the fifty-
six tribes of the lunar race professed that creed, and Goutumu
was reckoned the seventh Boodh. He was born at Kupilu,
but the seat of the religion was planted at Gya, in the
kingdom of Mugudu, or Behar, which the Chinese and Indo-
Chinese nations consider the most sacred spot in the world.
The Boodhists rejected the whole of the brahminical system
of gods and goddesses, repudiated the doctrine of caste, and
adhered exclusively to the spiritual worship of the Vedus.
The priesthood amongst them was not hereditary, but formed
a distinct community, recruited from the secular ranks, bound
to observe a vow of celibacy, and to renounce the pleasures
of sense. The hereditary priesthood of the brahmins, on the
contrary, admitted no accessions from the lay classes, and
considered marriage as indispensable as investiture with the
thread, in the hope of giving birth to a son who should perform
the funeral rites of his father, and secure him a seat in
paradise. The death of Goutumu, is fixed by the general
concurrence of authorities, in the year 550 before our era.
spread of The religion of Boodh made prodigious progress
Boodhism. after ttie (jga^ of Goutumu, while the creed of the
brahmins was confined to the small kingdom of Cunouj. Two
centuries later, in the reign of Asoca, Boodhism was triumphant
through Hindostan. His edicts are still to be seen inscribed
on the celebrated column at Delhi, on a similar column in
Guzerat, and on a third in Cuttack, as well as in numerous
caves and rocks. Boodhism was introduced into Ceylon about
the end of the third century before our era. Shortly after, it
spread through Tibet and Tartary, and was carried into China
about the year 65. In Hindostan the brahmins exhibited the
most rancorous hostility to their powerful rivals ; and we
12 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [CHAP.
learn from the report of a Chinese pilgrim to the shrine at
Gya, in the fifth century, that the strength of Boodhism had
materially declined. But it appears subsequently to have re-
covered some of its pristine vigour, and was not finally
expelled from India till the tenth century ; though we have
the assurance that it was the prevailing creed at Benares a
centuiy later, and was predominant in Guzerat as late as the
twelfth century. At the present time its votaries throughout
Asia are more numerous than those of any other religion.
Alexander the The empire of Persia was broken up by Alexander
Great. ^he Great, the Grecian king of Macedon, and the
greatest military genius of antiquity. After the defeat and death
of Darius, the last Persian monarch of his dynasty, the troops
of Alexander were engaged for three years in the most arduous
military enterprises, and suffered incredible hardships in their
winter campaigns, amidst mountains covered with snow. As
a recompense for these toils their commander held out to them
the spoils of India ; and, having subjugated Cabul, arrived on
the banks of the Indus, in the year 331 before our era, at the
age of thirty. Hindostan was ill-prepared to resist the legions
of this mighty conqueror. It was split up into a number of
independent states, oftener at war than at peace with each
other; and a Greek historian affirms that there were no
fewer than a hundred and eighteen different kingdoms in the
north. Alexander, after having sent envoys to demand the
submission of the princes in the Punjab, crossed the Indus, like
all previous invaders, at Attok, and entered India with 120,000
troops. Of the principal chiefs of the country, Abissares,
whose territory lay in the mountainous region, probably of
Cashmere, cent his brother with rich presents to conciliate the
invader. Taxiles, who ruled the country between the Indus
and the Hydaspes, or Jelum, entertained him with great hos-
pitality at his capital, Taxila, where Alexander left his
invalids. But Porus, whose dominions stretched eastward in
the direction of Hustinapore, or Delhi, resolved to offer the
most determined resistance to the progress of Alexander, and
I.] CONQUEST OF THE PUNJAB. 13
assembled his whole force on the banks of the Jelum. The
river, swelled by the periodical rams, and at the tune a mile
broad, rolled impetuously between the two camps. Porus
planted a long line of elephants on the margin of the stream,
and presented an impenetrable line of defence to his opponent.
But Alexander discovered an island in the river, about ten
miles above the camp, and took advantage of a dark and tem-
pestuous night to cross over to it with 11,000 men, who were
landed on the opposite bank before dawn. The main body of
the Grecian army was in the meantime drawn up as usual, facing
the Indian camp, and Porus was thus led to believe that the
iroops who had crossed consisted only of a small brigade.
But he was speedily undeceived by the rout of the force
which he had sent to meet it, and the death of his son who
was in command, and being now certain that it was Alexander
himself who had crossed the river, prepared to encounter him
with 4,000 horse and 30,000 foot, all of the kshetriyu tribe ;
warriors by birth and profession. Alexander's small army was
composed of veterans, strangers to defeat, and, under such
a leader, invincible. The field was obstinately contested,
but nothing could withstand the charge of Alexander's
cavalry. Porus continued to maintain the conflict long after
the great body of his troops had deserted him, but was at
length persuaded to yield Alexander, who always honoured
valour in an enemy, received him with distinguished courtesy;
and not only restored his kingdom, but made considerable
additions to it. Porus did not abuse this confidence, but re-
mained ever after faithful to his generous victor,
progress and After tne defeat of Porus, Alexander crossed the
mum of Chenab and the Ravee, and came in contact with
a body of Cathaians, probably Tartar immigrants,
who maintained an obstinate struggle, which is said to have
terminated only after the slaughter of 16,000, and the cap-
tivity of 70,000 of their number. On reaching the banks of
the Sutlege Alexander heard of the great Gangetic kingdom
of Mugudu, the king of which, it was reported, could bring
14 PROJECTS AND DEATH OF ALEXANDER. [CHAP.
30,000 cavalry, and 600,000 foot, and 9,000 elephants into the
field. He determined to march down and plant his standard
on the battlements of its magnificent capital, Palibothra, which
was nine miles in length ; and his troops received orders to
prepare for crossing the river. But they were worn out with
the fatigue and wounds of eight campaigns ; their spirits had
moreover been depressed by the deluge of rain to which they
had been exposed during the monsoon, and they refused to
accompany him any farther. He employed menace and flattery
by turns, but nothing could shake their resolution, and he was
reluctantly obliged to make the Sutlege the limit of his ex-
pedition, and return to the Indus, where he caused a large
flotilla to be constructed, and sailed down the stream with all
the pomp of a conqueror.
The views of Alexander were gigantic and
projects and beneficial beyond those of every other ruler
in ancient times. He had erected the port of
Alexandria on the Mediterranean shore of Egypt, and at the
end of twenty-two centuries it still continues to attest the
grandeur of his plans. He now resolved to establish a com-
mercial intercourse between the coast of India, the rivers of
Persia and the Red Sea. For this object he built a city and
harbour at the estuary of the Indus, and fitted out a large
fleet, which he entrusted to his admiral, Nearchus, with orders
to proceed to the mouth of the Euphrates. The voyage, though
tedious, proved successful, and was justly considered one of
the greatest naval achievements of the age. In the midst of
these great projects Alexander caught a jungle fever in the
marshes of Babylon, and died two years after his return from
India, at the early age of thirty-two. He was fully bent on
returning to it; and there can be little doubt that if he
had succeeded in crossing the Sutlege he would have made a
complete conquest of the country, and given it the benefit of
European civilization. His name does not appear in any
Hindoo work a proof of the lamentable imperfection of the
records which have come down to us; but his fame was widely
I.] NTJNDTJ CHUNBRA-GOOITA. 15
diffused through India by the Mahomedan conquerors, among
whom he was esteemed a magnificent hero. It was carried
far and wide on the ocean with the stream of their conquests;
and the distant islander of Java and Sumatra may be found
singing the deeds of the mighty " Iscander."
Nundu, At the period of Alexander's invasion, Nundu,
Chundra-goopta. a prince of the Takshuk race, was seated on tho
Mugudu throne at Palibothra. He was assasinated by his
prime minister, and is said to have been succeeded by eight
sons in succession. Their illegitimate brother, Chundra-goopta,
the offspring of a barber's wife, was expelled from the kingdom,
and wandered for some years through the various provinces
of Hindostan. He was at length placed upon the throne
through the efforts of the minister, Chanikya, who put all tho
members of the royal family to death, and afterwards endea-
voured to atone for the crime by penances so severe, that
after the lapse of 2,000 years, the " remorse of Chanikya," is
still the popular emblem of penitence. Chundra-goopta was
a prince of extraordinary energy and talent, and, though a
soodra, is stated in the hyperbolical language of the Poorans to
have " brought the whole earth under one umbrella." The
empire of Alexander the Great was, on his death, divided
among his generals, of whom Seleucus, one of the ablest and
most enterprising, obtained the province of Babylon, which
comprised all the territory up to the Indus which had been
subjugated by his master. Having determined to carry out
his ambitious views on the east, he crossed the Indus with a
powerful army, and was opposed by Chundra-goopta and the
whole strength of the Mugudu empire. According to the Greek
historians, Seleucus was completely victorious, which it is
difficult to reconcile with the fact that in the treaty he made
with the Indian prince, he resigned all the territory which had
been acquired east of the Indus for an annual subsidy of fifty
elephants, and likewise bestowed his daughter in marriage on
him. Megasthenes was at the same time appointed his repre-
sentative at the court of Palibothra, and it is from his reports
16 THE MUGUDU KINGDOM. [CH\P.
that the Greek writers chiefly derived their knowledge of
India.
TheMugudu After a reign of twenty-four years, Chundra-
kingdom. goopta was succeeded by his son, Mitra-goopta,
with whom Seleucus renewed the treaty. The great kingdom
of Mugudu maintained its pre-eminence in the valley of the
Ganges, under a succession of royal families who appear to
have been either soodras or boodhists, for a period of eight
centuries from the year 350 before our era to 450 after it.
Under their government the country is said to have attained
the highest prosperity. A royal road extended from Pali-
bothra to the Indus, with a small column at every stage.
Another road stretched across the country to Broach, at that
time the great emporium of commerce on the western
coast. They encouraged learning with great munificence,
and it is recorded that they endeavoured to diffuse it among
the common people by the cultivation of the vernacular
tongues ; and this, as it would seem, at the period when the
Sanscrit had reached the summit of perfection in the two
epics of the Muhabharut and the Ramaj^un. They appear also
to have given every encouragement to trade, both domestic
and foreign. While the silent Indus, as at present, exhibited
no sign of commercial activity, the Ganges was covered with
sails, and the produce of its various provinces was brought
down to the sea-coast and conveyed across the ocean to the
east and the west. The kingdom of Mugudu embraced what
is designated in history the three Culingas ; that is, the
northern section of the Coromandel coast ; the sea face of
Bengal from Balasore to Chittagong, then the abode of men
and not of tigers, and the coast of Arracan. Its subjects
were thus stimulated to engage in maritime enterprise, and the
Mugudu fleet crossed the bay of Bengal to the island of Java,
and introduced the Hindoo religion to its inhabitants either in
the current of conquest or of commerce. The native histo-
rians of that island fix the year 75 before our era as the time
when they received Hindooism from India. Many mag/iifi-
I-] HIXDOOISM IN THE EASTERN ISLANDS. 17
cent monuments attest the diffusion of this religion, besides
the fact that the language of literature and devotion in
Java is a form of the Sanscrit. In the fourth century a
Chinese pilgrim recorded that the island was peopled by
Hindoos ; that in its ports he found vessels manned by
Hindoo sailors which had sailed from the mouth of the
Ganges to Ceylon, and from thence to Java, and were pre-
paring to proceed on to China. A Hindoo government existed
in Java till within the last 400 years, when it was subverted
by the Mahomedans. Hindooism still continues to flourish in
the neighbouring island of Bali, where the fourfold division of
caste still survives, and widows are said still to ascend the
funeral pile. Yet so signal has been the mutation of habits
and opinions among the Hindoos of India, that any Hindoo
who might visit the country to which his ancestors carried
the institutes of his religion, and in which they exist in
greater integrity than in India itself, would not be permitted
to remain within the pale of the caste.
____-_. The Hindoo annalists affirm that about twc
The Ugnikools.
centuries before our era, the brahmins " regene-
rated the Ugnikools," literally the fiery generation, to fight
their battles with the boodhists. The real origin of this race
is lost in hopeless obscurity, and we have only a poetical
version of their appearance, which may serve as an example
of the mode in which historical facts have been bequeathed
to posterity, and of the difficulty of separating them from
allegory. Ignorance and infidelity, we are told, had spread
over the land ; the sacred books were trampled under foot,
and mankind had no refuge from the monstrous brood of
boodhists. At the summit of Mount Aboo dwelt the holy
sages who had carried their complaints to the sea of curds,
on which the father of creation was floating on the back of a
hydra. He commanded them to return to Mount Aboo, and
recreate the race of the kshetriyas whom Purusramu, an
incarnation of the deity, had exterminated. They returned
accordingly with the four chief divinities, and a multitude of
18 EXPULSION OF THE BOODHISTS. [CHAP.
secondary gods. The fountain of fire was purified with water
brought from the sacred stream of the Ganges. After the
performance of expiatory rites, each of the four gods formed
an image and cast it into the fountain, and there sprung up
the four men who became the founders of Rajpoot greatness.
They were sent out to combat the monsters, who were
slaughtered in great numbers, but as their blood touched the
ground fresh demons arose ; upon which, the four gods stopped
the multiplication of the race, by drinking up their blood.
The infidels thus became extinct; shouts of joy rent the
skies ; ambrosial showers descended from above, and the gods
drove about the firmament in their cars, exulting in the victory
they had gained.
Expulsion of This allegory of the regeneration of the Ugni-
the boodhists tools at the fire fountain, evidently points to some
religious conversion, or some political revolution. Of the
four divisions into which they branched, the Prumuras be-
came the most powerful. Their dominions extended beyond
the Nerbudda, and comprehended all central and western
India. The Indus formed their boundary on the west. They
carried their arms into the Deccan, and appear, in fact, to
have been the first to extend the Hindoo religion and power
to the south of the Nerbudda. As brahminism did not be-
come predominant till after many bloody conflicts with
boodhism, it is not improbable that it was the alliance with
the Ugnikools, which rendered the brahmins triumphant, and
enabled them to extend their religious power from the king-
dom of Cunouj to the southern extremities of the peninsula.
The boodhists retreated in great numbers to Ceylon, carrying
with them that passion for cave temples, for which they were
distinguished. In that island they raised one of the most
stupendous monuments of human labour in the world. Exca-
vated by their exertions from the solid rock, we discover a
series of temples, of which the largest is 140 feet long,
90 wide, and 45 in height, and which contains a recumbent
image of Boodh, 30 feet in length. The temples which the
I.] YIKRAMABITYU. 19
boodhists were constrained to relinquish were speedily occu-
pied by the brahmins, and Vishnoo and Sivu displaced Boodh.
Cave temples Under the brahmins, the construction of these
cave temples was extended and improved. Those
which they erected at Ellora, in the Deccan, exceed in magni-
ficence anything to be seen elsewhere. In a range of hills
which extend five miles in the form of a horse shoe, we
discover a range of grotto temples, two and often three
stories in height. The most remarkable of them is the
temple of Koilas, or the palace of Muhadevu. Here
is to be found whatever is splendid in architecture, or ex-
quisite in sculpture. The scene is crowded with staircases,
bridges, chapels, columns, porticoes, obelisks, and colossal
.statues, all chiselled out of the solid rock. The sides of
these wonderful chambers are covered with figures of the
Hindoo gods and goddesses, and representations from the
Kamayun and the Muhabharut. The pantheon of Ellora
seems to have been the citadel of Hindooism when it spread
into the Deccan. The precise age of these magnificent exca-
vations it is impossible to fix, but it must have been at some
period during the ten or twelve centuries which elapsed
between the subjugation of the boodhists, and the arrival of
the Mahomedans, in the high and palmy state of Hin-
dooism, when the brahmins swayed the ecclesiastical sceptre
of India without a rival or an enemy.
vikra ad - "^6 & S e ^ Vikramadityu follows the supposed
subjection of the boodhists. He is said to have
been descended from one of the Ugnikool chieftains, the
Prumura, now contracted to Puar. His reign began fifty-six
years before our era, and the ancient city of Oojein was his
capital. He is described as the, greatest monarch of his age, of
which there is the most satisfactory proof in the fact that his
era is still current throughout Hindostan. He encouraged lite-
rature beyond all former example. He invited learned
brahmins from every part of India, and rewarded them with
magnificent presents, and they have repaid him by investing
c 2
20 BIRTH OP JESUS CHRIST. [CHAP.
him -with immortality. They have exhausted the resources
of flattery in their attempt to describe the magnitude of his
power, and have assured us, that without his permission the
loadstone had no power over iron, or amber on the chaff of
the field. So exemplary was his temperance, that while in the
enjoyment of supreme power, he constantly slept on a mat,
which, with a waterpot replenished from the spring, formed
the whole furniture of his chamber. It is stated that while
he extended his patronage to the worship of the gods and
goddesses, then rising into popularity, he himself continued
to profess the old creed, and adored the one infinite and in-
visible God.
The birth of Fif ty-six years after the accession of Vikruma-
jesus Christ, dityu, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, be-
came incarnate in the land of Judea, and made an atonement
for the sins of men, by offering himself as a sacrifice. On the
third day he rose from the dead, and after giving his dis-
ciples a commission to proclaim to mankind the glad tidings
of salvation through his redemption, ascended to heaven. One
of his disciples, St. Thomas, is generally supposed to have
introduced Christianity into India, where he obtained many
converts. The Hindoo legends present so many points of
similarity with the facts of the New Testament, as to leave
little doubt that the events connected with the life and death
of the Saviour of mankind were widely disseminated through
India, and embodied, though in a distorted form, in the
writings of Hindoo poets and sages.
It is about this period that we find the Andras
The Andras. . _.
dynasty enjoying great power in the Gangetic
provinces, and their fame extending even to Eome. They
were probably one of the families which successively filled the
Mugudu throne. They appear to have gained it about twenty
years before our era, and to have held it on till the year 436.
The only notice of any of the monarchs of this line which has
survived their extinction refers to Kurnu, whose fame was
spread to the islands of the eastern archipelago, which were
E.J EARLY HISTORY OF THE DECCAN. 21
probably visited by his fleet. He still lives in the memory of
posterity, and a man of extraordinary liberality is always
compared to king Kurnu. The centuries which elapsed
between the decay of the Andras and the invasion of the
Mahomedans are filled up by the historians with barren lists of
dynasties and kings which can be turned to no account ; and
we turn therefore from the history of Hindostan to the annals
of the Deccan.
Early history of The early history of the Deccan is less obscure
the Deccan. an( j j cgs roman tic than that of the northern division
of India. All the traditions and records recognise in every
province of it a period when the inhabitants did not profess
the Hindoo religion. The brahminical writers describe them
as mountaineers and foresters, goblins, and monsters ; but
there is every reason to conclude that they had reached a high
degf^e of civilization at a very early age. Ravunu, when
attacked by Ramu, was the sovereign of a powerful and
civilized state, which embraced not only the island of Ceylon,
but the whole of the southern division of the peninsula ; and
his subjects were, doubtless, far more advanced in the arts
and literature than the invaders. A Tamul literature existed
before the introduction of brahminism ; and some of the best
authors in that language were of the tribe now stigmatised as
pariars, which incontestibly proves that the pariars were the
aborigines of the country, and a highly cultivated people, who
were reduced to subjection and degraded by the triumphant
brahmins. This remark applies to the group of tribes comprised
in the ancient Telingana, Draviru and Kerulu.
ThePandyas The most ancient kingdoms of the Deccan
andtheChoias. appear to h ave been those of the Pandyas and the
Cholas, established in the extreme south, where the Tamul
language prevailed. Of the former, the seat of government,
after having been twice removed, was fixed at Madura, where
it was in existence in the time of Ptolemy, the great
geographer of antiquity. In the ninth century the reigning
family lost its consequence, but continued to linger in the
22 KERTJLU TELINGANA. [CHAP.
scene of its eaily power till 1736, when the last of that royal
line was conquered by the nabob of Arcot. The kingdom of
Chola which some identify with Coromandel had Canchi,
or Conjeveram, for its capital, and retained its vigour for
many centuries, and, about the eighth century, appears to
have extended its authority over a considerable portion of
Carnata and Telingana. But its princes were driven back
and confined to their former limits about the tenth century,
and maintained a feeble existence, either as independent
sovereigns, or as tributaries to the great Hindoo monarchy of
Beejuynugur, till the province was subdued in the middle of
the seventeenth century by Shahjee, the father of Sevajee,
the founder of Mahratta greatness.
Kcruiu and The ancient division of Kerulu included Mala-
bar and Carnata, which are said to have been
miraculously peopled with brahmins by their champion
Purusramu, the renowned destroyer of the kshetriyus. Apart
from this legend, it would appear that about the second cen-
tury a colony of brahmins introduced themselves and their
religion into this province, which they divided into sixty-four
districts, and governed for a time by an ecclesiastical senate,
over which a brahmin was chosen to preside every three
years ; but they were subsequently subjected to the Pandya
kingdom. About the ninth century the country was broken
into various principalities; one of the most important of which,
Calicut, was under the government of the Hindoo Zamorin
when the Europeans first landed in India, under Vasco de
Gama, in 1498. Of the history of Telingana no authentic
records have been discovered, but it appears that about the
eleventh century the Belial dynasty attained paramount
power in this region. They dignified themselves with the
title of Rajpoots, of the Yadoo branch, and at one period ex-
tended their authority over the whole of Carnata, Malabar, and
Telingana ; but it was extinguished by the Mahomedans in
Onssaand 1310. The early annals- of Orissa are equally
Maharaslra - indistinct. The authentic history of the province
I.] THE RAJPOOTS OP CIIITTOKE. 23
does not commence before the year 473, when the Kesari
family obtained the throne, and held it till 1131. They were
succeeded by the line of Gungu-bungsu, who maintained their
power till it was subverted by the Mahomedan in 1568. Of
the Mahratta province there are only two facts distinctly
visible in history ; the existence, more than twenty centuries
ago, of the great commercial mart of Tagara, so well known
to the Romans, which has been identified with Deogur, the
modern Dowlutabad, and was the capital of a long line of
monarchs. The other event is the reign of Salivahun. All
that is known of that prince, however, is that he was the son
of a potter, that he headed a successful insurrection, de-
throned the reigning family, and established a monarchy so
powerful and extensive that it gave rise to an era which has
survived him for eighteen centuries, and still continues cur-
rentfin the Deccan.
The Rajpoot While the GTangetic empire of the Andras was
family of crumbling to pieces, the Rajpoot family of Chittore,
now settled at Oodypore, was rising into notice.
By the general suffrage of the Hindoos in the western pro-
vinces its descent is traced from Loh, the eldest son of Ramu,
the hero of the Rumayun, and it, therefore, claims pre-
eminence among the Hindoo princes of India. The family
originally migrated to the country of Surat, and fixed their
capital at Balabhipore, in the Gulf of Cambay. The town
was sacked about the year 524 by the son of Noshirvan the
just, king of Persia, but the Rajpoot queen escaped the general
destruction and took refuge in a cave, where she gave birth to
a son, G-oha. The youth subsequently established a king-
dom at Edur, and married the granddaughter of the Persian
king, and of his queen, the daughter of Maurice, the Christian
emperor of Constantinople. From Goha are lineally descended
the rajas of Oodypore. " Thus," remarks the historian of
Sajpootana, " we are led to the singular conclusion that the
Hindoo sooruj, or sun, the descendant of a hundred kings, the
undisputed possessor of the honours of Ramu, the patriarch
24 MAHOMED. [CHAP.
of the solar race, from whom other Hindoo princes, before
they can succeed to the throne of their fathers, must obtain
the teluk, or sign of royalty and investiture, is in fact the
offspring of a Christian princess." Eight princes succeeded
Goha on the throne of Edur, the last of whom was put to
death by his sons while hunting, but his infant son, Bappa,
was conveyed to the fortress of Bhandere, and brought up
among the shepherds. His mother aroused his ambition by
revealing to him the secret of his royal birth, and he im-
mediately proceeded to the court of Chittore, together with
the followers he had been able to collect, and was favourably
received by the king, but the nobles took umbrage at the
favour shown to an unknown youth. At this juncture a
formidable foe came down upon the country, and the chiefs
refused to furnish their feudal contingents, but Bappa offered
without any hesitation to lead the national troops into the
field. That enemy was the Mahomedans, who now for the
first time advanced into the heart of a country destined in
after times to form one of their most magnificent empires.
Else of Maho- Mahomed was born at Mecca, in Arabia, in the
inedan power. vear ggg^ an( j a ^ ^ e a g e o f f or ty } announced him-
self a prophet commissioned by God to convert the human
race to the "true faith," by the agency of the sword.
Having, by the force of his genius and eloquence, gained
many proselytes in his native land, he raised an army of
Arabs to subjugate the surrounding nations to his power and
his creed, and commenced that career of conquest which was
pursued by his successors with unexampled vigour and
rapidity. Province after province, and kingdom after king-
dom submitted to their arms, and in the brief period of half
a century, they had subverted or shaken the political institu-
tions of the west. From the birth of Mahoinedanism, its vota-
ries were animated with the resolution to establish, by force
of arms, a universal monarchy in which there should be but
one law civil and religious, one prophet and one creed. Every
Musulman who fell in this warfare, was promised a residence
I.] FIRST MAHOMEDAN INVASION. 25
in paradise in the society of the black-eyed houris. It was
not to be expected, that when the " Faithful," as they were
termed, had conquered Africa and Spain, subverted the
Persian empire, and looked on Europe as already their own,
the rich provinces of India, which had been for ages the prey
of every invader, should escape their notice.
First Mahome- Within a f ew years after the death of Mahomed,
dan invasion. |h e Caliph Omar founded Bussorah, at the estuary
of the Tigris, and despatched an army into the province of
Sinde. The invasion was repeated under his successors, but
it was not till the days of Walid, that any successful effort
was made to obtain a footing in the country. Between the
years 705 and 715, he not only made an entire conquest of
the province, but carried his victorious army to the banks of
the^yffanges. It was the generals of this caliph who crossed
the Straits of Gibraltar, planted the standard of the crescent
on the soil of Europe, and subdued Spain in a single campaign.
So lofty was the ambition which animated the early successors
of Mahomed, that their arms were triumphant at the same
time on the banks of the Ebro and the Ganges, and they
aspired to the conquest both of Europe and India. Three
years after the invasion of Walid, his general Mahomed ben
Cossim overran the kingdom of Guzerat, and called on every
city either to embrace the creed of the prophet, or to pay
tribute. In case of refusal, the fighting men were put to the
sword, and the women and children reduced to slavery, but
the cultivators, artizans, and merchants are said to have suf-
fered little molestation. Cossim at length advanced to
Chittore, when the young Bappa placed himself at the head
of the Rajpoot army, and not only completely defeated him,
but expelled him from India. On his return to Chittore,
Bappa was hailed by the nobles and people as their deliverer,
and advanced to the throne, and from him are descended the
ranas who now reign at Oodypore. After having governed
the country for many years with great success, he abandoned
his kingdom and his religion, and marched with his troops
26 CTJNOt'J BRAHMINS IN BENGAL. [CHAP.
across the Indus to Khorasan, where he married many Ma-
homedan wives, and left a numerous progeny.
Renewed attack It was about this period that the Prumura
onChittore. family, which had ruled for many centuries at
Oojein, is supposed to have lost its authority in the north of
India, and other kingdoms rose on its ruins. The Tuars
occupied the districts around Delhi, and made that city their
capital. Guzerat became independent, and was governed at
first by the Chouras and then by the Solankis. The Rajpoot
annalists state, that in the days of Khoman, the great
grandson of Bappa, whose reign extended from 812 to 836,
Chittore was again invaded by the Mahomedans under
Mahmoon, the governor of Khorasan, probably the son of the
celebrated Caliph, Haioun-ul-Rashid, the contemporary and
friend of Charlemagne. The other princes in the north of
India hastened to the assistance of the Rajpoots against the
common enemy, and the national bard gives an animated
description of the different tribes who composed the chivalry
of the north on this occasion. With the aid of these allies,
Khoman defeated and expelled the Musulmans, with whom
he is said to have fought no fewer than twenty-four engage-
ments. For a century and a half after this period, we hear
of no further Mahomedan invasion, and it cannot but appear
a very notable circumstance, that while the followers of the
Prophet completely subjugated Persia and Spain in two or
three campaigns, the resistance which they met in their early
encounters with the Hindoos was so compact and resolute,
that nearly three centuries elapsed after the first invasion,
before they could make any permanent impression on India.
The only authentic event to be further noticed
rhe Cunouj '
brahmins in previous to the irruption of Mahmood of Ghuzni,
relates to the kingdom of Bengal. Cunouj, the
cradle and the citadel of Hindooism, had recovered its impor-
tance under a new dynasty. Adisoor, of the Vidyu, or medical
race of kings then ruling Bengal, and holding its court at
Nuddea, became dissatisfied with the ignorance of his prieste,
n-3 MOVEMENTS IN KHORASAN AND CABDL. 27
and applied to the king- of Cunouj for a supply of brahmins
well versed in the Hindoo shasters and observances. That
monarch, about nine centuries ago sent him five brahmins,
from whom all the brahminical families in Bengal trace their
descent; while the kayusts, the next in order, derive their
origin from the five servants who attended the priests.
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE DYNASTY OP GHTTZNI TO THAT OP TOGHLUK,
10091321.
*r
WE have now reached the period when the
Movements in
Khorasan and Mahomedan empire in India may be said to have
had a substantial beginning.
The opulent regions of Khorasan and Transoxiana had
been conquered by the Arabs in the first century of the hejira,
and continued under the government of the lieutenants of
the Caliphs, for more than 180 years. But after the death of
Haroun-ul-Rashid, the most illustrious of that line of princes,
their authority began to decline, and the different provinces
aspired to independence, till at length, little, if anything
remained of the once splendid empire of the Caliphs, except
the city of Bagdad and its immediate .dependencies. Among
the governors who thus assumed royalty, was Ismael Samani,
a Tartar and a Turk, who seized on Transoxiana and Kho-
rasan as well as Afghanistan, about the year 862, and fixed the
seat of his government at Bokhara. This dynasty, called that
of the Samanides flourished for about 120 years. The fifth
prince of the line had a Tartar slave of the name of Alup-
tugeen, a man of good sense and courage, who rose through
the gradations of office to the government of Candahar, or
SUBUKTUGEEN;
Gliuzni. On the death of his patron, a controversy arose
about the succession, and Aluptugeen voted against his son,
who was, however, raised to the throne by the other chiefs.
Aluptugeen having thus incurred his resentment, retreated to
Ins own government, and declared himself independent ; and
after defeating two armies sent against him, was allowed to
remain unmolested. He had purchased a slave of Turkistan,
of the name of Subuktugeen, who, though claiming descent
from the illustrious Persian dynasty of the Sassanides had
been reduced to the most abject poverty. His master, who
had discovered great powers of mind in him, gradually raised
him to such trust and power, that he became the first subject
in the kingdom, and in 976 succeeded to the throne.
Hindoos attack ^ ne provinces in the extreme north of India, and
Subuktugeen, more particularly the Punjab, had for many cen-
turies been linked with the fortunes and policy of
Cabul and Candahar which lay to the west of the Indus. Hence,
the establishment of a powerful Mahomedan kingdom, under a
vigorous ruler, at no greater distance from the frontier of India
than Ghuzni, gave no little disquietude to Jeypal, the Hindoo
chief of Lahore. He determined to anticipate any designs which
Subuktugeen might form on India, and crossed the Indus
with a large army to Lughman, at the entrance of the valley
which extends from Peshawur to Cabul, where he was met by
that prince. While the two armies faced each other, a violent
tempest of wind, rain, and thunder arose, which is said to
have terrified the superstitious soldiers of Jeypal to such a
degree, as to constrain him to sue for an accommodation, that
he might escape to his own country. The Hindoo was the
aggressor, and the treaty was not granted except on the
surrender of fifty elephants, and the promise of a large sum
of money. The envoys of Subuktugeen followed Jeypal to
Lahore for payment, but on hearing that his opponent had
been obliged to march towards the west to repel an invasion,
he was disposed to withhold it. The brahmins, says the
native historian, stood on the right of the throne, and urged
H.] MAHMOOD OP GHUZNI. 29
him to refuse the tribute, since there was nothing 1 to be any
longer apprehended from Ghuzni ; while his kshetriyu officers,
standing on the left, reminded him of the sufferings beyond
the Indus which had extorted the contribution, and, above
all, of his royal word which he had pledged to the Mahome-
dan prince. In an evil hour, Jeypal listened to the priests,
and imprisoned the envoys. Subuktugeen speedily disposed
of his enemies in the west, and marched with a large army
towards the Indus, breathing vengeance against the author
of the insult. Jeypal, notwithstanding his perfidy, succeeded
in enlisting the aid of the kings of Delhi, Ajmere, Calinjer,
and Cunouj, and advanced across the Indus, it is said, with
100,000 horse and countless infantry. The Hindoos were
utterly routed, and pursued to the banks of the river. Su-
buktugeen found a rich plunder in their camp, and obliged
ah 1 the tribes up to the Indus to submit to his authority.
Subuktugeen died in 997, and was succeeded, in
Mahmood's first
and second the first instance, by his son Ismael, but he was
teuption, 1001. superse( jed in a few months by his brother, the
renowned Mahmood of Ghuzni, who inflicted the severest
blow on the Hindoo power which it had ever experienced
since its original establishment in India. From his early youth
Mahmood had accompanied his father in his numerous expedi-
tions, and thus acquired a passion and a talent for war. He
succeeded to the resources of the kingdom at the age of thirty,
burning with ambition to enlarge its boundaries. Having
spent the first four years of his reign in consolidating his
government west of the Indus, he cast his eye on the rich
plains of Hindostan filled with idolaters, and invested with a
romantic interest. In addition to the wealth he might acquire,
the glory of extending the triumphs of Mahomedanism through
new and unknown regions, possessed an irresistible charm
for his mind. He began his crusade against the Hindoos in
the year 1001, and conducted no fewer than twelve expedi-
tions against the northern provinces, which, being held by
various independent princes, fell an easy prey to his arms.
30 HIS SUCCESSIVE INVASIONS. [CHAP.
He left Ghuzni in August with 10,000 chosen horse, and was
met at Peshawur by his father's old antagonist, Jeypal, who
was totally defeated and taken prisoner, but released on the
promise of paying tribute. According to the Persian histo-
rian, it was a custom or law of the Hindoos that a prince
who had been twice defeated by the Mahomedan arms was
considered unworthy to reign. Jeypal, therefore, resigned
the throne to his son Anungpal, and closed the misfortunes
of his reign by ascending the funeral pyre in regal state.
Some of the chiefs subordinate to Lahore, however, refused
to pay the contributions demanded of them, among whom
was the raja of Bhutnere, situated at the northern extremity
of the Bikaneer desert. The Sultan proceeded against him ;
tire fort was taken after a siege of three days, and the prince,
to avoid falling into the hands of the victor, fell upon his own
sword.
Mahmood's third expedition was undertaken to
His third and r
fourth expedi- subdue Daood, whom he had left governor of
dons, io< s. i^ooltan, but who, under the encouragement of
Anungpal, had revolted against his master. Mooltan was
invested for seven days, but an irruption of the Tartars from
beyond the Oxus, constrained Mahmood to accept the sub-
missions of the governor. Having succeeded in driving the
Tartars back to their seats, he returned to India on his fourth
expedition to chastise Anungpal for the revolt he had insti-
gated, and for his repeated perfidies. That prince had sent
envoys to the Hindoo monarchs in the north of Hindostan to
the kings of Oojein, Calinjer, Gwalior, Cunouj, Delhi, and
Ajmere, who formed a confederation and assembled the
largest army which had as yet taken the field against the
Mahomedans. The Hindoo women are said to have melted
down their gold ornaments and sold their jewels to support
the war, which was considered holy. The Hindoo troops again
crossed the Indus and advanced to Peshawur, where the two
armies were encamped opposite to each other for forty days,
before joining issue. Mahmood at length commenced the
II.] NAGARCOTE THAXESUR CUNOUJ. 31
engagement by a large body of archers, but they were driven
back with the loss of 5,000, by the impetuosity of the bare-
headed and bare-footed Gukkers, a tribe of savages, living
in the hills and fastnesses to the east of the Indus, the ances-
tors of the modern Jauts. The battle was long doubtful, but
was at length decided by the flight of the wounded elephant
of Anungpal, when the whole body of Hindoos, no longer
having their leader before their eyes, dispersed in utter dis-
order, leaving 20,000 dead on the field. Mahmood deter-
mined to allow them no time to rally, bui on reaching the
Punjab found their discomfiture so complete so as to afford
Capture of him leisure for a plundering expedition to the
Nagarcote, 1008. temple of Nagarcote, north-west of Lahore, a
place of peculiar sanctity, built over a natural flame which
issued from the mountain, and was the origin of its religious
renown. It was so strongly f ortified as to be deemed impreg-
nable ; it was therefore selected as the depository of the
wealth of the neighbourhood, and was said at this time to
contain a greater quantity of gold, silver, precious stones, and
pearls than was to be found in the treasury of any prince on
earth. It was, however, captured with ease, and Mahmood
is said to have carried away 700 mauns of gold and silver
plate, 200 mauns of pure gold in ingots, and 200 mauns of
jewels. His next expedition was directed against Thanesur,
about sixty miles from Delhi, one of the most ancient and
Capture of opulent shrines in the north of India. Anungpal
Thanesur, ion. gen t n j g b ro ther to entreat the sultan to spare
the temple which was held in the same veneration by the
Hindoos as Mecca was by the Mahomedans. Mahmood
replied, that the religion of the prophet inculcated this pre-
cept that the reward of his followers in heaven would be in
proportion to the diffusion ,of its tenets and the extermination
of idolatry. His mission to India was to root out the idols ;
how then could he spare Thanesur? The Hindoo princes
were therefore summoned to its defence, but before their
arrival, the shrine was captured and all the costly images,
and shrines, and wealth, together with 200,000 captives were
32 DESTRUCTION OP CUNOD.T. [CHAP.
sent off to Ghuzni, which now began to wear the appearance
of a Hindoo city.
Capture of During the next three years Mahmood was en-
Cunouj, ion. gaged in two expeditions to Cashmere, of minor
consequence reckoned the seventh and eighth ; after which
he subdued the whole of Transoxiana, and extended his
dominion to the Caspian sea. In the year 1017 he resolved to
penetrate to the heart of Hindostan, and assembled an army of
100,000 horse and 20,000 foot, drawn chiefly from the recently
conquered provinces, the inhabitants of which were allured
to his standard by the love of plunder and of adventure. He
set out from Peshawur, and passed three months in skirting
the hills, after which he marched southward, and presented
himself unexpectedly before the city of Cunouj, which had
been renowned in Hindoo history for twenty centuries. The
description given of its grandeur, both by Hindoo and
Mahomedan writers, staggers our belief, more especially when
we consider the limited extent of the kingdom, and the ease
with which it was subdued on this occasion. Its standing
army is said to have consisted of 80,000 men in armour, 30,000
horsemen, with quilted mail, and 500,000 well equipped in-
fantry. The city, moreover, is reported to have contained
60,000 families of musicians. The raja, taken unawares, was
constrained to submit, and to enter into an alliance with the
sultan, who remained in the city only three days and then
turned his steps towards Muttra. This ecclesiastical city, the
birth-place of the deified hero Krishnu, was filled with temples,
and the shrines blazed with jewels. But it fell an easy prey
to the Mahomedans, and was given up to plunder for twenty
days, during which the idols were melted down or demolished.
Some of the temples, however, were spared, on account either
of their matchless beauty, or their soh'dity. "Here are a
thousand edifices," writes the sultan, '" as firm as the creed
of the faithful most of them of marble, besides innumerable
temples. Such another city could not be constructed under two
centuries." After capturing many other towns, and ravaging
many districts, Mahmood at length returned to Ghuzni, laden
II.] ASSAULT ON SOMNATH. 83
with plunder and captives ; and the latter became so common
as not to be worth more than two rupees a head.
Passing over two expeditions of less moment,
Somnath, 1024. f
we come to the last and most celebrated in which
Mahmood was engaged, and which is considered by the
Mahomedans as the model of a religious crusade the capture
and plunder of Somnath. This shrine was at the time one of
the most wealthy and celebrated in India. It is affirmed that
at the period of an eclipse it was crowded with 200,000 pilgrims,
that it was endowed with the rent of 2,000 villages, and that
the image was daily bathed with water, brought from the
sacred stream of the Ganges, a distance of 1,000 miles. Its
establishment consisted of 2,000 brahmins, 300 barbers to
shave the pilgrims when their vows were accomplished, 200
musicians, and 300 courtesans. To reach the temple Mah-
mood was obliged to cross the desert with his army, 350
miles in extent, by no means the least arduous of his exploits.
He appeared unexpectedly before the capital of the province,
and the raja, though considered one of the most powerful
princes in India, was constrained to abandon it and take to
flight. Pursuing his route to the temple the sultan found it
situated on a peninsula connected with the main land by a
fortified isthmus, which was manned at every point with
soldiers. As he approached it, a herald issued from the portal
and menaced the invader with destruction in the name of the
god. Mahmood ordered his archers to clear the fortifications;
the defenders retired to the temple, and prostrating them-
selves before the image supplicated with tears for help.
The next day there was a general charge by the Mahomedan
troops ; but the Hindoos were roused to the highest pitch of
enthusiasm, and vigorously repulsed the assailants. On the
third day the chiefs in the neighbourhood assembled their
troops for the defence of the shrine. The battle raged with
great fury, and was for a tune doubtful. The Mahomedans
began to waver, when the sultan prostrated himself to implore
the Divine assistance, as he was accustomed to do in every
P
84 WEALTH OP SOMNATH. [CHAP.
emergency ; and then leaping into the saddle cheered on his
troops. Ashamed to abandon a prince under whom they had
so often fought and bled, they rushed on their enemies with
an impetuosity which nothing could withstand. Five thousand
Hindoos fell under their sabres, and the remainder rushed to
their boats. On entering the temple Mahmood was struck
with its grandeur. The lofty roof was supported by fifty-
six pillars, curiously carved and richly studded with precious
Btones. The external light was excluded, and the shrine was
lighted by a single lamp, suspended by a golden chain, the
lustre of which was reflected from the numerous jewels with
which the walls were embossed. Facing the entrance stood
the lofty idol five yards in height, two of which were buried
in the ground. Mahmood ordered it to be broken up, when
the brahmins cast themselves at his feet and offered an
immense sum to ransom it. His courtiers besought him to
accept the offer, and he hesitated for a moment ; but he soon
recovered himself, and exclaimed that he would rather be
known as the destroyer than the seller of images. He then
struck the idol with his mace ; his soldiers followed the ex-
ample; and the figure, which was hollow, speedily burst under
their blows, and poured forth a quantity of jewels and
diamonds, greatly exceeding in value the sum which had been
pffered for its redemption. The wealth acquired in this ex-
pedition exceeded that of any which had preceded it ; and the
'mind is bewildered with the enumeration of treasures and
jewels estimated by the maun. The sandal-wood gates of
Somnath were sent as a trophy to Ghuzni, where they re-
mained for eight centuries, till they were brought back to
India in a triumphal procession by a Christian ruler.
-s Mahmood was so charmed with the beauty and
projects and the fertility of the country around Somnath, that
he proposed at one time to make it the seat of his
empire, and likewise to construct a navy to be sent in search
of the pearls of Ceylon, and the gold of Pegu. But he had
the wisdom to relinquish these projects, and, having placed a
H.] DFATH AND CHARACTER OF MAHMOOD. 35
prince of his own choice on the throne of Guzerat, returned
to Ghuzni, after a toilsome and perilous march through the
desert. Two years after, his power reached its culminating
point by the conquest of Persia, but his reputation was
tarnished by the slaughter of some thousands of the in-
habitants of Ispahan, who had obstinately resisted his arms.
This execution was the more remarkable, as in all his cam-
paigns in India, he never shed the blood of a Hindoo, except
in the heat of battle, or in a siege. Soon after his return
from this expedition, he expired at his capital in the year
1030, and in the sixtieth of his age. Two days before his
death, he caused all the gold and silver and jewels of which
he had despoiled India, to be spread out before him, that he
might feast his eyes for the last time with the sight, and
then burst into tears. The next day he commanded his army,
infantry, cavalry, and elephants, to be drawn up in review
before him, and wept at the prospect of leaving them.
Mahmood was the greatest prince of his time ; the Ma-
homedans, indeed, consider him the greatest prince of any
age. He had all the elements of greatness, exemplary pru-
dence, boundless activity, and great courage. His success in
war has given him the highest military reputation, while the
perfect order which prevailed throughout his vast dominions,
notwithstanding his frequent absence in the field, proves that
he likewise possessed the greatest talent for civil affairs.
His court was the most magnificent in Asia; his taste in
architecture was more particularly developed after his return
from Cunouj and Muttra, when he determined to make his
own capital worthy of his empire. He erected a mosque of
granite and marble, called the Celestial Bride, which filled
every beholder with astonishment, and became the wonder of
Central Asia. His nobility vied with him in the erection of
magnificent buildings, and in a short time the metropolis,
which had been a mere collection of hovels, was ornamented
with mosques, porches, fountains, reservoirs, acqueducts and
palaces, beyond any other city in the east. He has been.
D 2
36 MUSAOOD. [CHAP.
charged with avarice, but if he was rapacious in acquiring
wealth, he was noble and judicious in the employment of it.
Few Mahomedan princes have ever equalled him in the en-
couragement of learning. He founded a university at
Ghuzni, and furnished it with a large collection of valuable
manuscripts, and a museum of natural curiosities. He set
aside a lac of rupees a year for pensions to learned men, and
his munificence brought together a larger assembly of literary
genius than was to be found in any other Asiatic court. In
the space of thirty years, he extended his dominions from tha
Persian gulf to the sea of Aral, and from the mountains of
Curdestan to the banks of the Sutlege ; yet while in posses-
sion of this great empire, he considered it his highest glory
to be designated the "image-breaker."
Musaooa, Mahmood left two sons, twins; the eldest,
loselow. Mahomed, had recommended himself to his father
by his gentleness and docility, and was nominated his succes-
sor. The younger Musaood had become popular with the
nobles and the army, by his martial qualities, and within five
months of his father's decease, marched to Ghuzni, deprived
his brother of his throne and his sight, and made himself
king. In the year 1034 he conducted an expedition to Cash-
mere, which he subdued, but was recalled to the defence of
his dominions by the irruption of a horde of Turki- Tartars,
denominated Seljuks. His father had on one occasion de-
feated them, but he let them off on easy terms, and they
recrossed the Oxus in such numbers as to threaten the safety
of his empire. Among the generals now sent to oppose their
progress, was Jey-sen, the commander of Musaood's Indian
battalions, from which we infer, that even at that early period
the Mahomedan invaders found the Hindoos ready to enlist
under their banners, and even to cross the Indus and fight
their battles. The Seljuks offered their submission and were
admitted to terms, which only served to increase their am-
bition and cupidity; Musaood was impatient to renew his
Attacks on the Hindoos, but was opposed by advice of his
n.] SUCCESSION OP KINGS, 10401118. 37
.wisest councillors, who represented to him that the incessant
encroachments of the Seljuks required his exclusive attention.
He persisted, however, in marching to India, where he
captured the fortress of Hansi, but was recalled by a fresh
invasion of the ever-restless Seljuks. Musaood appointed his
son governor of the two provinces of Mooltan and Lahore,
which were now permanently annexed to Ghuzni, and marched
against the invaders in person, but after two years of inde-
cisive warfare, Togrul Beg, the great Seljuk chief, advanced
up to the gates of Ghuzni. At length, the two armies met on
equal terms, when Musaood was deserted hi the field by some
of his TurM followers, and totally and irretrievably defeated.
He then resolved to withdraw to India, in the hope of being
able quietly to retrieve his fortunes in that country. But his
army was totally disorganized, and, on crossing the Indus,
deposed him, and restored his brother Mahomed to the throne.
The blindness of that prince rendered him incapable of con-
ducting the government, and he transferred it to his son,
Ahmed, whose first act was to put the dethroned Musaood to
death in the tenth year of his reign.
_ . , Modood, the son of Musaood was at Balkh.
Succession of '
watching the movements of the Seljuks, when
he heard of the assassination of his father, and
hastened to Ghuzni, where he was saluted king. He then
set out for Hindostan, and at Lughman encountered the forces
of Mahomed and Ahmed, who were defeated and slain. The
Seljuks took advantage of these troubles to push their con-
quests, and having assembled at Nishapore, placed the crown
upon the brows of their chief, Togrul Beg, and divided the
country they had conquered, and that which they intended to
occupy, into four parts ; but Modood was able not only to
maintain himself in Ghuzni, but to recover Transoxiana.
Meanwhile, the king of Delhi took advantage of his absence,
and, as the Mahomedan historian observes, " those, who like
foxes, dared not creep from their holes, now put on the aspect
of lions." A large army of Hindoos was assembled. Tha-
38 REVIVAL OF HINDOO POWER. [CHAP.
nesur, Hansi, and the Mahomedan possessions south of the
Sutlege were recovered, and Nagarcote fell after a siege of
four months. The idol which Mahmood demolished had been
miraculously preserved so at least it was announced and
was now discovered by the brahmins, and installed; the
oracle was re-established, and the shrine was again enriched
by the gifts of princes and people. All the other temples
which had been subverted were restored, and recovered their
sanctity. The Hindoos, flushed with success, thought them-
selves strong enough to expel the followers of the Prophet
from the soil of India, and proceeded to lay seige to Lahore,
but after beseiging it seven months, were driven back by a
vigorous sally of the besieged. Modood expired at Ghuzni,
after a reign of nine years, in 1049, and was succeeded by
four monarchs in succession, whose insignificant reigns ex-
tended over nine years. Then came Ibrahim, in 1058, remark-
able for his mildness and devotion , whose first act was to make
peace with the Seljuks, and to confirm them in possession of all
the territories they had usurped. He extended the fast of the
Kamzan to three months ; he attended religious lectures, and
bore patiently with priestly rebukes ; he gave away large
sums in charity ; he presented two copies of the Koran of his
own beautiful penmanship to the Caliph, and then died, after
a reign of forty years, leaving thirty-six sons and forty
daughters. The reign of his son, Musaood the second, ex-
tended over sixteen years, and the throne descended on his
death to his son Arslan, who immediately imprisoned all his
brothers. One of their number, Byram, was, however, so
fortunate as to escape to his maternal uncle, the Seljuk
monarch, who marched against Arslan, and defeated him,
placing Byram on the throne. But on the retirement of the
Seljuk army, Arslan returned and expelled Byram, and was
in turn displaced a second time by Sanjar, the Seljuk general,
and soon after overtaken and put to death; Byrarn, finally
ascended the throne in 1118.
Bynun, the last Byram governed the kingdom with great wisdom
II.] THE DYNASTY OF GHORB, 39
a nd moderation, and like all the monarchs of
1118
his line, extended a liberal patronage to men
of learning. Towards the close of his reign, which reached
thirty-five years, he was involved in a feud with the ruler of
Ghore, which cost him his Me and his crown. His family was
expelled from Ghuzni, and the seat of his kingdom transferred
to Lahore, which his son, Khusro, governed for seven years,
and then bequeathed to his son, Khusro Malik, under whom
all the provinces which had ever been held by the Mahome-
dans, east of the Indus, were recovered. His reign extended
to twenty-seven years, when he was overpowered by Mahomed,
of Ghore, in 1186, and with him the family of Subuktugeen
became extinct, at the close of the usual cycle of 200 years.
The dynasty The dynasty of Ghore, which superseded that of
Ghuzni, and rapidly extended its dominion from
the Caspian Sea to the Ganges, was flattered by Mahomedan
poets and historians with an ancient and honourable lineage,
but the founder of the family was Eiz-ood-deen Hussein, a
native of Afghanistan, of little note. He entered the service
of Musaood, the king of Ghuzni, and rose in his favour, until
he obtained the hand of his daughter, and with it the princi-
pality of Ghore. His son, Kootub-ood-deen, espoused the
daughter of Byram, who put him to death in consequence of
some family disputes. Seif-ood-deen, his brother, took up arms
to revenge the murder, and captured Ghuzni, from which Byram
retreated in haste. Seif-ood-deen, who had sent back the
greater part of his army, failed to conciliate his new subjects,
and Byram was encouraged to return. He succeeded in
defeating and capturing his opponent, whom he put to death
under every circumstance of ignominy. His brother, Alla-
ood-deen, on hearing of this tragic event, marched with a
numerous army to Ghuzni, thirsting to revenge the murder.
A long and bloody battle was fought under the walls of the
city, which ended in the utter rout of Byram's army, and
his retreat to India, during the progress of which, fatigue
and misfortune put an end to his life. Alla-ood-deen
40 ^LLA-OOD-DEEN GHORT. [CHAP.
entered Ghuzni, and gave up this city, then the noblest in
Asia, to indiscriminate plunder for three, and, according to
Borne historians, for seven days. The superb monuments of
the kings of Ghuzni were destroyed, and the palaces of the
nobles sacked, while the most distinguished and venerable
men in the city were carried into captivity. Whatever pro-
vocation Alla-ood-deen may have received hi the murder of
his brother, the savage vengeance wreaked on this magnifi-
cent capital, has fixed an indelible stain on his memory, and
led the historians to stigmatize him as the " incendiary of
the world."
Aiia-ood-deen Alla-ood-deen, after having satiated his fury
Ghory,ii62. at Ghuzni, returned to his capital at Feroze-
khoh, but was immediately summoned by Sultan Sanjar to
make good the tribute which had been usually paid by his
predecessor, Byram. The demand was refused, and the
Seljuk Sanjar immediately marched to Ghuzni, and defeated
and captured Alla-ood-deen. But on hearing that his own
lieutenant in Kharism had revolted, and invited the Khitans,
a Tartar horde, who had been driven from the north of China,
to assist him, Sanjar replaced Alla-ood-deen on the Ghuzni
throne, and marched against this new enemy, by whom he
was defeated. He was enabled, however, to recover his
strength, but was brought into collision with another tribe of
Tartars, generally called the Euz, and though he assembled
100,000 men in the field was totally routed, and made prisoner.
He died in the course of three years, in 1156, and with him
ended the power which the Seljuks had been a century in
building up. Alla-ood-deen died in the same year, and was
succeeded by his son, an amiable but inexperienced youth,
who was killed in the course of the year by one of his own
nobles, when his cousin, Gheias-ood-deen, mounted the
throne, and associated his own brother, Shahab-ood-deen,
shahab-ood- known in history as the renowned Mahomed
een, 1157. Ghory, with him in the government. It is a most
singular circumstance that in that age of violence, when the
II.J MAHOMED GHORY STATE OF THE HINDOOS. 41
love of power overcame all natural affections, and instigated
men to the murder of fathers, and brothers, and kindred,
Mahomed should have continued faithful in allegiance to his
feeble brother for twenty-nine years. It was he who estab-
lished the second Mahomedan dynasty at Delhi, generally
known as the house of Ghore.
state of the Mahomed Ghory was the real founder of Maho-
Hindoo princes, medan power in India ; and it may therefore be of
service to glance at the condition of the Hindoo
thrones in the north, immediately on the eve of their ex-
tinction. The king of Cunouj, of the Korah family, had
been compelled to make his submission, as already stated,
to Mahmood of Ghuzni, which excited the indignation of the
neighbouring Hindoo princes, who expelled him from the
throne, and put him to death. The kingdom was then oc-
cupied by the Kathore tribe of the Rajpoots, and five princes
of that line had governed it, when it was finally absorbed by
the Mahomedans. The kings of Benares, who bore the
patronymic of Pal, and professed the Boodhist religion, attained
great power, and one of them is said to have extended his
conquests to Orissa. The family, however, became extinct
before the invasion of Mahomed Ghory, when the king of
Bengal seized Gour and Behar, and the king of Cunouj, the
western districts of Benares, which greatly increased his
power and his arrogance. In the west, the kingdom of
Guzerat was governed by the family of Bhagilas, who were
generally found in alliance with the kingdom of Cunouj.
Ajmere, then a powerful monarchy, was governed by the
Chohans, and always sided with the sovereigns of Delhi, of
the Tuar dynasty. The last king of this line having no son
adopted his grandson, Prithiraj, the offspring of his daughter,
who was married to the king of Ajmere. The king of Cunouj
refused to acknowledge the superiority which had been con-
ceded to the kings of Delhi ; and they were engaged in in-
cessant warfare. Thus, at the period when Mahomed Ghory
was preparing to extirpate the Hindoo power in the north of
42 BHOJE RAJA. [CHAP.
India, its princes, instead of combining against the common
foe, were engaged in mutual hostilities, or alienated from
each other by family jealousies. Hindostan was divided into
two irreconcilable parties the one comprising Guzerat and
Cunouj, the other Delhi, the Chohan of Ajmere, and the
Hindoo raja of Chittore. It is asserted by some native
authors that Jeychunder, the king of Cunouj, impelled by
hatred of the young king of Delhi, invited Mahomed Ghory to
invade India, but the evidence of this act of treason is doubt-
ful, and the Mahomedan prince required no prompting to an
enterprize of such large promise. But it is certain that the
king of Cunouj assumed the arrogant title of lord paramount
of India, and resolved to support his pretensions by celebrating
the magnificent sacrifice of the horse. The other princes of
the north hastened to pay their homage to him, but Prithiraj,
the king of Delhi, supported by the raja of Chittore, refused
to acknowledge the claim of superiority put forward by his
rival. In this gorgeous ceremony it is required that every
office, however menial, shall be performed by royal hands. As
the king of Delhi refused to appear, an effigy of gold was
made to supply his place, and planted at the entrance of the
hall, to represent him in the capacity of the porter. In such
acts of folly were the Hindoo princes in the north wasting
their time and their energies, while the Mahomedan was
thundering at their door.
On the threshhold of the great revolution pro-
BhojeBaja. , , , .,. . .
duced by this invasion, we pause for a moment to
record the civil virtues of Bhoje Raja, the last of the really
great Hindoo sovereigns of Hindostan. He was of the race
of the Prumuras, who still continued to reign, though with di-
minished splendour, at Oojein and at Dhar. Seated on tho
throne of Vikrumadityu, he determined to revive the literary
glory of his court, and to render his own reign illustrious by
the encouragement of literature. While the silly king of
Cunouj was engaged in celebrating the sacrifice of the horse,
and the princes of the north were hastening to that imperial
tt.] DEFEAT OP MAHOMED GHORT. 4$
pageant, the learned were crowding to the court of Bhoje, by
whom they were entertained with royal hospitality. His
memory is consecrated in the recollections of posterity, and
his reign has been immortalized by the genius of poetry. His
name is as familiar to men of the present age as that of Ramu
and Yoodistheer ; yet few recognise the fact that he reigned
only seven centuries ago, and that he was the last Hindoo
sovereign who had the wish as well as the power to patronise
letters.
Mahomea Mahomed now turned his attention to foreign
defeated, 1191. con q ues t w ith all the vigour of a new dynasty.
Having reduced the greater part of Khorasan to subjection, he
led several expeditions to India, and at length defeated Khusro
Malik, the Ghuzni prince of Lahore and Mooltan, and annexed
those provinces to the empire of Ghore, thus extinguishing
the Ghuznavede dynasty, and paving the way for the sub-
version of Hindoo power in Hindostan. At this period there
was little trace left of the early Mahomedan invasions. The
ravages committed by Mahmood had been repaired; population
was renewed, and prosperity revived ; the country was again
filled with wealth and idols, and the Hindoo princes were en-
gaged, as they had been from time immemorial, in fighting
with each other. But the year 1 193 brought with it a tempest
of desolation which swept away the Hindoo monarchies and
institutions, planted the standard of the crescent on the battle-
ments of Delhi, and extended its triumphs throughout Hin-
dostan. Prithiraj, the heroic but unthinking king of Delhi,
had wasted his strength in a vain struggle with the house of
Cunouj, and only 64 out of 108 of his military chiefs had sur-
vived it. But he still was able to bring 200,000 horse into the
field, and a battle was fought at Tirouri, fourteen miles from
Thanesur, on the great plain where most of the contests for
the possession of India were subsequently decided. After
performing prodigies of valour Mahomed found both the wings
of his army give way, and was obliged to fly. He was pur-
sued for forty miles by the victorious Hindoos, and was happy
44 TOTAL DEFEAT OP THE HINDOOS. [CHAP.
to escape across the Indus with the wreck of his army.
Though he appeared outwardly to forget his disgrace, it was
silently preying on his mind ; and he stated in one of his
letters that he " neither slumbered at ease, nor waked but in
sorrow and anxiety."
Defeat of the Having in the course of two years recruited his
king of Demi, army with Tartars, Turks, and Afghans, he
moved again over the Indus, and entered Hin-
dostan. A hundred and fifty chiefs rallied around the king of
Delhi, who was enabled, on the lowest calculation, to bring
300,000 horse, 3,000 elephants, and a vast body of infantry
into the field. The allied sovereigns, inflated with an idea of
their superiority, sent Mahomed a lofty message, granting
him their permission to retire without injury. He replied,
with great apparent humility, that he was merely his brother's
lieutenant, to whom he would refer their message. The
Hindoos misinterpreted this answer to denote weakness, and
spent the night in revelry. The Caggar flowed between the
armies. Mahomed crossed his army during the night, and
fell upon the Hindoos before they had recovered from their
debauch. But in spite of the confusion which ensued, so vast
was their host that they still had time to fall into their ranks;
and Mahomed, reduced again to difficulty, sounded a retreat.
The Hindoos were, as he expected, thrown into disorder in
the pursuit, when he charged them with his reserve ; and as
the historian observes, " this prodigious army once shaken,
like a great building tottered to its fall, and was lost in its
own ruins." The gallant raja of Chittore, Somarsi, fell nobly
fighting at the head of his Rajpoots ; and the king of Delhi,
who was taken prisoner, was butchered in cold blood.
Mahomed then proceeded against Ajmere, and captured the
town, and put several thousands of the inhabitants to the
sword.
Progress of Mahomed returned to Ghuzni laden with plunder,
Kootub,ii94. an(i Kootub-ood-deen, a slave who had gained
his confidence by the display of great talents both as a
H.] CONQUEST OF CUNOUJ, GUZEEAT, BEHAR AND BENGAL, 45
general and as a statesmen, was left in charge of his con-
quests. He followed out his master's plans, by the capture
of Meerut and Coel, and eventually of Delhi which was now,
for the first time, made the seat of the Mahomedan govern-
ment of India. The kings of Cunouj and Guzerat, who had
looked on with malicious delight while the Mahomedan smote
down their Hindoo opponents, had no long respite themselves,
Mahomed returned the next year to India with a still larger
force, and a battle was fought at a place between Chundwar
and Etawah, in which Jey-chunder, the king of Cunouj, was
totally defeated, and perished, and the oldest Hindoo monarchy
in the north was finally subverted. This reverse induced the
whole tribe of the Eathores to emigrate in a body to Rajpoo-
tana, where they established the kingdom of Marwar or
Joudhpore, which still continues to exist. Mahomed then
advanced against Benares, which was captured with ease, and
demolished 1,000 temples. And thus, in the short space of
four years, was the Hindoo power in Hindostan completely
and irrevocably extinguished.
Kootub lost no time in despatching one of his
Conquest of
Behar and slaves, Bukhtiyar Ghiljie, who had risen to com-
Bengai,i203. man( j by his native genius, to conquer Behar.
The capital was sacked and the country subdued, and the
army returned within two years to Delhi, bending beneath the
weight of its plunder. An attempt was soon after made to
supplant Bukhtiyar in his master's favour, but it was defeated
by the prowess he exhibited in single combat with a lion,
which his enemies at court had forced on him. This event
established him still more firmly in the confidence of Kootub,
who sent him in 1203 to reduce Bengal. That kingdom had
for a long period been under the government of a dynasty of
Vidyus, of the medical caste, who established an era which
continued in vogue in the province till it was abolished by
Akbar, two centuries and a half ago. The throne was then
filled by Lucksmun Sen, who had been placed on it in his
infancy, and had now attained the age of eighty. His long
46 DEATH OP MAHOMED GHORY. [CHAP.
reign was distinguished by his liberality, clemency and
justice. His court was usually held at Nuddea, though he
occasionally resided at Gour, or Lucknoutee. On the approach
of the Mahomedans, he was advised by his brahmins, in
accordance, as they said, with the instructions of their sacred
books, to retire to some remote province. He refused to
follow their advice, but he made no preparation for the emer-
gency, and allowed himself to be surprised at a ineal by
Bukhtiyar, who rushed into his palace with a handful of troops.
The king contrived to escape through a back gate to his
boats, and did not pause until he had reached Jugunnath, in
Orissa. It is worthy of remark, that while the king of Delhi
offered an honourable resistance to the Mahomedans, and the
king of Cunouj fell bravely defending his liberty, and
Chittore made the most heroic struggle, Bengal fell without
even an effort for its independence The whole kingdom was
conquered within a single year, and submitted patiently to
the rule of the Mahomedan for five centuries and a hah 7 , till
he was supplanted by the Christian. Bukhtiyar delivered up
the city of Nuddea to plunder, and then proceeded to Gour,
which offered no defence. The Hindoo temples were de-
molished, and Mahomedan mosques, palaces, and caravanseras
built with the materials. After the conquest of Bengal,
Bukhtiyar marched with a large army to Bootan and Assam,
but was signally defeated by those brave highlanders, and
driven back to Bengal, where he died of chagrin, three years
after he had entered the province.
Mahomed's During these transactions, Mahomed was en-
death, 1206. gaged in ambitious expeditions in the west. The
empire of the Seljuks having fallen to pieces, he was anxious
to come in for a share of it. Of the new kingdoms which
nad arisen upon its ruins, that of Kharism, on the eastern
shore of the Caspian Sea, had Attained great power under
Takash, against whom Mahomed now led his forces, but ex-
perienced a signal defeat, and was obliged to purchase a
retreat bv a heavy ransom. On his return to his own do-
II.] KOOTUB, FIRST EMPEROR OF DELHI. 47
minions, he resolved to punish the Gukkers for their incessant
rebellions, and not only brought them under subjection,
but is said to have constrained them to embrace the creed
of the Prophet; but on his way back to Ghuzni, he was
assassinated by two of the tribe as he was reposing in his tent,
in the year 1206. He governed the kingdom in his brother's
name for forty-five years, and was king in his own right
for only three. In the course of ten years, he completely
demolished the Hindoo power from the banks of the Sutlege
to the bay of Bengal, and at the period of his death, the
whole of Hindostan, with the exception of Malwa, was under
a settled and permanent Mahomedan government. The
treasure he left, the fruit of nine expeditions to India, is
stated at a sum which appears incredible, particularly when
it is said to have included five mauns of diamonds.
Kootub-ood- Mahomed, who was childless, was in the habit
deen, 1206. O f training up the most promising of his slaves,
and raising them according to their merit, to posts of dignity
and power. His nephew, Mahmood, who was in possession
of Ghore, was indeed proclaimed king throughout all the
provinces on both sides the Indus, but the kingdom was soon
broken up into separate states. Of the slaves of the deceased
monarch, Eldoze, the governor of Ghuzni, seized on Cabul and
Candahar, while Kootub retained the sovereignty of Hindos-
tan. Eldoze, who affected still to consider India a dependency
of Ghuzni, marched against him, but was defeated at Lahore.
Kootub followed up the victory and recovered Ghuzni, where
he assumed the crown, but was soon after expelled by his
rival, and driven back to India, with which, after this reverse,
he determined to remain content. The establishment of the
Mahomedan empire in India is, therefore, considered to date
from this event, in the year, 1206. Kootub was the first of
those Turki slaves who rose to sovereignty, and furnished a
succession of rulers to India. Meanwhile, Takash, the great
monarch of Kharism, having overrun Persia, marched against
Eldoze and extinguished his brief reign, as well as that of
48 JENGmS KHAN. [CHAP
Mahmood of Ghore, and annexed all tne provinces west of the
Indus to his possessions. Kootub did not enjoy his Indian
sovereignty more than four years, when he was succeeded by
his son, Aram, who was displaced within a twelvemonth by
Altumsh, the slave and the son-in-law of Kootub, in 1211.
He justified the preference of his master during a long reign
of twenty-five years.
It was in the tenth year of his reign that Jelal-
ood-deen, the king of Kharism, was driven to seek
shelter in India by the irruption of Jenghis Khan, the greatest
conqueror of that age, and the original founder of Mogul
greatness. The Moguls were a tribe of Tartars, who roamed
with their flocks and herds on the northern side of the great
wall of China, without any fixed abode. When their numbers
increased beyond the means of subsistence they poured down
on the fertile provinces of the south. The father of Jenghis
Khan presided over thirteen of these nomadic tribes, whose
number did not exceed 40,000. At the age of forty, Jenghis
Khan had established his power over all the Tartar tribes, and
at a general convention held about the year 1210, was ac-
knowleged the great Khan of the Moguls by the shepherd
hordes from the wall of China to the Volga. He had received
no education, aud was unable either to read or write ; but a
natural genius for conquest, and the fiery valour and insatiable
cupidity of his followers, raised him to the summit of human
power. The Moguls burst with impetuosity on China, over-
leaped the barriers which the Chinese monarchs had erected
to exclude them ; and after storming ninety cities compelled
the emperor to cede the northern provinces to them and retire
to the south of the Yellow river. In the west, the progress
of Jenghis Khan brought Mm into collision with Mahomed,
the great sultan of Kharism, who held in contempt the
shepherd soldiers of Tartary, with no wealth but their flocks
and then- swords and no cities but their tents. He put
three of Jenghis Khan's ambassadors to death, and refused
all redress, and the Mogul poured down on his dominions
H.J DEVASTATION INFLICTED BY HIM, 49
with an army of 700,000 men. Mahomed met him with
400,000 troops, but was defeated and obliged to fly, leaving,
it is said, 160,000 of them dead on the field. Mahomed then
distributed his soldiers among his various cities in the hope of
impeding the career of the enemy ; but the cities fell to him
rapidly, and the magnificent monarch of Kharism, recently
the most powerful in Asia, died without an attendant in a
barren island of the Caspian Sea. From that sea to the Indus,
more than 1,000 miles in extent, the whole country was laid
waste with fire and sword by these ruthless barbarians. It
was the greatest calamity which had befallen the human race
since the deluge, and five centuries have barely been sufficient
to repair that desolation. The son of Mahomed, the heroic
Jelal-ood-deen, continued to fight the Moguls at every stage,
but nothing could arrest their progress. He encountered them
for the last time on the banks of the Indus, when his whole
army perished, and he sprung with his horse into the stream,
attended by only a few followers, and sought an asylum from
Altumsh; but that prince was too prudent to provoke the
vengeance of the man who had made himself the scourge of
Asia, and Jelal-ood-deen was obliged to seek some other
refuge. After a variety cf adventures he was killed about
ten years after in Mesopotamia. The victorious and de-
structive career of the Moguls does not belong to the history
of India, the soil of which they did not then invade. But
Jenghis Khan effected a complete revolution in the policy and
destinies of Central Asia, and gave a predominant influence to
the Moguls, who, after the lapse of three centuries, were led
across the Indus, under the auspices of Baber, and eventually
established on the throne of India.
The emperor Altumsh was employed for several
Altumsh, 1236. . r ', ,. , j.
years in subduing his own insubordinate viceroys,
and subjugating those provinces of Hindostan which still main-
tained some show of independence. He reduced the fortress of
Rmtambore in Rajpootana, captured Gwalior and Mandoo, and
then proceeded against Oojein, the capital of Malwa, one o
66 SEIGN OP SULTANA EEZli.
the sacred cities of the Hindoos, where he destroyed the
magnificent temple of Muha Kal, erected 1,200 years before
by Vikrumadityu, sending the images to Deihi to be broken
up at the entrance of the great mosque. He died in 1,236,
and was succeeded by his son ; but he was deposed for his vices
within six months by the nobles, who raised his sister Sultana
Kezia to the throne. This celebrated princess, endowed, ac-
cording to the historian, with every royal virtue, governed
the empire for a time with the greatest ability and success.
She appeared daily on the throne in the habit of a sultan,
gave audience to all comers, and set herself vigorously to
the revision of the laws, and the reformation of abuses ; but
she exalted to the highest dignity in the empire an Abys-
sinian slave to whom she had become partial, and her jealous
nobles took up arms against her. She fought them in two
severe battles, but was defeated, captured, and put to death,
after a brief reign of three years and a-half . The two suc-
ceeding reigns occupied only six years when Nazir-ood-deen.
Nazir-ood-deen, a grandson of Altumsh mounted the throne.
i2. Bulbun, a Turki slave, and the son-in-law of
Altumsh was appointed his chief minister, and proved to be
one of the ablest statesman of his time. Under his administra-
tion the government was strengthened by the more complete
reduction of the Hindoo chiefs ; and his nephew, Shere Khan,
who was charged with the defence of the Indus against the
Moguls, succeeded likewise in re-annexing the province of
Ghuzni to the throne of Delhi. Bulbun was for a time sup-
planted in his office of vizier by an unworthy favourite of the
emperor ; but the disasters which followed his dismissal, and
the remonstrances of the nobles, constrained his master to
reinstate him. In the tenth year of this reign an embassy
arrived from Hulakoo, the grandson of Jenghis Khan, before
whom Asia trembled; and it was resolved to make every
exertion to give his envoy the most honourable reception.
The vizier himself went out to meet him with 50,000 horse
and 200,000 infantry, 2,000 war elephants, and 3,000 car-
It.] feEIGN OP BULBUN. 51
riages of fireworks. By this noble escort he was conducted
to the durbar of the emperor, around whose throne stood
twenty-five of the princes who had been expelled from their
hereditary seats by the Moguls, and obtained an asylum at
Delhi. Nazir-ood-deen's private life was that of a hermit ;
his personal expenses were defrayed from the sale of the
books which he transcribed ; his fare, which was of the
simplest character, was prepared by his wife, who was his
Bole female companion. He died without leaving any son,
and was succeeded by his minister JBulbun.
This prince was equally renowned for his
Bulbun, 1266. ... r , .. l , / ,, . ,.
justice and generosity and for the vigour of hia
administration, though his cruelty on certain occasions has in-
duced some of the historians to represent him as a monster.
He continued the hospitality which his predecessor had shown
to the dethroned princes of Tartary, Transoxiana, Khorasan,
Persia, Irak, and other provinces, placed the royal palaces at
then* disposal, and granted them the most liberal allowances.
These princes were accompanied by the accomplished scholars
who had been assembled around them, and the court of
Bulbun was thus considered the most polite and magnificent in
Asia. He banished all usurers, players, and buffoons from its
precincts, and set an example of the severest frugality and
temperance. At the same time he endeavoured to curb the
insolence of the royal slaves who had begun to arrogate
great power ; but he made it a rule to give no promotion to
any Hindoo. He was advised to reconquer Malwa and
Guzerat which had revolted, but wisely replied that the por-
tentous cloud of Moguls, ever hanging over his northern
frontier, demanded his undivided attention. He resolved,
however, to inflict a severe retribution on Togrul Khan, the
viceroy of the opulent province of Bengal, who had omitted
to remit the plunder recently acquired from a rebel chief, and on
hearing of his master's illnoss, had raised the red umbrella, and
assumed the title of king. Two armies were sent in succession
against him and defeated, and Bulbun took the field in person.
E 2
52 END OP THE SLAVE DYNASTY. [CHAP.
The refractory governor fled to Orissa, and was pursued
by the imperial troops. Mullik, one of the emperor's gene-
rals, advanced to the camp of the enemy with only forty
followers, and rushing into Togrul Khan's tent shouted
"Victory to king Bulbun," cutting down all who opposed
him. The viceroy, imagining that the whole of the imperial
army was upon him, took to flight, and his army was entirely
dispersed. Bulbun made an ill use of his victory, by putting to
death every member of the rebel's family, even to the women
and children. During these transactions the Moguls again
burst on Hindostan ; and Mahomed, the accomplished son of
the emperor, who had collected around him the men most
celebrated in Asia for learning and genius, marched to oppose
them. The Moguls dispersed after a long and sanguinary
action. Mahomed pursued them with imprudent haste and,
on his return was unexpectedly enveloped by a body of their
cavalry, superior in number to his own followers, and fell in
the combat. With him perished the hopes of the dynasty.
The army and the empire was equally filled with lamentation,
for he was the idol of both; and his father, then in his eightieth
year, soon after died of a broken heart.
End of the The son of the deceased prince was appointed
dynasty, 1288. |. Q succeec i him, but was speedily superseded by
Kei-kobad, another of Bulbun's grandchildren, and the son of
Kurrah, who had been appointed governor of Bengal after its
reconquest. He was a youth of eighteen, addicted only to
pleasure, and the slave of a profligate minister, who en-
deavoured to pave his own way to the throne by encouraging
him in eveiy vice. Kurrah, aware of the dangers which sur-
rounded his son, succeeded, after great difficulty, in extorting
his consent to an interview; but the minister imposed so many
humiliating ceremonies on him as he approached the royal
presence that he burst into tears. The son was overpowered
by this sight, and leaping from the throne threw himself at his
father's feet. Many happy meetings took place between them
during a period of twenty days, when Kurrah, after giving his
II.] GIIILJIE DYNASTY. 53
son the most salutary advice, returned to his own government.
But the youth again abandoned himself to indulgence on his
return to the capital, and it terminated in palsy. Then came
a scramble for power between the Tartar mercenaries around
the throne, and the Afghan mountaineers of Ghuzni and
Ghore denominated the Ghiljies. The Tartars were cut to
pieces : Kei-kobad was killed hi his bed, and the Ghiljie chief,
Feroze mounted the throne at the age of seventy, taking the
title of Jelal-ood-deen. Thus closed the dynasty which has
been denominated that of the slaves, which commenced
with the slave Kootub, in 1206, and terminated in 1288,
within three years of the death of the slave Bulbun.
1288. *^k e period of thirty-three years, during which
the Ghiljie family occupied the throne of Delhi,
was rendered memorable in the history of India, by the sub-
jugation of the Deccan to the Mahomedan arms. Feroze, on
mounting the throne, put to death the infant son of the late
king, whose cause had been espoused by the opposite faction;
but this was the only act of cruelty during his reign, which
was, on the contrary, marked by a very impolitic lenity, which
seemed to multiply crime, and to weaken the authority of
government. In the fifth year of his reign, in the year 1294,
Expedition to a century after the battle of Thanesur, which
the Dtccan 1294. g ave fa Q fi na j i D j ow to Hindoo power in Hindos-
tan, his nephew, Alla-ood-deen, a man of great energy and
violent ambition, but without a conscience, carried his arms
across the Nerbudda, and paved the way for the conquest of
the Deccan. He had been appointed to the government of
Oude and Korah, and was successful in subduing some
refractory chieftains in Bundlecund and Malwa, which led
him to project a marauding expedition to the south. He
collected an army of 8,000 men, and swept across the Ner-
budda with a degree of rapidity, which confounded the native
princes, and suddenly presented himself before Deogur, the
Tagara of the Roman writers, the Dowlutabad of modern
history. The raja, living in the security of perfect peace,
54 FIRST IRRUPTION INTO THE DECCAN. [CHAP.
was ill prepared for resistance, but he contrived to assemble
a respectable force, which was, however, signally defeated.
The town was captured and given up to pillage, but the raja
shut himself up in the citadel, which was considered impreg
nable. Alla-ood-deen spread a report that his force was only
the advanced guard of a vast Mahomedan army advancing
from Delhi, and the raja, from whom all his Hindoo neighbours
held aloof, was so alarmed at the prospect before him, that
he sent proposals of peace, with the offer of a large ransom.
During the negotiation, his son advanced with an army to
his relief, but was defeated, and the terms of the ransom
were raised. Some idea of the immense wealth which Alla-
ood-deen obtained, may be formed from the assertion, that
the jewels were counted by mauns, even though the maun
may have been of a lower denomination. From this daring
exploit Alla-ood-deen returned on the twenty-fifth day, pass-
ing through various and hostile provinces without molestation,
from which we gather that the same fatal want of political
unity which had paved the way for the conquest of the north,
existed also in the Deccan. It was this expedition which
exposed the wealth and the weakness of the Hindoo princes
of the south to the Mahomedans, and opened the door of
plunder and conquest.
Accession of Feroze was delighted to learn that his nephew,
AUa-ood-deen, who had suddenly disappeared, was returned
covered with glory, and laden with wealth. The
latter he already reckoned his own, but his wary courtiers
suspected that the victor had other views than those of sub-
mission, and advised the emperor to adopt measures for his
own security; but the generous prince resolved to repose
confidence in the fidelity of his nephew, and was insiduously
encouraged to advance and meet him. Alla-ood-deen fell at
his feet, and the affectionate old man was patting him on the
cheek, when the assassins, who had been posted in ambush,
rushed in and despatched him. His reign extended to seven
years. Alla-ood-deen hastened to Delhi and ascended tho
H-] ALLA-OOD-DEEN CONQUEST OP GUZEKAT. 55
throne, and endeavoured to divert the people from the odious
crime to which he owed his elevation, by the exhibition of
games and amusements. He was unable to read or write
when he became king, but applied to letters with such
assiduity, as to become a good Persian scholar ; after which,
he surrounded himself with learned men, and took great
pleasure in their society. His government was stern and
inflexible, but admirably suited to the exigencies of the time.
The insurrections which broke out hi various provinces
immediately on his accession, were quelled by his promptitude
and energy ; and his reign, which was prolonged to twenty-
one years, was constantly occupied in efforts to repel the
Moguls in the north, and to subjugate the Hindoos in the
south.
Conquest of Two years after he had mounted the throne, he
Guzerat, 1297. dispatched an army to Guzerat, where the raja
had resumed his independence. The country had recovered
from the effect of previous invasions, and was again smiling
with prosperity, but this new torrent of destruction swept
away every vestige of improvement, and the Hindoo power
sunk to rise no more. The magnificent city of Puttun, with
its marble edifices, built from the quarries of Ajmere, was
completely demolished. The images of its opulent shrines
were destroyed, and a Mahomedan mosque erected in front
of the principal temple. Among the prizes of this campaign
the historians particularly note Kowla Devee, the wife of
the king, a woman of unrivalled beauty, who was transferred
to AUa-ood-deen's seraglio, and Kafoor, a handsome slave,
who rose to distinction at Court, and eventually became the
scourge of the Deccan. The expedition to Guzorat was no
sooner completed, than the attention of the emperor was
Mogul invar distracted by another Mogul invasion. Two hun-
dred thousand horsemen, under Kutlugh Khan,
crossed the Indus, and marched down upon Delhi. The
wretched inhabitants were driven before them like sheep
into the city, and famine began to stare that yast multitude
56 CAPTURE OF CHITTORE. [CHAP.
in the face. The emperor marched out at the head of his
troops, and the native historian affirms, that on no former
occasion had so great a multitude of human beings been
collected together in India in one place. The Indian troops
won the day, chiefly through the exertions of Zuffer Khan,
the most distinguished of the emperor's generals. But in the
pursuit of the enemy he was carried away by his impetuosity;
the emperor's brother who was jealous of his increasing
power withheld all succour from him, and he was cut to
pieces after having performed prodigies of valour. His
ungenerous master who dreaded his genius, did not hesitate
to say, that his death was as fortunate a circumstance as the
defeat of the Moguls.
capture of In the year 1303, Alla-ood-deen attacked the
cuittore, 1303. fortress of Chittore, the seat of the Rajpoot
family, which now reigns at Oodypore. The siege was pushed
with great vigour, and when all further defence appeared hope-
less, a large funeral pile was kindled in the fort, into which
the queen, Pudmanee, a woman of exquisite beauty, and the
females of the noblest families, threw themselves. After this
fearful sacrifice, the gates were thrown open, and the raja,
with his faithful followers, rushed on the weapons of the
enemy, and obtained the death they sought. The emperor
destroyed all the temples and palaces which had adorned the
city, but spared the residence of the king and queen. From
these transactions he was recalled by another invasion of the
Moguls, who extended their ravages up to the gates of Delhi,
and retired in consequence, it was said, of a panic created
among them by the prayers of a saint. These invasions were
renewed in 1305 and 1306, but the Moguls were defeated hi
both expeditions. To make an example of them, the emperor
ordered the heads of all the male prisoners to be struck off,
and a pillar to be constructed of them at Delhi, and the women
and children to be sold into slavery. After this event, there
was but one farther imiption of these tribes during the
reign.
H.] EXPEDITIONS TO THE DECCAN. 57
invasion of tho The first expedition to the Deccan in this reign
Deccan, 1306. j n ^303 wag interrupted by the invasion of the
Moguls ; and the generals who were left to conduct it, when
the emperor was recalled, were unsuccessful. Another army
was assembled in 1306, under the command of Kafoor, once
the slave, but now the favourite general of his master, and
sent to chastise the raja of Deogur, who had neglected to
pay up his tribute. It was in this expedition that Kafoor
subdued the Mahrattas, whose name now appears for the
first time in history. Ram-deva, the king of Deogur, made
his submission, and proceeded to Delhi to wait on the
emperor, when he was restored to power. Kafoor, likewise,
recovered Dewal Devee, the daughter whom the empress had
borne to her former husband, and who had inherited all her
mother's beauty. After a long pursuit she was overtaken
near the caves of Ellpra and this is the earliest notice of
them and on her arrival at Delhi became the bride of the
emperor's son; at so early a period do we find intermarriages
between the Hindoos and the Mahomedans. An expedition sent
from Bengal along the coast to Warungole, which was for
nearly two centuries the capital of Telingana, having failed,
Kafoor was sent against it in 1309. He ravaged the northern
provinces, obtained a great victory, and took the fort after a
seige of some months. The raja was condemned to pay
tribute, and Kafoor returned to Delhi.
Farther Deccan Tne next y ear he Wa8 Sent with a lal "o 6 ai ' mV
expedition, 1310. t o the Deccan to reduce the raja of the Carnatic,
of the Belial family. After a march of three months he reached
the capital of Dwar Sumooder literally the gate of the
ocean which has been identified with the modern town of
Hallabee, a hundred miles north west of Seringapatam.
Belial Deb fought a great battle, but was defeated and mado
prisoner, and with him terminated the Belial dynasty of the
Deccan. The capital was captured and neglected ; and,
ceasing to be the abode of royalty, dwindled down, like other
regal seats, into a hamlet. Kafoor does not appear to have
55 KAFOOR'S EXPEDITION TO CAPE COMORIN. [CHAP.
proceeded farther down on the western or Malabar coast ; but
he overran the whole of the eastern provinces on the Coro-
mandel coast, to the extreme limit of the Peninsula ; and at
Ramisseram, opposite Ceylon, erected a mosque, as a memorial
of his victories. He returned to Delhi, in 1311, laden with
the plunder of the Deccan; the value of which has been
calculated by " sober " historians at 100 crores of rupees.
The emperor made a liberal distribution of this wealth, but
his generosity was forgotten in the barbarous massacre of
15,000 of the converted Moguls who had manifested a dis-
position to revolt on being capriciously dismissed from his
service. In the year 1312, Kafoor was again sent into the
Deccan to coerce the son of Kam-deva, the raja of Deogur,
who had succeeded his father, and " withdrawn his neck from
the yoke of obedience." He put the raja to death, annexed
his kingdom to the throne of Delhi, and carried his arms over
the whole of the Carnata and Mahratta territories.
. . Towards the latter period of his reign Alla-ood-
Extinction of
the Ghiijie deen gave himself up to indulgence, which en-
aynasty, 1321. f ee ki e( j both j^s mind and his body; but the
vigour which he had infused into the government still con-
tinued to animate it. At length his infatuated attachment
to Kafoor, whose baseness was equal to his talents, created
general discontent. It was at the instigation of this wretch
that he imprisoned his queen, and his two elder sons. Rebel-
lions broke out in rapid succession in the countries he had
conquered. Hamir, the renowned Rajpoot chieftain, recovered
Chittore ; the son-in-law of Ram-deva raised a revolt in the
Deccan ; Guzerat was for a time in a state of insurrection,
and the emperor sunk into the grave amidst these dark clouds,
not without the suspicion of poison. It was during his reign
that the Mahomedan arms were first carried to Cape Comorin,
and the authority of the emperor for a tune predominated
through the length of India; but the more southern conquests
were transient. Though he was often capricious, and some-
times cruel, his rule was energetic and beneficial; the in-
IL] EXTINCTION OP THE GHILJIE DYNASTY, 59
cessant wars of the Hindoo princes with each other were sup-
pressed by his sovereignty, and a general feeling of security
gave prosperity and wealth to the country, and magnificent
buildings rose in every direction. Alla-ood-deen had thoughts
at one time of setting up for a prophet ; but he gave up the
project, and contented himself with assuming the title of a
second Alexander on his coins. Kafoor produced a pretended
will of his patron, appointing his youngest son his successor,
and himself regent. Then began the usual destruction of
the royal family hi the struggle for power. Cafoor put out
the eyes of the two eldest sons. The officers of the court in
a few days caused Cafoor himself to be assassinated, and
placed the third son, Mobarik, on the throne, who immediately
put to death the instruments of his elevation, and extinguished
the sight of his youngest brother. On the other hand he re-
leased 17,000 prisoners, restored lands which had been unjustly
confiscated, and repealed oppressive taxes. He put himself
at the head of his army, and by an act of vigour reduced
Guzerat, and captured the insurgent son-in-law of Ram-deva,
whom he caused to be flayed alive. But on his return to the
capital he gave himself up to the most degrading debaucheries,
while his favourite Khusro, a converted Hindoo, was sent to
ravage the maritime province of Malabar which Kafoor had
left untouched, though by some the expedition is supposed to
have extended only to the province of Coorg. Khusro re-
turned to Delhi with abundance of treasure, assassinated his
master, and usurped the throne. To secure the possession
of it, he proceeded to put every surviving member of the
royal family to death ; but Ghazee Toghluk, the governor of
the Punjab, soon after marched on Delhi, with the veteran
troops of the frontier province, disciplined by constant con-
flicts with the Moguls, and put an end to the reign and life
of the monster.
60 [CHAP.
CHAPTER III.
4TBOM THE ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF TOGHLUK TO THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MOGULS, 1321 1526.
GiiAZEE ToGHLUK, after this victory, was
anxious to place some scion of the royal line on
the throne, but it was found that the family of Alla-ood-deen
had been utterly exterminated during the recent convulsions,
and he was compelled to yield to the wishes of the nobles
and the people, and accept, the supreme dignity for himself.
His father was originally a slave of the emperor Bulbun,
who rose through various offices to the government of Mool-
tan, which devolved on his son at his death. The administra-
tion of the empire in his hands was as commendable as the
acquisition of it had been blameless. His son, Jonah Khan,
was sent against the king of Telingana, but was completely
baffled, and brought back only 3,000 of his troops to Delhi.
But a second expedition which he undertook in 1323 was
more successful, and resulted hi the capture of the capital,
Warungole, and the extinction of the Hindoo dynasty, which
had flourished for two centuries and a half. Complaints were
at this tune carried up to the throne of oppressions in Bengal.
That province had been under the government of the noble
Kurrah, the son of the emperor Bulbun, for forty years, during
which period he had witnessed the rise and fall of an entire
dynasty, consisting of four sovereigns. The charges against
him proved to be groundless ; the emperor confirmed him in
his government, and the native historian illustrates the muta-
tions of fortune by remarking, that it was the slave of the
father who accorded the use of the royal umbrella to the son.
On his return to the capital, the emperor was entertained at
Afghanpore by his son Jonah Khan, in a magnificent pavi-
lion which he had erected for the occasion ; but the son had
III.] MAHOMED TOGIILUK. 01
no sooner retired from the edifice than it fell and crushed the
father to death.
Mahomed Jonah Khan ascended the throne in 1325, arid
Togwuk, 1325. assiim ed the title of Mahomed Toghluk. This
prince, whose follies brought on the dismemberment of the
empire, was a compound of the most contradictory qualities.
He was the most accomplished prince of his day, skilled ia
every science, and learned even in the philosophy of the
Greek schools, a liberal patron of learning, temperate, and
even austere in his private life, and distinguished in the field
by his courage and military talents. But all these noble
qualities were neutralized by such perversity of disposition,
and such paroxysms of tyranny, as made him the object of
universal execration. It was the intoxication of absolute
i
power which incited him to acts Avhich none but a madman
would have thought of. " So little," says the native histo-
rian, " did he hesitate to shed the blood of God's creatures,
that when he took vengeance, it seemed as if he wished to
exterminate the human family." The veiy first act of his
reign was an enigma. The Moguls invaded the Punjab,
under one of their most celebrated generals, and the emperor
bought them off with a large subsidy, though he could not
fail to perceive that this display of weakness would inevitably
bring them back with a keener appetite for plunder. He
then assembled a large army for the conquest of Persia, but,
after consuming his resources, it was broken up for waat of
pay, and became the terror of his own subjects in every
direction. Finding his treasury exhausted by his extravagant
schemes, he determined to replenish it by levying contribu-
tions on the empire of China. A body of 100,000 men was
accordingly sent across the snowy range, but it was attacked
by a superior force on reaching the confines of that empire,
and obliged to retire. Harassed in their retreat by the
Chinese troops, and the exasperated mountaineers, and worn
out by fatigue and privation, few of the unfortunate troops
returned to tell the tale of their disgrace, and those who
62 HIS EXTRAVAGANT CAREER. [cHA.
survived the sword and famine were butchered by their own
master. Having heard that the Chinese were in the habit of
using a paper currency, he determined to adopt this mode of
filling his coffers, only substituting copper tokens for paper.
The insolvency of the treasury depreciated the value of the
tokens, and foreign merchants refused to touch them. The
mercantile transactions of the empire were thrown into con-
fusion, and the universal misery and discontent which the
measure entailed, constrained him to withdraw the tokens,
but not before thousands had been ruined by them. So ex-
orbitant were his exactions, that the husbandmen sought
refuge in the woods, and wei<,' driven to robbery for a sub-
sistence. The towns were deserted, and the inhabitants
goaded into resistance by despair. The enraged emperor
ordered out his army as if for a royal hunt, surrounded a
large circle of territory, and drove the wretched people into
the centre, where they were slaughtered like wild beasts.
On a subsequent occasion, he ordered a general massacre of
the inhabitants of Cunouj.
^ . .,/ , I n the year 1338 he took the field in person
Continued fol- . . J -
iies of Mahomed, against his nephew, who had been driven to revolt
in the Deccan. The young prince was captured
and flayed alive. On reaching Deogur, Mahomed was so
charmed with the beauty of its situation, and the mildness of
the climate, that he resolved to make it the capital of his em-
pire, and at the same time changed its name to Dowlutabad.
With his usual fatuity, he ordered Delhi to be abandoned, and
its inhabitants, men, women, and children, to travel to the
new city, a distance of 800 miles, along a road which he
caused to be planted with full-grown trees. This wild at-
tempt to change the long established metropolis of the
empire was for a time suspended in consequence of the in-
tolerable misery it created. It was subsequently revived,
but though Delhi was deserted, Dowlutabad did not prosper,
and the project was eventually abandoned, after thousands
of families had been ruined by it. At the same tune, as if to
HI.] REVOLT OF THE PROVINCES. 63
mock the calamities of his subjects, he caused a decayed
tooth, which had been extracted, to be interred at Beer, and
erected a magnificent mausoleum over it. At length he con-
ceived the notion that the disasters of his reign arose from
the fact of his not having received investiture from the
Caliph, the successor of Mahomed. A splendid embassy was
accordingly sent to Bagdad, and on its return with the firman,
he ordered the names of all his predecessors who had not
received the same honour, to be struck out of the royal
calendar.
Eevoitofthc These caprices and oppressions produced the
provinces, 1340. na tural harvest of insurrections. The province of
Bengal- revolted in 1340, and it continued to be independent
of the throne of Delhi for more than two centuries. Two
Hindoo fugitives from Telingana, under a divine impulse, as
the local historians affirm, and, under the guidance of a holy
sage, proceeded to the banks of the Toombudra, and esta-
blished a Hindoo kingdom, with Beejuynugur for its capital.
The site of this city is supposed to correspond with that of
the ancient capital of Hunooman and Soogrevu, who assisted
Eamu in his expedition against Kavunu with their half savage
subjects, and were described by the poet as the kings of the
monkeys, and elevated by the piety of the brahmins to the
rank of gods. About the same time a descendant of the
royal house of Telingana established an independent princi-
pality at Golconda, and for two centuries after this period,
we find these two Hindoo powers taking an active part in the
politics of the Deccan, and maintaining a vigorous struggle
with the power of the Mahomedans. A still more important
revolution wrested all the remaining provinces south of the j
Nerbudda from the sceptre of Delhi. Of the foreign merce-
naries from Tartary, Afghanistan, and other countriea
beyond the Indus, with whom the imperial armies were con-
stantly recruited, a large body consisted of the Moguls, who
had embraced the creed of Mahomed. A large colony of them
was also settled in Guzerat, and they rose at this time to
64 DEATH OF MAHOMED TOGHLtJK. [CHAP.
avenge the wanton slaughter of seventy of their nobles.
The emperor immediately proceeded against them, gave up
the cities of Surat and Cambay to plunder, and ravaged the
whole province as if it had been an enemy's country. The
Guzerat Moguls obtained an asylum hi the Deccan, where
they were joined by all whom the atrocities of Mahomed had
exasperated, and, having taken possession of Dowlutabad,
proclaimed Ismael Khan, an Afghan, king. The emperor
marched against them with great promptitude, inflicted a
signal defeat on them, and shut them in that fortress. But,
while engaged in besieging it, he was called away by a fresh
conspiracy in Guzerat. The Moguls defeated his son-in-law,
who had been left in command, and in conjunction with the
governor of Malwa, who had likewise revolted from his
master, succeeded in establishing a new monarchy in the
Deccan, which is known in history as the Bahminy kingdom.
In 1351, Mahomed proceeded against the prince of Tatta, in
Sinde, who had given an asylum to the Guzerat insurgents.
He halted within a few miles of that city to celebrate the
Mohurrum, and surfeited himself with fish, which brought on
Death of a fever, of which he died in 1351. At the time of
Mahomed, 1351. kj g death all the Mahomedan possessions in the
Deccan, as well as the province of Bengal, had been alienated
from the throne of Delhi.
Feroze TogWuk, Mahomed was succeeded by his nephew Feroze
13511388. Toghluk, who endeavoured to recover Bengal,
but seeing no chance of success, acknowledged the indepen-
dence of Hajee, who had assumed the government, and wisely
fixed the boundaries of the kingdom. Soon after, he con-
sented to receive an envoy from the Bahminy king of the
Deccan, and thus admitted the fact of his sovereignty. The
reign of Feroze, though by no means brilliant, was marked
by a wise administration. He discouraged luxury by his
own example, repealed vexatious imposts, limited the number
of capital punishments, and abolished torture and mutilation.
But the erection of public works was his ruling passion,
HI.] FOUR INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS. 65
and the historians of his day enumerate with exultation
among the monuments which he left, fifty dams across rivers
to promote irrigation, forty mosques, thirty colleges, twenty
palaces, thirty reservoirs, five mausoleums, a hundred cara-
vanseras, a hundred hospitals, a hundred public baths, a
hundred and fifty bridges, and two hundred towns. The
greatest achievement of his reign, however, was the canal
from the source of the Ganges to the Sutlege, which still
bears his name, and places him among the most renowned
benefactors of mankind. After a reign of thirty-four years,
he resigned the throne to his son, usually called Mahomed
Toghluk the second, who gave himself up to indulgence, and
was deposed by the nobles, when Feroze was constrained to
resume the imperial power. But he was now in the ninetieth
year of his age", and in 1388 transferred the sceptre to his
grandson, Gheias. During the next ten years, the throne
was occupied by no fewer than four princes. The court was
filled with plots ; two kings resided within the circuit of the
capital, for three years, and waged incessant war with each
other. Hindostan was thrown into a state of complete
anarchy, and four independent kingdoms were carved out of
the dominions of Delhi, leaving nothing to that august throne
but the districts immediately around it.
The four independent kingdoms established
dent kingdoms, about the close of the fourteenth century, upon
13951400. j-he rums o f the imperial power, were those of
Malwa, Guzerat, Candesh, and Jounpore. Dilawur Khan, of
Ghore, the governor of Malwa, who raised the standard of
independence, fixed his capital at the time-honoured city
of Dhar, and subsequently removed it to Mandoo, fifteen
miles to the north of the Nerbudda, the ramparts of which
are said to have been thirty-seven miles in circumference.
Mozuffer Khan, a Rajpoot converted to Mahomedanism, and
like all converts, in India at least, a ruthless persecutor
of his former creed, had been sent to Guzerat by one of the
successors of Feroze to supersede the governor, who was
w
66 INVASION OP TTMTJB. [CHAP.
suspected of treachery. His independence may be said to
date from the day of his accession to the government, as
there was no power at Delhi to enforce his obedience. It
was about the year 1398 that Nazir Khan, the viceroy of
Candesh, which consists of the lower valley of the Taptee,
threw off his allegiance, and espoused a daughter of the new
king of Guzerat, to which more powerful state his little prin-
cipality was generally considered subordinate. Still nearer
the capital, Khojah Jehan, the vizier of Mahomed Toghluk
the third, and likewise viceroy of Jounpore, availed himself
of the troubles of the times to assume the royal umbrella.
The empire of Delhi, thus despoiled of its fairest provinces,
fell an easy prey to the invader, who was now approaching
it, the most ferocious of any of those who have laid waste
the plains of Hindostan.
Timur 1398 T ^ e -^ meer Timur > or Tamerlane, was born
within forty miles of Samarcand, and came of a
Turki family, which had long been in the service of the de-
scendants of Jenghis Khan. His lot was cast at a period in
human affairs when the decay of vigour in the established
kingdoms presented the fairest opportunity for the foundation
of a new empire by any daring adventurer. Timur was pos-
sessed of the spirit suited to such an enterprise, and, having
been raised at the age of thirty-four, to the throne of
Samarcand by the general voice of his countrymen, in the
course of a few years prostrated every throne that stood in
the way of his progress, and became at once the scourge of
Asia, and the terror of Europe. Animated by a stupendous
ambition, he led the hordes of Tartary to the conquest
of Persia, Khorasan and Transoxiana, and subjugated the
whole of Mesopotamia and Georgia, and a portion of Russia
and Siberia. Having made himself master of the whole of
Central Asia, he despatched his grandson, Peer Mahomed,
with a powerful army to invade India. The youth, however,
encountered more opposition than was expected, and Timur
found it necessary to advance to bis support^ He arrived on
HI.] SACK OF DELHI. 67
the banks of the Indus on the 12th of September, 1398, with
ninety-two squadrons of horse, and crossed it at Attock,
where Alexander the Great had crossed it before him. Hia
grandson soon after joined his camp, and the two armies
marched to Bhutnere, but though the town was surrendered
on terms, it was burnt to the ground, and the inhabitants
were put to the sword. The villages and towns were de-
eerted as he advanced, but a considerable number of
prisoners necessarily remained in his hands, and as they were
found greatly to encumber his march, he ordered them
all to be massacred in cold blood, to the number of 100,000.
A battle was soon after fought under the walls of Delhi,
between the veterans of Timur and the effeminate soldiers of
the empire, with the result which might have been expected.
The emperor was defeated and fled to Guzerat, and Timur
entered the city, and caused himself to be proclaimed emperor.
His soldiers could not be restrained from their usual violence
which brought on resistance, and the whole of the Mogul
army was let loose on the devoted city. The scenes of horror
which ensued defy all description. The citizens sold then: lives
dear, but their valour was quenched in their blood, and many
streets were choked up with dead bodies. After Timur had
satiated his revenge and satisfied his cupidity, by the desola-
tion of the city, " he offered up to the divine Majesty," as his
historian observes, " the sincere and humble tribute of grateful
praise in the noble mosque of poh'shed marble," erected by
Feroze on the banks of the Jumna, and directed his army to
prepare for its return. On his way back he ordered a general
massacre in the city of Meerut, and then proceeding to
Hurdwar, skirted the hills, and recrossed the Indus in March,
1399. He contented himself with the mere title of emperor
of India, and left the country a prey to the distractions which
his invasion had intensely aggravated.
Mahomed Toghluk, the third, who had fled to
the syuds, Guzerat after his defeat, returned to Delhi on the
1412-1450. departure of Timur, but his minister, Ekbal, monq-
f 2
68 DYNASTY OF THE STUDS. [CHAP.
polized all the power of the state. Khizir, the governor of La-
hore and Mooltan, resenting this usurpation, attacked and
slew him, and thus restored to Mahomed some portion of his
authority which he exercised till 1412. On his death, Khizir
marched a second time to Delhi, and extinguished the Toghluk
dynasty. He was a descendant of the prophet, and hia
family, which filled the throne for thirty-six years, has from
that circumstance, been denominated that of the Syuds.
Khizir affected to decline the title of emperor, and styled
himself the viceroy of Timur, in whose name he struck the
coin, and caused the Khooiba to be read in the mosques. His
administration was beneficial, and prosperity began again to
dawn on the desolated provinces. He added his own princi-
pality of the Punjab to the dominions of the imperial crown,
but he made little progress in recovering the other districts
which had become independent. His son, Mobarik, suc-
ceeded him in 1421, but his reign of thirteen years was
marked by no event except an indecisive battle with the king
of Jounpore. The territories subject to Delhi were as limited
in extent at his death as they had been at his accession. He
was assassinated by some Hindoos at the instigation of his
vizier, who raised his son Syud Mahomed to the throne, but
was himself cut off by the exasperated nobles. The youth
was found to be totally unfit for the duties of government,
and the governors of the few districts still attached to the
throne, began to aspire to independence. Among these, was
Beloli Lodi, an Afghan, who made himself master of Mooltan,
and tfye greater part of the Punjab. Encouraged by the
weakness of the throne, the king of Malwa marched to the
capital, but was repulsed by Beloli, within two miles of its
gates. That chief subsequently laid siege to the city which
he had saved, but finding himself unable to capture it, with-
drew to his own province, to await the demise of the crown,
which occurred in 1445. Mahomed was succeeded by his son
Alla-ood-deen, during whose weak reign the domains belong-
ing to the throne were still farther reduced, till at length
in.] LODI DYNASTY. 69
they extended only twelve miles from the city in one direc-
tion, and scarcely a mile in the other. Beloli Lodi, thinking
the pear was now ripe, marched down upon Delhi. The king
resigned the throne to him without a sigh, and retired on a
pension to Budaon, where he passed twenty-eight years of
his life in cultivating his gardens. With him, in 1450, ended
the house of the Syuds.
Beioii Lodi, Beloli was an Afghan of the tribe of Lodi,
14501488. now known as the Lohanee, which is engaged
chiefly in the conveyance of merchandise between Hindostan
and Persia. His grandfather, a wealthy trader, repaired to
the court of Feroze Toghluk, the first great patron of the
Afghans, where he acquired sufficient interest to obtain the
government of Mooltan, to which was subsequently added
that of the Punjab. This rich inheritance eventually came to
Beloli, though not without great opposition on the part of his
relatives. His success was chiefly owing to the talents of
Humeed, the vizier of his predecessor, whom he subsequently
banished from his court, on the plea that he was becoming
too powerful for a subject. The ambitious Beloli was not
likely to remain content with the humble limits to which the
imperial territory had been reduced, and the great object of
his reign was to extend his authority, and more particularly
to' re-annex the kingdom of Jounpore to the crown, which,
since its establishment, had become, in every respect, the
rival of Delhi. Beloli had not been two years on the throne
before he made an inroad into it, but was vigorously repulsed.
The struggle between the two kingdoms was prolonged with
various successes for twenty-eight years, during which period
Delhi was twice besieged by the armies of Jounpore. Hos-
tilities were occasionally suspended by a truce, but it only
afforded the combatants the opportunity of recruiting their
strength for fresh conflicts. It is distressing to reflect on the
desolation entailed on these districts, which form the garden
of Hindostan, and the misery inflicted on the wretched in-
habitants, by the internecine wars of these two royal houses,
TO EXTINCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF JOUNPORE. [CHAP.
in comparison with which even the oppression of the worst of
governments must appear light. Happily for the interests of
humanity, the conflict was brought to a close in 1476, when
the " King of the East," as he was styled, fled to Bengal and
the kingdom of Jounpore was absorbed in the territory of
Delhi. The dynasty existed for eighty years, of which period
one-half was comprised hi the reign of Ibrahim, one of the
most illustrious princes in the history of Hindostan. Under
his beneficent administration, the prosperity of the country
reached its summit. Learned men from all parts of India
were invited to the court, which was universally acknow-
ledged to be the most polished and elegant in India. The city
of Jounpore was adorned with superb and massive structures,
the remains of which to this day testify the magnificence
of the dynasty. Beloli survived this protracted warfare ten
years, and died in 1488, after a reign of thirty-eight years,
during which he succeeded in extending the territory of the
crown from the Jumna to the Himalayu, and from the Indus
to Benares.
Seconder ana Beloli, as if he had determined to render family
Ibrahim Lodi, feuds inevitable, divided his territories among 1 his
1133 1526
sons, but Secunder, to whom he had bequeathed
the largest share, together with the throne, lost no time in
dispossessing his brothers. His prosperous reign of twenty-
eight years was marked by the recovery of Behar. Though
just and equitable in his administration, he followed the rule
rather than the exception of the Mahomedan conquerors of
India with regard to the treatment of the Hindoos. He lost
no opportunity of manifesting his hatred of them, and in
every quarter demolished their temples and erected mosques
with the materials. In the holy city of Muttra he planted a
mosque in front of the stairs leading to the sacred stream,
and at length forbade the devotees to bathe in it, and the
barbers to shave the pilgrims. In the year 1517, he was suc-
ceeded by Ibrahim, the third and last of his line, who
alienated the nobles by his suspicious temper and his haughty
HI.] CAltoESH, MALWA, GUZERAT, MEWAB. 71
demeanour. His reign was a constant struggle with rebel-
lion. Behar revolted under its governor, who is said to have
brought a body of 100,000 men into the field, and repeatedly
defeated the armies of the emperor. A prince of his own
family took possession of the eastern districts and endea-
voured to revive the kingdom of Jounpore. Dowlut Khan,
the governor of the Punjab, the viceroys of which had fre-
quently imposed their own orders on the emperor of Delhi,
and more than once usurped the throne itself, now entered
into negotiations with Sultan Baber for the invasion of Hin-
dostan. Even the emperor's own brother, Alla-ood-deen,
joined that prince at Cabul, and encouraged him in his designs
on Hindostan. The success which attended his invasion will
be the subject of a future chapter. Having thus reached the
period when the throne of Delhi was transferred to the fifth
and last Mahomedan dynasty, we turn to the progress of
events in the Deccan, in Malwa, and in Guzerat, from the
period when those provinces were separated from the empire.
Candesh, The principality of Candesh, the governor of
Maiwa, Gozerat, wnich had revo i t ed from the throne of Delhi,
and Mewar, to
1443. though abounding in population and wealth was
too limited and weak for independent action, and became sub-
servient to its more powerful neighbours. During the period
of more than a century and a half which elapsed between the
dismemberment of the empire under Mahomed Toghluk, and
the rise of the Mogul dynasty, the two Mahomedan kings of
Guzerat, and Malwa, and the Hindoo raja of Mewar, or
Oodipore, were engaged in perpetual hostilities with each
other, and their history may therefore be conveniently grouped
together. Sultan Dilawur, the first independent king of
Malwa, bequeathed the kingdom in 1405, to his son, Sultan
Hoshung, who was engaged for more than twenty-five years
in wars with his neighbours, in which he was seldom success-
ful. His name is perpetuated in the town of Hoshungabad,
which he founded. He was attacked and made prisoner by
Hozuffer, the king of Guzerat, but was released, upon a report
72 WARS BETWEEN MALWA AND GUZERAT, [CHAP.
that his subjects were about to elect another sovereign, and
take the field. Mozuffer was succeeded in 1412 by his grand'
eon, Ahmed Shah, whose long reign of thirty years, was
passed in constant hostilities either with Malwa or Mewar.
His name survives in the new capital, Ahmedabad, which he
erected on the banks of the Sabunnuttee, and adorned with
magnificent mosques, caravanseras and palaces, in such pro-
fusion, that the Mahomedan historians described it as the
handsomest city in the world. He was a zealous Mahomedan,
and a great destroyer of Hindoo temples and images. He was
succeeded in 1443 by his son, Mahomed Shah, surnamed by
his subjects, the " merciful," and by his enemies, the " weak."
Sultan Hoshung, the turbulent king of Malwa, died in 1432,
and bequeathed the kingdom to his son, who was soon after
put to death by his minister, Mahmood Khan Ghiljie, the
Afghan, who mounted the throne, and proved to be the ablest
of the kings of Malwa, during a long reign of forty-seven
years, which extended from 1435 to 1482. Some years after
his accession, he invaded Guzerat with an army of 100,000
men, and pursued the feeble monarch to the promontory of
I)UL The Guzerattee nobles, anxious to retrieve the national
honour, persuaded the queen to administer poison to him, and
then raised his son, Kootub Shah, to the throne, and resolved
to make a vigorous effort for their independence. A pitched
battle was accordingly fought under the walls of Ahmedabad,
in which Mahmood was for the first and last time defeated ;
but seeing the day lost, he put himself at the head of some
troopers, and pushing through eveiy obstacle, bore off the
regalia in triumph from the tent of the king. Notwithstand-
ing this partial reverse, he seems to have had the unobstructed
range of northern India, as we find him the next year march-
ing to Biana, and establishing his son governor of Ajmere.
On his return to Malwa he proceeded first against the
Bahminy kingdom in the Deccan, then to Candesh, and finally
against the rajah of Chittore.
War with During the scenes of confusion at Delhi, which
III.] MAHMOOD OF MALWA. 73
Chittore, 1554. have been previously described, one Hindoo king-
dom in the north recovered its independence, and succeeded
in maintaining it for two centuries the Eajpoot state of
Chittore, or Mewar. In the days of sultan Hoshung the
throne was filled by Koombhoo, one of the most illustrious
princes of that ancient line, who applied himself for fifty
years vigorously to the consolidation of Eajpoot power, and
founded the city of Koomulnere. In 1456, Kootub Shah of
Guzerat, formed an alliance with Mahmood of Malwa, for
the conquest and partition of Mewar, but the result of the
war is differently related. The Mahomedan historians affirm
that the Rajpoot prince acknowledged himself the vassal of
Mahmood, while Hindoo writers state that he was triumphant,
and erected a column to commemorate his victory on, the
brow of Chittore. In 1461, Mahmood, seeing the throne of
the Deccan filled by a child, and the country distracted by
factions, marched against the capital, Beder, under the walla
of which a battle was fought in which he proved victorious.
He renewed the invasion the next year, when the ministers,
unable to cope with his superior force, implored the aid of
the king of Guzerat, who readily granted it, and obliged the
invader to retire, by creating a diversion in his own territo-
ries of Malwa. A treaty appears to have been subsequently
concluded between him and the Bahminy cabinet, based upon
the cession of certain districts. The career of Mahmood, the
greatest of the kings of Malwa, " whose tent was his house,
and the battle field his resting place," was at length brought
to a close in 1482, and the court of Mandoo exhibited a sudden
and ludicrous change.
His son and successor, Gheias-ood-deen, had no
Gheias-ood- ..-.
deen's seraglio, sooner ascended the throne, than he invited his
nobles and officers to a splendid entertainment,
and hi a set speech informed them, that he had passed thirty-
four-years in the field, fighting by the side of hie gallant
father, and was determined to spend the remainder of his life
in peace and enjoyment, that he intended to retain the royal
74 THE GREAT MAHOMED SHAH OF GUZERAT. [CHAP.
dignity, but to transfer the management of affairs to his son.
The youth was accordingly proclaimed vizier, and the king
retired to his seraglio, which he had filled with 15,000 of the
most beautiful women he could procure. In this female court,
the pomp and distinctions of royalty were strictly maintained ;
the royal body guard consisted of 500 Turki maidens dressed
in male attire and armed with bows and quivers, and of 500
Abyssinian girls furnished with firearms. Strange as it may
appear, the king was allowed to enjoy this pageantry for
eighteen years, without a single attempt at rebellion. His
son, Nazir-ood-deen, succeeded him in 1500, and his reign of
twelve years was noted only by its cruelty and sensuality.
,. * >. During the listless reign of Gheias-ood-deen, of
Mahmood Shah, '
of Guzerat, Malwa, and the dissolute reign of his son, the rival
H59-1511. t h r one of Guzerat was filled by Mahmood Shah,
the brother of Kootub Shah, who ascended the throne in 1459,
and shed lustre on it for fifty years. Though crowned at the
early age of fourteen, his talents were soon matured, and it
was while yet a youth that he marched into Malwa, and
created the diversion which has been noticed. The European
travellers who visited his court, awed by the dignity of his
personal appearance, conceived the most extravagant opinion
of his power. They affirmed that a portion of his daily food
consisted of mortal poisons, with which his system be-
came so impregnated, that if a fly sat on him it dropped
down dead. He was the original of the picture drawn by
the British poet of the prince of Cambay, " whose food was
asp, and basilisk and toad." But even without the power of
digesting poisons, he was a most puissant prince. In 1469,
he attacked Gernal, a Hindoo fortress, of boundless antiquity
and impregnable strength. It fell on the third assault, when
the king is said to have persuaded the raja and all his court
to embrace Mahomedanism. Three years after, he overrun
Cutch and defeated an army of Belochees, annexed Sinde
to his dominions, and extended his boundary to the Indus.
Soon after, a Mahomedan saint complained to him that on hia
III.] MEDNI EOT, THE HINDOO. 75
return from Ormuz in Persia, he had been ill-used and plun-
dered by the people of Jugut, the land's end of India on
the western coast. The king and his soldiers were equally
inflamed by the story of the holy man's wrongs, and they
marched with great zeal " against the infernat-minded
brahmins," as the Mahomedan historian, Ferishta, calls them.
Jugut was reduced, but the pirates on the coast, who fled
to the island of Bete, in the gulf of Cambay, are said to have
fought twenty naval battles before they were finally subdued.
In 1482, Mahmood led an army against the Hindoo ruler of
the very ancient principality of Chumpanere. The place is
said to have been defended by 60,000 Rajpoots, of whom a
large number fell in the siege, and the prince and his minis-
ters were put to death, when it was found that they refused
to become Musulmans. The conflicts of the Guzerat navy'
with the Portuguese during this reign, will be narrated here-
after. On the death of this renowned prince in 1511, he was
succeeded by his son, Mozuffer the Second.
Mahmood the Second, the last king of Malwa,
Mahmood, the
second, of Mai- ascended the throne in 1512, when his nobles con-
wa, 1512. spired to unseat him and to elevate his brother.
The confederacy was defeated through the exertions of Medni
Roy, the Rajpoot chief of Chunderee, who was thereupon ap-
poirited the chief minister as the reward of his services, and
proceeded forthwith to fill the court and the army with his
own countrymen. The Mahomedans, considering all the offices
of state as their own property, resented this intrusion, and
endeavoured to infuse suspicions into the mind of the king,
who is said to have dismissed 40,000 Rajpoots at once from
his service, and to have employed assassins to despatch the
minister himself. He escaped with a few wounds, and even-
tually succeeded in regaining his power at the Malwa court.
Mahmood, feeling himself little better than a prisoner in his
own capital, escaped to Guzerat, where he found the king,
equally with himself, alarmed at the growing power of the
Hindoos. The neighbouring kingdom of Chittore was go-
76 EXTINCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF MALWA. [CHAP.
verned at the time by Eana Sunga, who had raised it to the
summit of prosperity by his genius and valour. His army
consisted of 80,000 horse, supported by 500 war elephants.
Seven rajas of the highest rank, and a hundred and thirteen
of inferior note attended his stirrup to the field. The rajas
of Jeypore and Marwar served under his banner, and he was
the acknowledged head of all the Rajpoot tribes. The historian
of Rajpootana enumerates eighteen pitched battles which he
had fought with Malwa and Guzerat. Those two sovereigns
dreaded lest Medni Roy should obtain possession of the re-
sources of Malwa, and unite with the Rana in establishing
Hindoo sovereignty throughout central India. To meet this
danger, they marched against Mandoo, the capital of Malwa,
which was then held by the son of Mcclni Roy, and which did
not surrender until 19,000 Rajpoots had fallen in its defence.
Mahmood was restored to his kingdom, and in 1519 measured
his strength with Rana Sunga. In the battle which ensued,
the Malwa king was totally defeated and captured. The
generous Rajpoot prince personally attended to his wounds,
and, when they were healed, liberated him without a ransom.
Hostilities, however, continued between the king of Guzerat
and the Rana, which, after a succession of successes and
defeats, terminated in a solid peace.
Extinction of On the death of Mozuffer of Guzerat in 1526,
Midwa - the throne was successively occupied by two
princes, who speedily disappeared, when the wild and way-
ward Bahadoor Shah ascended it. A brother of his fled to
Malwa, and, in an evil hour, the king Mahmood granted him
an asylum, which so incensed Bahadoor, that he immediately
equipped a large army for the invasion of the country.
While this storm was gathering on one side, the ill-starred
king provoked the wrath of Rana Sunga, who lost no time in
forming an alliance with Bahadoor Shah, and their united
forces poured down like a torrent upon Malwa. Mahmood ia
some measure retrieved his reputation by his noble conduct
in the last scene of his life. Though his army was reduced
in.] RISE OP THE BAHMINY BYSASTJT. 77
to 3,000, he still continued to defend his capital with great
courage, but he was at length obliged to capitulate ; and on
the 26th of May, a month after Baber had established the
Mogul dynasty on the throne of Delhi, the standard of
Guzerat was planted on the battlements of Mandoo, x and the
kingdom of Malwa, then in its hundred and twenty-fifth
year, was absorbed in the dominions of its rival. Mahmood
and his seven sons were sent prisoners to Chumpanere, but
were put to death on the road, hi consequence of an attack
by the Bheels.
_ . It has been stated that the oppressions of Ma-
The Bahminy
dynasty, homed Toghluk produced a revolt in the Deccan,
397 ' which issued in the establishment of an indepen-
dent kingdom. Ismael, the Afghan, who had been raised to
the throne, voluntarily ceded it soon after to the general
Hussun Gungu, who had been the chief instrument in acheiv-
ing the revolution. He was likewise an Afghan, but of
humble extraction, who leased a plot of ground from a Hindoo
astrologer hi the city of Delhi, and resigned to him of his
own accord some valuable treasure which he had discovered
in it. The astrologer was so highly pleased with his honesty
as to recommend him to the notice of the emperor, under
whose favour he rose to great distinction. Out of gratitude
to the astrologer Gungu, his early patron, he had assumed
his name, and on his elevation to the throne of the Deccan in
1347* took the additional title of Bahminy, by which the
dynasty is generally known in history. The kingdom com-
prised all the territories held by the emperor of Delhi south
of the Nerbudda, with the exception of the provinces of the
two Hindoo kingdoms of Telingana and Beejuynugur, the
establishment of which circumscribed the Bahminy dominions,
and led to incessant war. Hussun died in 1358, after a pros-
perous reign of eleven years, and was succeeded by his son
Mahomed, who commenced his reign by attacking the king
of Telingana, and obliging him to sue for peace, which was
granted on the cession of the hill of Golconda, and the eur-
78 WARS OP THE BAHMINY KINGS WITH THE HINDOOS. [CHAP.
render of a throne of immense value, which was subsequently
enriched with additional jewels till it was estimated to be
worth four crores of rupees. Soon after Mahomed, in a
drunken revel, granted an order on the treasury of Beejuy-
nugur, and the raja immediately sent an army across the
Kistna to revenge the insult, when the town of Moodgul was
captured and its inhabitants put to the sword. Mahomed,
on hearing of the slaughter, swore "that food and sleep
should be unlawful to him till he had propitiated the martyrs
of Moodgul by the slaughter of a hundred thousand infidels."
He crossed the Toombudra and pursued the raja for three
months from district to district, putting to death every
Hindoo who fell into his hands. A pitched battle was at
length fought, in which the Bahminy monarch was victorious,
when having, as he hoped, completed his vow of revenge, he
granted his opponent honourable terms, and, on his return to
his own capital, devoted his time to the improvement of his
dominions. He died in 1375, after a reign of seventeen
years, and was succeeded by his son Mujahid Shah, who pos-
sessed the most majestic beauty of all the princes of his line,
and was exceeded by none in valour and fortitude. He began
his reign by demanding from the raja of Beejuynugur,
Kaichore, Moodgul, and other places lying in the dooab of the
Kistna and the Toombudra, the object of perpetual strife
between the rival Hindoo and Mahomedan powers. The
demand was refused, and a war commenced, during which
Mujahid chased the raja for six months through the whole
extent of the Carnatic, and at length accepted his submission.
The merit of the young king in this campaign was rendered
the more conspicuous by the disparity of his resources as
compared with those of the Hindoo raja, whose territories
stretched from sea to sea, and who reckoned the rulers of
Malabar and Ceylon among his tributaries. Mujahid was
assassinated by his own uncle, after a brief reign of four
years.
Ferozeana Fcroze, tho son of the assassin, mounted the
III.] FEROZE AND AHMED SHAH BAHMINY. 79
Ahmed Shah, throne in 1397, and his reign and that of his
13971435. brother, which occupied thirty- seven years, are
considered the most palmy days of the dynasty. Feroze
reigned twenty-five years, and made twenty-four campaigns.
He carried fire and sword through the whole extent of the
Carnatic, and constrained the raja of Beejuynugur to submit
to an annual tribute of a crore of rupees, and to give him his
daughter in marriage. He was a great patron of learning,
and erected an observatory. He established a mercantile
navy, and instructed his commanders to bring the most
learned men and the most handsome women from the ports
they visited. His seraglio is said to have contained beauties
from thirteen different nations ; and the historians affirm that
he was able to converse with each one in her own tongue.
He likewise made a point of copying sixteen pages of the
Koran every fourth day. The close of his reign was gloomy.
He wantonly engaged in hostilities with the raja of Beejuy-
nugur, and was totally defeated. The triumphant Hindoos
appeared anxious to bring up the arrears of vengeance due to
their relentless enemies. In the various towns which they
captured they razed the mosques to the ground, and erected
platforms of the heads of the slain. The end of Feroze
was hastened by these reverses, and he was succeeded by
his brother Ahmed Shah, denominated Wully, or the saint, for
the supposed efficacy of his prayers in procuring rain in a
season of drought. Anxious to recover the prestige of the
Mahomedan power he proceeded immediately to the invasion
of the Hindoo kingdom. He crossed the Toombudra in great
force, defeated the raja, and pursued the Hindoos in every
direction with unrelenting ferocity, halting only to celebrate a
feast whenever the number of the slain was computed to have
reached 20,000. He obliged the raja to pay up all arrears of
tribute, and then turned his arms against Teliugana, captured
and despoiled the capital, and, according to the usual
Mahomedan practice, pulled down the temples, and erected
mosques with the materials. He then marched to the north,
80 FOUNDATION OP AH3IEDABAD BEDER. fCHAP.
where he was captivated with the situation of Beder to such
a degree that he caused a new city to be built on the site,
which he called after his own name, Ahmedabad Beder, and
adorned it with magnificent buildings. He was likewise
engaged in two wars with Malwa, and a third was averted
only by the cession of Berar. His generals were also sent to
seize the Concan, or strip of land lying between the ghauts
and the sea, from Mahim, or Bombay, to Goa. But this expe-
dition brought him in contact with the formidable naval power
of Guzerat, and he was constrained to relinquish it. His wild
career terminated in 1435.
Aiia-ooa-deen, He was succeeded by his son Alla-ood-deen,
H35. w } 10 immediately went to war with Beejuynugur,
and was successful. He then proceeded to invade Caudesh,
took the capital, Boorhanpore, and levelled the royal palaces
with the ground. The Hindoo rajas of Beejuynugur had
seldom been able to cope with their Mahomedan neighbour ;
but, though their dominions were superior in extent, popula-
tion and wealth, had been constantly subjected to the payment
of tribute. It was about this time that the raja, Deva Roy,
is said to have assembled his nobles to investigate the cause
of this disgrace. Some ascribed it to the decree of the gods;
others to fate, which is stronger than the gods; while a third
party traced it to the superior cavalry and archery of the
Mahomedans. The raja, therefore, enlisted 2,000 Mahomedan
archers in his service, and, in conjunction with 60,000 of his
own bowmen, took the field against Alla-ood-deen, and fought
two battles, but with doubtful success. Two Mahomedan
officers of rank, however, fell into his hands, and the Bahminy
monarch swore that if they were not instantly given up he
would sacrifice 100,000 infidels for each. Deva Eoy had not
forgotten the result of a similar vow on a former occasion,
and sued for peace, paying up all the tribute that had become
due. Alla-ood-deen died in 1457, and was succeeded by his
son a monster of cruelty who was assassinated by his own
servants as he lay on his couch helpless from intoxication.
HI.] MAHMOOD GAWAN, THE GREAT STATESMAN. 81
We pass on to the last substantive king of the Deccan,
Mahomed Shah, who was placed on the throne at the age
of nine, in 1463.
Mahomed shah, During his minority the administration was
lies-use. conducted by the queen mother and two ministers,
one of whom, the preceptor of the prince, was assassinated
by her orders, because he was supposed to have acquired too
great an influence over his pupil. The other, Mahmood
Gawan, was the greatest general and statesman of the age,
and one of the most distinguished characters hi the Mahomedan
history of India. He marched into the Concan, where two
former expeditions had failed, and not only reduced the pro-
vince and the ghauts above it to subjection, but wrested the
island of Goa from the raja of Beejuynugur, who had usurped
it. He then turned" his attention to the eastern coast, rein-
stated the Kay of Orissa, who had been expelled and sought
protection, and added Condapilly and Rajahmundry to the
Bahminy territories. But the Ray subsequently took ad-
vantage of a famine which was desolating the country to
make an attempt to regain the districts he had lost. Mahmood
Gawan marched down upon him with prompitude, and speedily
extinguished all opposition, and annexed Masulipatam to the
kingdom. The king, who had accompanied the expedition,
having- heard of the renowned temple of Canchi, or Con-
jeveram, near Madras, the walls and roof of which were
reported to be covered with plates of gold, rushed through the
intervening country, at the head of 6,000 chosen horse, with
such rapidity as to astound the various chiefs, took possession
of the temple, and despoiled it of its wealth before they could
come to its rescue.
,, . . Under the powerful genius of Mahmood the
Murder of r .
Mahmood Bahminy kingdom reached its greatest limits.
It stretched from the Concan to Masulipatam,
and from the Nerbudda to the Kistna. The minister now
resolved to turn his attention to the improvement of the ad-
ministration. He divided the kingdom into eight provinces,
c
82 HIS TRAGICAL DEATH. [CHAP.
and curtailed the power of the governors, thus diminishing the
chance of their revolt. He introduced vigorous reforms into
every branch of the government to the great disgust of all
whose private interests were affected by them. They deter-
mined, therefore, on his destruction ; and having ingratiated
themselves with the Abyssinian who had charge of his seal,
induced him, when half drunk, to affix it to a blank sheet of
paper, which they filled up with a treasonable letter to the
Kay of Orissa, inciting him to revolt, and offering him as-
sistance. The paper was artfully produced before the king,
as if it had been found by accident ; and Hussun Bheiry, a
converted Hindoo, the mortal enemy of Mahmood, who had
been his benefactor, endeavoured to inflame his mind against
the minister. He was ordered into the royal presence and
upbraided with his treason. He exclaimed, " This is a great
forgery ; the seal is mine, but of the letter itself I am totally
ignorant." The king, inflamed with wine and passion, ordered
one of his Abyssinian slaves to cut him down. Gawan calmly
replied that the fate of an old man could be of little con-
sequence, but that his death would seal the doom of the king-
dom. The king turned into his seraglio; the slave approached
the minister, then in his seventy-eighth year, and he knelt
down, with his face towards Mecca, and received the fatal
blow. He died in graceful poverty. Though he had served
five monarchs, his cabinet was found to contain only 10,000
rupees. The proceeds of the jaygeer allotted for the support
of his office, he had, in part, distributed among his officers,
and, in part, disbursed among the poor in his master's name.
The money which he had brought with him into the country
had been employed in commerce, the profits of which, after
providing for his kitchen on the moderate scale of two rupees
a day, were assigned to the poor in his own name. The king
died within a twelve month of his minister, a prey to remorse,
exclaiming, in the paroxysms of his agony, that Mahmood
Gawan was tearing him to pieces.
Dissolution of It is unnecessary farther to pursue the history
ill.] EISE OP FIVE INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS
the Bahmin the Sim Of its pros-
kingdom, ' perity set with the stroke which deprived the
512 ' great minister of life. Mahmood Shah, the son of
the late king, ascended the throne in 1482, and lived on,
though he can scarcely be said to have reigned, for thirty-
seven years ; the kingdom crumbled away, as governor after
governor revolted, and it was at length resolved into five
independent states.
The fire king- 1. Eusof Adil Shah, the adopted son of Mah-
mood Gawan, a Turk, who claimed descent from
the conquerors of Constantinople, established the Adil Shahy
dynasty at Beejapore. 2. Hussun Bheiry, who had insti-
gated the murder of Mahmood, and was subsequently ex-
ecuted by order of his master, was a brahmin of Beejapore,
who was taken prisoner and sold to the Bahminy king, who
circumcised him and raised him to distinction. His son,
Ahmed Nizam, on hearing of his father's fate, raised the
standard of revolt at Ahmednugur, and established the
Nizam Shahy dynasty. 3. Imad-ool-moolk, on the general
dissolution of the monarchy, made himself independent in the
province of Berar, of which he was governor, and gave rise
to the Imad Shahy line of princes. 4. Koolee Kootub was a
Turkoman of Hamadan hi Persia, who came to India in
search of employment, and rose to the post of governor of
Golconda, where, on the decomposition of the Bahminy
kingdom, he established an independent dynasty, which is
known in history as the Kootub Shahy. 5. Ahmed Bereed
was appointed minister on the execution of Mahmood Gawan,
and gradually substituted his own influence for that of the
king at the capital and in the adjacent districts, and at
length established the Bereed Shahy dynasty at Beder. This
division of sovereign power among five independent states
who were incessantly at war with each other, was the
greatest calamity which could have befallen the country,
and subjected the wretched provinces for a century and a
half to merciless rapine.
a 2
84 RISE OF THE PORTUGUESE POWER. [CHAP.
Rise of the For- While the Bahminy kingdom was thus crumb-
tuguese power. jj n g ^ Q pj eceSj another race of adventurers ap-
peared on the western coast of India, and gave a new direc-
tion to its politics and commerce. A Portuguese expedition
landed in the harbour of Calicut, and paved the way for the
eventual transfer of power from the Mahomedans to the
Christians. For some time previous to this memorable event,
the general progress of improvement in Europe and the in-
crease of nautical skill and boldness, had inspired its mari-
time nations with a strong desire to discover the way to
India by sea, and to participate in its rich commerce, which
was then monopolised by the Venetians. The Portuguese
were at this time the foremost and most enterprising among
the navigators of Europe ; and John, king of Portugal,
anxious to make the circuit of the continent of Africa, had
sent his admiral, Bartholomew Bias, on this perilous under-
taking. It was he who first doubled the Cape of Good Hope,
which he named the Cape of Storms in reference to the tem-
pestuous weather which he encountered. But the king was
BO highly elated with the success of the expedition and the
prospects which it opened to him, that he changed the name
to that which it has ever since borne. Soon after, Christo-
pher Columbus, hoping to reach India by sailing westward,
obtained the patronage of the king of Spain, and, launching
boldly into the ocean, which had never been traversed before,
made the discovery of America. His successful return from
this voyage of unexampled peril filled all Europe with as-
tonishment.
The king 1 of Portugal was deeply chagrined to
Portuguese ex- ' r J
pedition to find that the neglect with which he had treated
India, 1497. ^e a( j vances o f Columbus, had deprived him of
the opportunity of adding another continent to his dominions ;
but he resolved to seek compensation for this loss in an
attempt to reach India, by doubling the Cape, and stretching
to the eastward. An expedition was accordingly fitted out
for this purpose, consisting of three vessels, the command of
m.J VASCO DE GAMA LANDS AT CALICUT. 85
which was entrusted to Vasco de Gama. The whole popula-
tion of Lisbon poured out to witness his departure on the 8th
of July, 1497, and the sailors went through various religious
ceremonies, as men who never expected to return. Vasco
was four months reaching the Cape, which, however, he
doubled with a fair and gentle breeze. He anchored at
Melinda, on the African coast, where he was supplied with a
pilot to conduct his vessels to India. On the 22nd of May,
1498, .he cast anchor on the Malabar coast, off Calicut, which
presented to his delighted eyes the appearance of a noble
town with a fertile plain rising up in the back ground, bounded
by a distant range of lofty mountains. Calicut, then a place
of extensive traffic, belonged to an independent Hindoo raja,
called the Zamorin, and lay considerably to the south of the
limit to which the Mahomedan conquests had extended. The
harbours on the coast immediately to the north of it, be-
longed to the Hindoo raja of Beejuynugur ; those higher up
to the Bahminy kingdom, while those in the extreme north
were within the limits of Guzerat. The Zamorin was greatly
struck with the appearance of strangers from a remote and
unknown region, differing so entirely in aspect, manners, and
arms from the foreigners who frequented the port. He re-
ceived them at first with cordiality, and manifested every
disposition to promote their views. But the Moors, as they
were called, or the Musulmans from Egypt and Arabia who
had engrossed the maritime traffic of that coast, and enjoyed
no small influence in its ports, viewed the arrival of the in-
terlopers with great jealousy, and determined to defeat their
object. They bribed the minister of the raja to insinuate to
him that the strangers were not the men they represented,
themselves to be, but pirates, who had plundered the coast cfi
Africa, and were now come to India on the same errand.
The Zamorin, swayed by these accusations, authorized the
Moors to adopt violent measures against them, and two of
Vasco's principal officers, who were on shore, were treache-
rously arrested. He immediately retaliated by seizing six of
86 SECOND EXPEDITION OP THE PORTUGUESE. [CHAP.
the respectable natives who happened to be on board his
vessel, and refused to release them till his own officers were
surrendered. The raja manifested some hesitation to comply
with this reasonable demand, and Vasco weighed anchor in
haste and began to sail out of the harbour with the hostages.
Presently, several boats were seen to pull off from the shore,
one of which contained his officers whom the Zamorin now
hastened to release. Vasco sent back some of the natives he
had detained, but resolved to take several of them with him
to Lisbon, to give them an opportunity of viewing the city
and reporting its grandeur on their return. Having now
completed his cargoes, he set sail for Europe, and, on the
29th of August, 1499, re-entered the Tagus, in regal pomp,
after an absence of twenty-six months. Men of all ranks
crowded to welcome him, and to admire the vessels which
had performed so marvellous a voyage ; the king showered
honours on him, and the nations of Europe were enraptured
with the discovery of a new and easier path to the land of
fabulous wealth.
_ , A second expedition was fitted out in the same
Second voyage r
under Cabrai, year, consisting of thirteen ships and 1,200 men,
the command of which was given to Cabrai. He
was accompanied by eight friars, who were sent to preach
Christianity to the natives, and he was directed to carry fire
and sword into every province that refused to listen to them.
In the course of the voyage he discovered Brazil, on the coast
of South America, and took possession of it in the name of
his sovereign, in the year 1500. In doubling thfe Cape he
encountered terrific gales, and lost four of his ships, in one
of which was the celebrated admiral Bias, who thus found a
grave in the seas which he had been the first to explore.
Cabrai, on reaching Calicut, restored the natives who had
been taken to Portugal, where they had been treated
with distinguished kindness. He was received with much
courtesy by the Zamorin, to whom he presented gifts of rare
beauty and value. But the Moorish merchants, annoyed at
HI.] SECOND VOYAGE OF VASCO DE GAMA. 87
the return of the strangers whom they hoped to have finally
driven from the shores of India, effectually prevented them
from obtaining cargoes. Cabral presented a remonstrance to
the Zamorin, and received authority, as he supposed, to se-
quester vessels carrying the Mahomedan flag. A Moorish
ship with a rich cargo was accordingly seized ; the merchants
hastened to the raja with their complaints, and obtained
permission to expel the intruders. The factory which the
Portuguese had erected was forthwith attacked, and all the
foreigners in it were put to death. Cabral immediately
seized and burnt ten Moorish craft, after having transferred
their cargoes to his own ships. He then laid his vessels
abreast of the town, and having set it on fire with his
artillery, set sail for the neighbouring town of Cochin, where
he formed a treaty with the raja, and returned to Lisbon in
July, 1501.
Second voyage The report of these transactions inflamed the
of vasco, 1502. fagfrQ w hich the king of Portugal had been
cherishing to establish an empire in the east. He assumed the
title of Lord of the Navigation, Conquest, and Commerce of
Ethiopia, Persia, Arabia and India, and fitted out a more
formidable expedition than any that had as yet left the shores
of .Portugal. Vasco de Gama, who was placed in command
of it, reached the coast of India without any accident, and
anchoring off Calicut, demanded satisfaction for the insult
offered to Cabral, which was at once refused, and Vasco is
said to have put to death fifty of the natives who had repaired
to his vessels. At the same time he poured a destructive fire
into the town of Calicut, and then weighing anchor pro-
ceeded to the friendly port of Cochin, which now became the
mart of the Portuguese trade. Three expeditions of minor
importance were successively sent out, and cargoes obtained
partly by barter, and partly by terror. The Portuguese were
lulled into security by the success which attended them, and
Pacheco was left with a handful of men to protect their settle-
ment at Cochin. The Zamorin was thus encouraged to make
88 NAVAL BATTLE WITH THE MAHOMEDAN3. [CHAP.
an attempt to expel them, and at the same time to punish the
raja of Cochin for having fostered them. The troops of
Calicut exceeded those of Pacheco as fifty to one, but his
admirable strategy, and the valour of his soldiers, repulsed
every assault ; and he was the first to exhibit that decisive
superiority of European over Asiatic troops, which three cen-
turies and a half have now abundantly confirmed.
In the year 1505, the king of Portugal sent out
Naval battle . .
with the Maho- Francis Almeyda, with the title of viceroy ot
medans, 1508, India) t h ou gh as ye t he did not possess a foot of
land in it. The early success of the Portuguese in India is
to be attributed to the singular genius and audacity of the
men who conducted their expeditions, and Almeyda was infe-
rior to none of them. Soon after his arrival, the Hindoo raja
of Beejuynugur, who could not fail to perceive that the
power of the strangers would become paramount on the
western coast, sent an envoy with rich presents for the king
of Portugal, to whom he proposed a treaty of alliance, and
offered his own daughter in marriage. But the bright pros-
pects thus opened to the Portuguese were soon overclouded.
Before the discovery of the passage to India round the Cape,
the whole trade of the east, conveyed overland, had been
monopolised by the Venetians, and the " Queen of the Adri-
atic," as Venice was called, became the envy of Europe.
The Venetians had reason now to apprehend that this mag-
nificent traffic would be diverted into a new channel, and pass
altogether out of their hands. They possessed great influence
in Egypt, which was one of their most important marts, and
they urged the Sultan to fit out a fleet in the Red Sea, to
sweep their rivals from the Indian Ocean, and assisted him
with timber from their own forests in Dalmatia. A powerful
fleet was speedily equipped and sent to India, under the com-
mand of Meer Hookum, the Egyptian admiral. The king of
Guzerat, who was equally alarmed at the progress of the
Portuguese, ordered his admiral to co-operate with the Egyp-
tians. Lorenzo, the son of Ahneyda, was cruising in the
Ed.] ALMEYDA AVENGES THE DEATH OF HIS SON. 89
north with a division of the Portuguese fleet, when the com-
bined squadrons bore down upon him. The Portuguese
fought with the gallantry of European sailors, but the supe-
riority of the enemy in the number of their ships, and the
calibre of their guns, gave them the victory. The gallant
Lorenzo, whose vessel was entangled in some fishing stakes,
and thus exposed singly to the fire poured in upon him from
all sides, fell covered with wounds, after performing prodigies
of valour, which filled even the Mahomedans with admiration.
To avenge the death of his son, Almcyda reduced the flourish-
ing port of Dabul to ashes, and then proceeded in search of
the enemy, whom he found anchored in the harbour of Diu.
The conflict was long and doubtful, for the Egyptian and
Guzerattee admirals were men of great nautical experience
and valour, but all their larger vessels were at length either
burnt or captured, and the smaller craft escaped up the river.
Peace was subsequently concluded between the belligerents,
and all the European prisoners were restored.
Albuquerque, Almeyda soon after resigned his post to Albu-
16071510. querque, the greatest of all the Portuguese com-
manders. It was his ambition to found an empire in the east,
and he succeeded in this bold enterprise. Abandoning the
system of predatory excursions along the coast which had
satisfied his predecessors, he resolved to establish and fortify
a port which should serve as the centre of his operations. He
fixed on the island of Goa, lying on the Malabar Coast, about
twenty-three miles in circumference, of which he took
possession, and though at one tune driven from it by the
native prince, recaptured it, and erected fortifications which
effectually baffled all the efforts of the country powers.
From that time Goa became the seat of the Portuguese power
in the east, and Albuquerque sent and received embassies
with all the magnificence of an eastern monarch. Having
placed the government of his new settlement on the wisest
foundation, he -turned his attention to more distant regions and
enterprizcs. He proceeded eastward, to the port of Ma-
90 ALBUQUERQUE. [CHAP.
lacca, then the great emporium of trade in the eastern
archipelago, with an armament of 800 Portuguese soldiers
and 600 natives whom he had enlisted and trained. The
native prince is said to have assembled an army of 30,000
men to resist him, but the valour and discipline of his little
force soon placed the city in his hands. The possession of
this important position was immediately secured by the erec-
tion of a strong fort, and a new field of commercial enterprize
to Siam, Java, and Sumatra, was thus opened to his country-
men. His efforts were next directed to the west, and he
equipped a powerful squadron for the conquest of Ormuz, in
the Persian Gulph. The imposing force which accompanied
him effectually deterred the native prince from resistance,
and Albuquerque was permitted to take possession of the
island, and to raise a fortification in it. Ormuz rose rapidly
in importance, the town was filled with 40,000 inhabitants,
and became one of the most flourishing settlements in those
seas. Thus had the genius of Albuquerque, in the short
space of nine years, built up the Portuguese power in the
east, and given them the command of the sea, and the
control of the traffic throughout the eastern archipelago,
which they continued to enjoy for a hundred years without a
rival. Though he never obtained possession of a single pro-
vince on the continent of India, his authority was supreme
over 12,000 miles of coast, and it was sustained by an irre-
sistible fleet and thirty factories, of which many were
fortified. He was at length abruptly superseded in his com-
mand by the orders of his own sovereign, who did not con-
descend to soften the disgrace by any mark of distinction, or
even by the courtesy of a letter. The ingratitude of which
he was the victim, broke his heart ; he expired on the barque
which was conveying him to Goa, and was interred in the
settlement which he had created, amidst the lamentations and
tears of natives and Europeans, by whom he was equally
beloved.
iv.] 91
CHAPTER IV.
MOGUL DYXASTY. BABER TO AKBAR. 1526 1605-
The Mogul IJT the month -of April, 1526, Sultan Baber cap-
tured Delhi, and established the Mogul dynasty,
which continued to flourish for a hundred and eighty years,
under a succession, unprecedented in India, of six monarchs,
distinguished by their prowess in the field, and, with one
exception, by their ability in the cabinet.
Eater's early Baber, the sixth in descent from Timur, was
career. fae gon o f Sheikh Mirza, to whom the fertile
province of Fergana, on the upper course of the Jaxartes,
had been allotted in the distribution of the family possessions.
His mother was a descendant of Jenghis Khan, and it has
been noted by historians as a remarkable fact, that the
empire founded by Baber should be known in history only
as the Mogul empire, while he himself execrated the name
of Mogul. Baber appears to have inherited that spirit of
enterprise which distinguished both his renowned ancestors,
and at the early age of fifteen, when he succeeded to the
throne, commenced that adventurous career, which he pursued
without interruption for thirty-five years. His first campaign
was against the city of Samarcand, the metropolis of Trans-
oxiana, wMch he captured with little difficulty, but he had
not held it a hundred days before he was recalled to the
defence of his paternal kingdom. He subsequently made
three successful efforts to obtain possession of that city,
which he coveted as the capital of Timur, and was thrice
expelled from it.
Bab r seizes Baber was engaged for eight years in a series
Afghanistan, of the most perilous enterprises, and experienced
vicissitudes of fortune, which would have crushed
an ordinary mind, but they only served to give fresh vigour
92 BiBER CAPTURES DELHI. [dlAP.
to his buoyant spirit. Seeing no hope of extending his con-
quests beyond the Oxus, he seized the city of Cabul in the
year 1504, and succeeded in maintaining possession of it for
twenty years. During this period he was incessantly em-
ployed in defending or enlarging his dominions, and never
enjoyed a year of repose. His greatest peril arose from the
progress of the Uzbeks, a tribe of ferocious Tartars, now
swarming from their native hive, and seeking new settlements
in the south. Their leader Shaibek had swept the posterity
of Timur from Transoxiana and Khorasan, and in his progress
towards the Indus had captured Candahar and threatened
Cabul. Had he been able to march at once on that capital,
he would probably have extinguished for ever the hopes of
Baber, but he was recalled from these conquests by the
hostility of Isrnael Shah, the powerful chief of the tribe which
had recently seized the throne of Persia, and established
the dynasty of the Sophis. The Uzbek chief was routed
and slain, and Baber seized the opportunity of again occu-
pying Samarcand, from which he wae again expelled in the
course of a few months.
Eater's five ex- To compensate for this disappointment, he
tadiaTiwa turned his attention to India, where the imbeci-
1525. lity of the emperor of Delhi presented a tempta-
tion too strong to be resisted by a descendant of Timur.
His first irruption was in the year 1519, and it was followed
by two others, in five years, though with partial success.
In 1524 he resumed this ambitious project, and overran the
Punjab, where he was joined by Alla-ood-deen, the brother
of the emperor, with Dbwlut Khan, and other officers, who
had been alienated from him by his constant oppressions. But
Baber, after having advanced as far as Sirhind, was obliged
to return across the Indus, to repel an invasion from the
north, and Dowlut Khan, on his departure, deserted his
standard and took possession of the Punjab. Alla-ood-deen,
who had been left in charge of the province, fled to Cabul, and
was immediately sent back to India by Baber, with a well-
IV.] STATE OP INDIA. 93
appointed army ; but was signally defeated by the emperor,
under the walls of Delhi. Baber now advanced on his fifth
and last expedition with an army not exceeding 12,000 men,
but they" were all experienced veterans. The emperor,
Ibrahim Lodi, advanced to meet him with an army generally
estimated at 100,000, and a thousand elephants. The destiny
of India was decided on the field of Paniput. The engage-
ment lasted from sunrise to sunset, and resulted in the total
defeat of the imperial army, and the death of the emperor, and
15,000 of his troops. Delhi opened her gates to the victor in
May, 1526, and Baber vaulted into the vacant throne, and, as
a token of his success, sent gifts from the treasury to the most
celebrated Mahomedan shrines in Asia.
But Delhi had long ceased to be the capital and
State of India r
onBaber'sac- the mistress of India. The great Mahomedan
empire had been broken up more than a century
and a half before, by the extravagances of Mahomed Toghluk,
and at the period of Baber's accession the various provinces
were in the possession of independent rulers. In the southern
extremity of Hindostan, the great Hindoo monarch of Bee-
juynugur claimed the allegiance of the various native chiefs
who had never submitted to the Mahomedan yoke. Farther
to the north lay the territories of the five kings of Beejapore,
Ahmednugur, Golconda, Beder, and Berar, who were esta-
blished on the dissolution of the Bahminy kingdom. The
province of Gujerat was governed by a wild youth, who was
ambitious of trying conclusions with the Mogul in the field.
Kana Sunga, the most powerful prince of his race, was para-
mount in Rajpootana. The opulent kingdom of Bengal,
including Behar, was ruled by an Afghan family, and the
" sacred soil," as it was called, of Orissa, was in the possession
of its ancient Hindoo dynasty. Still nearer Delhi, an hade-
pendent prince held his court at Jounpore, and supported it
from the revenues of Oude. The victory of Baber, therefore,
only gave him the command of the districts to the north-west
of Delhi, and a narrow tract of land, stretching along the
94 BABEB FIGHTS RANA SUNGA.
Jumna to Agra. He had India yet to conquer, but his gene-
rals shrunk from the task, and entreated him to return to the
cooler and more genial climate of Afghanistan, where they
might enjoy the booty they had acquired at Delhi and Agra.
But Baber had crossed the Indus, not simply to plunder pro-
vinces, but to found an empire, and he announced his unalter-
able resolution to continue in India, and pursue his career;
at the same tune, however, he granted permission to all those
to return who preferred ease to glory. His ardour subdued
their reluctance, and only one of his generals availed himself
of this privilege, and he and his soldiers were dismissed with
honour, and laden with wealth, in the hope of inducing others
to resort to Baber's standard. In the course of four months
after the battle of Paniput, all the country held by Ibrahim
Lodi had been secured, and the revolted kingdom of Jounpore
brought under subjection.
Defeat of Kana But a more formidable enemy now appeared in
Sunga, 1527. the field. Rana Sunga, the Rajpoot prince of
Chittore, and at this time the most powerful of all the sove-
reigns north of the Nerbudda, elated by a recent triumph
over the king of Malwa, espoused the cause of the dethroned
dynasty of Delhi. All the princes of Rajpootana ranged
themselves under his banner, and he advanced with 100,000
men to drive Baber back across the Indus. The first conflict
took place at Futtehpore Sikri, where the advanced guard of
the Moguls was totally routed by the Rajpoots. Many of
Baber's troops on this deserted their colours, some even went
over to the enemy, and all were dispirited. Accustomed as
he had been to dangers for thirty years, this extraordinary
peril staggered him, but he never despaired. He states in
his memoirs that in this emergency he repented of his sins,
and determined to reform his life ; that he foreswore the use
of wine, and broke up his gold and silver cups, and distributed
their value among the poor. He resolved to allow his beard
to grow like a true Musulman, and promised, if God gave
him the victory, to remit the stamp tax to the faithful*
tv.] BABEE'S DEATH AND CHARACTER. 95
Animated by his example, his generals took an oath on the
Koran to conquer or to die. In this fever of enthusiasm
Baber led them against the enemy, and by the aid of his
efficient artillery obtained a signal victory, which completely
broke the power of Chittore. He celebrated his success by
constructing a pyramid of the heads of the slain, and assuming
the title of Ghazee, or champion of the faith.
conquest of The next year Baber attacked Ghunderee, held
Ctad^and'' ky Medni Roy, whose history, in connection with
Behar, 1529. the kingdoms of Guzerat and Malwa has been
already related. Finding his position untenable, he and his
Rajpoots devoted themselves to death with the usual cere-
monies, and rushed with frenzy on the Mogul swords. Those
who survived the onset put themselves to death. In the
following year, Baber extended his authority over Oude and
south Behar. But his constitution, which had been gradually
impaired by long indulgence, was worn out by these severe
exertions in an uncongenial climate. So active had been his
life, that for thirty-eight years he had never kept the feast
of the Ramzan twice in the same place. He died
Death of r
Baber, 1530, at Agra in 1530, at the age of fifty, and his
his character. rema i ns were conveyed to Cabul and interred in a
beautiful spot which he had himself selected for his tomb.
The simple and chaste monument raised over his grave con-
tinued to attract admiration three centuries after his death.
Among the Mahomedan princes of India, no monarch is held
in higher estimation than Baber. His career exhibited that
romantic spirit of adventure of which nations are always
proud. His personal courage bordered on rashness; his
activity was almost fabulous. While labouring under a
wasting disease he rode a hundred and sixty miles in two
days, and swam across the Ganges. He was, however,
rather a valiant soldier than a great general, and he lost
nearly as many battles as he won ; but he never lost heart,
and was as buoyant after a defeat as after a victory. Amidst
all the bustle of war, ho found time for the cultivation of
96 HUMAYOON'S PEOGRESS. [CHAP,
literature, and his Persian poetry has been always admired
for its elegance. The little leisure he enjoyed from the
labours of the field, he devoted to the construction of aque-
ducts, reservoirs, and other works of public utility. There is
no Indian prince with whose individual character we are so
familiar, and this is owing to his own vivid delineation of it
in the volume of personal memoirs he compiled, in which he
records his transgressions with so much candour, and his
repentance with so much sincerity, and recounts his friend-
ships with so much cordiality, that in spite of all his failings
he becomes an object of personal esteem.
Humayoon succeeded his father at the close of
Humayoon *
succeeds to the 1530, but the first incident in his reign exhibited
throne, 1530. t k a t easmegs o f disposition to which his subse-
quent misfortunes were chiefly to be attributed. His brother,
Kamran, the governor of Cabul and Candahar, hesitated to
acknowledge his authority, and Humayoon, not only con-
sented to resign these provinces to him, but added the Punjab
also. By this injudicious act he was deprived of the means
of recruiting his army from the countries beyond the Indus,
a loss which was severely felt in proportion as Baber's vete-
rans died out, and Humayoon was obliged to depend
on the troops he could enlist in Hindostan. In the third
year of his reign, Humayoon became involved in hostilities
with Bahadoor Shah. This impetuous prince who ascended
the throne at the age of twenty, was incessantly engaged
in aggressive wars during the eleven years
rat defeated, of his reign. He had subjugated the inde-
pendent kingdom of Malwa, and annexed it to
his own dominions. He had compelled the kings of Ahmed-
nugur and Beder to do him personal homage. He had added
the ancient and venerable city of Oojein to his conquests,
and sacked the city of Chittore, in the defence of which
32,000 Rajpoots are said to have fallen. Humayoon demanded
the surrender of a fugitive conspirator, which was haughtily
refused, on which he marched at once into the country.
IV. J HE OVERRUNS GUZERAT, 97
Bahadoor Shah had planted his army in an entrenched camp
at Mandishore, trusting to his fine artillery, manned by Por-
tuguese gunners and commanded by Roomy Khan, originally
a Turkish slave, but now the first engineer officer in India.
Humayoon besieged the camp for two months, cut off its
supplies, and reduced the king to such straits, that he was
obliged to fly, and eventually to take refuge in Diu, the most
remote harbour in the peninsula of Guzerat.
Humayoon's Humayoon immediately overran the province,
of chmiipMere, an( ^ P r ceeded against the fortress of Chumpanerej
1535. i n which the accumulated wealth of the dynasty
was deposited. With only three hundred select troops, he
climbed up the perpendicular rock on which it was built by
means of steel spikes, and mastered it by an exhibition of
heroism which rivalled the exploits of his father. The gal-
lantry of his officers and soldiers was rewarded with as much
gold and silver as they could heap on their shields. But his
further progress was arrested by the necessity of returning
to Agra, to arrest the progress of Shere Khan. On his
retirement, Bahadoor Shah again took the field and regained
his kingdom as rapidly as he had lost it ; but he did not long
enjoy it. While at Diu, he had negotiated with the Portu-
guese for three hundred Europeans to assist him in, recovering
his' kingdom, and in return granted them permission to<
establish a factory at that port. They began immediately to
surround it with a wall, the rudiments of a fortification, and:
brought up a fleet to protect the progress of the work.
Bahadoor Shah had all the native horror of European intrusion,
Tragic death of an( ^ was determined to prevent the completion of
Shah, the work. He proceeded on board the admiral's
1537
ship, and invited him and his officers to an enter-
tainment at which he had laid a plot to assassinate them. The
admiral, it appears, was equally anxious to obtain possession
of the king's person. An affray ensued in which the king
lost his life, by accident, according to the Portuguese his-
torians, by treachery, if we are to believe the Mahomedaus.
98 EARLY CAREER OF SHERE KHAN. [CHAP.
Shere Khan, wlio now appears on the scene, was
Origin and pro- rc .
gross of shere one of the most distinguished characters in the
annals of Mahomedan India. He was an Afghan
of noble birth, of the tribe of Soor, which claimed affinity
with the kings of Ghore. His father held the rank of a com-
mander of 500, and the jaygeer of Sasseram, in Behar, where
Shere Khan was born. At an early age he quitted his home
in disgust, and enlisted as a private soldier under the king of
Jounpore, but at the same time endeavoured to store his
mind with knowledge, and prepare himself by study for future
eminence. A long series of adventures in which he was
engaged on his own account for several years, ended in the
occupation of Behar and the siege of Gour, the capital of
Bengal. Humayoon was recalled from Guzerat by the tidings
of his alarming progress, and moved down to oppose him with
a large army, but was detained six months beseiging Chunar,
though it was assaulted by the floating batteries of Roomy
Khan, whom Humayoon had allured to his service after the
defeat of Bahadoor Shah. During this protracted siege Shere
Khan captured Gour, conquered Bengal, and sent the king
flying tor shelter to the imperial camp.
Humayoon As Humayoon entered Bengal, Shere Khan
store K-han at retircd to tne ni % and inaccessible region of the
Buxar, 1539. south-west, and deposited his family and treasures
in the fortress of Rhotas. The emperor took up his residence
in Gour, then in the zenith of its grandeur, and on the eve of
its decay. When the rains set in, the delta of the Ganges
became a sheet of water, and the great army of Humayoon
was reduced by disease and desertions. He was constrained
to retreat with his dispirited troops towards the capital, where
his brothers were beginning to take advantage of his diffi-
culties and to intrigue for the throne. Shere Khan now
issued from his fastnesses, interrupted the progress of Hurua-
yoon's force, and after cutting up a detachment at Monghir,
came up with the main army at Buxar. At a time when
every moment was precious, Humayoon wasted two months
IV.] HTOIAYOON LOSES THE THRONE. 99
in constructing a bridge across the Ganges. Before it wafl
completed, he was attacked and completely defeated by his
rival, who now assumed the title of Shere Shah, and openly
aspired to the empire.
Humayoon Humayoon at length reached Agra, and extin-
aJriflies^ross" gashed the hostile schemes of his brothers,
tue Indus, 1510. Eight months were passed in assembling an army
for the great struggle with his formidable rival, who employed
this period in subjugating and organizing Bengal. The two
armies met in the neighbourhood of Cunouj, and Humayoon
experienced a second and more fatal defeat. He fled from
the field of battle to Agra, pursued by Shere Shah, and had
barely time to remove his family to Delhi. From thence he
Avas driven to Lahore, where his brother, instead of affording
him an asylum, hastened to make his peace with the victor,
and was allowed to retire to his territories beyond the Indus.
Thus fell the kingdom which Baber had established, and not
a vestige of Mogul sovereignty remained in India at the end
of fourteen years. The throne of Delhi was restored to the
Afghans. Humayoon made the best of his way with his
few remaining adherents to Sinde, where he spent eighteen
months in fruitless negotiations with its chiefs. He then
resolved to throw himself on the protection of Maldeo, the
powerful Rajpoot prince of Marwar, but on approaching the
capital, found the raja more disposed to betray than to succour
him. The wretched emperor endeavoured to cross the desert
to Amercote, and was subjected to incredible hardships during
the march. The son of Maldeo, eager to revenge the intru-
sion of the emperor and the slaughter of kine in his territories,
pursued him with the utmost rigour. At length Humayoon
reached Amercote with only seven mounted attendants, and
it was in these wretched circumstances that his queen, who
had nobly shared with him all the disasters of this journey,
Birth of Akbar, g ave birth to a son, afterwards the illustrious
1542. Akbar, destined to raise the Mogul empire to the
pinnacle of greatness. After another series of reverses,
E 2
100 SUCCESS AND DEATH OF SHERE SHAH. [CHAP.
Humayoon was obliged to quit India, and seek an asylum
at Candahar.
Five years' Leaving Humayoon across the Indus, we turn
brilliant reign fo foe progress of Shere Shah, who now mounted
of Shere Shah,
15401545. the throne of Delhi, and established the Soor
dynasty. While he was combating the emperor, Bengal re-
volted, as a matter of course, but was speedily reduced to-
subjection. In 1542 he conquered the province of Malwa,
and in the succeeding year reduced the fortress of Raisin,
remarkable for its unfathomable antiquity, and for the honour
of having been erected, according to local tradition, by the
great national hero of the Ramayun. It was here that his
reputation was tarnished by the only stain ever attached to
it. The Hindoo garrison had surrendered on terms, but the
Mahomedan doctors assured him that, according to the pre-
cepts of the Koran, no faith was to be kept with infidels, and
the infidels were, therefore, slaughtered almost to a man. In
1544 Shere invaded Marwar with 80,000 men. It was de-
fended by a body of 50,000, and -by its own sterility. Through
the artifice of letters intended to be intercepted, he contrived
to raise suspicions regarding his chiefs in the mind of the
raja, and thus induced him to retire from the contest ; but
one chief, indignant at this distrust, fell on the emperor's
force with 12,000 men with such fury as to expose him to
the greatest peril; and the emperor, alluding to the barrenness
of the country, said that " he had nearly lost the empire for
a handful of millet." Soon after, the capture of Chittore
placed Rajpootana at his feet, and he proceeded to the attack
of Calinjer, one of the strongest fortresses in
1545, and Bundlecund, but was killed by the explosion of a
character. -, , j. ,, -, ,,
magazine as he was superintending the batteries.
Thus prematurely ended the career of Shere Shah. As
he inflicted the greatest humiliation on the Moguls, the his-
torians of their party have treated him as a usurper, and
loaded his memory with obloquy. But his right to the throne
was as valid as that of the Tartar adventurer Baber, and in
IV.] IMBECILITY OF HIS SUCCESSORS. 101
both cases it was equally based on the decision of the sword.
But the kingdom which he gained by conquest, he governed
with the greatest beneficence, and the brief period of five
years in which he held supreme power, is the most brilliant in
the annals of India. He was a man of consummate ability,
distinguished not less by his military exploits than by the
triumphs of his civil administration. Though incessantly
engaged in the field, he found time for a complete reform of
every branch of the government, and his civil institutions
survived his dynasty and became the model of those of Akbar.
He constructed a grand trunk road from the banks of the
Indus to the bay of Bengal, through a distance of 2,000 miles,
and planted it with trees, and adorned it with wells and
caravanseras, at short distances, for the convenience of travel-
lers, and erected mosques for the benefit of the devout. He
appears to have been the first prince who established a
mounted post for the conveyance of the mails. At the end
of three centuries, his stately mausoleum at Sasseram, the
place of his birth and of his burial, continues to recall the
remembrance of his grandeur and his glory to the mind of the
traveller.
His eldest son was set aside by the nobles
for imbecility, and his second son, Jelal Khan,
nephew, 1554. wag raiged t() the throne un( J er the t j tle of g e j im
Shah. After quelling a dangerous rebellion by his prompti-
tude and vigour, he was enabled to pass nine years in tran-
quillity, indulging his hereditary taste for public works ; and
if his reign had extended over a longer period, we should
probably have heard little or nothing of a Mogul dynasty.
It was the profligacy of his successor that brought the son
of Baber again to India. He was the brother of Selim, and
after having murdered his son, mounted the throne, and is
generally known in history simply by the name of Adili.
He was remarkable only for his ignorance and prodigality,
and exhibited all those purple-born vices which, in India,
presage the fall of a dynasty. But the ruin of this royal
102 HUMAYOON IN PERSIA. [CHAP.
Hemn sustains house was retarded by the matchless talents of
the throne. Hemu, a Hindoo, originally a shopkeeper, whose
figure is said but only by Mogul historians to have been
as mean as his origin. Adili having exhausted his treasury
by profligate waste, began to resume the jaygeers of his
Patan nobles, and they went one by one into insurrection.
Five independent sovereignties were forthwith established
in the dominions under the crown, till nothing was left to
it, except some of the districts around the metropolis. Hemu
presented a bold front to these difficulties, and had suc-
ceeded in reducing two of the rebels, when the aspect of
affairs was at once changed by the appearance of Humayoon
on the banks of the Indus.
Process of We left this prince a refugee at Candahar in
SteM^g 1543 ' wuere Ilis adverse fortune still continued
India. to pursue him. The hostility of his brother
obliged him to retreat, and he sought shelter in Persia, the
throne of which was then filled by Shah Tamasp, the
second of the Sophi dynasty, who directed that he should be
received with royal hospitality in his progress, but did not
condescend to give him an interview for six months. The
fugitive prince was subjected to all the humiliating caprices of
a despot and a bigot, for Tamasp was an intolerant Shea,
and regarded the Soonecs with more than the usual measure
of polemical hate. His father had invented a peculiar cap
the kuzelbash as an emblem of religious distinction, and
Humayoon was required to place it on his head in the pre-
sence of the Persian monarch, though the courtly historians
of the Mogul dynasty speak with much reserve on this
subject. He was also required to sign' an engagement to
embrace and to enforce the Shea creed, and to cede the
frontier provinces of Afghanistan to the Persian crown.
The Persian monarch then furnished him with a body of
14,000 horse, with which he marched to Candahar, and cap-
tured it after a siege of five months, making it over, with
all the treasure found in it, to Morad Mirza, the Persian
rv.] HUMAYOON'S SUCCESS AND DEATH. 103
prince. On his death, which happened soon after, Humayoon
entered the city as a friend, but put the greater portion of
the Persian garrison to the sword, an act of perfidy which has
fixed an indelible stain on his memory. Having thus obtained
Conquest of possession of Candahar, he marched to Cabul and
b^H^a^on, established his authority in that province, but
1545. had to maintain a protracted struggle with his
brothers, in which he was alternately victorious and defeated.
His brother Kamran at length fell into his hands, and to his
disgrace, he ordered the sight of the unfortunate prince to
be extinguished.
He crosses the After ten years of incessant warfare, the in-
renmurtifthe creasing confusion at the capital of India tempted
throne, 1555. Humayoon to make a bold stroke to regain the
throne. He crossed the Indus in 1555, and obtained a
complete victory over Secunder Soor, who had usurped the
imperial authority at the capital, and who was posted at
Sirhind with a body of 80,000 men. In this battle the young
Akbar gained his first laurels. Leaving the young prince in
the Punjab to watch the movements of the usurper, Humayoon
hastened to Delhi, and mounted the throne he had lost
fifteen years before. But before he could recover the do-
minions attached to it his career was brought to a close
by a fatal accident. Six months after he had entered Delhi,
while descending the steps of his library, he heard the
muezzin's call to prayer, and stopped to repeat the creed, and
sat down. As he endeavoured to rise, leaning on his staff,
. it slipped on the polished steps, and he fell over
llis death, 1556.
the parapet, and four days- after closed his
chequered life, at the age of forty-nine.
Accession of Akbar, the greatest prince of the dynasty of
Akbar, 1556. Baber, whose genius raised the empire of the
Moguls to the summit of renown, was only thirteen years
and three months of age when the death of Humayoon
placed him upon the throne, which he continued to adorn for
fifty years. He was the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth,
104 AKBAR MOUNTS THE THRONE. [CHAP.
his reign having 1 begun two years before, and ended two years
after hers ; and thus, by a memorable coincidence, this period
of half a century has been rendered as illustrious in the
annals of England as of India. During the minority of Akbar,
the regency continued in the hands of Byram Khan, a Turko-
man, the companion of Humayoon in all his vicissitudes, and
the greatest captain and statesman, of the age, but a man of
austere manners and stern bigotry. Hemu, the Hindoo
general of Sultan Adili, was employed in quelling a rebellion
in Bengal when he heard of the death of Humayoon, and
conceiving fresh hopes from that event deposited the emperor
at Chunar, and moved up with an army of 30,000 men
Defeat of which was swelled to 100,000 as he advanced.
Hemu, 1556. Agra and Delhi opened their gates to him, and so
completely were the commanders in Akbar's army confounded
by the rapidity of his successes, that they entreated their
master to abandon India and return to Afghanistan. Byram
alone advised an immediate and vigorous attack, and Akbar,
though only a stripling, seconded his ardour. The two
armies met at Paniput, and the destiny of India was a second
time decided on that field. Hemu, after prodigies of valour,
was completely defeated, and conducted, bleeding from his
wounds, to the tent of Akbar. Byram urged him to secure
for himself the religious merit of slaying an infidel, but the
generous youth refused to imbrue his hands in the blood of
a gallant and now helpless foe, and Byram struck off the
head of the captive with one stroke of his scymetar.
, It was the military talent of Byram, and the
Arrogance and * J
fail of Byram, vigour of his measures, which had seated Akbar on
the throne, but the minister had grown too big for
a subject. So great indeed was his power and influence that
for four years after his accession, Akbar felt himself a mere
cypher in his own dominions. Such thraldom was intolerable
to a high spirited prince, and when he had reached the age of
eighteen he resolved to throw off the yoke. On the plea of
the sudden illness of his mother, he repaired abruptly to Delhi,
IT.] FALL OF BYRAM, 105
and immediately issued a proclamation announcing that he
had taken the government into his own hands, and that no
orders were to be obeyed but those which issued from himself.
Byram felt that his power was slipping away, and endeavoured
to regain it, but he had alienated all the public officers by his
haughty demeanour, and in the time of his adversity found
that he was without a friend. He retired to Nagore, giving
out that he was proceeding on pilgrimage, but he lingered
there in the hope of receiving some gracious message from his
master. Akbar, however, discharged him from all his offices,
und requested him to hasten his departure. Stung by this
indignity, he assembled an army, and marched against the
imperial troops. He was signally defeated, and constrained
to throw himself on the mercy of the emperor. As the fallen
minister entered the royal tent, with his turban humbly sus-
pended on his neck, and cast himself at the feet of the prince
whom he had cherished from his cradle, Akbar hastened to
raise him, and seated him on his right hand, investing him
with a robe of honour, and offering him the choice of any
post in the empire. The pride of Byram, who had been the
instrument of erecting the Mogul throne a second time in
India, led him to prefer a retreat to Mecca, and he accordingly
proceeded to the sea coast, but was assassinated on the route
by an Afghan, whose father he had put to death.
Akbar was now his own master, at the age of
Akbar his own . ...
master at eighteen, but he was surrounded with difficulties
which would have broken a spirit of less energy.
For some time after its establishment, the dynasty of the
Moguls was weaker than any which had risen to power since
the Mahomedans first crossed the Indus. It was not con-
nected with any large and powerful tribes beyond that river,
ready to support the progress of their countrymen. It had no
resources in reserve. Akbar's army was simply an assembly
of mercenaries drawn together by the hope of plunder from
the various countries of Central Asia. His officers were only
a band of adventurers, bound to his family by no ties of here-
106 REVOLT OF AKBAR'S GENERALS. [CHAP.
ditary loyalty, and more disposed to carve out kingdoms for
themselves, as other adventurers had done for five centuries,
than to unite in building up a Mogul empire. Their ambition
had been effectually curbed by the iron despotism of Byram,
but blazed forth on his removal, the effect of which soon
became visible in the growth of disorders. In the fourth year
of his reign, Akbar extended his authority along the banks of
the Ganges to Jounpore ; the son of the last king,
bar's generals, Adili, advanced to recover his dominions, and was
567 ' defeated by Zeman Khan, but that general, despis-
ing the youth of his sovereign, withheld the royal share of
the booty, and manifested such a spirit of independence, that
Akbar was obliged to take the field, and reduce him to
obedience.
Adam Khan, another of Akbar's generals, was sent to expel
the Afghans from Malwa, but after defeating their general,
he determined to keep the fruits of his victory to himself.
Akbar marched against him in person, and accepted his sub-
mission, but he soon after requited this lenity by stabbing the
vizier when at prayers in a room adjoining that occupied by
the young king. For this atrocious deed Akbar ordered him
to be thrown headlong into the Jumna. Abdoolla Khan, a
haughty Uzbek, who had been received into the Mogul service,
with many of his countrymen, was then entrusted with the
government of Malwa, but within a twelvemonth raised " the
standard of revolt." Akbar came down upon him with promp-
titude, and drove him ignominiously to seek shelter in the
kingdom of Guzerat. This event created great discontent in
the minds of the Uzbek officers, who were reduced by the arts
of Abdoolla to believe that Akbar was animated with a here-
ditary hatred of their tribe and had formed a resolution to
disgrace them. The spirit of disaffection spread rapidly
through the Mogul army. Asof Jah, one of its generals, had
been sent to subjugate the little Hindoo principality of Gurra
on the Nerbudda. It was then under the regency of the
princess Doorgawuttee, renowned no less for her beauty than
FV.J SEVEN YEARS OF REVOLT. 107
Heroism of a h er valour. She led her army in person against
Hindoo princess, .
1564. the invader, and maintained the conflict with tne
greatest heroism till she received a wound in her eye. The
troops, missing her command, began to give way, when she, to
avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, seized the weapon
of the elephant driver and plunged it into her own bosom.
Her exploits are still a favourite theme with the Hindoo bards.
The booty obtained by this capture consisted of a hundred
jars of gold com, independently of jewels and gold and silver
images, and Asof Jah appropriated the largest portion of it to
his own use ajid then joined the hostile confederacy, which
now included the most eminent of Akbar's generals.
Eevoitof ^k e Danger f the emperor was extreme. It
Akbar's brother, was as much a struggle for the throne, as the
battle of Paniput, and the question at issue was,
whether the empire should be Mogul or Uzbek. Akbar's
detachments were repeatedly defeated, but he maintained the
conflict with unflinching resolution for two years. Just at
this critical juncture, his brother Hakim ungratefully took
advantage of his embarrassments, and endeavoured to wrest
the province of Lahore from the crown. Akbar was obliged to
quit the pursuit of the Uzbeks to meet this new revolt,
which, however, he succeeded in crushing at once. On his
return to the south, he found that the revolted generals had
obtained possession of the districts of Allahabad and Oude,
and were preparing to advance on the capital. The rains had
set in when all military operations are generally suspended j
but he did not hesitate to march against them, and by the
promptitude and vigour of his attack, completely broke the
strength of the confederacy, and, at the age of twenty-five,
had the happiness of seeing his authority firmly established
throughout his dominions. Nothing gives us a
Akbar's autho-
nty fully csta- higher idea of the real greatness or Akbar s
bushed, 1567. character, than the conflict which, at so early an
age, he successfully maintained against his own mutinous
troops and officers.
108 AKBAB CAPTUKES CHITTOBE. [CHAP.
Baber, with a liberality of spirit foreign to every preceding
conqueror, had determined to strengthen his government by
Matrimonial matrimonial alliances with the Hindoos. He en-
the ! E? S oot th couraged his son Humayoon to espouse a daughter
princes. of Bhugwan Dass, the raja of Jeypore. Akbar,
following his father's example, allied himself with the same
house, as well as with the ruling family of Marwar, or
Joudhpore. At the same time he conferred an office of high
dignity at his court on the raja of Jeypore. Thus the purest
Hindoo blood was mingled with that of the Mahomedan con-
querors, and the princes of Kajpootana gloried in these
imperial alliances as conferring additional dignity on their
families. But the orthodox house of Chittore, wrapped up
in its religious pride and exclusiveness, disdained any such
connection, arid even excommunicated the rajas of Jeypore and
Marwar; though Bappa, the founder of that family, con-
sidered by his countrymen as the " sun of Hindoo dignity,"
married Mahomedan wives without number, and left a hundred
and thirty circumcised children.
Akbar, having reduced his military aristocracy to sub-
mission, determined to chastise the raja of Chittore for having
Attack on th gi ven encouragement to the king of Malwa. The
raja of ciiittore, throne was then filled by Oody Sing, the degene-
rate son of the renowned Rana Sunga. On the
approach of the Moguls, he fled to the hills, and left the
defence of his capital to Jeymul, the Rajpoot chief of Bednore,
esteemed by his countrymen the bravest of the brave. Akbar,
with a powerful artillery, made his approaches in the most
scientific mode, closely resembling the practice of modern
Europe. The siege of Chittore was protracted by the genius
and valour of Jeymul, but he was at length slain by a bolt
from the bow of Akbar, while inspecting the ramparts. His
death deprived the garrison of all confidence, and they deter-
mined to sell their lives as dear as possible. The women
threw themselves on the funeral pile of the raja, and the men
rushed frantically on the weapons of the Moguls, and perished
IT.] CONQUEST OF GUZEBAT. 100
to the number of 8,000. With that generosity of character
which distinguished Akbar, he erected a statue to the memory
of his heroic foe in the most conspicuous place of his palace
at Delhi. The fall of Chittore which from that
Capture and
abandonment of period was abandoned for the new capital, Oody-
-ore, 1568. p 0r6j ca u e( j by ^ e founder after his own name
was considered the most fatal blow which had fallen for
ages on that royal house. The remembrance of this event
has been perpetuated throughout India by a most remarkable
practice. Akbar estimated the golden ornaments taken from
the Rajpoots at seventy-four maunds and a-half. The nu-
merals, 74|, were therefore deemed accursed. The Rajpoots,
and more particularly the Marwarees, are now the largest
and most enterprizing mercantile community in India, and
their commercial correspondence bears the impress of these
figures, signifying that " the sin of the slaughter of Chittore
is invoked on any one who violates the secrecy of the letter."
The practice has now become universal throughout India.
Conquest of Akbar's next enterprize was one of greater
Guzerat, 1572. magnitude. The province of Guzerat, enlarged
by the conquests of Bahadoor Shah about forty years before
this period, and enriched by maritime commerce, was estimated
to yield a revenue of five crores of rupees, and to be equal
to the support of 200,000 troops ; but it had been a prey to
faction since his death. Four weak and profligate monarchy
had filled the throne in thirty-six years. The distraction of
the kingdom had been increased by the arrival of the Mirzas,
as they are styled by the native historians, a family connected
with Akbar by the ties of blood, who had revolted against his
authority, and, having been driven out of his dominions,
transferred their intrigues to Guzerat. Etimad Khan, origi-
nally a Hindoo slave, who now managed the government in
the name of Mozuffer the Third, seeing no other mode of
quelling the factions in the country, invited Akbar to take
possession of it. The emperor proceeded with a powerful
army to Puttun, where that feeble monarch advanced to meet
110 HISTORY OF OIUSSA. [CHAP,
him, and resigned his crown without an effort; and Guzerat,
after two centuries and a-half of independence, was again
annexed to the crown of Delhi As soon, however, as Akbar
returned to his capital with a large portion of his army, Mirza
Hussein, the most turbulent of the brothers, raised a new
revolt, and the imperial generals were reduced to great
straits, and obliged to act on the defensive. The rains had
set in, but Akbar was ready for action at all seasons. He
immediately dispatched a force of 2,000 choice cavalry from
Agra, and followed it with 300 of his own guards, marching,
in that season, no less than four hundred and fifty miles in
nine days. The rapidity and vigour of his movements con-
founded the rebels ; they suffered a signal defeat, and the
subjugation of the province was completed.
The attention of Akbar was next directed to the
Orissa con-
quered by the recovery of Bengal, but before narrating this
Afghans, 1550. ex p e( jiti n, it is necessary to advert to the for-
tunes of the neighbouring kingdom of Orissa. That country
had been governed by the family of the Guju-putees, or lords
of the elephant, from a very remote period of Hindoo
history. About 400 years before the time under review, the
throne was occupied by the dynasty of the Gunga-bungsus.
The princes of this race expended the revenues of the country
in the erection of the most magnificent temples, and extended
their authority from the river Hooghly to the Godavery,
and on one occasion earned their arms as far south as Con-
jeveram, in the vicinity of Madras. A little before the period
of Akbar's accession, the king of Golconda, who was endea-
vouring to extend his power over the Hindoo tribes on the
sea coast, attacked the king of Orissa, Mookund Rao, the last
of his race ; at the same time, Soliman, the king of Bengal,
sent his general Kala-pahar with a large body of Afghan
cavalry, to invade it from the north. The valour of the raja
was of little avail; he was defeated and slain in 1558, and
this venerable Hindoo monarchy, which had never before felt
the shock of a Mahomedan invasion, was extinguished, and
IV
~\ CONQUEST OF BENGAL. Ill
the Afghans parcelled the country out in jaygeers among
themselves. The native inhabitants, who had enjoyed the
undisturbed exercise of their religion from time immemorial,
were now to taste the bitterness of persecution. Kala-pahar
was a brahmin by birth, but had embraced the religion of the
Prophet to obtain the hand of a princess of Gour, and now
became a relentless oppressor of his former creed. So terrific
did he appear to the Hindoos, that it was popularly reported
that the legs and arms of the idols dropped off at the sound
of his awful kettle-drum. He made every effort to root out
Hindooism ; he persecuted the priests, and confiscated the reli-
gious endowments which had accumulated during twenty
generations of devout monarchs ; he pulled down the temples,
and erected mosques with the materials, and seized the imago
of Jugunnath, which he committed to the flames on the banks
of the Ganges.
Akbar invades The attention of Akbar was drawn to Bengal,
Bengal, 1576. even while he was engaged in the subjugation of
Guzerat. Under the successor of Shere Shah, the Afghan
governor had assumed independence, and four kings reigned
in Bengal during a period of thirty years, of whom the most
distinguished was Soliman, the conqueror of Orissa. In the
height of his prosperity, he had the wisdom to acknowledge
the supremacy of the emperor. But his successor, Daood
Khan, a debauchee and a coward, who ascended the throne
in 1573, finding himself at the head of an army which was
estimated, by oriental exaggeration, at 140,000 infantry,
40,000 cavalry, and 20,000 guns of all sizes, considered
himself a match for Akbar, and while he was engaged in
Guzerat attacked and captured a fort above Ghazeepore. Akbai
immediately ordered a large army to proceed to the con-
quest of Bengal. Ghazeepore, which was strongly garrisoned,
submitted after a brave resistance, and the king fled to Orissa,
where he made one bold stand for his throne. He was de-
feated, but allowed to retain Orissa, as a feudatory of Delhi.
The year after, on the withdrawal of a portion of the imperial
112 REVOLT OP AKBAB'S TROOPS. [CHAP.
troops, he invaded Bengal, but was defeated and slain, and
his head sent to the emperor. With Daood Khan, in 1576,
terminated the line of Afghan kings in Bengal, who had
reigned in succession over it for two hundred and thirty- six
years. During the sovereignty of these foreigners, not only
was every office of value bestowed on their countrymen, but
the whole of the land was parcelled out among them in
jaygeers, and the natives of the country were employed only
as managers, or cultivators, of the estates.
The iaygeers of the discomfited Afghans were
Revoltofthe . " J& . ~s
Mogul officers, seized by the victorious Mogul officers. Akbar
was resolved, however, to introduce the same
fiscal economy into Bengal which he had established in other
provinces. But when his revenue officers called on the Mogul
jaygeerdars to account for the revenues they collected, and
to furnish a muster of the troops they were bound to main-
tain, they rose in a body in Bengal and Behar, and 30,000 of
Akbar's finest cavalry appeared in arms against him. His
new conquest was for the time lost, and the spirit of dis-
affection spread to the neighbouring province of Oude.
Finding it difficult, in this emergency, to trust any of his
Mogul officers, he sent an army of Rajpoots, under the cele-
brated Hindoo raja Toder Mull, who succeeded in giving a
severe blow to the revolt; but the war languished for a
time, and was terminated by Azim Khan, whose success was
owing as much to the offer of a compromise, as to the vigour
of his arms. The Afghans in Orissa took advantage of this
confusion, and recovered their footing in the lower provinces
of Bengal. The great Kajpoot raja Man Sing, the near
relative of the emperor, was sent to quell this formidable
revolt, which was not effected without great difficulty ; and
it was not till the year 1592, after a dozen battles and seven-
teen years of conflict, that the authority of Akbar was con-
clusively established in a province which, a century and a
half later, was at once and finally conquered by Olive in one
decisive action.
IV.] SUCCESS OF THE KBYBEREES. 113
Destruction of It was a short time previous to the invasion
Gour, cii. 1560. O f B en g a i by Akbar, that the ancient city of Gour
was depopulated and abandoned, after having existed more
than twenty centuries. It was admirably situated on the
confines of Bengal and Behar for the government of both
these provinces ; it had been the capital of a hundred kings,
by whom it was successively adorned with the most superb
edifices. It extended along the banks of the Ganges, and
was defended from the encroachments of the river by a stone
embankment, not less than fifteen miles in length. This
magnificent city, the seat of wealth and luxury, was suddenly
humbled to the dust by some pestilential disease, which has
never been satisfactorily explained. The establishments of
government were transferred, in the first instance, to Tondah,
and then to Eajmahal.
Conquest of The next important event in the reign of Akbar
Cashmere, 1587. was ^he conquest of Cashmere, by his brother-in-
law, the raja of Jeypore, when the Mahomedan king of that
province was enrolled among the nobles of the court, and this
lovely valley, the paradise of Asia, becam'e the summer retreat
of the emperors of Delhi. The attempt which Akbar was
required to make, soon after, to curb the highland tribes
around the plain of Peshawur, proved far more arduous.
These wild mountaineers, of whom the Eusufzies and the
Khyberees were the most considerable and most turbulent,
had been for ages the plague of every successive ruler of the
province. It was their hereditary belief that the fastnesses
of the mountains had been bestowed on them by the Creator,
to enable them to levy contributions on the industry of the
plains. Every form of conciliation and coercion had been
.^employed in vain to restrain their- inroads. On this, occasion
Akbar sent an army against them, under the joint command
of his foster brother, and his great personal friend and
favourite, the Hindoo raja Beerbull. Their troops were
decoyed into the defiles and cut off, and, to the infinite regret
of the emperor, Beerbull was among the slain. So complete
i
114 THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN. [CHAP.
was the disgrace, that according to the historian of this reign,
of 40,000 horse and foot, who entered the hills, scarcely an
individual escaped. Such wholesale destruction would appear
incredible, if we had not witnessed an example of it in the
same scene in our own day. The task of subjugating them
was then committed to the rajas Toder Mull and Man Sing,
who established military posts in the hills, and cut off the
supplies of the mountaineers from the plains, and thus imposed
some restraint on then 1 violence. They became, however, as
troublesome a century after, in the days of Aurungzebe, as
they had been in the time of Akbar, and it is only since the
establishment of British authority at Peshawur, that they
have felt themselves in the presence of a master.
Akbar, having no other war on his hands, pro-
Conquest of
sinde and can- cecded to annex the kingdom of Sinde to his
danar, 1591-94. Dominions, an( j soon a f t er reconquered the province
of Candahar. Thus, after a series of conflicts, which extended
over a period of twenty-five years, Akbar saw himself the
undisputed monarch of all his hereditary territories beyond
the Indus, and of all the principalities which had ever
belonged to the crown of Delhi, north of the Nerbudda, and
it only remained to extend his authority over the Deccan. A
brief notice of the events in that region, during the sixteenth
century, will form a suitable introduction to the Mogul expe-
dition, on which Akbar now entered.
It has been stated in a previous chapter that on
History of the _ r
Deccan in the the decline of the Bahminy kingdom, the governors
tury ' of the different provinces threw off their allegi-
ance, and that at the period of Baber's invasion, five separate
kingdoms had been established in the Deccan, at Beejaporc,
Ahmednugur, Golconda, Beder, and Berar. Of these Beder,
the most insignificant, was gradually absorbed by its more
.. . powerful neighbours. Berar was scarcely of
The kingdoms e
of Beder and more weight in the politics of the Deccan, and was
extinguished about the year 1572 by the Nizam
Shahee ruler of Ahmednugur. The kingdom of Golconda,
IV. J JBEEJAPORE AND AHMEDNTJGUK. 115
which was sometimes called Telingana, as comprising the
districts of that extinct Hindoo monarchy, was consolidated
Kingdom of ^J Koolee Eootub Shah, who claimed homage on
Goiconda. ^he ground of being lineally descended from
Japhet, the son of Noah. His reign extended over sixty
years, during which he was employed, as he delighted to say,
"in spreading the banners of the Faith, and reducing the
infidels from the borders of Telingana to Masulipatam and
Rajahmundry." Year after year he took the field against the
Hindoos, reducing their villages to ashes, and turning their
temples into mosques. Though the kings of Goiconda mixed
freely in the intrigues of the two other princes of the Deccan,
and were always ready to enter the lists against them when
plunder or territory was to be gained, their attention was more
particularly directed to the subjugation of the Hindoo districts
lying between the eastern border of their kingdom and the
Bay of Bengal.
The two states of Beeiapore and of Ahmed-
Kingdoms of .
Eeejaporeand nugur, called the Adil Shahee, and the Nizam
inugur. g na h ee? which bordered on each other, were inces-
santly engaged in mutual hostility. Within the circle of
those kingdoms was included the region inhabited by the
Mahrattas, the rise and importance of whose power is to be
attributed primarily to the perpetual warfare in which these
royal families were involved. As early as 1499, we find a
body of 5,000 Mahrattas enlisted in the service of one of
them, and throughout the sixteenth century, their armieb
were strengthened by Mahratta contingents, consisting of
five, ten, and sometimes even twenty thousand troops. Not
a few of the Mahratta families, which subsequently rose
to distinction, traced the origin of their dignity to these
appointments. There was as yet no bond of national unity
among them, and their mercenary weapons were sold to the
highest bidder, even though their own countrymen might bo
in the opposite ranks. As the object of the kings of the
Deccan was to inflict the greatest amount of havoc on their
I 2
116 EXTINCTION OP BEEJUYNUGUB. [CHAP-
opponents, the aid of men who were bandits by birth and
profession, must have been invaluable.
To the south of the three Deccan kingdoms,
The Hindoo
kingdom of lay the territories of the great Hindoo monarch
Beejuynugur. o ^ Beejuynugur, who exercised authority, more or
less complete, over all the Hindoo chiefs in the south.
The kings of this race had incessantly waged war with the
powerful Bahminy sovereigns, and on the extinction of their
power, were always engaged either in alliance or in war with
some one of the Deccan kings, the ally of one year being
frequently the foe of the next. The revenues of Beejuynugur,
which were said to have been enriched by the commerce of
sixty seaports, on both coasts, enabled the king to maintain a
force with which no other single state was able to cope.
Earn Raja, the reigning monarch in the middle of the sixteenth
century, had recently wrested several districts from Beejapore ;
he had also overrun Telingana, blockaded the capital, and
constrained the king to make large concessions. His growing
power gave just alarm to the Mahomedan kings of Beejapore,
Ahmednugur, Golconda, and Beder, and they resolved to
suspend their mutual jealousies and form a general con-
federacy to extinguish it. This was nothing less than a
conflict for supremacy between the Hindoo and the Mahome-
dan powers in the Deccan. Earn Eaja, then seventy years of
age, called up to his aid all his Hindoo feudatories as far as
Ceylon, and was enabled to assemble an army, consisting, on
the most moderate computation, of 70,000 horse. 90,000 foot,
2,000 elephants, and 1,000 pieces of cannon. The great and
Battle of Teiii- decisive battle was fought on the 25th of January,
cotta, 25 Jan., 1565, at Tellicotta, about twenty miles north of
Beejuynugur, and terminated in the total defeat
and capture of the raja, and the slaughter, according to the
Mahomedan historian, of 100,000 infidels. The aged raja wan
put to death in cold blood, and his head was preserved as a,
trophy at Beejapore, and annually exhibited to the people for
two hundred years on the anniversary of his death. The
IT.] THE POKTUGUESE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 117
capital was plundered of all its treasures, and gradually sunk
to insignificance. The power of the Hindoos in the Deccan
was irretrievably broken, but the confederate monarchs were
prevented from following up their victory by mutual dis-
sensions, and the brother of the raja was thus enabled to
save some portion of the territory, and to establish his court
at Penconda. The capital was subsequently transferred to
Chundergiree, which has been rendered memorable in the
history of British India as the town where, seventy-four years
after the battle of Tellicotta, the descendant of the raja
granted the English the first acre of land they ever possessed
in India, and on which they erected the town of Madras.
During the sixteenth century, the Portuguese
The Portuguese ,.,, .
during the leth made little effort to extend their conquests into
the interior of the country. They were content
with being masters of the sea, from which they swept all the
fleets of India and Arabia, and with the monopoly of the
commerce between Europe and India. There are, therefore,
few events of any consequence in their history. It was
about thirty years after they had landed at Calicut that they
determined to obtain possession of the harbour of Diu at all
hazards. A large expedition was fitted out, consisting of
400 vessels, with a force of 22,000 men, of whom 5,000 were
said to be European soldiers and sailors ; but it was defeated
by the artillery and the extraordinary talents of Koomy Khan,
the great engineer officer of the Guzerat army. Here it may
be useful to note, that the Portuguese, on their arrival in
India, found the native princes furnished with artillery fully
equal to their own,' and in some cases superior to it. The
engineers in the native armies, who came from Constantinople
and Asia Minor, and usually bore the title of Koomy, were
skilled in every branch of the science of artillery, and few
battles were fought without the aid of field guns. It was
Roomy Khan who, in 1549, cast, or constructed, the great gun
at Ahmednugur now called the Beejapore gun the calibre
of which was 28 inches and the weight 40 tons. In 1535,
118 SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE OF GOA. [CHAP.
Bahadoor Shah, the king of Guzerat, was driven from his
throne by Humayoon, and took refuge at Diu, where the
Portuguese, after their repulse, had succeeded in forming an
establishment. There he entered into a treaty with them,
granting permission to erect a fortress in return for a con-
tingent of 50 European officers and 450 soldiers, with whose
aid he was enabled to reconquer his kingdom on the departure
of Humayoon. The disputes which arose regarding this
fortification, and the tragic event in which they ended, have
been already narrated. The fortress was completed in 1538,
and contributed to strengthen the power of the Portuguese,
who had now become the terror of the eastern seas through
the superiority of their naval equipments. It became, there-
fore, the interest of all the Mahomedan powers in Asia to
extirpate them, and the Grand Seigneur at Constantinople
entered into a combination with the king of Guzerat to
accomplish this object. The Turkish admiral sailed from
Suez to Diu, with a force of 7,000 men and a superb train of
artillery. A body of 20,000 men co-operated with them from
Guzerat. Sylveira, the Portuguese Commander, had only a
force of 600 men, but defended himself with such gallantly,
that the seige is one of the most remarkable transactions in
the history of the Portuguese. When, at length, forty alone of
the garrison remained fit for duty, and there was no prospect
before them but an unconditional surrender, the Mahomedans,
exhausted by this long and fruitless seige, drew off their
troops, and Diu was saved.
Combined ^ ne g rea test event of this century, however,
attack on Goa, was the seige of Goa, in 1570. The kings of
^esf s^fue- 11 " Beejapore and of Ahmednugur formed a coalition
inents, 1570. w ^h the Zamorin of Calicut to expel the Portu-
guese from the coasts of India, each of the confederates
engaging to attack the settlements contiguous to his domi-
nions. Ali Adil came down upon Goa, with a force of 100,000
infantry, 35,000 cavalry, and 350 pieces of cannon ; Don Luis,
the governor, was able only to muster 1,600 men, including
IV. J STATE OF THE DECCAN. 119
the monks ; but he obliged the king to raise the seige with
ignominy, after ten months had been wasted, and 12,000 of
Iris troops slain. Mortiza Nizam Shah of Ahmednugur,
descended the ghauts with an army scarcely less numerous,
composed of natives of Turkey, Persia, Khorasan, and Ethio-
pia, and attacked the port of Ghoul, in the neighbourhood of
Bombay, but he was repulsed at all points, and 3,000 of his
troops perished in the assault. The Zamorin, at the same
time, laid seige to the port of Chale, but it was rescued from
danger by the timely arrival of reinforcements from Goa.
The Portuguese, having thus repulsed the most formidable
attempt made on their settlements since they became a power
in India, constrained the discomfited princes to sue for peace,
and retained their supremacy in the Indian ocean, and on the
coasts of India to the close of the century, when they had
to encounter the rivalry of the new power introduced by the
Dutch, to which they were obliged eventually to succumb.
., , . Akbar, having consolidated his empire to the
Akbar s views r
on the Deccan, north of the Nerbudda, resolved to conquer the
Deccan. There can be little doubt that this
movement was dictated simply by the "lust of territorial
aggrandisement," and that it is open to ah 1 the censure which
English historians have bestowed on it. Yet aggression had
been the normal principle of every government, since the
Mahomedans " turned their face to India," in the year 1000 ;
perhaps even long before that period ; and if the enterprise of
Akbar had been crowned with success, it would doubtless
have been an incomparable benefit to India.
It is difficult to imagine a more deplorable condition than
that of the unhappy provinces of the Deccan during the
whole of the sixteenth century. The kings seem to have
had no occupation but war. Scarcely a year passed in which
the villages were not subjected to rapine, and the fair fruits
of industry blasted by their wanton irruptions. No govern-
ment, however tyrannical, could have inflicted anything like
tlic wretchedness occasioned by these unceasing devastations.
120 CHAND SULTANA. [CHAP.
So inestimable is the blessing conferred by a strong govern-
ment in India, in putting down intestine war, and giving
repose and confidence to the people, that it appears mere
affectation to inquire into the origin of its rights, which, in
nine cases out of ten, will be found to be as valid as those
of the power it subverts.
Akbar enters On the death of Boorhan Nizam Shah, the king
the Ahmed Q f Ahmednugur, i n 1595 four rival factions arose
nugur stdtG,
1595. in the state, the most powerful of which called in
the aid of the Moguls. Akbar, who had long been watching
an opportunity of interfering in the affairs of the Deccan,
readily accepted the overture, and lost no time in sending
forward two armies. But before they could reach the capital,
another revolution had placed the power of the state in the
hands of Chand Sultana. She was a princess of Ahmednugur,
who had been bestowed in marriage in 1564 on Ah' Adil Shah
of Beejapore, to bind him to the alliance then formed by the
Mahomedan kings against the raja of Beejuynugur. On his
death she returned to her native country, and now assumed
the regency on behalf of her nephew, Bahadoor Nizam Shah.
This celebrated woman, the favourite heroine
The celebrated
Chand Sultana, of the Deccan, the subject of a hundred ballads,
determined to defend the city to the last extremity,
and persuaded the rival factions to merge their differences iut
a combined effort against the common foe. The Moguls had
constructed three mines, two of which she countermined ; the
third blew up, carrying away a portion of the wall, and many
of her principal officers prepared to desert the defence. The
Sultana flew to the spot in full armour, with a veil over her
countenance, and a drawn sword in her hand, and recalled the
troops to a sense of their duty. Combustibles of every de-
scription were thrown into the breach, and so heavy a fire
was directed against it, that the besiegers were constrained
to retire. During the night she superintended in person the
repairs of the wall. It is a popular and favourite tradition,
that when the shot was. exhausted, she loaded the guns with
IV.] CAPTURE OF AHMEDNTJGDB. 121
copper, then with silver, and then with gold, and did not
pause till she had begun to fire away her jewels. The allies
whom she had importuned to aid her, were now approaching ;
the Mogul camp began to be straitened for provisions, and
prince Morad, the son of Akbar, who commanded the army,
offered to retire on obtaining the cession of the
She cedes Berar
to the Moguls, province of Berar. Chand, having little confi-
dence in the fidelity of her troops or of her allies,
was constrained to accede to these terms.
Battle of sone- Within a year of this convention, the kings of
put, Jan., 1597. Beejapore, Ahmednugur, and Golconda formed
an alliance to drive the Moguls back across the Nerbudda,
and brought an army of 60,000 men into the field. An action
was fought at Soneput, which lasted two days, without any
decisive result, though both parties claimed the victory.
Dissensions at length broke out among the officers of the
Mogul army, and Akbar, who had resided for fourteen years
in the countries bordering on the Indus, felt the necessity of
proceeding in person to the Deccan. On reaching Boorhan-
pore he sent an army to lay seige again to Ahmednugur.
The government of the Sultana, which she had maintained
with great difficulty, was now distracted by factions, and
feeling the city to be incapable of defence, she endeavoured
to make the best terms in her power with the Moguls. The
populace, inflamed by her enemies, rushed into her chamber
and put her to death. But they soon had reason to deplore
their ingratitude. The Mogul army stormed and plundered
the city, giving no quarter to the defenders, and the young
king and his family were sent as state prisoners to Gwalior.
The fall of the capital did not, however, ensure
Capture of Ah- r
mednugur, the submission of the kingdom, and it was not
July, i6( incorporated with the Mogul dominions till thirty-
seven years after this period. Soon after, Akbar deprived his
vassal, the king of Candesh, of all authority, and that kingdom
was re-annexed to the Mogul empire.
122 DEATH OF AKBAK. [CHAP.
This was the last event of importance in the
Last four years .
of Akbar-s reign, reign of Akbtff, who returned to the capital in
iGoi-1606. by
the misconduct of his son Selirn, then thirty years of age, a
prince not altogether destitute of that talent, which for a
century and a half distinguished the family of Baber, both in
the cabinet and in the field, but violent and vindictive, and
the slave of wine. The emperor had declared him heir to the
throne, but he was so impatient to occupy it, as to take up
arms against his father, which, however, he was induced to
lay down by a fond and paternal letter, and a grant of the
provinces of Bengal and Orissa. He had contracted an in-
veterate hatred of Abul Fazil, one of the most illustrious
officers of Akbar's camp, and, after the death of raja Beerbull,
his most intimate friend. Prince Selim caused him to be
assassinated by a zemindar of Bundlecund. Abul Fazil was
equally eminent as a general, a statesman, and a historian ;
and Akbar is indebted for his renown in no small degree to
the pen of his noble historian.
Akbar's death, Iu September, 1605, Akbar began to feel the
isth oct, 1605. approach of death. The profligacy of Selim had
induced an influential body of courtiers, among whom was raja
Man Sing, to contemplate the elevation of his son Khusro, a
minor, to the throne ; but Akbar nipped the project in the
bud. He summoned his courtiers and his son around his
couch, and ordered the prince to bind his favourite scymetar
to his side as a token that the empire had been bequeathed to
him, and recommended his personal friends and the ladies of
the harem to Ins protection. Then, addressing the omrahs
around him, he asked forgiveness for any offence he might
have given them; a priest was soon after introduced, and
Akbar repeated the confession of faith, and died in the odour
of Mahomedan sanctity, though he had lived the life of a
heretic.
Akbar was not only the ornament of the Mogul dynasty
iv.J AKBAR'S RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 123
r-s charac- b u t incomparably the greatest of all the Malio-
institutions. medan rulers of India. Few princes ever exhibited
greater military genius or personal courage. He never fought
a battle which he did not win, or besieged a town which he did
not take ; yet he had no passion for war, and as soon as he
had turned the tide of victory by his skill and energy, he
was happy to leave his generals to complete the work, and to
hasten back to the more agreeable labours of the cabinet.
The glories of his reign rest not so much on the extent of his
conquests, though achieved by his personal talent, as on the
admirable institutions by which his empire was consolidated.
. The superiority of his civil administration was owing not to his
own genius alone, but also to the able statesmen whom, like
Queen Elizabeth, he had the wisdom to collect around him.
In the early period of his career he was a devout
ITis religious ' r
Tiews and his f ollower of the Prophet, and was at one time bent
on a pilgrimage to his tomb, the aspiration of every
Mahomedan ; but about the twenty-fifth year of his reign lie
began to entertain sentiments incompatible with fidelity to
the Koran. He professed to reject all prophets, priests, and
ceremonies, and to take simple reason as the guide of his
thoughts and the rule of his actions. The first article of his
creed was, " There is no God but one, and Akbar is his pro-
phet." Whether he ever intended to become the founder of
a new creed may admit of controversy ; but ah 1 his measures
tended to discourage the religion of the Prophet. He changed
the era of the Hejira ; he restrained the study of Arabic and of
Mahomedan theology ; and he wounded the dearest prejudices
of the faithful by proscribing the beard. Nothing but the
ascendancy of his character, and -his dazzling success in war
and in peace, could have preserved the throne amidst the dis-
contents produced among his own chiefs by these heterodox
measures. Among a people with whom persecution was
considered the most sacred of duties, Akbar adopted the prin-
ciple not only of religious toleration, but, what has been found a
more difficult task even in the most enlightened Christian com-
124 AKBAR'S CIVIL ADMINISTRATION. [CHAP.
munities, of religious equality. He formed the magnanimous
resolution of resting the strength of his throne on the attach-
ment of all his subjects, whether they belonged to the esta-
blished religion of the state or not. He disarmed the hostility
and secured the loyalty of the Hindoos by allowing them to
share the highest civil offices and military commands with
the Mahomedans, and thus placed himself a century ahead of
the Stuarts in England. He abolished the odious jezzia, or
capitation tax ; he issued an edict permitting Hindoo widows
to marry ; he discouraged suttees to the full extent of his
power, and he abolished the practice of reducing captives to
slavery.
His revenue Under the supervision of the great financier
reforms. o f fae age, the raja Toder Mull, Akbar radically
remodelled the revenue system of the empire He caused all
the lands to be measured according to a uniform standard, and
with the most perfect instruments procurable. He divided
them, according to their character and fertih'ty, into three
classes, and fixed the demand of the state generally at one-
third the annual produce, and then commuted it to a money
payment. He abolished all arbitrary cesses, and made the
settlement for ten years, and with the cultivators themselves,
to the exclusion of all middlemen. It is questionable there-
fore whether, during his reign, there were any zemindars in
India at all, and whether those who afterwards assumed their
prerogatives were, at this period, and for more than a century
after, anything beyond mere officials employed in collecting-
the public dues.
Division of the The whole empire was divided into fifteen pro-
empire, vinces, or soubahs: Cabul, beyond the Indus;
Lahore, Mooltan, Delhi, Agra, Oude, Allahabad, Ajmere,
Guzerat, Malwa, Behar, and Bengal ; and south of the
Nerbudda, Candesh, Berar, and Ahmednugur. Each province
was placed under a soobadar, who was entrusted with full
powers, civil and military, and assisted by a dewan, or minis-
ter of finance, who, though nominated by the emperor, was
V.] ACCESSION OP JEHANGEEK. 125
accountable to the soobadar. The military duties of each
province were entrusted to a fouzdar, who also commanded
the police force, and was responsible for the peace of the
country. Civil law was administered by a Mahomedan chief
justice, assisted by local judges, and the decisions were inva-
riably in accordance with the precepts of Mahomedan law.
His military The military system of Akbar was the least
ecoiy^f ST P erfect of ali nis arrangements, and his extraordi-
court. nary success is to be attributed more to the weak-
ness of his opponents than to the superiority of his own
army. He perpetuated the great military error of paying the
commanders for their soldiers by the head, which created an
irresistible temptation to make false musters, and to fill the
ranks with ragamuffins. The same organization which per-
vaded, the various offices of state was carried into all the
establishments of his court, down to the department of the
fruits and the flowers, the perfumery, the kitchen, and the
kennel, which were regulated to the minutest details under
the personal directions of the emperor. Every establishment
was maintained upon a scale of imperial magnificence. He
never had fewer than 12,000 horses and 5,000 elephants in his
own stables, independently of those required for hawking, and
hunting, and war. During his progress through the provinces
his camp was a great moving city, and the eye was dazzled
by the sight of the royal tents surmounted with gilt cupolas,
and enriched with the most gorgeous ornaments.
CHAPTER V.
JEHANGEER AND SHAH JEHAN, 1605 1658.
ON the death of Akbar, Prince Selim quietly
Jchan^eer as-
cends the throne, stepped into the throne, at the age of thirty-
seven, and adopted the title of Jehangeer, the
conqueror of the world. The great empire to which he sue-
126 NOOR JEHAN. [CHAP,
ceeded was in a state of profound tranquillity, and there was
no spfrit of insubordination among the military or civil chiefs.
His proceedings on his accession served not only to calm the
fears which his previous misconduct had excited, but even io
win him the esteem of his subjects. He confirmed his father's
ministers in their posts, abolished some vexatious taxes, and,
though strongly addicted to wine himself, prohibited the use
of it, and endeavoured to control the indulgence in opium.
He replaced the Mahomedan creed on the coin, and mani-
fested a more superstitious attention to the precepts of the
Prophet than his father had done. At the same time he
courted popularity by affording easy access to the complaints
of his people. But a subject of disquietude soon arose.
His son Khusro had become the object of his
Rebellion of his . J
sonKhuuro, detestation by the effort made during the last
days of Akbar's life to place him on the throne by
some of the leading courtiers, and the youth now fled to the
Punjab, where he collected a body of 10,000 men. He was
promptly pursued and captured, and the emperor exhibited
the brutality of his nature by causing seven hundred of his
adherents to be impaled alive, while the wretched Khusro
was carried along the line to witness their agony.
The event which exercised the greatest influ-
Parentage and
marriage of encc on the conduct of Jehangecr for sixteen
twn " years was his marriage with the celebrated Noor
Jehan. She was descended from a noble Persian family of
Teheran, but her father, having been reduced to poverty,
determined to follow the prevailing current of emigration, and
proceed to India to repair his fortunes. During the journey,
his wife gave birth to a daughter under the most calamitous
circumstances, though they were subsequently embellished
with all the romance of poetry when she became the Queen
of the East, and was in a position to reward the pens of poets.
A merchant who happened to be travelling on the same route
afforded assistance to the family in their exigency, and, on
reaching the capital, took the father into his own employ, and,
V.j MARRIAGE OF KOOB JEHAW. 127
perceiving his abilities, introduced him to the service of
Akbar, in which he gradually rose to eminence. His daughter,
Noor Jehan, received all the accomplishments of education
which the capital of India could afford, and grew up into a
woman of the most exquisite beauty. In the harem of Akbar>
which she occasionally visited with her mother, she attracted
the attention of the prince Selim, who became deeply ena-
moured of her. But she had been already betrothed to a
Turkoman of the noblest descent, who had acquired the title
of Shere Afgun, from having killed a lion singlehanded. He
had served with renown in the wars of Persia and India, and
was distinguished no less by his gigantic strength than by
his personal valour. Akbar refused to annul the nuptial
engagement, even in favour of his own son, and, in the hope
that absence would allay the passion of the prince, appointed
Shere to a jaygeer in the remote district of Burdwan.
But Jehangeer had no sooner mounted the
Noor Jehan
raised to the throne than he determined to remove every ob-
one, 1611. g t ac i e to the gratification of his wishes, and Shere
perished in a scuffle, which was not believed to be accidental.
His lovely widow was conveyed to Delhi, when Jehangeer
offered to share his throne with her; but she rejected tho
offer with disdain, and was consigned to the neglect of the
harem, where she had leisure for reflection and repentance.
Anxious to regain Jehangeer's attachment, she contrived to
throw herself in his way, and her youth and beauty did not
fail to rekindle his former passion. Their marriage was cele-
brated with extraordinary pomp, and she was clothed with
honours greater than any Sultana had ever enjoyed before.
The emperor went so far as to associate her name with his
own on the coin,- in these graceful terms: "By order of the
emperor Jehangeer, gold acquired a hundred times additional
value by the name of the empress Noor Jehan" the light
of the world. Her talent for business was not less remark-
able than her personal charms, and her influence was beneficial
to the interests of the state. She softened the natural cruelty
128 MALIK AMBER. [CHAP.
of the emperor's disposition, and constrained him to appear
sober at the durbar, however he might indemnify himself for
this restraint in the evening. Her taste imparted grace to the
splendour of the court, at the same time that she curtailed
its extravagance. Her brother, Asof Khan, was raised to a
post of high dignity, and her father, who was placed at the
head of affairs, proved to be one of the ablest of viziers.
Malik Amber ^^ c ^ v ^ Ahmednugur, as previously stated, was
ana the state of captured by Akbar, on the murder of Chand Sultana,
in 1600, and the royal family was consigned to the
fortress of Gwalior ; but the kingdom was not subdued, though
Akbar designated it as one of the soobahs of his empire.
Malik Amber, the chief of the Abyssinian nobles of the
court, assumed the control of public affairs, and placed a
kinsman of the late king on the throne. He attacked the
Mogul forces with vigour, and erected the national standard on
what had been regarded the impregnable rock of Dowlutabad;
he founded a new capital at the foot of it, at Kirkee, and
adorned it with many splendid buildings. Malik Amber stands
foremost in the history of the Deccan as a statesman of sur-
passing genius, who maintained the sinking fortunes of the
Ahmednugur dynasty for twenty years with the greatest
energy. Planting himself on the borders of the Deccan, he
continued to repel the encroachments of the Moguls, and
repeatedly drove their armies back to Boorhanpore. He
availed himself to so great an extent of the services of the
Mahratta chieftains, that he may be said to have cradled
their power ; more especially was it under his banner that
Shahjee, the father of Sevajee, laid the foundation of his
greatness. With a natural genius for war, he was still
more remarkable for the assiduity with which he cultivated
the arts of peace ; and it is the revenue settlement he brought
to perfection which has given lasting celebrity to his name.
He was the Toder Mull of the Deccan.
jciiangeerat- i n the year 1612 Jehangeer resolved to re-
tacks Amber, . *
K12. cover the footing which the Moguls had lost
V.] SUBJUGATION OF OODYPORE. 129
in the Deccan, and two armies, the first commanded by
Abdoolla Khan, were sent against Malik Amber. But he
avoided a general engagement, while his light Deccanee
horse hovered on the flanks and rear of his enemy, cut off
his communications and supplies, and harassed him by night
and by day so inexorably as to oblige him to sound a retreat,
which the Abyssinian soon converted into a disgraceful
flight. The second army met the Ahmednugur troops in the
flush of victory, and wisely retraced its steps across the
Nerbudda.
Subjugation of These disappointments were balanced by success
-oodypore, 1614- against Oodypore. It has been already stated
that Oody Sing, the feeble rana of Chittore, the founder of
the town of Oodypore, wa,s obliged by the generals of Akbar
to seek refuge in the hills. He was succeeded by his son,
Pertap Sing, who is still idolized by his countrymen for the
heroism with which he repelled the attacks of the Moguls,
and preserved the germ of national independence in his wild
fastnesses. Although the Rajpoot rajas of Jeypore and
Marwar were ranged against him, he succeeded in recovering
the greater portion of his hereditary dominions before the
death of Akbar. His son Omrah, equally valiant, but less
fortunate, after having repeatedly defeated the Mogul troops,
was, in the year 1614, attacked by Shah Jehan, the gallant
and favourite son of the emperor, and compelled to acknowledge
fealty to the throne of Delhi. That generous prince, himself,
on the mother's side, of Rajpoot blood, restored the territories
of the fallen prince, but only as the vassal of the emperor, at
whose court, however, he was assigned the highest post of
honour. Thus was the independence of the family of the
great ranas of Chittore, which had been maintained for eight
hundred years, at once extinguished.
ofs - The tenth year of the reign of Jehangeer was ren-
Thomas BOB, dered memorable by the arrival of Sir Thomas Roe,
as ambassador from James, the king of England,
to solicit privileges for the East India Company, then recently
K
t30 SECOND ATTACK ON MAT.TK AMBEB. [CHAP.
established. He landed at Surat, and proceeded by slow
journeys to the court, then held at Ajmere, where he was
received with greater distinction than had been conferred on
any foreign envoy. Of the result of his embassy we shall
have occasion to speak hereafter ; here it may be sufficient
to state, that he was fascinated by the oriental magnificence
of the court, which so completely eclipsed the tinsel pomp of
that of his own master. He was dazzled with the profusion
of gold and jewels on every side, and, not least, with those
which adorned the foreheads of the royal elephants. But he
perceived little comfort among the subjects of the empire,
who were ground down by the extortions of the public ser-
vants of every grade. The emperor dispensed justice daily in
person ; but he retired in the evening to his cups, which he
never left while there was any reason left in him. He was
maudlin and easy, and his courtiers were universally corrupt
and unprincipled. Military discipline had decayed after the
death of Akbar, and the only good soldiers in the army were
the Eajpoots and the Afghans. There was a large influx of
Europeans at the capital, and so greatly was Christianity
encouraged, that one of the emperor's nephews had embraced
it, and the Emperor himself had an image of Christ and the
Virgin in his rosary.
Second cam- The attention of Jehangeer was now called to
^ 1 f a . gai . nst the state of affairs in the Deccan, and he marched
Malik Amber,
March, 1617. down to Mandoo to superintend the war, which
he entrusted to the command of Shah Jehan, at the same time
declaring him the heir of the throne. The prosperity of
Malik Amber had created a feeling of envy at the Ahmed-
nugur court, and alienated many of his confederates. On
the approach of Shah Jehan, he was still further weakened
by the defection of the king of Beejapore, and was obliged
to enter into negotiations, and cede the fortress of Ahmed-
nugur, together with all the conquests he had made from
the Moguls. But within four years he renewed the war, and
succeeded in driving the imperial forces across the Taptee.
V.] KEBELLION OP SHAH JEHAN. 131
Shah Jehan was again selected by his father to command the
army ; but he accepted the charge only on condition that his
brother Khusro should accompany him. Before he reached
the province of Malwa, Malik Amber had crossed the Ner-
budda and burned down the suburbs of Maudoo. But success
still attended the arms of Shah Jehan. He contrived to cor-
rupt the principal Mahratta chiefs in the army of Malik
Amber some of them by the most extravagant offers and
that general, deserted by his own officers, suffered a defeat,
and was obliged to purchase peace in 1621, by a large sacri-
fice of treasure and territory.
Death of Khusro, Just at this juncture Khusro died, and themis-
N l o d o?j!S 80f f o rtunes of Shah J ehan began. Noor Jehan had
1621. bestowed her daughter by Shere Afgun on Shariar,
the youngest of the emperor's sons, and determined to raise
him to the throne, in the hope of perpetuating that unbounded
influence which she had enjoyed under Jehangeer. Her father,
the vizier, whose virtue and wisdom had maintained order in
the empire, notwithstanding the dissoluteness of the Court,
had recently died, and the salutary restraint of his authority
being removed, she was at liberty to indulge her passions
without control. The Persians had recently reconquered
Candahar, and, in the hope of removing Shah Jehan out of
her way, she persuaded Jehangeer to employ his great military
talents hi regaining it. Shah Jehan was alive to the danger
of quitting India, and began to stipulate for securities.
His demands were regarded as treasonable j all his jaygeers
and estates were sequestered, and he was driven into rebellion
by the force of circumstances.
Mohabet hunts To meet this difficulty, Mohabet, the ablest
torough^e general in the emperor's service, was drawn from
country, 1623. his government of Cabul, and directed to march
against Shah Jehan. A partial and indecisive action took
place in Rajpootana, and the prince unwisely determined to
retire to the Deccan. This retrograde movement was attended,
as might have been expected, with the most fatal couse-
132 INTRIGUES AGAINST MOHABET. [CHAP.
quences. Malik Amber and the kings of Beejapore and
Golconda refused him any assistance ; his own troops began
to desert, and he was obliged to retreat to Telingana. On
reaching Masulipatam he marched along the coast to Bengal,
took possession of that province and of Behar, and advanced
to Allahabad. Mohabet, who was lying at Boorhanpore, on
hearing of his sudden appearance on the Ganges, hastened to
encounter him ; his raw levies were speedily dispersed, and
he fled a second time to the Deccan. Malik Amber was now
at issue with the emperor, and made common cause with his
fugitive son, and they advanced together to the siege of
that city. But Mohabet pursued the prince with such
energy that he was f am to seek reconciliation with his father,
which, however, was not granted but on the hard condition
of surrendering all his forts, and giving two of his sons as
hostages.
Jehan A new scene now opens in this eventful drama.
* Mohabet, the greatest subject of the empire, and
1625. the prime favourite of the emperor, had acquired
additional importance by his brilliant success; but as he
manifested no disposition to second Noor Jehan's views re-
garding the succession of Shariar, her confidence was
capriciously converted into hatred, and she resolved on his
ruin. Jehangeer was at this tune on his way to Cabul. A
charge of embezzlement during his recent campaign was
trumped up against Mohabet, and he was summoned to the
court to answer it. He came, but with a body of 5,000 Rajpoots
who were devoted to his service. He had recently betrothed
his daughter to a young noble without obtaining the usual
consent of the emperor. Jehangeer, on hearing of the cir-
cumstance, ordered the youth into his presence, and hi a fit
of brutal rage directed him to be stripped naked and whipped
with thorns in the presence of the court, and confiscated all
his estates. When Mohabet approached the royal encamp-
ment he was refused admission. He could not fail to perceive
that his ruin was determined on, and he resolved to strike
V.] BIOHADET SEIZES THE EMPEROR. 133
. v . . the first blow. The following 1 morning the army
Mohabet seizes ;
the Emperor, crossed the Hydaspes, and Jehangeer, who had
not recovered from the debauch of the previous
night, remained behind with a slender guard. Mohabet pro-
ceeded to the emperor's tent and seized his person. Jehan-
.geer was frantic at this indignity, but seeing himself abso-
lutely in the power of his general, was persuaded to mount
an elephant, with his goblet and his cup-bearer, and proceed
to Mohabet's tent.
Noor Jehan crossed the bridge in disguise and
Noor Jehan
fights for his joined the imperial army, and the next morning
cue, 1626. proceeded to the rescue of her husband. The
bridge having been destroyed during the night by the Raj-
poots, she advanced at the head of the troops to a ford which
had been discovered, mounted on a lofty elephant, with a bow
and two quivers. The struggle was long and deadly. She
endeavoured to animate the soldiers by her exertions, but
they were driven into the stream by the shower of balls,
rockets, and arrows which the Rajpoots poured into the files
massed on the narrow ford. Noor Jehan's elephant reached
the opposite bank, but was assailed with redoubled fury ; her
guards were cut down, and among the hundred missiles aimed
at her one struck the infant son of her daughter whom she
carried in her lap. The elephant driver was killed, the
animal was wounded, and carried down the stream in
endeavouring to recross it, and the life of the empress was
in imminent danger. When her female attendants came
shrieking to the spot, they found the howda, or seat, covered
with blood, and the empress employed in extracting the
arrow and binding up the wound of the infant.
Noor Jehan After this vain attempt at a rescue the empress
feigns recondii- yielded to necessity, and joined Jehangeer, who
peror-'s release, continued a captive in the hands of his revolted
subject, but was treated with the greatest respect.
Mohabet, now in full command of the army, crossed the Indus,
and encamped at Cabul. There, her fertile genius, by a
134 1>EATH OF JEHANGEER. [CHAP.
series of skilful manoeuvres, contrived gradually to turn the
tables on him; he saw that his position was becoming daily more
insecure, and made offers for a reconciliation. Noor Jehan
condoned his revolt on condition that he should proceed in
pursuit of her other enemy, Shah Jehan. That prince, after
making his submission to the emperor, had fled to Sinde,
intending to seek an asylum in Persia, but he was still a for-
midable obstacle to her views. But when his prospects were
at the lowest ebb they began to brighten. Mohabet, dreading
a reign of weakness and violence if Shariar succeeded to the
throne through the influence of Noor Jehan, resolved to assist
the efforts of Shah Jehan, and, instead of proceeding to attack
him, joined him with the troops yet remaining under his
standard,
The empress on hearing of this defection ordered him to
be hunted through the empire, and set a price on his head.
But her power was at once annihilated by the death of
Death and Jehangcer, whose constitution was completely
jehl^geerf exhausted by a life of indulgence, and who ex-
1627. pired at Lahore on the 28th of October, 1627, in
the sixtieth year of his age. He was contemporary with
James the First of England. Not only was their reign of
the same duration, but there was a remarkable accordance in
their characters. They were both equally weak and con-
temptible, both the slaves of favourites and of drink, and, by
a singular coincidence, they both launched a royal decree
against the use of tobacco, then recently introduced into
England and India, and, in both cases, with the same degree
of success.
... On the death of Jehangeer, Asof Khan, the
Accession of
shah Jehan, brother of Noor Jehan, and one of the chief
ministers, determined to support the claims of
Shah Jehan on the same ground which had influenced the
decision of Mohabet. He despatched a messenger to summon
him from the Deccan, and at the same time placed the empress
dowager under restraint. Her influence expired with the
V.] StATE OF THE bECCAN. 135
death of her husband, and she retired from the world with an
annuity of twenty-five lacs of rupees a-year, and passed the
remaining years of her life in cherishing his memory. Shariar,
who was at Lahore, was attacked and defeated by Asof Khan,
and put to death by order of Shah Jehan. That prince lost no ,
time in coming up from the Deccan, in company with '
passion for Mohabet Khan, on whom, as well as on Azof
magnificence, j^ ^ instruments of nis elevation, he be- I
stowed the highest dignities. He was proclaimed emperor, at
Agra, early in 1628, and began his reign by indulging that pas-
sion for magnificence in which he eclipsed all his predecessors.
The anniversary of his accession was commemorated by a dis*
play of incredible extravagance. A suite of tents was manu-
factured of the finest Cashmere shawls, which, in the figu-
rative language of his biographer, it required two months to
pitch. In conformity with the usage of the ancient Hindoo
sovereigns he was weighed against silver, and gold, and
jewels, which were then lavished among the courtiers.
Vessels filled with gems were waved over his head and
emptied on the floor for a general scramble. The expense of
this festival was computed at a crore and a half of rupees.
Condition of The first eight years of the reign of Shah Jehan
dora^the^" were occupied with military operations hi the
Deccan. Deccan. Thirty years had now elapsed since
Akbar crossed the Nerbudda, and overran the kingdom of
Ahmednugur, on which occasion he added to his titles that of
king of the Deccan. The genius of Malik Amber had, however,
succeeded in restoring the independence of the kingdom, to-
gether with much of its ancient power; but he had recently died,
at the age of eighty. The king of Beejapore, Ibrahim Adil
Shah, renowned for the grandeur of his edifices, had died about
the same time, bequeathing a full treasury and an army of
200,000 men to his successor. The king of Golconda was
engaged in extending his authority over his Hindoo neigh-
bours to the east and south. Of all the acquisitions made by
Akbar south of the Nerbudda, there remained to the crown of
136 EEVOLT OF JEHAN LODI. [CHAP.
Delhi only the eastern half of Candesh, and the adjoining por-
tion of Berar.
The war in the Deccan on which Shah Jehan
Deccan occa- now entered, and which continued for eight years,
was occasioned by the revolt of Jehan Lodi. He
Lodi, was an Afghan of ignoble birth, but great ability
and arrogance, who had raised himself to eminence
in the Mogul army, and obtained the office of governor of
the Deccan, from which post he was removed to Malwa under
the new reign. He was invited to court, and treated appa-
rently with great distinction ; but, having imbibed a suspicion
that the emperor, to whom he was personally odious, had a
design on his life, he quitted the capital abruptly with the
troops which had accompanied him. He was immediately
pursued, and overtaken on the banks of the Chumbul ; and it
was only with extreme difficulty that he was able to elude
pursuit and reach the Deccan ; but, having once reached it, he
was joined by numerous adherents, and supported by the
king of Ahmednugur. The emperor considered the revolt so
serious as to order three armies, each consisting of 50,000
men, into the field, and even to proceed to the Deccan in person.
Jehan Lodi was driven out of Ahmednugur by the Mogul
force, and sought the aid of the king of Beejapore, which was
peremptorily refused him. His friend, Shahjee, the Mahratta
chieftain, considering his cause desperate, abandoned it, and
joined the Moguls ; for which act of treachery he was
rewarded with a title of nobility. Meanwhile his allies, the
Ahmednugur troops, were defeated by the Moguls at Dow-
lutabad; and Jehan. Lodi, overwhelmed by the defection of
his friends and the discomfiture of his allies, fled northward, in
the hope of reaching Afghanistan, and rousing his country-
men ; but he wap brought to bay on the borders of Bundle-
kund, and, after performing prodigies of valour with the small
body of 400 men who still adhered to his fallen fortunes,
was struck dead by a Rajpoot, and his head sent as aii accept-
able offering to Shah Jehan.
V.] EXTINCTION OP AHMEDNUGUR. 137
The war with Ahmednugur did not, however.
Termination of . .
the war in the cease with the cause of it. The king, Mortiza
Deccan. Nizam, had fallen out with his minister, Futeh
Khan, the son and successor of Malik Amber, and thrown
him into prison ; but, having experienced nothing but mortifi-
cation in his struggle with the Moguls, released him, and
restored him to power. The Abyssinian rewarded the kind-
ness of his master by causing him and his adherents to be
assassinated ; and, having placed an infant on the vacant throne,
offered his submission to the emperor. Meanwhile, the king
of Beejapore, alarmed at the progress of the Mogul arms, deter-
mined to make common cause with Ahmednugur, and thus
brought down the imperial armies on his own territories. It
would be wearisome to go into a detail of all the intrigues, the
treachery, and the vicissitudes which form the history of this
period of five years. Suffice it to record that the war with
Beejapore was conducted with varied fortunes ; that the king
baffled the Mogul generals by creating a desert for twenty
miles around his capital, and depriving their armies of food,
forage, and water ; and that both parties, becoming at length
weary of this war of fruitless desolation, listened to terms of
accommodation. The result of this conflict of eight years
may be thus summed up : the kingdom of Ahmednugur was
entirely extinguished, after it had flourished a century and a
half ; a portion of its territory was ceded to Beejapore for a
tribute of twenty lacs of rupees a year, and the remainder
absorbed in the Mogul dominions ; while the king of Golconda,
overawed by the neighbourhood of the Mogul army, consented
to pay an annual subsidy.
The Portuguese We tum now to Ben al - At what period the
power in Bengal Portuguese formed their first establishment in that
province is not accurately known ; but in the year
1537, the king, Mahmood, when pressed, as we have already
stated, by the famous Shere Shah, invoked the aid of the Portu-
guese governor on the Malabar coast, and Samprayo, his admiral,
entered the Ganges with nine vessels. Though they arrived
138 THE PORTUGUESE IK BENGAL. [CHAP.
too late to afford him assistance, it is supposed that they formed
a settlement in the neighbourhood of the great port of Satgong,
at a place called Golin, or Gola, the granary, afterwards cor-
rupted to Hooghly, where they continued to flourish for a hun-
dred years. Towards the close of the century they appear to
have formed another and larger settlement atChittagong, where
Gonzales is said to have held the district around it in subjec-
tion with the help of a thousand Europeans, two thousand
natives, and eighty ships. So formidable was his power, that
the Mogul viceroy made Dacca the seat of his government, in
order more effectually to check his progress. With the com-
mand of the only two ports of the Gangetic valley, the power
of the Portuguese in Bengal during the sixteenth century
must have been an object of no little alarm to the Mogul
authorities.
Hoogwy. At Hooghly they had fortified their factory, and
obtained the complete control of the commerce of the river,
and the prosperity of Satgong began to wane under this rivalry.
At the time when Shah Jehan, flying before Mohabet, in 1624,
advanced from Masulipatam to Bengal, he besought the
Portuguese chief at Hooghly, Michael Rodrigues, to assist
him with some guns and artillerymen, but, as the governor had
no confidence in the success of that rash enterprise, the
request was refused. Six years afterwards .when Shah
Jehan had become emperor, a representation was made by
the soobadar of Bengal that some European idolaters, who
had been allowed to establish a factory in Bengal, had erected
a fort and mounted it with cannon, and grown insolent and
oppressive. Shah Jehan had not forgotten the repulse he
received from Rodrigues at Hooghly in his adversity, and
curtly replied, "Let the idolaters be immediately expelled
from my dominions."
capture of The viceroy lost no time in investing Hooghly,
Hooghly, 1632. an< j ? fi n( ji n g ^^ j t cou i(j not fa carr i e d by storm,
undermined the defences. The great bastion was blown up ;
the Moguls rushed with fury into the breach, and slaughtered
V.] OPERATIONS BEYOND THE INDtJS, 139
more than a thousand Portuguese, Of three hundred vessels
then in the river, it is stated that only three escaped. More
than four thousand were made prisoners ; the priests were
forwarded to Delhi, and the most beautiful of the women re-
served for the royal seraglio ; the churches and images were
demolished. By this blow, the power of the Portuguese in
Bengal was irretrievably broken ; and no vestige now remains
of their former influence, save the few vocables they contributed
to the language of the country, and the old church at Bandel,
within sight of Hooghly, erected two centuries and a half ago.
The Mogul viceroy directed that it should thenceforth be made
the royal port of Bengal j all the public records and offices
were removed to it from Satgong, and that city, which may
be traced back to the days of the Caesars, sunk into a little
paper making hamlet.
Acquisition of In the year 1637 the emperor was gladdened
^fSSl by the unexpected recovery of Candahar, which
His canal. had been so often lost and gained by the family
of Baber Ali Merdan, the governor under the Persians, was
driven into rebellion by the tyrannical proceedings of his
sovereign, and made over the town and territory to the
Moguls; after which he sought a refuge at the court of
Delhi. He was received, as may well be supposed, with
great honour by Shah Jehan, and subsequently employed in
many military expeditions beyond the Indus. But his fame
has been perpetuated in India by the great public works
which he executed, and more especially by the canal, near
Delhi, distinguished by his name, which has proved an incal-
culable blessing to the country it irrigates.
Military opera- ^ notary operations which were undertaken
tiona beyond the beyond the Indus, can scarcely be said to belong
Indus 1644-47. , ,, , . , . T ,. m , P ,,
to the history of India. The emperors of the
house of Baber retained the same ardent interest in all the
political movements of the region from which they sprung, as
the first and second George took in the fortunes of Hanover.
India was, therefore, drained of men and money for the con-
140 SIEGES OF CANDAHAE. [CHAP.
quest or defence of those distant, and, as compared with
India, unprofitable possessions The son of the Uzbek ruler
of Balkh had revolted against his father; the government
was thrown into confusion, and Shah Jehan, who had enjoyed
seven years of repose, could not resist the temptation of again
prosecuting the dormant rights of his family on that remote
province. Ali Merdan was sent across the Indus with a large
army, and ravaged Budukshan, but was constrained, by the
severity of the whiter, to retreat. Raja Jugut Sing was
then sent to conduct the war with 14,000 Rajpoots ; and
never did the chivalry of that race of warriors, and their sym-
pathy with a tolerant and just government, shine more conspi-
cuously than in this expedition. Regardless of Hindoo preju-
dices, they crossed the Indus, and surmounted the Hindoo
Kosh, and encountered the fiery valour of the Uzbeks in that
frozen region. To be near the scene of operations, Shah
Jehan took up his residence at Cabul. His third son, Aurung-
zebe was also employed in these operations, and at first gained
a great victory, but was soon after obliged to retire upon
Balkh, and then to make a most disastrous retreat to Cabul,
with the loss of a great portion of his army. The emperor
was at length induced calmly to weigh the policy of con-
tinuing an expensive war in that distant quarter ; and he had
the moral courage to relinquish the enterprize.
The Persians ^^ e re P ose gained by abandoning Balkh was,
retake candahar, however, of short duration. Shah Abbas, the
and three efforts ,. - T T_ ^ j i_ -^
made in vain to king oi Persia, having now attained his majority,
recover it, 1648. came down on Candahar and retook it, after a
siege of two months. Shah Jehan was resolved to recover it,
and the following yeai Aurungzebe invested it for foul
months, but without success. Two years after, the vizier
as well as the prince again invested the town with a larger
force, but the attempt was a second time unsuccessful, and
Aurungzebe was sent as viceroy to the Deccan. A third
army was despatched in 1653, under prince Dara, the eldest
eon of the emperor, who was impatient to achieve success in
V.] RENEWAL OF WAR IN THE DECCAN. 141
an expedition in which his ambitious brother had been twice
foiled ; but, though it set out at the precise moment which
the royal astrologer had pronounced to be most auspicious,
it was equally destined to disappointment. Thus termi-
nated the third and last attempt of the Moguls to recover
Candahar, of which they had held but a precarious posses-
sion since the days of Baber. The failure was followed by
two years of repose, when Shah Jehan completed the revenue
settlement in the Deccan, on which he had laboured for twenty
years, and introduced the financial system of Toder Mull.
The year 1655 marks the commencement of an
Eenewal of the
war in the important senes of events ; the renewal of the
>eccan, less. war j n ^g j) eccari} wn ich continued for fifty years
to consume the resources of the Mogul empire, and served
to hasten its downfall. During the twenty years of peace
which followed the treaty with the king of Beejapore, in 1636,
'that prince had given his attention to the construction of
those splendid palaces, mausoleums, and mosques which dis-
tinguished his reign ; and to the conquest of the petty prin-
cipalities in the Carnatic which had sprung out of the ruins
of the Hindoo kingdom of Beejuyanugur. The tribute which
he exacted at the same time from the king of Golconda, had
been paid with punctuality, and that prince had manifested
every disposition to cultivate the friendship of the emperor.
There was no cause of difference with these rulers, and
Shah Jehan appeared to be completely satisfied with the rela-
tion they maintained with his throne. But in 1653, Aurungzebe,
after his second repulse from Candahar, was appointed to
the Deccan, and determined to obtain an indemnity for his
disappointment in the subjugation of the two kingdoms of
Beejapore and Golconda.
Meer joomia. An unexpected event gave him the pretext he
was seeking for an interference in their affairs. Mahomed,
generally known by his title of Meer Joomia, then the chief
minister of Abdoolla Kootub, king of Golconda, was born of indi-
gent parents at Ispahan, the capital of Persia, and was placed
142 ATTACK ON GOLCONDA. [CHAP.
in the service of a diamond merchant, who look him to Gol-
conda, and bequeathed his business to him. The enterprizing
youth embarked in maritime trade, and amassed prodigious
wealth, and came to be held in high estimation for his talents
and probity in every Mahomedan court in Asia. He entered
the royal service of Golconda, and gradually rose to the
supreme direction of affairs. He led an army to the south,
and extended the authority of the king over the chiefs
who yet enjoyed independence ; and it was while absent on
this expedition that his son, Mahomed Amin, by some sup-
posed act of disrespect, incurred the displeasure of his sovereign.
Meer Joomla solicited that consideration for his
Meer Joomla
Attack of Qoi- son, which he considered his own services entitled
conrta. submis- , . , -, ,. ,-, ft j
sion of the icing, him to, but meeting with a refusal, made an
1653 - appeal to Aurungzebe, which that prince was but
too happy to take up. Under his influence, Shah Jehan was
induced to send a haughty missive to Abdoolla to grant
redress to the youth, which the king answered by placing him
in confinement, and confiscating his father's estates. An order
was then sent to Aurungzebe from Delhi to enforce compliance
by the sword, and he entered upon the execution of it with
that craft which was the prominent feature of his character
through life. He assembled a large army, giving out that
he was about to proceed to Bengal to celebrate the marriage
of his son with the daughter of his brother, the viceroy of
that province. He advanced towards Hyderabad with the
most friendly professions, and the unsuspecting Abdoolla,
prepared to welcome him with a magnificent entertainment,
when he found himself treacherously assailed by the Mogul
army, and constrained to seek refuge in the fortress of Gol-
conda. A large portion of Hyderabad was burnt down, and
the city subjected to indiscriminate plunder, by which the
booty which Aurungzebe had destined to himself, fell to his
soldiers. The king of Golconda, reduced to extremity by
this sudden and unprovoked assault, was constrained to sub-
mit to the harsh terms imposed by Aurungzebe, that he
V.] ASSAULT ON BEEJAPORE. 143
should bestow his daughter on one of his sons, with a rich
dowry, and pay up a crore of rupees, as the first instalment
of an annual tribute. Shah Jehan, who had a conscience,
remitted one-fifth of this sum, and, inviting Meer Joomla to
Delhi, invested him with the office of vizier.
AsauitonBee- Having thus reduced Golconda to submission,
japore, 1657. Aurungzebc resolved to attack Beejapore, and he
had not long to wait for a pretext. Mahomed Adil Shah
died in 1656, and bequeathed the kingdom to his son, a youth
of nineteen, who mounted the throne without paying that
homage which the emperor pretended to consider due to him.
It was, therefore, given out that the youth was illegitimate,
and that it belonged to the emperor to nominate a successor.
The war which arose on this unwarrantable claim was,
perhaps, a more wanton and heinous aggression than
any to be found in the darkest annals of India. Meer
Joomla, as commander-in-chief, and Aurungzebe, as his lieu-
tenant, suddenly invaded the territories of Beejapore. The
Mahratta chieftains in the service of that state, nobly rallied
round the throne, but the abruptness of the irruption, ren-
dered it impossible to collect a sufficient force a large portion
of the army being absent in the Carnatic or to resort to the
usual means of defence. The forts of Beder and Koolburga
were captured, the country was laid waste with fire and
sword, and the capital was invested. The king made the
most humble supplications, and offered to purchase peace
by the payment of a crore of rupees, or any sacrifice the
prince might demand ; but every offer was sternly rejected.
The extinction of the dynasty appeared inevitable, when an
event occurred in the north, which gave it a respite of thirty
years. News came posting down to the Deccan that the
emperor was at the point of death, and that the contest for
the empire had begun. Aurungzebe was obliged to hasten to
the capital to look after his own interests, and the siege of
Beejapore was raised.
144 THE FOUR SONS OF SHAH JEHAN. [CHAP.
Shah Jehan had four sons; Dara, the eldest,
The four sons of
ehan. had been declared his successor, and admitted to
va^eTt^Demi, a considerable share of the government. He had
1657. great talents for command, and an air of regal
dignity; he was frank and brave, but haughty and rash.
Soojah, the second son, the viceroy of Bengal, had beea
accustomed to civil and military command from his youth, but
was greatly addicted to pleasure. The third, Aurungzebe,
was the most able and ambitious, as well as the most subtle
and astute member of the family ; while Morad, the youngest,
though bold and generous, was little more than a mere sot.
Dara was a free thinker of Akber's school ; Aurungzebe was a
bigoted Mahomedan, and contrived to rally the orthodox
around him by stigmatizing his brother as an infidel. The
claims of primogeniture had always been vague and feeble in
the Mogul dynasty, and the power of the sword generally
superseded every other right ; when, therefore, four princes,
each with an army at his command, equally aspired to the
throne, a contest became inevitable.
Soojah takes the ' Soojah was the first in the field, and advanced
field, 1657. f rom B en g a i towards the capital. Morad, the
viceroy of Guzerat, on hearing of his father's illness, seized
the public treasure, and assumed the title of emperor.
Aurungzebe, after having extracted a large supply of
money from the king of Beejapore, granted him a peace,
and advanced with his army to the northern boundary
of his province. His object was to cajole Morad, whom
he saluted as emperor, and congratulated on his new dignity,
declaring that as for himself his only desire was to renounce
the world and proceed on pilgrimage to Mecca, after he had
liberated his father from the thraldom of the irreligious
Dara. Morad was simple enough to believe these profes-
sions, and united his army to that of Aurungzebe on the banks
of the Nerbudda, when the two brothers advanced towards
the capital.
V.] DEPOSAL OP SHAH SOOJAH. 145
Dam defeats ^ ara P re P are( * to meet both these attacks. He
soojah. Aiming- despatched raja Jey Sing, of Jeypore, to oppose
Soojah, and raja Jesswunt Sing to encounter
poses shah Aurungzebe. The selection of two Hindoo gene-
Soojah.1658. 3
rals to command the armies which were to decide
the fortunes of the Mogul throne affords strong evidence of
the feelings of loyalty which the wise policy of Akbar had
inspired. Just at this juncture Shah Jehan was restored to
health and resumed the functions of government ; but it was
too late to quench the elements of strife. The imperial force
came up with Soojah at Benares, and he was defeated, and
obliged to fly to Bengal. The united armies of Aurungzebe
and Morad encountered Jesswunt Sing near Oojein, and
defeated him, and then advanced with 35,000 troops to
the neighbourhood of Agra. Dara came -out to meet them
with a superior force, estimated at 100,000 foot, 20,000 horse,
and 80 pieces of cannon. In the fierce and bloody battle
which ensued, Dara was completely overpowered and fled
from the field with a remnant of barely 2,000 men. The
victorious Aurungzebe entered the capital, deposed his father,
and assumed the whole power of the empire.
Character of The character of Shah Jehan is aptly described
shah Jehan. by hj s na tive biographer. " Akbar was pre-emi-
nent as a warrior and as a lawgiver. Shah Jehan for the
incomparable order, and arrangement of his finances, and the
internal administration of the empire." Though he drew a
revenue of thirty crores of rupees annually from his dominions.
which did not include the Deccan, it is generally asserted that
the country enjoyed greater prosperity during his reign than
tinder any of his predecessors ; it has therefore been charac-
terized as the golden age of the Mogul dynasty. This is a
significant fact, since this prosperity cannot be attributed to
any enlightened policy, or to any encouragement given by
the emperor to the pursuits of industry ; it was owing- simply
to that respite from the ravages of war, which afforded the
provinces within the Indus scope for the development of their
146 CHARACTER OF SHAH JEHAN. [CHAP.
resources. Shah Jehan was unquestionably the most magni-
ficent prince of the house of Baber, and perhaps of any other
Mahomedan dynasty. The pomp of his court, and the cost-
liness of all his establishments almost stagger our belief ; but
with a treasury which received 600 crores of rupees during
twenty years of peace, what might not a monarch do, who
had only his own will to consult ? In nothing was the splen-
dour of his taste more manifest than in his buildings. It was
he who founded the new city of Delhi, in which his castellated
palace, with its spacious courts, and marble halls, and gilded
domes, was the most attractive object. Of that palace the
noblest ornament was the far-famed peacock throne, blazing
with emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and the most costly stones,
the value of which was estimated by a European jeweller
and traveller at six crores of rupees. To him the country was
indebted for the immaculate Taj Mehal, the mausoleum of his
Queen, the pride of India, and the admiration of the world.
But all his establishments were managed with such circum-
epection, that after defraying the cost of his expeditions
beyond the Indus, and maintaining an army of 200,000 horse,
he 'left in his treasury, according to his native historian, a
sum not short of twenty-four crores of rupees,
CHAPTER VI.
AURUNGZEBE, 1658 1707.
Accession of AuRUNGZEBE having thus obtained possession
of the capital and the treasury, threw off the
his conduct to- ,_. . . -n i p M
wards hi three mask. He no longer talked of a pilgrimage to
brothers, 1658. | ecca? b u t at once assumed all the powers of
government, and took the title of Alumgeer, the Lord of the
TTL] ACCESSION OP AUKTJNGZEBE. 14t
World. His father was placed in captivity in his own
palace, yet treated with the highest respect ; but though he
survived this event seven years, his reign ended with his
confinement. Aurungzebe did not, however, consider himself
secure while there was a single relative left, who might
disturb his tranquillity. As he had now no further use for
Morad, he invited him to an entertainment, and allowed him
to drink himself into a state of helplessness, when he was
taken up and conveyed to the fortress of Agra. Dara, after
his defeat near Agra, had escaped to the Punjab, where, with
the resources of that province and of Afghanistan, he might
possibly have made a stand had not Aurungzebe pursued him
with promptitude, and obliged him to retreat to Mooltan, and
thence to Guzerat. The emperor then quitted the pursuit, and
hastened to encounter his brother Soojah, who was advancing
a second time from Bengal to contest th,e throne. The battle
between the brothers was fought near Allahabad, when Aurung-
zebe was for a time placed in extreme peril, by the treachery
of raja Jesswunt Sing, who, in a fit of disappointment, had
come to an accommodation with Soojah, and suddenly fell on
the emperor's baggage. The constancy and valour of Aurung-
zebe, however, restored the day. At one period of the engage-
ment his elephant became unmanagable from its wounds, and
the emperor was on the point of descending from his seat,
when Meer Joomla, who was by his side, exclaimed, "you
descend from the throne," on which the legs of the animal
were bound, and Aurungzebe continued to animate his troops
by his presence. Soojah was completely defeated, and the
emperor returned to Delhi, leaving his own son Mahomed,
and Mecr Joomla, to follow up the victory. They pursued
the prince to Monghir, and from thence to Rajmahal, which he
had made his capital, and adorned with noble edifices ; but
his pursuers gave him no respite and hunted him down to
Dacca, and then out of Bengal. He took refuge, at length,
with the King of Arracan, by whom he and his whole family
were barbarously murdered.
L2
148 DESTRUCTION OP HIS RIVALS. [CHAt.
Dara 'a cap- Meanwhile, Dara having obtained aid from the
deato^tohis* governor of Guzerat was enabled to assemble an
son, 1659. army and move up to join raja Jesswunt Sing,
who was prepared to make common cause with him against
the emperor. Aurungzebe, who dreaded this junction, em-
ployed all his devices to detach the raja from the alliance.
Dissembling the resentment which his recent treachery at
the battle of Allahabad had naturally excited, he wrote him a
complimentary letter with his own hand, and conceded all the
honours, the refusal of which had driven him into rebellion.
Under the influence of these flatteries Jesswunt Sing deserted
the cause of Dara, who was defeated, and driven to seek
refuge with the raja of Jun, whom he had formerly laid
under the greatest obligations. By that ungrateful chief
he was received with apparent cordiality, and then betrayed
into the hands of his vindictive brother, who ordered him to
be paraded, with every token of indignity, through the streets
of Delhi, where he had recently been beloved as a master. A
conclave of Mahomedan doctors was then convened, who
gratified the Emperor's wishes by condemning him to death
as an apostate from the creed of the Prophet. His son Soli-
man, who had taken shelter with the raja of Sreenugur, by
whom he was basely betrayed, was, like his father, exhibited
in the streets of the capital, but in fetters of gold, and his
noble bearing and deep calamity are said to have moved the
spectators to tears. He and his younger brother, together
with a son of Morad, were consigned to death in the dun-
geons of Gwalior.
It only remained now to dispose of Morad him-
Aurungzebes r
dangerous m- self, who had lain in confinement for three years,
less, 1662. rp o ac kj mgu i i injury, he was subjected to a
mock trial for some execution which he had ordered while
viceroy of Guzerat, and condemned and executed. Thus, in
the course of three years, had Aurungzebe, by a series of
atrocious murders, secured, to all appearance, the stability of
his throne, when his own life was threatened by an alarming
VI. J EXPEDITION TO ASSAM. 149
illness ; and the edifice of his greatness, reared by so many
crimes, was threatened with sudden destruction. While he lay
helpless on his couch the court began to be filled with intrigues.
One party espoused the cause of his son, Muazzim, another
that of Akbar. Jesswunt Sing was advancing from Joudh-
pore, and Mohabet from Cabul, to liberate and restore Shah
Jehan ; but Aurungzebe, having passed the crisis of his dis-
ease, caused himself to be propped up in his bed, and sum-
moned the officers of his court to renew their homage to him.
His recovery dissolved the various projects to which his
illness had given birth ; and Muazzim had to wait forty -five
years for the crown.
Meer joomia's A short time previous to the illness of the
Assamfand his emperor, Meer Joomla, who had been appointed
death, 1662. viceroy of Bengal, on the expulsion of Soojah,
entered upon his unfortunate expedition to Assam, in the hope
of adding that kingdom to the Mogul dominions. He assem-
bled a large army and conveyed it up the Berhampooter in
boats. The capital of the province having been mastered
without difficulty, he sent a pompous despatch to the emperor
with a report of his success, promising in the following year
to' plant the Mogul standard in the rich empire of China. The
emperor was delighted with the prospect of treading in the
footsteps of his renowned ancestor, Jenghis Khan, and ordered
large reinforcements to Bengal. But a sad reverse was
impending. The rains set in with extraordinary violence ; the
Berhampooter rose beyond its usual level, and the whole of
the country was flooded ; the supplies of the army were cut
off ; a pestilence, probably the Asiatic cholera, broke out in the
camp ; and Meer Joomla was obliged to retreat in haste and
disgrace from the country, pursued by the exasperated Assa-
mese. On his return to Bengal, he expired at Dacca, leaving
behind him the reputation of one of the ablest statesmen, and
of the greatest generals of that stirring period. Aurungzebe
conferred all his titles on his son, Mahomed Amin, the youth
who had been disgraced by the king of Golconda ; and in the
150 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE MAHRATTAS. [CHAP.
letter of condolence sent to him, remarked " You have lost a
father, and I have lost the greatest and most dangerous of my
friends." Soon after the recovery of the emperor he was obliged
to send an army to check the devastations committed by the
Mahrattas in the Mogul provinces of the Deccan; and it
becomes necessary, therefore, to pause and trace the origin
and progress of this power, which rose to dominion on the
ruins of the Mogul empire, and for more than a century
governed the destinies of India.
The country inhabited by the Mahrattas, desig-
Eise and pro- *
gressofthe nated Maharastra in the Hindoo shastrus, is con-
sidered to extend from the Wurda on the east to
the sea on the west ; from the Satpoora range on the north to
a line in the south drawn due east from Goa. The great fea-
ture of the country is the Syhadree mountains, more commonly
called the Ghauts, which traverse it from north to south at a
distance of from thirty to fifty miles from the sea, and rise
to the height of four or five thousand feet above its level.
The strip of land lying along the coast, at the foot of the
mountains, is called the Concan. The inhabitants are of
diminutive stature and vulgar in appearance, presenting a
strong contrast to the noble figure of the Rajpoot ; but they
are sturdy, laborious, and persevering, and distinguished for
cunning. This mountainous region was exceedingly difficult of
access, and the strongest points had been improved by forti-
fications. For centuries the Mahrattas had been known
chiefly as plodding accountants and village officers; and it
was not before the sixteenth century that they were deemed
worthy of notice by the Mahomedan historians. Then* coun-
try was comprised in the dominions of the kings of Beejapore
and Ahmednugur ; and the noblest Mahratta families trace
their distinction to the civil and military employments which
they held under these two dynasties.
The Mahrattas These sovereigns were incessantly at war with
trained to war. eac k O t ne r, or with their neighbours ; and they
were happy to employ the Mahratta chieftains in raising
VI.] OKIGIN OP SHAHJEE. 151
levies among their own hardy countrymen, each one com-
manding his own muster of free lances. Jaygeers, or lands
given for maintaining a body of troops, were frequently
granted for their support. Titles were likewise conferred
upon many of the Mahratta chieftains, but they were gene-
rally ancient Hindoo appellations. Towards the close of
the sixteenth century, seven Mahratta chiefs are enumerated
as being ranged under the banner of Beejapore, and two
but of superior importance under that of Ahmednugur. It waa
the wars which raged for a century in the Deccan, between
the Kistna and the Taptee, that first taught the Mahrattas
their own importance, and paved the way for their future pre-
dominance ; but it was chiefly under Malik Amber that they
made the most rapid strides towards political influence. A
community of village clerks and husbandmen was thus trans-
formed into a nation of warriors, and only required the appear-
ance of some master spirit to raise it to empire. That spirit
appeared in Sevajee.
ori of shah ^allojee Bhonslay, an active captain of horse,
jee, the father of was employed about the year 1600 in the service
of the king of Ahmednugur. His wife, who had
long been childless, offered her prayers and vows at the
Mahomedan shrine of Shah Seffer ; and the child to whom she
gave birth was named Shahjee in gratitude to the saint. He
was born in 1594, and his father sought an alliance in the patri-
cian family of Jadow Kao. In after times, when the Mahrattas
had become the arbitrers of India, the national historians endea-
voured to trace the family of Mallojee from the rajas of Chittore,
who claimed to be the lineal descendants of the great denied
hero, Ramu ; but at this period Jadow Rao spurned the alliance
of so plebeian a family. Soon after Mallojee suddenly came
into possession of a large treasure, acquired, doubtless, in the
Mahratta mode; and he obtained from the venal court of
Ahmednugur the jaygeers of Poona, Sopa, and several other
places. No further objection was raised to the alliance, and
the nuptials are said to have been graced by the presence of the
152 BIRTH OF SEVAJEE. [CHAP.
king of Ahmednugur. On the death of his father, in 1 620,
Shahjee succeeded to the jaygeer, and augmented his military
force and importance, and entered into a close connection with
Malik Amber. Nine years after, we find him espousing the
cause of Jehan Lodi ; but when the fortunes of that Afghan
chief appeared to be on the wane, he deserted his cause and
joined the Moguls, for which he was rewarded with the
nominal honour of a commander of 5,000, and the substantial
boon of a confirmation of his jaygeer. But Shahjee was
speedily disgusted with the shuffling policy of the Mogul com-
manders, and again changed sides.
Places a prince On the capture of the young prince of Ahmed-
ofltaSuJir, augur, in 1634, he considered himself strong
1634. enough to aspire to the regency, and raised
another prince to the throne as the lawful heir of Nizam
Shah. For three years he appears to have maintained a
desultory warfare with the imperial generals, but was at
length driven out of the country and obliged to seek refuge
in the court of Beejapore, where his ability was known and
appreciated ; and he was entrusted with the command of an
expedition to the Carnatic. His zeal and success were
rewarded with the grant of extensive jaygeers in Bangalore,
and the neighbouring districts where he conceived the design
of establishing an independent Hindoo sovereignty, and
resigned the petty jaygeer of Poona to his son Sevajee.
Sevaiee, the founder of the M'ahratta empire,
Birth and early J
life of Sevajee, was born m 1627, and was sent, three years after,
to reside with his mother at Poona, under the
tutelage of Dadajee Punt his father having taken a second
wife. Dadajee managed the estate with the strictest eco-
nomy as well as fidelity, and remitted the revenue with punc-
tuality to Shahjee, but contrived to reserve a small sum
annually at Poona. He watched over his youthful charge
with assiduity, and is said to have given l.!m an education
suited to his station and prospects. Sevajee, however, was
never able to read or write j but he was skilled in the use of
VI.] EARLY CAREER OP SEVAjfe. 153
the bow and the sword, and the weapons employed in the
Hills; he was expert in all manly exercises, and, like his
countrymen, an accomplished horseman. His tutor did not
neglect his religious instruction, and Sevajee grew up a
devout and rigid Hindoo, with a profound veneration for
brahmins, and a hearty hatred of Mahomedans. His imagin-
ation was excited in youth by the perusal of the great epic
poems of India, and he longed to emulate the exploits which
are immortalized in them. At the "age of sixteen he formed
an association with youths of wild and lawless habits, and
engaged in hunting or marauding expeditions, which made
him familiar with all the paths and defiles of the tract which
became the cradle of his power. Having trained the inhabit-
ants of his native glens the Mawullees to arms and disci-
Sevajee begins pline, he began his career of ambition at the age
?ur i r g r To r r2, CaP " of nineteen, by capturing Torna, a hill fort of
1646. very difficult access. In the succeeding year he
erected a new fortress, to which he gave the name of llai-
gur. These proceedings did not fail to excite observation
at Beejapore, and letters were sent to Shahjee in the Carnatic
calling him to account for the doings of his son, but he replied
tliat he had not been consulted by him, though he could not
doubt that they were intended to improve the jaygeer. At
the same time he remonstrated with Dadajee on the conduct
of Sevajee, and the tutor failed not to reprimand his pupil ;
but, finding that he was bent on pursuing a course which
appeared likely to injure the prospects of the family, fell a
prey to anxiety. As his end approached he is said to have
called Sevajee to his death bed, and urged him to continue
the career on which he had entered; to protect brahmins,
kine, and cultivators, and preserve the temples of the gods
from violation.
Sevajee immediately took possession of the
y& eer ' inhis father>s name bu t employed the
hostage, 1649. treasure which Dadajee had husbanded, as well
as the resources of the district in augmenting his little army,
154 CONFINEMENT OF' SHAHJEE. [CHAP.
and in the course of two years extended his authority over
thirty miles of territory. He attacked a convoy of treasure
proceeding to Beejapore, and carried off three lacs of pagodas
to his eyry in the mountains. In quick succession it was
announced that he had captured seven other forts, and had,
moreover, surprised the governor of Callian, and extorted the
surrender of all his fortresses. The audacity of these pro-
ceedings raised the indignation of the Beejapore court and
Shahjee, who managed all their recent acquisitions in the
Carnatic, was held responsible for the proceedings of his son,
though he pleaded, and with truth, that he had long ceased
to possess any influence over his movements. Shahjee was
treacherously seized by the Mahratta chief of Ghorepuray,
and brought a prisoner to the capital, where he was threat-
ened with a cruel death. To procure his release, Sevajee,
then only twenty-two, memorialized the emperor, and offered
to enter the imperial service, and it is not improbable that
Shahjee owed his life to the representations made by the court
of Delhi. He was, however, detained for four years as a hostage,
until the increasing disorders in the Carnatic conquests con-
strained the king of Beejapore to restore the government of
them to hun. During his father's detention, Sevajee dis-
creetly suspended his incursions, but on hearing of his release
resumed his predatory and ambitious course, and, by an act
of base treachery murdered the brother chieftains of Jaolee,
and appropriated then: lands to himself.
_ .... While Aurungzebe was engaged in the war
Sevajee's inter-
course with AU- with Beejapore, in 1657, Sevajee entered into
ebe, 1657. Corres p 0n d e nce with him, and professed himself
a devoted servant of the throne of Delhi. He was thus
enabled to obtain a confirmation of the territory he had
wrested from Beejapore, and was encouraged to farther
encroachments. But no sooner had Aurungzebe marched
towards Delhi than Sevajee began to ravage the Mogul
territories, and carried off three lacs of pagodas from the
town of Joonere. For the more distant enterprizes to which
VI.] MUKDER OF AFZUL KHAN, 155
he aspired, he felt the necessity of an efficient body of horse,
and he now began to make the most vigorous efforts to
organize that light cavalry, which subsequently became the
scourge of Hindostan. About the same time he enlisted his
first body of Mahomedan troops, taking into his pay 700
Patans who had been unwisely discharged from the service of
Beejapore ; but he took the precaution of placing them under
the command of a Mahratta officer. The success of Aurung-
zebe's efforts to obtain the throne gave just alarm to Sevajee,
who sent an envoy to Delhi to express his deep regret for
what had occurred, and his attachment to the throne ; and he
had the effrontery to offer to protect the imperial territories
during the emperor's absence, asking only for the transfer
of the Concan to himself. Aurungzebe, conceiving that the
security of the Mogul districts would be promoted by giving
The concan encouragement to Sevajee, consented to his
wsfireueveree Baking possession of the Concan. He lost no
1659. time in sending an army to occupy the province,
but his troops were defeated with great slaughter, and he
experienced the first reverse he had sustained since the
beginning of his career.
Afzui Khan is The court of Beejapore was at length roused
and'nfrcteredT to a sense * tne danger arising from the inces-
1669. gant encroachments of this aspiring chief, and
Afzul Khan was sent against him with 12,000 horse and foot,
and a powerful artillery, consisting of swivels mounted on
camels, rockets, and other ordnance. He was a vain, con->
ceited noble, and manifested the greatest contempt for his
antagonist. Sevajee determined to defeat the object of the
expedition by treachery. He professed the humblest sub-
mission to the king of Beejapore, and offered to surrender
all his territories, if he might but be allowed^to hope for pardon
and acceptance. Afzul Khan was thrown off his guard by
these artifices, and agreed to meet the Mahratta chief with
only a single attendant. The Mahomedan army was stationed
at a distance ; but Sevajee, acquainted as he was with, the
156 MURDER OF GHOREPURAT. [CHAP.
mountain defiles, placed a select body of Mahrattas in ambus-
cade. Having performed his religious devotions with great
fervour, he advanced to the interview with all humility, and
while in the act of embracing Afzul Khan, plunged a con-
cealed weapon in his bowels, and despatched him with his
dagger. The troops of the murdered general, thus taken by
surprise, were surrounded and defeated, and the whole of the
camp equipage, including 4,000 horses, fell to the victor.
The success of this stratagem, notwithstanding the atrocity
of the deed, served to exalt the character of Sevajee in the
opinion of his countrymen, and greatly improved his position.
He followed up this victory by the capture of numerous
forts, and plundered the country up to the very gates of
Beejapore.
Sevajee is re- The king now took the field in person, and suc-
king o^Beeja- 6 cee ded in regaining many of the forts and much
pore, 1662. of the territory he had lost. The war was pro-
tracted with various success for two years ; but the balance
of benefit remained with the Mahratta. A reconciliation was
soon after effected between the parties, chiefly, as historians
conjecture, through the mediation of Shahjee, who had paid his
son a visit. It will be remembered, that in 1649, Shahjee was
betrayed to the king of Beejapore by the Mahratta chief,"
Ghorepuray. On that occasion, he wrote to Sevajee : " If
you are my son, you must punish Bajee Ghorepuray of Moo-
dhole." Thirteen years had elapsed since, that act of treachery,
but Sevajee had not forgotten his father's injunction. During
the war with Beejapore, he learned that his enemy had pro-
ceeded to Moodhole with a slender escort, and he resolved not
to lose this opportunity of avenging his family wrongs. He
appeared suddenly before the town, captured and burned it to
the ground, and with one exception, slaughtered the whole
of the family and adherents of Ghorepuray, even to the
infants in the womb. Shahjee was delighted on hearing of
this vindictive exploit, and resolved to visit his son, whom
he had not seen for twenty years. He was received with the
VI. J SHAISTA KHAN ESCAPES ASSASSINATION. 157
highest distinction, and Sevajee attended him on foot for
twelve miles. Shahjee congratulated him on the progress he
had made towards the establishment of a Hindoo power, and
encouraged him to persevere. On his return, he was entrusted
with presents for the king of Beejapore, which served as
a peace offering and led to a treaty. At this period, Seva-
jee, hi his thirty-fifth year, was in possession of
jee's possessions the whole coast of the Concan, from Callian to
in 1662. Goa, extending about four degrees of latitude ; and
of the ghauts, from the Beema to the Wurda, about 130 miles
in length, and 100 in breadth. His army, which consisted of
50,000 foot and 7,000 horse, was out of all proportion to the
territory under his authority ; but he was incessantly engaged
in war, and he made war support itself by exactions.
Sevajee being now at peace with Beeiapore, let
ShaistaKhan J . f ,
sent to repress loose his plundering hordes on the Mogul ternto-
Sevajee, 1662. ^^ j n utter violation of his engagements with
Aurungzebe, and swept the country up to the suburbs of
Aurungabad. The emperor appointed Shaista Khan, his own
maternal uncle, and the nephew of Noor Jehan, viceroy of
the Deccan, with orders to chastise this aggression, and carry
the war into the Mahratta domains. Shaista captured Poona,
and took up his residence in the very house where Sevajee
had passed his childhood ; and Sevajee conceived the design
of assassinating him in his bed A Mahratta foot soldier in
the imperial service whom he had gained, got up a marriage
procession, which Sevajee joined in disguise, and was enabled
to enter the town with thirty of his followers in the suite.
After nightfall, when the town was dark and quiet, he pro-
ceeded unperceived to the palace, with every corner of which he
was familiar, and suddenly fell on its inmates. The viceroy,
awaking suddenly from sleep, escaped with the loss only of
a finger, but his son, and most of his guards were cut down.
Sevajee, foiled in his chief object, the destruction of the
viceroy, retired before the troops could be assembled, and was
seen returning to his encampment amidst a blaze of torches.
158 SEVAJEE ATTACKS SUKAT. [CHAP.
This daring exploit, so congenial with the national character,
was regarded with greater exultation by his own countrymen
than his most splendid victories. Shaista Khan was 'soon
after recalled and sent to govern Bengal, and the Rajpoot
raja Jesswunt Sing, the governor of Guzerat, who was left
in command was little disposed to push matters to extremity
against men of his own faith.
sevajee attacks The operations of Sevajee, which had hitherto
Surat, 1664. been limited to the neighbourhood of the ghauts,
were now extended to a more remote and a bolder enterprize.
The city of Surat, a hundred and fifty miles distant from
Poona, was at that period the greatest emporium of the
western coast of India. The annual importation of gold and
silver from Arabia and Persia alone amounted to fifty lacs of
rupees, and two families in the town were accounted the
richest mercantile houses in the world. It was, moreover,
considered pre-eminently the port of the Mogul empire, where
all the devout Mahomedans, official and private, from the
various provinces which yielded a revenue of thirty millions
a year, embarked on pilgrimage for Mecca. Sevajee is said
to have visited the city in disguise, and during four days
marked the houses of the most opulent for plunder. Taking
with him 4,000 of his newly raised horse, he appeared sud-
denly before the town, which was ill fortified, and having
deliberately plundered it for six days, returned leisurely to his
capital at Raigun He met with no resistance except from
the European factories. Sir George Oxenden, the English
chief at Surat, defended the property of his masters, and also
that of the natives, with such valour and success as to obtain
the applause of Aurungzebe, as well as a perpetual exemption
from some of the duties exacted of other merchants. This was
the first occasion on which English and native troops came into
contact with each other, and the result filled both Mahomedans
and Hindoos with astonishment. On his return from this ex-
Death of shah- pedition, Sevajee heard of the death of his father,
jee, lee*. a t the age of seventy, and immediately assumed the
VI.] HE PLTJTSDEKS BARCELORE. 159
title of raja, and began to strike the coin in his own name.
At the period of his death Shahjee was in possession, not
only of the extensive jaygeers around Bangalore which he
had received from the raja of Beejapore, but of Arnee, Porto
Novo, and Tanjore, in the south of the peninsula, which he
had subjugated, and, in consideration of his fidelity to the
state, had been permitted to retain.
Sevaiee, finding that his power would not be
Sevajee plan- J ' , & ., , ,,
ders Barceiore, Complete unless he could command the sea as well
i664- as the land, had been engaged for some time in
creating a fleet. While his troops were employed in ravaging
the Mogul territories up to the walls of Ahmednugur, hia
ships were capturing Mogul vessels bound to Mecca, and
exacting heavy ransoms from the rich pilgrims embarked on
them. In February, 1665, he secretly drew a large fleet
together at Malwan, consisting of eighty-eight vessels, of
which three were large ships of three masts and the re-
mainder of from 30 to 150 tons burden. Having embarked
with 4,000 troops, he proceeded to Barceiore, a hundred and
thirty miles south of Goa, which had long been considered
one of the greatest marts of commerce on the western
coast, but has now disappeared even from the map. There he
obtained immense booty and returned to his capital before it
was known that he had embarked. This was the first expe-
dition at sea which he headed in person ; it was also his last,
for a violent gale drove his vessel down the bay ; he suffered
seriously from sea-sickness, and his spiritual guide assured
him that this was the mode in which his tutelar deity had
manifested his displeasure at such a heterodox enterprise.
Sevajee submits On nis return from this voyage Sevajee found
to Aurungzebe, that a powerful Mogul army, commanded by the
renowned raja Jey Sing and Dilere Khan, the
Afghan general, had entered his territories. Aurungzebe, who
was an intense bigot, felt greater indignation at the interrup-
tion of the holy pilgrims proceeding to the Prophet's tomb
16ft ORIGIN OF THE CHOOT. [CHAP.
than at the assumption of the title of raja, the plunder of Surat,
the coinage of money, or any other aggression of Sevajee. On
this occasion Sevajee was attacked with the greatest impetu-
osity by the imperial generals, and felt his inability to cope
with an army so greatly superior to his own. He was, there-
fore, induced to call a council of his officers, at which he
appeared the most irresolute of all ; and it was resolved to
enter into negotiations with the enemy. They ended in
the Convention of Poorunder, by which he engaged to restore
all the forts and districts he had taken from the Moguls, with
the exception of twelve, which, with the territory around them,
yielding a revenue of a lac of pagodas a year, he was to hold
as a jaygeer dependent on the emperor. But he dexterously
inserted a clause which would have overbalanced all his losses.
In lieu of some pretended claims on the old Nizam Shahee
state, he asked for certain assignments which he termed the
chout, and the sur-desh-mookhee on some of the Beejapore dis-
tricts above the ghauts, the charge of collecting which he
offered to take on himself. This is the first mention in history
of the celebrated claim of the chout, or fourth of the revenue,
The origin of which the Mahrattas subsequently marched over
the chout. India to enforce. So anxious was Sevajee to get
the principle of these exactions admitted, that he offered a
peshcush or donative of forty lacs of pagodas nearly a million
sterling to be paid by aanual instalments, and engaged to
maintain an additional body of troops for the emperor's ser-
vice. In the letter which Aurungzebe wrote to him on this
occasion he confirmed all the stipulations of the convention,
but made no allusion to the chout or sur-desh-mookhee, probably
because he did not comprehend the insidious tendency or even
the import of these barbarous terms. But Sevajee chose to
consider the silence of the emperor as an acknowledgment of
these claims, which, from this time forward, it became the para-
mount object of Mahratta policy to extend to every province.
Sevajee, having now entered the emperor's service,
VI.] SEVAJEE AT DELHI. 161
Sevajee attacks joined the imperial army with 2,000 horsemen
^u*Dduli, and an( * 8,000 foot, and marched against Beejapore.
1666 - The Mahratta horse in the service of Beejapore, a
portion of which was commanded by "Vencajee, the half-
brother of Sevajee, greatly distinguished themselves in this
war ; nor were the Mahrattas in the service of the emperor less
conspicuous for their valour. Aurungzebe wrote a compli-
mentary letter to Sevajee, inviting him to court, and he
proceeded to Delhi with an escort of 1,500 horse and foot.
The emperor had now an opportunity of converting a formi-
dable foe into a zealous adherent ; but, either he had not the
tact of conciliation, or his pride rendered him blind to his
interests. Sevajee found himself treated with wanton insult,
and presented at the durbar in company with nobles of the
third rank. He left the imperial presence burning with indig-
nation, and asked leave to return to his jaygeer. But the
object of the emperor was to detain him, and his residence was
beleaguered and all his movements watched; he contrived,
however, to elude the vigilance of the emperor's guards, and
escaped in a basket, and reached his own dominions in the
disguise of a pilgrim in December, 1666.
The raja Jesswunt Sing, and prince Muazzim
were sent to command in the Deccan, the Maho-
poiity, 1668-69. medan fond of pleasure, and the Hindoo of money.
Sevajee gratified the avarice of the raja with large gifts, and
through him was enabled to make his peace with the emperor,
who made an addition to his territories and conferred on him
the title of raja. The Mahratta manuscripts ascribe this un-
expected lenity on the part of the emperor to the design he
cherished of again decoying Sevajee into his power. About
the same time a treaty was concluded between the king of
Beejapore and Aurungzebe, by which the former ceded the
fort and territory of Solapore, yielding near two lacs of
pagodas a-year. Sevajee now prepared to enforce his claim
of chout on the districts of Beejapore, alluded to hi the Con-
vention of Poorunder, but the vizier of that state purchased
162 PROSPERITY OF AURUNGZEBE<
exemption by agreeing to an annual payment of three lacs of
rupees. Some agreement of a similar character appears to
have been entered into by the minister of Golconda for a
sum of five lacs of rupees. Having now a season of greater
leisure than he had hitherto enjoyed, Sevajee employed the
years 1668 and 1669 in revising and completing the internal
arrangements of his government. There is nothing which
gives us so high an opinion of his genius as the spirit of wisdom
which pervades his civil polity. It is impossible to behold
without the greatest admiration, a rough soldier, who was
unable to read or write, and who had for twenty years been
simply a captain of banditti, establishing a system of adminis-
tration so admirably adapted to the consolidation of a great
kingdom. His military organization, which was distin-
guished for its vigorous discipline and its rigid economy, was
equally suited to the object of creating a new and predomi-
nant power in Hindostan.
prosperity of This was also the most prosperous period 'of
JKS** 1 * Aurungzebe's long reign. The empire was at
166670. peace. His father Shah Jehan had recently sunk
into the grave, and there was no longer any dread of projects
for his restoration. The emperor was held in the highest
respect throughout the Mahomedan world, and received
tokens of deference from the most distant sovereigns. The
Scheriff of Mecca, the Khan of the Uzbeks, the king of Abys-
sinia, and even the sovereign of Persia, had sent complimen-
tary embassies to Delhi. But the restless ambition of Aurung-
zebe again kindled the flames of war, which continued to
rage without the intermission of a single year through the
period of thirty- seven years to which his reign was prolonged.
Finding it impossible to inveigle Sevajee into his power, and
knowing that his general Jesswunt Sing was inactive under
the influence of Mahratta gold, he issued the most peremptory
orders to seize him and some of his principal officers, threaten-
ing vengeance for neglect. Sevajee, seeing hostilities inevit-
able, prepared for the conflict with the most determined reso-
VI.] JINJEERAH MADE OVER TO THE MOGULS. 163
lution. He opened the campaign by the capture of Singurh,
a fortress deemed inaccessible to an enemy, but which his
general Maloosray escaladed with his mountaineers, the Ma-
wullees, and fell in the moment of victory. Sevajee rewarded
every private soldier with a silver bangle. Poorunder, a
fortress of equal strength and importance, was also recovered.
With an army of 14,000 men he again plundered Surat, and
again the factors of the East India Company covered them-
selves with renown by the gallantry of their defence. One of
Sevajee's generals overran the province of Candesh, and for
the first time levied the chout from a Mogul district. The
most remarkable circumstance attending this distant invasion
was the exaction of a written document from the village
authorities, in which they engaged to pay one-fourth of the
government dues to Sevajee, or to his officers. Sevajee, on
his part, engaged to furnish them with regular receipts, which
would exempt them from future pillage and ensure them
protection.
T . . . The great naval arsenal of the Beeiapore state
Jinjeerah made J r
over to the was the port of Jinjeerah, and it was under the
Moguls, i67i command of an Abyssinian admiral. It had long
been" the earnest desire of Sevajee to obtain possession of
this important harbour, and he had besieged it annually for
nine years, but, owing to the inferiority of his artillery, had
invariably failed. In 1670 he again brought his whole force
against it, but was again baffled. He endeavoured to seduce
the admiral from his allegiance by large offers ; but three of
the subordinate, officers of the port, who were personally
obnoxious to Sevajee and detested the very name of Mah-
ratta, imprisoned the admiral, and placed both the arsenal
and the fleet under the protection of the Moguls. This waa
a severe blow to the projects of Sevajee, as it strengthened
his most formidable and inveterate foes, the Sedees of Jin-
jeerah, by enabling them to obtain reinforcements from Surat,
which rendered the port impregnable. Meanwhile, the em-
peror, dissatisfied with the inactivity of his son Muazzim, sent
M 2
164 AtJKUNGZEBE IN THE KHTBEK. [CHAP.
Mohabet Khan, with an army of 40,000 men to the Deccan.
Sevajee had always avoided a pitched battle with the superior
forces of the Moguls, but on this occasion he boldly resolved
to try conclusions with them in the open field. The result was
the most complete victory the Mahrattas had ever gained,
and no trifling increase of their confidence. The attention
of the emperor was soon after drawn to Afghanistan, and
the war with Sevajee languished.
Aumngzebe in The turbulent Khyberees and Eusufzies, the
the Khyter, 1673. p er p e tual enemies of peace and order, had again
broken out in open revolt. They had defeated Mahomed Amin,
the son of Meer Joomla, and destroyed his army in the passes,
subsequently rendered memorable by the annihilation of a
British army, and obliged him to redeem his women and
children by a heavy ransom. The emperor determined at
first to undertake the subjugation of these incorrigible high-
landers in person, and marched with a large force as far as
Hussun Abdal, but soon after transferred the command of
the expedition, in which little glory was to be reaped, to his
eon. The war occupied two years, and the emperor was at
length happy to terminate it by accepting the nominal submis-
sion of the tribes. On his return to Delhi he found
Revolt of the
Sutnanuneea, himself suddenly involved in a most formidable
difficulty arising from a most insignificant cause.
A sect of Hindoo devotees, called Sutnaramees, living in the
town of Narnoul, agriculturalists by profession but always
bearing arms, were thrown into a state of extreme excitement
by the violence of a police soldier. The emeute gradually
grew into a revolt. The devotees assembled by thousands,
and being joined by some disaffected zemindars and men of
note, defeated a body of troops sent against them. The pro-
vinces of Agra and of Ajmere were thrown into commotion,
and the imperial army shrunk from collision with enthusiasts,
who were said to possess the magical power of resisting
bullets. The tact of Aurungzebe at length succeeded in
putting down a rebellion which threatened his empire. He
VI.] AURUNGZEBE PERSECUTES THE HINDOOS. 165
caused texts of the Koran to be written on slips of paper and
attached to his standard, and his troops, now believing them-
selves protected from the spells of the enemy, obtained an
easy victory.
This event would scarcely be worthy of notice.
Aurungzebe per- " i
secutes the but f or the disastrous results which sprung from
Hindoos, 1677. j^ Akbar and his two successors had adopted
the liberal and sound policy of reconciling the Hindoos to
the Mogul power by granting them religious liberty and
equality. During a century of toleration the Eajpoot chiefs
became the firmest supporters of the Mogul throne. But the
bigotted Aurungzebe entertained a strong religious hatred of
all infidels, though from motives of policy, he still continued
to employ Rajpoot troops, as a counterpoise to his Mahomedan
soldiers, and had formed two family alliances with Eajpoot
princesses. Prom the beginning- of his reign, all his mea-
sures had breathed a spirit of intolerance, but it was not till
his feelings were embittered by the want of success in the
Khyber, and the revolt of the Hindoo devotees, that he entered
upon a systematic persecution of the Hindoos. He issued an
edict forbidding all governors any longer to receive Hindoos
into the public service, and ordered the jezzia, or poll tax, to be
imposed on all who were not Mahomedans. The tax was odious,
not so much from its pressure, being less than three quar-
ters per cent, on income, as from its being a " tax on infidels,"
and a token of religious degradation. On going to prayers
at the mosque after this edict, his way was blocked up by
suppliants whom his guards were ordered to disperse, and
many of whom were trampled to death by his horses and
elephants. After this example of severity, the tax was
sullenly submitted to. So severe was the persecution, that
not only were the pagodas destroyed throughout Bengal, but
in the holy city of Benares, the sanctuary of Hindooism, the
most sacred temples were demolished and mosques erected on
the ruins, while the images were used as steps for the faithful
to tread on.
166 HEVOLT OP THE RAJPOOTS. [CHAP.
Revolt of the These violent proceedings produced great dis-
Eajpoots, 1678. affection in every province, but no open revolt,
except in Eajpootana, and for the Rajpoots the emperor had no
sympathy. His father and grandfather were, indeed, the off-
spring of Rajpoot princesses, but he himself was of unmixed
Tartar blood. It was not, however, till after the death of the
two celebrated Mahratta generals who had been the prop of the
throne, raja Jey Sing, of Jeypore, and raja Jesswunt Sing,
of Joudhpore, that Aurungzebe ordered the jezzia to be im-
posed on his Hindoo subjects. Jesswunt Sing had recently
died in the imperial service at Cabul, and his widow had re-
turned to Delhi with her two sons, on her way to their native
country. Aurungzebe, anxious to detain the children as
hostages, surrounded their encampment with his troops ; but
Doorga Bass, the faithful servant of the family, extricated
them by the most ingenious contrivances from the toils of
the emperor, and conveyed them in safety to their own capital.
The insult thus inflicted on this noble house served to rouse
the indignation of the Rajpoots, and, with the exception of
the raja of Jeypore, who was bound to the imperial family by
many intermarriages, the whole of Rajpootana was hi a blaze.
The emperor lost no time in marching into the country, and
constrained the rana of Oodypore to make his submission.
Favourable terms were granted to him, and a cession of terri-
tory was accepted in lieu of the poll tax. But soon after he
took up arms again, and Aurungzebe, exasperated by this re-
newed opposition to his wishes, summoned troops from every
part of India, even 'from the province of Bengal, and let them
loose on this unhappy country. The prince was again driven to
the mountains, the women and children were carried into cap-
tivity, and the country was consumed by fire and sword. The
alienation of the Rajpoots from the Moguls was now complete.
After this period they were often at peace with Aurungzebe and
his successors, and furnished their contingents of troops, and
accepted the government of provinces ; but that cordial attach-
ment which had made them the bulwarks of the empire for
VT.] SEVAJEE ASSUMES ROYALTY. 167
more than a hundred years, was gone. During this war with
the Rajpoots, the embarrassments of the emperor were in-
creased by the defection of his son, prince Akbar, who went
over to the enemy and advanced suddenly upon the imperial
camp with an army of 70,000. Aurungzebe was in imminent
danger of being captured with his slender escort, but with
his accustomed craft he succeeded in sewing dissensions
among the adherents of the prince, who found himself
generally deserted, and sought refuge with the Mahrattas,
accompanied by the faithful Doorga Dass, and 500 Rajpoots.
Sevajee assumes To return now to the progress of Sevajee. In
royalty, 1674. iQf2 he appears to have proceeded on a secret
expedition to Golconda, and extracted nine lacs of pagodas
from the king. While Aurungzebe was employed in Afghan-
istan, he took advantage of the death of the king of Beeja-
pore and the weakness of a minority, to annex the whole of
the Concan and the adjoining ghauts, with the exception of
the ports held by the English, Portuguese, and Abyssinians.
He had long struck the coin hi his own name, and he now
determined to proclaim his independence and assume all the
ensigns of royalty. After many religious solemnities, on the
auspicious day fixed by the brahmins, the 6th of June, 1674,
he was enthroned at Raigur, and announced himself as the
"ornament of the Khsetriyu race, the lord of the royal
umbrella," the chutti*u putee of modern India, the satrap of
ancient Persia. In accordance with the custom of oriental
princes he was weighed against gold, and the money was
distributed amongst the brahmins to the amount of 16,000
pagodas, for, to their chagrin, he was found to weigh only
ten stone. The next year he sent an army for the first tune
across the Nerbudda, and ravaged the province of Guzerat.
In the year 1676 he undertook one of the
Scvajee's expe- '
dition to the most extraordinary expeditions recorded in Indian
camatic, 1676. j^jy^ whether we regard the boldness or the
success of the design. It was directed to the recovery of the
paternal jaygeer, held by his half -brother Vencajee, as a vassal
168 SEVAJEE'S EXPEDITION TO THE CARNATIC. [CHAP,
of Beejapore, and the extension of his conquests in the south
of India. Having bribed the Mogul general Khan Jehan who
directed the operations against him, and obtained an armistice,
he made the most judicious provision for the protection of his
forts until his return. At the close of 1676 he marched
to Golconda with a force of 30,000 horse and 40,000 foot,
and, through the medium of the chief minister, a Mahratta,
entered into a compact with the sovereign, who engaged on
his part to cover Sevajee's territories during his absence,
while Sevajee agreed to grant him a moiety of all his con-
quests, with the exception of the paternal estates. After a
month of negotiation and the receipt of a large supply of
money and artillery, he sent forward his army and proceeded
himself to pay his devotions at the celebrated shrine of Pur-
wuttun. Naked and covered with ashes, he assumed the guise
of a Hindoo jogee or devotee, and having for nine days com-
mitted various acts of superstitious folly, which at one time
alarmed his attendants for his sanity, resumed the command
of the army, and marched by Madras in the beginning of May.
Fort after fort was surrendered to him ; but the most extra-
ordinary exploit of this expedition was the capture of Ginjee,
the inaccessible fortress of the south, " tenable by ten men
against any force that could be brought against it." He had
now advanced six hundred miles from his own capital, and at
Trivadee had an interview with his brother, Vencajee, who
held Tanjore and the other territories bequeathed to him by
Shahjee. These domains he refused to share with Sevajee,
who thereupon took forcible possession of the whole of the
jaygeer ; while his horse ranged through the Carnatic and
subjected it to plunder wherever the exaction of the chout was
resisted, but no portion of either land or money did he allot,
according to his agreement, to the king of Golconda. Mean-
while the Moguls attacked that state, and Sevajee, having
come to an understanding with his Tanjore brother, returned
to his own dominions and reached Raigur in the middle of
1678, after an absence of eighteen months.
VI.] HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 169
Attack of Beeja- A formidable army had been sent by Aurung-
pore, 1679. Z ^ Q under Dilere Khan to besiege Beejapore ;
and the regent, during the king's minority, invoked the aid of
Sevajee, who stipulated as the price of his assistance, for the
cession of the Raichore dooab, or country lying between the
Toombudra and the Kistna, and the sovereignty of his father's
jaygeer and of the conquests he had made in the south. To
create a diversion in favour of Beejapore, he proceeded north-
ward, and laid waste all the country between the Beema and
the Godavery, and plundered the town of Aurungabad for
three days, though the Mogul viceroy was at that time resid-
ing in it. After his return from this expedition he captured
twenty-seven forts, and on the receipt of an express from the
regent of Beejapore hastened to the succour of the town. On
the line of march, his son, Sambajee, who had been placed in
confinement by his father for an attempt to violate the wife
of a brahmin, made his escape and went over to the Mogul
general. Sevajee retired to Panalla to devise means for the
recovery of the youth, and sent his army to Beejapore, which
was making a noble defence. The Mahratta generals cut off
all supplies from the enemy's camp, and eventually obliged
Dilere Khan to raise the siege. At the same time Sambajee
returned to his allegiance and was placed under restraint by
Death of seva- bjs father. But in the midst of these events all
jee, 5th April, Sevajee's plans of ambition were cut short by his
death, which happened at Rairee on the 5th of
April, 1680, in the fifty-third year of his age.
His character. Aurungzebe could not conceal the satisfaction
he felt on the death of his most formidable enemy. During
the long struggle which he was constrained to maintain with
Sevajee, he affected to despise his power, and was accustomed
to deride him as the mountain rat ; but after his death he did
full justice to his character. " He was," he said, " a great
captain, and the only one who has had the magnanimity to
raise a new kingdom, while I have been endeavouring to
destroy the ancient sovereignties of India ; my armies have
170 ACCESSION OP SAMBA.TEE, [CHAP.
been employed against him for nineteen years, and neverthe-
less his state has been always increasing." This state, at
his death, comprised a territory estimated at four hundred
miles in length, and a hundred and twenty in breadth, in the
north ; in the south he was in possession of half the Carnatic,
which alone was equal in extent to many kingdoms in India.
These large possessions were created by the efforts of his
own genius, and consolidated by a communion of habits, reli-
gion, and language, and a common hatred of the Mahomedans.
Sevajee is one of the greatest characters in the native history
of India, greater than Hyder Ali, greater even than Runjeet
Sing who, in after times followed his example, and beginning
life as adventurers closed it as mighty sovereigns. He did
more than found a kingdom ; he laid the foundation of a power,
which survived the decay of his own family. His son was a
dissolute tyrant, and his grandson a simpleton, from whose
hands the sceptre fell ; but the spirit of national enthusiasm
which he infused into the Mahrattas, in a few years made
them the arbiters of the fate of India.
Succession of Sambajee, the eldest son of Sevajee, was
Sambajee, 1680. living in durance at the time of his father's death,
in the fortress of Panalla, and a party was formed among
the Mahratta chiefs to exclude him from the throne, on the
ground of his profligacy. But he succeeded in establishing
his authority, and was acknowledged the sovereign of the
Mahratta nation, after which he gave loose to the ferocity of
his disposition. He caused one of his father's widows as well
as those who had opposed his succession to be executed, not
sparing Anajee, a brahmin, to whom he was under the
greatest obligations. He had none of the virtues of his
father, except his courage. His cruelties soon alienated the
great generals and statesmen who had assisted in building
up the Mahratta throne ; and he rendered himself an object
of general contempt by his slavish devotion to a favourite of
the name of Kaloosu, a Cunouj brahmin. His inglorious
reign of nine years was marked only by rash enterprizes, or
VI.] AURUNGZEBE INVADES THE DECCAN. 171
voluptuous excesses. At the beginning of his reign he was
induced to renew the siege of the island of Jinjeerah, the
great naval arsenal of the Moguls, which his father had
attacked year after year in vain. He was obliged to relinquish
the enterprize with disgrace, and the Seedee or Abyssinian
admiral retaliated on him by ravaging the coast, and slaugh-
tering kine, and eventually by destroying the fleet which
Sevajee had been at the greatest pains to create. In the
year 1681, the emperor's son, Akbar, who had at first
joined the Rajpoots, sought refuge at the court of Sam-
bajee and received a cordial welcome ; but, becoming at
length disgusted with the follies of that prince, he retired to
Persia.
Aunmgzebe in Aurungzebe had never relinquished his designs
theDeccan, on the Deccan. Though he had not prosecuted
them with vigour, his generals had from tune to
time invaded Beejapore, and he himself had steadily fomented
all the internal discords in that state, as well as in Golconda,
and encouraged the Mahrattas to assail and plunder them
both. Having now, in a great measure, subdued the oppo-
sition of the Rajpoots, which had been excited solely through
his own bigotry, he resolved to bring the whole strength of
the empire to bear on the subjugation of the south. It was a
war of wanton aggression, and, by a righteous retribution, it
exhausted the resources and hastened the downfall of the
Mogul power. In the year 1683 he quitted Delhi, which he
was destined never again to enter, with an army magnificent
beyond all former example. The finest cavalry was assem-
bled from the provinces beyond the Indus, and within it, and
supported by a vast and well equipped infantry. The artillery
consisted of several hundred pieces, served by native gunners,
but directed by Europeans, as well as an efficient body of
sappers and miners. A long train of elephants, intended both
for war and equipage, and a superb stud of horses accompa-
nied the camp. There was, moreover, a large menagerie of
leopards and tigers, and hawks and hounds without number,
172 DISASTROUS INVASION OF THE CONCAN. [CHAP.
and all the appliances of field sport. The camp, which re-
sembled a moving city, was supplied with every luxury the
age or country could furnish. The canvas walls which sur-
rounded the emperor's personal encampment were twelve
hundred yards in circumference, and the tents contained halls
of audience, courts, cabinets, mosques, oratories, and baths
adorned with the finest silks and velvets, and cloth of gold.
There is no record of such extravagant luxury in any modern
encampment, and it maybe questioned whether it was equalled
by the Persian splendour of the army of Xerxes. But there can
be no question that a thoroughly equipped and well commanded
force of 10,000 Europeans cavalry, infantry, and artillery
would have dispersed this host like chaff before the wind.
Yet, amidst all this grandeur, the personal habits and expenses
of the emperor were as frugal and austere as those of a
hermit.
invasion of the With this unwieldy army the emperor moved
Concan, 1684. down to Boorhanpore, and then to Aurungabad,
and, by a strange infatuation, commenced his operations by
directing the odious jezzia to be imposed on all the Hindoos
of the south. Contrary to all military principles he sent a
body of 40,000 horse, under his son, prince Muazzim, to tra-
verse the stupendous ghauts, and enter the maritime province
of Concan. The prince reached the Concan without opposition,
except from the natural obstacles presented by this region of
mountains, and he plundered and laid waste every village as
he proceeded. But the work of destruction recoiled on the
invaders. The resources of the province were destroyed, and
by the time the army reached the neighbourhood of Goa, it
was in a state of starvation. The Mahratta cruizers inter-
cepted the supplies sent from the Mogul ports, and their
cavalry blocked up the passes. The wreck of this fine army,
exhausted by hunger and pestilence, was at length happy to
find shelter under the walls of Ahmednugur, while Sam-
bajee, advancing to the north, insulted the emperor by plun-
dering and burning down the town of Boorhanpore.
VI.] ATTACK ON GOLCONDA. 173
invasion of l- n 1( >86 Aurungzebe moved his camp to Sola-
Beejapore, 1686. pore, and sent his son, prince Azim, to attack
Beejapore. In this, the last year of its national existence, the
troops of that state exhibited the most devoted gallantry. They
cut off the supplies of the Moguls, intercepted all their com-
munications, and reduced the army to a state of extreme peril,
from which it was extricated only by the extraordinary exer-
tions of Ghajee ood deen, who, after a desperate engagement,
succeeded in bringing up a convoy of 20,000 brinjaree bul-
locks with grain; but the prince could effect nothing. In
the meantime, the king of Golconda, Aboo Hussein, formed
an alliance with Sambajee, who took advantage of the embar-
rassment of the Mogul troops before Beejapore to lay waste
the province of Guzerat, and sack the town of Broach. On
the failure of the Beejapore expedition the emperor sent his
general, Khan Jehan, to attack Golconda. Mudhoona Punt,
the Mahratta minister of that state, had equipped an army of
70,000 men to meet the invasion. It was commanded by
Ibrahim Khan, whose superiority in the field was so great
as to place the Mogul commander completely in his power ; but
instead of pressing his advantages, he treacherously went
over to the enemy with a large portion of his army. Mu-
dhoona was assassinated in a popular tumult excited by his
enemies, and the helpless king sought refuge in the fortress
of Golconda. For three days Hyderabad was subject to plunder,
which the Mogul commander could not restrain, and the
wealth which Aurungzebe had destined for his own coffers
was, to his infinite chagrin, shared among the soldiers. The
king at length sued for peace, and a treaty was concluded
with him, on condition of his paying a contribution of two
crores of rupees.
ConquestofBee- Aurungzebe was now at liberty to turn his
japore, 1686. w hole strength against Beejapore. The walls were
of hewn stone, six miles in circumference, and the artillery
was as superior to that of the Moguls as it had ever been ;
Aurungzebe determined therefore to blockade the town. The
174 EXTINCTION OP THE BEEJAPORE STATE. [CHAP.
garrison began to be straitened for provisions, and its brave
Patan defenders were at length, obliged to capitulate. The
emperor, seated on a portable throne, was carried in triumph
through a breach in the walls, and the young king was con-
signed to captivity, and died within three years, not without
suspicion of violence. On the 15th of October, 1686, Beejapore
was blotted out of the roll of Indian kingdoms, after having
enjoyed a career of independence for more than a hundred and
fifty years. The revenues of the country were estimated in
the imperial registry at seven crores of rupees a year, a sum
which appears incredible, notwithstanding the fertility of its
soil, and the wealth poured into it by maritime commerce.
Whatever may have been the resources of the kingdom, the
Adil Shahee dynasty employed them in works of utility or
magnificence which had no rival in India. No race of princes
ever adorned their capital in so brief a period with such magnifi-
cent mosques, palaces, and tombs. Even at the present day,
after nearly two centuries of decay in an Indian climate, the
majestic ruins of the city attract the admiration of the traveller,
more especially the mausoleum of Mahomed Adil Shah, with its
dome of simple grandeur, which, like the dome of St. Peter's,
fills the eye of the beholder from every quarter.
Conquest of Goi- ^ ne ^ a * e f Golconda was not long delayed,
condoles?. Aurungzebe was determined not to allow the
treaty which he had recently concluded with the king, to
impede the absorption of the kingdom. Though the Mogul
army was now sufficiently strong to overwhelm it, the emperor
again had recourse to his habitual craft. He advanced
into the territory with a large force, under pretence of a pil-
grimage to the tomb of a saint, and began to practise on the
fears of the bewildered monarch, from whom he gradually
extracted all his treasure and jewels. It is recorded, that
Aboo Hussein stripped the inmates of his seraglio of their
ornaments to propitiate the emperor. But Aurungzebe's cold
and selfish nature was never capable of a generous emotion.
The only return he made for these offerings was a declaration
VI.] EXTINCTION OF THE GOLCONDA STATE. 175
of war against the unhappy prince, charging 1 him, a follower
of the Prophet, with the crime of having employed a brahmin
for his minister, and formed an alliance with the infidel
Mahrattas. The king, though addicted to pleasure, was roused
to indignation hy the baseness of this treatment, and for
seven months defended himself with a heroism worthy his
ancestors. The fort of Golconda was at length captured, but
only by an act of treachery, and the royal house of Kootub
Shah became extinct, after a brilliant career of a hundred
and seventy years. Mogul generals were sent to take posses-
sion of the districts in the Carnatic and Telingana, which had
been held by the kings of Beejapore and Golconda, and the
Mahrattas, leaving nothing but the principality of Tanjore in
the possession of Vencajee, in whose line it continued till
it was absorbed in the British dominions.
confusion in The ambition of Aurungzebe was now consum-
tneDeccan. mated. He had extended his authority in the
south over tracts which had never before acknowledged the
sovereignty of the Mahomedans, and for the first time in
seven hundred years the whole of India appeared to be
bound in allegiance to a single head. The year 1688 is the
culminating point of Mahomedan rule. The calamities of
Aurungzebe commenced as soon as he had reached the sum-
mit of success, and the decay of the Mogul empire may be
dated from the fall of Golconda. The governments which had
maintained order in the Deccan had disappeared ; no system
of equal vigour was established in their stead. The suspicious
nature of Aurungzebe prevented him from entrusting any
of his generals with a force which they might be tempted, by
its magnitude, to turn against him. The two states of Beeja-
pore and Golconda had maintained their authority by an army
of 200,000 men ; the Mogul army, after their subjugation, did
not exceed 34,000 men. The disbanded soldiery enlisted
under disaffected commanders, or joined the predatory bands
cf the Mahrattas, and each petty chief, in accordance with
the prescriptive habits of the country, "withdrew hia
176 DEATH OF SAMBAJEE. [CHAV.
neck from the yoke of obedience," whenever it could be done
with the prospect of impunity. Aurungzebe was incessantly
employed in the siege of forts ; there was no energy at the
head-quarters of government; there was no redress for the
oppression of the governors, while the collectors of the jezzia
extorted millions from the wretched Hindoos, and exasperated
them against the Mogul conquerors. The Deccan became a
scene of boundless confusion, and the last twenty years of
the reign of Aurungzebe presented a constant succession of
conspiracies and revolts, which consumed the strength of his
army and of the empire.
Death of Sam- Sambajee, infatuated with his favourite and
bajee, 1689. immersed in low pleasures, viewed with indiffer-
ence the fall of Beejapore and Golconda, though it enabled the
Moguls to concentrate their efforts upon the Mahrattas.
Aurungzebe had taken possession of the open country, and
was engaged in besieging the forts, when Sambajee was sur-
prised during a drunken revel, and conveyed as a prisoner to
his presence. After the insult offered to the imperial power
by the plunder of Boorhanpore and Broach he had sworn that
" he would never return to Delhi till he had seen the head of
the Mahratta weltering at his feet." The life of Sambajee
was offered him on condition that he would turn Musulman.
The haughty son of Sevajee replied, " Not if you would give
me your daughter in marriage," and at the same time poured
a torrent of abuse on the Prophet. Aurungzebe ordered his
tongue to be cut out for his blasphemy, and finally put him
to death with the most excruciating tortures. Though
Sambajee had lived nine years amidst the contempt of his
subjects, his tragic end created a strong feeling of pity among
them, and gave a keen edge to that spirit of hostility which
they cherished towards the Mahomedans The flagitious exe-
cution of Sambajee, which has left a stain of the deepest die
on the character of Aurungzebe, was not only a crime, but an
error. It was the sowing of the dragon's teeth, of which
the emperor reaped an abundant harvest before his death.
VI.] INCREASED DEPREDATIONS OP THE MAHRATTAS. 177
The Mahrattas, unable any longer to look
Sahoo, king of
the Mahrattas, abroad f or assistance, and pressed by the whole
power of the Mogul empire, were obliged to bend
to the storm. The cabinet of ministers elected Sahoo, the
infant eon of Sambajee, though then a captive in the
emperor's camp, to fill the throne, and appointed his uncle,
Earn raja, regent. Of the great kingdom founded by Sevajee
little remained in the north, and it was determined to make
suitable arrangements for preserving the remnant, and to
transfer the seat of Mahratta power to the south. Ram-
raja, with twenty-five chiefs, made his way in disguise through
the Carnatic amidst a variety of adventures, on which the
national historians delight to dwell, and established his
court at the fortress of Ginjee, which Sevajee conquered in
1676, little dreaming at the time that it was one day to be-
come the refuge of his family. Ram raja, on his arrival, laid
aside the character of regent and assumed the ensigns of sove-
reignty, arranging his court on the model of that of his father.
Mahratta depre- In tne following year he sent two of his
dations, 1692. generals, Suntajee and Dhunnajee, with a force
which increased on its progress, to plunder the Mogul terri-
tories and distract their attention. They extended their ravages
to the neighbourhood of Satara, where Ramchunder, who
had been entrusted with the Mahratta interests in the
north, devised a new plan for damaging the Moguls. He
conferred the right of levying the chout and sur desk mookee,
and of laying waste the districts which refused these exac-
tions, on every Mahratta chief who could bring his retainers
into the field. At the same time he created a new demand of
ghaus dana, or forage money, which was to be the individual
perquisite of each chieftain. Under this new impulse, every
mountain and valley poured forth its inhabitants to desolate
the plains, and the Mogul authorities instead of having one
great predatory army, directed by a single head, and amenable
to obligations on their hands, had a monster with a hundred
heads to deal with.
178 MOGUL AND MAHRATTA AKMIES COMPARED. [CHAP.
The Mogul army was ill fitted to contend with
Comparison of .
the Mogul and this new swarm of warriors. Its commanders were
Mahrattaarmies. ^^ genera i s com pared with the iron chiefs of
Akbar's days. They vied with each other only in extrava-
gant display, while their persons were protected from danger
by wadding and chain armour. The spread of luxury had
eaten out the spirit of valour and discipline, and nothing was
so little desired by them as the sight of the enemy. The
number of men for whom the officers drew pay, was never
honestly maintained, and the ranks were filled with any cheap
and beggarly recruits they could pick up. A force thus con-
stituted was no match for the Mahratta troops, accustomed
to hard fare and harder work. "The horse without a saddle
was rode by a man without clothes, whose constant weapon
was a trusty sabre ; footmen inured to the same travel, and
bearing all kind of arms trooped with the horse ; spare horses
accompanied them to bring off the booty, and relieve the
wearied or wounded. All gathered their daily provisions as
they passed. No pursuit could reach their march ; in conflict
their onset fell wherever they chose, and was relinquished
even in the instant of charge. Whole districts were in flames
before their approach was known, as a terror to others to
redeem the ravage."
siege of Ginjee, The rallying point of the Mahrattas was the
169098. fortress of Ginjee, the siege of which was as
protracted as . the siege of Troy. On hearing that Ram raja
had taken up his abode in that fortress, Zulfikar Khan was
in the first instance sent to capture it; but the suspicious
temper of the emperor led him repeatedly to change the com-
manders, and the operations necessarily languished. Zul-
fikar was often in collusion with the Mahrattas, and it was
even suspected that he contemplated the establishment of
an independent authority through their aid, on the death of
the aged emperor. It was during the languor of this siege
that Suntajee Ghorepuray, having defeated the Mogul
generals in the north, appeared before the place with a body
vi.] ATJRUNGZEBE'S NEW PLANS, 179
of 20,000 horse. The besieging army was besieged in its
turn, and Cam buksh, the son of the emperor, and the nominal
commander-in-chief, was driven to a humiliating convention.
Aurungzebe disallowed it, recalled his son, and entrusted the
command for the third time toZulfikar. But as he was in
communication with the enemy, the siege was again prolonged,
till the emperor, indignant at his inactivity, gave him the
option of its immediate capture, or his own degradation.
Zulfikar now assaulted the fort in earnest, and it was reduced
in the year 1698.
Earn rafa makes ^ am ra J a ' Wn Da< ^ ^ een allowed, through the
Satara his capi- connivance of Zulfikar, to escape from Ginjee
before its capitulation, made his way back to
his native mountains and selected Satara as his capital.
He was soon enabled to assemble a larger army than Sevajee
had ever commanded, and proceeded to levy what he termed
" the Mahratta dues " through the provinces of Candesh and
Berar. The greater portion of the maritime forts of the
Mahrattas had been preserved or recovered ; and, with Colaba
for their arsenal, they were enabled to keep the sea against
the Moguls. On the other hand, the Mahratta cause suffered
the severest injury by the death of Suntajee Ghorepuray,
who had been the terror of the Mogul armies for seven years.
Dhunnajee, his former associate, became his mortal enemy ; he
was hunted by his own countrymen like a wild beast, through
the region which he had filled with his exploits, and was
at length brought to bay and his head cut off and sent as an
acceptable present to the emperor.
]ang To meet the increasing audacity of the Mah-
Aurungzebe, rattas, Aurungzebe devised the plan of separating
his army into two divisions one to be employed
in protecting the open country from their depredations the
other in capturing their forts. The first duty was committed
to Zulfikar Khan, the ablest and the most energetic of the
Mogul generals, at a time when they were universally ener-
vated by indulgence and venality. He repeatedly defeated the
180 AURUNGZEBE'S INCREASING DIFFICULTIES. [CHAP.
Mahrattas in the field ; but he was unable to reduce their
strength, and they always appeared more fresh after a defeat
than his own troops after a victory. Aurungzebe reserved
the task of capturing the fortresses for himself; and, breaking
up his encampment on the banks of the Beema, to the deep
regret of his voluptuous officers, commenced operations by the
siege of Satara, which was surrendered to him in four months,
in April, 1700. A month before this period Earn raja expired
at Singur, and his son, a child of ten years of age, was
declared king under the regency of his mother, Tara Bye.
Hisincreasin During the succeeding five years Aurungzebe
difficulties, 1702 was incessantly engaged in reducing the Mah-
ratta forts ; but while thus employed he continued
to superintend the minutest details of business throughout the
empire, and not even a petty officer was admitted to the
service at Cabul without his concurrence. When we are
assured that the climate of India invariably relaxes the vigour
of the body and the energies of the mind, we turn with
astonishment to this octogenarian chief, engaged incessantly
with youthful vigour in the duties of the cabinet or in the
severer labours of the field, in a wild country and a vile
climate. But all the energy of Aurungzebe was unable to
cope with the disorders which multiplied around him. The
Eajpoots were again in open hostility ; other tribes in the
north, encouraged by his continued absence, and the conse-
quent weakness of the administration, began to exhibit a
refractory spirit. His treasury was exhausted by a wasting
war of twenty-five years. The Mahratta chiefs began to
recover their forts ; and in 1705 he received accounts at one
and the same time that they had crossed the Nerbudda in
great force, and extended their ravages to Malwa, and overrun
Berar and Candesh, and also despatched 15,000 troops to levy
contributions in Guzerat. In every direction around his camp,
north, south, east, and west nothing was seen but the
sack of villages, the slaughter of troops, and devastation of
the country.
VI.] HIS DEATH. 181
Overtures to the In these deplorable circumstances the emperor
Mahrattas, 1706. ma( j e overtures to the Mahrattas, and offered
them a legal title to the fourth and the tenth of the revenues
of the six soohahs of the Deccan, on condition of their main-
taining order and repressing violence. But they immediately rose
in their demands, and had the effrontery to require dresses of
honour for more than seventy of their marauding chiefs. The
negotiation was therefore broken off, and the imperial encamp-
ment began to retire to Ahmednugur, closely followed by
the Mahrattas, who plundered up to the verge of the camp,
and converted the retreat into an ignominious flight.
Twenty years before Aurungzebe had marched from this
capital in all the pride and pomp of war, to extend this
dominion to Cape Comorin ; he now returned to it with the
remnant of a discomfited army, and pursued by a victorious
. . , foe, and there he expired on the 22nd of February,
Aurungzebe s r J 7
death, 22nd 1707. By his will he directed that his funeral
iruary, n( r ex p enseg should be limited to four rupees and-a,
half, to be defrayed from the sum he had received for tht
caps he had made and sold ; and that the sum of 805 rupees,
which he had acquired from the sale of the Korans he had
copied with his own hands, should be distributed among the
poor.
Aurungzebe has been considered by the native
Kemarkson historians the type of Mogul greatness, and his
name is invested with an indefinite idea of gran-
deur, even in the minds of Europeans. But this feeling is
corrected by a close inspection of the events of his reign, and
it is impossible to resist the conviction that few characters in
Indian history have ever been more overrated. His personal
bravery, his military talents, and his application to business,
are deserving of all praise ; but he persisted in a policy which
was inherently vicious, after he perceived the ruin it was
bringing on the empire. He was engaged for twenty-five
years in a war, first of intolerance, and then of aggression,
which exhausted the resources of the country, and hastened
182 ACCESSION OP BAHADOOR SHAH.
the downfall of the house of Baber. The great oriental des-
potism of the Moguls, like others which preceded it, had
nearly run out the usual period of two centuries, and
began to crumble to pieces, as soon as the genius or the
prestige of Aurungzebe ceased to sustain it.
CHAPTER VIL
ROM THE DEATH OF AURUNGZEBE TO THE INVASION OP
NADIR SHAH, 17071739.
ON the death of Aurungzebe, prince Azim, who
M b een banished through his father's dread of
Bkm of Bahadoor being treated by his own sons when weakened
by disease, as he had treated Shah Jehan, im-
mediately returned to the encampment, caused himself to
be proclaimed emperor, and prepared to march to the capital;
but his elder brother, Muazzim, with better reason, assumed
the crown, and advanced from Cabul to meet his rival. His
son, who had governed Bengal for eleven years, materially
assisted his cause by opportunely bringing up eight crores of
rupees which he had amassed during that period. The two
armies met in the neighbourhood of Agra, when prince Azim
was defeated and fell, together with two of his sons. Zulfikar,
who had remained neuter during the engagement, at once
declared for the victor. It only remained to dispose of the
pretension of the youngest son of the late emperor, Cam buksh,
who was assembling troops in the Deccan. Zulfikar marched
against him with a contingent of Mahrattas, and defeated
him. He died shortly after of his wounds, and Muazzim, who
was left the undisputed master of the empire, assumed the
title of Bahadoor Shah.
^e Mahrattas, who had baffled the power of
Ta Aurungzebe for thirty years, were now weak-
ened by intestine discord. Tara Bye, the widow of
VII.] SAHOO, GRANDSON OP SEVAJEE. 183
Ram raja held the reins of government for seven years, in
the name of her son. Sahoo, the son of Sambajee, the legiti-
mate heir to the throne, had been for seventeen years a
captive in the Mogul camp, where he had been treated with
great kindness by the emperor, who married him to the
daughters of two of the principal Mahratta sirdars in his
service. Prince Azim, when setting out to seize the prize at
Delhi, adopted the sage advice of Zulfikar, and not only
granted Sahoo his liberty but furnished him with assistance
to assert his claim to the Mahratta throne, on condition that
he should hold it as a vassal of the empire. Tara Bye imme-
diately proclaimed him an impostor, and collected an army to
oppose him; but he succeeded in obtaining possession of
Satara, and in March, 1708, assumed the functions of royalty.
In this family contest, the great Mahratta chieftains embraced
opposite sides, and drew their swords against each other ; a
happy event for the neighbouring provinces. At the end of five
years, Sevajee, the son of Tara Bye, died, and her minister
seized the opportunity of superseding her authority, and
placing another of the sons of Earn raja, Sambajee, on the
throne at Kolapore, which, from that period became the seat of
the younger branch of the royal family, and the rival of Satara.
Zulfikar Khan was rewarded for his adherence
grants the to Bahadoor Shah with the vice-royalty of the
eAoitt, 1708. Deccan, which he committed to the care of Daood
Khan, while he himself continued to reside at the capital.
Daood Khan was a Patan of noble birth, famous throughout
the Deccan for his matchless courage, and his love of strong
drink. He paid frequent visits to Madras, and did not hesitate
to partake of English hospitality. The Madras President
always " took care to supply him with liquors, because he was
BO generous under their influence." It is recorded that in
1701, Mr. Pitt, the father of Lord Chatham, who then occupied
that post, gave him a grand entertainment in the Council
Chamber, when the Patan " pledged the chief largely in cordial
waters and French brandy, amidst a discharge of cannon."
184 ORIGIN OF THE SIKHS. [CHAP.
Zulfikar, who was desirous of cultivating peace with the
Mahrattas, of whom he had been the most formidable foe in
the field for fifteen years, authorized his lieutenant to offer
Sahoo the chout which the Mahrattas had so long extorted
by violence. Though the concession came only from a local
officer, and was not therefore conclusive, it was not the less
prized by the Mahratta cabinet, as the first legitimate title
they had been able to acquire to their exactions. The tran-
quillity of Rajpootana was secured by the same spirit of
concession to its three principal rajas.
Origin of the These arrangement which clearly indicated the
Sikhs. growing weakness of the empire, appear to have
been hastened by the inroads of the Sikhs in the north.
Nanuk, the founder of the Sikh community, who flourished
about the close of the fifteenth century, taught, that devotion
was due to God, but that forms were immaterial, and that the
worship of the Hindoos and the Mahomedans was equally
acceptable to the deity. The sect which he founded gradually
increased in numbers for a century, and became an object of
detestation to the bigotted Mahomedans, who massacred its
pontiff in 1606. In 1675, Gooroo Govind, the tenth spiritual
chief in succession from Nanuk, conceived the idea of forming
the Sikhs into a military, ae well as a religious, commonwealth.
He abolished all distinction of caste, and admitted all converts
to perfect equality; but every member of the body was
required to be a pledged soldier from his birth, or his initiation.
He inculcated reverence for the Hindoo gods and brahmins,
and prohibited the slaughter of kine. After a long struggle
with the Mahomedans, he saw his strongholds captured, his
mother and children destroyed, and his followers slaughtered,
mutilated, or dispersed. These severities exasperated the
fanaticism of the Sikhs, and planted an inextinguishable
hatred of the Mahomedans in their minds. Under a new
thief, of the name of Bandoo, they issued from their retreats,
overran the Punjab, and, if we are to believe the Mahomedan
historians, committed unheard of atrocities.
VII.] JEHANDER SHAH FEROKSHERE. 185
Death of Baha- At the beginning of the eighteenth century,
door Shah, 1712. they had extended their inroads, on the one side
to Lahore, and on the other to Delhi; and Bahadoor Shah
marched against them in person and drove them back to the
hills. He died on his return to Lahore, in February, 1712,
after a brief reign of five years, at the age of seventy-two.
Accession and ^ s death was immediately followed by the usual
death of jehan- contest among his sons, which terminated in the de-
feat and death of three of them, when the survivor
mounted the throne, and assumed the title of Jehander Shah.
One of the earliest acts of his reign, was to put to death all
the princes of the blood royal within his reach. He appointed
Zulfikar Khan, who had supported him through the conflict to the
post of vizier, while he resigned himself to the most degrading
pleasures, and raised the relatives of a dancing girl who had be-
fcome his favourite mistress, to the highest honours in the
state. But his ignoble career was speedily cut short by his
nephew, Ferokshere, who had escaped the massacre of his
family, by his absence in Bengal, of which he was the vice-
roy. He advanced with an army of 70,000 men, and defeated
the emperor in the neighbourhood of Agra. The noble Zul-
fikar Khan, the last of the great captains of the Mogul
dynasty, whose ancestors had served it in the highest offices
for more than a century, was basely strangled by the orders
of Ferokshere, and the wretched Jehander Shah was put to
death after a reign of six months.
Ferokshere, HIS. Ferokshere, the most contemptible, as yet, of
The syuds. anv O f ^he princes of his line, ascended the throne
in 1713, and dishonoured it for six years by his vices and his
coward/ce. He owed his elevation to the exertions of two
brothers, Hussein Ali, the governor of Behar, and Abdoolla
Khan, the governor of Allahabad, generally denominated the
Syuds, to denote their descent from the Prophet, and his
reign was little else but a series of machinations to destroy
them. The one was advanced to the post of vizier, and Hussein
Ali was appointed commander-in-chief. They were both men
186 ORIGIK OP THE NIZAM*S POWER. [CHAP.
of talent and valour, but, as they monopolised all power, they
incurred the jealousy of the emperor and the enmity of his
favourites. Immediately on his accession Ferokshere made a na-
tive of Mooltan, who had been a cazee at Dacca, his chief confi-
dant, and under his influence sent Hussein Ali against Ajeet
Sing, the raja of Joudhpore, in the hope that the expedition
might prove fatal to him. But he disappointed his enemies by
concluding an honourable peace with the raja, and inducing him
to give one of his daughters in marriage to the emperor. The
nuptials, which were celebrated at Delhi with extraordinary
splendour, have become memorable in the history of British
India by the patriotic conduct of a British surgeon, the par-
ticulars of which will be given in a future chapter.
Nizam-ooi- Daood Khan, who had governed the Deccan as
<f. eroy the deputy of Zulfikar Khan, was removed after
of the Deccan, J
1713. the destruction of his patron, and sent as governor
to Guzerat. The agreement he had made with the Mahrattas
regarding the chout and other dues fell to the ground on his
removal and they began to collect them again by violence. The
office of soobadar of the Deccan was bestowed on the son of
Ghazee-ood-deen, who has been already mentioned in connec-
tion with the siege of Beejapore in 1686. The family had
emigrated from Turkey, or rather Tartary, to seek its fortunes
in India, and belonged to a clique of officials at the capital
who were commonly designated the Tooranee nobles. Chin
Kilich Khan, the new soobadar, rose to distinction in the court
of Aurungzebe, by whom he was decorated with the titles
of Asof-Jah and Nizam-ool-moolk. As it was on this occasion
that he laid the foundation of the kingdom of Hyderabad,
we shall anticipate the period of his independence by desig-
nating him henceforward as the Nizam. He was a statesman
of great experience and ability, but of still greater subtlety
During the seventeen months of his incumbency he fomented
the dissensions between the rival houses of Kolapore and
Satara, and thus established some check on the ravages of
the Mahrattas. Sahoo was induced to acknowledge himself
Vn.^j RISE OP BALLAJEE ViSHWUNATH, THE PESHWA. 187
a vassal of the emperor, and though in his own circle he as-
sumed the title of king of the Hindoos, in the court calendar
he was ranked as a Mogul commander of 10,000.
Balajee Vishwu-
nath.peshwa, The increasing contentions of these two branches
of the family of Sevajee had created such anarchy
as to bring the Mahratta state to the verge of ruin, when the
genius of Balajee Vishwunath placed the party of Sahoo in the
ascendant, and rekindled the smouldering energies of the nation.
Balajee was originally a simple karkoon, or village accountant,
but rose through various gradations of office till he reached the
dignity of Peshwa, or chief minister. It was to his energy
that the rapid expansion of the Mahratta power, when it had
reached the limit of depression, is to be attributed, and
he may justly be regarded as the second founder of its
greatness.
Hussein AH ^ ne Nizam was discharged from the office of
Soobadarofthe viceroy of the Deccan to make room for Hussein
Death of Daooa Ali, one of the Syuds, who was sent thither to
Khan. remove hmi from the court. Instructions were at
the same time given to Daood Khan to offer him the most
strenuous but covert opposition, and the reversion of the ap-
pointment was held out to him as the reward of success.
But Daood Khan was too daring and impetuous for any sub-
terfuge, and he determined to bring the dispute to an immediate
issue. He accordingly met Hussein Ali with his own
veteran force, and attacked him with such fuiy as to scatter
his forces like a flock of sheep. But in the moment of victory
a cannon-ball struck him dead, and the fortune of the day was
changed. His devoted wife, a Hindoo princess, on hearing of
his fate, stabbed herself to the heart. The memory of his
reckless courage and his chivalrous exploits is still preserved
in many a ballad and proverb in the Deccan. Hussein Ali,
flushed with this victory, took the field against the Mahrattas,
but was completely defeated, and they immediately extended
their encroachments and enlarged their claims. The emperor,
anxious only for the destruction of his own obnoxious general,
188 CONVENTION WITH THE MAHHATTA8. [CHAP.
gave them every encouragement to resist him, and promised
to reward them if they were successful.
Hussein Ali, distracted on the one hand by the
Convention with ' i
the Mahrattas, incessant plots hatched against him at Delhi, and
on the other by the depredations of the Mahrattas,
who were stimulated by the court, adopted the desperate
resolution of winning them over to his cause by concessions.
He entered into negotiations with the Mahratta cabinet, which
were conducted with consummate skill by Balajee Vishwunath,
and resulted in a convention as advantageous to the Mahrattas
as it was disgraceful to the Moguls. Sahoo was acknowledged
as the independent sovereign of the districts comprised in the
family jaygeer, and of subsequent conquests. The " fourth "
and the " tenth " of the revenues of the six soubahs of the
Deccan, and of the tributary states of Tanjore, Mysore, and
Trichinopoly, were bestowed on him on condition that he
should, in addition to the usual fee on such grants, pay an
annual tribute of ten lacs of rupees, furnish a contingent of
15,000 troops, and become responsible for the peace of the
Deccan.
Remarks on this This was the greatest stride to power the Mah-
Convenaon. rattas had yet made, and it fulfilled the fondest
wishes of the founder of this system of spoliation. It fur-
nished them with a large and permanent revenue, for though
the six soubahs had been exhausted by the incessant ravages
of war, the assignment granted to the Mahrattas was, at
their dictation, calculated on the sum of 18 crores, which
those provinces had yielded in the years of peace and pros-
perity. It would apparently have been more to the pecuniary
advantage of the Mahrattas to exchange assignments spread
over a country which extended from sea to sea, and from the
Nerbudda to Cape Comorin, for a compact territory. But the
great object of the Peshwa was to render the claims of the
Mahratta nation as complicated, as extensive, and as vague
as possible, and thus to acquire a right of constant inter-
ference in the revenue administration of the entire Deccan,
ACCESSION OP MAHOMED SHAH. 189
well knowing that the interpretation of its demands would
rest with the strongest. This famous convention gave a
new impulse to the Mahratta policy, and at the same time
placed the government more exclusively in the hands of the
cabinet of brahmins at Satara, of whom the Peshwa was the
head. It likewise provided congenial employment for a host of
Mahratta officers, who were now planted in every district of
the south to collect the tribute, with every motive to multiply
their exactions.
Hussein Au This convention enabled Hussein Ali to with-
marches to Dei- draw his armies from the Deccan, and to march to
hi. Death of
Ferokshere, Delhi. The emperor was advised to disallow
the treaty, and the breach between him and the
Syuds became wider. Hussein Ali hastened to the capital to
restore the ascendancy of his family, accompanied by Balajee
Vishwunath, and 10,000 select Mahratta horse. A confede-
racy which included the chief ministers of state, was formed
by the emperor for the destruction of the brothers, but he
had not the courage necessary for such an enterprise, and
had, moreover, come under the influence of a new favourite.
Hussein Ali was therefore enabled to march into the city with
little opposition. Ferokshere made the most abject submis.
eions, but was dragged from the recesses of the seraglio
where he had taken refuge, and privately assassinated.
Two puppets were successively placed on the
Accession of rjr *
Mahomed shah, vacant throne by the tnumphant Syuds, but they
disappeared by poison or disease in a few months,
when Rustum Khan, a grandson of Aurungzebe, was made
emperor, and assumed the title of Mahomed Shah, the last who
deserved the name of emperor of India. Weak and despic-
able as Ferokshere had been on the throne, his tragic death
created great sympathy throughout the country, and the popu-
lar indignation against his assassins was manifested by
risings and rebellions in various districts ; but the greatest
subject of disquietude to the brothers arose from the conduct
of the Nizam. Though he had joined the Syuds against the
190 REBELLION OF THE SYTTDSr [CHAP.
late emperor, he was alienated from their interests by being
nominated to the inferior post of governor of Guzerat, when
he had every reason to expect the viceroyalty of the Deccan.
He began to collect troops, on the plea of restoring order in
the province assigned to him, but in reality to establish his
own power in the south, where he had many adherents, both
Revolt of the m- amon g the Mahrattas and the Mahomedans. He
zam, June, n20. m arched southward with 12,000 men, and having
captured the important fortress of Asseergur, and overrun
Candesh, defeated two armies which were sent against him,
and thus became master of his position.
Hussein AH as- Meanwhile the young emperor was fretting
lassinated, 1720. un ^ er the yoke of the Syuds, and, under the dis-
creet guidance of his mother, formed a combination among
the nobles of his court to release himself from their power.
The plot, which embraced some of the most eminent of the
courtiers, could not be concealed from the brothers ; but they
were distracted by the difficulties which surrounded them on
every side. At length it was resolved that Hussein Ali
should march against the Nizam, taking the emperor with him,
and that Abdoolla should return to Delhi, the court being then
at Agra, to look after the family interests. Five days after
the army had commenced its march, a savage Calmuck, who
had been selected to strike the blow, approached the palan-
keen of Hussein Ali, on pretence of presenting a petition, and
stabbed him to the heart. In the conflict which necessarily
ensued, the partisans of the emperor were victorious, and the
army marched back to Delhi. Abdoolla, hearing of his bro-
ther's fate, set up a new emperor, and marched to encounter
Mahomed Shah, but he was entirely defeated, though his life
was spared in consideration of his august lineage.
Mahomed Shah, now a free monarch, entered
Mahomed Shah
enters the capi- his capital with great pomp a twelvemonth after
"^ 1720 ' he had been elevated to the throne, and made a
liberal distribution of offices. The odious jezzia, the tax on
infidels, was abolished. The Rajpoot rajas of Joudhpore and
VII.] PROGRESS OF THE NIZAM, 191
Jeypore were promoted to governorships ; while the raja of
Oodypore, still isolated by his . orthodox dignity, refused all
intercourse with the court, and sunk into contempt. Sadut
Ali, a Khorasan merchant, who had raised himself
Origin of the '
oude family, by his talents to the charge of Biana, was made
soobadar of Oude, where he founded the royal
dynasty which was extinguished in 1856. The office of vizier
was reserved for the Nizam, who came up from the Deccan
to assume the control of public affairs. But
The Nizam ap-
pointed Vizier, he found the new emperor utterly unworthy
of his station, immersed in pleasures, and so
besotted with a favourite mistress. as to have given her the
custody and use of the royal signet. He endeavoured to
rouse Mahomed Shah to a sense of his duties as the head of
a great empire which was exposed on every side to danger.
But his master turned a deaf ear to this sage counsel, and
listened with more delight to the advice of his dissolute com-
panions, who amused him by turning the antiquated habits
and solemn manner of the venerable statesman, then in his
seventy-fifth year, into ridicule.
He returns to the The courtiers, to rid themselves of the presence
Deccan, 1723. o f the vizier, sent him against the refractory
governor of Guzerat, whom their own folly had driven into
rebellion. He quelled the revolt at once by his tact, and returned
to the capital, where, however, he did not long remain. Dis-
gusted with the weakness and profligacy of the court, and
despairing of any reform, he threw up his office, and proceeded
to the Deccan. The emperor loaded him with honours on his
departure, but at the same time instigated the local governor
of Hyderabad, Mobariz Khan, to resist his authority, and held
out the reversion of the viceroyalty as a bait. The Nizam
defeated Mobariz, and sent his head to Delhi, congratulating
the Court on the extinction of the revolt. He then fixed on
Hyderabad, the ancient capital of the Kootub-Shahee dynasty,
Founds as ^ e seat f his government, and from this period
Hyderabad, 1724. may be dated the rise of the Nizam's dominion.
192 BAJEE RAO PESHWA. [CHAP.
Balaiee Vishwunath, as already stated, had
Death of Balajee J . . ' *
accompanied Hussein All with a Mahratta con-
im tingent to Delhi, and, on the accession of Maho-
med Shah, obtained the imperial confirmation of the grants
of the " fourth " and the " tenth," and returned in triumph
with the invaluable charters, fourteen in number, to Satara,
where he soon after died. Before his death he completed the
arrangements for the collection of the assignments he had
acquired, and established a system of the most intricate sub-
division of interests, by which ample provision was made for
a whole army of Mahratta officials. A preponderating power
was thus given to the cabinet of brahmins at Satara, which
eventually resulted in the transfer of all the authority of the
state to their chief, the Peshwa. He was succeeded in his
Bajee Eao, office by h* 8 son Bajee Kao, who exhibited in the
Peshwa, 1721 highest degree the enterprise of the Mahratta
character, and in talent and vigour proved to be second only
to Sevajee. The interest of the succeeding twenty years of
the history of India centres in the alliances, and disputes, and
strategy* of the young Mahratta statesman of Satara, and the
subtle old Turk at Hyderabad, who made peace and war with-
out any reference to the emperor at Delhi.
The impetuosity of Baiee Kao's character led
Bajee Bao's ad- J J
vice to sahoo, him to propose the boldest schemes of ambition
to his master Sahoo. He felt that unless em-
ployment could be found abroad for the large body of predatory
horse which formed the smews of the Mahratta power they
would be engaged in mischief at home. Fully aware of the
decay of the Mogul power, he urged the king " to strike the
trunk of the withering tree, the branches must fall of them-
selves. Now is our time to drive strangers from the land of
the Hindoos, and to acquire immortal renown. By directing
our efforts to Hindostan the Mahratta flag in your reign
shall fly from the Kistna to the Attok." " You shall plant it
on the Himalayu," replied Sahoo. But he had been bred in
the luxury of a Mahomedan seraglio, and had lost the boldness
VII.] AFFAIRS OF GUZERAT. 193
and energy of the Mahratta character. Bajee Rao found
that his own ardour was ill seconded by his sovereign, and was
constrained to act under his own discretion; and thus the
house of Sevajee waxed weaker, and the house of the Peshwa
waxed stronger.
Affairs of The Nizam had appointed his uncle, Humeed
Guzemt. Khan, his representative in Guzerat, in opposition
to the court at Delhi. The court appointed Sir-boolund Khan
governor of the province, with directions to extinguish this
revolt. With the aid of two Mahratta commanders, Kantajee
and Peelajee, Humeed Khan was enabled to defeat the Mogul
armies, and rewarded them with a grant of the " fourth " and
the " tenth " of the revenues of Guzerat. Bajee Rao took
advantage of this discord, and renewed his excursions into
Malwa, granting Sindia, Holkar, and Powar of Dhar, commis-
sions to levy chout in that province, while he himself proceeded
to the south, and exacted contributions from the ruler at Se-
ringapatam. Alarmed by the increasing audacity of the
Peshwa's depredations, the Nizam endeavoured to revive the
dissensions of the rival houses of Kolapore and Satara. Sam-
bajee claimed his share of the assignments which had been
granted to the Peshwa, Balajee Vishwunath, on the six
soubahs of the Deccan, and the Nizam, as the official represen-
tative of the emperor, called on both parties to produce their
titles and substantiate their claims before him. Sahoo and his
cabinet were filled with indignation by what they deemed an
insolent attempt to interfere in their domestic quarrels. Bajee
Rao instantly assembled a large army, and marched against
the Nizarn, who was likewise supported by a large body of
Mahrattas, but he was driven into a position where the want
of provisions constrained him to enter into negotiations, which
terminated more favourably than could have been expected.
. ... The singular moderation of the Peshwa on this
Peshwa obtains
the ciumt of occasion, when the Nizam was at his mercy, was
!rat> 1 2 ' not without a cause. He was at the time nego-
tiating with Sir-boolund Khan, the imperial governor of Guzerat,
194 PEACE BETWEEN KOLAPORE AND SATAKA. [dlAP.
who had succeeded in establishing- his authority, for the chout
and other assignments which had been granted to the two
Mahratta officers already mentioned, and, to expedite the bar-
gain, sent his brother to lay the country waste. Sir-boolund
at length found it expedient to purchase some measure of
peace by yielding to these demands The concession was,
however, more restricted than that . which had been granted
by Hussein Ali, and confirmed by Mahomed Shah. The
ohout was to be calculated on the actual amount of collections ;
only two or three officers were to be placed in each district to
collect the dues ; no other exactions were to be inflicted on the
ryots, and every assistance was to be given to the imperial
authority. From these limitations we are enabled to perceive
how greatly the Mahrattas had abused the power conferred on
them by the charters which they obtained eight years before.
Never was a more flagitious and intolerable system of extor-
tion invented by human ingenuity than that which the genius of
Sevajee had devised, and which the Mahrattas considered it
their mission to extend over the whole of India.
While Baiee Rao was employed in settling his
Kolapore and > *
Satora at peace, demands on Guzerat, Sambajee crossed the Wurna
' 30 * and plundered the territory of his rival, Sahoo
He was, however, subsequently defeated, and obliged to sign
an acknowledgment of his cousin's right to the entire Mah-
ratta territory, with the exception of a small tract around
Kolapore, to which his branch of the royal family was thence-
forward to be confined, and thus ended the dissensions of
twenty years. The Nizam, foiled in his attempt to weaken the
Mahrattas by internal discord, found a new instrument of
mischief in Dhabarry, the Mahratta commander-in-chief. He
had been intrusted with the Mahratta interests in Guzerat,
and was mortified to find that the chout and other dues in his
own province had been carried off by Bajee Rao. Under a
feeling of resentment and at the instigation of the Nizam, he
marched towards Satara with 35,000 men, with the avowed
object of releasing Sahoo from the tyranny of the Peohwa, but
VII.] ORIGIN OF THE GUICKWAR, SINDIA, AND HOLKAR. 195
he was defeated by an inferior force, and fell in battle. The
influence of his rival was increased in no small degree by this
attempt to destroy it. But the Peshwa acted with generosity,
and conferred the office which had been held by Dhabarry on
his son, an infant, and entrusted the management of affairs to
origin of the Peelajee Guickwar, whose immediate ancestor
Guickwar. was a co \v-herd, and whose descendants now
occupy the throne of Baroda.
origin of noikar To this period also belongs the rise of the fami-
and Sindia. jj^ of Holkar and Sindia, destined to take a
prominent share in the politics of India. Mulhar Rao Holkar
was ihe son of a herdsman, but, being a youth of adventurous
disposition, exchanged the crook for the sword, and by his
daring courage recommended himself to Bajee Rao, who en-
trusted him with the charge of levying contributions in eighty-
four districts or villages in Malwa. Ranojee Sindia, th(,agh
said to be allied to the noblest families in Rajpootana, was of
the caste of cultivators, and entered the service of Balajee
Vishwunath as a menial servant. It is related that on one
occasion his master, returning from an interview with the raja
Sahoo, found his attendant asleep on his back with the slippers
firmly grasped in his hand. Struck with his fidelity in so
humble an occupation, the Peshwa introduced him into his
body-guard. He soon became one of the foremost of the
Mahratta chieftains, and, like Holkar, received assignments
on the districts of Malwa, which formed the nucleus of the
family domain.
After the defeat of Dhabarry, the Peshwa
Convention be- j .1 XT- j j-
tween Kajce Rao ano - *O6 .Nizam came to a mutual understanding
ami the Nizam, f or ^he promotion of their respective interests,
and it was agreed that Bajee Rao should be at
liberty to plunder the Mogul territories in the north without
restraint, and that the Nizam's possessions in the south should
not be molested by the Mahrattas. In fact, the Nizam, the
representative of the emperor in the Deccan, purchased peace
by letting the Mahrattas loose on the dominions of his sove-
o 2
196 PROGRESS OF THE MAIIRATTAS. [CHAP.
reign beyond the Nerbudda. Bajee Rao crossed that river in
1732, and laid waste the devoted province of Malwa. The
Mogul governor, Mahomed Bungush, was engaged at the
time in besieging a refractory chief in Bundlecund, who in-
voked the aid of Bajee Rao. Bungush was soon, in his turn,
besieged, and was rescued only by the prompt arrival of his
countrymen from Rohilcund. The Bundlecund raja evinced his
gratitude to the Peshwa by bequeathing him a third of his
territory of Jhansi; and thus was the Mahratta standard
Maiwa ceded to planted for the first time on the banks of the
Bajee Kao, me j umna> The government of Malwa was soon
after conferred by the emperor on the Rajpoot prince, Jey
Sing, whose reign was rendered illustrious by the encourage-
ment of science and the erection of the beautiful city of Jey-
pore, with its palaces, halls, and temples, and, above all, its
noble observatory. The profession of a common creed had
promoted a friendly intercourse between the Mahratta and
the Rajpoot chiefs, and Jey Sing, who was more of a scholar
than a statesman, made over the whole province of Malwa to
Bajee Rao, though not without the supposed concurrence of
the feeble court of Delhi.
Bajee Rao's de- These concessions only served to inflame the
mands, 1736. ambition of Bajee Rao, and the necessities of his
position constrained him to extend his aggressions. Great
as were the resources of the Mahratta state, the greater por-
tion of the revenue was absorbed by the chiefs who collected
it, and only a fraction reached the national treasury. The
magnitude of Bajee Rao's operations had involved him in debt ;
the bankers were slow to make further advances ; his troops
were clamorous for their pay, and discipline was weakened by
his inability to meet their claims. He therefore demanded
of the imperial court a confirmation of the assignments
on Guzerat which had been granted by Sir-boolund Khan,
and of the recent cession of the province of Malwa, as his
personal jaygeer. The emperor, or rather his minister,
Khan Dowran, offered him an assignment of thirteen lacs of
VTI.] BAJEE RAO AT THE GATES OF DELHI. 197
rupees on the districts south of the Chumbul, with permission
to levy tribute in Rajpootana, in the hope that this claim would
embroil him with the Rajpoot princes. But Bajee Rao,
having learnt from his agent at Delhi that all his demands
were likely to be conceded with a little more pressure, imme-
diately increased them, and did not scruple to claim the whole
territory south of the Chumbul, the surrender of the holy
cities of Benares, Gya, Muttra, and Allahabad, and the im-
mediate payment of fifty lacs of rupees. The court endea-
voured to appease him with smaller sacrifices, which he readily
accepted, but without abating the price of his forbearance, or
the progress of his army. Holkar crossed the Jumna, by his
orders, and plundered the Dooab, but was driven back by
Sadut Khan, the soobadar of Oude ; and this success was
magnified at Delhi into a grand victoiy, in which thousands of
infidels were said to have perished. It was even reported
that Bajee Rao had been obliged to retire. " I was compelled,"
he wrote, " to tell the emperor the truth, and to prove to him
that I was still in Hindoostan; to show him flames and Mah-
rattas at the gates of his capital." He advanced towards
Delhi by forced marches of forty miles a day. The conster-
nation in the imperial city may well be conceived ; but his
object was not to sack the capital, but to intimidate the court
into concessions, and circumstances rendered it advisable for
him to withdraw. His moderation encouraged a party of
eight thousand horse under some of the nobles to attack his
carnp, but they were easily repelled by Holkar. Bajee Rao
now retired from the north, recrossed the Nerbudda, and pro-
ceeded to Satara.
The Mahrattas appeared now to be paramount
The Nizam do- . T ,. ,
feated by Bajee in India, and the Nizam was considered by the
uao, 1737. emperor and his ministers, the only man who could
save the empire from extinction. He himself perceived, when
too late, the impolicy of his compact with Bajee Rao in 1732,
which had enabled the Mahrattas to plunder the northern
provinces without interruption, and augmented their power to
198 TOTAL DEFEAT OP THE NIZAM. . [CIIAP
an extent which now threatened his own safety and that of
every other Mahomedan potentate in India. He listened to
the overtures of the court, and repaired to Delhi, where the
government of Malwa and of Guzerat was conferred on him,
and all the power and resources of the empire were placed at
his disposal. But these resources Were now reduced to so low
an ebb that he could assemble an army of only 34,000
men, with which he moved down to Malwa, while the Peshwa
advanced to oppose him with 80,000. Owing, perhaps, to
his great age he was now ninety-three perhaps to an
over-confidence in his artillery, which was esteemed the best
in India, he intrenched himself near Bhopal, instead of boldly
encountering the enemy in the field. Bajee Rao adopted the
usual Mahratta system of warfare laying waste the country
around, intercepting all supplies, and harassing his opponent
with incessant attacks. At length, on the twenty-fourth
day from the commencement of the siege, the Nizam, receiving
no reinforcements, while his enemy called up every Mahratta
chief in the Deccan to his aid, was constrained to sign a humilia-
tingtreaty, granting to the victorious Mahratta the sovereignty
of Malwa, and of all the territory up to the banks of the
Chumbul, and engaging to use all his influence to obtain the
grant of fifty lacs of rupees from the treasury at Delhi. But
that treasure was to find a different destination,
invasion of Nadir ^ was m the midst of these distractions, which
Shah, 1738. exhausted the strength of the empire, that Nadir
Shah made his appearance on the banks of the Indus, and
India was visited with another of those desolating irruptions
to which it had been repeatedly subject during seven hundred
years.
Nadir's ^ ne P ers i an dynasty of the Sofis, which had
antecedent lasted for two centuries, the usual term of Asiatic
monarchies, was subverted in 1722 by the Ghiljies,
the most powerful of the Afghan tribes. Shah Hussein,
the last of that royal line, was blockaded by them in his capi-
tal, Ispahan, which had then attained the summit of pros-
VII.] NADIR SHAH. 199
perity, and contained a population of 600,000. After the
besieged had endured the greatest extremities of misery and
want, the king with his court went out attired in deep mourn-
ing and gave himself up to Mahmood, the victorious chief, and
placed the diadem on his brows. Mahmood, after a reign of
two years, rendered execrable by his cruelties, left all his con-
quests to his son Asruf. Nadir Shah, the greatest warrior
Persia has produced since the days of Darius, was the son of
a shepherd of Khorasan. His enterprising spirit led him to
collect a band of freebooters ; their number increased with
their success, and he soon found himself at the head of a
formidable force, with which he freed Khorasan from the
Abdalee Afghans who had overrun it. The Ghiljie king of
Persia was the next to feel his power, and was obliged to re-
sign all his father's conquests in Persia. Nadir, after his first
success, raised Thamasp, the son of the dethroned Sofi monarch
to the throne ; but when he had expelled the Turks and the
Russians from the provinces they had occupied, and restored
independence and dignity to his native land, he ascended the
throne himself, on the assumed imporl unity of a hundred
thousand of his subjects, nobles, soldiers, and peasants, as-
sembled together on a vast plain to offer him the crown.
To find employment for his troops, and to
He invades Af-
ghanistan and gratify the resentment of his countrymen, he
India, 1737-38 carr i e( i his arms into the country of the Ghiljies,
by whom they had been oppressed ; but Candahar was be-
sieged for a twelvemonth before it surrendered. While en-
gaged in the siege, Nadir sent a messenger to Delhi to
demand the surrender of some of his fugitive subjects. The
court was at the time distracted by the claims of Bajee Rao,
and the demand was neglected. A second messenger was
assassinated at Jellalabad. The government of India had,
from time immemorial, been in the habit of paying an annual
subsidy to the highlanders who occupy the passes between
Cabul and Peshawur, and who were in a position to arrest the
progress of any invader. In the confusion of the times the
200 SACK OF DELHI. [CHAP.
payment of this black mail had been discontinued, and the
Highlanders now opened the gates of India to Nadir Shah,
who crossed the Indus, on a bridge of boats, with 65,000
hardy veterans, and overran the Punjab before the court of
Delhi was aware of his approach.
Massacre of The emperor marched to Curnal to repel the in-
Deihi, 1739. vasion, biit experienced a fatal defeat, and, being
without the means of resistance, proceeded immediately to
the Persian camp, and threw himself on the mercy of the con-
queror. The object of Nadir was wealth, not conquest, and
it has been affirmed that he was prepared to retire on receiving
a contribution of two crores of rupees ; but Sadut Ali, the
soobadar of Oude, who had been refused some favour by the em-
peror, sought revenge by representing to Nadir that this was
a very inadequate ransom for an opulent empire, adding, that
he was able to furnish such a sum from his own province alone.
On this Nadir determined to levy the exactions under his own
eye. He entered Delhi in March, 1739, in company with the
ompernr, and took up his residence in the palace. On the
succeeding day a report of his death was spread abroad, and
the citizens rose on the Persians, of whom a thousand perished
in the tumult, which continued throughout the night. The
next morning Nadir mounted his horse and went forth to
restore order, but the first sight which met his eye was the
mangled corpses of his soldiers ; at the same time he himself
was assailed with missiles from the windows, and a favourite
officer was struck dead at his side. Unable any longer to
restrain his fury, he issued orders for a general massacre of the
inhabitants. For several hours the metropolis of India pre-
sented a scene of violence, lust, and bloodshed, and 8,000 are
said to have fallen under the swords of the infuriated soldiery ;
yet so complete was Nadir's discipline, that every sword was
sheathed the moment he issued the order.
Plunder of Nadir Shah now entered deliberately on the
Delhi, 1739. W0 rk of spoliation. He despoiled the emperor and
his nobles of all their treasures and jewels, caused every house
VII.] STATE OF INDIA ON NADIR SHAH'S DEPARTURE. 201
to be searched and sacked, and spared no cruelty to extort
confessions of wealth. Of the infamous Sadut Ah' he de-
manded the whole of the sum which he had said his soubah was
able to furnish, and the traitor terminated his existence by
swallowing poison. The governors of the other provinces
were likewise laid under heavy contributions. Having thus
subjected Delhi to fifty-eight days of ruthless pillage, and ex-
hausted, as he supposed, the wealth of the country, he pre-
pared to take his departure with plunder estimated at thirty-
two crores of rupees. Before his departure he reseated
Mahomed Shah on the throne, but annexed all the countries
west of the Indus to the crown of Persia. He likewise sent
a circular to all the princes of India to acquaint them that he
was moving to the conquest of other regions, and had replaced
his dear brother Mahomed Shah on the throne of his extensive
empire, and that if any report of their rebellion reached his
ears, he would return and blot their names out of the book of
creation.
The Mogul empire, which had been in a state of
State of India
after Nadir's rapid decay for more than thirty years, since the
irruption in 1739. death of Aurungzebe , received its death-blow
from the irruption of Nadir Shah and the sack of the capital.
Its prestige was irrecoverably lost, and the various provinces
ceased to yield any but a nominal obedience to the throne of
Delhi. All its possessions beyond the Indus were alienated
to the crown of Persia. In the extreme south the Mogul
authority was extinct in the principalities of Tanjore, Madura,
and Mysore. The nabob of the Carnatic recognised no
superior. The government of the Deccan was shared between
the Nizam and the Mahrattas, and the Mahrattas had recently
extended their ravages to the gates of Delhi. In the pro-
vinces of Guzerat and Malwa the authority of the emperor
was trembling in the balance. The rajas of Rajpootana had
ceased to be the vassals of the throne. The soobadars of
Oude and Bengal acknowleged the emperor as the source of
authority, but yielded him no obedience. Even in the imme-
202 INTRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH INTO INDIA. [CHAP.
diate vicinity of the metropolis new chiefs were, as the Maho-
medan historian remarks, " beating the drum of independence."
Towards the close of Aurungzebe's reign a tribe of sooders
called Jauts emigrated from the banks of the Indus to the
districts lying between Agra and Jeypore, and founded their
capital, Bhurtpore, out of the plunder of the emperor's camp
equipage ; and their leader, Chooramun, did not scruple to set
the imperial authority at defiance. To the north of Delhi, a
tribe of Rohilla Afghans, recently embodied under a circum-
cised Hindoo, were rapidly rising into importance. The house
of Baber had accomplished the cycle of its existence, and the
sceptre of India was about to pass into other hands. Having
thus reached the verge of a new era, we turn to the origin
and progress of the strangers to whose lot that sceptre was
to fall, though at this period they were engaged in the peace-
ful pursuits of commerce, and dreaming of nothing so little
as the establishment of an empire in India. The main stream
of this narrative will now follow the fortunes of the British
po\er, to which the history of the various kingdoms which
rose upon the decay of the Moguls will be subsidiary. But, it
may be useful to bear in mind, that, with the exception of the
liajpoot chiefs and the puppet emperor at Delhi, not one ol
the kingdoms which were subsequently absorbed in the British
empire had been in existence even a quarter of a century
when the English first took up arms in Hindostan.
CHAPTER VIII.
RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH, 1600 1756.
THE rich trade which the Portuguese had esta-
The English in
India before Wished in the East during the sixteenth century
served to quicken the spirit of enterprise which
Queen Elizabeth laboured to foster in England, and her sub-
jects were impatient to share in its profits. The splendid and
VIII.] THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 203
successful voyages of Drake, Cavendish, and other English
navigators to the eastern hemisphere tended.to augment the
national ardour. In 1583, Fitch and three other adventurers
started on a commercial expedition to India, by way of Aleppo
and Bagdad. They carried letters of introduction from the
queen to the emperor Akbar, soliciting his kind offices to her
subjects who were proceeding from a far country to trade in
his dominions, and offering the same kindness in return to
any of his subjects who might visit England. Fitch travelled
through the length and breadth of Hindostan, and was struck
with the splendour of the court, the grandeur of the nobility,
and the magnitude and opulence of the cities. The informa-
tion which he collected regarding the commodities of the
country, and the industry and wealth of the people, opened up
visions of a lucrative commerce to his fellow-countrymen. A
petition was accordingly presented to the Queen for permis-
sion to send three vessels to India, but the political caution
of her ministers rendered it fruitless.
An association was at length formed in London,
m 1599, consisting of merchants, ironmongers,
clothiers, and other men of substance, who sub-
scribed the sum of 30, 133 J. for the purpose of opening a trade
with the East. In the following year they obtained a charter
of incorporation from Queen Elizabeth, which granted them
the exclusive privilege of this traffic for fifteen years, if it
proved advantageous to the nation ; if otherwise, it was liable
to be annulled on two years' notice. Such was the origin of the
East India Company, which confined itself to commerce for a
hundred and fifty years, and then took up arms in defence
of its factories, and in less than a century established British
sovereignty from the Himalayu to Cape Coinorin, and from
Peshawur to the borders of Siam.
The first adventure of the Company was placed under the
command of Captain Lancaster, and consisted of five vessels
freighted with iron, tin, lead, cloth, cutlery, glass, quicksilver,
and Muscovy hides, of the value of 68,000 rupees, and 287,420
204 POWER OF THE PORTUGUESE. [CHAP.
rupees in bullion. It sailed from Torbay on the 2nd of May,
1601, with letters of introduction from the Queen to the
princes to whose kingdoms it might resort. The new Com-
pany had no distinct knowledge of any part of India, and the
fleet sailed to Acheen, in the island of Sumatra, where a cargo
of pepper was obtained, and a treaty concluded with the Malay
chiefs. In the Straits of Malacca, Captain Lancaster captured
a Portuguese vessel of 900 tons, richly laden with calicoes
and spices, and then steered for Bantam, the most flourishing-
port in the island of Java, where he erected a factory and
left agents. The expedition returned to England in September,
1603, with a satisfactory profit to the adventurers. During
the following ten years eight voyages were undertaken,
which gave a return of from one to two hundred per cent. lu
1608 the factors at Bantam represented that the calicoes of
India were in great request in the islands of the Archipelago,
and a fleet was therefore despatched, for the first time, to the
coast of India ; but the object was defeated by the jealousy
of the Portuguese.
The Portuguese The Portuguese at this period enjoyed a corn-
power, mercial supremacy in the eastern hemisphere, and
were anxious to prevent the intrusion of rivals. They held
little territory on the continent of India, but they completely
monopolised its foreign trade. By the possession of Aden
and Ormuz they entirely commanded the Ked Sea and the
Persian Gulf. They occupied the coasts of Ceylon, and had no
rival on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. They were
paramount on the Malay seaboard, and held possession of
the Moluccas, or spice islands. They had erected a factoiy at
Macao, and enjoyed the exclusive trade of China. Their
well-fortified settlement at Hooghly, second only to that of
Goa, rendered them a most formidable power in Bengal. It
was \vith this great mercantile monopoly that the English
had now to enter into competition. In 1611 the East India
Company sent two vessels to Surat, and the Portuguese
prepared to resist their advance with four ships, the largest
VIII.] EMBASSY OF SIR THOMAS ROE. 205
cf which carried thirty-eight gung. In the several encounters
which took place between them, the Portuguese were dis-
comfited and disgraced in the eyes of the natives. The Mogul
governor of Surat and his officers spent an evening on board
the vessel of the commander, and was the first native chief
who ever partook of the hospitality of the English. As the
Portuguese power was an object of dread along the Coast, the
reputation of the East India Company was relatively exalted,
and they obtained authority to establish factories at Surat,
Ahmedabad, and other towns. These privileges were con-
firmed by an imperial firman granted by Jehangeer on the
llth of January, 1613, and Surat became the chief seat of
English commerce on the western coast of India.
Embassy of si* To improve the footing which had been obtained
T. Eoe, 1615. j n indja^ the Company prevailed on King James
to send an embassy to the great Mogul. Sir Thomas Roe was
appointed envoy, and proved to be admirably adapted for so
delicate and difficult a mission. He sailed from England in
January, 1615, and landed at Surat with great pomp, attended
by a brilliant suite and eighteen men-at-arms, and proceeded
to the imperial Court, where he was received with greater
distinction than had been accorded to any Persian or Turkish
ambassador. Having stated the chief object of his embassy,
he was assured that the grievances of which he complained
should be redressed. But he found himself thwarted by the
influence of the Portuguese, as well as by the vizier and
Shah Jehan, who subsequently succeeded to the empire. His
talent and address enabled him to overcome these obstacles,
and he obtained some valuable privileges for the Company, on
whom, after his return, he bestowed the salutary advice
which they did not forget for more than sixty years, "to
seek their profit at sea and in quiet trade, and not to affect
garrisons and land wars in India."
It does not lie within the scope of this work to dwell on
the long-continued struggle of the East India Company with
206 PATRIOTISM OF MR. BOUGHTOW. [CHAP.
the Dutch for a share in the spice trade of the eastern islands,
or on the massacre at. Amboyna, which continued for thirty
years to rankle in the minds of Englishmen, till Cromwell
compelled the Dutch, to make satisfaction for it. In like
manner we pass over the contests with the Portuguese for
the possession of Ormuz and the trade with Persia, which,
when obtained, was not found worth retaining. We move
on to the establishment of the Company in Bengal. In
1620 two of their factors visited Patna, but met with little
The Enpiisn in encouragement. In 1634 a firman appears to have
Bengal, 1620 se. j^^ obtained from the emperor, Shah Jehan, for
the establishment of a factory in Bengal ; but the resistance
of Rodrigues at Hooghly was yet fresh, and the residence
of their agents was restricted to the port of Pipley, near Bala-
sore. Two years after, the daughter of the emperor, who was
then encamped in the Deccan, having fallen ill, the vizier dis-
patched an express to the English factory at Surat to request
the services of a surgeon. Mr. Boughton, attached to one
of the ships, was accordingly sent to the imperial camp, and
having succeeded in restoring the princess to health, was
desired to name his own reward. In a spirit of the noblest
patriotism, he stated that the only remuneration he would
accept was an order granting his countrymen the privilege of
trading in Bengal free of duty, and planting factories in the
interior of the country. The request was at once granted,
and he proceeded across the Deccan to Bengal at the charge
of the emperor. Soon after his arrival at Pipley, the first
English vessel which had ever visited Bengal entered the
port, and he was enabled to negotiate the sale and purchase
of the investment without being subject to extortion. Two
years after, the emperor's second son, prince Soojah, who had
been appointed viceroy of Bengal, established his court at
Rajmahal. Mr. Boughton proceeded to pay his respects to the
prince, and was requested to prescribe for one of the ladies
of the seraglio. He was again successful, and enjoyed a
viir.] COMPANY'S CHARTER CONFIRMED. 207
second opportunity of promoting the interests of his country.
At his request the prince granted letters patent to the English
to establish factories at Balasore and Hooghly.
Establishment The first factory of the Company on the Coro-
of Madras, 1639. man( Jel coast was opened at Masulipatam, from
whence it was removed, in 1625, to Armegan. The trade was
not however found to be remunerative, and Mr. Day, the
superintendent, accepted the invitation of the raja of Chun-
dergiree, the last representative of the great Hindoo dynasty
of Beejuynugur, to remove the establishment to his territories.
In a small village on the coast a plot of ground was marked
out, on which, in 1639, he erected the factory which after-
wards expanded into the great city of Madras. To give
confidence to the native merchants, it was surrounded by a
fortification, with twelve guns, and in honour of the champion
of England was called Fort St. George.
For fifteen years after this period there is no event in the
transactions of the Company worthy of attention. The un-
settled state of England during the civil wars was not
favourable to the interests of commerce, and the trade of the
Company languished. The investments were small, and the
profits smaller; but as soon as domestic tranquillity was
restored under the Protector, an attempt was made by a body
of men, calling themselves the " Merchant Adventurers," to
break up the exclusive privileges of the East India Company.
The arguments they employed for free trade appear at the
present day to be unanswerable, but their validity was not
likely to be admitted by those who had devised the Navi-
gation Act. Cromwell referred the question to the Council of
State, who recommended him to confirm the privileges of the
Company, and a new charter was accordingly granted to that
body. There can be little doubt that, in the circumstances of the
times, the decision of Cromwell was sound, and that the power
of a corporation was essential to the maintenance of a trade
exposed to the caprice and the hostility of the native powers
of the East. The Merchant Adventurers were therefore incor-
208 ACQUISITION OF BOMBAY. [CHAP.
porated with the old Company, and the two bodies united
in soliciting a confirmation of their privileges from Charles
the Second at the Restoration. A charter was granted on the
3rd of April, 1661, which, in addition to the usual commercial
privileges, conferred the right to make peace and to wage war
with any people in India not Christians, to seize and deport
to England all unlicensed Englishmen, and to administer
justice. The Company, which existed only for trade, was thus
invested with the most essential attributes of government.
AC uisition of ^ n *^ e succeeding year Charles II. married the
Bombay, 1662. daughter of the king of Portugal, and received
the island and dependencies of Bombay as part of her dower.
A grand expedition was dispatched to India by the Crown,
under the Earl of Marlborough, to receive possession of the
settlements ; but after having held it for six years, the minis-
ters of the Crown found that it cost more than it yielded,
and ceded it to the Company, under whose fostering care the
population has increased from 10,000 to 500,000, and the trade
has risen from a few lacs of rupees to thirty crores.
First tea in "^6 vear ' * n which the Company acquired the
England, 1668. island of Bombay, is also memorable as that in
which the first order for the purchase of tea was sent out by
them to the East. Tea had been used at the period of the
civil war as a "regalia in high treatments and entertain-
ments, and presents to princes and grandees," and was sold
as high as 100 shillings the pound weight, or 100 rupees the
seer. But in 1657, Thomas Garraway, the founder of Garra-
way's coffee-house, which still exists in London, was the first
to sell it " in drink made according to the directions of the
most knowing merchants and travellers into the eastern
countries, and many noblemen, merchants, and physicians
resorted to his house in Change Alley to drink the drink
thereof." He sold it at a rate varying from 16s. to 50s. the
pound. But it was not till ten years after that the Company
issued an order for "100 Ibs. weight of the best tey they
could gett to be sent home by their ships." The consumption
VIII.] FLOURISHING STATE OF TRADE. 209
in England has increased from one hundred pounds weight to
more than eighty millions of pounds.
Events in Ben- Turning now to the progress of events in Bengal.
cai, 16401680. With the exception of two biief intervals, the
administration of the province was, during thirty-two years,
in the hands of two princes of the imperial family, Soojah
Khan and Shaista Khan, under whose mild arid beneficent
rule it enjoyed repose and increased in prosperity. Shaista
Khan is charged by the factors of the Company with insatiable
rapacity; but they winced under every demand, however
petty, and they did not deny that he fostered their commerce
and obtained many favours for them from Delhi. In
1664, the French, under the auspices of the great minister
Colbert, established an East India Company, in the hope of
participating in the trade which had enriched England
and Holland. Soon after, a large French fleet sailed up
the Hooghly and formed a settlement at Chandernagore.
Three years after, the Dutch, whose trade had been confined
to Balasore, were permitted to establish a factory at Hooghly,
but eventually fixed on Chinsurah, two miles distant, as the
seat of their traffic, and erected a fortification capable of
resisting the native powers, which they named Fort Augustus.
About the same period the Danes entered the river, and
embarked in the trade of the country. Bengal, thus blessed
with tranquillity, and enriched by foreign commerce, became
the most flourishing province in the empire. The general
trade of the Company, which had been drooping for many
years, received a .new impulse from the rapid increase of pros-
perity in England after the Restoration, and their exports rose
from 10 lacs in 1666, to 100 lacs of rupees in 1682. The
ambitious fortunes to which this trade gave birth in England
created a brood of interlopers, and gave rise to disputes which at
one time threatened to embroil the two Houses of Parliament.
Disturbance of Shaista Khan had been relieved from the govern-
the trade, 1682. mcnt of Bengal at his own request, and the Com-
pany's agents in Calcutta took advantage of his return to the
210 THE PROSPECTS OP TRADE OBSCURED. [CHAP.
court to solicit a perpetual firman to exonerate them from
the necessity of taking out a fresh firman on the arrival of
every new governor, for which they were required to pay most
heavily. It was granted through his intercession, and received
in Calcutta with a salute of 300 guns. The trade of Bengal
had moreover acquired such importance that the Court of
Directors who managed the affairs of the Company raised it
to the dignity of a separate and independent Presidency, and
Mr. Hedges, the first governor, entered Hooghly with a body-
guard of a corporal and twenty European soldiers. But these
prospects were soon to be darkened by the wild ambition of
the Court of Directors and the folly of their officers. Mr. Pea-
cock, the chief of the factory at Patna, had remained neutral
during a local emeute, and was charged by the Mogul governor
with complicity, and placed in confinement, from which he was
not released without much difficulty. The Company's lucra-
tive trade in saltpetre was stopped at the same time. A
rival East India Company had been formed in London under
high auspices, and great efforts were made to obtain a char-
ter for it ; but the old Company was still patronized by the
Court, and was endowed with the additional powers of
admiralty jurisdiction, which authorized them to seize and con-
fiscate the property of their rivals abroad. They now soli-
cited the permission of the viceroy to erect a fort at the
mouth of the Hooghly, or on its banks, that they might more
effectually intercept the vessels of interlopers. The repre-
sentative of the Mogul had a horror of European fortifications,
and, if he took any interest in the question of rival companies,
must naturally have desired that the number of investments
on which he could levy contributions, should be increased.
The request was therefore refused, and not without reason,
for such a fortification would have given the Company the
absolute control of the port and of the commerce of the pro-
vince. But the viceroy went further, and imposed a duty of
3^ per cent, on their goods, notwithstanding the exemption
acquired by the imperial firman.
VIII.] COMPANY GO TO WAR WITH THE MOGULS. 211
war with the Such demands had been often made before, and
Moguls, less, as often eluded by a liberal donative ; but the
East India Company had become inflated with an idea of their
own power and importance, and determined to extort redress
by going to war with the Mogul empire. They applied to
James II. for permission to retaliate the injuries of which they
complained, and fitted out the largest armament which had
ever been dispatched from England to the East. Admiral
Nicholson was sent out with twelve ships of war, carrying 200
pieces of cannon and a body of 600 men, to be reinforced by
400 from Madras. His instructions were to seize and fortify
Ohittagong, for which purpose 200 additional guns were
placed on board, to demand the cession of the surrounding
territory, to conciliate the zemindars, to establish a mint,
and to enter into a treaty with the raja of Arracan in
short, to found a kingdom. But these ambitious projects
were destined to a severe disappointment. The fleet was
dispersed during the voyage, and several of the vessels,
instead of steering for Chittagong, entered the Hooghly, and
being joined by the Madras troops, anchored off the Company's
factory. The arrival of so formidable an expedition alarmed
th6 viceroy, and he offered to compromise his differences with
the English ; but an unforeseen event brought the negotia-
tion to an abrupt close. Three English soldiers, strolling
through the market-place of Hooghly, quarrelled with some
of the government policemen, and were severely beaten.
Both parties were reinforced, and a regular engagement
ensued, in which the natives were completely discomfited.
At the same time the admiral opened fire on the town and
burnt down 500 houses, as well as property belonging to the
Company to the extent of thirty lacs of rupees.
The Mogul commandant hastened to solicit a
The English
retire to ingeiee, suspension of arms, and assisted m conveying the
remainder of the saltpetre on board the ships.
Job Charnock, the English chief, considering Hooghly no
longer safe, retired on the 20th December, 1686, to the little
p 2
212 BEKGAL ABANDOIfED. [ciIAP.
hamlet of Chuttanutty, about twenty-six miles down the river,
on the site of which subsequently arose the magnificent capi-
tal of British India. There the viceroy renewed and spun out
the negotiations till his troops could be assembled, when he
marched down to attack the English encampment, and Job
Charnock retired with his soldiers and establishments to the
island of Ingelee, at the mouth of the river. It was a low
and deadly swamp, covered with long grass, and destitute of
any fresh water. It appears incredible that a man of Char-
nock's experience, who had been thirty years in India, and
who must have known the nature of that jungle, should have
selected the most unhealthy spot in Bengal for an entrenched
camp. The Mogul general allowed him to remain there
without molestation, well knowing that disease would spare
his soldiers the use of their swords. In three months one half
of the troops were dead, and the other half fit only for hospital.
Bengal atmn- At. this juncture, when the prospects of the
doned, 1688. English were reduced to the lowest ebb, the viceroy
made unexpected overtures to Charnock. It appears that
simultaneously with the dispatch of Admiral Nicholson's
expedition from England, the Court of Directors instructed Sir
John Child to withdraw their establishments from Surat and
the neighbouring ports, and to commence hostilities on the
western coast. An English fleet was therefore employed in
blockading the Mogul harbours, and the pilgrim ships were
captured. The bigotted Aurungzebe hastened to seek a re-
conciliation with those who commanded the highway to Mecca,
and orders were issued to the governors of provinces to make
terms with them. Charnock returned to Chuttanutty, and
the pacification was on the point of being completed when the
appearance of Captain Heath rekindled the flame. The Court
of Directors, on hearing of the failure of Admiral Nicholson's
expedition, instead of folding up their ambitious project,
determined to prosecute it with increased vigour, and sent out
reinforcements under Captain Heath. Immediately on his
arrival he disallowed the treaty then pending, and having em-
Vm.] RECONCILIATION WITTI THE EMPEROR. 213
barked on board the ships under his command, lying off
Chuttanutty, the whole of the company's officers, civil and
military, proceeded to Balasore, which he bombarded and
burnt. He then sailed to Chittagong ; but finding the forti-
fications stronger than he had anticipated, crossed the bay,
and landed the whole of the company's establishments at
Madras ; and not a vestige was left of the commercial fabric
which had been reared in Bengal by fifty years of painful
exertion.
Reconciliation "^ s fresh insult exasperated the haughty spirit
with the of the emperor, and he issued orders for the
extirpation of the English, and the confiscation
of their property. His orders were literally obeyed, and the
English possessions were reduced to the fortified towns of
Madras and Bombay. Sir John Child sent two gentlemen
from Bombay to the emperor's encampment at Beejapore to
propose terms of accommodation. Aurungzebe never allowed
his passions to interfere with his interests. He was aware
that his dominions benefited greatly by the commerce of the
English, the value of which exceeded a crore of rupees a year ;
that their ships of war could sweep his coasts and extinguish his
navy ; and, above all, that it was in their power to prevent the re-
sort of pilgrims to the tomb of the Prophet. He was there-
fore induced to accept the proposition of the commissioners,
and directed the viceroy of Bengal to invite Mr. Charnock
back to the province.
Shaista Khan, who had now governed Bengal for twenty
years, solicited permission to retire, and quitted Dacca in 1689.
On his departure he closed one of the gates of the city, and
placed an inscription over it to commemorate the fact that
the price of rice had been reduced during his administration
to 320 seers the rupee, and he interdicted any future governor
from opening it till rice was again sold at the same rate. It
consequently continued closed for thirty-six years.
jfchiMinhmentof Shaista Klian was succeeded by Ibrahim Khan,
Calcutta, lew. the sou of AH Mercian, whoso name is perpetuated
214 ESTABLISHMENT OP CALCUTTA. [CHAP.
by his canals. The new viceroy, who was partial to the
English, lost no time in inviting Charnock to re-establish the
Company's factories in Bengal. Charnock, however, resented
the humiliating as well as vague terms in which Aurungzebe
had conceded the restoration of the settlements of the English,
in consequence, so ran the proclamation, of thek having
" made a most humble and submissive petition that the crimes
they had committed should be forgiven." He replied that he
could not accept the proposal unless the emperor granted a
specific firman for Bengal, setting forth the precise terms on
which they were to cany on their trade in future. The
viceroy sent him a second communication, stating that several
months must elapse before the firman could be received from
the imperial Court, and importuned him to return without
delay, offering a compensation of 80,000 rupees for the goods
which had been plundered. Charnock could not resist this
friendly appeal, and embarked for Bengal with the commercial
establishments of the Company, and on the 24th of August,
1690, hoisted the standard of England on the banks of the
Hooghly, and laid the foundation of the city of CALCUTTA.
But he did not survive this memorable event more than two
years. His name is perpetuated at Barrackpore, which the
natives still continue to designate Achanuk, and a simple monu-
ment in the churchyard of St. John's, in Calcutta, marks the
grave of the man who founded the " city of palaces." It was
not, however, till eight years after that the agent of the Com-
pany was enabled to obtain permission, by a present of 1 6,000
rupees to the viceroy, to purchase the three villages of Calcutta,
Chuttanutty, and Govindpore, on which the city stands;
though the Court of Directors did not fail to remark that
" they considered the price very high."
Ambition of the The sudden spasm of ambition which seized the
courtquenched. CovLTt of Directors, in 1685, and induced them to
fit out , this grand armament to establish a political power
in India, did not, however, last more than five years. The
dying indication of it appears in their despatch of 1689 : " The
VHI.] FORTIFICATION OF CALCUTTA. 215
increase of our revenue is the subject of our care as much as
our trade; 'tis that must maintain our force when twenty
accidents may interrupt our trade ; 'tis that must make us
a nation in India; without that we are but as a great
number of interlopers, united by his Majesty's charter,
fit only to trade where nobody of power thinks it their
interest to oppose us ; and upon this account it is that the
wise Dutch, in all their general advices that we have seen,
write ten paragraphs concerning their government, their
civil and military policy, warfare, and the increase of their
revenue, for one paragraph they write concerning their trade."
But adversity was not lost upon the Court of Directors ; from
this time forward, and for more than fifty years, their views
were confined so exclusively to the pursuits of commerce that
in the year 1754, only three years before the battle of Plassy,
which laid the foundation of their magnificent empire, they con-
tinued to inculcate on their servants, the necessity of "avoid-
ing an expensive manner of living, and of considering them-
selves the representatives of a body of merchants, for which a
decent frugality would be much more in character."
Fortifications of After the establishment of the factory at Cal-
caicutta, J695. cu ^ta, the Court of Directors were anxious to place
it in a state of defence. They felt that their existence in
India during the recent convulsion had been owing solely
to the fortresses of Madras and Bombay, which were impreg-
nable to the assaults of any native force. Those forts had
been erected before the Mogul authority was extended over
the territory in which they were situated ; but any increase
of such defences was prohibited by the policy of the empire.
Ibrahim Khan, the viceroy of Bengal, resisted all the impor-
tunities of the Company's chief to fortify Calcutta, though it
was backed by an offer of 40,000 rupees. But five years
after that settlement had been established an unexpected
event led to the gratification of this wish. Sobha Sing, a
landed proprietor of Burdwan, irritated by the proceedings of
his superior, created a rebellion, and invited Kuhim Khan, the
216 RIVAL COMPANY. [CHAP
leader of the remnant of the Orissa Afghans, who had not been
heard of for seventy years, to join his standard. Their united
force defeated the raja Krishnu Ram, plundered the town of
Hooghly, and took possession of the district. The English
at Calcutta, the French at Chandernagore, and the Dutch
at Chinsurah, with a ferocious enemy at their gate, asked
permission to put their settlements in a state of defence.
The pacific and irresolute viceroy, who was unequal to the
crisis of a rebellion, desired them in general terms to provide
for their own security. Immediately every hand was em-
ployed day and night in erecting fortifications. The fort,
built with lime brought up from Madras, was so substantial,
that the demolition of it a hundred and twenty years after
was supposed to have cost more labour than its erection.
In compliment to the reigning monarch, it was named Fort
William. Meanwhile the rebellion made head, and the Afghans
became masters of the whole country on the right bank of
the river, from Orissa to Rajmahal ; but they were at length
completely defeated and dispersed by Zuberdust Khan, the
valiant son of the feeble viceroy. But both father and son
were soon after superseded by the emperor, who dreaded the
juccess of his generals only less than that of his enemies, and
Bent his grandson, Azim, to take charge of the province. The
character of this prince encouraged the rebels to reassemble
their forces ; the royal encampment was furiously assaulted,
and the viceroy himself was saved from an ignominious defeat
only by the death of Ruhim Khan. He fell in single combat
with one of his officers, who announced himself to be the prince,
and thus saved his master's life. On the death of then: leader,
the Afghans made their submission to the government, the
revolt died out, and the Orissa Afghans disappear from the
page of history.
Rival Company, Scarcely had the Company surmounted their
1698. difficulties in India, than they were threatened
with a new and more appalling danger in England. The
dazzling profits of the Indian trade had drawn forth a multi-
Till.] DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE RIVALRY. 217
tude of competitors ; but the Company were enabled to obtain
a confirmation of their exclusive privileges from the Crown in
1693. A few months after this event the House of Commons
passed a resolution to the effect " that it is the right of all
Englishmen to trade to the East Indies, or any part of the
world, unless prohibited by Act of Parliament." This gave
fresh animation to the interlopers, and many of them turned
pirates, attacking the Mogul ships and plundering the Mecca
pilgrims. In revenge for these injuries, the Mogul governor
of Surat arrested fifty-three of the Company's servants, and
put them in irons, and they were not liberated without the
payment of heavy contributions. In 1698 the interlopers,
and others who were eager to participate in the trade of the
East, presented a petition to Parliament for a charter, and
accompanied it with the tempting offer of accommodating the
treasury with a loan of two millions sterling, at eight per
cent. Their exertions were successful, and the old Com-
pany, who had established British interests in India by a
century of labour and expense, being unable to offer more
than 700,000?., were ordered to wind-up their affairs and
expire in three years. But the rivalry of the two bodies was
found, even in the first year, to inflict the most serious injury
on the national interests in India. At Surat the gentlemen
on the staff of the old Company were seized by the agents of
the new body, and conveyed through the streets like male-
factors, with their hands bound behind them, and delivered as
prisoners into the custody of the Mogul governor. In every
market the competition of the two bodies created a scarcity,
and enhanced the price of goods. The officers of the native
government, courted by two parties, received bribes from
each, and oppressed both. "Two East India Companies,"
exclaimed the old Court of Directors, " can no more subsist
without destroying each other than two kings regnant at the
same time hi the same kingdom ; that now a civil battle was
to be fought between them, and two or three years must end
this war, as the old or the new must give way."
218 EMBASSY OF SIR W. NORRIS. [CHAP.
Embassy of sir On the establishment of the new Company,
w. Nonis, 1700. g; r -William Norris was sent at their expense as
ambassador from the court of England to the court of the
Mogul, to obtain firmans for the establishment of factories.
His difficulties began before he entered the port. The Mogul
governor of Surat exacted 15,000 gold mohurs for granting
him permission to make a public entry into the city. The
vizier at Boorhanpore refused him an audience unless he came
without drums and trumpets ; and he therefore turned off to
the imperial encampment at Panalla, which he reached in
April, 1701. Three weeks after, he proceeded to the durbar
with a splendid cortege, and preceded by magnificent pre-
sents. The aged emperor, then in his 88th year, but in the
fullest enjoyment of his faculties, received him with great
courtesy, and ordered the grants which he solicited to be pre-
pared. But the Armenian agents of the old Company were
present to thwart Sir William. Both parties were offering
bribes and lavishing money, and decrying each other as
impostors. With these conflicting claims before him, the
emperor ordered a reference to be made to one Syud Sedoolla,
a " holy priest of Surat," who was to determine by examina-
tion which was " the real English Company." The holy priest
put his award up to sale, and knocked it down for 10,000
rupees ; but the governor of Surat refused to report it with-
out a donative of more than two lacs and a half of rupees.
Before the terms could be settled, it was reported at the
The English Court that three Mogul ships coming from Mocha
pirates, 1698. j^ ^ een ca pt ure d by English pirates. These
pirates, of whom Captain Kidd was now the chief, had long
been the terror of India. Their vessels were fitted out at
New York and in the West Indies, and they possessed several
fortified stations on the island of Madagascar. With a fleet of
ten ships, some carrying fifty guns, and divided into squadrons,
they kept possession of the Indian seas. Two of the Company's
vessels, which were sent against them, were seized by the
crews, after the massacre of the officers, and added to the pirate
Vm.] UNION OP THE TWO COMPANIES. 219
fleet. A squadron of four ships of war was sent against them
under Commodore Warren, but one of his vessels was wrecked,
and so lax was the naval discipline of the period, that the
other three, instead of going in pursuit of the pirates, returned
to England laden with cargoes of private merchandize. The
emperor, on hearing of these renewed piracies, ordered the
ambassador to furnish security for the restoration of the cap-
tured vessels, and to enter into an engagement to prevent all
piracies in future. With this unreasonable request he of
course, refused to comply, on which he was informed that he
knew his way back to England. He left the camp after seven
months of fruitless negotiation, with a letter and a sword from
Aurungzebe to the King of England ; and thus ended a mission
which had cost the new Company nearly seven lacs of rupees.
The embassy itself was a mistake. One of Cromwell's ambas-
sadors a sixty-four gun ship, which spoke all languages, and
never took a refusal would have been far more efficacious
with this unprincipled court. Sir John Gayer and the other
servants of the new Company at Surat would not then have
been consigned to a jail as a retaliation for piracies they had
no means of preventing.
union of the ^he King, the Parliament, and the nation be-
companies, 1702. came at length sensible of the fatal results of the
rivalry they had created, and the two Companies were amal-
gamated by universal consent, under the title of the " United
Company of Merchants trading to the East," the indenture of
which passed the Great Seal on the 22nd of July, 1702. On
the completion of this union the Court of Directors, formed by
the selection of an equal number from each Company, wrote to
their representative at Calcutta, that " now they were esta-
blished by a Parliamentary authority they deemed it a duty
incumbent on them to England and their posterity to propa-
gate the future interests of the nation in India with vigour."
They directed their attention to the building of the town of
Calcutta, and gave minute directions regarding its streets and
houses. They completed the fort, surrounded it with au
220 CONTESTS WITH THE VICEROY. [CHAP.
entrenchment, and mounted it with cannon. The military
commandant of Hooghly was, on the occasion of a dispute
with the Company's chief, deterred by its strength from attack-
ing it, and the native merchants who resorted to it in large
numbers were inspired with increased confidence. The Court
of Directors then remodelled their Indian establishment, fixing
the salary of the President at 300Z., of the eight members of
council at 4QL, of the junior merchants at 30/., the factors at
15., and the writers at 51.', but these inadequate salaries
were eked out by the addition of commons, an annual supply
of madeira, and the privilege of private trade. The trade
proved so lucrative that we find the Directors soon after this
period, complain that even the junior servants sat down to
dinner with a band of music, and rode out in a coach and four.
From this time forward to the battle of Plassey
Contests with the . . *
viceroy, 1700 the history of Calcutta is little else but a chronicle
1756 ' of the exactions of the native government and
the resistance, alternately bold and feeble, of the Company's
agents. On one occasion the Directors complain that the
extortions by the Fouzdar of Hooghly, who " was merely the
jackal of the prince and the dewan to discover the prey, had
made a great hole in their cash." Then, again, they remon-
strate against the exorbitant demand of 30,000 rupees by the
nabob that is, the viceroy and recommend greater discre-
tion to their agents. Two years after, the nabob makes a
new demand of 60,000 rupees, but is pacified with half that
sum. The year after, the sum of 22,000 rupees is " squeezed
out of them by the Patna king." Again, in 1717, they com-
plain that " the horse-leeches of Moorshedabad had been prac-
tising on their servants." " It was actual war which made
Aurungzebe restore their privileges." Their servants are
therefore ordered to stop, but not to seize, the vessels of the
Mogul, " for reprisals, like extreme unction, must never be
used except in the last extremity." " They never thought of
carrying their contests so far as an open rupture with the
viceroy of the whole country, though it might be expedient to
Till'.] E5IB&SSY TO DELHI. 221
speak and look big with the under-governors." But this
brought them no respite. Soon after, their native agent was
"chabooked," or flagellated at Moorshedabad to extort u
bond of 45,000 rupees from him, which was commuted to
20,000 rupees. Even so late as 1750, the President, having
seized arid confiscated the vessel of an Armenian interloper,
was fined a lac and a half of rupees to compensate the mer-
chant, of which, however, he never received more than 20,000
rupees. It was amidst the constant recurrence of these out-
rageous demands that the President and council in Calcutta
contrived to carry on the trade of the Company till the young
nabob of Moorshedabad filled up the measure of iniquity by
the sack of Calcutta and the atrocity of the Black Hole, and
Clive marched up to Moorshedabad and seated a nabob of his
own on the throne of the three provinces.
Moorshed Kooiee In the year 1702 Meer Jaffer was appointed
Khan, i.o2. d ewan of Bengal, and eventually viceroy of the
three soubahs of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. He was the
eon of a poor brahmin in the Deccan, and was purchased and
circumcised by a Persian merchant of Ispahan, on whose death
he was manumitted. He then entered the public service,
where his talents attracted the notice of Aurungzebe and led
eventually to his being intrusted with the finances of Bengal.
At the same time he was dignified with the title of Moorshed
Kooiee Khan, which was perpetuated in the new capital which
he founded, Moorshedabad.
Embassy to He manifested no little jealousy of the growing
eiiii, 1715. p Ower O f the Company, and interfered to such an
extent with then- trade that the President was induced to
Rend an embassy to Delhi to seek a redress of grievances.
Two of the senior officers in the service were selected for this
office ; but their appeal was thwarted at every point by the
agents of the Bengal viceroy, and not less by the profligate
courtiers of Ferokshere. At length, however, their mission
was unexpectedly crowned with success when they were on
the eve of abandoning it. The emperor, as stated in a former
222 SYSTEM OP MOORSHED KOOLEE KHAN. [CHAP.
chapter, was betrothed to the daughter of Ajeet Sing, the
raja of Joudhpore, whom Hussein All had brought with him
to the court. But the marriage was interrupted by a disease
from which the imperial physicians were unable to relieve
Ferokshere. The surgeon of the embassy, Mr. Hamilton, was
called in and effected a complete cure. He was desired to
name his own recompense, and, with the same feeling of
patriotism which had distinguished Mr. Boughton, he asked
only for the concessions which the British envoys had hitherto
solicited in vain. His request was granted, and thirty-four
patents embracing the different objects of the memorial were
issued in the Emperor's name and authenticated by the impe-
rial seal. The privileges now obtained were, that a dustucTc,
or pass, signed by the President should exempt the goods it
covered from examination by the native officers of government ;
that the mint at Moorshedabad should be employed three
days in the week in coining money for the Company ; that all
persons, European or native, indebted to the Company, should
be made over to the President ; and that the English should
be at liberty to purchase the lordship of thirty-eight towns in
the vicinity of Calcutta. The embassy returned in triumph
to Calcutta ; but the viceroy did not fail to perceive that this
accession of territory would give them the complete command
of the port and make their power formidable, and he deter-
mined to defeat the grant. He sternly prohibited the zemin-
dars to grant a foot of land to the Company on pain of his
severe displeasure. But though the hope of enlarging their
settlement was thus frustrated, the minor privileges they had
acquired gave a new impulse to the prosperity of Calcutta,
and the port was often crowded during the year with 10,000
tons of shipping.
system of the Moorshed Koolee Khan was the greatest and
viceroy. .^ e mog energetic ruler Bengal had enjoyed since
the days of Shere Shah. A hundred and fifty years before
this period the great financier of Akbar, raja Toder Mull, had
formed a settlement of the land rent of Bengal and Behar
VIII.] BHOOJAH-OOD-DEEN. 223
with the ryots, to the exclusion of all middlemen. To facili-
tate the collection of the public revenue Moorshed Koolee
modified this system and divided the province into chuklas,
over each of which he appointed an officer to collect the rents
and remit them to the treasury at Moorshedabad. It was
these officers, who, in process of time, claimed zemindary
rights, imperceptibly enlarged their power, and having
assumed the title of raja, made their office hereditary. The
viceroy, who considered a Mahomedan a sieve, which retained
nothing, and a Hindoo a sponge, which might be squeezed at
pleasure, employed none but Hindoos in these financial duties.
This will account for the singular fact that, at the period of
the battle of Plassy, all the zemindary rajas of Bengal were
Hindoos, while the government itself was Mahomedan. The
viceroy was stern and oppressive in matters of revenue.
Defaulting zemindars were subject to torture, and some were
dragged through a pond filled with insufferable ordure, which
was called, hi derision, bykoont, or paradise. Before appoint-
ing these fiscal officers he caused the lands to be surveyed,
and fixed the assessment at 142,00,000 rupees, of which sum
109,00,000 rupees were punctually remitted to Delhi year by
year. The viceroy himself accompanied this convoy of treasure
the first stage out of Moorshedabad. The whole expenditure
of government was covered by the remaining 33,00,000 rupees ;
but so tranquil was the province that 2,000 cavalry and 4,000
infantry were found sufficient to maintain the public authority.
Soojah-ood- Moorshed Koolee died in 1725, and was succeeded
deen. 1725. jjy n [ g gon-in-law Soojah-ood-deen, a Turkoman,
who was confirmed by the emperor hi the government of
Bengal and Orissa, while that of Behar was conferred on
another. He administered the government for fourteen
years, and punctually remitted the annual tribute to Delhi.
During these two reigns the sum abstracted from the resources
of this flourishing province and squandered at the capital
exceeded thirty crores of rupees. Soojah augmented his
army to 25,000, and adopted a more magnificent style at bis
court than his frugal father-in-law. The only event of any
224 ALl VEEDT KHAST. [CHAP.
note during 1 his reign was the destruction of the Ostcncl East
India Company established by the emperor of Germany at the
factory of Bauky-bazar, on the Hooghly, opposite Chander-
nagore. The settlement of these interlopers was regarded
with feelings of intense jealousy by the Dutch, and more par
ticularly by the English, who declared their intention to '' cut
up the Ostender's trade by the roots and not simply to lop off
the branches." One of their ships was captured by an English
vessel which blockaded the Hooghly. The emperor of Ger-
many was induced, by powerful remonstrances, to withdraw
the charter, and a bribe of 320,000 rupees from the English
and Dutch induced the viceroy to send a force against Banky-
bazar, which fell after a gallant defence, and the Ostenders
were chased out of Bengal.
Aii verdy Khan, Soojah-ood-deen died at the period of Nadir
174 - Shah's invasion, and his son Serferaj Khan took
possession of the government, and ordered the coin to be
struck and prayers to be read in the name of the Persian.
But on his departure, Ali verdy Khan, the governor of Behar,
who owed his fortunes entirely to the deceased viceroy, con-
spired against his son, and, by large douceurs and larger pro-
mises to the profligate ministers of Mohamed Shah, the empe-
ror of Delhi, obtained a sunnud appointing him soobadar of
the three provinces. With the army he had been for some
time engaged in training, he marched against Serferaj, who
was killed by a musket-ball in the battle which ensued, and
Ali verdy mounted the throne, for which, however, he was
eminently fitted by his great talents and experience. The
promises he had made were faithfully performed, and he
remitted to Delhi a crore of rupees in money and seventy lacs
in jewels, obtained from the estate of the deceased nabob a
most welcome supply after the imperial treasury had been
drained by Nadir Shah. The presence of the new viceroy
was required, soon after his accession, in Orissa, where the
brother-in-law of Serferaj refused obedience; but he was
speedily defeated and fled to Masulipatam, Having settled
the province, Ali verdy disbanded his new levies, and was
Vin.] DEATH OF BAJEE RAO. 225
marching back at his leisure to Moorshedabad with a small
body of troops, when he received intelligence that the Mah-
rattas were rapidly advancing with 12,000 predatory horse
to levy contributions in Bengal; and the difficulties of his
reign began.
Mahratta pro- We turn now to the proceedings of the Mah-
ceedings, 1739. rattag after the departure of Nadu- Shah, It was
a fortunate circumstance for India that Bajee Rao was pre-
vented from taking advantage of the confusion of the times
by the necessity of watching the movements of his formidable
rivals, the Guickwar of Guzerat and the Bhonslay of Berar.
Parsojee Bhonslay was originally a private horseman of
Satara, who raised himself to notice in that age of adventure,
and was entrusted with the charge of collecting the Mahratta
dues in the province of Berar, where he founded the Mahratta
state of Nagpore. At the period when Holkar and Sindia
were only commanders in the service of the Peshwa, Roghoojee
Bhonslay, who had succeeded his cousin Parsojee, was in com-
mand of a powerful force of his own, with large independent
resources for its support. While the Nizam was besieged, as
already stated, at Bhopal, he resisted the orders of the Peshwa
to join the Mahratta standard, and proceeded on a plundering
expedition to the province of Allahabad. Bajee Rao resented
this intrusion into his own exclusive quarry, and sent an army
to ravage Berar, but it was defeated by Roghoojee. That
leader was now sufficiently strong to entertain a jealousy of
the ascendancy which the Peshwa had acquired in the Mah-
ratta councils, and was intriguing to supplant him ; in which
design he was eagerly seconded by the Guickwar. The dif-
ficulties of Bajee Rao's position were relieved by his own
tact. Roghoojee was persuaded to take the command of an
expedition to the Carnatic, consisting of more than 50,000
troops. During his absence Bajee Rao attacked Nazir Jung
the second son of the Nizam, but was repulsed with great
vigour. The war was protracted for many months, chiefly to
the disadvantage of the Peshwa, and both parties, wearied 1
226 MAIIRATTAS INVADE BENGAL. [CHAP.
with a fruitless struggle, at length agreed to an accommoda-
tion. The Peshwa, dispirited by his ill-success and over-
Death of Bt,jee whelmed by his debts, started for the north, but
Bao, 1740. expired on the banks of the Nerbudda on the 28th
of April, 1740. During the twenty years in which he wielded
the power of the Mahratta confederacy he raised it to the
highest position in India, and his power was equally felt on
the banks of the Coleroon and of the Jumna. The impulse
and the confidence he gave to the ambition of his countrymen
continued to animate them after his decease to fresh conquests,
and hi the course of twenty years rendered them supreme
throughout India. He left three sons Balajee Rao, Roghoo-
nath Rao, afterwards the notorious Raghoba, and the illegiti-
mate Shumshere Bahadoor to whom he bequeathed his pos-
sessions in Bundlekund.
Succeeded by Balajee Rao was placed in his father's seat,
Baiajee Kao. notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of the
Bhonslay, and obtained, from his feeble sovereign, a grant of
Salsette, Bassein, and the districts recently wrested from the
Portuguese in the Concan, as well as the exclusive right of
levying contributions to the north of the Nerbudda, with the
exception of Guzerat, and this brought him into direct collision
with Roghoojee. While that chieftain was engaged in the
Carnatic, Bhaskur pundit, who had been left to manage his
principality, entered Behar with a body of 12,000 horse, and,
emerging from the Ramghur lulls, spread desolation over the
western districts of Bengal. Ali verdy was returning from
Cuttack with a slender force when the Mahratta commander
encountered him, and demanded the immediate payment of ten
lacs of rupees ; and, on its being indignantly refused, enveloped
the Mogul army with his horse, capturing its tents, baggage,
and artillery, and reduced the viceroy to the humiliation of
offering 1 the payment he had previously refused.
TheMahrattas -.r i
invade Bengal, But the Mahratta now raised his demand to a hun-
dred lacs, and Ali verdy resolved to run eveiy risk
rather than submit to the exaction. With great gallantry he
Vni.'J TIIE MAHRATTA DITCH, 227
fought his way to Cutwa, where he considered himself secure
from any farther attacks. The rains had by this time com-
menced in Bengal and the Mahratta army prepared to return
to Berar; but this resolution was opposed by Meer Hubeeb,
who represented the folly of throwing away so rich a prize as
Bengal without an effort. Hubeeb was a native of Sheraz,
in Persia, and had been a broker at Hooghly, though unable
to read and write. He entered the service of the viceroy,
and by his distinguished talents and spirit of enterprize rose
high in his estimation; but having been taken prisoner fey
Bhaskur pundit was induced to accept service with the
Mahrattas, and for eight years was the soul of their expeditions
and the cause of incalculable misery to Bengal. On the pre-
sent occasion he obtained a large force from Bhaskur and
advancing against Moorshedabad, before AH verdy could come
to the rescue, plundered the suburbs and despoiled the bank-
ing-house of Jugut Sett of two crores and a half of rupees.
On the appearance of Ah' verdy, Meer Hubeeb recrossed the
river, and laid waste the country from Balasore to Rajmahal.
He got possession of Hooghly by a stratagem. The wretched
inhabitants crowded into the foreign factories, and more
especially to Calcutta, for protection from this storm, and the
President sought permission of the nabob to surround the
The Mahratta Company's territory with an intrenchment. It
ditch, 1742. wag readily conceded, and the work was commenced
and prosecuted with vigour, but suspended on the retirement
of the enemy. This was the celebrated Mahratta ditch, which,
though it has disappeared, like the old walls of London, still
continues to mark the municipal boundaries of the city, and
has fixed on its citizens the sobriquet of the Inhabitants of
the Ditch.
Continued Mah- Before the close of the rains, Ali verdy crossed
ratta invasions. ^ ne river with the army he had recruited, and
the Mahratta general was eventually defeated, and obliged to
evacuate the province. Roghoojee, who had returned from
the Carnatic expedition, determined to support his pretensions
228 REBELLION OF MUSTAPHA. [CHAP.
in Bengal, and entered the province with a large army. OH
the first appearance of the Mahrattas, Ali verdy had applied
for aid to the court of Delhi, and the emperor invoked the
succour of the Peshwa, offering him an assignment on the
Bengal treasury, and a confirmation of the grant of Malwa.
Balajee Rao, with his old grudge against Roghoojee, readily
accepted the offer, and marched with a large force through
Allahabad and Behar to the gates of Moorshedabad, where he
is said to have exacted a crore of rupees from Ali verdy as the
price of his services, after which he marched against Roghoo-
jee, defeated his army, and despoiled him of the plunder he
had acquired. Soon after, the two Mahratta chiefs found that
their views would be most effectually promoted by coming
to an understanding. The Peshwa agreed to assign the
right to levy contributions from Oude, Behar, Bengal,
and Orissa, to Roghoojee, who agreed, on his part, not to
interfere with any of the plans or acquisitions of the Pesh-
wa. The next year, 1744, Roghoojee sent Bhaskur pundit
to renew his ravages in Bengal, when Ali verdy inveigled
him to an interview, and by an act of the basest treachery
caused him to be assassinated, upon which his army dispersed.
Eeheiuon of This crime did not long remain unavenged. The
Mustapha, 1745. nex t year witnessed the revolt of his great gene-
ral, Mustapha Khan, who had been employed to decoy the
Mahratta general to the fatal conference. Mustapha was the
head of the Afghan troops who formed the strength of the
Bengal army, and it was chiefly to his talents and valour that
Ali verdy was indebted for his elevation. The government
of Behar, which had been promised him, was refused by the
viceroy, and he marched into that province with an army
of 8,000 horse and a large body of infantry, and, at the same
time, invited the Mahrattas to invade Bengal anew. The
viceroy, menaced by this double attack, manifested the ut-
most vigour, though then verging on seventy, and took the
field with the Afghan generals who still remained faithful to
him. Mustapha was at length defeated near Jugudeshpore
and slam, and his body was quartered and exposed on the
Tin.] EVENTS TO THE CAKNATIC. 229
walls of Patna. The Mahrattas who were advancing to his
aid, retreated on hearing of his death, but they returned the
next year, and, for four successive seasons, ravaged all the
districts on the right bank of the river The recollection of
these devastations was not effaced for generations, and to
a late period in the present century the dread of the Burgees,
by which name the Mahrattas were designated, continued to
haunt the natives from Balasore to Rajmahal. The viceroy,
worn out by the inroads which had for ten years harassed
his wretched subjects and exhausted his own treasury, was
compelled, in 1751, to purchase peace by agreeing to an
Peace with the annual payment of twelve lacs of rupees as the
Mahrattas, 1751. C ^ OM ; o f Bengal, and the cession of the province
of Orissa. The chout ceased, as a matter of course, seven
years after, when British authority became paramount in
Bengal ; but the province continued in the possession of the
Nagpore family for half a century.
The Garuatic was now to become the theatre of
Events in the
Camatic, 1701 great events, which exercised an important in-
fluence on the destinies of India. This extensive
province on the Coromandel coast, on the seaboard of which
lay the English and French settlements, extended about five
hundred miles from north to south, and about a hundred miles
inland. After the conquest of the southern provinces by the
Moguls under Aurungzebe, it was included in the soubah of
the Deccan. Zulfikar Khan, with whose name the reader is
familiar, when recalled from his government by the emperor,
transferred his authority to Daood Khan, who drank " cordial
waters and French brandy" with the governor of Madras,
and Daood Khan, when summoned to take a command in the
imperial army in 1710, appointed Sadutoolla to act as his
deputy, and he continued to administer the government of
the Carnatic for twenty-two years, to the great benefit of the
people. His nephew, Dost Ali, assumed the office on his
death in 1732, without seeking the sanction of his superior,
the Nizam, who was, however, too deeply embroiled in his
contest with Bajee Rao to resent this assumption. Dost All
230 C1IUNDA SAHIB. [CHAP.
had two daughters ; one married to his nephew, Mortiz Ali,
the most truculent and unprincipled prince in the Deccan, the
other to Chunda Sahib, distinguished equally by his talents
and his liberality. In 1736 he obtained possession of the im-
pregnable fortress of Trichinopoly by treachery, siezed the
surrounding country, and extinguished the independence of
the reigning family. Soon after came the great Mahratta
invasion, under Roghoojee Bhonslay. Dost Ali advanced to
meet him, but was defeated and slain. The Mahrattas then
proceeded to levy contributions in every direction, until they
were bought off with the promise of a crore of rupees, to be
paid by instalments by Sufdur Ali, the son of Dost Ah, who
now assumed the title of nabob of the Carnatic. During this
irruption Chunda Sahib placed his family, for greater security,
under the protection of the French at Pondicherry, which led
to important results.
The popularity of Chunda Sahib had, however,
Chunda Sahib. l J . . ' '
excited apprehensions in the mind of Sufdur Ah,
and it was a part of his compact with the Mahrattas that
they should return the next year and extinguish his power ;
retaining the principality of Trichinopoly for themselves.
They came down, accordingly, in 1741 and laid siege to that
fort, which Chunda Sahib defended with great skill and valour
for three months, but was eventually constrained to capitulate ;
and as he was considered the ablest and most formidable
soldier in the south, he was conveyed to Satara and placed in
strict confinement. Morari Rao, the Mahratta chief of Gooty,
with 14,000 men, kept possession of the fort and territory
of Trichinopoly. A year after, Sufdur Ali was assassinated
by Mortiz Ah, who proclaimed himself nabob ; but the friends
and relatives of the murdered prince withdrew his infant son
from Madras, where he had obtained shelter, and raided liim
to the throne. Meanwhile the Nizam, who had returned from
Delhi to the Deccan, resolved to put an end to the anarchy of
the Carnatic, and moved down with an army little short of
t>0,000 horse and 200,000 foot. All parties hastened to make
IX.] WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FKANCE. 231
their submission to this overwhelming 1 force, and the Nizam
placed the administration of the province in the hands of one
of his old and faithful servants, Anwar-ood-deen, as the
guardian of the youthful son of Sufdur All, on whom he en-
gaged to confer the nabobship when he came of age. The
youth was soon afterwards assassinated, but
founds the family Anwar-ood-deen is not chargeable with complicity
of nabobs of the i n this crime, though he obtained the benefit of it.
Carnatic, 1740. 3
He was placed m the vacant post, and founded
the family of the nabobs of Arcot, or of the Carnatic, subse-
quently so notorious in the history of British India. Sadut-
oollah and his son, Dost Ali, had governed the Carnatic for
thirty years with great moderation and no little advantage
to the people. To them are apparently due the merit of con-
structing $iose works of irrigation which diffused fertility
through the district. During their reigns the country enjoyed
a respite from desolation, and begun to flourish. The people,
grateful for so unusual a blessing, had contracted a warm
attachment to the family, while the nabob of the Nizam was
considered an interloper and regarded with a proportionate
feeling of antipathy.
CHAPTER IX.
EFFORTS OF THE FRENCH TO ESTABLISH AN EMPIRE IN INDIA.
17461761.
War with WE are now entering on a series of events,
France, 1744. w hich, though of little significance at the time,
produced the most momentous results, and laid the founda-
tion of European supremacy in India. Up to this time the
French and English in India had been engaged only in the
pursuits of commerce, and though they were repeatedly at
war, during a period of seventy years, in Europe, there was
232 LABOURDONNAIS. [CHAP.
peace between their factories, lying side by side on the same
coast and the same river. But in the war which broke out in
1744, the French ministry determined to extend the conflict
to the east, and fitted out an expedition for the destruction of
the English factories in India. So little apprehension was
entertained in those settlements, at the tune, of any hostilities
which might affect their security, that the whole amount of
the European force at all the Presidencies and forts did not
exceed six hundred, of whom more than one-half were un-
trained recruits. It was in this unexpected emergency,
that the English were obliged to take up arms in the defence
of their interests ; and we have now to trace the steps by
which they gradually became involved hi hostilities with the
native powers, by the irresistible current of circumstances
and contrary to their own wishes, till they found, themselves
in possession of the empire of India.
Labourdonnais, who was the first to break a
lance with the English in India, had embarked for
the east at the early age of fourteen, and in a long succession
of voyages, acquired a complete knowledge of its trade, navi-
gation, and resources. His application to business was
indefatigable, and his spirit of enterprize was only strength-
ened by difficulties. He was a man of large views, and yet
personally directed the minutest details. In 1734, he was
appointed governor of the Mauritius and Bourbon, which he
found a wilderness, and left flourishing colonies. On his
return to Europe, seeing the nation on the eve of a war with
the English, he persuaded the minister to strike a blow at
their commercial prosperity in India, and the command of the
armament was judiciously entrusted to him. At the same
time the British ministry despatched a squadron, consisting
of six men of war, to protect the settlements of the Company
on the Coromandel coast. On the morning of the 26th of
June, 1746, the French fleet of nine vessels under Labour-
donnais, appeared off the coast, and the British commodore
brought on an immediate action, which, however, terminated
IX.] CAPTURE OF MADRAS. 233
without any result. The French general, impatient to plant
the French flag on the ramparts of Madras, proceeded to Pon-
dicherry to obtain the co-operation of the governor, Dupleix.
Dupieix. He was the son of a farmer general, and was sent
in his youth to India, where he embarked in an extensive
trade with all the ports of the east, and acquired great wealth.
Having been appointed governor of Chandernagore, he en-
riched it by commerce till it became more than the rival of
Calcutta, and left two thousand brick buildings as a monument
of his enterprising spirit. He was a man of inordinate am-
bition and egregious vanity, but at the same time of vast
energy and resources. He had been employed for four years
in fortifying Pondicherry, when Labourdonnais arrived with
plenary powers, but instead of co-operating with him to pro-
mote the common interests of the nation, a jealousy of the
reputation he might acquire, induced Dupleix to thwart all his
projects. But the indomitable zeal of Labourdonnais over-
came every obstacle, and his fleet was rapidly equipped for a
descent on Madras. On the other hand, the English squadron,
sent out for the express purpose of protecting the settlements,
was unaccountably withdrawn at this critical juncture, and
the commodore abandoned them to their fate.
_ t , Labourdonnais, finding the coast clear, lost no
Capture of '
Madras time in steering for Madras. That settlement
ber,n46. j^ g rown U p f rom an insignificant hamlet in 1640
to a town of 250,000 inhabitants in 1746. The territory
extended about five miles along the coast, and a little more
than a mile inland. After a century of peaceful commerce,
undisturbed by the appearance of any enemy by land or by
sea, it was ill prepared for the formidable attack now impend-
ing. The fortifications, which had never been strong, were
now dilapidated, and the store of ammunition was scanty. Of
the 300 Europeans in the town, 200 were soldiers, and few of
these had ever seen a shot fired in earnest. On the 15th of
September, 1746, Labourdonnais appeared off the town with
1,100 Europeans, 400 Malagasees, and 400 sepoys, or native
234 FATE OF LABOURDONNAIS. [CHAP.
soldiers, trained and disciplined by Eiiropeans, an expedient
which the French were the first in India to adopt. After a
bombardment of five days, during which the French did not
lose a man, and the English lost only five, and that by the
bursting of one of their own bombs, the town and fort were
surrendered. The French commander was interdicted by
his instructions from retaining any of the settlements he
might capture, and he, therefore, held the town to ransom, for
the sum of forty-four lacs of rupees, independently of the mer-
chandize, the military and naval stores, and the money belong-
ing to the Company. None of the residents were molested
in person or property; and it was agreed that the town should
be evacuated by the French troops in three months, and that
it should not be again attacked during the war. The success
and the moderation of Labourdonnais only served to inflame
the animosity of Dupleix, who protested against the ransom,
and declared that the town and factory ought to have been
razed to the ground.
Fate of Labourdonnais was reinforced in a few days by
Labourdonnais. fregh arrivals from France, which raised the number
of Europeans under his command to more than 3,000, a force
sufficient to have crushed every English settlement in India.
But they were happily saved from destruction by the spleen of
Dupleix, who obstructed all the projects of Labourdonnais, and
by the weather. The monsoon set in with extraordinary
violence ; and, though the ships freighted with the booty of
Madras escaped the typhoon, some of the largest vessels in
the squadron were stranded, and the whole of the fleet was
disabled. Labourdonnais was constrained to quit the coast
and return to the Mauritius, and eventually to Europe. On
the voyage home in a Dutch vessel he was forced iiito an
English harbour, and became a prisoner of war. But his great
abilities, and his generous conduct after the capture of Madras,
were so highly appreciated that he was immediately liberated
on his parole. Far different was his reception in his native
land. The representations of the envious Dupleix, and other
IX.] DEFEAT OF THfl NIZAM'S TKOOPS. 235
enemies he had made in India by his energy and patriotism,
were favourably received; his great services were overlooked,
and he was thrown into the Bastile, where be lingered for
three years, and died of a broken heart on his liberation.
On the appearance of Labourdonnais' army
Defeat of native L *
troops; its before Madras, the Nabob of the Carnatic, An-
suit; 1749. war-ood-deen, sent an agent to Pondicherry to
remonstrate on the presumption of the French in attacking a
settlement in his dominions which was tinder his protection.
Dupleix endeavoured to pacify him by the promise of deliver-
ing the town to him when captured, that he might enrich
himself by its ransom. But after its surrender, the Nabob
discovered that the promise had been made only to cozen
him, and he sent his son with a force of 10,000 men to drive
out the French. They advanced with confidence to attack
the handful of Europeans, not exceeding a thousand, whom
Labourdonnais had left to protect the town. But the field-
pieces of the French fired three or four tunes a minute, while
the native artillery thought they did wonders by firing once
in a quarter of an hour. This rapid and galling fire staggered
the Nabob's troops, and the resolute advance of the French
infantry took all conceit of fighting out of them. The
young Nabob, mounted on a lofty elephant which carried the
great standard of the Carnatic, was the first to make his
escape from the field, and he was followed by the whole
army. This dastardly flight of ten thousand Indians before a
ningle battalion of Europeans, is a memorable event hi the
history of India. It dissolved at once and for ever the spell
which had hitherto kept Europeans in dread of native armies.
It demonstrated their inherent weakness, however strong in
numbers, and it gave the English that confidence in their own
valour and strategy which contributed more than anything
else to the successive subversion of the native thrones.
On the departure of Labourdonnais, Dupleix
abandons the made no scruple to annul the treaty and confiscate
iisn,i<49. ^ ^ property, private and public, found, in
236 THE NIZAM ABANDONS THE ENGLISH. [CHAP.
Madras. The governor and the principal inhabitants were
declared prisoners of war and marched down to Pondicherry,
where, under pretence of doing them honour, they were
marched through the streets, amidst the jeers of fifty thousand
spectators. Dupleix followed up this act of bad faith by
laying siege to Fort St. David, another settlement of the
Company on the Coast, about a hundred miles south of
Madras, which was at the time defended only by 200
European troops. The English chief solicited the aid of the
Nabob of the Carnatic, who was smarting under the disgrace
inflicted on his son at Madras, and readily advanced with a
large force. A French detachment was unexpectedly attacked
by the Nabob's general, and seized with a panic, and retired
in disorder to Pondicherry with considerable loss. Dupleix
who had a thorough knowledge of the native character, now
set himself to detach the Nabob from the English alliance.
The singular departure of the English fleet in the preceding
year, and the arrival of four French vessels with reinforce-
ments, enabled him to decry the one, and to extol the resources
of the other. An Asiatic prince never considers himself
bound by any principle of honour, or even consistency ; his
own supposed advantage is the only rule of his conduct, and
he changes sides without the smallest scruple. Dupleix suc-
ceeded in persuading the Nabob that the English were the
weaker party, and the Nabob did not hesitate for a moment
to abandon them. His son was accordingly sent to Pondi-
cherry to form an alliance with Dupleix, by whom he was
received with the greatest ostentation, and loaded with
presents. The French now advanced against St. David a
second time with a greater force, but a large fleet was de-
scried in the offing, which proved to be an English armament,
and the besiegers retreated rapidly to Pondicherry.
This armament, which had been despatched from
of Poneucheriy, England for the defence of the Company's settle-
1748 ments, under the command of Admiral Boscawen,
arrived off Fort St. David on the 9th of August, and was
IX.] SIEGE OF PONDICHERRY. 237
immediately joined by the vessels of Admiral Griffin. The
junction of the two squadrons formed the largest maritime
force which had ever been seen in the eastern seas. It con-
sisted of more than thirty vessels, none of which were of less
than 500 tons, and thirteen of them men of war of the
line. The English troops now on the oast comprised in all
3,720 Europeans, 300 topasses, and 2,000 sepoys, equal to any
enterprise. The Nabob still changing sides as the power of
the English or the French appeared to predominate, promised
the aid of a body of his troops. Every bosom was beating
with the hope that the loss of Madras would be avenged by
the capture of Pondicherry ; but the English were subjected
to a bitter disappointment The army began its march to
that settlement on the 8th of August, and the siege was
prosecuted for fifty days, but, notwithstanding the valour of
the officers and men, it was at length disgracefully raised,
after more than a thousand European lives had been sacrificed.
Seldom, if ever, has any siege in India exhibited more egre-
gious blunders on the part of the commanders. Dupleix
announced the abandonment of the siege as a magnificent
triumph of the French arms, to all the various princes of India,
not forgetting even the great Mogul, and he received from all
quarters the most flattering compliments on his own ability,
and the valour of his nation. For the time, the French were
regarded as the greatest European power in the Deccan, and
the English, who had not only lost theu: own settlement,
but failed to capture that of their rivals, sunk into contempt.
Seven days after the retirement of the English force, informa-
tion was received of the suspension of hostilities in Europe,
which ended in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and Madras was
restored to the East India Company.
Effects of this ^h* 8 war ' f k'ttle more than two years' duration,
two years- war opens a new era in the politics of India. In 1746,
neither the English nor the French were viewed by the native
rulers in any other light than as inoffensive traders. By the
end of 1748, they had come out as great military powers
238 EXPEDITION TO DEVI-COTTA. [ciIAP.
whose alliance or opposition was an object of importance to
the princes of the country It might have been expected
that on the return of peace both parties would lay aside their
armour, and return to the counting-house. But as the
eloquent historian of these transactions, who was at the time
at Madras, observes, " The war had brought to Pondicherry
and Fort St. David, a number of troops greatly superior to
any which either of the two nations had assembled in India,
and as if it was impossible that a military force which feels
itself capable of enterprises should refrain from attempting
them, the two settlements, no longer authorised to fight with
each other, took the resolution of employing their arms in the
contests of the princes of the country ; the English with great
indiscretion, the French with the utmost ambition."
Expedition to The English were the first to take the field.
Devi-cotta, 1749. The little principality of Tanjore, seventy miles
long and sixty hi breadth, with the history of which the
reader is already acquainted, was at this time governed by
Pretap Sing, the fifth in succession from the Mahratta chief-
tain who had conquered it. His brother, Sahoojee, who
had been deposed for his imbecility, applied to the governor
of Madras to reseat him on the throne, engaging to defray
all the expenses of the expedition and to cede the town and
district of Devi-cotta, at the mouth of the Coleroon. The
English had no right to interfere in this foreign quarrel, but
their troops were unemployed, and the opportunity was very
tempting. Tnis forms, perhaps, the only instance during a
century of warfare of an expedition undertaken by them
without any plea of necessity The force which was sent to
conquer Tanjore consisted of 430 Europeans and 1,000 sepoys,
with eight field pieces and mortars, under the command of
Major Stringer Lawrence, the first of that long train of heroes
who have rendered the British name illustrious on the plains
of Hindostan. The commencement of the siege was inau-
spicious. The typhoon which ushered in the monsoon, sunk
some of the largest of the ships, and inflicted such destruction
IX.] THE AMBITIOUS DESIGNS OF DUPLEIX. 230
on the army as to oblige the Major to retire to Porto Novo to
refit. It would be tedious to follow the varied events of the
siege, which was our first and most clumsy attempt to take
an Indian fort, and which derives its chief interest from the
circumstance that it afforded the first opportunity for develop-
ing the genius of Clive. The fort was captured after two
unsuccessful attacks ; but it had now become manifest to the
Madras Presidency that the cause of our protegee was un-
popular and hopeless. The raja of Tanjore, menaced by Chunda
Sahib, offered to defray all the expenses incurred by the Com-
pany in war, to cede Devi-cotta with the district around it, and
to grant a pension of 50,000 rupees a year to his disinherited
brother. These terms were accepted, and the troops returned
to Madras.
Dupieix's amw- While the English army was thus wasting its
tious designs, strength on the walls of Devi-cotta, Dupleix was
playing a higher game. He had seen a thousand European
troops disperse an army of ten thousand native soldiers like a
flock of sheep, and he had received the congratulations of the
native princes on the success of his arms. He had at his
disposal an army capable of any enterprise, and, in Bussy, a
general fit to command it. He determined, therefore, to take
advantage of the confusion of the times, and the prestige he
had acquire*?, to set up a French empire in the Deccan.
Chunda Sahib was considered by the natives of the Carnatic,
the ablest soldier in the country, and the only man who could
deliver them from the yoke of the hated Anwar-ood-deen, and
Dupleix at once perceived how greatly his ambitious projects
would be forwarded if Chunda Sahib were placed on the throne
of the Carnatic by his instrumentality. He accordingly
opened a correspondence with that prince, who had been a
prisoner for eight years at Satara, through the medium of his
wife who was residing at Pondicherry under the protection
of the French government. After much negotiation Dupleix
succeeded in obtaining the liberation of Chunda Sahib by the
payment of seven lacs of rupees, and he appeared on the
240 DEATH OF THE NIZAM. [CHAP.
confines of the Carnatic with 6,000 troops whom he had en-
listed, when the death of the old Nizam, at Hyderabad, gave
a new turn to public affairs.
Death of the Towards the end of 1748 Nizam-ool-moolk, the
Nuam, 1748. gO obadar of the Deccan, the great founder of the
kingdom of Hyderabad, closed his long and eventful career at
the age of a hundred and four. His eldest son, Ghazee-ood-
deen, was at the time high in office at Delhi. His second son,
Nazir Jung, who was with his father at the period of his de-
cease and in command of the army, immediately seized the
public treasure and the supreme authority, giving out that
his elder brother had resigned the office of soobadar to him.
But there was a grandson of the old Nizam whom he had
cherished with great affection, and who now aspired to this
honour. He affirmed that it had been conferred on him by the
emperor himself, with the title of Mozuffer Jung, and he as-
sembled an army of 25,000 men with which he hovered on
the west of Golconda, watching the opportunity of action.
Chunda Sahib, hearing of the position and designs of the
young prince, immediately offered him the service of his sword.
He was received in the camp with open arms, and his troops
were at once taken into the pay of Mozuffer, who was per-
suaded to appoint him Nabob of the Carnatic, and to march, in
the first instance, to the conquest of that province, on the
ground that its resources would be invaluable in the struggle
with Nazir Jung. A communication was at the same time
made to Dupleix, inviting him to join the confederacy, and
offering him great advantages for the French Company. The
proposal, if it did not originate with Dupleix, was most accep-
table to hun, and a contingent of 400 Europeans and 2,000
sepoys was immediately sent to join the confederates. Their
united force, swelled in its progress to 40,000 men, entered
the Carnatic and began to levy contributions. The Nabob,
Anwar-ood-deen, advanced to repel the invasion with a force
of only half that number, and a battle was fought in July, 1749,
at Amboor, fifty miles from Arcot, which decided the fate of
IX.] CONSEQUENT COMMOTIONS IN THE DECCAN. 241
the Carnatic. The army of the Nabob was completely routed,
chiefly through the valour of Bussy's troops ; the Nabob him-
self was shot dead in the action, and his son, Mahomed Ali,
fled to Trichinopoly, where the family and the treasures of
the deceased Nabob bad been deposited.
Mozuffer Jung marched the next day to Arcot.
The English aid J
Mahomed AH, and assumed the state and dignity of soobadar
of the Deccan, conferring the government of the
Carnatic on Chunda Sahib. From thence they proceeded
together to Pondicherry, where Dupleix received them with
all the oriental ceremonies due to the rank they had assumed,
and was rewarded by the grant of eighty-one villages.
Mahomed Ali, on his arrival at Trichinopoly, came to the
conclusion that it could not be successfully defended against
the victorious army of Chunda Sahib, backed by his French
allies, although it was one of the strongest and most import-
ant fortresses in the south. He sent, therefore, to implore the
assistance of the English governor of Madras, who was,
however, without any instructions for such an emergency.
The Madras Council had bitterly repented of their wild
expedition to Devi-cotta, and were anxious not to involve
their masters again in the risk of alliances and disputes with
the native powers. At the same time, they could not shut
their eyes to the danger arising from the ambitious schemes
of Dupleix, and the ascendancy he was acquiring in the
Carnatic But they were incapable of that resolution which
the crisis demanded, and they aided Mahomed Ali only with
the contemptible force of 120 men, while by an act of
incredible fatuity they sent back the fleet with the greater
part of the land forces to England. Dupleix urged Chunda
Sahib to lose no time in marching against Trichinopoly,
where the adherents of the deceased Nabob were maturing
their plans, and he placed 800 French troops at his disposal.
But Chunda Sahib had an old quarrel to settle with the raja
of Tan j ore, and was resolved to exact a heavy contribution
from him. He immediately marched against that town, and.
242 DEFKAT OF MOZUFFEB JUNO. [CHAP.
after two months had been wasted in the siege, the raja
engaged to pay down seventy lacs of rupees to the allies, and
to cede more than eighty villages to the French, around their
settlement at Carical, With the view of gaining time, he
doled out the money in driblets, but before the first instalment
had been counted down, Dupleix informed the allies that Nazir
Jung was approaching the Carnatic with an overwhelming
force ; upon which they broke up their encampment in dismay,
and retired to the vicinity of Pondicherry.
The army with which Nazir Jung entered the
Jung Carnatic to drive out the two adventurers did not
and Chunda f a u gh^ O f 300,000 men, one-half of whom con-
Sahib, 1749.
sisted of cavalry, and a tenth of mercenary
Mahrattas, with 800 guns and 1,300 elephants. He sum-
moned to his standard all the tributaries of Hyderabad, and,
among others, the Patan nabobs of Cuddapah, Kurnool, and
Savanore. Their ancestors had held those districts under the
crowns of Beejapore and of Golconda, and they themselves
were at the head of the Patans, who were constantly
streaming down from Afghanistan to seek employment and
plunder in India. The encampment of Nazir Jung was esta-
blished at Valdore, about fifteen miles from Pondicherry, and
the Governor of Madras sent an English force of GOO
Europeans to join it under Major Lawrence. Dupleix, on hia
part, augmented the French contingent with Mozuffer Jung
and Chunda Sahib to 2,000 European bayonets. But on the
eve of the day fixed for battle, thirteen French officers, who
were dissatisfied with their share of the treasure obtained
from the raja of Tanjore, basely deserted their colours and
returned to Pondicherry. The soldiers were panic struck,
and followed their example. Chunda Sahib fought his way
back gallantly to the French settlement, but Mozuffer Jung
surrendered himself to his uncle, who took an oath to protect
him, and then placed him in captivity.
Dupieix's skilful The ambitious schemes of Dupleix were inter-
IX.] DEA.TH OP NAZIR JUNG. 213
movements, rupted by this reverse, but he showed himself as
1749. great an adept in oriental intrigue as if he had
been bred a Mahomedan courtier. He immediately opened a
negotiation with Nazir Jung, and was allowed to send an
envoy to his camp, who had thus an opportunity of ascertain-
ing the precise position of affairs. Though the mission of his
emissary was not successful, he discovered that the three
Patan nabobs mentioned above were dissatisfied with the
proceedings of the Nizam, and ready to revolt. Dupleix
established a correspondence with them, and, with the view
of securing their confidence and intimidating the Nizam, sent
an expedition to Masulipatam, and captured the fort;
attacked the camp of Mahomed Ali, and, after a prodigous
slaughter, constrained him to fly with only one or two
attendants, and then seized on Ginjee, the stronghold of the
south, the siege of which had detained Zulfikar Khan nine
years. These daring exploits at length roused Nazir Jung
from the voluptuous sloth in which he was buried at Arcot,
and induced him to send two of his officers to renew the
negotiations with Dupleix. But Dupleix, seeing the game in
his own hands, rose in his demands, and required the
liberation of Mozuffer Jung and the restoration of his estates,
together with the acknowledgment of Chunda Sahib as Nabob
of the Camatic, and the cession of Masulipatam and its
dependencies to the French.
Nazir Jung, indignant at these audacious pro-
Nazir Jung at- r
tacked and posals, instantly ordered his army to march against
kmed, 1749. the Frenc^ Though it had been reduced in num-
ber by the dismissal of many detachments, fifteen days were
occupied in marching a distance of only thirty miles. Scarcity
and disease began to thin its ranks, and the Nabob, weary of
a war in which he had wasted a twelvemonth to no purpose,
conceded all the demands of Dupleix, and they were embodied
in a treaty. But Dupleix had been for seven months in
correspondence with the discontented nabobs, and on the
R2
244 MOZUFFER JUNG BECOMES NIZAM. [CHAP.
maturity of the scheme, had ordered his commandant at
Ginjee to proceed against the camp of Nazir Jung, as soon as
he received a requisition from them. Their summons unfor-
tunately reached him before the ratification of the treaty, in
total ignorance of which, he marched on the 4th of December,
1749, towards the Nizam's camp, with 800 Europeans and
3,000 sepoys. After a long and fatiguing march of sixteen
miles, he came in sight of it as it stretched over an area of
eighteen miles, and immediately commenced the attack. His
small force was repeatedly charged by different divisions of
the enemy, but his field-pieces shattered their ranks, and by
mid-day half their army was in flight. Nazir Jung could not
credit the report, that the French with whom he had just
concluded a treaty were engaged in attacking his troops ;
but when he was assured of the fact, he rode up with indig-
nant haste to the three nabobs, who were marching to join
the French, and singling out the Nabob of Cuddapah, re-
proached him with his cowardice and treachery- The Nabob
lodged two balls in the heart of his unfortunate master, and
having caused his head to be struck off, hastened to present
it to Mozuffer Jung.
Mozuffer Jung was immediately released from
Mozuffer Jung
becomes Nizam, confinement, and saluted Soobadar of the Deccan.
"Never," remarks the great historian of this
period, " since the days of Cortez and Pizarro, did so small a
force decide the fate of so large a sovereignty." The new
Nizam proceeded to Pondicherry, and was welcomed with a
grand display of eastern pomp. The day following his arrival
he was installed as Soobadar, and Dupleix, arrayed in the
gorgeous robes of a Mahomedan omra, appeared as the chief
actor in the pageant. Chunda Sahib was declared Nabob of
the Carnatic, and Dupleix was nominated governor on the
part of the Mogul, of all the country lying south of the
Kistna. Thus had this daring politician, in the brief space of
twenty months, outrun even his own large scheme of ambition.
He had not only created a Nabob of the Carnatic, but even a
IX.] MOZUFFER JUNG MURDERED. 245
Viceroy of the Deccan, and had obtained the supreme control
of a kingdom larger than France.
Death of Mozuf- But Mozuffer Jung was not to enjoy this dig-
fer Jung, 1751. n jty long. After having made a profuse distribu-
tion of the treasures of Nazir Jung, amounting to two crores
of rupees among his partisans, he left Pondicherry on his
return to Hyderabad on the 4th of January, 1751, accom-
panied by a French force of 300 Europeans and 2,000 sepoys,
under the command of Bussy. He had not proceeded more
than sixty leagues, when the three Patan nabobs, who were
dissatisfied with the rewards they had received on the occasion
of his elevation, broke into open rebellion. Bussy 's force
was immediately called forth, and his artillery swept
down their battalions; the treacherous Nabob of Savanore
was hacked to pieces, and the revolt was quenched in the
blood of those who had excited it. But the irritated Nizam,
rejecting the sound advice of Bussy, insisted on the pursuit
of the fugitives, and was struck dead by the javelin of
the nabob of Kurnool, who was in his turn slam in the conflict.
The whole camp was thrown into the greatest confusion by
this unexpected event, but Bussy never lost his presence of
mind. He assembled the bewildered generals and ministers,
and, such was the influence he had acquired, that he induced
them to confer the vacant dignity on Salabut Jung, the third
son of the old Nizam, who was then a prisoner in the camp.
Tranquillity was immediately restored, and the army resumed
its progress. Leaving it now to pursue its march to the
north, we turn to the movements of Chtmda Sahib.
Chunda Sahib proceeded from Pondicherry with
i. 8 ' 000 of ms own tr( > P 8 and 80 French auxiliaries
to Arcot, in February, 1751, to receive homage as
Nabob of the Carnatic, and then advanced to the siege of
Trichinopoly. Mr. Saunders, now Governor of Madras, felt
that a great error had been committed in permitting Dupleix
to obtain such a footing in the south, and he resolved to
counteract his schemes by a more decisive support of the
216 RISE OF CLIVE. [CHAP.
cause of Mahomed Ali. A large detachment was accordingly
sent to the relief of the small English garrison cooped up in
the fort of Trichinopoly, but the troops of our ally scarcely
exceeded a tenth of those assembled under the banner of
Chunda Sahib. Captain Clive, who accompanied the reinforce-
ment, returned to Madras and urged on the Governor the im-
portance of creating a diversion, and suggested an expedition
to Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic. Clive, the founder of
the British empire in India, had gone out to
Career of Clive. . f . '
Madras in the civil service of the East India Com-
pany in 1744, and was present at the surrender of that town
to Labourdonnais, two years after. Following the bent of
his genius, he exchanged the pen for the sword, and obtained
an ensign's commission. He distinguished himself in the
operations before Devi-cotta, where he attracted the ad-
miration of Major Lawrence. He was also at the abortive
and disastrous siege of Pondicherry under admiral Boscawen.
Mr. Saunders adopted his advice, and confided the Arcot ex-
pedition to his charge, though he was only twenty-six years
of age at the time. The only force that could be spared from
Madras consisted of 200 Europeans, and 300 sepoys, and eight
field pieces. Of the eight officers who accompanied it one-
half were civilians, attracted to the expedition by the example
of Clive, and six of them had never been in action. But Clive
had seen from the rnm parts of Madras a mere handful of
Europeans defeat aud disperse ten thousand native soldiers ;
and he had confidence in his own powers. During the march
of the troops they were overtaken by a violent storm of thun-
der, lightning, and rain ; but they continued their progress
with the utmost coolness, and this circumstance impressed the
superstitious garrison with so exalted an idea of their prowess,
that they were allowed to enter the fort without opposition.
The expedition produced the desired effect; Chunda Sahib
was obliged to detach a large force to Arcot, and the pres-
sure on the English garrison at Trichinopoly was alle-
viated.
El/] SIEGE OP AJICOT. 247
The fort of Arcot was more than a mile in cir-
by cuve, 1751. cumference, with a low and lightly-built parapet ;
several of the towers were decayed, and the ditch,
where not fordable, was dry and choked up. From the day
of its occupation, Olive had been incessantly employed in re-
pairing the defences, but the place seemed little capable of
standing a siege. Of his eight officers, one had been killed and
two wounded in successive encounters with the enemy, and
a fourth had returned to Madras. The troops fit for duty
had been reduced by casualties and disease to 120 Europeans
and 200 sepoys, and it was with this small body that Clive
sustained, for seven weeks, the incessant assaults of 10,000
native troops and 150 Europeans. On the last day of the
siege the enemy endeavoured to storm the fort, but, during
a conflict which lasted more than eighteen hours, they were
repulsed on every point, and the next morning were seen to
break up their encampment and retire. " Thus ended this
<nemorable siege," as Orme remarks, " maintained fifty days,
under every disadvantage of situation and force, by a handful
of men, in their first campaign, with a spirit worthy of the
most veteran troops, and conducted by the young commander
with indefatigable activity, unshaken confidence, and un-
daunted courage ; and notwithstanding he had at this time
neither read books or conversed with men capable of giving
him much instruction in the military art, all the resources
which he employed in the defence of Arcot were such as were
dictated by the best masters in the art of war." His charac-
ter was completely defined in a single expression of the great
minister of England, William Pitt, when he styled him the
" heaven-born general."
Chunda Sahib still continued to beleaguer Tri-
Frcnch, ^! chinopoly with a large force, and Mahomed All
was induced, by his terror, to invite the aid of the
regent of Mysore and Morari Rao, the Mahratta chief of
Gooty, as well as the general of the Tanjore troops. Clive,
on his return from Arcot, proceeded to Trichinopoly, and was
248 MYSORE REGENT: JOINS THE FRENCH. [CITAP.
employed in various enterprises of a minor character, which,
however, served to mature his military talents. The cam-
paign was brought to an early and successful issue by Major
Lawrence, who, in June, 1752, compelled the French comman-
der Law, to surrender at discretion, with all his troops, stores,
and artillery. Chunda Sahib, deserted by his own officers,
yielded himself up to the Tanjorine general, who appeared to
be the least inveterate of his enemies. The general took the
most solemn oath to conduct him in safety to a French settle-
ment, but immediately after caused him to be assassinated, at
the instigation of Mahomed Ali, who, after feasting his eyes
with the sight of his murdered rival, bound his head to the
neck of a camel, and paraded it five times round the walls of
the city.
t , The war with Chunda Sahib had no sooner
Discontent of the
Mysore Regent, terminated, than the English found themselves
involved in hostilities with the allies who had
co-operated with them in the cause of Mahomed Ali; so
utterly impossible did they find it to shake off their connection
with country politics, when once entangled in them. The
Mysore regent came forward and claimed possession of Tri-
chinopoly and its dependencies, and the Nabob was constrained
to confess that he had secretly contracted to transfer the city,
and the territory south of it, to the Mysore prince, as the
price of his alliance. It is easy to conceive the disgust of
Major Lawrence on finding that the fortress which his own
government had drained their treasury to secure for the Nabob,
was now to be made over to a native chief who had rendered
no assistance, and whose fidelity was exceedingly doubtful.
He retired in disgust to Madras taking care, however, to
leave Captain Dalton, with 200 Europeans and 1,500 sepoys,
to guard the citadel against the artifices of the regent. Mean-
while Dupleix, having received large reinforcements from
Europe, proclaimed the son of Chunda Sahib nabob of the
Battle of Bahoor, Carnatic, and sent a powerful force to renew the
Aug., not gie g e of Trichinopoly. But Major Lawrence over-
IX.] HOSTILITIES BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 240
took the French at Bahoor, inflicted a signal defeat on them,
and a second time captured their guns and ammunition.
The Mysore regent, seeing it vain to expect the
The Mysoreans .... . m . ,. , ,. c ,-,
and Mahrattas acquisition of Tnchinopoly, or any portion or tlie
:om^the French, gum O f eighty lacs of rupees, which he demanded
in lieu of it, transferred his alliance, in conjunc-
tion with Morari Rao, to the French. The town was regu-
larly besieged by the confederates, who experienced many
vicissitudes during the two years the investment lasted.
These various actions it is not necessary to detail, and it
may be sufficient to state that the French were three times
worsted by the superior strategy of Lawrence, and that, on
one occasion, the English sustained a memorable reverse. At
length Morari Rao, on the receipt of three lacs of rupees from
Mahomed Ali, consented to withdraw his force, and not to
appear again in the field against the English, the Nabob, or
the raja of Mysore. Before his departure, however, he con-
trived to extort a further sum from the Mysore regent, under
the threat of attacking him He was the ablest and the
boldest native general of his tune, and his little army, com-
posed of Mahrattas, Mahomedans, and Rajpoots, was the
mbst compact and formidable body of native troops hi the
south. They had stood the assault of European troops, and,
what was of more importance, the fire of field-pieces, which
were now, for the first time, introduced into Indian warfare,
and they had unshaken confidence in each other, and in their
chief.
The French and English had now been engaged
Termination of . , , , .-t-.- etc jt
the war. 1764. m mutual hostilities for nearly five years, madly
exhausting their resources in the cause of native
princes. The Court of Directors were anxious to put an end
to this anomalous and wasting warfare, and, in 1753, made an
earnest appeal to the ministers of the crown for aid, either to
prosecute, or to terminate it. The ministry ordered a squadron
and a military force to India, and theu remonstrated with the
French government on the proceedings of their functionaries
250 TKEATY OP PEACE. [CHAP.
in the East. Anxious to avoid a war between the two coun-
tries, the French cabinet despatched M. Godeheu, one of
the directors of their East India Company, to India, with
orders to supersede Dupleix, to assume the control of their
affairs, and bring these hostilities to an immediate close. He
landed at Pondicherry, on the 2nd of August, 1754, and all
the schemes of ambition in which Dupleix had been so long
engaged, were at once quenched. He immediately laid down
his office ; but his vanity was soothed by being allowed to
retain the emblems of his " Moorish dignity his flags, and
ensigns, and instruments of music, and the dress of his nabob-
ship, in which he went, in great pomp, to dine with M.
Godeheu on the feast of St. Louis."
___^v_. The negotiators, M. Godeheu and Mr. Saunders,
Treaty between
the English and agreed upon a suspension of arms at their first
ncn, 1.54. mee ting. A conditional treaty was soon after
signed, the salient points of which were, that both parties
should, for ever, " renounce all Moorish government and dig-
nity," and never interfere in the differences of the native
princes ; that the possessions held by both nations should
eventually be of equal value, but that they should retain aU
their acquisitions till a final treaty was concluded in Europe.
Mahomed Ali was, likewise, to be confirmed as Nabob of the
Carnatic. The balance of advantage was on the side of the
French. Independently of the Northern Sircars, held by
Bussy, they remained in possession of a territory yielding
eighteen lacs of rupees a year, while that occupied by the
English was not of more value than ten lacs ; but, the East
India Company was rid of the restless ambition of Dupleix,
which outweighed every other consideration. The treaty was r
however, little respected by those who made it. The ink
was scarcely dry before the Madras government sent an
auxiliary force with the army of their Nabob, to subjugate
the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, and the French de-
spatched a body of troops to subdue Terriore. And as to any
definitive treaty in Europe, every prospect of it was extin-
IX.] DEATH OF SAHOO. 251
guished by the war, which soon after broke out between
England and France.
Dupleix embarked for Europe in September.
Fate of Dupleix. r ^- 4.
17o4. He had expended a sum exceeding thirty
lacs of rupees in the public service, partly from his private
estate, and partly from funds raised on his own bonds. Gode-
heu refused to audit his accounts, and referred the adjust-
ment of them to the Directors of the French East India
Company, in Paris, who, to their disgrace, basely disallowed
the greater portion of the claim, under the pretence that these
expenses had been incurred without their sanction. Dupleix
was consigned to neglect and poverty the second instance
of national ingratitude towards Indian servants. He merited
a different return from his own nation ; for, whatever may
have been the defects of his character, the French never had
an officer more desirous, or more capable, of extending their
reputation and power. At a time when Europeans, without
exception, entertained a morbid dread of native armies, he
boldly encountered them in the field, and demonstrated their
weakness; and, if he had been adequately supported from
France, he would probably have succeeded in the great
object of his life the establishment of a French empire in
India.
Death of Sahoo Before we follow the career of Bussy, in the
me Mahratta north, it is necessary to glance at the progress of
Mahratta affairs. Sahoo, the grandson of Sevajee,
who had been seated on the Mahratta throne for more than
fifty years, and had always been imbecile, now exhibited signs
of idiocy dressing up a favourite dog in gold-brocade and
jewels, and placing his own plumed turban on his head in open
durbar. All substantial power had long since passed into the
hands of the Peshwa ; but the wife of Sahoo was his mortal
foe, and, at this crisis, endeavoured to weaken him, by per-
suading her husband, now in his dotage, to adopt his kinsman
the raja of Kolapore. But Tara Bye, who had taken no share
in Mahratta politics for more than twenty years, since the
252 SUPREMACY OF THE PESHWA. [CHAP.
death of her son, now came forward and conveyed informa-
tion to Sahoo, that her daughter-in-law had been delivered of
a posthumous child, whose life she had succeeded with great
difficulty in preserving, and who was now the nearest heir to
the throne. The Peshwa, whether he believed the story or
not, determined to support it, and advanced to Satara with a
powerful army. Eveiy avenue to the couch of the dying
monarch was strictly guarded by his wife ; but the Peshwa
found the means of access to him, and induced him to affix
his seal to a most extraordinary document, by which all the
authority in the state was transferred to the Peshwa, on con-
dition that he should maintain the royal title and dignity of
the house of Sevajee, in the person of Tara Bye's grandson.
Sahoo died two days after the execution of this document,
and the Peshwa dexterously constrained his widow to ascend
the funeral pile by giving out that she had announced her in-
tention to do so ; and from such an announcement she could
not recede without infamy.
Balaiee Rao, the Peshwa, immediately pro-
Supremacy of J r
the Peshwa, claimed the adopted prince sovereign of the Mah-
rattas, under the title of Ram raja. The Mahratta
feudatories who had been summoned to the Court, accom-
panied the Peshwa to Poona thenceforward the capital of
Mahratta power to confirm and complete the provisions of
Sahoo's testament. Rughoojee Bhonslay received new sun-
nuds for levying chout in Bengal and Behar; the province
of Malwa was divided between Holkar and Sindia, and the old
cabinet of Ministers was confirmed in office. These appoint-
ments were made in the name of Ram raja, but they served
to strengthen the authority of the Peshwa. The year 1750
may, therefore, be considered the period at which the power
of the Mahratta state was definitively transferred to his
family, and the descendant of Sevajee became a puppet at
Satara. But Tara Bye, though seventy years of age, was
mortified by this alienation of all power from the regal
sceptre, and called to her aid the troops of the Guickwar,
IX.] PROGRESS OP BUSST 253
now the substantive ruler of Guzerat. At the same time
she urged her grandson to strike for his independence, but he
had no spirit for such a task, and she reproached him bitterly
with his degeneracy, and then placed him in confinement. The
Peshwa, who was then on a distant expedition, hastened to
Satara, and, by an act of treachery which has sullied his
character, seized on the Guickwar, but left Tara Bye unmo-
lested. He felt that by consigning the legitimate monarch to
a prison she was in reality playing his game.
Progress of ^o return to the progress of Bussy, After the
Bussy, 1752. defeat of the three Patan nabobs and the eleva-
tion of Salabut Jung, he accompanied the army to Golconda,
where he and his officers received the most liberal donations.
In June the Nizam proceeded with great pomp to the city of
Aurungabad, then considered second in magnitude and
importance only to Delhi. But Ghazee-ood-deen, the elder
brother of Salabut Jung, who held one of the highest posts
at the court of Delhi, on hearing of the death of Nazir Jung,
obtained a patent of appointment as Soobadar of the Deccan,
and excited the Peshwa by the promise of large jaygeers
to come down and attack Salabut Jung. The Mahrattas
employed all the arts of their national warfare against Bussy,
to whom the Nizam had confided the management of the cam-
paign, but the superiority of European tactics and valour
baffled all their efforts. The French artillery mowed down
their ranks ; they were routed in every encounter, and chased
back to within thirty miles of their capital. The Peshwa now
hastened to offer terms of conciliation. Salabut Jung's army
was, moreover, on the verge of mutiny, for want of pay and
food, and he adopted the advice of Bussy and rid himself of
this troublesome foe, by a cession of territory equivalent to
that which Ghazee-ood-deen had promised him. Eoghoojee
Bhonslay, who had also been incited to attack Salabut Jung
and lay waste his territories, was bought off with similar
concessions. Meanwhile, Ghazee-ood-deen himself advanced
to Aurungabad with an army of 150,000 men, and immediately
254 BTTSSY OBTAINS THE NORTHERN SIRCARS. [dlAP,
dispatched an envoy to Dupleix, offering him the most bril-
liant advantages if he would detach the corps of Bussy from
the interests of his rival and brother. To conciliate Dupleix,
he went so far as to send him a sheet of blank paper with the
broad seal of the Mogul empire affixed to it, for him to fill up
with his own terms. But Salabut Jung cut short all his
schemes by inducing his own mother to send him a poisoned
dish, which she knew he would partake of, when he found
that it had been prepared with her own hands.
The ascendancy which Bussy had acquired at
the Northern the court of Hyderabad raised him many enemies,
:ars ' ni and even the minister, who was under the
greatest obligations to him, became his determined foe, and
plotted his destruction. In January, 1753, Bussy was obliged
to visit the coast to recruit his health, and the minister during
his absence endeavoured to break up his force by withholding
the payment of their allowances, and subjecting them to a
variety of insults. Bussy was obliged to return before his
health was confirmed, and marched with a body of 4,500 men
to Aurungabad, where the court lay. The minister, dis-
tracted by the appearance of this force, determined to seek
a reconciliation, to which Bussy, who wished to avoid
extremities, was not less inclined. But to avoid all future
occasion of discord regarding the pay of his troops, which
amounted to forty lacs of rupees a year, he obtained the
cession of the four districts on the coast, generally known as
the Northern Sircars. By this bold stroke the French acquired
an \minterrupted line of coast, six hundred miles in extent,
yielding a revenue of fifty lacs of rupees a year, which
rendered them absolute masters of a greater dominion than
had been in the possession of any European power in India,
not excepting even the Portuguese. The districts were
admirably adapted by the bounty of Providence and the in-
dustry of the inhabitants for a large and lucrative commerce ;
they were protected on one side by a chain of mountains,
and 011 the other by the sea, and they afforded every fa-
IX.] ATTACK OF MTSOKE AND SAVANORE. 255
cility for the introduction of reinforcements and munitions
of war into the Deccan.
Proceedin of ^ ne P esnwa having completed his arrange-
the Mahrattas, ments in the territory ceded to him by Salabut
Jung and terminated his differences with Tara Bye,
sent an army to levy contributions in the Carnatic, and the
expedition was considered the most profitable he had ever
undertaken. Where the villages and towns refused immediate
compliance with the demands of the Mahrattas, the local
officers were seized, and compelled by threats and sometimes
by torture, to make a settlement. Where no ready money
could be obtained, bills were exacted from the bankers and
forcibly cashed in other parts of the country. When a
garrison presumed to offer resistance it was at once put to the
sword. On the cessation of the rains, Rogoonath Rao, his
lighting brother the Raghoba of British Indian history was
dispatched to plunder Guzerat. From thence he proceeded to
the north with a body of Sindia's and Holkar's troops, and
after ravaging the territories still belonging to Delhi, exacted
heavy payments from the Rajpoots and Jauts.
Attack on Bussy, on his return to Hyderabad at the
Mysore ana Sa- beginning of 1755, found Salabut Jung about to
vanore, 1755-56. proceed to Mysore, to extort tribute. The Myso-
reans then before Trichinopoly were acting in alliance with
the French, but Bussy, as a feudatory, was obliged to
" attend the stirrup " of his suzerain, though much against
his will. The imbecile raja at Seringapatam directed his
brother, the Regent, to hurry back with his troops from the
Carnatic, and he was obliged to return without receiving the
smallest compensation for the heavy expense incurred in the
support of 20,000 troops for three years in that luckless
expedition. So completely had the treasury been drained by
this continued requirement that when the demand of the
Nizam had been compromised, through the mediation of
Bussy, for fifty-six lacs of rupees, it became necessary to
despoil not only the members of the court, female as well as
256 INTRIGUES AGAINST BU8SY. [CHAT,
male, of their jewels and plate, but also the temples of the
idols. The next year Salabut Jung marched against the
nabob of Savanore, who had refused to acknowledge his
authority. Morari Rao had equally resisted the authority of
the Peshwa, and the Peshwa and the Nizam marched against
their refractory vassals with a combined army of 100,000
men. It was in the presence of this force, the flower of the
Deccan soldiery, that Bussy opened fire on the fort of
Savanore from his splendid artillery, in such style as to
astound the allied princes, and constrain the enemy to
send immediate proposals for a surrender; and an accommoda-
tion was soon after effected through his good offices.
The superiority which Bussy had exhibited in
Intrigues ...
against Bussy, this expedition served only to inflame the ani-
mosity of the Nizam's minister, and increase his
anxiety to rid the Deccan of this foreign influence. It was
even determined, if necessary, to assassinate him. As soon,
therefore, as peace was concluded with Savanore, Bussy was
ordered to quit the territories of the Nizam, who was said to
have no farther occasion for his services . He received the
message without any feeling of resentment, and immediately
began his march back to Masulipatam, but at the same time
desired the government of Pondicherry to dispatch eveiy
soldier who could be spared to that port without any delay
On the departure of Bussy the minister of the Nizam applied
to Madras for a body of English troops to aid in completing
the expulsion of the French from the state. The two nations
were then at peace, and a convention had been entered into
which bound the two Companies to avoid all interference in
the quarrels of the native powers. But the bait was too
tempting to be resisted, and the government of Madras was
on the point of sending a large force to demolish the power
of Bussy in the Deccan, when intelligence arrived of the sack
of Calcutta, and another direction was given to the expedi-
tion. Bussy, while yet two hundred miles from the coast,
found his ammunition running short and his military chest
IX.] BUSST AT THE SUMMIT OF SUCCESS. 257
exhausted, and turned aside to Hyderabad, where his influence
would more readily procure supplies of every kind. On the
14th of June, 1756, he took up a position at Charmaul, in the
neighbourhood of the city. Salabut Jung, whom he had
raised from a prison to the throne, summoned every tribu-
tary and dependent in the kingdom to his standard, and
brought its whole strength down to crush his benefactor.
Bussy defended himself with his usual skill and gallantry for
nearly two months, but his position was daily becoming more
critical, when Law, marching up from the coast with rein-
forcements through a wild and mountainous track, and
baffling a corps of 25,000 men sent to oppose him, succeeded
in forming a junction with his chief at Charmaul. Salabut
Jung, in a fever of alarm, sent proposals of peace, which
Bussy was not unwilling to accept, and his authority became
more firmly established in the Deccan than ever.
B at the Towards the close of the year, Bussy proceeded
iummitofsuc- to the districts assigned to him on the coast, to
restore his authority, which had been impaired
during the recent conflict, and he devoted the next year to
the regulation of the government, in which he exhibited not
less- talent than he had shown in the field. Early in the year,
he received a pressing request from the young Nabob of
Moorshedabad, to march up and assist him in expelling Olive
from Bengal ; but, on hearing of the capture of Chanderna-
gore and the imbecility of the Nabob, he resolved not to move
out of his province. But, as war had now been declared
between France and England, he proceeded to capture Vizaga-
patam and the other English factories on the coast, but
he treated the officers with the utmost liberality. During his
absence from the court of Salabut Jung, that helpless prince
was threatened with destruction by the machinations of his
unprincipled minister, who had taken possession of the fort-
ress of Dowlutabad, and of his own ambitious brothers, one of
whom, Nizam Ali, had obtained possession of the royal seal,
and usurped the authority of the state. The Hahrattas did
s
"258 -EXTINCTION OF BUSST S POWER. [CHAP.
Bot, of course, fail to throw themselves into the arena, when
they saw the prospect of hooty. The crown was falling from
the head of Salabut-Jung, and the country was on the eve
of a convulsion, when Bussy started with his army from Raj-
mundry, and, traversing a country never seen by Europeans,
reached Aurungabad, a distance of 400 miles, in twenty-one
days. There he found four armies assembled by the different
parties to take a share in the struggle for power and plunder.
His sudden appearance, with a force which all were obliged
to respect, combined with the natural ascendancy of his cha-
racter, at once extinguished all intrigues. The authority of
Salabut Jung" was restored ; the venomous minister was killed
in a tumult provoked by his own devices; Nizam All was
constrained to fly to Boorhanpore ; and Bussy, by a coup
d'etat, secured the citadel of Dowlutabad, the strongest in the
Deccan.
Extinction of Bussy, who had for seven years exercised the
Bussy's power chief influence on the destinies of the Deccan, had
1758
now reached the summit of his grandeur. The
provinces on the coast, which were governed with great wis-
dom and moderation, furnished abundant resources for the
support of his troops, and he had secured an impregnable
stronghold in the heart of the country. He had placed the
interests of his nation on a foundation not to be shaken by
ordinary contingencies. With a genius which was in every
respect fully equal to that of Clive, he had succeeded in esta-
blishing the authority of France in the southern division of
India, to the same extent as the authority of England had been
established in the north ; and it appeared, at the time, by no
means improbable, that the empire of India would be divided
between the two nations. But the power of the one was
.destined to permanence and expansion, the prospects of the
other were swept away by the folly of one man. At the
commencement of the war in 1756, Lally was sent out as
Governor-General of the French possessions in India, and
immediately on his arrival, partly from caprice and partly
IX.] WAR WITH FRANCE LALLT. 259
i'rom envy, ordered Bussy to repair to Pondicherry, with all
the troops not absolutely required for the protection of the
maritime provinces. Bussy, who considered obedience the
first duty of a soldier, withdrew his garrison from Dowluta-
bad ; and, to the unutterable surprise of the native princes,
who trembled at the sound of his name, retired with all his
troops from the Deccan, just at the time when he had become
arbiter of its fate. He took leave of Salabut Jung on the
18th of June, 1758 ; and, with his departure, the sun of
French prosperity in India sunk, never to rise again.
War with France The command of the armament which the French
Laiiy, 1768. government fitted out hi 1756, to extinguish the
British commerce in India, was committed to Count Lally.
He was descended from one of those Irish Roman Catholic
families who had emigrated to France after the expulsion
of James the Second. He inherited that implacable hatred
of England which the exiles carried with them, and was,
therefore, fitted, as much by his own animosities, as by
his military talents, for the mission on which he was sent.
He had been more than forty years in military service, and
had gained some distinction in the field; but, with all hia
bravery, he was headstrong, rash, and arrogant. He pro-
ceeded to India with a powerful fleet and army, and, after an
indecisive action with the English at sea, landed at Pondi-
eherry in April, 1758. Before twenty- four hours had elapsed
he was on his march to the English settlement of Fort St.
David. It was garrisoned by 870 Europeans and 1,600 sepoys,
and, but for the extraordinary incapacity of the commander,
might have made an honourable defence ; but it was scandal-
ously surrendered after a siege of only a month. The fortifi-
cations were immediately razed by Lally.
laiiy attacks The government of Madras naturally concluded
Tanjore, 1758. that Fort St. George would be the next object of
the victorious general, and they called in the garrisons
from the subordinate stations, and prepared for a vigorous
defence. Fortunately for them, Lally was as resolutely
8 2
260 UNSUCCESSFUL SIEGE OP MADRAS. [CHAP.
thwarted by the civil authorities at Pondicherry, as La-
bourdonnais had been in 1746, and his movements were, at
the same time, crippled for want of resources. To obtain a
supply of money he looked, in the first instance, to Tanjore.
Seven years before this time, the raja, pressed by the demands
of Mozuffer Jung and Chunda Sahib, had given them a bond
for fifty-six lacs of rupees, which, as being of little value, they
had made over to their French allies. This document Lally
determined now to turn to account, and proceeded with his
army to enforce payment. The town was besieged for more
than a fortnight, a practical breach had been made in the
walls, when an English fleet suddenly appeared on the coast,
off the factory of Carical, on which the French army depended
for its supplies. Lally, who had only twenty cartridges left
for each soldier, and but two days' provisions in the camp, was
obliged to raise the siege and return to Pondicherry, poorer
than he had left it. To his infinite chagrin, the French
admiral resisted his pressing importunities and sailed away,
with the whole fleet, to the Mauritius.
_ _, , Returning from Tanjore, Lally marched in the
Unsuccessful J .' J
siege of Madnw, first instance to Arcot, which the venal governor
~ 59 ' surrendered without resistance. Bussy who had
now arrived in the French camp from Hyderabad, implored
Lally to employ the great resources at his command hi
strengthening the position which the French nation had ac-
quired in the Nizam's dominions. But Lally's head was
filled with the magnificent project of driving the English from
Madras, and then from Calcutta, and, finally, from the coasts
of India. The wise counsel of Bussy was treated with con-
tempt, and Lally scarcely condescended to read his letters.
Contrary to the remonstrances of the Council at Pondicherry,
he now determined to undertake the siege of Madras. The
English governor had taken advantage of the respite
gained while Lally was otherwise employed, to strengthen
the defences and to lay in a full supply of provisions. The
enemy brought up a force of 2,700 Europeans and 4,000
DC.] COOTE BAFFLES LALLT. 61
sepoys, with 400 European cavalry, the first ever seen in
India. The garrison consisted of 1,750 Europeans and 2,200
sepoys ; but they were commanded by the veteran Lawrence,
supported by thirteen officers who had been trained under his
own eye, in the wars on this coast. Lally sat down before
the fort on the 12th of December, 1758, and the siege was
prosecuted for two months with the greatest vigour. There
was no lack of military skill or courage on either side. But
on the 16th of February, when a breach had been made which
the French were about to storm, an English fleet appeared in
the roads. The French army was seized with a sudden panic,
the trenches were abandoned without orders, and Lally was
obliged to retreat with precipitation, leaving fifty pieces of
cannon behind him.
coote baffles I n the course of the year there was an indeed
Laiiy, 1759. g j ve action at sea between the English and French
fleets, and a variety of movements and counter-movements
by land without any definite result. Towards the close of
the year the French troops, who were twelve months in
arrears, out of provisions, and in rags,unable any longer to bear
their privations, broke into open mutiny. Lally succeeded, at
length, in quelling the revolt, but was, at the same time,
constrained to take the fatal step of dividing his force, and
sending a large portion of it to the south in search of money
and food. This movement gave a great advantage to the
English ; but they derived still greater service from the arri-
val of Colonel Coote, a general second only to Clive, to take
the command of the army. He entered upon the campaign
with his accustomed energy, and recaptured Wandewash,
which the French had occupied in the previous year. In
January, 1760, Lally moved up to retrieve this loss, and
Coote compelled him to fight, to great disadvantage, in the
neighbourhood of the town, which has given its name to the
battle. Independently of sepoys, the French brought 2,250
and the English 1,900 Europeans into the field on this occasion.
Lally sustained a complete and disastrous defeat, and Bussy
262 CAPTURE OF PONDICHERKT. [CHAP.
was taken prisoner ; but, in consideration of his high cha-
racter and his generous conduct to the English in the Northern
Sircars, was immediately allowed to return to Pondicheny.
Victory appeared now to desert the French standard. During
the year 1760, Coote succeeded in depriving Lally of all the
places he had taken, and Ginjee and Pondicherry were at
length the only possessions remaining to the French. Lally's
troops were not only without provisions, stores, or equipments,
but without hope of obtaining any. The supplies from Europe
had ceased. The settlements of the French, in Africa, in the
West Indies, and in Canada, were attacked with such vigour
as to leave them no leisure to attend to their affairs in the
east. The extinction of the hope they had cherished of es-
tablishing an empire in India may thus be traced, indirectly, to
those energetic measures by which William Pitt, the great
minister of England, defeated their attempts to establish an
empire in America.
Ca ture of Coote now prepared for the siege of Pondicheny,
Pondicheny, when an event occurred which had well nigh
marred the prospects of the campaign. The fleet
from England brought a new commission to Col. Monson, the
second in command, which virtually superseded Coote.
Instructions were, it is true, given that the commission should
not be acted on during the continuance of the war, but Coote
at once yielded the command of the expedition to the man
whom the authorities at home had thought fit to put over his
head, and retired to Madras. The gallant Lawrence had, in
like manner, been superseded on a previous occasion, and this
is, unfortunately, not the only instance we shall have to
notice in the course of this narrative in which Government
has deposed a general from his command in the full tide of
victory. In the present case there was at least this excuse
for the conduct of the people at home, that they were at the
time ignoi-ant of the great merit and brilliant success of Coote.
Monson was baffled and wounded in his first independent
enterprise, and requested Coote to resume the command of
IX.] PATE OF LALLT. 263
operations, which he did not hesitate to do. Pondicherry
was now subject to a close blockade. The brave garrison
held out till, even at the scanty rations to which they had
been reduced, provisions were left only for two days. Lally,
worn out with fatigue, ill health, and vexation, capitulated on
the 14th of January. As the victors marched into the town,
their feelings were strongly affected by the skeleton figures
to which the noblest forms in the two French regiments had
been reduced by long and painful privation. Pondicherry was
levelled with the ground. The instructions sent to Lally by
his own government to annihilate the English settlements
which he might capture had fallen into the hands of the Court
of Directors, and they issued orders to retaliate, and in the
course of a few months not a roof was left of this once fair
and flourishing colony.
Thus ended a war between the English and
Fate of Lally.
French for the exclusive possession of commerce
and power in India, which, with the exception of less than a
twelvemonth, had lasted for fifteen years, and it terminated
by leaving the French without an ensign in the country.
Their settlements were restored at the Peace of Paris, two
years subsequently, but they have never again been able to
raise their heads in India. Lally returned to Paris, and was
thrown into the Bastile. The French ministry were happy to be
able to turn the popular indignation created by the loss of
India, from themselves on the unfortunate commander. A
charge of high treason was brought against him which de-
prived him of the benefit of counsel, and he was condemned
to death by the Parliament of Paris, drawn through the
streets on a dung-cart, and executed the same day : " a murder
committed by the sword of justice." Thus had the French
government, in the course of fifteen years, destroyed three
of their most eminent citizens, who had laboured with un-
exampled zeal and the highest patriotism to promote the
national interests ; and the expulsion of the French Company
from the shores of India ceases to raise any emotion of regret
264 AHMED KHAN ABDALLEE. [CHAP.
when it is viewed as the just retribution of their iniquitous
proceedings.
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE CAPTURE OF CALCUTTA TO THE BATTLE OP PANNIPUT,
17561761.
DURING- these transactions on the coast, a revolution was
in progress in Bengal, which resulted hi transferring the
empire of India to a European power. But before entering
on the narrative of these events, it is necessary to glance at
the progress of affairs at Delhi, though they had long ceased
to exercise any influence on the destinies of Hindostan.
Ahmed Khan I n the year 1747, a new and formidable enemy,
Abdaiee, 1747. f rom the region beyond the Indus, appeared on
the scene, in the person of Ahmed Khan, the chief of the
Abdaiee tribe of Afghans, and of the venerated family of
the Sudoozies, whose persons were held inviolate. He was
rescued from the Ghiljies, when Nadir Shah appeared before
Candahar, and at the early age of twenty-three, attracted
the notice of that conqueror. He was present with him at
the sack of Delhi, the horrors of which he was one day des-
tined to renew. In June, 1747, the atrocities of Nadir Shah,
which are without a parallel on the page of history, constrained
his subjects to rid the world ' of him. Ahmed Khan imme-
diately after rose to distinction, and extended his influence
over the tribes around him, and so great was his success, that
he was crowned at Candahar before the close of the year.
From some motive of superstition, he was led to change the
name of his tribe to that of Dooranee ; but he will continue
to be designated in this work, by his original title of Abdaiee.
X.] PLUNDER OF EOHILCUND. 265
His coronation was scarcely completed before he turned his
attention to India, as the region in which his soldiers would
most amply find both employment and plunder. Having
crossed the Indus with a force estimated at 15,000 men, he
overran the Punjab, and pushed on to Sirhind. An army was
despatched against him from Delhi without delay, under
Ahmed Shah, the eldest son of the emperor, who successfully
resisted all the assaults of the Abdalees for ten days, and on
the eleventh, completely discomfited them, and constrained
them to retreat towards their own 'country. The battle of
Sirhind was the last expiring effort of the dynasty of the
Moguls, and the last event in the life of Mahomed Shah, who
died a month after, in April, 1748, after an inglorious reign of
twenty-eight years.
His son, Ahjned Shah, was in pursuit of the
Anmeu Mian,
Emperor, 1748. Abdalees when he heard of the event, and returned
Thenohuias. ^ ^ M ^ ascend the t h rO ne. Sufder Jung, the
viceroy of Oude, was appointed vizier, and devoted his first
attention to the subjugation of the Rohillas, who had been
expelled from the provinces to which they had given their
name, but had taken advantage of the invasion of the Ab-
dalees, to re-establish themselves in it. He marched against
them with a numerous but ill-disciplined army, and was de-
feated by a far inferior force. The Rohillas pursued him into
his own provinces, aud though beaten off from Lucknow,
penetrated to Allahabad, and set the Emperor and the vizier
alike at defiance. In this emergency the vizier called up the
Mahratta chieftains, Mulhar Rao Holkar and Jyapa Sindia, as
well as the Jaut chief, Sooruj mull, and with then* aid, com-
pletely defeated the Rohillas, and obliged them to seek refuge
in the hills. The Mahrattas were allowed to repay themselves
by the unrestricted plunder of the province, which did not
recover from the effect of these ravages for many years.
Before his retirement, Holkar, true to his Mahratta instincts,
exacted a bond of fifty lacs of rupees from the despoiled
Rohillas.
2fi6 THE VIZIEK BLINDS THE EMTEROR. [CHAP.
The Abdalee availed himself of these commo-
of AhmlcTstah) tionB to invade India a second time, and having
i75i. overrun Lahore and Mooltan, sent an envoy to
Delhi to demand the cession of those provinces. The vizier
was absent in pursuit of the Rohillas ; the emperor was under
the influence of a favourite eunuch, and the whole country was
under the dominion of terror. The provinces were formally
surrendered to the invader. The vizier arrived at the capital
too late to prevent this dastardly submission, but he mani-
fested his disapproval of it, by inviting the favourite to an
entertainment, and causing him to be assassinated. The
incensed emperor soon found a fit instrument to avenge the
insult, in the person of a youth destined to play an important
part in the closing scenes of the Mogul empire. This was the
grandson of the first Nizam, and the son of Ghazee-ood-deen,
who was poisoned by his stepmother. The youth, whose
original name was Shaha-boo-deen, but who is more gene-
rally known by his title of Ghazee-ood-deen, was courageous
and resolute, but at the same time, one of the most accom-
plished villains of the age. He had been raised to the post
of commander of the forces, through the favour of the vizier,
but did not hesitate to turn against him at the bidding of the
emperor. A civil war was carried on between the parties
for six months in the city of Delhi, the streets of which were
deluged with blood. Ghazee-ood-deen at length called Holkar's
mercenaries to his aid, and the vizier finding himself no longer
equal to the contest, consented to an accommodation, and
independence of retired to his own government of Oude. That
oude, 1753. province may be considered as finally alienated
from the crown of Delhi in the present year, 1753. But the
emperor was unable long to support the insolence of his
overbearing minister, and marched out of the capital to
oppose him, but was defeated and captured by Holkar. The
Ghazee-ood-deen infamous Ghazee-ood-deen repaired forthwith to
blinds the em- m
fetor, 1754. tive, and put out his eyes, proclaiming one of the
princes of the blood emperor, under the title of Alumgeer.
X.] SACK OF DELHI. 267
Thw Abdaiee During these events, the vizier, Sufder Jung,
invasion, n56. ^Q^ an d Ghazee-ood-deen invested himself with
the office. His insufferable tyranny soon after drove his
soldiers to revolt, and he was dragged by them through the
streets, without his turban or slippers. He was eventually
rescued from their hands by his own officers, and glutted his
revenge by slaughtering the whole body of the insurgents.
In an evil hour his ambition led him to invade the Punjab, and
to expel the officers whom Ahmed Shah had left to govern it.
That prince immediately crossed the Indus, and advanced to
avenge the insult. Ghazee-ood-deen, unable to cope with
such an adversary, repaired to his camp, and made the most
humiliating submission. But though he obtained forgiveness,
the Abdaiee was resolved to obtain a pecuniary compensation
on this his third irruption. He accordingly marched on to
Delhi and gave it up to plunder for many days. All the
atrocities of Nadir Shah's invasion were repeated, and the
wretched inhabitants were subjected a second time, in less
than ten years, to the outrages of a brutal soldiery. Ghazee-
ood-deen was sent to plunder the province of Oude, and
Ahmed Shah himself undertook to pillage the territories of
the Jauts. In this expedition he inflicted an indelible stain on
his character, by the indiscriminate slaughter of thousands of
unoffending devotees who were assembled during a religious
festival at the shrines of Muttra. Agra was saved from de-
struction only by a great mortality which broke out in the
Abdaiee army, and constrained Ahmed Shah to hasten his re-
treat across the Indus. The wretched emperor entreated that
he might not be abandoned to the tender mercies of his ruthless
vizier, Ghazee-ood-deen, and Nujeeb-ood-dowlah, an able and
energetic Rohilla chief, was installed as commander-in-chief. '.
a ^ tent i n of the reader is now transferred
me pirate* on
the Malabar to the Malabar coast, which had for centuries been
denominated, and not without reason, the pirate
coast of India. The western shore of the Peninsula is as
thickly studded with harbours as the eastern coast, from the
268 THE PIRATE COAST OP MALABAR. [CHAP.
mouths of the Hooghly to Ceylon, is destitute of them.
For fifty years the piratical princes on the coast had been
increasing in power and audacity. Among 1 the most for-
midable was Conajee Angria, who had raised himself from the
condition of a common sailor to the command of the Mahratta
fleet, and then declared his independence and set up a
terrific piratical power, boasting that he was as great a
freebooter at sea as the Peshwa was by land. He esta-
blished fortifications in every creek, bay, and harbour, for a
hundred and twenty miles on the Concan coast, but his most
important arsenal was in the noble port of Gheriah, about a
hundred and seventy miles south of Bombay. In 1752, an
expedition, consisting of three British ships of the line and
a Portuguese squadron attacked Colaba, another of his ports,
but without success. In 1754, his corsairs overpowered three
Dutch vessels, respectively of 50, 36, and 18 guns, the two
largest of which were burnt, and the third captured. The
following year the Peshwa and the Bombay government sent
a joint expedition against Angria, and Commodore James
attacked and carried the strong fortress of Severndroog, with-
out the loss of a single man. The fort was made over to the
Mahrattas, though their pigmy fleet of grabs had never come
within gunshot of the place.
ciive arrives at The Court of Directors viewed the progress of
Bombay, 1785. B usg y fa tne Deccan with great alarm, and
resolved to form an alliance with the Peshwa with the view
of arresting it, and to send a powerful force to Bombay to co-
operate in this design. Clive. on his return to England from
Madras, had been received with great distinction by the
Company and by the Ministers, and to him the Court of
Directors committed the command of the troops destined to
act against Bussy. On his arrival at Bombay, however, in
October, 1755, he found the government of the Presidency
firmly and conscientiously opposed to the enterprize. They
considered themselves precluded from entering upon it by the
Convention made in the preceding year between M. Godeheu
X.] CAPTURE OP GHERIAH. 269
and Mr. Saunders, of which their masters in England were
ignorant when this design was formed. Admiral Watson
happening to arrive with the fleet from Madras about the
same time, it was resolved to take advantage of the presenco
of this large armament to root out the piratical power on that
coast, which it was costing the Company five lacs of rupees a
year to oppose. An arrangement was accordingly made
with the Peshwa for a joint expedition against Gheriah. The
Mahrattas marched down by land, and Colonel Clive and
Admiral Watson proceeded by sea, with 14 vessels arid 800
Europeans and 1,000 sepoys. The fire from the ships set the
pirate fleet in a blaze within an hour. The next morning
Clive attacked the fort by laud, while the Admiral kept up so
vigorous a canonnade from the sea that the defenders were
obliged to capitulate in half an hour. In the arsenal were
found 200 pieces of cannon, together with large quantities of
ammunition and two large vessels on the stocks, as well as
twelve lacs of rupees. The money was immediately distributed
among the captors, without any reservation for the Mahrattas,
or the Company, and the port and arsenal were, eventually,
made over to the Peshwa. Admiral Watson and Colonel
Clive soon after sailed for Madras, and, on the 20th of June,
the latter took charge of the government of Su David, to
which he had been appointed in England,
serajadowiah Tne brave old Tartar viceroy of Bengal, AH
viceroy of verdy, expired at Moorshedabad at the age of
eighty, on the 9th of .April, 1756, bequeathing
the government to Seraja Dowlah, a grandson on whom he
had long doated. The youth, though only twenty years of
age, was already cruel and profligate beyond the usual run of
purple-born princes in India. The little understanding with
which nature had endowed him was obscured by intemperance;
he was the slave of parasites and buffoons ; he had carried
pollution into the families of the nobility, and had become the
object of general abhorrence before he ascended the throne.
His young cousin, Sokut Jung, with a character not less
270 DISPUTE WITH THE NABOB IN BENGAL. [CHAP. ;
abandoned than his own, had recently succeeded to the
government of the district of Purnea, and sent large sums to
the court of Delhi to obtain his own nomination to the vice-
royalty of the three provinces. Seraja Dowlah resolved to
lose no time in extirpating him, and marched with a large
force to Purneah ; but on reaching Rajmahal he received a
a letter from Mr. Drake, the governor of Calcutta which gave
another direction to his purpose.
Raja raj bullub, one of the Hindoo officers whom
Pisputes with .
the governor of it was the policy of All verdy to place in public
Calcutta, 1756. em pl ynients, had amassed great wealth hi the
service, and shortly before the death of the old viceroy had
been nominated governor of Dacca. His predecessor in that
office had been assassinated and plundered by order of Seraja
dowlah, and he was anxious to place his family and treasures
beyond the reach of the tyrant ; he, therefore, obtained a
letter of recommendation from Mr. Watts, the Company's
chief at Cossimbazar the factory adjoining Moorshedabad to
the governor of Calcutta ; and his son, Kissen-dass, embarked
at Dacca with a large retinue, under the pretence of going on
a pilgrimage to Jugunnuth, and landed at Calcutta, where he
received a cordial welcome. Seraja Dowlah, a day or two
after the death of his grandfather, for which he had been
waiting, despatched a letter to Mr. Drake, the governor,
demanding the immediate surrender of Kissen-dass and his
wealth. The messenger, though the brother of the raja of
Midnapore, the head of the spy department, came in a small
boat, and was expelled from the settlement as an impostor.
A second communication was soon after sent to Mr. Drake,
ordering him peremptorily to demolish all the fortifications
which the Nabob understood he had been erecting. The
governor replied that the Nabob had been misinformed, that
no new defences had been attempted, and that nothing in fact
had been done but to repair the ramparts facing the river, in
the prospect of another war with France. The Nabob was not
ill a humour to brook the slightest resistance of his will ; his
X.] STATE OF FORT WILLIAM. 271
indignation was kindled to a degree which astonished even
those who had been accustomed to the violence of his
passions, and he ordered the army to march down instantly
to Calcutta.
state of Fort Calcutta was ill-prepared for such an assault,
wuiiam, 1756. During fifty years of peace, the fortifications had
been neglected, and warehouses built up to the ramparts. The
defenceless state of the fort at this juncture was owing to the
neglect of the Council, not to the inattention .of the Court of
Directors. After the capture of Madras by Labourdonnais in
1747, they were naturally anxious to protect their settlement
in Bengal from a similar fate, and sent orders to strengthen
the defences, however the viceroy might oppose them. Year
after year were these injunctions repeated, and on one
occasion no fewer than 250 recruits were sent out, and
the artillery establishment augmented to 114 gunners and four
officers. Colonel Scott arrived at Calcutta in 1754 as com-
mandant, with the most stringent orders to complete the
fortifications, and, if necessary, to conciliate the Nabob by an
offering of a lac of rupees. At the same time the Court
directed that none but Europeans should be received into their
military service, but Colonel Scott represented that there was
" a set of men called Rashpoots, natives, on the banks of the
Ganges near Patna, gentoos of the fighting caste, and he was
of opinion that when disciplined they would make excellent
soldiers." The Court thereupon permitted the garrison to be
recruited with Rajpoots, and the nucleus was thus formed of
that army of which a hundred thousand endeavoured a century
-afterwards to subvert the British Empire. In 1755 the Court
stated in their despatch that the death of the Nabob might be
daily expected ; that it would be attended with great confusion
and trouble ; that they trusted their officers had put Calcutta in
a state of defence ; and that they were to be on their guard to
protect the possessions, effects, and privileges of the Company.
But these warnings were lost on the authorities in Calcutta,
who were heedful only of their own pelf, and whose infatua-
272 CAPTURE OF CALCUTTA. [CHAP.
tion up the latest moment, was exceeded only by their
cowardice when the danger came. Colonel Scott died in 1755,
and all the works in pi-ogress for the defence of the settle-
ment were immediately suspended; the militia was not
embodied till it was too late; the gunpowder, made by a
fraudulent contractor, whom no one looked after, was deficient
both in quantity and quality, and there were only 174 men in
garrison, not ten of whom had ever seen a shot fired.
sieeofCai ^^ ie armv ^ tne Nabob, 50,000 strong, ap-
cutu,June, preached the town on the 17th June. Under
every disadvantage, Clive would have made as
noble a defence of Calcutta as he had made of Arcot, but the
governor was Drake, and the commandant, Minchin. Instead
of clearing the space round the fort of houses and encum-
brances, batteries were injudiciously planted at a great distance
from it, which the enemy captured on the first day, and were
thus enabled to bring a galling fire to bear directly on the fort
itself. At two in the morning of the 19th a council of war was
held, when it was resolved to send the women and children
on board the vessels lying off the town. But as soon as 1 the
water gate was open there was a general rush to the boats,
many of which were capsized, and the rest pushed off without
order or discipline. After the fugitives had reached the ships,
a shower of " fire-arrows," by no means dangerous, was dis-
charged on them, and the captains immediately weighed
anchor, and dropped down two miles out of their reach. At
ten in the morning only two boats remained at the wharf,
into one of which, the governor, Mr. Drake, quietly slipped,
without leaving any instructions for the conduct of the gar-
rison. The military commander, Minchin, followed his ex-
ample, and they rowed down to the ships hi all baste,
surrender of As soon as this base desertion was known,
Calcutta. nothing was heard on all sides but imprecations. *
When calmness had been in some measure restored, Mr. Hoi-
well was, by common consent, placed in command, and it waa
resolved to defend the fort to the last extremity. It held out
X~| THE BLACK HOLE. 273
for forty-eight hours, during which signals of distress were
made, day and night, to the vessels anchored below the town.
They might have come up with perfect safety, and rescued
the gallant garrison with ease ; but to crown this scene of
infamy, not a vessel was moved to its assistance. On the
21st, the enemy renewed the assault with increased vigour,
and more than half the remaining force was killed or wounded.
The European soldiers broke into the liquor stores and became
unfit for duty. A flag of truce was deceitfully sent by the
Nabob, and Mr. Holwell, seeing the utter helplessness of the
garrison, agreed to a parley, during which the enemy treach-
erously rushed into the fort, and the officers were obliged to
surrender their swords. The Nabob entered the fort about
five in the afternoon, and ordered Kissen-dass, the cause of
these calamities, to be brought before him, but received and
dismissed him with courtesy. Mr. Holwell was then ushered
into his presence, and he expressed his resentment that the
sum in the treasury was found not to exceed five lacs of
rupees, but gave him every assurance of protection, and
retired about dusk to his encampment.
The Black Hole, The European prisoners were collected together
175611 under an arched verandah, while the native officers
went in search of some building in which they might be
lodged for the night. They returned about eight in the
evening and reported that none could be found. The prin-
cipal officer then desired the prisoners to move into one of
the chambers behind the verandah, which had been used as
the prison of the garrison. Orme calls it a dungeon ; but the
room immediately adjoining it was used as the settlement
church for twenty-eight years after the recovery of the town.
It was not twenty feet square, and however suited for the
confinement of a few turbulent soldiers, was death to the
hundred and forty-six persons, now thrust into it at the
sword's point, in one of the hottest nights of the most sultry
season of the year. The wretched prisoners soon became
frantic with suffocating heat and insufferable thirst. The
T
274 EXPEDITION FROM MADRAS. [CHAP.
struggle to reach the window and catch a breath of air proved
fatal to many. At length they began to sink one by one into
the arms of death; and the few who survived that awful
iiight owed their lives to the more free ventilation obtained
by standing on the bodies of their deceased companions.
When the door was opened in the morning, only twenty-three
came out alive the most ghastly forms ever seen. This is
the tragedy of the Black Hole, which has rendered the name
of Seraja Dowlah the type of infamy among all the nations
of Christendom. Yet so little did it appear to be out of the
ordinary course of events in the East, that it was scarcely
marked by the native community, and was not considered of
sufficient importance to demand even a passing notice from
the Mahomedan historian of the time. The next morning the
Nabob came down to the fort, and inquired whether the
English chief still lived ; and when Mr. Holwell was borne
into his presence, he manifested no compassion for his suffer-
ings, nor the least remorse for the fate of the other prisoners,
but reproached him anew with the concealment of the public
treasure, and ordered him to be placed in confinement. The
Nabob returned to Moorshedabad, after having extorted large
sums from the French and the Dutch, and confiscated all the
property of the English throughout the country ; and thus
was the East India Company expelled a second time from
Bengal, as completely as they had been seventy years before,
in the days of Aurungzebe.
_ _. Information of this catastrophe was seven weeks
Expedition to *
recover Cai- in reaching Madras, where the military force con-
01110,1756. eigted of 2j000 Europeans and 10,000 sepoys.
But, while the national honour required immediate vindication
in Bengal, there was a strong party in the council desirous
of employing the resources of the Presidency in assisting
Salabut Jung to expel Bussy from the Deccan, although the
Convention which they themselves had entered into with
M. Godeheu was still fresh and binding. Much time was
wasted in discussing whether the expedition should be sent
X.] RECAPTURE OF CALCUTTA. 275
to Hyderabad or Calcutta. When the council at length came
to the resolution to retrieve the affairs of the Company in
Bengal, in the first instance, further time was lost in disem-
barking the royal artillery and stores, which Col. Adlecron
would not allow to proceed when he found that the command
of the expedition was not to be given to him. Happily it was
entrusted to the genius of Clive, who was instructed, after
the recapture of Calcutta, to march up to Moorshedabad, if
the Nabob continued refractory, and to attack Chandernagore,
if the declaration of war with France, then hourly expected,
should arrive before the time fixed for the return of the troops.
Admiral Watson and Col. Clive sailed from Madras on the
1 Oth of October with five ships of war, and five of the Com-
pany's vessels, on which 900 Europeans and 1,500 sepoys
were embarked.
Recapture of ^ n * ne l^th of December the expedition reached
Calcutta, 1757. Fulta, about forty miles below Calcutta, where
Mr. Drake and the other fugitives were lying in the vessels
on which they had taken refuge. A Mogul fortification on
the river at Budge-budge was soon after attacked. Manick-
chand, the Nabob's Hindoo general, who had been left in charge
of Calcutta, had arrived there two days before with a large
reinforcement of horse and foot; but a shot happening to
pass too near his turban, he gave the signal of retreat, and
the whole body of his troops marched back in disorder to
Calcutta. Not considering himself safe even there, he left
500 men to defend the fort, and fled with the remainder to
Moorshedabad. Colonel Clive entered the dismantled town
on the 2nd of January, and the fort surrendered at discretion.
To impress the Nabob with a conviction of the power and
resolution of the English who had come to avenge their
wrongs, an expedition was sent about a week after to the
important post of Hooghly, which submitted without resist-
ance.
Defeat of the ^ ne Nabob had persuaded himself that the
Nabob, no?. English would never again venture to set foot iu
i 2
276 CAPTURE OP CHANDERNAGORE. [CHAP.
his dominions, and the news of these transactions filled him
with indignation, and he lost no time in marching down to
Calcutta with an army of 40,000 men. Olive was anxious for
an accommodation, and offered him the most moderate and
reasonable terms. But while the negotiations were in pro-
gress, the army of the Nabob was in full march towards the
town, burning down the villages as it advanced. Two
envoys whom Olive had sent on the 4th of February to reqiiest
the Nabob to withdraw his army, if his intentions were pacific,
were treated with contumely. Finding a contest inevitable,
Olive determined to take the initiative; and, on the morning
of the 5th, marched with his whole force, augmented by 600
marines, to the assault of the enemy's entrenchment, which
lay to the north-east of the town. But a little before sunrise
he was confounded by one of those dense fogs which are
common at that season of the year, and although his troops
fought with the greatest gallantry, they became bewildered
and disheartened, and he withdrew his force with the loss of
more than 200 soldiers. But the Nabob was still more dis-
heartened. He had lost twenty-two officers of distinction ;
he had never been so much involved in the perils of a battle
before, and, passing at once from the extreme of arrogance to
the extreme of pusillanimity, hastened to make overtures of
peace ; and on the 9th of February a treaty was concluded
by which all their former privileges were restored to the
English, and permission was given to fortify Calcutta and to
establish a mint, and a promise of compensation for their
losses was held out.
Capture of Clive was directed, and had engaged, to return
Chanaernagore, with the troops to Madras after the recovery of
Calcutta, and he has been censured for disregard-
ing his promise ; but in his determination to remain in Bengal
he exercised a wise discretion. Information had been received,
through Aleppo, of a declaration of war between France and
England on the 9th of May in the preceding year. Chander-
nagore was garrisoned with 700 Europeans. Bussy, with a
X.] CONFEDERACY AGAINST THE NABOB. 277
victorious army, was encamped in the Northern Sircars, not
300 miles from Calcutta, and the Nabob, immediately on sign-
ing the treaty, had importuned him to march up and expel
Clive from Bengal. The junction of the two French armies
with that of the Nabob would have endangered the position of
the English, more especially as, on Olive's departure for the
coast, the management of affairs would have devolved on the
wretched Drake, who still held his commission as governor.
Calcutta would probably have been lost a second time. Clive
justly concluded that it was his duty to remain and dislodge
the French from Chandernagore. The Nabob was extremely
averse to this proceeding, but Admiral Watson terrified him
into a vague and reluctant consent, by threatening to " kindle
such a flame in his country, as all the waters in the Ganges
would be unable to extinguish." The Admiral proceeded up
the river, with his ships of the line, while Clive attacked the
town by land ; and Chandernagore surrendered, chiefly through
the exertions of the fleet, after a noble defence of nine days.
As Clive was preparing for the attack he uttered these me-
morable words, " If we take Chandernagore, we cannot stop
there;" and a century of progress has verified his prediction.
Confederacy ^e ca P^ ure f Chandernagore still farther in-
againstthe censed the Nabob, and he encamped his army at
Plassy, forty miles south of Moorshedabad, and
Clive kept the field in the neighbourhood of Hooghly, instead
of withdrawing his army to Calcutta. Meanwhile, the vio-
lence and atrocities of the Nabob continued to augment the
disgust of his ministers and officers, none of whom considered
themselves secure from the caprices of his passion. Every
day produced some new act of provocation ; and in the month
of May, Meer Jaffier, the paymaster and general of his forces,
Koy-doorlub, his finance minister, and the all-powerful bankers,
the Setts, entered into a combination to dethrone him. They
were constrained to admit into their councils one, Omichund,
the Shylock of this drama, who had settled in Calcutta forty
years before, and accumulated great wealth by his contracta
278 OMICHUNB. [CHAP.
with the Company, in which, however, they always com-
plained of having been overreached, and by his extensive
commercial dealings throughout the country. He maintained
the establishment of a prince in Calcutta, and rendered him-
self important at the Court of Moorshedabad. He accompa-
nied Seraja Dowlah on his return to the capital, and became
a great favourite with that weak prince. He daily attended
the durbar, thrust himself into every affair, and acquired such
influence in the public councils that the confederates were
constrained to take him into their confidence, as the least of
two evils.
ciive joins the As the plans of the party proceeded, Jugut
confederacy. g e ^t. the banker, assured his friends that there
was little, if any, chance of success without the co-operation
of Clive, and they invited him to join them, holding out the
most magnificent offers for the Company. Clive felt " that there
could be neither peace nor security while such a monster as
the Nabob reigned," and readily entered into their plans, not-
withstanding the reluctance of the timid Council in Calcutta.
A secret treaty was concluded between the confederates
and Clive, the chief stipulations of which were that he should
march with his army to Moorshedabad and place Meer Jaffier
on the throne, and that Meer Jaffier should make the amplest
reparation to the English for all losses, public and private.
The whole scheme, however, had well nigh miscarried, through
the rapacity of Omichund, who came forward in the last
stage, and demanded, by the threat of disclosure which
would have been certain death to all the confederates the
insertion of a specific article in the treaty, guaranteeing to him
thirty lacs of rupees, and a commission of five per cent, on
all payments. Clive, on hearing of this outrageous demand,
came to the conclusion " that art and policy were warrantable
to defeat the designs of such a villain ;" and he formed the
plan of deceiving the man by a fictitious treaty, written on
red paper, which provided for his demand, while the real
treaty, authenticated by the seals and signatures of the con-
X.J BATTLE OF PLASST. 279
tracting parties, contained no such stipulation. This is the
only act in the bold and arduous career of Clive, which, hi
the opinion of posterity, does not admit of vindication. But
it is due to his memory to state that, to the end of his life,
he conscientiously asserted the integrity of his motives and
of his conduct on this occasion, and declared that he " would
do it a hundred times over." When the treaty was complete,
Meer Jaffier took an oath on the Koran to be faithful to his
engagements, and to withdraw with his troops from the
army of the Nabob, either before or on the day of the battle.
Battle of Clive, having concluded his arrangements, ad-
piassy, 1757. dressed a letter to the Nabob, recapitulating the
grievances of which the English had to complain, and stating
that he was coming to Moorshedabad to submit them to the
judgment of the durbar. He marched from Chandernagore, on
the 13th June, with 1,000 Europeans, 2,000 natives, and eight
pieces of cannon. On the 17th he reached Cutwa, and captured
the fort, but looked in vain for Meer Jaffier, who had, in the
meantime, taken another oath of fidelity to his master. On
the 19th the rains set in with extreme violence, and Clive
paused on the threshold of the campaign, doubting the pro-
priety of opening it at the beginning of the rainy season, and
on "their own bottom, without any assistance." But on
second thoughts he felt he had advanced too far to recede,
and that there would be more peril in returning than hi
advancing. The whole army crossed the river on the 22nd,
and encamped for the night in the grove of Plassy, in the
immediate neighbourhood of which the Nabob was posted
with an army of 15,000 horse and 35,000 foot, in an en-
trenched camp. The next morning, the memorable 23rd of
June, 1757, the Nabob's troops moved out and assaulted the
English force which was sheltered by a high bank, but with
little effect. About noon the enemy withdrew their artillery,
and Clive advanced vigorously to the attack of their lines.
Meer Mudun, the general-in-chief, was mortally wounded,
and expired in the presence of the Nabob, who was unable
280 MEER JAFFIEB NABOB. [CHAP*
any longer to control his terror, but mounted a camel and
fled at the top of its speed, accompanied by about 2,000 horse.
His whole army immediately dispersed, and this battle, so
momentous in its eventual result on the destiny of India,
was gamed with the loss of only 72 killed and wounded on
the part of the English, while, even on the side of the enemy,
the casualties did not exceed 500. As soon as victory ap-
peared to declare in favour of the English, Meer Jaffier moved
off with his troops and joined their standard. Seraja Dowlah,
on his arrival at the capital, found himself deserted by his
court, and, after passing a day in gloomy reflections, disguised
himself in a mean dress and escaped out of a window in the
palace at ten at night, with a favourite concubine and a
eunuch, and embarked in a little boat which had been secured
for him.
Clive entered Moorshedabad on the 29th of
Meer Jaffier, June, and proceeding to the palace, where all the
1757. great officers were assembled, conducted Meer
Jaffier to the throne, and saluted him Soobadar of Bengal,
Behar, and Orissa. The change in the position and propects
of the English was so rapid and stupendous as almost to
exceed belief. In June, 1756, Calcutta had been plundered
and burnt, its European inhabitants murdered, and the Company
exterminated from Bengal. In June, 1757, they had recovered
their capital, extinguished their European rivals, defeated and
dethroned the Nabob, and disposed of the government of the
three provinces, with a population of twenty-five millions,
to their own partizan. In accordance with the terms of the
treaty, the sum of two crores and twenty lacs of rupees was
gradually paid out of the treasury at Moorshedabad, to make
good the losses of the Company and of individuals. The first
instalment of eighty lacs was conveyed to Calcutta in a tri-
umphant procession with bands playing and banners floating
a bright contrast to the spectacle of the previous year
when Seraja Dowlah marched back to his capital with the
plunder of Calcutta. While Clive was thus giving away a
X.] ASSASSINATION OF SERAJA DOWLAH. 281
kingdom larger and more populous than England, he reserved
for his own masters only the fee simple of the land six
hundred yards around the Mahratta ditch, and the zemindary
rights of the country lying to the south of Calcutta. Nor
was his moderation as a private individual less conspicuous
than as the representative of a victorious nation. While the
opulent nobles of the court were anxious to conciliate his
favour by pouring uncounted wealth into his lap, he refused
every gift except that which the gratitude of Meer Jaffier
pressed on him, not exceeding sixteen lacs of rupees. When,
in aftertirnes, his great services had been forgotten and he
was upbraided with rapacity, he indignantly replied, " When
I recollect entering the treasury at Moorshedabad, with
heaps of silver and gold to the right hand and to the left, and
these crowned with jewels, I stand astonished at my own
moderation."
Fate of Sera Seraja Dowlah proceeded up the river in his
Dowiah, 1757, boat in the hope of overtaking Mr. Law, the French
officer, whom he had been constrained to dismiss at the man-
date of Olive. Had Law, who had a large body of officers,
and about 200 soldiers with him, succeeded in joining the
Nabob, the history of Bengal, and perhaps of India, might
have borne a different stamp. But Law, who had retraced
his steps on hearing of the advance of Olive to Moorsheda-
bad, retired with rapidity to Oude, after receiving news of the
battle of Plassy. The fugitive prince landed at Rajmahal to
prepare a meal, and unfortunately proceeded to the hut of a
fakeer, whose ears he had ordered to be cut off in the
previous year. The man immediately gave information of his
arrival to those who were in pursuit of him, and he was
conveyed back as a prisoner to Moorshedabad, eight days
after he had quitted it. On the night of his arrival, Meerun,
the son of Meer Jaffier, a youth as heartless and abandoned
as Seraja Dowlah himself, caused him to be put out of the
way by assassination. The nxt day his mangled remains
282 THE ASCENDANCY OF CLIVE. [CHAP.
were paraded on an elephant through the streets, and then
buried in the tomb of his grandfather.
Intelligence of the destruction of Calcutta did
The Court of 3
Directors on not reach England for eleven months. On the
piassy, 1757. grd QJf August? 1757> tne Court of Directors wrote
to the President in Calcutta : " On the 4th of June, we heard
of the melancholy news of the loss of Fort William and the
rest of our settlements in Bengal. On the 22nd day of July,
Mr. Holwell arrived on the Siren, and gave a most agreeable
turn to our thoughts by bringing advice of the recapture of
Fort William." A few months after, they heard of the battle
of Piassy, and the great revolution which had been effected
by their troops. That victory more than realised the expec-
tations which the Court had entertained seventy years ago,
when they sent out Admiral Nicholson to make them "a
nation in India." It had laid the foundation of a great
empire. Yet so little conception had the Court of the high
destiny which was opening before them that their chief
source of gratification was derived from the hope that their
servants in Bengal would now be able to provide the invest-
ment for two years without drawing on them.
The first object of Meer Jaffier, after his eleva-
Clive quells J
three reroitt, tion, was to plunder the Hindoo minister of
finance, Roy-doorlub, and the officers who had
amassed wealth in the governments conferred on them by
Ali verdy. These proceedings provoked no fewer than three
revolts within three months, in Behar, Purneah, and Midna-
pore. But they were quelled without bloodshed, by the mere
exercise of Clive's influence, to whom the whole country
looked up as to a demigod. The ascendancy which he' thus
acquired, though inseparable from his position and his genius,
could not fail to lessen the importance of the Nabob, and to
irritate his mind, while it gave umbrage to his family and his
officers. They could not forget that it was only two years
since the foreigners, who now bore the supremacy in Bengal,
3T.] EXPEDITION TO THE COAST. 283
had approached them as suppliants, with gifts and flatteries ;
and it required the most delicate management on the part of
Clive to prevent the explosion of their discontent. A. few
months after the battle of Plassy, a Mahratta envoy arrived
at Moorshedabad to demand the arrears of ckout now due for
two years, but he soon found that the days of chout had
ceased with the advent of the English.
Expedition to ^ ne Court ^ Directors, on hearing of the great
the coast, Sep- victory of Plassy, placed the government of Cal-
tember, 1758. . , , * c m- j 11.
cutta m the hands of Clive, and he was anxious to
afford substantial relief to Madras, now menaced by Lally ;
but the presence of a formidable French force on the confines
of Orissa, and of Law with 200 Europeans on the borders of
Behar, combined with the growing alienation of the Nabob,
made it impolitic to weaken Bengal. The number of European
troops at Madras was, moreover, twice as large as the number
at the disposal of Clive, and, above all, that settlement had
Lawrence for its military commander, which Clive considered
an ample guarantee of its safety. He, therefore, supplied it
most liberally with funds from his own full treasury, and took
steps to remove one cause of disquietude by an attack on the
French possessions in the Northern Sircars, now no longer
protected by the genius of Bussy. He entrusted the expe-
dition to Colonel Forde, one of the great soldiers created by
the long-continued wars on the Coast. Clive had begun to
enlist the Rajpoots, and was enabled to send 2,000 sepoys
with Forde, in addition to 500 Europeans and 14 guns.
That officer landed at Vizagapatam, and, after defeating
Bussy's feeble successor, the Marquis of Conflans, formed the
bold design of laying siege to Masulipatam, the great strong-
hold of the French on the coast, though it was garrisoned by
a larger force than that of the besiegers. Conflans solicited
the immediate aid of the Nizam, Salabut Jung, who marched
down to the coast with a large army in support of his friends.
Forde, however, pushed the siege with such skill and energy
as to oblige the French general to capitulate before the
284 ALI GOHUR INVADES BEHAR. [CHAP.
arrival of the auxiliary force. The Nizam was thunderstruck
at this early and unexpected surrender, and lost no time in
changing sides, and courting the victor. A treaty was
speedily concluded, by which Salabut Jung ceded Ma-
sulipatam and eight districts around it to the English, and
engaged to exclude the French from his dominions. This
brilliant exploit raised the reputation of the English as high in
the Deccan as it stood hi Bengal, and entirely deprived the
French of the resources of the Northern Sircars.
AH r,ohur While the troops were thus employed on the
invades Behar, coast their presence was urgently required in
Bengal. The emperor at Delhi was a mere puppet
in the hands of his unprincipled vizier, from whose thraldrom
the heir apparent, Mahomed Ali Gohur, had contrived to make
his escape, not without his father's connivance. India, at
this time, abounded with military adventurers ready for any
service, and the name of the emperor was sufficient to attract
crowds to the standard of his son. The Soobadar of Oude
was likewise anxious to turn the unsettled state of Bengal to
his own profit, and joined the camp of the prince with a large
force, and induced him, in the first instance, to invade the
province of Behar. An army of 40,000 men now suddenly
appeared before Patna, the provincial capital, which Ram-
narayun, the Hindoo governor, defended with great valour for
twelve days. Meer Jaffier was thrown into a fever of anxiety
by this invasion, and importuned Olive to hasten to the rescue.
On his march towards Patna, Olive received repeated letters
from Ali Gohur, offering him province after province for his
assistance, but he handed them to the Nabob, who had like*-
wise received letters from the emperor, written under the
dictation of the vizier, and commanding him to seize his rebel-
lious son, and chastise his adherents. Olive's advanced guard
appeared in sight of the city on the 4th of April, and the
Prince instantly raised the siege and endeavoured to escape
from the province faster than he had entered it. As a matter
of course, the Nabob of Oude deserted him on the first
X.] FIGHT BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND ENGLISH. 285
appearance of adversity, and he was reduced to such straits
during his flight as to throw himself on the compassion of
Clive, who sent him 500 gold mohurs to relieve his necessities.
Conflict with Scarcely had this cloud blown over than another
the Dutch, 1789 gathered on the horizon. The Nabob, fretting
under the supremacy of Clive and the restraints it imposed
on him, cast about for some means of counterbalancing it,
and hit on the device of inviting the Dutch to introduce a
large European force into their settlement at Chinsurah. The
Dutch government at Batavia appear to have viewed the
prosperity of the English in India with no small feeling of
envy, and eagerly embraced the proposition, hoping to fish
up some prize in the troubled waters of Bengal. They accord-
ingly dispatched a fleet of seven vessels to the Hooghly,
with 700 Europeans and 800 well-trained Malay sepoys.
Clive would tolerate no European rival in Bengal ; and, on
hearing of the arrival of the expedition, blocked up the river
and took measures to prevent the junction of this force with
that already cantoned at Chinsurah. The two nations were
at peace in Europe ; but, according to the established practice,
this did not impede their waging war with each other in
India. Even if Clive had felt any delicacy on the subject it
was removed by the aggressive movement of the Dutch com-
mander, who seized upon some of the British vessels, hauled
down their colours, and transferred their guns and stores to his
own ships. Clive retaliated by sequestering the vessels which
had arrived from Batavia, and sending Colonel Porde, who
had returned from the coast, with all the troops available to
intercept the progress of the Batavian force. Forde, dread-
ing the responsibility of attacking the troops of a friendly
power, requested a written order from Clive. He was sitting
at cards when the letter was put into his hands, and without
rising, wrote on one of the cards with his pencil, " Dear
Forde, fight them immediately, I will send you the Order in
Council to-morrow." That officer hesitated no longer, but
advanced to meet the Dutch army, which he came up with
286 FRESH INVASION OF INDIA BY AHMED SHAH. [CHAP.
just as it arrived within sight of Chinsurah, and defeated in
half an hour. Immediately after the action, the Nabob's son,
Meerun, appeared with an army of 7,000 men, who were
destined to turn on the English if the fortune of the day had
been different. Clive restored the vessels he had taken to the
Butch authorities, on their engaging to make good all the
expense incurred in defeating their plans, and embarked fo-
England on the 25th of February, 1760.
Ahmed shah ^ e now resume t^ e thread of Mahratta and
and the Mahrat- Mogul affairs. Ahmed Shah Abdalee returned to
Persia hi June, 1757, leaving his son, Timur, in
charge of the Punjab, and Nujeeb-ood-dowlah in command at
Delhi, to protect the emperor from the designs of Ghazee-ood-
deen. That profligate minister called the Mahrattas to his
aid, and Raghoba, the fighting brother of the Peshwa,
marched up to Delhi, and captured it after a month's siege.
Nujeeb retreated to Rohilcund, and Ghazee-ood-deen was re-
instated in the office of vizier. Soon after the capture of the
capital by Raghoba, one Adina-beg, a veteran intriguer in the
Punjab, invited him to seize on that province, as well as Mool-
tan, and annex them to the Mahratta dominions. He marched
to Lahore, hi May, 1758; the Abdalees were totally routed;
Prince Timur retreated to Persia ; and the Mahratta standard
was planted, for the first time, on the banks of the Indus.
Raghoba then returned to the Deccan, but with more glory
than money ; and, instead of the loads of booty which usually
marked the return of the Mahratta expeditions, brought back
a load of obligations little short of a crore of rupees. This
disappointment gave rise to a serious altercation with Suda-
seeb Rao Bhao, the cousin and civil administrator of the
Peshwa. "Then take charge of the next expedition yourself,"
was the tart reply of Raghoba. The Peshwa took him at his
word, and compromised the differences between them by trans-
ferring the command of the army to Sudaseeb, generally
known as the Bhao, and placing his brother at the head of
the civil department.
X.J THE MAHRATTA POWER AT ITS ZENITH. 287
Territory wrest- The Peshwa had been, for some time, engaged
ed from Saiabut in intrigues for the acquisition of Ahmednugur,
the most important city south of the Nerbudda,
and, at length, obtained possession of it by an act of base
treachery. This aggression brought on hostilities with Saiabut
Jung and his brother, Nizam Ali, who had been recently re-
conciled to him. The master-spirit of Bussy no longer ani-
mated the councils or the army of the Nizam. Ibrahim Khan
Gardee, one of the ablest native generals of the time, who
was in command of the sepoy battalions trained by Bussy,
and a powerful and well served artillery, had been dismissed
from the service. He immediately transferred his sword to
the Peshwa, and, in the conflict now raging, contributed, in
no small degree, to reduce Saiabut Jung and his brother to
such straits, that they were constrained to submit to the most
humiliating conditions as the price of safety. A treaty was
wrung from them, which conceded to the Mahrattas five of
the most important fortresses in the Deccan, and some of its
most flourishing districts, yielding a revenue of not less than
sixty lacs of rupees a year. The Mahrattas had now reached
Power of the the zenith of their power. Their authority was
Mahrattas, 1759. equally acknowledged on the banks of the Cavery
and the Indus. All the territory within these limits, which
was not their own, paid them tribute. The vast resources
of the Mahratta community were guided by one head and
directed to one object the aggrandisement of the nation,
and they now talked proudly of establishing Hindoo sove-
reignty over the whole of Hindostan. The only hope of pre-
serving the countiy from subjection to this power, of which,
tyranny, rapine, and destruction were the constant attendants,
now rested on the arms of a foreign potentate Ahmed Shah
Abdalee.
Fourth invasion ^ a ghoba had left Mulhar Eao Holkar and Data-
of Ahmed Shah, jee Sindia to extort contributions from the Rajpoot
princes, and to maintain the conquests he had
made in the Punjab. At the instigation of Ghazee-ood-deen,
288 MURDER OF THE EMPEROR. [cHAPi
Sindia sent his officers to invade Rohilcund, and in the
course of a month they laid waste thirteen hundred villages
in that flourishing province. The ulterior object of the vizier
and of the Mahrattas was the possession of Oude, and as the
Nabob dreaded them more than he hated the Rohillas, he
entered into a treaty with Hafiz Ruhmut, the bravest of their
chiefs, and, in conjunction with Nujeeb-ood-dowlah drove
Sindia across the Ganges with great slaughter. Just at this
juncture both parties were astounded by the intelligence that
Ahmed Shah was entering India with a grand army to recover
and extend his conquests. The remembrance of the sack of
Delhi by his troops gave a portentous character to this, his
fourth invasion ; and the Nabob and the Mahratta were in-
duced, by a common alarm, to patch up an accommodation.
The Abdalee crossed the Indus in September, 1759, and
marched direct to Lahore. During his advance, the vizier,
who had deprived his former master of sight, dreading the
intercourse of the emperor with Ahmed Shah, on whom he
felt that he had inflicted inexpiable injury, gave
Murder of the , ,
emperor, Alum- orders for his assassination, and placed some
geer, NOT., i<59. un ] cnown youth on the throne, who was howevei
never acknowledged.
The two Mahratta chiefs, supported by their allies, the
Jauts, advanced to encounter Ahmed Shah, but they were in
two divisions, widely separated from each other,
Defeat of Sindia ' J
and Hoikar; and he resolved to attack them before they could
form a junction. The army of Sindia was sur-
prised, and two-thirds of the troops, including the general,
slaughtered. Hoikar made all haste to retreat, and might
have escaped, but he could not resist the temptation of turn-
ing out of his way to plunder a rich convoy, of which he had
received intimation. Ahmed Shah overtook him by forced
inarches of extraordinary length, and routed him with great
carnage. Of these reverses the Peshwa received information,
immediately after he and his cousin had succeeded in wresting
the forts and districts already mentioned from Salabut. The
X.] THE GREAT MAHRATTA FORCK. 289
Bhao, flushed with his recent success, entreated the Peshwa
to allow him to proceed to Upper India, and restore the repu-
tation of the Mahratta arms, and expel the Abdalees from
the country. In an evil hour permission was granted, for
though personally brave and resolute, he was rash and
arrogant, and filled with an overweening conceit of his own
abilities, which were unequal to the great expedition on which
the fortunes of the Mahratta nation were about to be staked.
The Mahratta "^ ne arrnv which now proceeded against Ahmed
army. Shah was the largest and best equipped with
which the Mahrattas had ever taken the field. It resembled
rather the gorgeous array with which Aurungzebe had crossed
the Nerbudda eighty years before than that of the humble and
hardy mountaineers who had baffled him. The spacious
and lofty tents of the chiefs were lined with silk and bro-
cades, and surmounted with gilded ornaments. The finest
horses, richly caparisoned, together with a long train of
elephants, accompanied the army. The wealth which half a
century of plunder had accumulated was exhibited in all its
splendour. The officers, dressed in cloth of gold, vied with
each other in profuse and prodigal display. The military chest
was laden with two crores of rupees. Every commander
throughout the Mahratta commonwealth was required to join
the Bhao, and the whole of the Mahratta chivalry marched
under the national standard. The Rajpoot chiefs contributed
their cavalry brigades ; the Pindarrees, who now appear for
the first tune in history, swarmed to the conflict, and Sooruj
Mull, the Jaut chieftain, brought up a contingent of 30,000
men. The entire force did not fall short of 270,000. It was
the grand struggle of Hindoo and Mahomedan for the
sovereignty of India.
Arrogance of ^ ne experienced old Jaut did not fail to perceive
the Bhao. that the unwieldy masses of the Bhao, encum-
bered with artillery and other accessories unsuited to their
national mode of warfare, were ill calculated for such a
campaign. He strongly advised that the guns and the
u
290 MOGULS AND MAHEATTAS AT PANIPUT. [CHAP.
infantry should be left in his forts, and that the army should
revert to the old system of warfare, and harass the enemy
with incessant attacks and cut off his supplies, till the hot
season obliged the Abdalee to withdraw his troops to a more
congenial climate beyond the Indus. But this sage advice,
though supported by the ablest of the Mahratta generals,
was rejected with scorn by the Bhao. The city of Delhi was
occupied almost without a straggle, and he was with difficulty
dissuaded from proclaiming Wiswas Eao, the eldest son of
the Peshwa, Emperor of India. But, in a spirit of wanton
barbarity, he destroyed the monuments of art which even
Nadir Shah had spared. Disgusted with these acts, and not
less with the overbearing conduct of the Bhao, the Rajpoots
and the Jauts withdrew from his army.
Ahmed Shah was cordially supported by the
the V Mahra.ttas Rohillas, and with less zeal by the Nabob of
is, Qude. His regular army consisted of 38,000
foot and 41,800 horse, with seventy pieces of
artillery. His irregular force was computed to be equally
strong. After a variety of manoeuvres the two armies con-
fronted each other on the field of Paniput, where for the
third time the fate of India was to be decided. The Bhao
entrenched himself behind a ditch, forty feet wide and twelve
feet deep. Ahmed Shah fortified his camp with felled trees.
Numerous encounters took place from time to time between
different detachments without any decisive result. The
Rohillas and the Nabob of Oude were impatient to be led at
once against the enemy, but the wary and experienced Ab-
dalee prudently determined to wait the certain progress of
famine in their encampment. The resources of the Mahrattas
were gradually exhausted ; their foraging parties were con-
stantly driven back, and starvation stared them in the face,
while the stench from the dead bodies of men and animals
within the narrow limits of the camp became at length
insupportable. Unable any longer to bear these privations
and evils, men and officers equally demanded, in a voice of
X.] BATTLE OF TANIPUT. 291
thunder, to be led against the enemy instead of being cooped
up to die like dogs. The Bhao was obliged to yield ; with
the provisions which were left they partook together of one
full meal, and then prepared for the struggle of the morrow.
fp An hour before daybreak on the 7th of January,
put, January 7, 1761, the Mahratta army issued from its en-
trenchments, not, as on many former occasions,
in the full confidence of victory, but with the recklessness of
despair. The engagement was opened by Ibrahim Khan
Gardee and his 10,000 sepoys, trained under Bussy, and his
splendid artillery, with which he swept down the ranks of
the Rohillas who were opposed to him. He then charged
them with the bayonet, but they did not retire till 8,000 of
their number lay dead or wounded on the field, while the loss
of half the corps of Ibrahim shewed the desperate character
of the conflict. The retirement of the Rohillas uncovered
the right of the centre division of the Abdalees, and the
Bhao and his cousin, with the flower of the Mahratta force,
charged them with such vigour, that the day at one time
seemed to belong to the Mahrattas, but at this critical juncture
Ahmed Shah brought up his reserve, and the conflict became
closer and more ferocious than ever. With the exception of
Mulhar Rao Holkar, all the chiefs maintained their reputa-
tion, but about two hours after noon, Wiswas Rao, the son
of the Peshwa, was mortally wounded, and the Bhao imme-
diately mounted his horse, and disappeared in the confusion
of the fight. Holkar likewise marched off, and was followed
by the Guickwar. As soon as the leaders were no longer
seen the army fell into disorder and fled. No quarter was
given, and the carnage was prodigious. Men, women, and
children crowded into the village of Paniput, where they
were surrounded for the night, but the men were drawn out
the next morning, and ranged in files, when, to the eternal
disgrace of Ahmed Shah, his soldiers were encouraged to
amuse themselves in cutting off their heads, and piling them
up as trophies in front of their tents. The body of Wiswas
u 2
292 ITS EFFECT ON THE MAHRATTAS. [CHAP.
Rao was found, and the Abdalee was with reluctance prevailed
on to allow it to be burnt, instead of having it dried and
stuffed, to take back with him to Cabul. Junkajee Sindia
and the illustrious Ibrahim Khan Gardee, were taken prisoners
and put to death, the latter on the ground of having fought
on the side of the Hindoos against the true believers. Only
one-fourth of the troops escaped ; and the entire loss of the
Mahrattas, from the beginning of the campaign, was
computed at 200,000. Never was defeat more complete
or more fatal. There were few families which had not lost
some relative, and grief and despondency overspread the
community. The Peshwa died of grief, and with him
perished the prestige of his family. The formidable unity
of the Mahratta power was destroyed, and the hope which
the Mahrattas had cherished of becoming masters of all India,
was at once and for ever annihilated.
CHAPTER XI.
BENGAL, 1761 1772.
THE battle of Paniput forms an important epoch
Condition of . , r
India after the m the modern annals of India, and a brief notice
of the position and strength of the various
princes at that period will serve to elucidate its
subsequent history. The great empire of the Moguls was
dissolved, and the emperor was wandering about in Behar,
accompanied by a small band of mercenaries. In the districts
around Delhi, the Jauts on one side, and the Rohillas on the
other, were consolidating the power they had usurped. The
Rajpoot rajas had been humbled during the encroachments of
the Mahrattas, and manifested little of their former energy.
The Nabob vizier of Oude possessed a rich territory, and a
large undisciplined army, but was deficient in every military
XI.] VANSITTART, GOVERNOR OP BENGAL. 293
quality, except courage. The Mahratta dream of universal
empire in India, under a Hindoo sceptre, had been dissipated
by the recent defeat, and although the Peshwa was still the
head of the federation, its power was henceforth partitioned
among the Guickwar, the raja of Nagpore, and Holkar and
Sindia, who were seldom at peace with e:',ch other. The
Nizam at Hyderabad, had been crippled by the surrender of
some of his most valuable districts to the Mahrattas. The
power of the French was completely broken. In the south
of the peninsula, the Nabob of the Carnatic had been seated
on the throne by the English, and was maintained solely by
their arms, and Hyder All was on the point of grasping the
supreme control in Mysore. The power destined eventually
to bring these various principalities " under one umbrella,"
had recently subdued its European rivals in the south, and
established its predominance in the valley of the Ganges, but
was contemplating nothing so little as the conquest of India.
Olive had become so completely identified with
Vansittart,
Governor of the existence of British power in Bengal, that his
Bengal, 1760-61. Departure appeared to those who remained, as if
the ' soul was departing from the government. He was
succeeded in the chair by Mr. Vansittart, a Madras civilian,
a man of the greatest probity, but utterly incompetent to
manage the complicated machinery of the government. The
appointment, though recommended by Clive, proved in every
respect disastrous. The members of the Bengal Council were
irritated by his intrusion into a seat which they considered to
belong to them of right, and set themselves to thwart his
measures, at a period when the exigencies of a novel and
foreign administration required the greatest unanimity. Soon
after Mr. Vansittart's appointment, moreover, an order from
the Court of Directors reached Calcutta, summarily dismissing
three of the ablest and most experienced members of Council,
on account of a contumacious letter which had been provoked
by their own arbitrary proceedings. The opponents of
Mr. Vansittart thus obtained a majority in the Council, and
294 INVASION OP BEHAR BY THE SHAH ZADA. [CHAP.
this circumstance, combined with his imbecility, rendered the
four years of his administration a period of extraordinary
criminality.
The Shah Zada, the son of the emperor, in-
Invasion 01 x
Behar by the vaded Behar a second time at the beginning of
Shah zada, 1760: ^^ ^.^ ^ ^^ Q ^^ ^ ^ collected
around him. As already stated, the intelligence of his
father's death reached him after he had crossed the Gurumnussa,
and he immediately assumed the imperial dignity with the
title of Shah Alum, which brought a large accession of troops
to his standard. The Nabob of Oude was appointed vizier of
this relic of an empire, and, in the hope of adding Behar to
his territories, joined the emperor with a considerable force.
Colonel Calliaud, one of the generals created by the wars on
the coast, the comrade of Lawrence and Olive, of Goote and
Forde, had been sent up from Madras to take the command of
the army in Bengal, and had proceeded to Moorshedabad,
where Clive, then on the eve of embarking for England, was
making the necessary dispositions for repelling the invasion.
Meer Jaffier contributed 15,000 horse to the expedition under
the command of his son, Meerun, whose oppressions had
made even Seraja Dowlah an object of regret. The united
forces of the emperor and the vizier advanced towards Patna
on one side, while Colonel Calliaud was moving up in an opposite
direction to its succour. Ramnarayun, the Hindoo governor,
had been strictly enjoined to await the arrival of these re-
inforcements, but he chose to march out and encounter the
enemy alone, and was totally defeated. The city must hav r e
surrendered at discretion, if it had been immediately invested,
but the emperor wasted the precious moments in plundering
the district. On the 20th of February, Colonel Calliaud came
up with the emperor, and, notwithstanding the misconduct of
Meerun's horse, completely routed his army.
The Emperor The emperor had received the promise of assist-
marches to ance f rom the Mahrattas, and made a sudden and
ueo. ' rapid march through the hills on Moorshedabad
XI.] BATTLE OF PATNA, GAINED BY CAPT. KNOX. 295
to meet them. Calliaud lost no time in following his steps,
and the two armies confronted each other about thirty miles
from that city. But the emperor, hearing nothing of his
allies, abruptly broke up his camp and marched back to
Patna, to which he laid close siege for nine days. All hope of i
" prolonging the defence was fading away, when Captain Knox, |
who had advanced from Bengal by forced marches to its \
rescue, at the hottest season of the year, was descried ap-
proaching it with a small force. The following day the two
armies met, and the emperor was defeated, and his force dis-
persed. The Nabob of Purneah, who had been for some
time intriguing with the emperor, now advanced to his
assistance with 30,000 men and thirty pieces of cannon.
Captain Knox, to the utter amazement of the natives of
Patna, immediately crossed the Ganges to oppose his pro-
gress, with a handful of men not exceeding a battalion of
sepoys and 200 Europeans, and a small squadron of cavalry.
The native historian of that period vividly describes the
breathless anxiety with which the inhabitants crowded on
the walls to watch the issue of this desperate encounter. It
was one of those battles in the early career of the English
which gave prestige to their arms, and bewildered the native
princes. It lasted six hours, and ended in tKe total defeat of
the enemy. The result of the conflict was rendered the more
grateful to the natives by the extraordinary valour displayed
by one of their own country, raja Shitabroy, and by the high
encomium bestowed on him by the English commander, as
they entered the city together covered with dust. Colonel
Calliaud and Meerun soon after arrived at Patna, and pro-
ceeded across the river to follow up the victory. But they
had not marched far when Meerun, as he lay on his couch
listening to a tale, was struck dead by a thunderbolt, and the
country was rid of a monster, in whose cabinet
Death of '
Meerun, July 2, was found a list of three hundred men of note
whom he had doomed to destruction on his
return.
296 DEPOSITION OP MEER JAFFIER. [CHAP.
Meer Jaffier The vigour of Meerun, in spite of his profligacy,
deposed, 1760. h a d been the mainstay of the government of
Moorshedabad, and his death brought on an immediate
crisis. Meer Jaffier lost the little reason he ever possessed,
and the administration fell into a state of complete anarchy.
The troops surrounded the palace, and demanded the ar-
rears of their pay with loud menaces, when Meer Cassim,
the Nabob's son-in-law, came forward and offered to satisfy
their claims from his own funds, on condition of being ap-
pointed the successor of Meerun. The Nabob accepted his
terms and his services, but, in an evil hour, sent him to Cal-
cutta, to make pecuniary arrangements, in his name, with the
Council. They had an expensive war on their hands, without
a rupee in their exchequer. The treasure accumulated at
Moorshedabad had been exhausted, and, in the confusion and
scramble of the times, no thought had been bestowed on the
future. The imbecile Meer Jaffier was not the man to re-
move their embarrassments ; on the other hand, Meer Cassim
appeared to possess great talent and energy. Mr. Holwell,
who had taken the command of Fort William when it was
deserted by Mr. Drake, was the inveterate enemy of Meer
Jaffier, and urged his colleagues at once to determine on
deposing him, and elevating his son-in-law to the throne.
After a show of hesitation, the members of the Council
adopted his advice, and Mr. Vansittart was requested to pro-
ceed to Moorshedabad with 180 Europeans, 600 sepoys, and
four guns, to persuade Meer Jaffier to resign the government
of the three soobahs. The old man refused to abdicate, and
threatened to appeal to Clive, his friend and protector ; but
the arguments of Mr. Vansittart were irresistible, and he was
obliged to submit to his fate, only stipulating for a safe
asylum in Calcutta, well knowing that in India deposition meant
Meer Cassim death. Meer Cassim became soobadai 1 , and, as
Kabob, 1760- the price of his elevation, ceded to the Company
the three districts of Midnapore, Chittagong, and
Burdwan, which were then estimated to furnish a third of the
XI.] ELEVATION OP MEER CASSIM HIS ENERGY. 297
revenue of Bengal. He agreed, moreover, to make good all
arrears, and, above all, to bestow a gratuity of twenty lacs of
rupees on his benefactors, of which Mr. Vansittart received
five, and Mr. Holwell three lacs. The disorders of the times
required a sharp remedy, but one might have been discovered
without resorting to this odious breach of faith. Avarice
was at the root of the transaction, and it ended in a fearful
tragedy.
Meer Cassim's Meer Oassim met the difficulties of his position
IdSntton, with "* energy. He curtailed the extrava-
1701-63. gance of the court establishments. He abolished
"the ram office, the antelope office, and the nightingale
office/' and many other useless and costly appendages of the
menagerie department. He subjected the public accounts to a
severe scrutiny, and obliged the officers to disgorge the plun-
der they had acquired. He exacted all arrears of rent with
unexampled rigour, revised the assessment of the land, and
made an addition of a crore of rupees to the annual revenue of
the three provinces. These measures gave him the means of
discharging all the obligations he had contracted to the
English, after which he gave his entire attention to the great
object of emancipating himself from the pressure of their
authority, and restoring freedom to the soobah. He removed
the seat of government to Monghir, a distance of 320 miles
from Calcutta, where, free from observation, he prosecuted
his plans of independence with such earnestness, that in less
than three years, he considered himself in a position to set
their power at defiance. For this rapid progress, he was
mainly indebted to the exertions of an Armenian, born at
Ispahan, generally known by his orientalized name of
Gurghin Khan. He was originally a clothseller at Hooghly,
but when entrusted with the responsibilities of office, turned
out to be a man 'of original genius and vast resources. In
less than three years, he created a force of 15,000 cavalry,
and 25,000 infantry, disciplined on the model of the Com-
pany's army ; he manufactured firelocks which were superior
298 TRANSACTIONS WITH THE EMPEROR. [CHAP.
to the Tower proof muskets ; he established a foundry for
casting cannon, and trained up a corps of artillerymen who
would have done credit to the Company's service. Nothing
was wanting to render Meer Cassim more powerful than
Aliverdy Khan had ever beep, but a few years of undisturbed
leisure.
Transactions ^e em P eror > Shah Alum, unable to regain hia
with the capital, lingered within the limits of Behar with a
horde of troops, which wasted the districts like a
flight of locusts. As soon, therefore, as the rains of 1761
had subsided, Colonel Carnac marched to Gya with an English
force and dispersed them. Law, the French general, whose
little band of Europeans had been the chief support of the
prince, was taken prisoner on this occasion. The distin-
guished courtesy with which he was treated by the English
commander, confounded the ideas of the natives, who ex-
pected that he would have been led out to immediate execu-
tion, in accordance with the practice of oriental warfare.
"Nothing," exclaims the native historian in his remark on
this circumstance, " can be more modest and becoming than
the behaviour of these strangers, whether in the heat of
action, or in the pride of success." After the action, Colonel
Carnac sent raja Shitabroy with a conciliatory message to the
emperor, which was cordially welcomed, and he was con-
ducted with suitable honours to Patna. Meer Cassim felt no
little alarm on hearing of this friendly intercourse between
the English commander and his own liege sovereign, and
hastened to the English camp, but sullenly refused to pay his
respects to the emperor. Colonel Carnac obviated his objec-
tions by bringing the parties together in his own tent, when
Shah Alum received the homage of the nabob, and conferred
on him the office of soobadar of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa,
and obtained in return the promise of an annual payment of
twenty-four lacs of rupees. The emperor then proceeded on
his route to Delhi, and, on taking leave of the colonel, made an
offer to the Company of the dewanny of the three provinces.
XI.] THE TRANSIT DUTIES. 299
spoliation of ne ^ tne earliest objects of Meer Cassim after
Bamnarayun, his elevation was the spoliation of the great pro-
vincial officers, who had amassed wealth in their re-
spective governments. Ramnarayun, the Governor of Patna,
was destined to be the first victim, but the Council in Calcutta
had pledged their honour to protect him from the designs of
his enemies, and the Nabob was for a time baffled. But
Mr. Vansittart yielded at length to his importunities; Colonels
Coote and Carnac, who insisted on keeping faith with Ram-
narayun, were removed from the province, and Meer Cassim
was left to wreak his vengeance on him. The unfortunate
governor was immediately seized and despoiled, while his
subordinate officers were pursued with all the ardour of
cupidity, and tortured to disclose their wealth. Of all the
proceedings of the feeble Vansittart, this was considered the
most baneful, inasmuch as it destroyed the confidence which
the natives had hitherto reposed in the protection of the
Company's officers, and strengthened the hands of the Nabob,
whose hostility to the English was daily becoming more
palpable.
The transit Meer Cassim had made great progress in con-
duties, 1762. solidating his government, when a storm was
raised by the unprincipled conduct of the Council board in
Calcutta, which eventually swept him from the throne. From
the days of Munoo, the duties levied on the transit of mer-
chandise through the country had formed one of the principal
sources of the public revenue, and the highways of com-
merce, both by land and by water, were obstructed by
custom-houses. Under the old imperial firmans, the goods of
the Company intended for export by sea were allowed to pass
duty free, when protected by the dustuck, or permit of the
President. But the battle of Plassy transferred the power
of the state to the Company, that is, to their servants, and
they rushed eagerly into the inland trade of the country, and
claimed the same exemption from duty for their own goods,
which had been conceded to the merchandise of their masters.
300 MR. VANSITTART'S CONVENTION. [CHAP.
Their servants and dependants soon came to demand the same
privileges for their own adventures. The native merchants,
moreover, anxious to pass their goods duty free, were led to
purchase dustucks from some of the Company's servants, even
at a high premium, and the boys in the service, with less pay
than fifty rupees a month, were enabled to realise an income
of 15,000 or 20,000 rupees a year. To increase the confusion,
any native trader who wished to evade the duties, had only
to hoist the English niskan, or flag, on passing a custom-
house. In every instance in which this symbol of impunity
was not respected, sepoys were sent to drag the Nabob's
officers as culprits to the nearest factory, and they soon came
to understand the danger of offering the slightest resistance
to the most glaring frauds. The Nabob was deprived of his
revenues ; the entire trade of the country was disorganised,
and nothing appeared on every side but the most perilous
confusion.
These encroachments "were rare during Olive's
Mr. Vansittart's
convention, administration ; but when his strong arm ceased
to be felt, they increased to an indefinite degree.
To provide a remedy for the disorders which thus threatened
the peace of the country, Mr. Vansittart proceeded to
Monghir, and, after a long conference with the Nabob, made
an offer by way of compromise, which he at length accepted,
that the trade of the Company's servants should be subject
to a duty of only nine per cent., though that of his sub-
jects was, in many cases, saddled with twenty-five per
cent. This convention necessarily required the sanction
of the Council board, to whom Mr. Vansittart had intended
to break it with great caution, but the Nabob imprudently
directed his officers to carry it at once into execution,
and they entered upon the duty with little delicacy.
Numerous collisions ensued, and the breach was widened.
On his return to Calcutta, Mr. Vansittart encountered
the most ferocious opposition from his colleagues at the
board. To men with their lofty pretensions, who con-
XI.] INIQUITOUS CONDUCT OF THE BENGAL COUNCIL. 801
sidered themselves masters of the country, it appeared
intolerable that their commercial agents should be subjected
to the authority of one whom they had themselves raised to
the throne, and to the insolence, as they deemed it, of his
servants. All the members of Council at the out stations
were called down to Calcutta, to overawe the President, and
they declared that they would pay no higher duty than two-
and-a-half per cent., and that on the article of salt alone.
Th N bob ^e Nabob, incensed by this declaration, deter-
aboiishes aii mined to place his own subjects and the foreigners
duties, 1763. u p 0n an e q ua ]ity by abolishing all transit duties
throughout the country. The members of Council voted this
measure a crime, and demanded, as a matter of right, that
the native trade should be subject to the usual duties, while
their own was exempted from them. It Avas in vain that
Mr. Vansittart raised his voice against this iniquitous doctrine ;
he was supported only by Mr. Hastings. From words the
Council at length came to blows, and Stanlake Batson, one of its
most turbulent members, denounced Mr. Hastings as a partizan
of the Nabob, and struck him a blow which led to a hostile
challenge. After having passed this disgraceful resolution,
the majority deputed Mr. Hay and Mr. Amyatt to announce
it to the Nabob at Monghir.
During these transactions a boat proceeding to
Mr. Ellis's in-
temperate con- Patna with concealed arms, was searched and de-
duct, nes. tained by the Nabob's officers. The affairs of the
Company in that city were unfortunately at this juncture
under the direction of Mr. Ellis, one of the most unscrupulous
and headstrong of all the public servants. He had violently
opposed the elevation of Meer Cassim, and seemed now to be
anxious to precipitate a rupture with him. The boat was
eventually released, but Mr. Ellis continued his hostile pre-
parations with so little disguise, that Meer Cassim thought
fit to detain Mr. Hay as a hostage for some of his own
servants who had been seized ; but Mr. Amyatt was allowed
to return to Calcutta. Mr. Ellis waited for the day which
302 WAR WITH SIEER CASSIM. [CHAP.
had been fixed for their departure, and when he calculated
that both of them were beyond the reach of the Nabob,
seized on the city of Patna. The native commandant was
obliged to retire, but on hearing that the European soldiers
were confused with liquor, returned suddenly and recaptured
the town. Mr. Ellis and the English gentlemen took refuge
in their boats and proceeded up the river, but were overtaken
and brought back prisoners to Patna. The Nabob, incensed
at this outrage, ordered every Englishman throughout his
dominions to be seized ; and Mr. Amyatt, then on his way to
Calcutta, having refused to surrender, was slain in the scuffle.
The Setts, the great bankers of Moorshedabad, who were
possessed of incredible wealth, and had manifested a favour-
able disposition to the English, were at the same time seized
and conveyed to Monghir.
war with Meer Both parties now prepared for war. The Nabob
Cassim. Be- augmented his army, and applied for assistance to
Btoration of , , , _ T , , . . -,_, n
Meer Jaffier, the emperor and the Nabob vizier. The Governor
1763> and Council in Calcutta ordered their army into
the field, and, at the same time, determined to reseat Meer
Jaffier on the throne. The old man, seventy-two years of
age, and scarcely able to move for the leprosy, was withdrawn
from the obscurity to which he had retired, and required to
confirm the cession of the three districts which had been
made by his predecessor, to concede the flagrant exemption
from duty claimed by the majority of the Council, and likewise
to make large donations to them individually. The English
army consisted of 650 Europeans, 1,200 sepoys, and a troop
of native cavalry ; and although the rains had set in, opened
Actions of the tne campaign on the 2nd of July. On the 19th,
i9th and 24th the troops of the Nabob were defeated at Cutwa ;
July, and the t .
2nd August, and on the 24th, Moorshedabad was occupied and
Meer Jaffier, who had accompanied the army, was
placed a second time on the throne. The army reached Gheriah
on the 2nd of August, and found the Nabob's well disciplined
troops drawn up to dispute their advance. The battle lasted
XI.J MURDEB OP HIS EUBOPEAN PBISONEKS. 803
four hours, and, in the opinion of Clive, never did troops fight
better than those of the Nabob. At one period of the action,
indeed, they penetrated the English lines and captured two
guns, and victory appeared, for a tune, likely to incline to
them, but the gallantry of the Europeans, and the steadiness
of the sepoys bore down all opposition, and the Nabob's
troops were constrained to abandon all their guns and stores,
and retreat to Oodwanulla.
Massacre of the ^ lis reverse threw Meer Cassim into a paroxysm
English pri- of rage, and he gave way to the ferocity of his
toasts. 1763. ,. ... T, ,111'
disposition. Ramnarayun, the deposed governor
of Patna, was cast into the river with weights attached to his
neck. Raja Rajbullub, the former governor of Dacca, was
put to death, with all his sons. The Moorshedabad bankers
were thrown into the Ganges from one of the bastions of the
fort of Monghir. One of their favourite servants, the faithful
Chunee, begged permission to share their fate, and when his
request was denied, plunged into the river, determined not to
survive them. Early in the month of November, the English
army carried the entrenched camp at Oodwanulla, and the
Nabob fled to Patna. But before his departure he ordered his
officers to proceed to the house where his European prisoners
were confined, and put them to death without distinction.
They nobly replied that they were soldiers and not execu-
tioners. " Turn them out," they said, " with arms in their
hands, and we will fight them to the death." But there was
in the camp one Walter Raymond, who had been a sergeant
in the French service, and now, under the name of Sumroo,
held a commission in the Nabob's army, who came forward
and offered to do the bloody deed. The wretch proceeded to
the house with a file of soldiers, and poured in volley after
volley through the Venetian windows upon the defenceless vic-
tims, till forty-eight gentlemen among whom was Mr. Ellis
and 100 soldiers lay stretched on the floor. Patna was
captured on the 6th of November, and the campaign ended in
four months by the flight of Meer Cassim to the court of the
304 THE FIRST SEPOY MUTINY. [CHAP.
Nabob vizier. The vizier had fought by the side
The Nabob *
vizier marches of Ahmed Shah Abdalee at Paniput, and, in the
tna, 1764. j an g ua g e O f ^ e na tive historian, " considered
himself a second Rustum." He determined to take advantage
of the confusion of the times, and, six months after the ter-
mination of the war with Meer Cassim, marched down to
Patna with a large but ill-trained army. It was an act of
wanton aggression on his part, dictated by ambition and
avarice. The emperor and the disinherited Nabob of Bengal
joined his camp with a small body of followers. The English
army in the field was straitened for provisions, and retired to
the city of Patna, which was vigorously attacked on the 3rd
of May, 1764. The assailants were repulsed, but not without
great difficulty, and not before the close of the day. The
Nabob vizier, after hovering about Patna for four weeks, re-
tired to Buxar to encamp for the rains.
The first sepoy Major Munro, who now assumed the command
mutiny, 1764. o f ^he Company's army, found the sepoys in a
state of open revolt. There is no instinct of obedience in
native armies in India, as in those of Europe, and their
normal condition under every dynasty, native or foreign,
Hindoo or Mahomedan, and in every province, has from time
immemorial been that of insubordination. The British army
of sepoys was no exception to the general rule. During the
seven years in which they had been embodied as mercenaries
under the colours of a foreign power, they had been instru-
mental in defeating and deposing two Nabobs of Bengal.
They became inflated with an idea of their own importance,
and they now manifested it by the demand of a large donation
and increased pay. Such a demand from men with arms in
their hands was necessarily refused, and a whole battalion
marched off to the enemy with their arms and accoutrements.
Major Munro, an officer of undaunted resolution, determined
to subdue this spirit at all hazards. The battalion was pur-
sued and brought back. Twenty- four of the most active of the
mutineers were selected, arraigned before a field court-martial,
XI.] BATTLE OF BUXAK, 305
consisting of native officers, and found guilty. The Major
ordered four of them to be blown away from the guns, when
four noble looking grenadiers came forward, and demanded to
be the first to suffer, as they had always been the foremost in
danger. The European officers then reported that the sepoys
had announced their firm resolution not to allow any further
executions ; but the unflinching commander loaded his guns
with grape, placed his European soldiers in the intervals, and
commanded the native battalions to ground arms, threatening
to discharge the guns on them if a single man was seen to
move. The sepoys were awed by his resolution ; sixteen
more were blown away; the mutiny was quenched in their blood,
and discipline was restored. This was the first of that series of
mutinies which broke out from time to time among the native
sepoys chiefly after a successful campaign, when they are
least amenable to reason and terminated hi less than a
century in the dissolution of the whole Bengal army.
Major Munro shewed his masters how the insubordination
of sepoys was to be dealt with, and there can be no doubt
that if the same spirit and promptitude had been exhibited
on every future emergency, the result would have been
equally auspicious.
Battle of Buxar ^^ s example of severity restored the discipline
October 23, of the army so effectually that within four months
of the mutiny, Major Munro did not hesitate to lead
his troops against the Nabob vizier, who had been encamped
for several months at Buxar with an army of 50,000 men. On
the 23rd of October he was attacked and completely routed,
and obliged to abandon his camp, with all its stores and 130
pieces of cannon. The victory of Buxar was scarely less
important to the interests of the Company than that of Plassy.
It demolished the power of the Vizier, Soojah-ood-dowlah, the
only chief of any importance in the north. It made the
English masters of the entire valley of the Ganges, from the
Himalayu to the sea, and placed Hindostan at their feet. The
Nabob sent off his women and his treasure to Bareilly, and
x
306 ARRANGEMENT WITH MEEK JAFFIER. [CHAP.
opened negotiations with the victor, offering as the price of
his forbearance, fifty lacs of rupees for the Company and the
army, and eight lacs for himself. But the Council board de-
manded the surrender of Meer Cassim and Sumroo, as an in-
dispensable preliminary. The former, who had been stripped
of his wealth and imprisoned by his treacherous host, hastened
to seek refuge among the Rohillas. With regard to Sumroo,
the Vizier offered to invite him to an entertainment, and cause
him to be assassinated in the presence of any English gentle-
man who might be deputed to witness and certify his death.
The offer was indignantly rejected.
Amn ement Immediately after the battle of Buxar, the emperor
with Meer joined the English camp, and commenced negotia-
tions with the Council in Calcutta. They proposed
that the forfeited territories of the Vizier should be partitioned
between them, the Company receiving the zemindary of
Benares, and the emperor the remainder, on condition of de-
fraying all the expenses of the war. But the arrangement
fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the government in Calcutta
was on the verge of bankruptcy. The war was not only
expensive, as all wars must be, but it was conducted on a
system of profligate extravagance and peculation which com-
pletely exhausted the treasury. Meer Jaffier was, therefore,
brought down to Calcutta to concert some means of relieving
the pressing necessities of the Council. His position required
a passive acquiescence in whatever they might chose to dictate,
and they required him to contribute five lacs of rupees a
month towards the expenses of the war, as long as it might
last ; but they did not forget themselves. He was also
charged with the payment of what they had the impudence to
call "compensation for losses," that is, for losses, real or
fictitious, sustained by them and their friends in the illicit
monopoly of the necessaries of life. The demand was at first
stated at ten lacs of rupees, but they soon dismissed all
delicacy of feeling and raised it to thirty, and then to forty
lacs, and did not pause till it had reached fif ty-three lacs. It
XI.] DEATH OF MEER JAFFIEB. 807
was, moreover, provided that this nefarious claim should be
satisfied before any payment was made to the Company's
treasury for the expenses of the war ; which were met by the
ingenious device of lending to the Government at an exor-
bitant rate of interest, the sums paid to individuals by the
Nabob. The effrontery exhibited during these five years' of
crime makes one blush for the honour of England ; and the
only relief to the mind is to be found in the consideration
that it was an exceptional case.
These importunities, combined with the age
Death of f 7
Meerjaffier, and infirmities of the Nabob, hastened his end,
and he expired in January, 1765. Then came
the question of appointing his successor. The making of
Nabobs had been, for seven years, one of the most lucrative
employments of the Council, and the fourth opportunity
which was now presented, was not to be neglected. Mr. Van-
sittart had retired from the chair, and was succeeded by
Mr. Spencer, a Bombay civilian, without either talent or
probity. The Court of Directors, exasperated by the iniquity
of their servants in Calcutta, had issued peremptory orders
for the suppression of the inland trade, and for the execution
of " covenants," binding them not to receive presents from
native princes. These injunctions reached Calcutta before
the death of Meer Jaffier. Mr. Spencer and his colleagues,
were, moreover, aware that Lord Clive was on the eve of em-
barking for India to root out abuses ; no time was, therefore,
to be lost in the appointment of another Nabob. The cove-
nants were thrown aside, and Nujum-ood-dowlah, the son of
Meer Jaffier, was raised to the throne, and required to make
donations to the members of the Council to the extent of
twenty lacs of rupees, as well as to sanction the inland trade,
exempt from the payment of all duty.
_. , Clive, on his return to England in 1760, was
Clive s second
administration, received with great distinction by the king, the
minister, Mr. Pitt, and the nation, and honoured
with an Irish peerage. The India House, likewise, paid
v 9
V w
308 LORD CLIVE RETURNS TO INDIA.
homage to his talents and his success; but the Court of
Directors was scarcely less demoralized by intrigue and
jobbery than the Council board in Calcutta by venality and
rapacity, and Clive was speedily brought into collision with
the leading faction, at the head of which was Mr. Sullivan.
In 1757, Meer Jaffier had ceded to the Company certain lands
lying to the south of Calcutta, of the annual value of ten lacs
of rupees, reserving to himself the quit-rent of three lacs a
year. Two years after, the Nabob manifested his gratitude
for the services of Clive by making him a donation of the
quit-rent, which he received for several years without inter-
ruption. But Mr. Sullivan and his party having gained the
ascendancy in the Court of Directors in 1763, sent out orders
to Calcutta, without any communication with Clive, to with-
hold the usual payment, assigning no other reason for this
act of injustice than the cessation of all cordiality between
him and the Court. Clive was, therefore, obliged to file a bill
in chancery for the recovery of his rights. But while this
contest was raging, intelligence was received in London of the
war with Meer Cassim, the massacre of the European pri-
soners, and the total disorganization of the government in
Calcutta. The proprietors of India stock saw with dismay
the golden dreams of prosperity in which they had indulged
vanishing away, and, in spite of the opposition of the Directors,
resolved to send out the man to whom they owed all their
greatness, to retrieve their affairs. They determined also to
entrust the powers of government, which had hitherto been
vested in a council of sixteen, to a select commitee of five.
Clive was surrounded by friends and admirers, and in the
enjoyment of an income of four lacs of rupees a year ; there
was therefore no inducement for him to return to India, but
he had been actuated throughout life by a high sense of duty,
dnd he did not hesitate to accept the charge of a government
which .was justly described as " headstrong and corrupt, and
lost to every sense of honour."
Clive landed at Calcutta on the 3rd of May, and found
XI.] CONDITION OF BENGAL. 309
Condition of that the political dangers had passed off. Meer
Bengal, 1765. c assmi had been expelled from Bengal, the Nabob
vizier had been vanquished, and the emperor was a suppliant.
Bat there were other and more alarming perils to be en-
countered. Vast fortunes had been amassed by " the most
nefarious and oppressive conduct ever known in any age or
country." The power of the Company's servants had been
employed in levying contributions on every class, from the
Nabob down to the lowest zemindar. Even the exaction of
twenty lacs of rupees from the young Nabob on his elevation,
in defiance of the express orders of the Court of Directors,
was openly avowed without a blush. Luxury, corruption,
and debauchery pervaded every rank of the service, and
threatened the dissolution of all government. Clive found
Spencer, the governor, " as deep in the mire as any other,"
and he felt himself justified in affirming that " there were not
five men of principle left at the Presidency." The massacre
of the English gentlemen by Sumroo had thinned the ranks
of the civil service; many of the seniors had returned to
England laden with plunder, and young men had thus been
pushed forward to posts of importance, with little judgment
or experience, but inflamed with the most extravagant ex-
pectations by the success of those who had preceded them.
Clive's first duty was to enforce the execution of the cove-
nants which abolished the receipt of presents, but he was
met on the threshold by an attempt to question the powers
of the Select Committee, and an effort was made to brow-
beat him, but he soon reduced the refractory to silence by
declaring that he would not allow his authority to be contro-
verted for a moment, and that he would peremptorily dismiss
from the service every officer who refused to sign the cove-
nants.
Arrangement On the 25th of June, Clive left Calcutta for the
with the nabob, upper provinces, to dispose of the weighty ques-
the vizier, and . , . i .,,;,.. _, *
the emperor, tions which awaited his decision. He attributed
the recent war with Meer Cassim to the impru-.
310 ARBANGEMENT WITH THE NATIVE PKINCES. [CHAP.
dence of Mr. Vansittart, in advising him to form and discipline
an army, and to render it efficient by just and punctual pay-
ment. To prevent the recurrence of this cause of anxiety,
the Nabob of Moorshedabad was relieved of all responsibility
for the military defence of the country, and of the manage-
ment of the revenue. The sum of fifty-three lacs of rupees
a year was assigned him for the expenses of his court and
the administration of justice. He received the proposal with
ecstacy. " Thank God," he exclaimed, " I shall now have as
many dancing-girls as I like." With regard to the Nabob
vizier, he had invaded Behar without the least provocation,
on the mere impulse of cupidity, but his power had been
irretrievably crushed by the battle of Buxar, the capture of
Lucknow, and a second defeat at Corah. Seeing his fortunes
desperate, he repaired to the camp of General Carnac, and
threw himself on the consideration of the English authorities.
His kingdom was forfeited by the laws of war and the usage
of the country, but Olive evinced his moderation by restoring
it to him, with the exception of the two districts of Corah and
Allahabad, which were reserved for the emperor. Such an
instance of generosity in a victorious enemy was unknown in
India, and excited emotions of the deepest gratitude. The
emperor, though he had appeared in arms against the English
at the battle of Buxar, was gratified with the revenues of the
two districts assigned to him, which, with the annual pay-
ment of twenty-six lacs of rupees from Bengal and Behar, for
which he was likewise indebted to the kindness of the English
chief, constituted his whole dependence.
TheDewanny, After the completion of these arrangements,
Aug. 12, 1765. cii ve requested that the Dewanny of Bengal,
Behar, and Orissa, which the emperor had repeatedly offered
to the Company, should be conferred on them by an imperial
firman. The act was completed on the 12th of August, 1765,
a memorable day in the political and constitutional history of
British India. As a substitute for a throne, two dining-tables
were joined together in Clive's tent, and covered with em-
XI.] THE ACQUISITION OF THE DEWANNY. 311
broidery. The emperor took his seat on a chair planted on
them, and transferred the government of twenty-five millions
of people, and an annual revenue of four crores of rupees to
Lord Olive, on behalf ot the Company. The Mahomedan his-
torian of the time, scandalized by the simplicity which marked
the completion of this grand transaction, exclaims with in-
dignation that " a business of so much importance, which, at
other times, would have required the sending of wise ministers
and able envoys, was done and finished in less time than
would have been taken up in the sale of a jackass." This
affair serves to exemplify that expansion of views which re-
sults from the progress of events in the East. On the eve of
his departure from England, in April, 1764, Clive assured the
Court of Directors that " nothing but extreme necessity ought
to induce us to extend our ideas of territorial acquisitions be-
yond the three districts ceded by Meer Cassim, in his treaty
with Mr. Vansittart." Before sixteen months had elapsed,
he congratulated the Court on the acquisition of three pro-
vinces, and a clear revenue of two crores of rupees a year.
Yet with this pregnant proof of the fallacy of his judgment,
he thought fit again to fix the limits of the British empire in
India, and informed the Court that " it was his resolution and
hope always to confine our possessions to these provinces,
and he declared that to go farther was a scheme so extrava-
gantly ambitious that no government in its senses would ever
dream of it." The Court of Directors, with all due modesty,
concurred in the necessity of accepting the provinces. " When
we consider," they wrote, " that the barrier of the country
government was entirely broken down, and every Englishman
throughout the country armed with an authority that owned
no superior, and exercising his power to the oppression of the
helpless natives, who knew not whom to obey ; at such a
crisis, we cannot hesitate to approve your obtaining the De<
wanny for the Company."
The mutiny of In announcing this acquisition to the India
(fed*** House) c]iye remarkedj we have established
312 MTJTIXY OF THE ENGLISH OFFICERS [CRAP.
such a force that all the powers in Hindostan cannot de-
prive us of our possessions for many years," little dreaming
that within a few months, the existence of that power
would be endangered by that very force. The military
expenses had hitherto swallowed up the resources of the
Company. The army considered itself the most important
department of the state, and the commanders, in the pride of
their position, had endeavoured to imbue the native princes
with the conviction that the power of the British government
was lodged with them rather than with the civil authorities
in Calcutta. A few months more of Mr. Spencer's servile
administration would probably have rendered them masters of
the country. The officers had been in the habit of receiving
an allowance called batta when they took the field. Meer
Jaffier, out of gratitude for his elevation, had increased this
gratuity, and the army soon came to consider double batta as
their right. When the Court of Directors became responsible
for the finances of the country, they resolved to discontinue
this extravagant allowance ; but the officers resented any in-
terference with their interests, and the Council board was
deterred by their imperiousness from carrying the orders into
execution. The abolition of the double batta was enjoined on
Clive when he was leaving England, and he lost no time,
after his arrival, in announcing that it would cease after the
1st of January, 1766. The officers were little disposed to
submit to a measure which affected even a captain's allowance
to the extent of 1,000 rupees a month, and those in the higher
grades in a larger proportion. The announcement of the
order was the signal for mutiny, and a universal combination
was formed to compel Clive to retract it. A committee of
secrecy was organized in each of the three brigades, and a
fund created to reimburse officers for any loss they might
sustain ; and to this fund the discontented and factious
civilians in Calcutta contributed more than a lac and a half of
rupees. It was agreed that two hundred officers should
throw up their commissions on the same day; and, as an
XI.] QUELLED BY CLIVE. 313
army of 50.000 Mahrattas was advancing for the invasion of
Behar, it was calculated that the government would be undei
the necessity of giving way to retain their services.
Resolution of It was a crisis of singular peril, but exactly
cuve, nee. fitted to the daring genius of Clive. He felt that
to yield to the demands of men with arms in their hands was
to abandon the government to them, and he declared that he
must see the soldiers' bayonets levelled at his throat before
he could be induced to give way. He directed the command-
ants to accept every commission that was tendered, and to
send the offender under arrest to Calcutta ; at the same time,
he ordered up all the officers and cadets who could be spared
from Madras. Taking with him the officers who yet re-
mained faithful to their colours, he hastened to Monghir,
arrested the ringleaders, and ordered them to be tried by
court-martial. His undaunted resolution overawed the spirit
of insubordination, and many of the officers who had been
persuaded to join the malcontents, entreated permission to
recall their resignations, and were allowed to return to their
duty. He then proceeded to Benares, where the same energy
produced the same beneficial results. In two instances the
sepdys, who had themselves been in a state of mutiny two
years before, were actively employed in coercing their Euro-
pean officers, and exhibited such fidelity and steadiness, that
one battalion marched more than a hundred miles hi fifty-four
hours, and arrived at its destination in time to avert an out-
break. Thus was this formidable confederacy, which brought
the affairs of the Company to the brink of destruction, dis-
solved in the brief period of a fortnight, by an energy which
reflected not less credit on the name of Clive than the battle
of Plassy.
It remained for Clive to deal with the difficiilt
Society form
land trade. question of the trade of the public servants, to
which the Court of Directors attributed all the
anarchy and bloodshed of the preceding five years. From
tbe earliest period, the East India Company had followed the
314 THE SOCIETY FOR INLAND TRADE. [CHAP.
example of all other commercial companies, in restricting
their agents abroad to a mere pittance of salary, and allow-
ing them to eke it out by private trade, and thus were the
servants enriched at the expense of the masters. The same
system was continued when the factory had expanded into
a kingdom, and their servants entered on the government of
provinces with unchecked power. The consequence was that
from the governor to the youngest writer, from the general
to the ensign, not excepting even the chaplains, all classes
were busily engaged in commercial pursuits, which were ren-
dered lucrative ' by the influence of their dominant position.
In April, 1764, the Court of Directors thought that the evil
might be remedied, simply by ordering that the trade should
cease, without proposing any compensation to their officers ;
but in a subsequent despatch they had the wisdom to modify
this order by directing Clive to devise some equitable plan
which should be satisfactory both to the government and the
service. Clive felt that it was indispensable to the peace and
prosperity of the country that the servants of the state
should not be allowed to compete with the native dealers in
every market, and equally indispensable to the integrity and
efficiency of the public service that the officers of the go-
vernment should not be left to starve in the midst of wealth
which their position enabled them to grasp. He, therefore,
established a Society for conducting a traffic in salt, on the
principle of a monopoly, -the profits of which, after a reserva-
tion of ten lacs of rupees a-year to the Company, should be
divided among .the servants of the Company according to
their rank ; the member of Council and the colonel receiving
70,000 rupees a-year, and the subordinate officers, civil and
military, in due proportion. The scheme continued in opera-
tion for two years, and was then abolished by orders from
home, which substituted in its stead a commission of two-
and-a-half per cent, on the gross revenue of the provinces.
After a residence of twenty-two months in
Clive's return to i i ' -n i J v
England, 1767. India, Clive was driven back to England by a
XI.] TREATMENT OP CLIVE IN ENGLAND. 315
severe attack of disease. In the large transactions in
which he had been engaged, involving the fate of great
kingdoms, and the disposal of crores of rupees, he might
easily have added fifty lacs of rupees to his fortune, but
he returned to his native land poorer than he had left it.
It has fallen to the lot of few men to exercise so im-
portant and permanent an influence on the course of
human affairs. When he landed in Calcutta in 1757, he
found the Company's factory in ruins, and their servants in
exile. By 1767, he had made the Company the sovereigns of
twenty-five millions of people, and masters of a revenue,
little short of one-half that of England. He had laid the
foundation of a great empire containing an irrepressible
element of expansion. He had established the supremacy of
Europe in Asia. His reception in England corresponded at
first with his eminent merits, but it was not long before he
was made to taste the bitterness of ingratitude. His great-
ness excited envy and censure. The members of the civil
service, whose rapacity he had defeated abroad, made large
purchases of India stock on their return to England, and
became members of the corporation in Leadenhall-street, that
they might more effectually wreak their vengeance on him.
His rancorous enemy, Sullivan, endeavoured by garbled
statements to persuade Parliament that all the difficulties of
the Company were to be attributed to his measures. The
Court of Directors restored almost every civil and military
culprit whom he had cashiered for peculation or mutiny. The
Attorney-General proposed to confiscate all the donations he
had received from native princes in India, and the Prime
Minister joined the hue and cry against him. In Parlia-
ment his conduct was described by his opponents " as a mass
of the most unheard-of villanics and corruption." But when
a vote of censure was pressed on the House, the members
shrunk from the scandal of fixing a brand of infamy on the
man who had given England a kingdom larger than itself,
and came to the resolution that he had rendered great and
316 WRETCHED STATE OF BENGAL. [CHAP.
meritorious services to his country. But his lofty spirit could
ill-brook the persecution he had been subjected to, and under
Death of the pressure of bodily and mental suffering, he
ciive. 1774. p u ^ a p er } 0( j to his existence in November, 1774.
_ . . , Lord Olive was succeeded in the government
Wretched con-
dition of Ben- by Mr. Verelst, a man of strict integrity, but
without sufficient resolution to cope with the dis-
orders of the times. Olive, with all his genius, had com-
mitted the great error of establishing the system of double
government, which for five years proved to be the curse of
Bengal. The administration was nominally vested in the
Nabob, in whose name the revenue was collected and justice
administered, by native officers, but the irresistible power of
the rapacious servants of the Company paralysed the whole
system of government, and introduced endless intrigue and
oppression. Those whom Clive had constrained to sign the
covenants against presents, treated them as waste paper as
soon as his back was turned, and plunged with increased
ardour and perfect impunity into the trade of the country.
Every man who was permitted to make out a bill, made a
fortune ; and the nefarious charges of contractors, com-
missaries, engineers, and other officers drained the treasury.
The Council was without the power, even if they had
possessed the will, to check these abuses. The three natives
who managed the revenues enriched themselves, and left the
governor to borrow money for the public service. It was at
this period, and through their connivance, that the great
majority of rent-free tenures was created, and an annual
revenue little short of forty lacs of rupees was alienated
from the resources of the state. It was a period of transi-
tion between the dissolution of the old Mahomedan govern-
ment and the vigorous development of British sovereignty,
and it was, as usual, fruitful of anomalies, and not wanting
in guilt. These evils were aggravated to a fearful extent by
the great famine of 1770, which swept away one-third of the
population of the lower provinces.
XII.] THE OBLIGATIONS OP THE COMPANY ON THE COAST ] 7
CHAPTER XII.
PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT MADRAS AND BOMBAY, 1761 1772.
state of affairs now to the progress of events at the
at Madras. Madras Presidency. The extinction of the French
power in India by the capture of Pondicherry, had given
Mahomed Ali, the ally of the English, the undisputed title of
Nabob of the Carnatic, and, though he had afforded them no
assistance during the war, he regarded himself as the absolute
ruler of the country. But he was conspicuous even among
the princes of India for his imbecility ; and his army was a
mere rabble, which devoured the resources of a territory they
were unable to protect. The Company thus found themselves,
by the issue of the war, saddled with the defence of a
province comprising 50,000 square miles, without any re-
sources for the maintenance of a costly army, but the profits
of their trade, which belonged to their constituents in London.
They were constrained, therefore, to demand a contribution
of fifty lacs of rupees from Mahomed Ali, to discharge the
obligations they had contracted during the recent conflict.
But the Carnatic had been without any settled government
for twenty years ; every invader had desolated its districts,
and the polygars paid no revenue but at the sword's point.
The countiy was, moreover, now in the hands of a court at
once wasteful and neglectful, which had been subsisting for
many years on loans raised on exorbitant terms at Madras,
which impaired the strength of those who borrowed the
money, and the morals of those who lent it.
Affairs of Tan- To meet this demand, the Nabob proposed to
lore, 1763. ^he government of Madras to despoil the gover-
nors of Vellore and the Marawars, and more particularly the
rajah of Tanjore, whose principality had, to a certain extent,
escaped the ravages of war, and which he was anxious to
appropriate to himself Tanjore was an independent province,
318 PEACE OF PARIS. [CHAP.
which had never been incorporated with the Mogul empire,
though it had often yielded to the pressure of invasion, and
paid contributions when unable to evade them. The Presi-
dent at Madras, with an exhausted treasury, manifested the
greatest reluctance to go to war with this state, and effected
an amicable adjustment of the Nabob's demand for a payment
of twenty-two lacs of rupees in four instalments, and four
lacs of rupees a year as tribute. But the Nabob derived
little benefit from this arrangement, as the Court of Directors
ordered the sums as they arrived, to be taken to the treasury
at Madras, and placed to the credit of his account.
The peace of ^ke war b e t ween the French and the English
Paris, lotu \vas terminated by the peace of Paris, which
restored to the former all the factories they had
possessed in India. It likewise stipulated that in order to
preserve future peace on the coast of Coromandel and Orissa.
the English and the French should acknowledge Mahomed
Ali for lawful Nabob of the Carnatic, and Salabut Jung, for
lawful Soobadar of the Deccan. Olive was then hi England,
and endeavoured to convince the ministry, who knew nothing
about Indian politics, of the danger and embarrassment which
this clause would inevitably entail, but could only secure a
slight and unimportant modification of it. It involved the
double absurdity of disposing unceremoniously of territories
belonging to the crown of Delhi, and of acknowledging the
authority of Salabut Jung, eighteen months after he had
ceased to reign. He had been deposed and confined on the
10th of July, 1761, by his brother, Nizam Ali, who, on finding
that his rights were acknowledged by the two foreign Euro-
pean powers, so formidable to the princes of the Deccan, lost
no time in causing him to be assassinated, and the treaty
which was intended to secure to him the possession of the
the throne, became the cause of his death. Soon after,
Nizam Ali invaded the Carnatic with a large army, laying
waste the districts through which he passed, with the greatest
barbarity. The English troops came up to the rescue, and
XII.] ACQUISITION OF THE NORTHERN SIRCARS. 819
faced the Nizam at Tripety, but he had no mind to try con-
clusions with them, and instantly evacuated the country.
During these events, Clive happened to touch at Madras on
his way to Calcutta, and was requested by the Nabob to
obtain a firman from Delhi, releasing him from dependence on
the Nizam ; and on the 12th of August in the same year,
Mahomed AH was empowered by the emperor's sunnud to
hold his fief directly of the imperial crown.
To meet the expenses of their military estab-
th^Northern Hshment at Madras, the Court of Directors were
A rCar i765 th anxiousto obtain a permanentright to the Northern
sircars on the Coromandel coast, which had fur-
nished the sinews of war to Bussy, and which were embraced
in the districts ceded to Colonel Forde by Salabut Jung in
1758. The Madras President had, at one time, offered to
farm them of the Nizam at a high rent, but the proposal was
declined. Clive, however, during his second administration,
disposed of the question in a very summary manner. On the
memorable 12th of August, when he received the Dewanny
from the emperor, he likewise requested an imperial grant of
the Northern sircars for the Company, which was necessarily
granted. The Nizam, who had already lost his hold on the
Carnatic, was not disposed tamely to part with this province
likewise, and on hearing that an English force had been sent
to take possession of the districts, threatened to march down
and exterminate them, and also made preparations for the
invasion of the Carnatic. The timid Presidency of Madras,
alarmed at these menaces, directed their commander, General
Calliaud, to suspend all military operations, and proceed to
Hyderabad to enter into negotiations with the Nizam.
They resulted in the disastrous and humiliating 1
Treaty with tne
Nizam, i2th treaty of the 12th of November, 1766, by which
the Madras authorities agreed to hold the Northern
sircars, which had been conferred on them by the paramount
power in India, as a tributary tenure under the Nizam, at eight
lacs of rupees a year, and, in addition, to make an immediate
320 RISE OP HYDER ALL [CHAP.
donation of five lacs. But what was still more objectionable,
the President involved the Company in the intricate web of
Deccan politics, by engaging to furnish the Nizam with two
battalions of infantry and six pieces of cannon, " to settle, in
everything right and proper, the affairs of his highness's
government," well knowing that the first requisition for the
troops would be to assist in attacking Hyder Ali, who had
recently usurped the Mysore throne, and against whom a
confederacy had been formed of the Mahrattas and the
Nizam.
Rise of We turn, therefore, to the rise and progress of
Hyder AIL this extraordinary chief, who proved, eventually,
to be the most formidable and inveterate foe the English
ever encountered in India. The principality of Mysore was
one of the provinces of the Hindoo kingdom of Beejuynugur,
which was extinguished on the field of Tellicotta in 1564.
In the confusion created by this event, it fell to the lot of a
Hindoo prince, whose descendants continued, for two cen-
turies, to maintain their independence and to encroach on
their neighbours. About the year 1750, the old dynasty
having become effete, the whole power of the state fell into
the hands of the minister, Nunjeraj. It was at this juncture
that Hyder appeared on the scene, and, in a few years, super-
seded both king and minister. His family came originally
from the Punjab, and his father, Putteh Mahomed, gradually
rose to be a sirdar of peons, or head constable, and then ob-
tained the command of a small body of troops. Hyder was
born about the year 1702, and, as he advanced in years, gave
himself up to the pleasures of the chase, and plunged into
voluptuous riot. Like Sevajee, he was never able to read or
write, but this deficiency was in some measure supplied by
an extraordinary memory. He remained in complete obscurity
during forty-seven years of his life, and first entered the
Mysore army as a volunteer at the siege of Deonhully, where
his energy and self-possession attracted the notice of Nun-
jeraj.
xii.] HYDER'S PROGRESS. 321
The foundation ^ ne Hester immediately promoted him 10 the
of his fortune, command of 50 horse and 200 infantry, with
instructions to augment their number, and it was
this commission which laid the foundation of his future fortune.
In 1755, the difficult task of providing for the safety of the
fortress of Dindigul, lying to the south of Trichinopoly, was
committed to him, and it was while in command of this post
that he appears first to have entertained those ambitious
views which he was enabled to bring to a consummation in
the brief space of six years. Dindigul became the cradle of
his power, and it was there that he increased his resources by
a system of plunder, of which there had been no example
since the days of Sevajee. His troops were let loose indis-
criminately on every one, friend or foe, who had anything to
lose, and their zeal was sharpened by permission to retain
half the booty for themselves. Hyder's progress to power
was aided in no small degree by his unrivalled power of dis-
simulation. Having on one occasion reported a great victory
to Nunjeraj, that minister sent his commissaiy to bestow
the usual pensions for wounds, when 700 men were exhi-
bited to him, wrapped in bandages which had been steeped
in turmeric, whereas only 67 had been wounded. By
similar acts of deceit, and by the repetition of false musters, *
he was enabled to obtain large supplies of money, and to in-
crease his force to 7,000. At the same time, he procured
skilled artizans from the French settlements on the coast,
and established an arsenal and a laboratory, and brought his
artillery to a high degree of perfection.
In 1757, the Peshwa, Balaiee Rao, made one of
ThePeshwabe- ,.,., j -.1 ,-. -j
sieges seringa- his periodical raids into Mysore, and, with the aid
ityde^acqui- of tne European engineers whom he had enlisted,
sitions. laid close siege to Seringapatam. The minister
was obliged to purchase a respite by the sacrifice of thirty-two
lacs of rupees, and to pledge a large territory for the' amount
he was umtble to furnish in money and jewels. The Mysore
treasury was exhausted by this heavy di^in, and the troops
T
822 HYDER ASSISTS LALLT. [CHAP.
became mutinous for their arrears. Hyder hastened to the
capital, and engaged to satisfy their claims, on receiving the
assignment of fresh jaygeers. By this politic act he in-
creased his resources, and at the same time obtained an
influence over the troops, and all classes began to regard him
as the guardian of order. Soon after, he persuaded the
minister to expel the Mahratta officers from the districts
which had been pledged to the Peshwa, who immediately
entered the country with a large force. Hyder was appointed
to the command of the Mysore army, and harassed the
Mahrattas in their own style of warfare, with so much
effect that they offered to relinquish the mortgaged territory
for an immediate payment. Hyder raised the money from
the bankers of the city on his own personal security, and the
districts were transferred to him. Then came fresh mutinies,
and the raja and the minister were besieged in their palaces.
Hyder was at hand to satisfy the troops and received fresh
assignments, till he found himself hi possession of half the
domains of the state.
Hyder assists Lally was at this time besieged by Coote in
laiiy, neo. Pondicherry, and solicited the aid of Hyder, who
engaged to furnish him with 8,000 horse and foot and a due
proportion of artillery, on being put in possession of the im-
portant fortress of Thiagur. His relative and general,
Mukdoom Ah, on his way to Pondicherry with the troops,
fell in with a small English detachment, and defeated it.
Hyder was so elated with this success, that he immediately
ordered the strength of his contingent to be doubled. If this
increased force had reached the French settlement while it
was besieged, the war between the English and the French
might have exhibited a very different result. But Hyder was
Suddenly obliged to recall the whole force for the protection of
his own interests. His usurpation of authority had created
great indignation at the court, and the queen-mother and the
raja, in conjunction with his bosom friend, Khundeh Rao,
determined to take advantage of the absence of these troops
XH.] HYDER, MASTER OF MYSORE. 323
to crush his rising power. He was encamped under the fort
of Seringapatam with only 1,600 men, when the guns were
unexpectedly opened on him, and he was obliged to fly for his
life. He retreated to Bangalore, and recalled his troops from
Pondicherry, but was overtaken and signally defeated by
Khundeh Rao.
Hyder's fortunes now appeared desperate, but
covers his they were restored by his matchless tact and
usurps the hypocrisy. Unarmed and alone, he suddenly pre-
throne, i76i. sen t e( j himself before the minister, Nunjeraj,
acknowledged his ingratitude with an appearance of the
deepest penitence, and entreated that he might be forgiven,
and allowed to serve under him hi any capacity, however
mean. Nunjeraj was so simple as to give faith to these pro-
fessions and condone his offence, and Hyder was thus enabled
to assemble an army, but Khundeh Rao still followed him
with such vigour that his escape appeared impossible. In
this emergency, he contrived to throw in the way of his
pursuer letters addressed to his officers, with the seal of
Nunjeraj, in which allusion was made to certain treacherous
proposals. Khundeh Rao, considering himself betrayed by
his own officers, quitted his army, and fled with precipitation
to Seringapatam. Hyder was now enabled to assemble a
powerful army, with which he ascended the ghauts, and on
his arrival at the capital in May, sent a message to the raja
stating, " that large sums were due to him from the state,
which must be liquidated, after which, if the raja thought fit
to continue his services, it was well ; otherwise he would de-
part and seek his fortune elsewhere." Such a message,
backed by an overwhelming force, could not be misunder-
stood. The raja yielded to necessity, and in June, 1761, re-
linquished the government to Hyder Ali, on receiving an
assignment of lands of the annual value of three lacs of
rupees for himself, and one lac for Nunjeraj.
Augmentation Hyder, now master of the kingdom of Mysore,
directed all his energies to its aggrandisement,
Y 2
324 MADHOO RAO PESHWA. [CHAP.
and in the course of two years extended his frontier to
the banks of the Kistna. In 1763, he invaded the terri-
tory of Bednore, on the summit of the ghauts, which over-
looked the maritime province of Canara. The capital was
eight miles in circumference, and the country had not been
exposed to the desolation of war. The queen set fire to her
palace, and fled with a large portion of the inhabitants into
the woods, and Bednore submitted without a struggle. It is
said to have been the most wealthy city in the Deccan, and
the plunder which Hyder acquired has been estimated at
twelve crores of rupees. This sum is a manifest exaggera-
tion, but he himself always attributed his subsequent pros-
perity to the treasure he acquired in this city. He had
previously changed his name from Hyder Naik to Hyder AH
Khan Bahadoor, and he now introduced greater etiquette and
splendour into the arrangements of his court, and moreover
took advantage of the access he had obtained to the sea
coast, to commence the construction of a navy.
To turn now to the progress of affairs among
Marthoo Eao, the Mahrattas. On the death of Balajee Rao, after
*m wa> Sept ' tne fatal Defeat at Paniput, his son, Madhoo Rao,
a youth of eighteen, proceeded to Satara, in com-
pany with his uncle, Roghoonath Rao, known in British annals
as Raghoba, and was invested with the office of Peshwa by
the descendant of Sevajee, who was still held in confinement
by his cruel grandmother, Tara-bye. Nizam Ali, the dewan, or
prime minister of his brother Salabut Jung, who had usurped
the whole power of the Hyderabad kingdom, resolved to
take advantage of the crippled state of the Mahrattas, and
the confusion of a new reign, to recover the district which
the deceased Peshwa had wrested from him in the preceding
year. He marched to Poona with a large army, but, on
arriving within fourteen miles of it, was induced to relax his
demands, and accept lands yielding twenty-seven lacs of
rupees a year. Six months after, he placed his brother
under restraint, and not long after, when intelligence
Xn.] HE DEFEATS HYDER. 325
arrived that he had been recognised soobadar of the Deccan,
by the peace of Paris, caused him to be put to death. Before
the cession of the districts was completed, the restless
Raghoba assembled his troops to oppose Nizam Ali, who
immediately formed an alliance with Bhonslay, the raja of
Berar, and marched again to Poona which, on this occasion, he
plundered and burnt. Raghoba retaliated on him by marching
to Hyderabad, and laying it under contributions. The two
armies met on the banks of the Godavery. The faithless
Nizam Ali de- Bhonslay was induced by the promise of lands,
feated by Ra- valued at thirty-two lacs of rupees a year, to
ghoba,1763. , ... *. , . . _ \
desert .Nizam Ali, and join Raghoba; and the
result of this treachery was the entire defeat of the Nizam
with immense slaughter. The raja of Berar, however, was
not long permitted to retain the fruits of his perfidy. He
had incensed the Peshwa by joining Nizam Ali, and Nizam Ali
by deserting to the Mahrattas on the eve of the battle, and in
1766, the united armies of these princes invaded Berar, and
constrained him to restore four-fifths of the territory he had
gained by his treachery.
Mahrattas at- Mysore had hitherto been considered by the
tack and defeat Mahrattas a submissive province, paying chout,
and affording a field for plunder when no other
expedition happened to be on hand. The sudden rise and
rapid encroachment of a new power roused the indignation of
the Peshwa ; and, having disposed of Nizam Ali, he deter-
mined to chastise the audacity of Hyder, who had already
increased his force to 20,000 horse and 40,000 foot, one-half
of which consisted of well-disciplined infantry battalions. It
was his first regular encounter with the Mahrattas, and he
was completely foiled hi all his movements. At the close of
the monsoon, the Mahrattas again took the field, and forced
Hyder to a general action in which he was again routed, with
the loss of 10,000 men. The Mahratta horse spread over
the country and plundered it without mercy, and Hyder con-
sidered himself fortunate in obtaining peace by the restora-
326 CONFEDERACY AGAINST HYDER. [CHAP.
tion of the greater portion of the districts he had usurped,
and the payment of thirty-two lacs of rupees. These disasters
shook his power in the other provinces he had recently con-
quered, and it required a full year to restore his authority.
Early in 1766, his ambition led him to invade the maritime
province of Malabar. The Nan's, or military chieftains,
anxious to maintain their hereditary renown, and to preserve
their independence, offered a noble resistance, but their
chivalrous valour could not avert their fate, and the whole pro-
vince was reduced to subjection. In his progress along the
coast, Hyder reached the town of Calicut, memorable as the
place where the Europeans first set foot on the soil of India.
The district had never been invaded by the Mahomedan arms,
and the Hindoo chief still bore the title of Zamorin, as in the
days of Albuquerque. He was awed into submission by the
overwhelming force of Hyder, but seeing his minister subjected
to torture, he set fire to his palace, and voluntarily perished hi
the flames to avoid a similar fate.
confederacy From these schemes of conquest Hyder was
against Hyder, recalled to Seringapatam, to meet a confederacy
which had been formed towards the close of 1766
by the Nizam and the Mahrattas, for the entire conquest of
his country. Into this league the Madras Presidency was
unfortunately drawn by the treaty concluded with the Nizam
on the 12th of November in that year, which stipulated that
the English should assist him with an auxiliary force, of
undefined strength, " to settle the affairs of his government
in everything that was right and proper," though it was
distinctly understood that the first service in which it was to
be employed was the conquest or plunder of Mysore. The
government of Madras was then under Mr. Palk, who had
gone out to India as a chaplain, but renounced his orders to
enter the more lucrative civil service of the Company, in
which he amassed a large fortune, and on his retxirn to
England was created a baronet. It was this unfortunate
treaty which involved the Presidency in a war with Hyder,
XH.] THE NIZAM AND HYDER ATTACK THE ENGLISH. 327
and subjected them eventually to the greatest ignominy.
The Mahrattas determined to forestal the Nizam, and without
waiting for his co-operation, crossed the Kistna in January,
1767, and before the end of March had plundered the
northern districts to the extent of seventeen lacs of rupees.
Hyder discreetly bought them off by a payment of thirty
lacs more. Madhoo Rao, the Peshwa, on his return from this
successful expedition in May, met the Nizam's army at Colar,
and was requested to share the plunder with it, but he
treated the request with derision, and returned to his capital,
leaving him and his English ally to settle with Hyder as they
best could.
Colonel Smith who commanded the contingent
Nizam deserts . ,-, ... , , - , ... ,-, -WT. ,
tue English and of British troops, found, on joining the Nizam s
1767 Hyder> cam P th at this perfidious prince, had already
entered into negotiations with Hyder, and the
Colonel advised the Presidency to be prepared for the
invasion of the Carnatic by their ally, as well as by their
enemy. To remove suspicion the Nizam made the strongest
protestations of inviolable good faith ; but Colonel Smith, on
entering the Mysore territory in May, 1767, perceived such
unequivocal tokens of collusion, that he retired with the bulk
of his force towards his own frontier, leaving only three bat*
talions and some field pieces with the Nizam, at his special
request. While this negotiation was in progress, the Nizam
was intriguing with Nunjeraj, formerly minister of the old
raj of Mysore, for the subversion of Hyder's power. Hyder,
who had discovered the plot, invited Nunjeraj to Seringapatam,
after taking a solemn oath on the Koran to do him no harm,
and, on his arrival, showed him that the oath had been taken
on a book of blank leaves, and then stripped him of all hia
property, and consigned him to perpetual imprisonment. The
bargain being now completed, the Nizam engaged to join in
an attack on the Englbh, on receiving an immediate payment
of twenty lacs of rupees, and a promise of six lacs of tribute.
But this scene of treachery was relieved by one act of gene-
328 HfDER DEFEATED BY THE ENGLISH. [CHAP.
rosity ; the English contingent of three battalions was allowed
to leave the Nizam's camp without being attacked. The com-
bined army of Hyder and the Nizam which now advanced
against the English, numbered 42,000 cavalry, 28,000 infantry,
and 100 guns, while Colonel Smith was only able to muster
1,030 sabres, and 5,800 bayonets, with 16 guns.
The first encounter with the English troops
changama, 3rd took place on the 25th of August, when a small
Sept., 1767. detachment was surprised and discomfited. The
honour of the British flag was, however, retrieved at Chan-
gama, where Colonel Smith totally routed the allied force ;
but as the Madras Council had entrusted the charge of the com-
missariat to their Nabob, Mahomed Ah', and he had, as usual,
disappointed them, Colonel Smith found his army straitened
for provisions, and was obliged to fall back on Trino-
malee, where, after various manoeuvres, he was able to offer
battle to the allies. The engagement lasted two days, and
ended in their total defeat, with the loss of 4,000 men and 64
guns. Their discomfiture would have been more complete, if
the officer sent to improve the victory had not been led into a
swamp by his guide, who, like most of the guides attached
to this force, was one of Hyder's spies. Meanwhile his
eldest son, Tippoo, then seventeen years of age, was em-
ployed with a body of 5,000 horse, in plundering the country
houses of the Madras gentry in the vicinity of the town, and
the members of government escaped capture only by the
eagerness of the Mysore troops for booty ; but on hearing the
result of the action at Trinomalee, he hastily retired and
rejoined his father's camp. For the next three months both
paities were engaged in various operations, without interest
or result, and Hyder was soon after called to the western
coast, and deserted by the Nizam.
Expedition The government of Bengal had not only as-
Mdteat gal> sisted Madras with money for the support of the
with the war, but sent an expedition under Colonel Peach
by sea into the Hyderabad territories to create
XII.] DISGRACEFUL TREATY WITH THE NIZAM. 329
a diversion. He landed in the Northern Sircars, and pene-
trated the country to Warungole, the ancient metropolis
of Telingana, only eighty-six miles from Hyderabad. Nizam
All began to repent of his alliance with Hyder, which had
brought him neither plunder nor territory, but abundant dis-
grace. He began, moreover, to tremble for his own capital,
on which Colonel Peach was steadily advancing, and he de-
termined at once to abandon his ally, and come to terms with
the English. After several weeks of negotiation with Colonel
Smith, the President at Madras concluded that memorable
Treaty of the 23rd of February, 1768, which was not less
ignominious than that which had been made two years before.
The Nizam had been twice defeated in the south ; his do-
minions had been successfully invaded in the north, and his
capital was threatened. The President was in a position to
dictate his own terms, but he abandoned every advantage and
voluntarily placed his government in the most humiliating
position. Instead of insisting on the right to hold the Nor-
thern Sircars on the strength of the imperial firman, he agreed
to pay tribute for them, and to postpone the possession of the
Guntoor Sircar, till the death of Basalut Jung, the brother of
the Nizam, to whom he had assigned it. Hyder Ah', more-
over, who had been absolute master of Mysore for seven
years, and was one of the greatest powers in the Deccan, was
contemptuously styled Hyder Naik, and treated as a rebel and
a usurper. It was also stipulated that the English should
conquer the Carnatic Balaghaut from him, and hold it of the
Nizam, subject to a tribute of seven lacs of rupees a-year,
and, to the payment of chout to the Mahrattas, though they
were no parties to the treaty. To crown their folly, the
Madras Council again involved their masters in the labyrinth
of Deccan politics, by agreeing to assist the Nizam with two
battalions of sepoys, and six pieces of artillery, commanded
by Europeans, whenever he should require them. The treaty
was reprobated by their masters in Leadenhall Street, who
indignantly remarked, "We cannot take a view of your con-
330 OPERATIONS ON THE WESTERN COAST. [CHAP.
duct from the commencement of your negotiations for the
sircars, without the strongest disapprobation, and when we
see the opulent fortunes acquired by our servants since that
period, it gives but too much weight to the public opinion,
that this rage for negotiations, treaties, and alliances has
private advantage for its object, more than the public good."
Hyder on the Hyder's presence was required on the western
western coast, coast, to make head against a formidable expedi-
tion fitted out from Bombay against his ports and
his naval power. Mangalore and Onore were captured, and
the Mysore fleet destroyed ; but in the month of May Hyder
descended the ghauts with an imposing force, and completely
turned the scale. The British commander at Mangalore,
after a wretched defence, re-embarked his troops, 1,500 in
number, abandoning, not only all his stores, but 260 of his
wounded soldiers, among whom were 80 Europeans. Hyder,
after wreaking his vengeance on the districts which had
manifested a spirit of rebellion during the brief ascendancy
of the English power on the coast, returned, after the lapse
of seven months, to prosecute the war in the eastern districts.
But the great opportunity which his long absence afforded to
the British army in the Carnatic had been completely sacrificed
by the imbecility of the Madras authorities. As if the king-
dom of Mysore were already in their possession, they had
given it away to their Nabob, Mahomed Ah', and he accom-
panied the army to take charge of the districts as they were
occupied. The provision of the commissariat, on which the
movements of the army entirely depended, was, by a fatal error,
committed to him, and Colonel Smith, the commandant was
controlled and hampered by the deputation of two members
of Council to regulate its movements. In spite, however, of
these embarrassments, his exertions were attended with such
success, that nearly one-half the dominions of Hyder, to-
gether with eight of his principal forts, and the most impor-
tant mountain passes fell into his hands. Hyder, after a calm
consideration of the progress and prospects of the campaign,
XH.] TIDE TURNS AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 831
deemed it the part of prudence, in the month of September,
to make overtures to Colonel Smith, offering to cede the
Baramahal to the Company, and to pay down ten lacs of
rupees. But the President and Council, inflated with recent
success, made the most extravagant demands, and Hyder
broke off the negotiation, and prepared for a mortal conflict.
The tide tums ^he tide of success now turned against the
against the En- English. Colonel Smith was constrained by the
glish, 1768. , . . '
skilful manoeuvres of Hyder to raise the siege of
Bangalore, and it was with great difficulty that he was able
to maintain his ground. The " field deputies " and the Nabob
had remained at Colar, where a body of troops, equal to a
division, was idly detained for their protection. They had
managed between them to ruin the prospects of the campaign ;
the deputies, by their mischievous interference, the Nabob by
his neglect in regard to the supply of provisions. On the ap-
pearance of a detachment sent by Hyder to terrify them,
they hastened back to Madras, accompanied by Colonel Smith,
who had been invited to return to the Presidency to make room
for a more favourite commander, Colonel Wood. Thus ended
all the bright visions of conquest, in which the Madras Council
had been indulging during the year, and they were now
obliged to limit their efforts to the defence of the Company's
territories. On the 6th of December, Hyder descended into
the Baramahal, and in the course of six weeks recovered all
the districts which he had lost. It was now the turn of the
Council to solicit an accommodation with him, but the terms
they proposed did not suit him, and, after two months of
fruitless negotiations, he resumed his ravages, marking his
progress by the flames of villages, and the flight of the
wretched inhabitants. Colonel Smith was placed at the head
of the troops, and, by his rapid and skilful movements, so
effectually baffled the plans of Hyder, that he determined to
attempt, by one bold stroke, to bring the war to a termina-
Hyder dictates tion. Sending all his guns, heavy baggage, and
peace, 1769. infantry back to Mysore by the pass of Ahtoor,
332 HYDER DICTATES PEACE AT MADRAS. [CHAP.
he placed himself at the head of 6,000 chosen horse, unen-
cumbered by a single gun, and marched a hundred and thirty
miles in three days and a half. Early on the morning of the
29th of March, his advanced guard appeared at St. Thome,
five miles from Madras, and a messenger soon after an-
nounced to the bewildered Council that he had come to con-
duct the negotiations in person. Colonel Smith had been
rapidly following in his track, and would shortly have reached
Madras. Hyder therefore demanded that an order should be
immediately sent requiring him to halt, wherever he might
be, on the arrival of the communication, which was des-
patched by one of his own dromedaries, and the Colonel, to
his great chagrin, was obliged to remain inactive during
this disgraceful negotiation. Hyder likewise required that
Mr. Dupre, who had recently arrived at Madras, to succeed to
the office of President, should be sent to his camp to adjust the
conditions of peace. On the 4th of April a treaty was con-
cluded on the very moderate terms of a mutual restitution of
conquests. But it was at the same time stipulated that " in
case either of the contracting parties should be attacked, they
should from their respective countries mutually assist each
other to drive the enemy out." Thus ended this ill-managed
and unfortunate war by a treaty dictated by Hyder, under the
walls of Madras.
Hyder, having concluded peace with the En-
nd the glish, and obtained the promise of their support,
Mahrattas, began to set the Mahrattas at defiance, and not
only withheld the payments due to them, but
levied contributions on their districts. Madhoo Rao, the
Peshwa. therefore, assembled a large army for the entire and
final subjugation of Mysore. The forts in the eastern pro-
vinces were rapidly reduced, and the districts laid waste ; and
Hyder, knowing that his infantry, even with their high disci-
pline, could ill stand the charge of the Mahratta horse,
retired westward, and made overtures of peace, offering to
pay chout, but refusing to surrender territory. Madhoo Rao
XH.J HTDER DEFEATED BY THE MAHRATTAS. 833
demanded a crore of rupees, and the negotiation was broken
off. In the month of May, 1771, he was constrained, by the
state of his health, to relinquish the command of the Mahratta
army, which devolved on Trimbuck mama. Hyder, who
dreaded the abilities of the Peshwa, but held the new com-
mander in contempt, advanced with 35,000 men and forty
guns, to the pass of Milgota, where he found himself en-
trapped into a false position. After sustaining an incessant
cannonade for eight days, he was constrained, on the 5th of
March, to break up Ms encampment, and commence his re-
treat to Seringapatam, a distance of about twenty-two miles.
The army commenced its stealthy march by nigbt, but it was
revealed to the Mahrattas by accident or treachery, and they
instantly made a vigorous assault on the retiring force.
Hyder, who had been drinking to excess, and had not been
able to relieve the effects by his usual period of sleep, was in
a state of helpless inebriety. Tippoo was nowhere to be
found, and when he presented himself to his father, the next
morning, was overwhelmed with abuse,, and beaten without
mercy, on which he threw his turban on the ground, and
swore by the prophet that he would not draw sword any
more that day. The rout was complete, and the carnage
prodigious, and the army was saved from extermination only
by the avidity of the Mahrattas for plunder. Hyder, on re-
covering his senses in the morning, mounted a swift horse,
and did not draw rein till he reached his capital. The
Mahrattas laid close siege to it, but as they managed it with
more than usual absurdity, Hyder had leisure to collect his
scattered forces. During these troubles, he repeatedly im-
portuned the President of Madras for that succour which the
English government was bound, by the recent treaty, to
afford him. He offered to pay twenty. lacs of rupees for a
brigade of troops, and to cede the Baraniahal, Salem, and
Ahtoor, and threatened to throw himself into the arms of the
French if the assistance was withheld. The President con-
sidered it of vital importance to the honour and interests of
334 MAHKATTA EXPEDITION TO HINDOSTAN. [CHAP.
the Company to support Hyder. But he was paralysed by
the presence and the interference of Sir John Lindsay, whom
the ministry of the day had, by an act of incredible folly, sent
out as the King's representative to the court of Mahomed Ali,
and that prince was thus relieved from the salutary control
of the Madras government. It was two years before thia
mischievous mission was recalled, during which time the
Nabob was enabled to indulge his extravagant propensities
with perfect impunity, to the great delight and benefit of his
European creditors. He insisted on an alliance with the
Mahrattas, which was supported by Sir John Lindsay, and
the Madras Council, not daring to act in opposition to one
who was clothed with the royal authority, were constrained to
abandon Hyder to his fate. The desolation of his districts, and
the exhaustion of his resources, at length compelled him to sue
for peace to the Mahrattas, which was not granted without the
immediate payment of thirty-six lacs of rupees, besides the sti-
pulation of fourteen lacs of rupees of annual tribute, and the
cession of territory, which reduced the kingdom of Mysore to
narrower limits than it comprised at the beginning of the cen-
tury. Nothing exhibits the incapacity of the Madras authori-
ties during the war with Hyder so conspicuously as the contrast
between the disgrace which he inflicted on them and the
humiliation he sustained from the Mahrattas two years later.
The breach of faith to which he attributed his misfortunes he
never forgot or forgave, and it resulted in establishing Mah-
ratta garrisons on the northern frontier of the Carnatic.
The incursions of the Mahrattas into Hindostan
expedition u> were for a time checked by the battle of Paniput,
Hmdostan, an( j ^Q <ji scor( i O f their chiefs ; but in 1769, the
Peshwa equipped a grand expedition to renew
their ravages, and recover their authority. It was accom-
panied by a large body of horse belonging to Mahdajee
Sindia, the illegitimate son of Ranojee, the founder of the
house ; and also by Tokajee Holkar, who, though he bore the
patronymic of the great chief by whom the dynasty was
XH.] THE EMPEROR THROWS HIMSELF ON THEM. 835
established, was not of his family, but was placed at the head
of the army by Aylah-bye, the princess who, for thirty
years, managed the state with consummate ability. The
army, consisting of 300,000 horse and foot, and commanded
by Visajee, the Peshwa's general, burst like a flood on Raj-
pootana, and levied contributions to the extent of ten lacs of
rupees. The Jauts, the next victims, were constrained to
make a composition for sixty-five lacs, of which ten were
paid down at once. During these transactions, the Mah-
ratta chiefs invited the emperor to return to Delhi under
their protection. That prince had continued to reside at
Allahabad, after the arrangement concluded by Olive in
1765, in the tranquil enjoyment of the stipend allotted to him.
The government of Delhi and of the districts still attached to
the crown, were administered for seven years with extra-
ordinary talent and success, by Nujeeb-ood-dowlah, the
Rohilla chief, whom Mr. Verelst, the governor of Bengal,
justly designated " a great and good man," and on his death
in October, 1770, by his son Zabita Khan. The emperor was
naturally desirous of proceeding to Delhi, and mounting the
throne of his ancestors. The Mahrattas were equally desirous
of becoming the instrument of seating him on it, and turning
the influence of his name to account The Council in Cal-
cutta, however, strongly dissuaded him from this measure,
feeling confident that it would involve the affairs of Hin-
dostan in confusion, and eventually prove detrimental to his
own interests. But the emperor turned a deaf ear to their
remonstrances, and threw himself on the protection of the
Mahrattas, by whom he was conducted to Delhi, and installed
on the 25th of December, 1771.
Early in 1772, they entered Rohilcund, reduced the Dooab,
and laid waste the whole province. The family of Zabita
Khan was made prisoners, and the great wealth accumulated
by him and his father they appropriated to their own use.
The Rohilla chiefs, in their extremity, were driven to solicit
the aid of the Vizier, though they were fully aware that the
336 THE EMPEROR ATTACKS THEM AND IS DEFEATED. [CHAP.
possession of their territories was the object which lay
nearest to his heart. There are few transactions in the
history of the times more complicated and obscure than the
negotiations which ensued between the Rohillas, the Vizier,
and the Mahrattas. As some approach to the truth, it may
be stated that the Mahrattas agreed to retire for a sum of
forty lacs of rupees, but insisted on the guarantee of the
Vizier ; that the Vizier required Hafiz Ruhmut, the chief of the
Rohillas, to become responsible for the amount, and Hafiz re-
quested the other chiefs to contribute their quota. These
engagements appear to have been completed in June, 1772,
and Hafiz paid the first instalment of five lacs to the Vizier,
who, however, never paid the Mahrattas a cowrie, while the
chiefs pleaded poverty for withholding their shares. As soon
as the rains set in, the Mahrattas recrossed the Ganges for
the season. Meanwhile, their arrogance and rapacity had
become intolerable to the poor emperor, who determined to
incur every risk to rid himself of them. His general, Nujeef
Khan, a man of superior talent, and descended from the
Sophi kings of Persia, led the imperial troops against them,
but was totally defeated. It was a twelvemonth to a day after
the emperor had entered his capital on the shoulders of the
Mahrattas, that he was constrained to open its gates to their
hostile battalions, and submit to all their demands. Among
other exactions, they required him to cede the two dis-
tricts of Corah and Allahabad, and they made preparations
to occupy them. But the government of Calcutta wisely
determined not to sanction the surrender of them to the
Mahrattas, and thus introduce these unscrupulous marauders
into the heart of the Gangetic provinces.
At the close of the monsoon of 1772, the
retire to their Mahrattas resolved on the plunder of Oude, and
own country, o ff ere( j Hafiz Ruhmut and the other Rohilla chiefs
J. 1 7o
to make over to them the Vizier's bond for forty
lacs of rupees, and to share the territory which might be
conquered with them, if they would grant a passage through
XII.] DEPARTURE OF THE MAHRATTAS. 337
their country, and make common cause in the expedition.
The Vizier, in an agony of terror, offered, when the Mahrattas
retired, to restore the bond Hafiz had given him. But the
Rohilja chief needed no such inducement to refrain from an
alliance with those whom he regarded as " the savage and
infidel Mahrattas," and resolved to co-operate with the Vizier
in opposing them. That helpless prince, at the same time, im-
plored the aid of the Council in Calcutta, who directed a brigade
of troops to advance for the protection of the country. Several
detachments of Mahratta horse laid waste a portion of Rohil-
cund, but the main body was held in check by the combined
forces of the Rohillas, the Vizier, and Sir Richard Barker.
Meanwhile, the young Peshwa, having planned an expedition
to the south, required the presence of the troops employed in
Hindostan, and the Mahratta general suddenly broke up his en
campment in the month of May, and retired across the Ner-
budda, laden with the booty of three campaigns. But, even
before the disappearance of the Mahrattas, and while the Ro-
hilla chiefs were cordially engaged in supporting the cause of
the Vizier, that prince was plotting their expulsion from
Rohilcund, and the appropriation of their estates. The
sequel of these transactions, belongs to the history of
Hastings's administration, and we turn therefore to the
progress of Indian affairs in England.
The British Government in India, at this period
anom^onhe was a strange and unprecedented anomaly. The
Company's agents of a London trading Company had in a
government. .
few years acquired the sovereignty of provinces
twice the size of England, and were employed in ruling a
population twice as numerous as the subjects of their own
king. The directors of a counting-house in London were
making peace and war, setting up thrones and pulling them
down, and disposing of princely revenues. Their servants
abroad, with salaries of only three or four hundred pounds a
year, were moreover, coming home, year after year, with
colossal fortunes, made in four or five years, and setting up
z
838 VICIOUS CONSTITUTION OF THE COMPANY. [CHAP.
establishments which cast the ancient nobility of the country
into the shade. Lord Clive was spending 40,000 a-year,
and one retired member of Council was known t3 keep a
dozen chariots. The time had not arrived for millionaire
manufacturers and contractors, and the progress of national
industry had not as yet trebled the value of landed estates.
The servants of the Company presented to the envy of the
country the only instances of sudden and enormous wealth.
At the same time it was reported that the fortunes of the
Indian Nabobs, as they were styled, had been acquired by the
deposal of princes, the oppression of their subjects, and the
most nefarious peculation, and a general feeling of indignation
began to pervade the nation.
The machinery of the Home Government of
tutiou of the India had been constructed for the management
company, 1770. of tradej and wag utter i v unsu it e d to the admi-
nistration of government. The Directors were elected for only
one year, and half their time was, therefore, devoted to the
arrangements necessary for their re-election. The grand prin-
ciple that the Directors should appoint men to the service, and
that the government in India should appoint them to office,
had not then been discovered. The offices in India, which
afforded the means of amassing invidious wealth, were con-
sidered to be at the disposal of the Directors in London, and
it was chiefly to the discreet use of this patronage, that they
looked for the support of the Proprietors, and the retention
of their office. The possession of 500 of stock gave one
vote, and there was no limitation to the number of votes
which might be held by a single individual. Stock was, there-
fore purchased not simply for investment, but for power and
pelf. Those who returned from India with fortunes, found it
useful to invest their property in India Stock, and thus acquire
influence at the India House. In 1771, the ship's husbands, a
wealthy and powerful body, bought 150,000 of stock, to create
300 votes. Lord Shelburne laid out 100,000 for 200 votes,
to secure the return of the factious Sulivan. The India House
XII.] PARLIAMENTARY INTERFERENCE. 839
thus became a scene of jobbery and corruption, such as had
never, perhaps, been seen in England before, and was scarcely
paralleled by the depravity which prevailed among their ser-
vants abroad. The great marvel is, how the British power in
India survived the crime and confusion which, with some
brilliant exceptions, characterised the period of fifteen years,
between the battle of Plassy, and the new organisation of 1773.
-I In these circumstances there was a general de-
Parhamentary
interference, mand for Parliamentary enquiry. It was seventy
years since the House of Commons had interfered
in the affairs of the Company ; it was then only a commercial
interest ; it was now a political power. The first movement of
the Minister was to claim for the Crown the sovereignty of
the territories acquired by its subjects in India. The Com-
pany resisted -the demand, and maintained that the posses-
sions which had been obtained by their arms belonged
exclusively to them. The dispute was for a time compro-
mised by conceding the territorial revenues to them for five
years, on the payment of forty lacs a year to the nation. It
was likewise proposed to remedy the disorders in India by
sending out three of the most eminent of the retired servants
of the Company with unlimited powers, but the vessel in
which they embarked foundered at sea.
Financial aim- Meanwhile, the financial difficulties of the Com-
StSS P anv brou g ht on a crisis - A11 the S lden dreams
1773. which the acquisition of the three soobahs had
created, were rudely dissipated. Fraudulent bills in India
for contracts, cantonments, and fortifications, and extravagant
charges for travelling, diet, and parade, had exhausted the
surplus revenue, and created a deficit. With a revenue of
two millions and a half a year, there was a debt of a
million and a quarter in London, and of more than a million in
Calcutta. The Court of Proprietors, as if they were anxious
to compete with the profligacy of their servants in India,
chose this period of impending bankruptcy, to vote themselves
a dividend of twelve and a half per cent. The Court of
z 2
840 THE REGULATING ACT.
Directors borrowed repeatedly of the Bank of England, until
the Bank would lend no more. They then applied to the
minister, Lord North, for a loan of a million from the public,
to prevent closing the doors of the India House, and he coolly
referred them to Parliament, which was convened earlier
than usual, to take their affairs into consideration. A Select
Committee was appointed in 1772 to collect evidence, when
the whole system of violence and iniquity, by which the
British name had been tarnished in India, and individuals
enriched, was laid bare to the nation. Parliament determined
at once to take the regulation of Indian affairs into its own
hands. The Directors protested against this violation of their
chartered rights, as they termed the intervention of Par-
Lament ; but they had incurred universal odium and contempt,
and the Minister was enabled to carry his measures with a
high hand. The immediate necessities of the Company were
relieved by the loan of a million sterling from the exchequer.
The vicious constitution of the India House was corrected;
the qualification for a single vote was raised from 500 to
1,000, and twelve hundred proprietors were thus disfran-
chised at one stroke ; no individual was to enjoy more than
four votes, whatever amount of stock he might hold ; and six
Directors only were to go out annually, which extended the
tenure of office to four years. The Governor of Bengal was
appointed Governor-General, on a salary of 25,000 a year,
with four counsellors at 10,000, and they were in the first
instance nominated by Parliament. At the same time a
Crown Court was established in Calcutta, to administer
English law on the model of the Courts in Westminster, with
a Chief Justice at 8,000, and three Puisne Judges, at 6,000
a-year. The Act which embodied these provisions is known
as the Regulating Act. Its enactments regarding the home
government were highly judicious and beneficial ; but those
which referred to the government in India, concocted without
knowledge or experience, only seemed to increase the com-
plication of affairs, and shook the power of Britain in the East
to its foundation.
XIII.] WABBEN HASTINGS, 341
CHAPTER XIII.
HASTINGS'S ADMINISTRATION AND THE MAHBATTA WAR,
17721782.
WABBEN HASTINGS was appointed the first Governor- General
tinder the new Act, a man endowed by nature with the great-
est talent for government, and whose renown has not been
eclipsed by the most illustrious of his successors. He landed
in Calcutta in January, 1750, at the age of eighteen, and was
employed for six years in the duties of appraising silk and
muslins, and copying invoices. The political exigencies which
arose out of the battle of Plassy suddenly developed his ad-
ministrative abilities, which Clive was the first to discover
and foster. He was selected to represent the Company at
the Moorshedabad durbar, which, at the time, was one of
the most arduous and delicate posts in the service. Three
years after, he came by rotation to the Council board in Cal-
cutta, and strenuously supported Mr. Vaneittart in his oppo-
sition to those profligate measures which issued in the war
with Meer Cassim. In the most venal period of the Bengal
administration, he was distinguished by high principle and
unsullied probity, and returned to England on furlough in
graceful poverty, while his colleagues were retiring from the
service with ambitious fortunes. By this step he forfeited his
position in the service, according to the rules then in force,
and he long solicited to be restored to it, but without success.
By a happy accident, however, he was at length required to
give evidence before a committee of the House of Commons,
when the clearness of his statements, and the breadth of his
views, excited the admiration both of the Court of Directors
and the Ministry, and he was at once appointed second in
Council at Madras.
state of Bengal, ^he double government established by Clive
U65-1772. after the acquisition of the Dewanny, though re-
S42 STATE OP BENGAL. [CHAP.
garded at first as a master-piece of policy, soon proved to
be the curse of Bengal. It combined all the vices of a native
government with all the confusion and mischief inseparable
from foreign interference. The management of the revenue,
which included the entire administration, was in the hands of
native agents, who were subject to the supervision of the
British resident at Moorshedabad, but his control was merely
nominal. There was no European functionary in Bengal
conversant with revenue details, and the zemindars were at
liberty to make their own terms with the ryots on the one
hand, and with the treasury on the other ; in every case it
was the interests of the state which suffered. Individuals
grew rich, while the government was sinking in debt. To
check these abuses, supervisors or collectors were appointed
in 1769 to look after the revenue ; but they were both ignorant
and rapacious, and became mere tools in the hands of their
banians, or native factors. The public money they collected
was employed, for the most part, in supporting the mono-
polies which they and their native banians had established in
the traffic of the district, and the value of their appointments
consequently ranged from one to three lacs of rupees a year.
The Court of Directors determined, therefore, " to stand forth
as Duan, and to take on themselves the entire care and
management of the revenues through the agency of then:
own servants." This decision involved a complete revolution
in the whole system of administration, civil, criminal, and
fiscal, among twenty-five millions of people, and a more mo-
mentous change than any which had taken place since the
days of Akbar and Toder Mull. Hastings was considered the
only man in the Company's service capable of inaugurating
this new policy, and he was accordingly elevated to the chair
in Bengal, and took charge of the government on the 13th
April, 1772.
warren Hast- Upon this arduous task he entered with great
ings, President zea i an( j ene rgy. It was resolved to farm out the
of Bengal, 1772. , J
Great change*, lands f or five years, and the President and four
THE FIRST ROBOLLA WAR. 343
members of the Council proceeded through the districts
to conduct the settlements. The offers made by the zemin-
dars were, however, deemed unsatisfactory, and it was deter-
mined to put the lands up to competition, after abolishing
some of the most oppressive of the imposts with which the
land had latterly been saddled. Where the old eemindars
were displaced by higher bidders, an allowance was granted
for their support out of the rents. The Khalsa, or exchequer,
was removed from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, to which the
entire administration of the country, in every branch, was
transferred, and which became, from this date, the capital of
Bengal. The charge of civil and criminal justice in each
district was entrusted to European officers, and two courts of
appeal were established at the seat of government. Without
the aid of an English lawyer, Hastings drew up a short and
simple code of regulations for the new courts, which exhibited
in a remarkable degree the versatility of his talents. All
these organic changes in the system of government were
completed in six months.
The first EO- The Mahrattas had no sooner crossed the
hiiia war, 1773. Q an g es on their return home, than the "Vizier
began to importune Hastings to assist him in seizing the
province of Rohilcund, and offered a donation of forty lacs
of rupees, and the payment of two lacs a month for the ser-
vices of the English force. The Court of Directors, over-
whelmed with debt and disgrace, were imploring the Council
in Calcutta for remittances, and urging a reduction of the
military expenditure, which was devouring the resources of
the country. The treasury in Calcutta was empty, but the
offer of the Vizier seemed to be exactly adapted to meet the
exigency. Mr. Hastings was assured that the Rohillas had
offered to pay the Vizier the sum of forty lacs of rupees if he
would deliver them from the Mahrattas ; that they had been
saved from destruction by the presence of the Vizier's troops
and those of his English ally, and, that now the danger was
passed, they refused to pay anything. With this garbled
344 DESTRUCTION OP THE ROHILLAS.
statement of the case, Hastings satisfied his conscience, and
concluded that their ingratitude deserved punishment, and
that, on the plan suggested by the Vizier, an act of just
retribution might be made the means of replenishing the
Company's coffers. The Vizier wanted territory, and Hastings
wanted money. " Such," he wrote, " was my idea of the
Company's distress in England and India, that I should have
been glad of any occasion of employing these forces, which
saves so much of their pay and expenses." Hastings
accordingly proceeded to Benares in August, 1773, and con-
cluded a treaty with the Vizier on the terms proposed by him.
The districts of Corah and Allahabad were considered to
have lapsed to the Company, when the emperor, to whom
Clive had given them, was compelled to make them over to
the Mahrattas. The defence of these districts such was
the extravagance and embezzlement in the military depart-
ment had cost the treasury two crores of rupees in five
years, and Hastings wisely determined to " free the Company
from this intolerable burden," and transferred them to the
Vizier who offered an additional payment of fifty lacs of
rupees for them. The subsidy of twenty-six lacs of rupees
a-year from the revenues of the three soobahs, which had
been settled on the emperor, was suspended during the
great famine which depopulated and pauperised Bengal, and,
as he had now ceased to be a free agent, it was finally
abolished.
The Vizier having secured the aid of an English
Destruction of
the Rohiiia*, force, demanded of Hafiz Ruhmut the payment of
23rd Apni, ^ e Da ] ance o f h{ g foo^ thirty-five lacs of rupees.
Hafiz offered to make good whatever sum the
Vizier had actually paid the Mahrattas for their forbearance,
but as he knew that he had never paid them anything, the
offer was treated with contempt. Hafiz, seeing the storm
ready to burst upon his head, proposed a compromise, but
the Vizier raised his demand to two hundred lacs of rupees,
and the Rohillas adopted the resolution of defending their
independence to the last extremity. Colonel Champion, the
XIII.] REFLECTIONS ON THIS* TRANSACTION. 345
British commander, advanced into Kohilcund, accompanied by
the Vizier's army, and the campaign was decided in a single
engagement, on the 23rd of April, 1774. Hafiz brought
40,000 Robillas into action, and exhibited a degree of military
skill and courage, which excited the admiration of his Euro-
pean opponents. But nothing could withstand the steady
charge of British bayonets, and after two hours of severe
conflict, and the slaughter of more than 2,000 Rohillas
anjong whom was the brave Hafiz and his son they were
obliged to fly. The dastardly Vizier remained with his troops
beyond the reach of fire, till the Rohillas were defeated,
when he let them loose to plunder the camp. " We have
the honour of the day," exclaimed the indignant Champion,
" and these banditti the profit."
Reflections on This transaction is one of the few stains on the
this transaction, i^ght and honourable career of Hastings. It has
been urged in extenuation of it that the Rohillas were mere
usurpers, with no right to the province but that of the sword.
But so were nine-tenths of the princes of India at the time.
The usurpation of Holkar, and Sindia, and Hyder Ah', and
even of the Peshwa, and the Nizam, was quite as modern as
that of the Rohillas, and the Nabob vizier himself was only
the grandson of the Khorasan merchant, who had alienated
Oude from the crown of Delhi. That the Rohillas formed a
powerful confederacy on the borders of Oude, which, in the
unsettled state of India, might have joined the Mahrattas
and endangered the safety of a province which the Company
was bound, no less by policy than by treaty to defend, cannot
be controverted. The extinction of this dangerous power
was a wise and politic measure, so far as anything that is
intrinsically unjust can be wise and politic. Such transactions
were, moreover, of constant occurrence in India; no native
prince saw anything unusual or unjust in it, and even the
Rohillas themselves considered it only as one of the chances
of war to which they, in common with all states, were con-
stantly liable. But it was inconsistent with that higher
standard of morals by which Hastings's conduct was judged
346 ARRIVAL OP THE COUNSELLORS AND JUDGES. [CHAP.
in England, and it has been invariably condemned, even by
those who admire his genius. The conduct of the Vizier
towards the conquered, in spite of Hastings's remonstrances
and threats, was infamous; but the assertion that 500,000
husbandmen were driven acros.8 the Ganges, and that the
country was reduced to a bare and uninhabitable waste, was
an Oriental exaggeration. The " extermination," which was
so loudly denounced by the enemies of Hastings, had refe-
rence only to the power of the Afghans, who did not exceed
20,000 in number. The Hindoo natives of the soil, numbering
more than a million, experienced no other distress than that
which follows every change of masters in India.
Arrival of the Hastings had succeeded in reorganising the
membVre of administration, and extinguishing the Indian debt.
Council, 1774. He had overcome all the difficulties which beset
his position on his arrival ; but he was now called to encounter
the more serious dangers which arose out of the provision
made by the wisdom of Parliament for the better government
of India. The judges of the Supreme Court and the new
members of Council arrived from England, and landed at
Chandpal ghaut on the 19th of October, 1774, with the firm
conviction that the government was a compound of tyranny
and corruption, which it was their mission to purify. As the
judges stepped on shore, one of them, observing the bare legs
and feet of the natives who crowded to the sight, said to his
colleague, " Our court, brother, certainly was not established
before it was needed. I trust we shall not have been six
months in the country before these victims of oppression are
comfortably provided with shoes and stockings." Of the
counsellors, Colonel Monson had served on the coast, General
Clavering was the favourite of the King and the Ministry,
and Mr. Francis, the undoubted author of Junius's letters,
had been an assistant in the War Office, and was distinguished
for his talents and his malignity. They had all imbibed the
most violent prejudices against Mr. Hastings, and regarded
him as a monster of iniquity, whom it was the part of virtue
XIII.] THE AFFAIRS OF OTJDE. 347
to censure and oppose. The spirit in which they entered on
their duties may be inferred from the fact that their first com-
plaint was that he had received them with a salute of only
seventeen guns, when they expected nineteen. The old
government was abolished, and the new government in-
stalled by proclamation on the 20th of October. Mr. Francis
and his two colleagues, commenced their opposition on the first
meeting of Council, and, as they formed a majority, Hastings
found that the government of India had at once passed out
of his hands, and was transferred to men utterly ignorant
of the feelings, the habits, and the weaknesses of the natives,
and bent on thwarting and degrading him.
The affairs of The first exercise of their authority had
Oude, 1775. reference to the affairs of Oude. Nine months
previously, Hastings had placed Mr. Middle ton as the re-
presentative of the Company at the court of the Vizier.
They demanded the production of every letter which had ever
passed between them, even in the confidence of private
friendship. Hastings refused this preposterous request,
but offered to furnish them with an extract of every para-
graph which had the smallest bearing on public business. The
triumvirate protested against this reservation, and immediately
superseded Mr. Middleton, and appointed Mr. Bristow, one of
their own friends to the durbar, and thus proclaimed the
extinction of Hastings's authority to all the princes of India.
They reprobated the treaty of Benares made with the Vizier,
as well as the Rohilla war, which was to be expected ; but
they went further, and issued orders to the officer command-
ing the brigade in Rohilcund to withdraw it immediately from
the province, and to demand payment, within fourteen days,
of all arrears due from the Vizier. Hastings warned them
of the danger of these precipitate measures, which com-
promised equally the safety of Oude and the honour of the
British name, but they turned a deaf ear to every re-
monstrance. During these transactions, the Vizier died, and
his successor was informed by Mr. Francis and his col-
348 THE BEGUMS AND THE LEGACY. [CHAP.
leagues that all the engagements between the two states were
cancelled by this event, except those which referred to the
payment of arrears ; and that whatever assistance he might
receive from British troops must be based on a new arrange-
ment. A treaty was accordingly concluded under the
auspices of Mr. Francis, and although he had condemned
Hastings in no measured terms "for letting out British
troops for hire to the Vizier," the services of the brigade
were continued to him ; but the amount of the hire was
augmented by half a lac of rupees a month. The Vizier was
likewise peremptorily commanded to cede to the Company,
the zemindary of Benares, which yielded twenty-two lacs of
rupees a year, and this was the only addition made to
the British territory during the long period of Hastings's
administration.
deceased Vizier had amassed treasure to
The treasure
and the be- the extent of two crores of rupees, and deposited
gums, 1775. . _
it m vaults in the zenana. His widoAv and his
mother, known in history as "the begums," claimed the
whole of this property on his death, under a will which they
affirmed had been made in their favour. The will was never
produced, and probably never existed ; at all events it could
not supersede the right of the state to these public funds,
and, least of all, in favour of females. The late Vizier was
under heavy obligations to the Company at the time of his
death, and his troops, a hundred thousand in number, were
twelve months in arrear. The funds were therefore pri-
marily chargeable with these liabilities, but Mr. Bristow, the
resident, lent himself to the views of the begums, and con-
strained the Vizier to affix his seal to a deed, under the
guarantee of the government in Calcutta, which assigned
three-fourths of this state property to them. Mr. Francis
and his colleagues recorded their approval of this aliena-
tion, in spite of an earnest protest from Hastings and
Mr. Barwell, who invariably supported him. The Vizier thus
ascended the throne with an empty treasury; the troops
XIII.] ACCUSATIONS AGAINST HASTINGS. 349
mutinied for their pay, and according to the report of the
British resident, 20,000 of them were slaughtered, and nothing
but the presence of the English brigade saved the country
from a revolution.
Accusations ^ ne discord in the Council soon began to tell
against upon the government. The triumvirate had
diligently studied the public records to discover
grounds for criminating Hastings. They raked up informa-
tion from the kennels of Calcutta, and offered every en-
couragement to the miscreants in the provinces to come
forward and defame him. As soon as it was known that his
authority was extinct, and that any accusation against him
would be welcome to those who now enjoyed the power of
the state, a host of informers hastened to Calcutta and
crowded their anti-chambers. Charges were manufactured
with great activity. The widow of Teluk Chand, the
zemindar of Burdwan a zemindary then scarcely a cen-
tury old brought a charge against Mr. Graham, whom
Hastings had appointed guardian of the person and property
of his minor son, of having embezzled more than three lacs of
rupees in five months, of which Hastings was accused of
having received fifteen thousand. The native fouzdar of
Hooghly had continued to receive an allowance of seventy-
two thousand rupees a year, after the administration of the
Company had commenced, and some native who coveted the
place, charged Hastings with having appropriated to his own
use one half this sum. No evidence was produced of the
charge, which was in itself preposterous, but Mr. Francis and
his two colleagues placed it on record " that there appeared
to be no species of peculation from which the Honourable
Governor-General has thought it reasonable to abstain, and
that they had now obtained a clear light on his conduct, and
the means by which he had amassed a fortune of forty lacs of
rupees in two years and a half."
charge of Nundu A more important charge was preferred by
r, me. .Nundu koomar. This man, who had been re-
350 DISPUTES IN COUNCIL. [CHAP.
peatedly denounced by the Court of Directors for his perfidy,
and whose career had been marked by the most nefarious
intrigues and treachery, offered to impeach Hastings, and was
immediately taken into the alliance of the three counsellors.
Under their auspices, he held his durbar in state in Calcutta,
and issued his mandates to the zemindars throughout the
country. At length, he came forward with a charge against
Hastings of having received a bribe of three lacs and a half
of rupees on the appointment of Munee Begum, the widow of
Meer Jaffier, and his own son, Raja Gooroodass, to the
management of the Nabob's household at Moorshedabad, and
likewise of having connived at the embezzlements of Mahomed
Reza khan for a douceur of ten lacs. Mr. Francis and his col-
leagues proposed that Nundu koomar should be called before
the Council board to substantiate the charge. Hastings, as
might have been expected, opposed this proceeding with great
indignation. " I know," he said, " what belongs to the dignity
and character of the first member of this administration, and I
will not sit at this board in the character of a criminal." It
does not appear that on this or any other occasion, Hastings
endeavoured to stifle enquiry, or objected to his opponents
forming a committee of investigation, and reporting their
proceedings to then- masters at home, or referring the questions
at issue to the arbitriment of the Supreme Court; but he
felt that the government would be degraded in the eyes of
the native community, if the dregs of society were introduced
into the Council chamber to criminate the President at the
instigation of Nundu koomar, and he dissolved the meeting
and left the chamber. The majority immediately placed
General Clavering in the chair, and called in Nundu koomar
who dilated on the venality of Hastings, and moreover, pro-
duced a letter purporting to be written by Munee begum
herself, which admitted the payment of two lacs and a half
of rupees to the Governor-General, on which Mr. Francis
and his friends resolved with one consent, that Hastings had
clandestinely and illegally received three lacs and forty
XUI.] EXECUTION OF WUNDU KOOMAR. 351
thousand rupees, and that measures should be taken to
compel him to repay it into the public treasury. The signa-
ture to the letter was pronounced on the most impartial
examination to be spurious, but the seal appeared to be
genuine. The begum herself denied all knowledge of the
letter, and the mystery of the seal was not discovered till
after the death of Nundu kooinar, when fac-similes of the
seals of all the most eminent personages in Bengal were
found in his cabinet.
Execution of Hastings, in self-defence, now brought an ac-
Nundu koomar, tion in the Supreme Court against Nundu
koomar and others for a conspiracy to induce
one Kumat-ood-deen, a large revenue farmer, to criminate
him. The judges admitted the charge and held Nundu
koomar to bail, and Mr. Francis and his two associates
immediately paid him a complimentary visit at his own
residence. Eight weeks after the commencement of this
action, one Mohun Prisad, a native merchant, renewed an
action for forgery against Nundu koomar, which had been
originally instituted in the local court, when Nundu koomar
was arrested, but released, through the intervention of
Hastings. On the establishment of the Supreme Court,
this suit, along with others, was transferred to its juris-
diction. The forgery was established on the clearest evi-
dence; the jury found him guilty, and the judges ordered
him to be hung. It was the first instance of the execution of
a brahmin, since the English became lords of the country,
and it created a profound sensation in the native community.
Thousands of Hindoos surrounded the scaffold, unwilling to
believe their own eyes, and when the deed was completed,
rushed down to the sacred stream to wash out the pollution.
Beflections on ^kis transaction was long considered the most
this tnmsac- atrocious crime of Hastings's administration. It
was asserted in high quarters that Nundu koomar
had been judicially murdered by nun through the agency of
Sir Elijah Impey, the chief justice. But tune has dispelled
352 HASTINGS CONDEMNED AT HOME.
the clouds of prejudice. For this foul imputation there was
no other ground than the coincidence of this trial, in point of
time, with the accusations brought by Nundu koomar against
Hastings. There never was the slightest evidence that
Hastings had ever prompted, or even encouraged the action.
The capital sentence, however conformable to the barbarous
laws of England at the time, was, on every consideration,
most unjust. The offence was venial by the laws of the
country, and the English code, which made it capital, was not
introduced till several years after it had been committed.
Mr. Francis and his colleagues protested against the whole
proceeding, but the judges indignantly refused to submit to
any dictation in the exercise of their judicial functions. But
after the sentence had been passed, it was still within the
power of the majority of the Council who exercised the whole
authority of the government, to suspend the execution of it,
pending a reference to England; they did not, however,
choose to interfere, and the odium of this transaction must be
divided between them and the judges. Nundu koomar, who
began life a poor man, left a fortune of a crore of rupees.
The Court of Towards the close of 1775, the decision of the
Directors con- c our t O f Directors on the matters in dispute be-
demn Hastings,
1775. tween Mr. Francis and Hastings, was received in
Calcutta. They condemned the measures of the Governor-
General in strong language, but they neither ordered the resti-
tution of Rohilcund to the Rohillas, nor the return of the forty
lacs which had enriched their treasury, to the Vizier. But they
recommended concord and unanimity to the Council, and the
advice was received with a shout of derision by both parties.
The adverse resolutions of the Directors were, however, over-
ruled by the Proprietors, who held Hastings in the highest
estimation; and the dissensions abroad, aggravated by the
discord at home, brought the British interests in India to the
verge of destruction, from which they were rescued only by
the firmness and resolution of the Governor-General. In
September, 1776, his authority in the government was re-
Xm.] VIOLENCE ANT) DEATH OP CLAVERING. 353
stored by the death of Colonel Monson, which gave him the
casting vote in an equally-balanced Council. But in the pre-
ceding year, worried by the opposition and insults of his
opponents, he had informed his agent in England, Colonel
Macleane, that it was his intention to resign his appointment,
if he found that his measures were not approved of at home.
But within two months of this communication, he recovered
his spirits, revoked his resignation, and, at the same time,
informed the Minister, Lord North, that he would remain at
his post till he was recalled by the same authority, that of
Parliament, which had placed him at the head of the govern-
ment. But Colonel Macleane, finding the current against
Hastings as strong in Leadenhall Street as it was in Down-
ing Street, took upon himself to announce to the Court of
Directors that he was authorised, on certain conditions, to
tender his patron's resignation. After several months of
violent intrigue, which it is not necessary to detail, the Di-
rectors came to the resolution that Mr. Hastings had positively
resigned his office, though his latest as well as his earliest
letters were before them, and appointed Mr. Wheler to the
vacant seat in Council.
When intelligence of this resolution" reached
errt proceed- Calcutta, General Clavering, whom Lord North
ings and death, j^ encouraged in his opposition to Hastings, by
the Order of the Bath, attempted to seize the
government, as being the senior member of Council, obtained
possession of the Council Chamber, and took the oaths as
Governor-General. He likewise demanded the keys of the
Treasury and of the fort from Hastings, and wrote to the
commandant to obey no orders but those which emanated
from him. Hastings, who did not admit the fact of his re-
signation, had anticipated Sir John Clavering by securing the
gates of Fort William, and his messengers found them closed
against him. The dispute was rapidly tending to a collision,
which must have proved in the highest degree disastrous to
the interests of the Company, when Hastings prudently
2 A
354 NEW SETTLEMENT OF THE LAND REVENUE. [CHAP.
averted it by referring the question to the Judges of the
Supreme Court. After a careful investigation of all the
documents connected with this transaction, they came to the
decision, that any assumption of authority by Sir John Cla-
vering would be illegal, and the storm blew over. He did not
survive the chagrin of this disappointment many months.
Mr. Wheler, who had taken his seat in Council, though pro-
fessing neutrality, generally sided with Francis, but the cast-
ing vote of the Governor-General overruled all opposition. At
the beginning of 1780, Mr. Barwell was anxious to return to
his native land with the colossal fortune he had accumulated,
but he hesitated to embark and leave his friend Hastings in a
minority. Mr. Francis, unwilling to stand in the way of
Mr. Barwell's retirement, came to an understanding with
Hastings not to take advantage of it, and Mr. Barwell em-
barked for England. But the discord was speedily renewed ;
the antagonists could not agree on the nature or extent of the
neutrality. Hastings charged Francis with having duped him,
and the dispute was settled, according to the barbarous custom
of the times, by a hostile meeting, in which Mr. Francis was
wounded. At the close of the year he returned to England.
Kew settlement ^ ne settlement of the land revenue, which had
of the land been made for five years, expired in 1777, when it
was found that the country had been grievously
rack-rented. Many of the zemindars, ambitious of retaining
their position in the country, had made offers which they soon
found themselves unable to support. The speculators, who
had in many cases outbid and dislodged the old landholders,
had no object but to enrich themselves by oppressive exactions,
and throw up their engagements as soon as the ryots were
exhausted. The government, new to their duties, had com-
mitted serious errors. To the usual imperfection of all new
institutions, was in this instance added an entire ignorance of
the quality and value of the lands and even of the language
of those who held them. The whole system collapsed ; the
country was impoverished, and, what with remissions and
XIII.] RESOURCES OP THE MAHRATTA 'COMMONWEALTH. 355
irrecoverable balances, the Company lost little short of two
crores and a half of rupees in five years. Before the expira-
tion of the old settlement, Hastings had wisely appointed a
commission of inquiry to travel through the country and col-
lect data for a new arrangement. The Court of Directors
denounced the commission as a flagrant job, and charged
Hastings with " the meanest and most corrupt motives in the
selection of the members." They expressed their surprise
that any such inquiiy should be found necessary, after they
had held the Dewanny for ten years. But they seemed to
forget that their own time had been occupied in cabal and
intrigue at home, to the neglect of the duties of administra-
tion, and that their ill-paid revenue officers in India had been,
too closely occupied in making fortunes by private trade to
have any leisure to attend to the interests of the state. By
order of the Directors, the settlement was therefore made for
one year only.
Death of To resume the thread of Mahratta affairs. The
Madhoo and young Peshwa, Madhoo Rao, little inferior to any
Xarayun Kao J '
reshwai, of his race in the cabinet or in the field, died of
consumption, on the 18th of November, 1772.
At the period of his death, the nominal revenue of the Mah-
ratta empire in Hindostan and in the Deccan, was ten crorea
of rupees, but the amount actually realized did not greatly
exceed seven crores, of which the sum at the absolute dis-
posal of the Peshwa was only three crores, the remainder
of it belonged to the Guickwar, Bhonslay, Holkar, Sindia, and
minor chieftains. The Peshwa's own army consisted of
50,000 horse, besides infantry and artillery, but the entire
army he was able to assemble under the national standard
was not less than 100,000 splendid cavalry, and a propor-
tionate strength of foot and artillery, not including the
Pindarrees, or hereditary freebooters of the country. It was
a fortunate circumstance for India that this formidable force,
animated by the instinct of plunder, and stimulated by the
remembrance of past successes, was not under the control
2 A 2
.356 BAGTIOBA PESHWA. [CITAP,
of a single leader, but divided by allegiance to five princes,
each one of whom had his own individual interests to pro-
mote. Madhoo Eao was succeeded by his younger brother.
Narayun Rao, who immediately proceeded to Satara, an (I
was invested with the office of Peshwa. Though not,
twenty, he was ambitious of military glory, and determined
on an expedition to the Carnatic, which induced him to recal
the Mahratta army from Rohilcund. But, after a reign of
nine months, he was assassinated by the orders, or by the
connivance of his uncle, Eoghoonath Rao, or Raghoba.
Raghoba had long been distinguished as a brave soldier, and,
in 1759 had led a body of 50,000 Mahratta horse from the
banks of the Nerbudda to the banks of the Indus. But he
was an inveterate intriguer, and had been repeatedly confined
by Madhoo Rao for his turbulence and treason. He was,
moreover, always imprudent, and rarely fortunate.
Baghoba Raghoba took possession of the vacant office,
Peshwa, sue- and after having obtained investiture from Satara,
Madhoo Eao, plunged into hostilities with the Nizam, whom he
1773. pursued with such vigour as to oblige him to
purchase peace by the sacrifice of territory valued at twenty
lacs a year. With his usual folly, Raghoba restored the
lands to the Nizam, instead of judiciously distributing them
among his military chiefs, and thus increasing the strength
of their loyalty. He then marched against Hyder, but his
pecuniary difficulties obliged him to be content with a promise
of six lacs of rupees, and the acknowledgment of his title as
Peshwa. From this southern expedition he was recalled by
a formidable confederacy of the ministers at Poona, who were
hostile to him, and had, moreover, received intimation that
the young widow of the late Peshwa was pregnant. They
conveyed her, on the 30th of January, to the fort of Poo-
runder, taking the precaution of sending with her a number
of females in the same condition, to provide against the
chance of her giving birth to a daughter. They then pro-
ceeded to form a Regency composed of Succaram Bappoo, an
XIII.] HIS PROCEEDINGS. 357
old and astute statesman, Nana Furnuvese, and the military
commandant, and at once assumed all the functions of
government. Raghoba, on the news of this revolution,
hastened to meet his opponents, accompanied by Morari
Eao, one of the greatest soldiers of the age, who had mea-
sured swords with Lawrence and Coote in the Carnatic, and
on the .4th of March inflicted a signal defeat on the army of
the Regency. This success replenished his military chest,
and brought crowds to his standard; fortune seemed to
declare in his favour, when, having conceived suspicions of
the fidelity of his own generals, he threw away his chance of
power by turning off to Boorhanpore, instead of marching at
once on Poona, which its terrified inhabitants had begun to
desert. The widow was delivered of a son on the 18th of
April, 1774, who was installed as Peshwa when only ten
days old, under the title of Madhoo Rao the Second.
Proceedings of After remaining a short time at Boorhanpore,
Kaghota, 1774. R a ghoba crossed the Nerbudda to Indore, where
he was joined by Holkar and Sindia, who had returned from
Rohilcund with about 30,000 horse. He also indulged the
hope of receiving aid from the raja of Berar, and advanced
to the banks of the Taptee, to secure the co-operation of the
Guickwar army. In reference to the province of Guzerat,
then under the rule of this family, it is to be observed that
the authority of the Emperor was finally extinguished in it
during the year 1755, when the capital, Ahmedabad, was
captured by Damajee Guickwar, the Mahratta sirdar. At the
period of his death, in 1768, his son, Govind Rao, who hap-
pened to be at Poona, obtained his father's title and posses-
sions on the payment of various sums, which eventually
reached fifty lacs of rupees. In 1771, his brother, Futteh
Sing, proceeded to the Peshwa's court, and succeeded in
supplanting him ; but Govind Rao's cause was espoused by
Raghoba, on becoming Peshwa, and the province was dis-
tracted by these rival claims. Raghoba now advanced to
claim the support of his protegee.
358 TREATY WITH RAGHOBA. [CHAP.
During the year 1772, the Court of Directors
ith resolved to place a representative at the Poona
the English, durbar, in the hope of promoting their commercial
interests, and, more especially, of obtaining pos-
session of the port of Bassein, and the island of Salsette,
which was separated from Bombay by a narrow channel, and
comprised an area of about 150 square miles. With these
acquisitions the Directors hoped to render Bombay the great
emporium of the trade of the western coast with Persia,
Arabia, the Red Sea, and China. These possessions fell into
the hands of the Portuguese in an early period of their career,
but were conquered by the Mahrattas in 1739, by whom they
were prized beyond their value, as having been wrested from
a European power. Raghoba, on his arrival at the Taptee>
sent an envoy to Bombay to solicit the aid of a sufficient
force to establish him in the government at Poona, and offered
to defray all the expenses of the troops, as well as to make
large grants of territoiy to the Company. The President and
Council eagerly grasped at the proposal, and on the 6th of
September, 1774, offered to assist him with 2,500 troops, on
condition of his advancing fifteen or twenty lacs of rupees,
and engaging to cede Salsette and Bassein in perpetuity to
the Company. But Raghoba, even in his extremity, refused
to alienate Salsette from the Mahratta dominions. While
these negotiations were pending, the Bombay authorities
received information that a large armament was fitted out at
Goa for the recovery of these possessions, and as it was felt
that the Portuguese would be more dangerous neighbours
than the Mahrattas, an expedition was sent to Salsette, and
the island occupied before the end of the year.
natrhoba-8 Meanwhile, the Regency at Poona having suc-
weatywith cecded by large offers in detaching Holkar and
nbay, 1775. gj n( jj a f rom h e cause of Raghoba, moved against
him with a body of 30,000 men, and he narrowly escaped
being captured by his perfidious allies and delivered up to his
enemies. lie retreated hi all haste, leaving his beguin at
XIII.] BATTLE OP ARRAS. 859
Dhar, where she gave birth to a son, Bajee Rao, the last of
the Peshwas. On the 17th of February, the troops of the
Regency overtook him at Wassud, where his army was totally
routed and dispersed, and he fled from the field with only a
thousand horse. Ten days after this event, Colonel Keating
arrived at Surat with the force which had been despatched
from Bombay to his aid. Raghoba soon after joined his
camp, and, after some further negotiations, affixed his seal on
the 6th of March, 1775, to a treaty, known in history as the
Treaty of Surat, concluded by the Bombay President, without
the authority of the Calcutta Government, and which involved
the Company in the first Mahratta war. The President had
no evidence that Raghoba was chargable with the assassina-
tion of his nephew, but his guilt was universally believed by
the Mahrattas, and the alliance of the English with a man
branded with the crime of murder created a deep and lasting-
prejudice against them. By this treaty the Bombay Govern-
ment engaged to furnish Raghoba with 3,000 British troops,
and he pledged himself to the payment of eighteen lacs of
rupees a-year, made an assignment of lands of the annual
value of nineteen lacs, and such was the desperate state of
his affairs agreed to concede Salsette and Bassein. The
army of Colonel Keating, joined by the troops whom Ragho-
ba's officers had succeeded in collecting together after their
dispersion, manoeuvred for a month between the Sabermuttee
and the Myhee. It was during this period that Colonel
Keating indiscreetly attempted to detach Futteh Sing Guick-
war from the Poona regency ; but the English troops had as
yet achieved nothing, and the Colonel's envoy, a young lieu-
tenant, was treated with the most humiliating contempt,
jiattie of Arnw, ^ ne Bombay Government having thus embarked
i;tu May, me. j n a war ^th the Mahratta Regency, ordered
Colonel Keating to quit Guzerat, and march upon Poona ; but,
as he moved down to the Myhee, he found the Mahratta
army posted at Arras to dispute his progress. It was on this
field that the English and Mahratta forces encountered each
SfiO TRTCATY WITH RAGHOBA DISALLOWED. [CFIAP.
other, for the first time since the gentlemen of the factory
at Surat had so gallantly repulsed Sevajee in 1669. The
brunt of the action fell on Colonel Keating's brigade, which
was attacked by an army of ten tunes its number. The loss
of life was severe, but, though the English troops were for a
time staggered, their final triumph was complete, and the
Mahrattas retreated in haste and disorder to the Nerbudda.
Colonel Keating pursued them with vigour, and they con-
sidered themselves fortunate in effecting then- escape across
the river, after they had thrown all their heavy guns into it.
Futteh Sing now hastened to make his peace with the victors,
and engaged to furnish Raghoba with twenty-six lacs of
rupees in two months, together with a large body of troops,
and to secure to the Company a share of the Broach revenues
to the extent of two lacs a-year. The Mahratta navy, more-
over, which consisted of six vessels, carrying from 26 to 46
guns, was completely crippled by the English commodore.
The campaign had been prosperous by sea and land ; the
Company had obtained a territorial revenue of twenty-four
lacs a-year; the Mahrattas had been driven with disgrace
across the Nerbudda, and so effectually damaged was their
reputation, that the Nizam was emboldened to take advantage
of their distress, and, under the threat of joining Raghoba,
exacted a cession of lands valued at eleven lacs a-year. But
the brilliant prospects which this success opened up were
ruined by the proceedings of the Calcutta triumvirate.
The treaty with Raghoba, which appeared likely
Treaty with . , * ._,_, , ' /
oba disai- to involve a war with the Regency, was severely
lowed at CM- condemned by both parties in the Council in Cal-
cutta, 1776. rf r
cutta, as "impolitic, dangerous, unauthorised, and
unjust." When the war, however, had actually commenced,
Hastings considered it almost impossible to withdraw from it
with honour and safety, before the conclusion ; and he advised
that the Bombay Government should be vigorously supported
in conducting it, and instructed to bring it to a termination as
speedily as possible. But Mr. Francis and his colleagues
XTII.] TREATY OF POORUNDER. 361
resented the audacity of the Bombay Council in making war
without their consent, ordered the treaty with Raghoba to be
immediately annulled, and all the British troops to be with-
drawn from the field. At the same time, they announced their
intention to send an agent of their own to open an indepen-
dent negotiation with the ministers at Poona. In vain did
the Bombay Council remonstrate with them on the disgrace
of violating a solemn treaty. Colonel Upton was sent
to Poona to disavow their proceedings ; their authority was
paralysed, and their character wantonly disgraced in the eyes
of the princes of India.
The Treaty of ^ ne as ^ute ministers at Poona were not slow to
Poorumier, take advantage of these discords, and extolled to
March 1,1776. ,,,.,,. j c ,, ,, c
the skies the wisdom or " the great governor or
Calcutta, who had ordered peace to be concluded." When, how-
ever, Colonel Upton came to propose that Salsette and Bassein
and the assigned revenues of Broach should be retained by
the Company, they assumed a lofty tone, and spurned the con-
ditions, demanding the immediate surrender of Raghoba and
of all the territory recently acquired by the English ; but they
offered, as a matter of favour, to contribute twelve lacs of
rupees towards the expenses which had been incurred in the
war. The majority of the Council had, in fact, cut the sinews
of the negotiation by the precipitate recal of the army from the
field, but the insolent reply of the Regency roused their in-
dignation, and they determined to support Raghoba, and to
prosecute the war with all vigour. Letters were at once
despatched to the various princes of India to secure then- al-
liance, or their neutrality ; a supply of treasure was despatched
to Bombay, and troops were ordered to be held in readiness
to take the field. But the Poona ministers, after this display
of arrogance, unexpectedly conceded the greater part of Colonel
Upton's demands, and the Treaty of Poorunder was signed on
the 1st of March, 1776, by Succaram Bappoo and Nana Fur-
nuvese. It annulled the engagements of the Bombay Govern-
ment with Raghoba, who was to disband his army and retire
3G2 TREATY DISAPPROVED IN ENGLAND. [CHAP.
to the banks of the Godavery on a pension of three lacs of
rupees a-year. The British army was to quit the field. Sal-
sette was to be retained by the Company if the Governor-
General desired it, but ah 1 the other acquisitions were to be
relinquished ; the claim on the revenues of Broach was con-
ceded, together with twelve lacs of rupees, towards the ex-
penses of the war, "by way of favour." Considering that all
the advantages of the campaign had been on the side of the
English, the Bombay Presidency was fully justified in repro-
bating the treaty, as " highly injurious to the reputation a5
the interests of the Company." It was a flagrant breach of
faith with Ragoba, and it served to impair the confidence of
the native powers in the engagements of the British Govern-
ment. It inspired the Poona Regency with an undue sense of
theirown importance, and rendered asecond warinevitable. The
Bombay Council did not conceal their anxiety to obstruct the
treaty. They gave an asylum to Raghoba at Surat, and throw
their field armies into Surat and Broach. The Poona ministers
raved at this infraction of the treaty, and threatened to carry
lire and sword into every part of the Company's dominions ;
but all then: menaces were treated with contempt at Bombay.
. . On the 20th of August, 1776, a despatch was
Decision
of the court, received from the Court of Directors, approving of
md!" 80 ' the treaty concluded with Raghoba at Surat, and
directing the other Presidencies to give him their support,
and to retain the territories which had been ceded by him.
The Bombay Council, smarting under the degradation inflicted
on them by the Supreme Government, lost no time in turning
this favourable decision to account. To the great annoyance
of the Poona Regency, they gave countenance to an impostor,
who claimed the office of Peshwa, as the identical Sudaseeb
Rao Bhao, who had disappeared at the battle of Paniput.
They invited Raghoba to Bombay, and settled 10,000 rupees
a month on him. The Mahratta cabinet remonstrated against
this fresh violation of the treaty of Poorunder, but it was
weakened by internal discords. Succararn Bappoo, the head
XIII.] REVOLUTION IN FAVOUR OP RAGHOBA. 363
of the ministry, was jealous of the growing power of his
younger associate, Nana Furnuvese, who had fled from the
field of Paniput, and who united the highest political talent
with a singular want of personal courage. His cousin, Maroba
Furnuvese, had been the minister of the deceased Madhoo Rao,
and took a prominent part in public affairs, but in the interests
of Succaram. Mahdajee Sindia was endeavouring to increase
his own consequence by acting as umpire between the two
factions. To increase the confusion at Poona, a French ad-
venturer, of the name of St. Lubin, arrived there in March,
1777, and announced himself as the envoy of the King of
France, who was on the eve of a war with the English. He
was authorised, as he said, to offer the Mahrattas the support
of 2,500 European troops, an abundant supply of stores and
munitions of war, and officers to discipline 10,000 sepoys.
He affected horror at the connection of the English with the
assassin Raghoba, and produced in the durbar, with a burst
of grief, a picture of the barbarous murder of Narayun Rao,
which had been painted under his direction at Paris. Nana
Furnuvese affected to credit his mission, and, with the view of
annoying the English government, afforded him eveiy en-
couragement, and made over to him the harbour of Choul,
only twenty-three miles from Bombay.
Revolution in Meanwhile, a despatch was received at Bom-
favour of bay and Calcutta from the Court of Directors,
Kaghoba, 1778. ... .- a i_ A i.
regretting the sacrifices made by the treaty of
Poorunder, and stating that, although they considered them-
selves bound in honour to adhere to it, yet, if there was any
attempt on the part of the Poona Regency to evade its pro-
visions, the Bombay Presidency was at liberty to renew the
alliance with Raghoba. The President and Council found
little difficulty in discovering infractions of a treaty which
those who had dictated it never intended to respect but as it
suited their interests, and prepared to espouse the cause of
Raghoba. Their movements were hastened by the course of
events at the Mahratta capital. Moraba Furuuvese, assisted
6 COUNTER REVOLUTION AT FOONA.
by Holkar, resolved to support Raghoba, and Succaram
Bappoo joined the confederacy, and despatched an envoy to
Bombay to request the government to conduct Raghoba to
Poona with a military escort. The proposal was eagerly
accepted, and preparations were immediately made for the
expedition. Hastings, who had now regained his ascendancy
in the Council, gave the project his approbation, partly be-
cause it was countenanced by Succaram Bappoo, one of the
parties to the treaty of Poorunder, but chiefly because Nana
Furnuvese was giving encouragement to the French, whose
influence in Indian politics he considered the greatest of
calamities. In a letter dated the 23rd of March, 1778, he
authorized the Bombay Government " to assist in tranquil-
lizing the Mahratta state," and engaged to send a large force
across the continent to resist the aggressions of- the French,
which, in his opinion, threatened the existence of the Com-
pany's possessions in the west of India.
Nana Furnuvese was obliged to bend to the
Counter revolu-
tion at Poona, storm, and retire to Poorunder. Hurry Punt, the
July ' 1T 5 Mahratta general-in-chief, and one of his parti-
zans, was, at the time, on his way to Meritch, to join Sindia
in resisting the encroachments of Hyder, to which reference
will be made hereafter. They were hastily recalled from the
south, and reached Poorunder on the 8th of July, where they
united with the army of Holkar, who had been, in the mean-
time, detached from the opposite party by a bribe of nine lacs
of rupees, and restored Nana Furnuvese again to power.
Maroba and his colleagues were arrested on the llth, and
many of them put to death, but Succaram Bappoo, whose
name it was deemed important to associate with the pro-
ceedings of the state, was simply placed under restraint.
The party of Raghoba was thus extinguished at Poona.
But the Bombay President and Council were not disposed to
desert him. They addressed certain questions to the new
ministry at Poona ; the replies were considered a violation of
the treaty of Poorunder, and it was resolved to put to use the
XIIJ.] EXPEDITION TO POONA. 365
liberty granted to them in the despatch of the Court of Di-
rectors and in the letter of Hastings. Towards the end of
August, he informed them that he was endeavouring 1 to form
an alliance with the Rajah of Berar, which would embrace the
politics of Poona, and enjoined them to avoid any measure
hostile to the Poona Regency. But their passions were en-
listed in the cause of Raghoba, which, in effect, they made
their own; and without adequate preparation, without a
commander on whom they could depend, and without alli-
ances, they determined to send a handful of men against the
strength of the Mahratta empire. Nana Furnuvese perceived
the gathering storm, and prepared to meet it; he enlisted
recruits in every direction, repaired and provisioned his forte,
and refitted his vessels.
Expedition to ^ new * rea ty was now made with Raghoba,
roona,jtfth which differed little from that of Surat. An
army of 4,000 men, of whom 600 were Europeans,
was equipped and entrusted to Colonel Egerton, who had
seen some service in Europe, but was little qualified for the
duty assigned him. Disregarding the experience so dearly
bought in the war with Hyder in 1768, " field deputies,*' under
the name of civil commissioners, were sent with the army to
control its movements, and to check peculation. Carnac,
who had won some credit in the field in Bengal, was ap-
pointed the senior commissioner, and he exhibited his fitness
for such a trust by a squabble, on the first day, with Colonel
Egerton about the military honours to be paid him. The
troops, encumbered with 19,000 bullocks besides other cattle,
embarked at Panwell on the 25th of November, and, as if it
had been designed to afford Nana and Sindia the most ample
leisure for preparation, moved at the rate of two miles a day.
It was the 23rd of December before the army ascended the
ghauts, when its disasters began by the loss of one of the
most energetic, bold, and judicious officers in its ranks,
Captain Stewart, whose name, after the lapse of half a
century, was still held in veneration by the inhabitants
866 DISGRACEFUL CONVENTION OF WURGAUM. [CHAP.
of those valleys as Stewart Phakray, or Stewart the gal-
lant.
Disastrous pro- On the 6th of Jaimai 7 5 Celonel Egerton re-
press oniw signed the command to Colonel Cockburn, but
though he acted as civil commissioner, the respon-
sibility of all subsequent movements rested with Carnac.
On the 9th, the army reached Tullygaum, and found it de-
stroyed. A report was spread that the enemy intended also
to burn Chinchore, and even the capital itself. Carnac was
panic-struck, and though within eighteen miles of Poona,
with eighteen days' provisions in the camp, ^ determined, in
the first instance, to open a negotiation with the enemy, and
then to retreat. Raghoba, who, with all his faults, was a
gallant soldier, protested against this cowardice, eo contrary
to the British character, 'but the commissioners were so com-
pletely under the control of their own terrors, that they
refused to wait even a single day for the result of their
negotiations, threw their heavy guns into a pond, and begun
their retreat that very night, hotly pursued by the enemy.
The rear-guard, upon which the enemy's assaults were chiefly
directed, was commanded by a young and gallant officer of
the name of Hartley, who had been in the service about
fourteen years, and gained the entire confidence of the
sepoys. He received every attack with the utmost steadi-
ness and animation, and drove back the enemy at every
point. The sepoys fought with perlect enthusiasm. Had
the command of the expedition been entrusted to him, ho
would, doubtless, have planted the British standard on the
battlements of Poona: but in this, as in many subsequent
campaigns, while the army contained men of the most heroic
mould, and of the highest talent, it was under the command
of wretched drivellers.
The British force encamped, on the night of the
contention of 12th, at Wurgaum, and was assailed in the morn-
j^lm ing ky the g 18 brought up by the enemy during
the darkness. The troops began to lose heart ;
xni.] GODDARD'S EXPEDITION TO BOMBAY. 8C7
the commander was bewildered, and declared that even a
retreat had ceased to be possible. Captain Hartley in vain
pointed out the mode in which it might be effected with little
loss. Overtures were made to Nana Furnuvese, who de-
manded the surrender of Raghoba, before he would listen to
terms, and the commissioners would have complied with the
demand if that prince had not saved them from this infamy by
surrendering himself to Sindia. Nana Furnuvese, however,
appeared to be impracticable, and the commissioners turned to
rfindia to whom they sent Mr. Holmes with full powers to treat.
This separate negotiation flattered his vanity and increased his
importance, and a convention, known as that of Wurgaum, was
concluded under his auspices, which rescued the British army
from destruction by the sacrifice of all the acquisitions which
had been made since 1773. The advance of the army under
Colonel Goddard across the country was countermanded, and
for the first time in the history of British India, two hostages
were given for the performance of the treaty. The failure of
this expedition, which \\as owing to the interference of the
imbecile Cariiac, was a severe blow to the interests of the
Company, who lost no time in dismissing him, as well as
Colonels Egerton and Cockburn, from the service. The Bom-
bay Presidency lost its reputation and its strength, and its
only hope of safety now rested on the arrival of the Bengal
army.
This expedition was despatched from the banks
o f tne j umna to Bombay through a thousand
miles of unknown country, occupied by chiefs who were more
likely to prove hostile than friendly. It was described by
Mr. Dundas, the Indian minister, as "one of the frantic
military exploits of Hastings," but he forgot that it was by u
succession of such " frantic exploits " that British power and
prestige had been established in India by a handful of
foreigners. The force consisted of between 4,000 and 5,000
men, under the command of Colonel Leslie, a fair soldier, but un-
equal to such an enterprise. He crossed the Jumna in May,
3C8 WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. [dTAP.
1778, and was expected to reach the Nerbudda before it was
swelled by the rains, but he wasted his time in discussions
with petty chiefs, and in the course of five months had only
advanced 120 miles. He was accordingly displaced, but died
before the news of his supercession reached him, and the com-
mand of the army was entrusted by Hastings to Colonel
Goddard, one of the brightest names in the history of British
India. Through his energy, the expedition advanced at a
rapid pace, notwithstanding the opposition of many of the
chieftains. The raja of Bhopal, however, treated Goddard
with the greatest kindness and hospitality, and furnished his
troops with ample supplies, though at the risk of bringing
down on himself the vengeance of the Mahratta powers.
This generous conduct in a season of difficulty has not been
forgotten by the British government in the height of its pros-
perity. The house of Bhopal has been treated by successive
Governors-General with marked consideration ; it has always
been distinguished by its fidelity to the English crown, and
the present Muha-ranee is the only female decorated with the
most exalted Order of the Star of India.
war between During the progress of Colonel Goddard's ex-
Engand ai 7th pedition, intelligence was received in Calcutta
July, nzs. of the declaration of war between France and
England, and the difficulties of Hastings's position were
greatly multiplied. The mission of St. Lubin who had not
then been detected as a charlatan and the countenance given
to him by Nana Furnuvese, created the apprehension that the
Mahrattas would be strengthened by a large French arma-
ment, and possibly tinder the command of the redoubted
Bussy, who had retired to France with a magnificent fortune,
and married the neice of the minister, but was thirsting for
service in the country where his exploits were still held in
honour. Hastings adopted the most vigorous measures to
meet this new crisis; he augmented the army; he embodied
the militia of Calcutta, to the number of a thousand ; and
Bent Mr. Elliott to the Rajah of Berar to secure his alliance by
Xin.] GODIVVRD REACHES SCRAT. 8fi9
the ofter of assisting him to obtain the office of Peshwa.
The negotiation, the success of which would have involved
the Company in endless complications, was happily nipped in
the bud when the raja heard that the Bombay government
were about to support the claims of Raghoba by force of
arms, but he liberally supplied Colonel Goddard with
money and provisions, and thus enabled him to reach Boor-
hanpore without difficulty on the 30th of January, J779. So
strict was the discipline which the Colonel maintained in his
army, and so punctual were his payments, that the chiefs and
people on the route hastened to furnish him with supplies.
At Boorhanpore, he heard of the disaster of the Bombay
force at Wurgaum, and immediately turned off to Surat, a
distance of 300 miles, which he traversed in twenty days,
though he was without any map of the country. By this
prompt movement he avoided a body of 20,000 Mahratta
horse sent from Poona to intercept him. His timely arrival
on the western coast proved the salvation of the Bombay
Presidency. The unexpected appearance of so large a force
from the banks of the Jumna, augmented the reputation of
the British power, and confirmed its influence at the native
courts, which the convention of Wurgaum had impaired.
Progress of This convention was repudiated equally by the
events, 1779. Bombay Council and by Hastings, who directed
Colonel Goddard to open a fresh negotiation with Nana
Furnuvese, on the basis of the treaty of Poorunder, but with
an additional stipulation for the exclusion of the French from
the Mahratta dominions. In the meantime, Sindia had granted
a jaygeer of twelve lacs of rupees in Bundlecund to Ra-
ghoba, and sent him under a slender escort to take possession
of it. Raghoba, who was permitted to take his body guard
and his guns with him, attacked and overpowered the escort
on the route, and escaped to Surat, where he was honourably
entertained by Colonel Goddard, who settled an allowance of
half a lac of rupees a month on him. The whole scheme was
evidently a contrivance of Sindia, to procure the release of
2 B
370 GODDARD'S SUCCESS IN GUZEKAT. [CITAT*.
Kaghoba, and hold Nairn Furnuvese in check, by his habitual
fears. Towards the close of the year, Succaram Bappoo,
being no longer considered necessary, was confined by Nana
in the fortress of Pertabgur, 4,000 feet above the level of
the plain, from the windows of which he could discern the
spot, where, a hundred years before, his ancestor Puntajce
had basely betrayed his confiding master, Ufzul Khan, into
the hands of Sevajee. The venerable old man was soon
after removed to Raigur, where he closed a life which had
been marked by every vicissitude of privation and grandeur,
of toil and triumph.
Goddard's sue- *^^ e mm isters at Poona considered the conven-
cess in Guzerat, tion of Wurgaum as a final settlement of their
1779 QQ^
differences with the English, and invited them to
unite in an attack on Hyder, who had taken advantage of the
confusion of the times to overrun the Mahratta territories up
to the banks of the Kistna. But the reception accorded to
Eaghoba by Goddard on the 12th of June gave them mortal
offence, and they immediately turned round and proposed to
Hyder a union against the English, in pursuance of the con-
federacy which had been formed by the Nizam at the end of
the monsoon. When, therefore, Goddard, who had early in-
timation of this alliance, demanded a categorical reply to the
proposals he had made, Nana Furnuvese at once stated that
the restitution of Salsette, and the surrender of Raghoba
were necessary preliminaries to any treaty ; and Goddard im-
mediately dismissed the vakeels, and prepared for war. At
the same time he endeavoured to negotiate with Futteh Sing
Guickwar, whom Hastings had determined to acknowledge as
the ruler of Guzerat, biit that prince manifested a disposition
to procrastinate, and Goddard lost no time in laying seige to
Dubhoy, garrisoned by 2,000 of the Peshwa's troops, which
surrendered on the 20th of January, 1780. Futteh Sing now
began to negotiate in earnest, and a treaty offensive and de-
fensive was concluded six days after, in which it was agreed
that he should join the English camp with 3,000 horse, and
XIH.] EXPEDIT/ON FROM BENGAL. 371
receive possession of all the Peshwa's territories north or the
Myhee, and that certain districts to the south should be made
over to the Company. On the 10th of February, Goddard
captured the noble city of Ahrnedabad, the modern capital of
the province, surrounded by walls of immense extent, and
filled with a population of 100,000. The capital was scarcely
reduced, when Goddard heard that Sindia and Holkar had
forded the Nerbudda with 20,000 horse on the 29th of February,
and were advancing to encounter him. Sindia professed great
enmity of Nana Furnuvese, arid great friendship for the
English, and liberated the two hostages of Wurgaum, whom
he had treated with hospitality. He endeavoured to open
negotiations, but Goddard could not fail to perceive that his
chief object was to waste the season of operations. Seven
days were, therefore, allowed him for a definite reply, and as
it did not prove satisfactory, Goddard attacked and dispersed
his troops on the 2nd, and again on the 14th of April, and
cantoned his army for the season on the banks of the
^Xerbudda.
Capture of Gwa- On the side of Bengal, the war was conducted
iior, 3rd August, w ith brilliant success. Sixty miles south-east o/
1780
Agra lay the little independent principality of
Gohud, erected by a Jaut chieftain on the decay of the Mogd
empire. The rana was incessantly threatened by the encroach-
ments of Sindia, and solicited the protection of Hastings, who
determined to take advantage of the appeal, and despatch ail
expedition, chiefly however with the view of creating a salu-
tary diversion. It consisted of only 2,400 infantry, with a
small body of cavalry, and a detail of European artillery, but
it was commanded by Major Popham, one of the best soldiers
in the service. He proceeded on his march in February,
1780, and having expelled the Mahratta invaders from the
country, attacked the fortress of Lahar, without battering
cannon, and carried it by the gallantry of his men. Fifty
miles to the south of it lay the fort of Gwalior, on the summit
of a stupendous rock, scarped almost entirely round, and
2 B 2
372 CAPTURE OF GWALIOR. [dlAP.
deemed throughout India impregnable. Sir Eyre Coote, the
veteran hero of the Carnatic, now general-in-chief in Bengal,
had declared that any attempt to capture it, more especially
without siege guns, would be an act of madness. But Pop-
ham had set this " glorious object," as he termed it, before
him, and determined to accomplish it. For two months he
lay about the fortress, maturing his plans with such secrecy
as to baffle all suspicion. On the night of the 3rd of August,
the troops selected for the assault proceeded under the guid-
ance of Captain Bruce to their destination. Two companies
of sepoys led by four European officers, and followed by
twenty English soldiers, applied the scaling ladders to the
base of the scarped rock, sixteen feet high, then to a steep
ascent of forty feet, and, lastly, to a wall of the height of
thirty feet. Captain Bruce with twenty sepoys climbed up
the battlements before their approach was suspected. The
bewildered garrison made but a feeble resistance, and, by
break of day, the British ensign was floating over the re-
nowned fortress of Gwalior, while the Mahratta troops fled to
carry the news to Sindia. The report of this brilliant
achievement resounded through India, and wiped out the
disgrace of the "infamous convention of Wurgaum," as
Hastings termed it, and which he considered "it worth
crores to obliterate." Popham was promoted to a majority,
and then superseded by Colonel Carnac, who brought au
additional force with him, and not only invaded Malwa, but
threatened Sindia's capital. That chief was obliged to quit
Poona in haste to attend to the defence of his own dominions,
and the object of Hastings in this expedition was fully ac-
complished. Carnac, however, proved unequal to the enter-
prise entrusted to him, and allowed his force to be surrounded
by the enemy, who obliged him to retreat, and harassed him
at every step. Having at length procured a small supply
of provisions for his starving troops, by forced contributions,
he called a council of war to determine his future course.
Captain Bruce, who was fortunately with the force, urged a
XIII.] GRAND CONFEDERACY AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 373
vigorous attack on the enemy's camp during the night, as
affording the only chance of deliverance. His advice was
adopted, and the surprise and overthrow of Sindia on the
24th of March, 1781, was complete. He lost elephants, horses,
baggage, and a large number of troops, but, above all, his re-
putation, and that at a time when the credit of Holkar at the
capital was elevated by his successful attack on General
Goddard's force. Colonel Caruac soon after resigned the
command of the brigade to Colonel Muir.
Confederacy Towards the close of 1779, intelligence reached
against the En- Hastings from various quarters of a general con-
plish, 1779. . , . . , , , . . j i ,1 XT-
federacy winch had been formed by the Nizam
and Hyder, and all the Mahratta ciiiefs, with the exception of
the Guickwar, for the expulsion of the English from India. A
simultaneous attack was to be made on the three Presiden-
cies; on Bombay, by Sindia, Holkar, and the army of the
Peshwa ; on Madras by Hyder ; and on Bengal by the Moda-
jee Bhonslay, raja of .Nagpore. At no former period had the
English power been menaced with greater peril, and it re-
quired all the fortitude, resources, and genius of Hastings to
meet the crisis. Hyder Ali was the first in the field, and
burst on the Carnatic in July, 1780, as will be hereafter nar-
rated. The safety of Madras demanded the immediate and
undivided attention of Hastings, and he was under the neces-
sity of informing Bombay that he could afford it no farther
assistance. Mr. Hornby, the President, feeling that he had
no resource but in his own efforts, exhibited the greatest
vigour and prudence. To. enable him to draw supplies from
the Concan, Colonel Hartley was sent to clear the province of
the Mahrattas, which he effected with little difficulty, after he
had inflicted a severe defeat on them in October, 1780. God-
dard marched down from Surat, and laid siege to Bassein on
the 13th of November. Nana Furnuvese advanced with a
powerful army to recover the Concan, and relieve that fortress.
Colonel Hartley had been engaged for upwards of a month in
daily skirmishes with the Mahratta force j his ammunition was
374 FAILURE OP GODDARD'S EXPEDITION TO POONA. [CHAP.
nearly exhausted ; he was encumbered with 600 sick, and had
only 2,000 jaded troops fit for duty ; but he felt the import-
ance of maintaining his communications with Goddard, which
Nana was endeavouring to cut off, and he took up a strong po-
sition at Doogaur, where he sustained the assaultof 20,000 Mah-
ratta horse for two days. On the third, the 12th of December,
1780, their gallant and skilful general, Ramchunder Gunnesh,
was killed ; the army became dispirited and fled precipitately
with heavy loss. Bassein had surrendered on the previous day
to Goddard with the loss of only thirteen of his men, and he
immediately moved down to the support of Colonel Hartley,
and, on surveying the field of action, expressed his admiration
of the judicious position he had chosen, and the valour of his
troops. This was all the reward. that gallant soldier ever
received for his achievements in this war ; he was immediately
after superseded, and the public service deprived of his
talents at the time when they were most urgently needed.
Hastings, alarmed by Hyder's irruption into
-g ex- * De Carnatic, considered it important to the
to safety of British interests in India to make peace
with the Mahrattas, and he proposed a treaty on
reasonable terms, through the raja of Nagpore, who, was
still friendly to the English though he had joined the con-
federacy. But on hearing of the destruction of Baillie's force
in the Carnatic, in September, 1780, he considered their
affairs desperate, and hesitated to become mediator, except
on conditions to which the Governor- General would not
accede. Goddard, conceiving that the desire for peace on
the part of the Poona durbar would be quickened by an ad-
vance towards Poona, ascended the ghauts with a large
force. This expedition, which proved to be a total failure,
was the only mistake of his career. After having inju-
diciously taken post at the Bhore ghaut, he was incessantly
harrassed by the Mahratta army, and obliged at length to
retreat, when he was vigorously attacked by Holkar with
25,000 horse, and did not reach Bombay without the loss of
XIII.] DETACHMENT SENT BY LAND TO MADRAS. 375
450, killed and wounded. The discomfiture of this renowned
general was considered by the Mahrattas one of their most
signal victories, and it was a fortunate circumstance that at
this critical period the troops of Sindia should have been en-
gaged in defending his own territories, many hundred miles
distant. This inauspicious expedition, which terminated on
the 23rd"0f April, 1781, was the last operation of the war,
although more than a twelvemonth elapsed before the
conclusion of peace.
Arrangement ^e ra ja of Berar, to support appearances with
with Bhonsiay, his confederates, sent an army of 30,000 horse in
October, 1779, under his son Chimnajee towards
Cuttack, for the ostensible purpose of invading Bengal, but
he endeavoured to convince Hastings that his intentions
were not hostile, by prolonging its march for seven months,
and then employing it in the reduction of a fort in Orissa.
To relieve Madras from the pressure of Hyder's army,
Hastings resolved to aid it by a force from Bengal. But a
body of Bengal sepoys, who had recently been ordered to
embark at Vizagapatam for Madras, objecting to a sea voyage
on account of their caste prejudices, had murdered their
officers, and committed great outrages. To avoid the recur-
rence of such a scene, Hastings determined to send the
Bengal detachment along the coast by land, though the
distance was seven hundred miles, and the route lay through
unknown and hostile provinces. This was another of those
" frantic military exploits " of Hastings, which served to
overawe the native princes, and to establish the ascendancy
of British power. Colonel Pearce started with the army on
the 9th of January, 1781, and it was on the line of march
in Orissa that one-half his force perished of cholera, and
this is apparently the first notice which we have of the exist-
ence of a disease which has proved the mysterious scourge of
the nineteenth century. Colonel Pearce experienced the
same friendly support from the raja of Nagpore, which that
prince had previously given to Goddard. Hastings, with the
376 TItEATY WITH SINDIA. [dlAP.
view of detaching the raja from the confederacy, and enlist-
ing him against Hyder, had made him a promise of sixteen
lacs of rupees, of which three had already been paid. Chim-
najee was, at this time, iu great distress for money, and
Hastings eagerly embraced the opportunity of offering the
remainder of the sum, on the condition of a treaty of alliance,
which was soon after concluded, with the proviso that 2,000
of the raja's horse should accompany the detachment, and
act against Hyder. " Thus," remarked Hastings, with exul-
tation, " have we converted an ostensible enemy into a de-
clared friend, and transferred the most formidable member of
the confederacy, after Hyder, to our own party, saved Bengal
from a state of dangerous alarm, if not from actual invasion,
and all the horrors of a predatory war, and have completed
the strength of Colonel Pearce's detachment."
The signal defeat of Sindia by Colonel Camac
Treaty with '
sindia, ism convinced him that he had every thing to lose by
Oct., i78i. a contegt w i t h t h e English in the heart of his
dominions, which might end in driving him across the Ner-
budda without land or friends, and extinguishing his influence
in the Mahratta commonwealth. He accordingly made over-
tures to Colonel Muir, which Hastings was but too happy to
entertain, and they terminated in a treaty which was con-
cluded on the 13th of October. The territory west of the
Jumna, from which he had been expelled by Major Popham,
was restored to him, with the exception of the fort of Gwalior,
which was reserved for the rana of Gohucl, and he engaged
to negotiate a treaty between the other belligerents and the
British government, but, at all events, to stand neutral.
The treaty gave great umbrage to Nana Furnuvese, partly
because it acknowledged Sindia as an independent power, but
chiefly because this assumption of the office of plenipotentiary
served to increase his power and his importance.
Treaty of Hastings's anxiety for peace with the Mahrattn
nth Regency was quickened by the arrival of a French
J
May, ma. . . , . ,.
armament on the coast which, under existing cir-
XIII.] TKEATY OF SALBYE WITH THE SIAHRATTAS. 377
cumstances, might, he feared " result in the extirpation of our
nation from the Carmvtic." " It was not," he said, " peace
with conditions of advantage he wanted, but speedy peace,
for which he would sacrifice every foot of ground he had
acquired from the Mahrattas." After a variety of disappoint-
ments, the treaty of Salbye was at length completed on the
17th of May, 1782, and signed by Mr. Anderson on the part,
of the Company, and by Sindia on behalf of the Feshwa and the
Mahratta chiefs, he becoming at the same time the mutual
guarantee of both parties for the performance of its conditions.
All the territory acquired by the British arms since the treaty
of Poorunder was restored. Futteh Sing Guickwar was re-
placed in his original position in Gnzerat. Raghoba was to
be allowed three lacs of rupees a year, with liberty to choose
his own place of residence. Hyder was to be required to re-
linquish all his conquests in the Carnatic, and to release all his
prisoners within six months, and, in case of refusal, was to be
attacked by the forces of the Peshwa. But Nana Fumuvese,
after having accepted the treaty, hesitated to ratify it, in the
hope of making better terms with Hyder. After many
months of anxiety, Hastings became impatient of further
delay, and on the 4th of December instructed Mr. Anderson
to demand the fulfilment of Sindia's promises, and the imme-
diate ratification of the treaty, stating that he should other-
wise be under the necessty of making a separate peace with
Hyder, which would leave him at liberty to carry all his forces
towards the Kistna, and not only secure the possessions he had
conquered from the Mahrattas, but augment them. On the
5th of December, Hastings received a copy of the resolution
of the House of Commons, that it was the duty of the Court
of Directors to remove him from the head of affairs inasmuch
as he had acted in a manner repugnant to the honour and policy
of the British nation, and he began to tremble for the ratifica-
tion of the treaty, when this resolution should be known in
every durbar in India. On the 7th all anxiety was removed
by the death of Hyder, of which Nana Furiiuvese was no
378 AFFAIRS OF TANJORE. [CHAP.
sooner informed than he affixed the Peshwa's seal to the
treaty, without any farther hesitation.
CHAPTER XIV.
HASTINGS'S ADMINISTRATION AFFAIRS OF MADRAS, TKK
SECOND MYSORE WAR, 1771 1784.
Affairs of kingdom of Tanjore had been in a great
Ta^ore, 1771 measure exempt from the ravages of war during
hostilities with Hyder, but had contributed little
to the defence of the country. Mahomed AH, from the period
of his accession to the throne of the Carnatic had never ceased
to covet the possession of it. He now asserted that former
Nabobs had obtained contributions from it of sixty, eighty.
and even a hundred lacs of rupees, and he importuned the
Madras Council to aid him in fleecing the raja. The Court of
Directors, impoverished by the expenses of the late war,
looked to the resources of Tanjore with a wishful eye, and
had instructed their servants at Madras to support the views
of the Nabob, if the raja refused to submit to reasonable
terms. The demands which the Nabob made, however, were
beyond all reason ; the raja refused to submit to them, and
the Council for some time manifested a virtuous reluctance to
enforce them, but were at length induced to send forward
an army. The Taujorines made a very spirited defence, but
a breach was at length effected in the fortifications, and the
town was on the point of surrendering, when, on the 27th of
October, 1771, the Nabob's second son, who had accompanied
the expedition, without consulting his English supporters,
signed a treaty with the raja, extorting from him fifty lacs as
the compensation for peace. With the aid of the British de-
tachments he then proceeded to plunder the polygars, or
zemindars of the two Marawars, and subjected the wretched
XIV.] SECOND ATTACK OP TANJORE. 379
inhabitants to the most revolting cmelties, leaving nothing in
the track of his soldiers but burnt and desolated villages.
second attack * u J 6 ) 1773, the Nabob again demanded the
onTanjore, aid of the Madras government to crush the raja;
he had not, he said, fulfilled his engagements;
ten lacs of rupees were still due from him; and he had,
moreover, made application to Hyder and to the Mahrattas for
support. The Council ridiculed the preposterous idea of going
to war with him for arrears. They knew that he had exhausted
his treasury to make good the extortionate fine imposed on him,
of which he had been enabled to pay five-sixths by mortgag-
ing his districts and his jewels to the Danes at Tranquebar,
and the Dutch at Negapatam. As to the overtures he had
made to Hyder and the Mahrattas, they remarked that the
treaty of 1769 had placed him under the protection of Hyder,
and, that, when he found himself abandoned to the tender
mercies of the Nabob, who had resolved on his destruction, it
was natural that he should seek to strengthen himself by
alliances with the other powers of the Deccan. Nevertheless,
the President and his Council argued that the existence of
such a power as that of the raja in the heart of the country,
who would join Hyder and the French in the event of a war,
unless the Company supported him in his just rights, was a
source of danger ; and that it was therefore proper and ex-
pedient to embrace this opportunity of reducing him entirely,
before the occurrence of such an event. It is difficult to
believe that Englishmen and Christians, even in that period of
profligacy, could have adopted such a train of reasoning to
justify the ruin of an innocent prince. The opponents of the
President and Council, however, gave a different account of
the origin of this war of extermination, and affirmed that it
arose from the resentment of the gentlemen at Madras,
when they found that the raja had resorted for loans to the
Dutch and the Danes, instead of giving them the benefit of
these lucrative transactions. Whatever may have been the
motive, an English army marched into Tanjore in September,
380 LORD PIGOT, GOVERNOR OF MADRAS. [CHAP.
1773, deposed the raja and made over his country to the
Nabob. The Court of Directors, astounded by the report of
this infamous proceeding, lost no time in expelling the Presi-
dent, Mr. Wynch, from the service, and ordering the raja to
be restored, placing him for the future under the safeguard of
British honour.
Lord Pigot, The vacant chair at Madras was bestowed on
BfotoTnai Lord Pi s ot who had ne out to Madras fortv
Dec., 1775. years before, and, after having risen to the post
of President, returned to England with a fortune of forty lacs
of rupees, and was honoured with an Irish peerage. The old
man was now seized with the mania of going back to Madras
as governor. He found, on his arrival, that the system of
peculation and extortion had intermediately attained great
maturity ; and he set himself to the task of cleansing the
Augean stable, which set the whole settlement in a blaze.
To prevent the restoration of Tanjore to the raja, the Nabob
spared no art or intrigue ; he went so far as to offer a bribe
of sixty lacs of rupees to the governor himself, if he would
only postpone the transfer, but the orders of the Court of
Directors were peremptory, and Lord Pigot proceeded in person
to Tanjore, and seated the raja on the throne on the llth of
April, 1776, leaving an English garrison for the defence of the
country. But the restoration was no sooner proclaimed that
Mr. Paul Benfield came forward and asserted that he had an
assignment on the revenues of Tanjore from the Nabob of six-
teen lacs of rupees, and a claim on the standing crop of seven
lacs for sums lent to the husbandmen. Nothing can more clearly
demonstrate the total demoralization of the public service at
the Madras Presidency than the fact that this Benfield, occupy-
ing an inferior post, not worth more than 200 or 300 rupees a
month, and keeping the grandest equipages at Madras, should
not consider it by any means preposterous to assert that he
had advanced twenty-three lacs of rupees on the revenues of
the province. The Council called for vouchers, which he was
unable to produce, but he assured them that the Nabob was
XIV.] DEPOSITION AND DEATH OP PIGOT. 381
prepared to admit the obligation, of which there could be no
doubt, as the claim had evidently been concocted between
them to defraud the Company and the raja. After long'
deliberation the Council, on the 29th of May, 1776, rejected
the claim.
But the Council soon repented of this act of
Deposition and
death of Pigot virtue. They and the other members of the civil
177677. service were creditors of the Nabob to the extent
of a crore and a-half of rupees, and they discovered that by
rejecting the claim of Benfield, they had impaired their hold
on the revenues of Tanjore. The vote was reconsidered ; Lord
Pigot and his friends strenuously resisted the proceedings,
but a majority of seven to five resolved that the assignments
made to Paul Benfield were valid. The dispute was widened
by other questions, and both parties became inflamed. Lord
Pigot unconstitutionally suspended two of the members of
Council and ordered the commandant, Sir Eobert Fletcher, to
be placed under arrest. Fletcher was the officer whom Clivo
had dismissed ten years before, during the mutiny of the
officers in Bengal which he had fomented, but whom the Court
of Directors had, out of opposition to Clive, restored to the
service. The majority of the Council then assumed the
government, and placed Lord Pigot in confinement, The
order was executed by Colonel Stuart, who passed the
day with him at his country seat, in the most friendly
intercourse, and drove out with him in the carriage, when,
on a given signal, it was surrounded by troopers, and
the governor was hurried off to a place of imprisonment.
The Court of Directors, after receiving the report of these
violent proceedings, ordered that Lord Pigot should be re-
stored to the office of President, and then resign it. Seven
members of Council were dismissed from the service, and
the military officers placed on their trial. But before these
orders could reach Madras, Lord Pigot was beyond the reach of
praise or blame. He sunk under his misfortunes in April, 1777,
after a confinement, by no means rigorous, of eight mouths.
382 EUMBOLD, GOVERXOR OP MADRAS. [CHAP.
go- The state of affairs at Madras was not at all
MadnL,8th improved by the appointment of Sir Thomas
Feb. 1778. Rumboid, who had been trained up in the Bengal
school of corruption, as his successor. The Northern Sircars
formed the only territory from which the Madras Presidency
derived any revenue, but the malversations of the collectors
left but a small portion of it to the state. The Court of Di-
rectora had, therefore, been induced to order five of the
members of Council to proceed to the province, and after
diligent investigation, to place the settlement on a satisfactory
basis. Sir Thomas Rumboid, immediately on his arrival at
Madras, cancelled the commission, and ordered the zemindars
to repair in person to the Presidency, a distance of 600 miles,
through a country without a road. The zemindars who were
able to afford the cost, were required, on reaching the Presi-
dency, to transact business with the governor alone, to the
exclusion of the members of Council. The principal zemindar,
Viziram raj, who was, in fact, a local prince, pleaded the
injury which his affairs must suffer during his absence, as an
excuse for not leaving his estates. But his brother hastened
to the Presidency, and having given a bribe of a lac of rupees
to the governor's secretary, was appointed dewan, in spite of
all his brother's remonstrances, and thus obtained the entire
control and management of the zemindary. Sir Thomas
Rumboid himself was found to have remitted four lacs and
a-half of rupees to England after he had been six months at
Madras, and the suspicions to which so large a remittance
gave rise, were never satifactorily removed.
Thec-unroor The treaty with the Nizam in 1768, had given
sircar, 1778. ^ ne reversion of the Guntoor Sircar to the Company,
after the death of his brother, Basalut Jung. That prince,
with Adoni for the capital of his little principality, was am-
bitious of increasing his power and territory, and had gra-
dually formed a French corps under M. Lally, which received
recruits and supplies through the little seaport of Mootapilly.
The Madras government repeatedly remonstrated against the
XIV.] THE GUNTOOR SIRKAR. 383
presence of this corps, to Basalut Jung, and also to his feudal
superior, the Nizam, who promised that every article of the
treaty should be fulfilled to a hair's breadth, but the troops
were not disbanded. Basalut Jung was at length threatened
by the encroachments of Hyder, and opened a communication
with Sir Thomas Rumbold, and a treaty was concluded in
April, 1779, by which he bound himself to dismiss the French
corps, and to entrust the defence of his dominions to an
English force, and assign the Guntoor Sircar for its support.
Scarcely was the treaty dry, when the Sircar was transferred
on a ten years' lease to Mahomed Ali, that is, to his English
creditors, and we are thus furnished with a key to the whole
transaction. An English force immediately set out to take
possession of the district, and Mr. Holland was deputed to
Hyderabad, to expound the transaction to the Nizam. The
Nizam expressed the highest resentment at this intrusion into
the affairs of his family, and more especially at the military
support offered to his brother, who might thus become a for-
midable rival. But his indignation knew no bounds when
Mr. Holland farther requested a remission of the peshcush or
tribute payable for the Northern Sircars, which had already
been withheld for two years. He called for the treaty and
read it over, item by item, before Mr. Holland, and charged
the English with violating its provisions, and seeking a quarrel
with him. It was under these feelings of irritation that he
get himself to organize the grand confederacy for the exter-
mination of the English to which reference has been already
made.
Dismissal of Hastings, from whom these transactions had
itumboid, 1781. fo een ca refully concealed, no sooner heard of them,
than he superseded the authority of the Madras Council at
the court of Hyderabad, and assured the Nizam that the in-
tentions of the British government were honourable and
pacific, that Guntoor should not be occupied, and that the
arrears of peshcush should be discharged as speedily as pos-
sible. By these assurances, Hastings was enabled to appease
384 DISMISSAL OF ttUMBOLD. [CHAP.
the Nizam, and to neutralize his hostility as a member of the
grand confederacy. This friendly disposition was likewise
improved by the discovery he had recently made, that Hyder
Air's ambition had led him to send a mission to Delhi, and to
obtain a sunnud from the phantom of an emperor, conferring
on him the whole of the Hyderabad territories. The French
troops, which Basalut Juug was constrained to dismiss, were
immediately taken into the service of the Nizam, and the
anxiety which their presence in the Deccan inspired was greatly
augmented. Sir Thomas Kumbold remonstrated, with great
vehemence against this interference of the Governor-General,
in the political movements of the Madras Presidency ; but the
measure of his transgressions was now full, and in January,
1781, the Court of Directors after passing the severest
censure on his conduct, expelled him from the situation
which he had filled and disgraced for more than two years.
But he anticipated their decision by deserting his post, and
returning to England, as soon as the war with Hyder, which
his follies had provoked, was on the eve of breaking out.*
Before entering on the narrative of the second
Progress of
iiy<ier. Mysore war in 1780, a brief review of Hyder's
progress, after he had been constrained to make
peace with the Mahrattas in 1772, appears desirable. The
confusion created in the Mahratta counsels by the murder of
the young Peshwa, Narayun Rao, afforded Hyder an oppor-
tunity of enlarging his territories, which he was not slow to
improve. In November of that year he subjugated the prin-
cipality of Coorg, which offered the noblest resistance, and
was, therefore, treated with more than ordinary barbarity.
The sum of five rupees was offered for the head of each male,
and Hyder took his seat in state to distribute the rewards.
After 700 heads had thus been paid for, two of surpassing
beauty were laid at his feet, and he was so startled by their
comeliness as to order the execution to cease. The circum-
stance is remarkable, as this is said to have been the only
instance in which he ever exhibited any emotion of pity. He
* See Appendix.
XIV.] THE NIZAM ASTD PESHWA ATTACK HYDER. 385
pursued this career of conquest with uninterrupted success,
and in one short campaign, extending from September, 1773,
to February, 1774, recovered all the districts of which he had
been dispossessed by the Mahrattas, and strengthened his
power in Malabar. In 1775, he reduced the fortress of
Bellary, belonging to Basalut Jung, whom he constrained to
purchase peace by the sacrifice of a lac of pagodas. He then
proceeded to extinguish the power which Morari Rao, the
renowned chieftain of Gooty, had been employed for thirty
years in building up, and before the end of 1776, had extin-
guished the independence of Savanoor.
Raghoba, during his vicissitudes, had been in
peshTraattack constant communication with Hyder Ali, who had
Hyder, acknowledged his title, and furnished him, from
time to time, with funds to the extent of sixteen
lacs of rupees, receiving in return a confirmation of all the
territories he had recently conquered. The cabinet at Foona,
alarmed at his encroachments, formed an alliance with the
Nizam, hoping, at the same time, to demolish all the hopes of
Raghoba. A Mahratta army of 30,000, and a Hyderabad
army of 40,000, accordingly took the field in 1776, but were
unable to achieve any success. The invasion was renewed
the next year, but the general of the Nizam was rendered
inactive by the gold of Hyder, and the Mahratta commander-
in-chief was obliged to retreat in consequence of the deser^
tion of one of his generals, whom Hyder had corrupted with
six lacs of rupees. The year 1778 was marked by the most
active and successful exertions on the part of Hyder, and at,
the close of it he was enabled to contemplate the fertile
banks of the Kistna as the northern boundaiy of his domi-
nions. In May, 1779, he attacked the Nabob of Kurpa, who
had sided with his opponents in the recent war, and annexed
all his territories.
The resentment which Hyder manifested at
Hyder t ne- *
gotiations with the refusal of the government of Madras to afford
him any assistance, in 1772, when pressed to
2 c
386 CAPTURE OP PONDICHERRT. [CHAP.
extremity by the Mahrattas, did not prevent his making
overtures to them, in 1773, but all his efforts to esta-
blish a friendly intercourse were defeated by the machi-
nations of the Nabob, Mahomed Ali. Hyder then turned to
the French at Pondicherry, where his envoys were received
with great eagerness by the governor, M. Bellecombe. The
inveterate hostility and incessant invasions of the Mahrattas,
however, induced him again to court the alliance of the
English, and he offered his assistance towards the establish-
ment of Raghoba at Poona, asking, in return, only for a
supply of stores and arms, and a small body of troops, for
which he was willing to make a suitable payment. The
proposal, though acceptable both at Calcutta and Madras,
was not entertained with any degree of cordiality.
In the month in which this negotiation was in
Capture of
Pondicheny, progress, information was received of the com-
mencement of hostilities between France and
England, and a force was soon after sent against Pondi
cherry, the fortifications of which had been completely re-
stored. The place was defended by the gallant Bellecombe
for ten weeks with great constancy, but capitulated at length
in the month of October, 1778, when the garrison was
permitted to march out with all the honours of war. The
governor of Madras, in announcing this success to Hyder,
offered to renew the negotiations, and to place a resident at
his court, but intimated, at the same time, his intention to
send an expedition to capture Mahe. This was a small French
settlement on the Malabar coast, through which Hyder had,
for three years, been in the habit of receiving recruits and
supplies of every description from Europe, and the continued
occupation of which by his French allies was to him a matter
of great importance. He replied that he considered all the
foreign settlements, English, French and Dutch, equally
under his protection ; that he should support the French
garrison with all his strength, and retaliate any attack by an
invasion of the Carnatic. Hyder's troops accordingly as-
XIV-3 HYDER JOINS THE LEAGUE AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 387
sisted in the defence of the fort, and his colours were hoisted,
side by side with those of the French ; but the place sur-
rendered in March, 1779. Hyder did not disguise his resent-
ment from the governor of Madras, and the tone of his
communications created so much alarm as to induce Sir
Thomas Rumbold to send the celebrated missionary, Swartz,
to allay his feelings, and to sound his disposition. Hyder
received the missionary with great respect, but nothing was
gained by the mission except the most unequivocal evidence
of his hostility.
H der joins While Hyder's feelings were thus exasperated
tue confederacy, against the Madras authorities, he received in-
1779
telligence that Colonel Harper, who had been
sent to take possession of Guntoor, was marching through the
province of Kurpa, which he had recently conquered, with-
out even asking his permission. His indignation was roused
to the highest pitch, and he declared that he would neither
allow an English force to occupy Guntoor, or to proceed to
Adoni, and his officers were ordered to resist the progress
of Colonel Harper by an armed force. Basalut Jung was
likewise obliged, by the menaces of Hyder and of the Nizam,
to request that the march of the English troops might be
countermanded, and the sircar restored ; but with this re-
quest the Madras Government did not see fit to comply.
Meanwhile, an envoy arrived at Seringapatam from Poona,
to represent that Hyder, equally with the' Mahrattas, had
reason to complain of the breach of their engagements by the
English Government, and to request him to join the con-
federacy which had been formed to expel them from India.
The Mahratta ministers offered to adjust all their differences
with him; to relinquish all claims for arrears of chout, to
limit his future payments to eleven lacs of rupees a year,
and to confirm the grants of territory up to the Kistna, made
by Raghoba. Hyder accepted these proposals with avidity,
and agreed to put forth his whole strength for the exter-
mination of the British power. A few months after, Sir
2 c 2
888 RYDER'S PUKVAR VTIONS FOR WATI. [CHAP,
Thomas Rumbold sent Mr. Grey to Seringapatam to offer an
alliance with the Mysore state; but he was treated with
studied indignity, and informed that the offer of friendship
came too late. Osman, Hyder's minister, in the course of
the discussions, took occasion to remark that he had been at
Madras, and had seen how the English treated their allies.
" Mahomed Ali," he said, " shewed me several letters he had
received from the King of England, but he complained of tBe
lacs of pagodas which each one had cost him."
For many months Hyder had been making pre-
Hyder's pre- *
parations for parations for war on the largest scale, super-
war, 1780. intending every arrangement in person, though
then in his seventy-eighth year, and by the end of June, had
equipped the most efficient force ever collected under the
standard of a natives prince. It consisted of 90,000 horse and
foot, a large proportion of which had been trained and was
commanded by European officers. It was supported by a
powerful artillery, directed by European science and skill,
and his commissariat was admirably organized by a brahmin
of the name of Poornea. At Madras no preparation was
made to meet the coming storm. In a spirit of infatuation
which has no parallel in our Indian history, the members of
government refused even to acknowledge the danger, and
the idea of an invasion became the topic of ridicule. The
President informed the Court of Directors with peculiar satis-
faction that the country was in perfect tranquillity, and that
there was "the greatest prospect that this part of India
would remain quiet." Even so late as the 17th of July
while Hyder was advancing through the passes, the com-
mander-in-chief declared that all apprehensions were ground-
less.
These illusions were speedily dispelled. Hyder,
on theCamatic, having completed the equipment of his army, and
July, uso. or( j er ed p ra y er8 for its success to be put up in the
mosques, and offerings to be made in the Hindoo temples,
burst on the Carnatic, through the Changama pass, on the
XIV.] HE BURSTS ON THE CARNATIC. 883
20th of July, 1780, and his progress was marked by the
blaze of towns and villages. He appeared anxious, on this
occasion, to exhaust all the resources of cruelty which a
mind never sensible to pity could suggest. The wretched
inhabitants were required to emigrate to Mysore with their
flocks and herds, and those who lingered about their home-
steads, were mutilated without discrimination. With the
exception of four forts held by four English lieutenants every
fort, as far as the Coleroon, was surrendered by the com-
mandants of Mahomed Ali, whom Hyder AH had corrupted.
The incredulity of the Council was at length dispelled by the
announcement that his troops had surrounded Conjeveram,
only fifty miles from Madras. But it was not till black
clouds of smoke were seen in every quarter from St. Thomas's
Mount, distant only nine miles from Madras, that any order
was issued for the movement of troops to repel the enemy.
The main body of the British army encamped at the Mount
was about 5,200 strong, and the force sent to occupy Gun-
toor, now commanded by Colonel Baillie, amounted to about
2,800 men. It was of the last importance that a junction
should be at once effected of these two bodies, but Hyder
had laid siege to Arcot, which contained the few military
stores which the Nabob possessed, and, after a succession of
distracted councils at Madras, it was determined to make an
effort to relieve it. Sir Hector Munro, the general-in-chief,
therefore, proceeded to Conjeveram, and Colonel Baillie, who
had arrived within twenty-five miles of Madras, was ordered
to make a circuitous march of fifty miles to join him.
Colonel Baillie had reached the banks of the
Colonel Baillie'g
movements, Cortella, then nearly dry, but liable to be swollen
by mountain torrents, on the 25th of August, and
imprudently encamped on the northern bank. On that night
the stream became impassable, and he was unable to cross it
before the 4th of September. Hyder immediately despatched
his son, Tippoo, with the flower of his army and eighteen
guns, to arrest the progress of this brigade. Tippoo
390 DESTRUCTION OF BAILLIE*S BRIGADE. [CITAP.
attacked Baillie on the 6th, at a place distant only fourteen
miles from Sir Hector's encampment at Conjeveram. The
contest was severe, and the loss on both sides so heavy, that
Tippoo informed his father that he could make no impression
on the English without reinforcements, while Baillie informed
the General that it was no longer in his power to reach Conje-
veram ; and therefore hoped, that he would unite with him at
the spot where the engagement had taken place. Sir Hector
Munro had acquired a brilliant reputation in Bengal sixteen
years before, by quelling the first sepoy mutiny, and defeat-
ing the Nabob Vizier at Buxar; but on this occasion he
exhibited nothing but the most scandalous incapacity. Instead
of forming a junction with the other detachment, he allowed
Ilyder to interpose between the two bodies with the greater
part of his army, and then detached Colonel Fletcher with
1,100 men to the support of Baillie. The English force was
thus broken up into three divisions, in the vicinity of a pow-
erful and spirited enemy. But so great was the dread which
Hyder entertained of British prowess, that he had determined,
in case the whole force was united, to raise the siege of Arcot,
and retrace his steps. Even Lally, his French general, con-
sidered it incredible that Munro would remain inactive, and
counselled a retreat, lest the Mysore army should be attacked
at the same time in front and rear. Colonel Fletcher, know-
ing that his guides were in Hyder's pay, prudently adopted
a different route from that which they advised, and was
enabled to join Baillie in safety.
Total destruc- The two brigades advanced till the evening of
tion of Bairns ^g 9^ September, and a short march would have
force, 10th
Sept., 1780. completed their junction with the main body ; but
by an act of incredible fatuity, Baillie ordered his men to lio
on their arms for the night. Meanwhile, Hyder having ascer-
tained through his spies that Munro was making no prepara-
tion for moving, despatched the remainder of his army
against Baillie, who had no sooner commenced his march
in the morning, than he found himself enveloped by the
XIV.] HASTING S'S ENERGETIC MEASURES. 391
whole of the Mysore army. It was in vain that his men
performed prodigies of valour, and repeatedly stormed the
batteries. The enemy had chosen their positions with great
skill, and poured in a destructive fire. The European soldiers,
though they had sustained thirteen attacks, and were reduced
to 300, still called out to be led against their assailants ; but
Baillie refused to sacrifice the lives of these brave men, and
held out a flag of truce. They had no sooner laid down their
arms, however, than Hyder's men rushed upon them, and
would have butchered the whole body, if the French officers
had not interposed to save them. Of 86 officers, 70 were
killed or wounded, and the whole army, with all its stores,
baggage and equipments was totally and irretrievably lost.
Sir Hector Munro's force was only two miles distant at the
time, and if he had came up during the engagement, the
defeat would have been turned into a victory, and the for-
tunes of the war completely changed. On the following day
he threw his heavy guns into the great tank, or pond, at
Conjeveram, and retreated in haste and disorder to Madras,
hotly pursued by the enemy, and losing baggage at every
turn^ And thus terminated in disaster and disgrace, this brief
campaign of twenty-one days, in which the heroism of the
rnen formed a melancholy contrast to the utter incompetence
of their generals.
A vessel was immediately dispatched to Calcutta
Hastines's ener-
gutic measures, with information of the disaster. To the embar-
rassment of a war with the Mahrattas, was now
added a war with Hyder, which had commenced with the
greatest reverse the English arms had hitherto sustained in
I ndia. But never did the genius of Hastings appear to more
advantage than in this emergency. "All my hopes," he
wrote, " of aggrandizing the British name and enlarging the
interests of the Company, have given instant place to the
more urgent call to support the existence of both in the Car.
natic, nor did I hesitate a moment to abandon my own views
i'or such an object." Mr. Whitehill, the governor of Madras,
392 COOTE TAKES THE COMMAND AT MADRAS. [CHAP,
who had persisted in retaining Guntoor, after he had received
orders from Calcutta to restore it, was suspended from his
office, to the great satisfaction of the settlement, though, as
Hastings remarked, " the creature made some show of resist-
ance." All the troops which could be spared were immediately
despatched, together with fifteen lacs of rupees, for the sole
use of the army, and not as a civil supply ; and such was the
energy displayed on this occasion, that the whole embarkation,
and all the measures projected for so great an occasion, were
completed within three weeks. The veteran, Sir Eyre Coote,
had succeeded Sir John Clavering, as commander-in-chief in
Bengal, and was solicited to proceed to Madras, and restore
the honour of the British name. He was now advanced in
years, and feeble in health, but he would not decline this hon-
ourable summons to the scene of his early triumphs. But
the boldest measure which Hastings adopted at this crisis,
was to stop the Company's investment, and apply the funds
to the expedition. Even this provision, however, was found
to be insufficient. It was a subject of exultation, that during
the eight years of his administration, he had not only dis-
charged debts to the extent of a crore and a half of rupees,
but replenished the treasury with double that sum ; it was,
therefore, with no ordinary chagrin that he was now obliged to
have recourse to a loan.
Defence of Sir Eyre Coote reached Madras on the 5th of
wandewash, November, and found the equipment of the army
so wretched, and the difficulty of obtaining draft
and carriage cattle hi a country swept by hostile cavalry so
great, that it was the 17th of January before he was able to
move his army. Hyder had resumed the siege of Arcot, and
its small European garrison, after holding out for six weeks,
was obliged to retire to the citadel which Clive had defended
for fifty days. But the Nabob's brahmin commandant,
under Hyder's influence, spread a spirit of disaffection
among the native troops to such an extent that the European
officers had no alternative but to capitulate. Hyder was at
XIV.] BATTLE OP PORTO NOVO. 893
the same time engaged in besieging five other forts, one of
which, Wandewash, was defended by Lieutenant Flint and a
brother officer, with such romantic valour and such military skill
that the siege became one of the most honourable events of the
war. This distinguished officer, however, received no other
reward for his eminent services but the applause of Sir Eyro
Coote, whose admiration of the resources which had been em-
ployed knew no bounds. The Court of Directors refused even
to promote him to the command of a company. Soon after,
Sir Eyre Coote revived the drooping spirits of the army by
the capture of Carangolly, which Hyder had fortified with
great care.
Battle of Porto ^ n ^ e 8th of February, the general *marched
NOVO, ist July, southwards to Cuddalore, where he was subjected
to the most mortifying embarrassment for supplies,
which he could receive only by sea. The hostile armies re-
mained inactive for four months, Coote unable to move for
want of provisions, and Hyder dreading an encounter with
him. On the 18th of June, Coote attacked the fortified and
well-provisioned temple of Chillumbrum, but met with a
repulse. Hyder was elated by this his first success against
the renowned English commander, and resolved to risk a
general engagement. Though on the verge of eighty, he
marched up to Cuddalore, a hundred miles in two days and a
half, and took up a strong position in its neighbourhood,
which he began to fortify. Coote, ignorant of the nature or
strength of the enemy's works, resolved, as his last resource,
to sally forth and attack them. His battering guns were sent
on board the vessels lying off the town, together with every
other impediment, and the troops marched to the assault
with the remaining provisions, enough only for four days, on
their backs. After advancing a little distance, Coote per-
ceived a road which Hyder had been cutting through the
sand hills the previous night, and immediately pushed his
detachments through the gap in the teeth of a heavy cannon-
ade. After a long and arduous engagement, of six hours'
394 BATTLE OF POLLILORE.
v
duration, the val<sur of the British troops was rewarded by a
complete victory, with the loss of only 300 men. The result
of the action was most decisive. Hyder, who had lost
10,000 soldiers, abandoned his designs on Trichinopoly, and
Tippoo raised the sieg'e of Wandewash, which the gallant
Flint still continued to defend.
rattle of ^e Bengal brigade sent down the coast under
Poiuiore, 2/th Colonel Pcarce, had been recruited after the havoc
of the cholera, and reached Pulicat, forty miles
north of Madras, in July, 1781. Hyder detached Tippoo with
a large force to intercept it, and Coote marched 150 miles from
Porto Novo to form a junction with it, which he effected on
the 2nd of August. A similar movement, even with less
foresight and vigour on the part of Sir Hector Munro in
the preceding year, would have saved Baillie's army from
destruction. Hyder had unaccountably allowed Coote to
march through the country without that obstruction which he
could have offered at every step, but he determined to make
up for his neglect by opposing his return with great vigour,
and advanced with the whole of the Mysore army to the spot
where a twelvemonth before he had exterminated Baillie's
force. He considered this a most fortunate spot for another
battle, and his astrologers predicted a certain victory, if it
took place on the same lucky day of the same lunar month,
the llth Ramzan, or the 27th of August. The engagement,
called after the neighbouring village, Pollilore, lasted through-
out the day, but the result was doubtful, both parties firing
a salute for victory. The action cost Hyder 2,000 men,
while the loss on the side of the English was about 400.
r j he next day, Coote's army was employed in the melancholy
duty of interring the remains of Colonel Baillie's detachment
in the same graves with their own dead. Vellore, one of
the few fortresses left to the English, was at this time
straitened for provisions, and the commandant represented
the impossibility of holding out unless he was relieved.
Coote advanced to raise the seige, and Hyder marched to
XIV.] LOKD MACARTENY GOVERNOR OF MADRAS. 395
Battle of prevent the attempt. The armies met again "Tor
soiingur, 27th the third time during the year at Solingur, on the
27th of September, 1781 Hyder having come
to the conclusion that Coote could not, or would not, attack
him on that day, had allowed his cattle and the drivers and
followers to disperse, and the rapid movement of the British
columns took him by surprise. Coote obtained a complete
victory, which, owing to his admirable dispositions, involved
the loss of only 100 men, while that of the Mysore army
exceeded 5,000. Within a few days, however, Vellore was
again reduced to extremity for supplies, and though the mon-
soon had set in, Coote made three forced marches, and prov-
visioned it for three months. Hyder did not venture again
to attack him, and the British army soon after retired into
cantonments at Madras, after a campaign in which all the
plans of Hyder were baffled by the consummate strategy of
Coote, and Coote's expectations were defeated by the wretched
state of his equipments and the total absence of a commissariat,
urd Macarteny, The question of filling up the vacant chair at
governor of Madras now came up before the Court of Directors.
Madras, 1781. . , c
In the brief period of seven years, two governors
had been dismissed by them, and one suspended by Hastings,
for gross misconduct, and a fourth had been deposed by his
own Council, and died in confinement. The service was
thoroughly demoralised ; and it was, therefore, determined to
try the experiment of placing the government in the hands
of a new man, uncontaminated with the general corruption,
and a stranger to all local associations, who might be expected
to bring dignity to the office, and restore vigour to the ad-
ministration. The choice fell on Lord Macarteny, a nobleman
of much political experience, and imbued with a high sense
of honour. He reached Madras on the 22nd of June, and
brought the first intelligence of the declaration of war with
the Dutch. Then 1 principal settlement on the coast, at Nega-
patam, 160 miles south of Madras, was at the time garrisoned
by a body of 6,500 troops, and Hyder Ali lost no time in
806 REVENUES OF THE CARNATIC ASSIGNED. [ciIAP.
opening- negotiations with the chief, which resulted in a
treaty on the basis of mutual co-operation against the English.
Lord Macarteny was anxious to prevent this formidable
accession to the resources of Hyder, and resolved to attack the
town, while he was able to reckon upon the assistance of the
fleet, before the approaching change of the monsoon. Without
abstracting a single soldier from the army of Sir Eyre Coote,
who discountenanced the expedition, he drew together a force
from Tanjore and Madras, and placed it under the command
of Sir Hector Munro. The fleet contributed a large body of
capture of marines and seamen, to whose steadiness and
Nesapatam, gallantry the early surrender of the place was
Trincouiaiee, chiefly owing. It fell on the 12th of November,
1782- and was found to contain, in addition to a large
quantity of military stores, two annual investments of great
value. In the following January, Trincomalee, the noblest
harbour in the island of Ceylon, was also wrested from the
Dutch.
Arrangement The pressure of events on the coast forced the
Ail^nd'cec* 1 Question of the Carnatic revenues on the considcra-
J781 - tion of the government at Madras and Calcutta.
The heavy expenses of the war fell exclusively on the Com-
pany's treasury ; the province itself contributed nothing to its
own defence, as the Nabob and his creditors absorbed the
little revenue which was raised. While the troops of Coote
were on half rations, the officers of the Nabob were selling
the provisions collected for their support, and remitting the
proceeds to his private purse. All his efforts were directed to
impede, and often to counteract, the movements of the British
troops. Not a single soldier in his pay was sent to Coote's
camp, while his officers betrayed every fort to the enemy ;
and his own brother made over the fortress of Chundergiree to
Ifyder, with all the grain stored in it for a consideration.
The venality and political profligacy of the Nabob's court,
unmatched in India, was the constant theme of Coote's in-
dignant remonstrance. The nuisance became at length in-
XIV.] DEFEAT OF BKATHWAITE. 397
supportable, and the Nabob, after repeated evasions, was
constrained to resign the revenues of the Carnatic for a
period of five years, at the least, with a reservation of ofle-
sixth for his personal expenditure and for his creditors.
Defeat of Colonel Brathwaite, who had assisted at the
^cewatTem- ca pture of Negapatam, was subsequently em-
cherry, 1782. ployed in establishing the Nabob's authority in
Tanjore, which Tippoo had been sent to ravage. The
Colonel was encamped on the banks of the Coleroon, when,
owing to the treachery of his guides who were all in the pay
of the enemy, he was surprised by Tippoo, with 20,000 horse
and foot, and 20 guns. The valour and constancy of British
troops have seldom been more conspicuous than on this
trying occasion. During twenty-six hours of unremitted
conflict they sustained without flinching the repeated charges
of the Mysore horse, and the fire of their cannon, but sunk
at length from wounds and exhaustion, and would have been
annihilated by the troops of Tippoo, but for the generous
exertions of the French officers, who appreciated their heroism.
This disaster was counterbalanced by a victory on the opposite
coast. Tellicherry, a fortified factory, and the only English
possession in Malabar, had sustained a siege of eighteen
months by a Mysore force. Early in February, the garrison,
which had been reinforced, made a sortie, and captured 1,200
of the enemy, together with all their baggage, equipments,
and 60 pieces of cannon. The reverse thus inflicted on
Hyder emboldened the conquered Nairs to rise throughout
the province, and created a violent reaction in Goovg.
Hyders de- Hyder began to give way to despondency. He
pendency, had been foiled in every engagement with Sir
Eyre Coote in which he was not signally defeated.
He was deceived, as he supposed, by his French allies, who
had engaged to come to his assistance, but had failed him for
twenty months. The revolt, kindled on the western coast,
might extend to his capital. The Governor- General had suc-
ceeded in detaching Sindia, and the Nizam and Bhonslay from
398 FTCENCH EXPEDITION TO INDIA. [CHAP.
the confederacy, and the Poona durbar now threatened to
unite with the English, and compel him to accede to a peace
which would deprive him of all the advantages of the war,
unless he consented to resign to them the territories he had
acquired between the Toombudra and the Kistna, and abandon
all claims on the poligars south of that river. He dis-
burdened his feelings to hi& minister, Poornea. He lamented
his folly in having provoked a war with the English. There
were, he admitted, mutual grounds of dissatisfaction, but still
he might have made them his friends notwithstanding the
intrigues of the wretched Nabob. "The defeat of many
Brathwaites and many Baillies," he said, " will not crush
them. I may ruin their resources by land, but I cannot dry
up the sea, and I must be exhausted by a war in which I
can gain nothing by fighting." He resolved, therefore, to
abandon all operations in the Carnatic, and to concentrate his
efforts on the western coast. He had issued instructions for
the entire destruction of tho districts on the Coromaridel
coast, that he might leave no vestige of human habitation
behind him, and had ordered the defences of Arcot to be
undermined, when all these gloomy forebodings were at once
dissipated by the appearance of the long expected French
armament on the coast.
French expedi- Early in 1781, the French government made
turn, 1781-82. preparations for tbe despatch of a powerful fleet
and army to India, under the command of the veteran Bussy,
but the capture of two successive convoys by English cruizers
retarded the execution of the plan. The first division at
length reached the Mauritius, and was at once sent forward
to the Coromandel coast. The death of the admiral during
the voyage gave the command of the fleet to Suffrein, an
officer of extraordinary enterprise and resources. He made
the coast off Pulicat with twelve sail of the line and eighteen
transports, as Admiral Hughes was returning in January,
1782, from the capture of Trincomalee. Hughes, who had
only six vessels with him, was fortunately reinforced by three
XIV.] ACTION BEFORE AENEE. 399
others which had arrived from England, and bore down on the
French squadron, and succeeded in cutting off six of the
transports. The action was indecisive, and Suff rein proceeded
to Porto Novo, where he landed 2,000 Frencli soldiers and
1,000 Africans. Soon after, Hyder had an interview with the
French commanders, when it was determined to attempt tho
reduction of Cuddalore, and await the arrival of Bussy for
larger operations. The extensive fortifications of that place
had been incautiously left in charge of only 400 sepoys ana
five artillerymen, and it surrendered without any show of
resistance. A few weeks after, the important post of
Permacoil was captured by Hyder. On the 12th of April,
there was a second action between the fleets, but without
any decisive result, and both the admirals were obliged to
retire and refit their disabled vessels.
Action before Coote began now in his turn to despond ; he
2nd considered the aspect of affairs, not only embar-
rassing, but even desperate. In the hope of bring-
ing on a general action, he marched to Wandewash, which
was besieged by the united armies of the French and of
Hyder, but they refused the challenge, and retired to Pondi-
cherry. With the view of drawing them from the position
which they had strongly fortified, Coote determined to at-
tempt the capture of Aruee, the chief depot of Hyder in the
southern provinces. Tippoo was sent to protect it, and aa
engagement ensued on the 2nd of June, the only result of
which was the capture of one gun and eleven tumbrils, while
Hyder was enabled to accomplish his object of rescuing his
treasure and stores from danger. Six weeks after, he drew
a young officer, who had been entrusted with a large detach
ment, into an ambuscade, enveloped it with his cavalry, and
inflicted on it the loss of two guns and 166 men.
Ca tureofTrin- Suffreiri now appeared before Negapatam, which
comaiee, sist he was desirous of obtaining as a depot for tho
August, 1782. French army> n ugnes followed him, and a third
naval engagement was fought on the Gth of July, with no
400 IXEECISIVE ACTIONS AT SEA. [dTAP.
other result than to defeat the views of the French on that
town. Suffrein retired to Cuddalore where he repaired the
damage his fleet had sustained with incredible speed and
energy, and then sailed southwards. Lord Macartney had
received intelligence that a second French force had arrived
at Point de Galle, and that Bussy himself was immediately
expected on the coast. He began to tremble for the safety
both of Negapatam and Trincomalee, and urged Admiral
Hughes to follow the French fleet with all expedition. But
the energy of that officer by no means corresponded with his
skill and courage, and he was, moreover, jealous of any in-
terference with his command, and in this instance did not
hesitate to sacrifice the interests of his country to his own
caprice. Suffrein hastened to Galle, embarked the force of
2,400, which had recently arrived, and landed them at Trin-
comalee. The siege was pushed with extraordinary vigour,
and the garrison was obliged to capitulate on the 31st of
August, though on the most honourable terms. Four days later
the dilatory Hughes looked into the harbour, and saw the
French colours flying on the ramparts. The next day wit-
nessed the fourth action between the two fleets, but though
it lasted throughout the day, it terminated like all which had
preceded it, without any result. The approach of darkness
separated the combatants. This was the last and the se-
verest naval engagement of the year, which was marked as
much by the exertions of the fleets, as by the inactivity of the
armies.
Admiral Hughes returned to Madras, and an-
Haghes sails for . '
Bombay, isth nounced the necessity or proceeding forthwith to
October, 1782. B om i, a y to re fit his vessels, which had kept the
sea during the monsoon of 1781, and had sustained serious
damage in four successive general actions. The governor
represented to him the desperate condition to which the
interests of the Company would be reduced by his departure,
and earnestly pressed him to remain. Hyder, he said, was
master of the Carnatic; the possession of Trincomalee would
XIV.] GAT.E AND FAMINE AT VADTUS. 401
give the French the undisputed command of the sea, and
enable them to intercept the supplies of grain, on which
.Madras depended for its existence. Bussy, moreover, was
hourly expected with large reinforcements. But the admiral
turned a deaf ear to every remonstrance, and, looking only to
the safety of the fleet for which he was responsible, set sail
for Bombay on the 15th of October. That same night the mon-
soon set in with a terrific gale ; the shore was strewed for
miles with wrecks ; the largest vessels went down at their
anchors, and a hundred coasting craft, laden with 30,000 bags
of rice, were irretrievably lost. Four days after Admiral
Bickerton anchored in the roads, and, after landing 4,000
troops which he had brought out from England, put to sea
again to join his own commander. Madras was now sub-
jected to all the horrors of famine. The ravages of Hyder
had driven the wretched inhabitants of the surrounding dis-
trict for shelter and subsistence into the town, and for some
time the number of deaths amounted to 1,500 a week. Sir
Eyre Coote's shattered constitution obliged him to return to
Bengal, and the monsoon suspended all military operations.
After the relief of Tellicherry, on the Malabar
E vents <on the "
Malabar Coast, coast, and the defeat of the Mysore army in
February, 1782, Colonel Humberstone, who had
succeeded to the command of the force, marched southward
and entirely routed Mukdoom AH, Hyder's general and rela-
tive, whose loss exceeded 2,000 men. To create a diversion
and relieve the pressure on the Company's arm} 1 on the Coro-
rnandel coast, the colonel marched into the heart of the
country to lay siege to Palghaut, one of the strongest of the
fortresses which Hyder had erected in the south, but, on a
close reconnoitre, found it less assailable than he had ex-
pected. Hyder lost no time in despatching Tippoo with a
large force and a French contingent to drive back this inva-
sion. But the Bombay government was no sooner informed
of the colonel's hazardous advance into the interior, than
they sent him peremptory orders to return to the coast. This
2 u
402 DEATH OF HYDKR ATX [dlAP.
retrograde movement he considered a great misfortune, but
It proved the salvation of his army. On the 19th of No-
vember Tippoo overtook the retiring force, which was con-
strained to fight every step of its march, and arrived at dusk
on the banks of the Paniani ; but, regarding them as a sure
and easy prey, he neglected to watch their movements, and
the colonel, having discovered a ford, passed his whole army
over under cover of the night, and reached the town of
Paniani the next day. On the 29th of November Tippoo
made an assault in four columns on the British army, but was
driven back with great loss. He then determined to blockade
the force, and wait the arrival of his heavy equipments,
when, on the 12th of December, his whole army was seen to
strike its tents and march off to the eastward. A dromedary
express had arrived the preceding evening with
Death of Hyder, . r
7r.h December, intelligence of the death of Hyder Ah. His
health had been declining during the year, and his
end was hastened by the fatigues of the field. He died at
the advanced age of eighty, leaving behind him the reputa-
tion of one of the ablest, most enterprising, and most suc-
cessful adventurers in the modern history of India.
Hyder's death Poornea, a Mahratta brahmin, the ablest of
concealed, 1782. Jjyder's ministers, in conjunction with his distin-
guished colleague, Kishen Rao, a Canarese brahmin, assumed
the management of affairs, and acted with consummate pru-
dence. Tippoo, the son and successor of Hyder, was four
hundred miles distant, and an Asiatic army, deprived of its
head, always becomes a scene of intrigue and confusion.
Ryder's death was therefore carefully concealed in the carnp.
The body was embalmed and sent under an escort to the capi-
tal, as it had been usual to despatch chests of valuable plunder.
All answers to letters were issued, and all orders published in
his name, and his closed palanquin, with the accustomed
retinue, moved out at the usual hour from the canvas inclo-
sure of his tent. Tippoo, on receiving intelligence of his
father's death, immediately abandoned the western campaign,
XIV.] GENERAL STUART'S MISCONDUCT AT MADRAS. 403
and hastened to join the army on the Coramaudel coast, which
he reached on the 2nd of January. The troops were gratified
by the payment of arrears, and a liberal donative ; the minis-
ters who had maintained the royal authority at this difficult
crisis were confirmed in office ; and Tippoo at once succeeded
to the command of a splendid army of 100,000 men, and to a
treasury filled with three crores of rupees, besides an accu-
mulation of jewels and valuables, which Poornea declared to
be of countless value.
Far different was the course of events at
Tippoo returns
to Malabar, ist Madras. The same fatality which had marked
March, n83. the p rocee( jings of the Presidency for the last
fifteen years, seemed still to influence its councils. There
was a vigorous governor, but an imbecile general. Sir
Eyre Coote's departure for Bengal had placed the army
under the charge of General Stuart, and Lord Macarteny
entreated him to take advantage of the consternation occa-
sioned by the death of Hyder, to attack the Mysore army
before the arrival of Tippoo. The general had never ceased
to obstruct every movement since he succeeded to the com-
mand, of the army, and he now affected to disbelieve the
report of Hyder's death, and when it could no longer be a
matter of dispute, refused to move until the " proper time,"
of which ho considered himself the sole judge. The golden
opportunity of striking a decisive blow was thus lost, and
the war prolonged for fifteen months. General Stuart had
the entire conduct of the war in his hands, with an increased
army and liberal supplies ; but sixty days were suffered to
elapse after the death of Hyder, before he could be persuaded
to move, and even then, he did nothing but demolish the for-
tifications of three forts which Sir Eyre Coote had been
anxious to preserve. The anxiety which his incapacity
created, was, however, happily relieved by the abrupt depar-
ture of Tippoo. The alarming intelligence which he received
of the progress of a British force on the western coast, in-
duced him to proceed in person to meet the danger, with tlie
404 ARRIVAL OP BUSST DEATH OP COOTE. [CHAP.
flower of his army, after having destroyed the works at
Arcot, and, indeed, every remaining post except Arnee. Bussy
was hourly expected with large reinforcements, and if the
entire Mysore army had been strengthened by a European
force, directed by the genius of that commander, Madras,
entrusted to the wretched Stuart, would have been in imminent
peril. From this danger the Presidency was rescued by the
injudicious movement of Tippoo. Leaving him to pursue his
course to the western coast, we continue the narrative of
events around Madras.
The plans of Bussy had been impeded by a
Hussy's arrival. . . , ,
coote-s death, succession or untoward events ; but although, on
im landing at Cuddalore on the 10th of April, 1783,
he found himself at the head of 2,300 Europeans and 5,000
French sepoys, he had also the mortification to find that
Hyder was dead, and that Tippoo had gone to the opposite
coast, leaving a force of only 3,500 men to co-operate with
him. Admiral Hughes had also returned with his fleet to the
coast, and General Stuart, having no longer any excuse for
delay, marched towards Cuddalore, with a fine park of artil-
lery, and 14,500 men, of whom 3,000 were Europeans.
Nothing was wanting to the efficiency of this splendid force,
except a commander ; and the troops were, therefore, looking
with the greatest eagerness for their venerable and beloved
general, Sir Eyre Coote, again to lead them on to victory ;
but the veteran died two days after his arrival at Madras, on
the 26th of April. The expedition moved towards Cuddalore
under the command of General Stuart, but only at the rate
of three miles a day. He sat down before that fortified town
on the 7th of June, and on the 13th, attacked a formidable
position of the French, who were obliged to retire to the
citadel, with the loss of thirteen guns. The honour of the
day was due to the extraordinary gallantry of the subor-
dinate officers and men ; but it was dearly purchased by the
loss of 62 officers and 920 Europeans, killed or mortally
wounded.. On the same day, Suffrein appeared in the offing-.
XIV.] SIEGE OP CUDDALORE PEACE WITH FRANCE. 405
with sixteen vessels, and Admiral Hughes, who was anchored
off Porto Novo, came up to meet him with eighteen ships.
Notwithstanding this apparent superiority over the French,
he was essentially weaker, as no fewer than 2,700 of his
sailors were disabled by scurvy. Suffrein had borrowed 1,200
soldiers from Bussy, and the two fleets met on the 20th of
June, but the severe action which ensued, like the four which
had preceded it, was without any decisive result. Night
again parted the combatants, and Hughes finding his vessels
crippled, his crews dying of scurvy, and his supply of water
running short, bore up for Madras to refit ; while Suffrein,
not only restored the 1,200 men lent him by Bussy, but rein-
forced the French army with 2,400 marines and sailors from his
fleet. With this addition to his force, Bussy made a sortie in
the dark on the 25th of June, but was repulsed with the loss
of 450 men. It was on this occasion that the young and
gallant French serjeant, Bernadotte, who subsequently became
one of Napoleon's marshals, and king of Sweden, fell into
the hands of the English. General Stuart had been bustling
about Cuddalore for three weeks, and yet the siege could
scarcely be said to have commenced. His force was daily
wasting away from sickness, fatigue and wounds; while
Bussy, strengthened by the reinforcement from the fleet, and
having free communication with the country around, was
waiting for the maturity of his errors to strike some decisive
blow. Considering the great talents of Bussy, and the in-
competency of Stuart, there is every reason to apprehend
that it would have resulted in the discomfiture and retreat of
the English army, the loss of its battering train and baggage,
perhaps also, in the siege of Madras. From this danger, the
Company was happily relieved by the arrival of intelligence
that peace had been concluded in Europe between the belli-
gerents, and all military operations immediately ceased.
General Stuart returned to Madras, and was placed under
arrest by Lord Macartney, and sent to England. He was the
officer who had been employed eight years before in the clan-
406 THE DISTRICT OP BEDNORE OCCUPIED [CHAP.
destine arrest of Lord Pigot, and among the epigrams to
which his own arrest gave rise, that of the Nabob's second
son was by no means the least racy : " General Stuart catch
one lord, one lord catch General Stuart."
E. aition ^ ne aDru P* departure of Tippoo to the western
from Bombay, coast was occasioned by the success of an expe-
dition sent from Bombay against his possessions
in that quarter. General Matthews had been despatched to
the succour of Colonel Humberstone at Paniani, but, on
hearing of the withdrawal of Tippoo's army, proceeded along
the coast, and took possession of the towns of Mirjee and
Onore. During this expedition, five of the Mysore ships of
war, carrying from fifty to sixty-four guns, fell into the
hands of the British admiral. The Bombay President, having
received intelligence of the death of Hyder, directed General
Matthews to march at once against Bednore. The general
disapproved of the movement, which he considered injudicious
and dangerous, but instead of entering into explanations with
his superiors, proceeded doggedly to execute it, simply dis-
claiming all responsibility. The ascent of the ghauts, which
had been fortified at every point, presented the most for-
midable obstacles to an invading force, but the gallantry of
the 42nd Highlanders, led by Colonel Macleod, carried all
the lower defences, and the army arrived in front of Bednore,
when, to the utter astonishment of the general, the place
was unconditionally surrendered to him. It afterwards tran-
spired that Hyat Sahib, as he was called by the English, the
Mysore commander, who had been a favourite of Hyder, and
was consequently regarded with feelings of hatred by Tippoo,
had obtained the sight of a letter directed by him to one of
the officers in Bednore, ordering him to deprive Hyat of the
command, and, if necessary, to put him to death ; and Hyat
immediately made arrangements for delivering up the fortress
and the district to the English.
Piece of Man- It was the tidings of this transaction which in-
taiore, naa. duced Tippoo to quit the Carnatic, and bend his at-
XIV.] AND EVACUATED. 407
tention to the expulsion of the English force from the western
provinces, justly fearing lest they should be transferred to
the Mahrattas, whom Hastings was urging to attack him.
General Matthews, instead of concentrating his force, which
did not exceed 1,600, at the most defensible point, frittered it
away in small detachments, and the troops were allowed to
disperse over the country in search of plunder. Bednore
was, however, defended with great valour, and it was not
surrendered till it had become a heap of ruins, and further
resistance was hopeless. The capitulation was violated as
usual, and the men and officers were marched off in irons,
and consigned to dungeons. Tippoo fired a salute for this
Ids first victoiy over the English troops, and then descended
to the coast and invested Mangalore, the siege of which is
one of the most memorable events of the war. The strength
of the garrison, at the commencement of it was only 1,850,
while the investing force under Tippoo amounted to 100,000
with 100 guns. The command of the fort had devolved on
Colonel Campbell, of the 42nd Highlanders, arid a brighter
name is not to be found in the annals of British India. It
would exceed the limits which can be assigned to this me-
morable conflict in this brief epitome, to enter into any detail
of the siege, or to describe how General Macleod, who was
twice sent to relieve it, was, on each occasion, cajoled by
Tippoo and left his task incomplete, and how an intermediate
convention was disgracefully violated and the privations of
the brave garrison augmented. It may be sufficient to state
that the colonel and his troops defended the place for nine
months with unsurpassed resolution against the whole army
of Tippoo, and did not capitulate until their number was re-
duced to 850, and those mere skeletons.
Whilst Tippoo was thus wasting his strength
Progress of
coionei Fuiiar- and his reputation in a siege which cost him half
ton, 1783. ki s armV) ^ absence of a Mysore army from the
southern provinces, and the peace with France, enabled the
Madras government to send a powerful force across the Pe-
4 08 FULLARTON'S EXPEDITION. [CHAP
ninsula into the heart of Mysore. This able plan was
devised and executed by Colonel Fullarton, who had em-
braced the military profession late in life, but exhibited
talents of. a very high order, and would have brought the
war with Tippoo to an honourable termination, if he had not
been thwarted by the folly of the Madras authorities. His
force consisted of 13,600 men, but the native portion of it was
twelve months in arrears. On the 15th of November, he
captured the renowned fortress of Palghaut, and on the 26th
occupied Coimbatoor ; on the 28th, he had made every pre-
paration for an immediate advance on Seringapatam, while
the Mysore army was detained before Mangalore. The
capital was within his' grasp, but before night he received
orders not only to suspend operations, but to relinquish all
the districts he had occupied. To explain this singular re-
quisition, it is to be remarked that while Hastings was
engaged in urging the Mahrattas, in accordance with the
treaty of Salbye, to compel Tippoo to make peace on pain
of hostilities, Lord Maearteny, in defiance of the prohibition
of the Supreme Government, to which, on such questions, he
was entirely subordinate, opened negotiations with Tippoo,
and by a singular infatuation, voluntarily agreed to a sus-
pension of arms till a reply was received. So ignorant was
the Governor of Madras of native habits, as not to know that
any direct offer of peace to a native prince, rendered peace
on honourable terms impossible. Tippoo took no notice of
the proposals for three months, and then sent one of the
most astute of his officers to cozen the President and Council
at Madras. After a month passed in Jesuitical diplomacy,
the envoy proposed that two gentlemen should be deputed to
Tippoo to expedite the negotiations. The silly Council
swallowed the bait, and even affirmed that this was a proposal
which exactly met their wishes. The object of Tippoo was
gained, and he was thus enabled to represent at every durbar
in India that the English government had sent commissioners
all the way from Madras to Mangalore to sue for peace. It
XIV.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH TIPPOO. 409
was at this period and under the influence of this agent, that
the commissioners instructed C.olonel Fullarton to suspend
hostilities, and evacuate Lis conquests ; but he had just
heard of the perfidious violation of the convention of Man-
galore, and though he ceased to prosecute the war, determined
to retain the districts he had conquered. Discussions soon after
arose between the envoy of Tippoo and the commissioners,
regarding the release of the prisoners and the surrender of
Mangalore, which were referred to Lord Macartney. On the
8th of December the Council met and reviewed their position ;
their finances were ruined, their credit was broken, and the
confidence of the Supreme Government was gone. But,
instead of ordering Colonel Fullarton with his powerful army
to push on to Tippoo's capital, while he was occupied at Man-
galore, and end the war by one bold stroke, they directed him
to relinquish all his conquests, and retire within the limits
which they prescribed, although Tippoo's officers had violated
their engagements, and retained all the districts they had
overrun in the Carnatic, which they were equally bound to
evacuate. The missionary Swartz met Colonel Fullarton at
the -foot of the ghauts as he was marching back, and ex-
claimed with astonishment, " Is the peace so certain that you
quit all before the negotiation is ended. The possession of
these two countries would have kept Tippoo in awe, and in-
clined him to reasonable terms. But you quit the reins, and
how will you manage the beast ? " The Colonel replied, I
cannot help it. Hastings, with his profound knowledge of
the native character, reprobated the negotiation, and con-
sidered that it should have been entrusted to Colonel Fullerton,
cvnd conducted at the head of his army, at the capital. But
Hastings was now comparatively powerless. The Court of
Directors, a prey to intrigue, had recently renewed their con-
demnation of his conduct, his own Council deserted, him,
Lord Macartney set him at defiance, and the negotiations
with Tippoo were left to the mismanagement of Madras. The
commissioners were marched leisurely through the country,
410 PEACE OF MANGALOR3. [CHAP.
subjected to every indignity and detained at every stage, till
Mangalore had surrendered, when they were allowed to ap-
proach the Mysore camp. And there, after having been again
insulted by the erection of three gibbets in front of then* tents,
they at length signed the treaty, on the basis of a mutual re-
stitution of conquests. Of the prisoners who had fallen into
the hands of Ilyder and Tippoo, the most distinguished had
been taken off by poison, or hacked to pieces in the woods;
but 190 officers and 900 European soldiers still survived the
barbarous treatment to which they had been subjected for
several years, and were now liberated. Of the treaty, it
may be sufficient to say that it was not more disgraceful than
those which the Governors and Council of Madras had been
in the habit of making for the last fifteen years. It was in-
jurious not only to the character of the British government,
but also to the interests of peace, inasmuch as it entailed the
necessity of another war to correct the arrogance with
which it inspired Tippoo, and to which he gave expression
iu the following terms : " On the occasion of the signature of
the treaty, the English commissioners stood with their heads
uncovered, and the treaty in their hands, for two hours,
using every form of flattery and supplication to induce com-
pliance. The vakeels of Poona and Hyderabad united in the
most abject entreaties, and his Majesty, the shadow of God,
was at length soiieued into assent."
CHAPTER XV.
HASIINGS'S ADMINISTRATION THE SUPREME COURT
PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND, 1774 1784.
To resume the thread of events in Bengal. The
pupremo court Supreme Court, established by the wisdom of
n'l the zi-tnm- *
oars, 1775- 1 i&o. Parliament in Calcutta, in 1774, was intended to
XV.] ENCROACHMENTS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 411
protect the natives from the oppression of Europeans, and to
give the English^ community the blessing of their own laws.
The judges were invested with the attributes of the twelve
judges in Westminster, and empowered to administer English
law in all its branches. Parliament had thus, without any
correct knowledge of the circumstances or wants of the new
conquest, established two independent powers, but had ne-
glected to define the sphere of their authority, and a collision
between the government of the Company and the judicial
officers of the Crown, became inevitable. One of the earliest
acts of the Court was to hang Nundu koomar for an offence
which had not been capital since the days of Munoo. The
next blow fell on the zemindars. The country was slowly
recovering from the confusion incident to the introduction of
a novel and foreign administration, and the zemindars were
but partially reconciled to the new economy. The Supreme
Court, as soon as it was established, began to issue writi?
against them, at the suit of any one who could fee an attor-
ney, on the strength of which they were immediately seized
in their own cutcheries, or rent-courts, and dragged down to
Calcutta from a distance, sometimes, of several hundred
miles, and consigned to jail if they were unwilling, or unable,
to furnish bail. No indemnification was given to them for
the expense or disgrace they had incurred, even when their
arrest was cancelled for illegality. Of English law, then the
most complicated system of jurisprudence in the world, they
were profoundly ignorant, and they felt that no innocence
and no ingenuity was able to protect them from the new
dangers which menaced them. A dark cloud hung over the
country, as portentous as a Mahratta invasion.
The Court 1 * These proceedings necessarily affected the col-
interference lection of the revenue, and endangered the re-
withthe *
Government, sources of government. The disposition to
withhold every payment, however just, is in-
herent in the native character, and the slightest pretext is
sufficient to dcvelope it. The arrest and humiliation of tho
412 ATTACK ON THE GOVKRNMENT. [CHAIN
zemindars destroyed their credit and authority, and gave
their unscrupulous ryots an advantage they were not slow to
improve. It had, moreover, been the immemorial custom in
India to subject defaulters to coercion, without which they
rarely paid their rents; but the attorneys of the Supremo
Court, who had spread themselves over the country, advised
the ryots and renters when arrested, to sue out a writ of
habeas corpus, when they were brought down to Calcutta and
discharged, leaving -the landlord without rent or remedy.
The criminal judicature of the country, which embraced the
police of thirty millions of people, had been left in the hands
of the Nabob of Moorshedabad and his judicial and executive
officers. But the authority of their courts was at once anni-
hilated by the judges of the Supreme Court, who declared
that the person called Mobarik-ood-dowlah, that is, the
Nabob of Moorshedabad, was a phantom, a mere man of
straw, without any legal right to the exercise of any power
whatsoever. In one instance, indeed, the Court proceeded
so far as to issue a process of contempt against his Highness.
The next blow was aimed at the government itself, though
it had been established under the authority of Parliament.
The judges refused to acknowledge the East India Company
except as a trading body, with no other power or position
than an ordinary commercial association. They interpreted
the Act to signify that the government of the country by the
Governor-General in Council was subject to the jurisdiction
of the Supreme Court, and that it would be penal fer the
Company, or any of its servants, to disobey any order or
process emanating from it. There was no department of the
state with which they did not see fit to interfere ; the whole
fabric of the administration was shaken to its base, and the
country was threatened with universal anarchy, simply to
enlarge the jurisdiction of the Crown court, and to exalt the
authority of its judges.
The cossijurah To enumerate the various instances of injustice
cast, 1779. an( j oppression to which the enforcement of these
XV.] CASE OF THE RAJA OF COS3IJUTUTL 413
claims gave rise would exceed the limits of this epitome, and
one must suffice as a sample. A baboo named Cossinath was
instigated to bring an action in the Supreme Court in August,
1779, against his master, the raja of Cossijurah, lying to the
south of Calcutta. A writ was issued on the strength of his
affidavit, and the raja was required to find bail to the extent
of three lacs and a half of rupees. He concealed himself to
avoid the process, upon which the Court immediately des-
patched two sheriff's officers, with a body of eighty-six men,
of whom thirteen were European sailors, and the rest natives
habited as sepoys, and all armed with muskets or swords.
On their arrival at Cossijurah, they forced their way into the
palace of the raja, maltreated his servants, violated the
sanctity of the zenana, and desecrated his family temple,
packing up the idol with other lumber in a basket, and affix-
ing the seal of the Court to it. Hastings considered that the
time had at length arrived when he could no longer delay to
vindicate the authority of the government, and afford pro-
tection to the natives, whatever might be the hazard attend-
ing it. He instructed the military officer at Midnapore to
intercept the whole party on their return, and march them to
Calcutta, where they were immediately liberated. To prevent
similar outrages which were then meditated, he likewise
issued a proclamation, directing all landholders of every
degree to consider themselves exempt from the jurisdiction of
the Supreme Court, except in the two cases of their having
bound themselves by agreement to submit to it, or being British
subjects. The Supreme Court then proceeded to issue a sum-
mons against the Governor-General himself and the members
of the Supreme Council, but they peremptorily refused to
obey it.
s> E im Petitions were now addressed to Parliament by
nnd the sudder both Europeans and natives, praying for a redress
lurt, 1780. Q f these intolerable grievances. But as tho
remedy might be long in coming, the sagacity of Hastings
discovered a more immediate antidote, The Provincial Coun-
414 IH E. IMPET, FIRST JUDGE OP THE SUDPER. [CHAP.
oils established in 1773, held both revenue and civil courts ;
and an appeal from their decisions lay to the Sudder Dewannj'-
Adawlut, or chief court of appeal in Calcutta, in which the
Governor-General and the Council were appointed to presidfc,
which, however, their political and administrative duties
seldom allowed them to do. In April, 1780, Hastings re-
modelled the whole system, separated the fiscal from the civil
jurisdiction, leaving the former with the Provincial courts,
and entrusting the latter to the civil courts which he estab-
lished in each district, "with an appeal to the Sudder Dewanriy.
He then offered the post of chief judge of this court to
Sir Elijah Impey, upon a salary of 7,000 rupees a month,
which was accepted without any hesitation. This appoint-
ment, together with that of another of the Crown judges as
Commissioner of the Dutch settlement of Chinsurah, which
had been recently captured, at once quieted the Supreme
Court, and released the Government from its embarrassments.
The position in which this arrangement placed
Remarks on this r
arrangement, the Chief Justice, proved highly advantageous to
the interests of the country. The judges of the
new civil courts who were young and inexperienced, were
placed under his supervision and guidance, and he was thus
enabled to give form and consistency to the system of civil
judicature. Though bred in all the technicalities of English
law, he drew up a code of regulations for the administration
of justice in the interior, comprised in ninety-five sections,
brief and clear, and exactly adapted to the simplicity of native
habits ; and it has formed the basis of all subsequent legisla-
lation at the Bengal Presidency. But this arrangement was
assailed with great animosity, both in the Court of Directors
and in the House of Commons. Sir Elijah was recalled for
having accepted the office, and Hastings was eventually
impeached, in addition to the other crimes charged against
him, for having conferred it. But, after the lapse of eighty
years, the wisdom of this proceeding has been triumphantly
vindicated by the Parliamentary enactment of 1860, which
XV.] CITEYT STNG. 415
placed the Chief justice of the Supreme Court at the head
of the Company's Court of Appeal, and by amalgamating the
two Courts, committed to him the duty of supervising the
judicial system of the Presidency. On the receipt of trio
petitions from Calcutta before alluded to, Parliament passed
an Act in which the functions of the Supreme Court were
more distinctly defined, and it continued from that period to
the hour of its extinction, to enjoy the confidence and admira-
tion of the entire community, European and native, for the
equity and impartiality of its decisions.
Cheyt sinfa ^ ne pecuniary difficulties of the government of
delinquency, Bengal were at tliis time most critical. There was
war with Ilyder, who was triumphant in the
Carnatic ; war with the French, with the Dutch, and with the
Mahrattas. The entire expense of all these wars fell upon the
treasury in Bengal; a debt of a crore of rupees had been
incurred, and the credit of Government was at the lowest ebb.
Hastings was under the necessity of looking to other sources
than the ordinary revenues of the country for supplies, and
he was induced to make an additional demand on Cheyt Sing,
the raja of Benares. The grandfather of the raja had begun
life with the rent of half a village, but amidst the distraction
of the times, had succeeded in acquiring a territory, which
yielded 50 lacs of rupees a year. The district was transferred
by the Nabob Vizier to the British government in 1775, and
the rajah received a sunnud from the Governor-General,
which stipulated that his annual tribute should be limited to
twenty- two lacs and a-half a year- Hastings's demand was
therefore stigmatised by his opponents as a breach of faith.
But the tenure of Benares was more that of a feudatory than
of a mere zemindar, which appears evident from the fact, that
Hastings, when irritated by his opposition, threatened to
reduce him to the condition of a simple zemindar, like the raja
of Burdwan. By the law and constitution of India, he was
liable, in cases of emergency, to be called on for extraordinary
aids by his superior lord. Such payments had formerly been
416 ITARTIXGS'S EXCESSIVE 1KMAND ANT) IIIS PA NO EH.
made to his liege, the Nabob of Ouole, and he was equally
bound to meet the requisition made upon him on the present
emergency by Hastings, of 2,000 horse and five lacs of
rupees. The rajah pleaded poverty, and endeavoured t>
evade the payment of the full amount, but Hastings had
received intimation from various quarters that his hoards
exceeded two crores of rupees, and he persuaded himself that
the rajah's reluctance to comply with his demands, was a
crime. He determined, therefore, "to make him pay largely
for his pardon, to exact a severe vengeance for his delinquency,
and to draw from his guilt the means of relief to the Com-
pany's distresses."
c gin , g Hastings was about to proceed to Benares to
excessive fine, meet the vakeel of the raja of Berar, and nego-
tiate a peace with the Regency at Poona. Cheyt
Sing was fully apprised of his resentment, and hastened to
avert it by waiting on him as he entered the province, and
humbly beseeching him to accept twenty lacs of rupees.
The offer was rejected with scorn, and the sum of fifty lacs
peremptorily demanded. On his arrival at Benares on the
15th of August, 1781, Hastings sent the raja a statement of
his complaints, and placed him under arrest, by sending four
companies of sepoys to take the place of his own guards.
The city of Benares, the citadel of Hindooism, and the great
focus of political intrigue, had always been notorious for its
turbulence. On the present occasion, the populace, roused by
the indignity inflicted on the raja, rose upon the sepoys.
who had brought no ammunition with them, and slaughtered
both them and their officers. During this emeute, the raja
himself escaped across the river to his fortified palace at
Kamnugur. The situation of Hastings was perilous in the
extreme ; the native force on which he depended for protec-
tion was annihilated, and he, and the thirty gentlemen with
him, had only their own weapons to trust to. Happily the
infuriated retainers of the raja crowded tumultuously after
him, and quitted the city, instead of attacking Hastings in his
XV.] PLUNDER OF BIDGEGUR. 417
defenceless state. The whole province was speedily in a
blaze of revolt, and the zemindars of Behar, who had ever
been disaffected towards the English, were ripe for insurrec-
tion. It was at this critical period, while beleaguered in
Benares, that Hastings exhibited his rare strength of nerve,
by continuing and completing his negotiations with Sindia,
as if he had been tranquilly residing in Calcutta. Equally
remarkable was the confidence that Sindia manifested in the
destinies of the English, by affixing his seal to the treaty,
while he knew that the life of the Governor-General was in
jeopardy. His situation at Benares, notwithstanding the
rapid arrival of troops from different quarters, was not, how-
ever, considered defensible, and he made his escape during
the night, by a window, and rowed down to Chunar.
Capture of "^ ne ra j a collected a force of 20,000 men, but did
, 9th not cease to importune Hastings for a reconcilia-
tion, which was wisely rejected, lest it should bo
attributed to fear. The raja's troops were successively de-
feated, and he took refuge in Bidgegur, but not deeming
himself safe there, fled to Bundlecund with as much treasure
as his elephants and camels could carry. The begums, who
were left behind, surrendered the fortress on the 9th of
November. In a private letter to the commander of the
troops, in reference to the treasure which was supposed to
be deposited in Bidgegur, Hastings had incautiously remarked,
" With regard to the booty, that is rather your consideration
than mine. I should be sorry that any of your officers and
soldiers lost any part of the reward to which they are so well
entitled." On the strength of this communication, the
officers proceeded at once to divide the booty, amounting to
forty lacs of rupees, among themselves and the troops.
Hastings was especially mortified at the loss of the treasure
with which he had hoped to replenish the empty treasury of
the Company. The officers were invited to return it, and to
Leave their claims to the equitable decision of the Supreme
Council, but they manifested their discretion by refusing to
2 E
418 THE BEGUMS OP OUDE [CHAP.
trust their interests to the arbitrament of a pauper govern-
ment. In extenuation of the odious proceedings of Hastings
towards Cheyt Sing, it was asserted that he was disaffected
to the British Government ; but, in this case, Hastings would
not have ventured to enter the capital with so slender an
escort. Cheyt Sing was culpable in having hesitated to
afford immediate aid to his liege sovereign in a great public
exigency, but the imposition of a fine of fifty lacs of rupees
for withholding payment of one-tenth of the sum, had an
aspect of vindictiveness which it is impossible to palliate ;
and although Hastings was so blinded by his own judgment
as to claim merit for the transaction, it has always been
considered a dark 'spot in his administration, and. it will
hereafter appear that it was on this point that the question
of his impeachment eventually turned. Cheyt Sing en-
joyed an asylum at Grwalior for twenty-nine years. His
nephew was raised to the throne, and the tribute augmented
from twenty-two and a half to forty lacs a year.
The begums of The disappointment which Hastings had x-
Oude, 1782. perienced regarding these treasures increased his
embarrassment. The treasury in Calcutta was drained for
the support of more than sixty thousand troops required for
the war at Bombay and Madras, and money was indispensable.
It was in these 'circumstances that the Nabob vizier waited
on him at Chunar, and represented the impossibility of making-
good from his exhausted country ihe arrears of a crore and
a half of rupees due to the Company, and of continuing to
maintain the English troops stationed in his dominions. But
these troops were indispensably necessary to their defence,
and the withdrawal of them would have been immediately
followed by a Mahratta invasion. He entreated Hastings to
relieve him from the charge of at least one brigade, and to
allow him to take possession of the wealth and the jaygeers
of the begums, to enable him to discharge his obligations to
the Company. Hastings subsequently affirmed that if the
Vizier had not made this proposal, he himself would never
XV.] PLUNDERED BY THE NABOB. 419
have suggested it. At the same time, it was represented to
him that the begums had abetted the rebellion, as he called
it, of Cheyt Sing, and supplied him with troops and money.
The charge rested chiefly on the assertion of one Colonel
Hannay, who had obtained service with the Nabob vizier,
and fleeced him to the extent of thirty lacs of rupees in three
years. It was supported by affidavits taken before Sir Elijah
Irnpey, the chief judge of the Supreme Court, who pro-
ceeded to Lucknow for the purpose ; a most extraordinary
pilgrimage, as was justly said, for a most extraordinary pur-
pose yet it was utterly without foundation. But under the
pressure of circumstances, Hastings brought himself round to
the belief that " the begums had made war on the Company ;"
he yielded to the solicitation of the Vizier, and his con-
sent to the spoliation of the princesses was duly embodied in a
treaty. The Nabob returned to Lucknow, and after some little
hesitation, to save appearances and to throw the odium of the
transaction on the Governor- General, surrounded the palace
of the begums with guards, seized and fettered the two
eunuchs who were their confidential ministers, sequestered
their .estates, and extorted, at several times, sums to the
amount of seventy-six lacs of rupees, which .were paid over
to the Company. To these treasures and jaygeers the
begums had originally no legitimate title, ,as we have ex-
plained in a preceding chapter; they were state property,
liable for the obligations of the state; but six years had
elapsed since the Nabob however reluctantly it matters not
had assigned them to the begums, under the official
guarantee of the representative of the Governor-General.
The coercive measure now adopted admits therefore of no
moral extenuation. Yet so little was Hastings alive to the
objectionable character of this transaction, that he ridiculed
the censure which " men of virtue " might cast upon it. But
the men of virtue and of political integrity in his own land
have regarded it as a stain on his administration, however
consonant it may have been with the Mahomedan law of
2 E2
420 FTZOOLLA KHAN.
euccession, or the practice of Oriental courts. As to the
barbarities practised on the begums and their servants by the
Nabob, Hastings cannot be held personally answerable for
them ; the odium which they have fixed on his administration,
was the revenge of civilization for an alliance with barbarism,
for a most objectionable object.
Fyzooiia Khan, Fyzoolla Khan, the Eohilla chieftain, was, in
1780. 1774, left in possession of Rampoora and several
other jaygeers, of the annual value of fifteen lacs of rupees.
He devoted his attention with great zeal to the encourage-
ment of agriculture and the improvement of the country,
and with such success as to double his rent-roll in seven
years, without overtaxing his subjects. He was bound by
treaty not to increase his military force beyond 5,000 men,
of whom 3,000 were to be at the disposal of the Nabob vizier,
when he happened to be engaged in war. In November,
1780, Hastings, distracted by the intelligence of Colonel
Baillie's defeat, instructed the Vizier to demand the aid of
5,000 troops for the defence of Behar, to liberate the English
regiments for service at Madras. Fyzoolla Khan, with all
humility, made an offer of 2,000 horse and 1,000 foot.
Hastings, who always expected prompt obedience to his
requisitions, was exasperated at this hesitation, and under
the alarm created by Cheyt Sing's proceedings, assented,
without adequate consideration, to the request made by the
Vizier to dispossess Fyzcolla Khan of the whole of his
zemindary and annex it to his own dominions: but he soon
after discovered and acknowledged the error he had com-
mitted in this interpretation of the treaty, revoked the per-
mission he had given to the Vizier, and released Fyzoolla Khan
from the obligation of furnishing any quota of troops in
future, on the payment of fifteen lacs of rupees.
Censure of the These proceedings were severely condemned by
HMttafjTre- tne Court f Directors who pronounced the de-
signs, i783-. m and on Cheyt Sing, a breach of faith, and
ordered him to be restored to his estates. Under the in-
XT.] HASTINGS RETIRES FROM INDIA. 421
fluence of this vote of censure Hastings's colleagues in
Council not only withdrew their support from him, but
became united in their opposition to him, and he complained,
with great reason that while he was still held responsible
for the safety of India, his degradation had been proclaimed
at every court in India. " If," he said, " I am to be
threatened with dismission, my acts reprobated, the whole
responsibility of the government thrown on me, with only
an equal voice in Council, I cannot discharge my trust with
credit or effect." In a letter to the Court of Directors of
the 20th of March, 1783, after appealing to them to attest
the patience and temper with which he had submitted to all
the indignities heaped upon him during his long service, he
announced his determination to quit their service, and re-
quested that a successor might be immediately nominated.
During the year 1784 he proceeded to Lucknow, and in
compliance with the requisition of the Court of Directors,
restored the jaygeers to the begums, through the agency
of the Nabob vizier. He adjusted all accounts between Oude
and the Company, made every arrangement for the payment
of the English troops employed in its defence, and then with-
drew the Residency, which had become odious to the Vizier by
its interference with his government, not less than by its
depredations. On his return to Calcutta, Hastings addressed
valedictory letters to all the princes and chiefs of India, and
having laid the keys of the treasury on the table of the
Council Board, and delivered the keys of the fort to his
successor, Mr. Macpherson, embarked for England in Febru-
ary, 1785, after a most eventful administration of thirteen
years.
TT t . , Hastings reached England on the 13th of June,
Hastings s recep-
tion in England, and experienced the most gracious reception from
the King and Queen; and even the Court of Direc-
tors greeted him with a courteous address. By one of the most
influential members of the House of Lords, he was described
as the Company's great minister the powerful Chatham of
422 IMPEACHMENT OF HASTINGS. [CHAP.
the east. The Ministry, with one exception, evinced the
most friendly disposition towards him, and the preeminent
services he had rendered to his country in the East fully justi-
fied his expectations of a peerage. But that exception was
fatal to all his hopes. Mr. Pitt, the prime minister, had
imbibed a vehement prejudice against him. He admitted
that he was a great and wonderful man, and that the charges
against him were ridiculous and absurd; but, he had committed
four transgressions he had attempted to extend the British
dominions in India, which the minister highly disapproved of ;
he had forfeited the confidence of the native princes ; he had
disobeyed the orders of the Court of Directors ; and he had
fixed enormous salaries to offices in India. There was, more-
over, an adverse resolution on the records of the House of
Commons, and until it was done away with by a vote of
thanks for his great services, Mr. Pitt affirmed that he could
not advise his Majesty to confer any honour on him ; yet the
minister's favourite colleague, Mr. Dundas, with whom that
damnatory vote originated, had subsequently .declared, that
Hastings's conduct was worthy of every praise he could
bestow, and of every support his Majesty's ministers could
afford him ; and he went so far as expressly to pronounce him
the saviour of India. As to the vote of thanks, Mr. Pitt had
only to propose it to the House, and it would have been
carried by acclamation.
Seven days after Hastings landed in England,
^ r - Burke, one of the most distinguished leaders
ment, 2oth o f the Whigs, gave notice in the House of Corn-
June, 1785.
mons that he would on a future day, make
a motion regarding the conduct of a gentleman recently re-
turned from India. But a meeting of the party was held
soon after, and it was resolved, with great unanimity, to be
unadvisable to embark in a crusade against him. There was
therefore every reason to conclude that the menace of a pro-
secution would have blown over, but for the imprudence and
arrogance of Major John Scott, the confidential agent and
XV.] HASTINGS HEARD IN REPLY. 423
evil genius of Hastings. Like other retired Indians of ample
fortune he had purchased a borough and entered Parliament.
On the first day of the ensuing session of 1786, he rose and
defied Burke to make good his threat. After this challenge,
Burke had no option but to pursue his intention, and he
entered upon the impeachment with all the ardour of his
enthusiastic nature. His political associates, who had been
lukewarm on the subject, felt themselves bound in honour to
rally round and support him ; and this celebrated trial is thus
traced up to the mistaken zeal of Hastings's own friend,
Major Scott, who emphatically " bullied " Burke into the pro-
secution. His first motion was for the production of papers,
but the House resolved, that he should state his case before
he applied for documents to support it.
On the 4th of April, Burke brought forward
Charges against r
Hastings, 4th eleven charges, to which eleven others were sub-
sequently added. For many years he had made
the politics and the people of India and their ancient history
his particular study, and no man in the House has ever been
more familiar with all questions relating to that country. He
was a worshipper of ancient institutions and dynasties, and
having followed the career of Hastings step by step, gradually
contracted a feeling of personal animosity towards him, for
his attempts to subvert them in the East. But all the mate-
rials of the charges were supplied by Mr. Francis, Hastings's
rancorous opponent in India, who had obtained a seat in Par-
liament, and determined to hunt him down with all the
rancour which might have been expected from the writer of
Junius's letters. After the charges had been introduced,
Hastings obtained permission to be heard in reply, and on the
1st of May appeared at the bar, bending beneath the weight
of a document more prolix than even a Bengal dispatch.
He read on till he was exhausted, when the clerks of
the House came to his aid, and mumbled through its inter-
minable pages, the reading of which required a second day.
The only impression produced on the House was one of weari-
424 THE THREE PRINCIPAL CHARGES. [CHAP.
ness and impatience ; yet so ignorant was Hastings of English
sensibilities as to persuade himself that the idea of the reply
was conceived in a happy hour, and by a blessed inspiration,
and that "it instantly turned all minds to his own way."
Of the twenty-two charges, only three were of
The three prm- * ' J
cipai charges, any serious importance, and they referred to the
1 7ftfi
first Rohilla war, toCheyt Sing, and to the begums
of Oude. The rest such as that of having in six revolu-
tions, brought the fertile and beautiful provinces of Furruck-
abad to a state of the most deplorable ruin, and of having
impoverished and depopulated Oude, and rendered the country,
which was once a garden, an uninhabited desert, were the
mere litter of Mr. Francis's malignity. The first charge
accused him of having " hired British soldiers for the purpose
of extirpating the innocent and helpless people inhabiting the
Rohillas." But the first Rohilla war had received the appro-
bation of the Court of Directors ; it had taken place fourteen
years before, and whatever might have been its criminality,
Parliament had condoned it by subsequently reappointing
Hastings Governor-General. Mr. Dundas exp